New .Mac account.

1.Easily purchased – actually through Amazon.com – was 20% off $99 cost from Apple. (Checked today – price is back to $99 new.)

2.Plan to purchase an actual domain name via www.godaddy.com - $2.00 for new customers – that’s me!

3.Decided to purchase the .Mac account for publishing my podcasts and using Apple’s iPhoto “photocasting” feature. (Feature seems to work well, although I haven’t implemented it yet – need to get other relatives on the new iLife ’06.)

Using iWeb. How do I feel about iWeb?

1.Nifty starter program for new websites using the new “Web 2.0” standard.

a.What is Web 2.0?
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

b.One of the most important aspects of the Web 2.0 standard is the use of XML formatting – including RSS feeds (for my podcasts, photocasts, etc.)

2.Interface reminds me a great deal of the interface for Keynote.

a.Has the Apple “Inspector” to make affect different changes.

b.Same “Media” button to allow drag-n-drop of images from the iPhoto library, iTunes library and even iMovie library.

3.Adding a new page is as easy as clicking the “+” symbol at the bottom and choosing from one of six template pages within your chosen site theme.

4.Main disappointment for me is in ability to upload documents, specifically PDFs, to be downloaded by visitors. Would have liked to have done this with my “show notes” – instead I will copy and paste the show notes text into a text box.

5.More info / reviews:

a.http://www.applematters.com/index.php/section/comments/iweb_review/

New headset – Plantronics DSP400. Purchased from Amazon.com for ~ $40. Lists for $130.

Likes:

1.Portable – folds up

2.OS X reads it right away (no drivers needed)

3.Mute and volume buttons right on the cord

4.USB

5.Very comfortable (earpads), microphone is adjustable

6.Playback sound through earphones very good.

Dislikes:

1.Cabling has large sound card box on it. Many headsets like this have a box on their cables because they’re created to use on computers without the need to install a sound card.

2.Cabling is rather long – might be useful in larger broadcast situations.

Over all, impressed with it.

TipOTheCast: Using two USB mics with GarageBand

Each Mac laptop and desktop computer comes with at least two USB ports built-in. We got to thinking that there must be a way to use two USB microphones with the recording of interview-type podcasts. In looking through Apple’s own OS X utilities, there is a way – it’s called creating an “Aggregate [Sound ] Device”.

To do this:

1.Plug in both USB mics.

2.Open the “Audio/MIDI Setup” utility (Applications>Utilities)

3.Open the “Aggregate Device Editor”

4.Select the two USB mics, make any changes you want to the setup of the Mics, and create the Aggregate device.

5.Will have a “How-To” sheet available via my website (http://www4.minot.k12.nd.us/webb) click on “TECH Support Docs”.

6.Advice – test both mics, and make level changes in the Sound System Preference.