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« September 2005 | Main | November 2005 »

October 30, 2005

Speak With Me

I just came across a company tonight called Speak With Me that offers some pretty cool speech recognition software for vehicles. Here's a sampling of what it allows you to do:

For the demo, Ajay controlled his stereo system verbally, changing songs, picking tracks, controlling volume, etc. The commands he used to do this were in absolutely plain English and varied considerably in structure. For instance, Ajay at one time said “go to track 3″. Another time he said “play for me another one bites the dust”. Later, “I would like to hear wonderful tonight by eric clapton. “louder”. “quieter”.

Pretty cool huh? Here's a link to the entire article.

There are some neat ramifications here for audio learning. As more cars become "iPod-enabled" there becomes an increasing need for safety while driving. Fiddling with an iPod while you're behind the wheel is a recipe for disaster. A product like the one that Speak With Me provides could be the magic bullet.

You gotta love technology!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 28, 2005

Starting Fires

Caught this over on Brian Johnson's blog:

"Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire."
~ William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
Irish poet, playwright & mystic, winner of Nobel prize in 1923

If education is lighting a fire then we here at LearnOutLoud.com are pyromaniacs. :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

(By the way, if you get an extra few minutes this weekend wander on over to Brian's author page and download some of his stuff. It's really good. Lately I've been particularly digging Quotes on Action and Quotes on Courage. Did I mention that it's free?)

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 27, 2005

The Blue Flame

During my run today I was listening to Keith Ferrazzi's Never Eat Alone (highly recommended by the way!). He talks about the concept of the "blue flame" which he defines as "a convergence of mission and passion founded on a realistic self-assessment of your abilities." He goes on to talk about Joseph Campbell's blue flame.

After graduation, (Campbell) moved into a cabin in Woodstock, New York, where he did nothing but read from nine in the morning until six or seven each night for five years.

Ferrazzi goes on to quote Campbell himself:

"If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living."

Campbell was an amazing man. You can find all of Campbell's audio books and DVDs on our Joseph Campbell Author Page. I watched the video series Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth a year ago and throughly enjoyed it. I'm sure you will too!

By the way, I listened to Never Eat Alone on the "Faster" setting today on my iPod which increases the speed by about 20%. It sounds a bit different but not as bad as I thought it would. Considering that you could get through a 10 hour book in about 8 hours, it's something that I'll probably be doing a lot more of in the future. Definitely good when you've got a book that's heavy on information that you want to crank through.

Discuss this post in the LOL Forums!

Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 26, 2005

Gandhi Out Loud

I'm proud to announce that we've posted Gandhi Out Loud, the first in our Out Loud Series. The Out Loud series is designed to bring together all of the available audio and video material for a historical figure. I'm not aware of any other resource on the Internet for this. You can find bibliographies for many people with extensive listings of relevant books. But no one has done the same for audio and video...until now. :)

We're really excited to roll out a series of these with amazing people and great leaders such as Lincoln, Franklin, MLK, the Kennedys, Mother Theresa, etc. If you have any suggestions for people you would like to see us add to the Out Loud series, please send us an e-mail at suggestions@learnoutloud.com.

I had a lot of fun putting together this article on Gandhi. Particularly of note are his 1931 speech in London, his autobiography My Experiments with Truth and the 1982 epic film Gandhi starring Ben Kingsley. Amazingly, I watched that movie for the first time only a few weeks ago...

Enjoy learning about Gandhi through the resources we've linked to. He was an unbelievably amazing man and in today's age of war, more people than ever need to hear his message.

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 24, 2005

Free MIT Lectures!

We just put up over 100 free lectures from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

www.learnoutloud.com/MIT

These lectures can be streamed through Real Player on Video and Audio. The video and the audio is very high quality and not choppy at all if you're viewing on a broadband connection.

The topics they cover are fascinating and focus primarily on Technology, Science, Politics, Business & Economics, Medicine, and how these fields interact. There's lectures from Noam Chomsky, Jack Welch, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and dozens of other great authors, professors, and leaders in their field. A truly great resource from one of the America's best universities.

Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

October 22, 2005

How to Subscribe to Our Blog

Please excuse my manners. We've been posting blog entries for almost a year and I realize that we never stopped to explain how you can subscribe to our blog. Shame on us! Seriously though, just a few months ago I had no clue how to subscribe to a blog. Once I figured it out it literally changed my web-surfing life. So I thought I would take a few minutes to share the basics with you. And of course if you're already subscribed or know how to subscribe to a blog then please kindly disregard this post.

