I’ve been covering technology for several years for web sites including Download Squad and Liliputing. And I’ve been filing radio news reports on topics ranging from politics to the environment for about 8 years. But one of my first radio stories about technology ran this afternoon as part of a new tech segment on NPR’s […]
Dabbling in the stock market
A few weeks ago my wife and I looked at the stock market crumbling and thought, “hmm… looks like a good time to invest.” Right now most of our savings are split between a 1 year CD with a 4.25% APR, and a high interest online savings account. But the interest on those accounts barely […]
Marantz PMD661 is smaller, newer than PMD660
The Marantz PMD660 is one of the more popular handheld, professional digital audio recorders due to the fact that it has two XLR inputs, unlike many other recorders in the same price range. But after a few years on the market, the PMD660 was starting to look a bit stale, especially after companies like Sony, […]
Blue Microphnes Icicle – XLR to USB adapter
Blue Microphones has a good reputation among podcasters for producing high quality USB microphones. Now it looks like the company is coming out with something that may be even more useful for radio journalists and music producers looking for a quick way to plug their favorite XLR microphone into a computer without resorting to the […]
Liliputing at 7 months
It’s been almost 7 months since I launched Liliputing. And the site has grown beyond my wildest expectations. According to Google Analytics, Liliputing received well over 300 thousand unique visits in October, and 572 thousand page views. More importantly, I feel a real sense of community growing around the site. Netbook enthusiasts are contributing to […]
Reaper, Ardour, and digital audio editing on an Eee PC 1000H
One of the first things I tried when I got my first Eee PC 701 last year was installing some audio editing software. As a radio producer and tech journalist, I’ve been wanting to try the open source Ardour digital audio workstation for a while, but I’ve always run into hardware compatibility problems. I didn’t […]
O’Reilly reviews the Yamaha Pocketrak 2G
O’Reilly Digital Media has posted a review of the Yamaha Pocketrak 2G digital audio recorder, which was launched earlier this year. The Pocketrak 2G is more of a high end voice recorder than a low end radio/podcasting tool. But depending on your needs, it might be appropriate for either personal or professional use. First the […]
Hacking the Zoom H2
The Zoom H2 digital audio recorder has a lot of things going for it. For under $200, you get a near-broadcast quality built in microphone, mic and line inputs, and a USB audio interface that you can plug into your computer. It’s a great little machine for podcasters on a budget (although I wouldn’t necessarily […]
List of Seinfeld-related puns in the news today
As you may have heard, Microsoft is launching “phase two” of its new advertising campaign. And the new ads will not feature Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. You can read more about the news in my Download Squad article. But I wanted to use this space to point out something: We in the media, even […]
Big City Values
The other day I was walking down the street and I encountered a double decker tour bus. The top level was populated by folks wearing business suits. They looked incredibly uncomfortable, which wasn’t surprising since it was a weekend and the skies looked like they were about to open up and start spilling rain like […]
Video report: Philadelphia’s rental suitability law
WHYY’s Stephanie Marudas and Alan Tu put together an excellent report on Philadelphia’s rental suitability law. Basically, the law which was passed two years ago requires landlords to provide tenants with a certificate of rental suitability showing that the property had passed city inspection. But landlords fought the law in the courts and the city […]
Atlantic City in a slumping economy
A few weeks ago I spent a day in Atlantic City working on a story about the impact of high gas prices and reduced consumer spending on a tourist destination like AC. I met with officials at the Borgata hotel and casino and the Atlantic City Convention Center. I also wandered the boardwalk, where I […]
Busy busy busy
I just noticed that it’s been almost two weeks since I’ve posted anything here. So I figured I’d give you a rundown of things that have been keeping me busy in August. Liliputing I’ve been putting a lot of time and effort into Liliputing recently. I started Eee Site and then Liliputing as a way […]
Tascam paints the DR-1 red, turns it into a portable guitar/bass recorder
Maybe it’s me, but the upcoming GT-R1 guitar and bass recorder from Tascam looks awfully familiar… oh right, that’s probably because it looks virtually identical to the Tascam DR-1 portable audio recorder. The only differences I can see are that the case has been painted red, and some of the labels have been changed. For […]