Step #1 - First, it's important to understand what you are doing when you are subscribing to a blog. Essentially you are setting it up so that when a new post is made to the blog you'll be automatically updated. Why is this nice? Well, let's say that there are five blogs you really like. Instead of having to check five different websites separately for updates you can check one place and see updates to any of the blogs. Pretty cool huh?

Step #2 - The next step is figuring out what your options are for subscribing to blogs. There are literally dozens of blog readers (often called RSS readers, aggregators, etc.) out there. If you have a My Yahoo! page that can actually be your blog reader. Google now has a reader called the Google Reader. I am partial to Bloglines, an online service that is pretty easy to use. What you use is totally up to you. If you're looking for some more options try searching for rss reader or rss aggregator.

Step #3 - Cool, now you've got your blog reader in place. Now you need the details for subscribing to our blog. For most blog readers you'll need to plug a URL into your reader (this is called an RSS feed or an XML feed but that's not important). To subscribe to our blog you can use the following feed:

http://www.learnoutloud.com/content/blog/index.xml

You'll notice that if you click on that link you'll get a bunch of gobbledy-gook. Don't sweat that. Just cut and paste the link above into the place where your blog reader tells you to. And if you're My Yahoo! you'll see a link on our blog page that makes it pretty easy.

So that's pretty much all there is to it. If you aren't subscribing to blogs, give it a try. It's a great way to stay up to date with a lot of cool stuff. And definitely subscribe to BlogOutLoud. We've got lots more good stuff coming for you in the next few months!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 21, 2005

Podcast Show Notes: Oct 21st, 2005

Confessions of an Audio Learning Junkie for October 21st, 2005

Intro - "There She Goes" by Brother Love
Introduction
-Direct Link to the Show
-Link to Subscribe to the Podcast
Video iPod
-See the new iPod [Site]
The Dan Millman Podcast
-Link to Dan Millman Podcast Page
-Link to Dan Millman Author Page
New Blog Posts
-Link to Blog Post: "Audio Tour Guides For Travelers"
-Link to Blog Post: "MP3 Downloads of Great Lecturers & Speakers"
-Link to Blog Post: "Integral Naked"
-Ride With Me Audio [Site]
-SoundWalk [Site]
-What is Enlightenment? [Site]
-The Great Lecture Library [Site]
-iAmplify [Site]
-Integral Naked [Site]
Brian Johnson -Zaadz [Site] -Link to Brian's Page on LearnOutLoud.com
Vote for Us on ChangeThis.com -ChangeThis [Site]
Win a Nano
-Link to iPod Nano Contest Details
-Link to our Blog
Outro - "In a Long Time" by 46 Bliss

Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 18, 2005

Zaadz Notes

We are extremely proud to announce that we've posted a new series of audio content to the site called the Zaadz Notes. The Zaadz Notes are a series of essays written and read by Brian Johnson, Philosopher and CEO of Zaadz, Inc. Each Note features wisdom about a concept or teacher that will educate and inspire you.

Brian covers a ton of ground in the Notes including teachers like Abraham Maslow, Marcus Aurelius, Rumi, Seneca, Socrates and more. If you've never taken the time to dive into this sort of wisdom, the Notes are a perfect introduction. They average about 20 minutes in length and are the perfect thing to throw on in the car when you're on the way to work. Think of it as your daily dose of education and encouragement.

Definitely check out Brian's page on our site as we keeping adding new stuff. If you love the Notes, you'll definitely want to check out the Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast as well.

Really good stuff. We plan to keep it coming.

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 17, 2005

Thinking 100 Years Ahead...

I was listening to Wayne Dyer's excellent course Choosing Your Own Greatness tonight and he repeated the following Chinese proverb. I felt it pretty apropos in terms of what's going on here at LearnOutLoud.

If you are thinking one year ahead, sow seed. If you are thinking 10 years ahead, plant a tree. If you are thinking 100 years ahead, educate people.

Take a minute today (or tomorrow if you've already gone to bed) and think about how you can help to educate someone in your life. Maybe it's reading to one of your children or telling someone you know about some you've recently learned. If you're stuck, why don't you share the love and tell someone else about LearnOutLoud.com. That'll count. :)

Here's to thinking 100 years ahead!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

Audio Tour Guides For Travelers

For those of you who prefer learning about where you are traveling rather than wandering around aimlessly we just added 3 publisher pages for producers of audio tour guides. Here they are:

www.learnoutloud.com/ridewithme
www.learnoutloud.com/soundwalk
www.learnoutloud.com/soundtravel

Ride With Me Audio covers a number of the nation's interstate highways covering the history and geography of the area you're traveling through. Obviously great for road trips the audio tours are based on extensive research and narrated by world class narrators like Flo Gibson and Grover Gardner. On their site they sell their products as well as other travel audio on CD and cassette. Or you can get over a dozen of their titles through audio downloads on Audible.com.

Soundwalk is a publisher which create audio walking tours for various parts of New York City. For more details about Soundwalk you can read my article "Listening Your Way Around The Big Apple". Their audio guided NYC walking tours are available on CD and MP3 download.

If you're going to Europe, Sound Travel features audio-guided walking tours of major European cities including the cities of Paris, London, Florence, Rome, and Venice. Each city tour lasts 3 hours and includes a total of four tours/walks to places that are considered to be "off the beaten path". You can get their tours on cassette or on audio download through Audible.com.

So if you're traveling through any of these destinations there's no need to be bored. Even the most banal turnpike has a rich history and why not learn about it while you're there?

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Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

An iPod with Wi-Fi?

Apple can't seem to go more than a week or two without some hot new announcement or rumor. The latest, courtesy of Mac OS Rumors, is that Apple is developing a Wi-Fi equipped iPod that can directly interface with with Airport Express networking stations and allow for streaming and downloading of audio content. Here's the complete story:

A Wi-Fi iPod

It would an interesting and amazing little device. Imagine sitting at the airport or in line at the bank and being able to browse and download content to your phone. Having said that, that's something that is also on the horizon for mobile phones. The iPod vs. mobile phone battle will be one to keep a close eye on. My money is on the mobile phone to win out in the long run. Who the heck wants to carry two devices when you can just carry one?

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 14, 2005

Audio Books Are Cool

I don't really know the precise demographic for audio books. They're not like comic books where the people they draw in all look, dress, and smell the same. But I do believe that audio books aren't necessarily for nerds and they might even fit into the status of cool. I witnessed something tonight that proves their increasing status as a cool medium. I was in Beverly Hills and a car pulled up to a stop light. It was a Ford Mustang Convertible and the guy was blasting an audio book! It was not radio. It was a definite mystery/thriller-audiobook-narrator-voice bumping from his sports car so that everyone on the block could hear. I caught a good portion of it and at that volume the guy really wanted the world to know that audio books are now cool. So the next time you're listening to a killer audio book, roll down your windows and blast the treble so that all the world will know: AUDIO BOOKS ARE COOL! Or you can just keep them hidden from your friends and secretly pull them out when you're alone in rush traffic.

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Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

October 13, 2005

Richard Feynman

I just put up a Richard Feynman author page. For those of you that don't know of him, Feynman is quite possibly one of the most popular physics teachers ever. He worked on the atom bomb, came up with so many breakthroughs its hard to name them all in one space, and was an all around eccentric and cool guy. His lecture series is expansive, and is possibly the best place for anyone interested in physics to start. I hope this page is useful!

p.s. I also just found out that late in his life Feynman was a major player in the commission that was put together surrounding the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. His views clashed with the official transcript and he managed to get a footnote added to showcase his different opinion on what happened during that horrible incident. What an awesome life this guy had.

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Posted by LOLSeth | Permalink

October 12, 2005

The New Video iPod Has Arrived!

OK, so less than 48 hours ago I'm bitching about how options for video learning are more limited than for audio learning because of the lack of ability to "space shift." With the iPod and other portable MP3 players that are out there, audio is almost entirely portable (with the exception that it's still a pain in the ass to connect iPods and MP3 players to many vehicles). Video on the other hand is much less portable...at least until today.

Apple just announced their brand new video iPod at their "One more thing..." event in San Francisco. They have a cool new commercial that allow you to see the new iPod. Check it out:

New Video iPod Commercial

I just wandered down to the Apple Store here in Santa Monica and unfortunately they don't have any video iPods in the store yet. I'd love to see the quality of the video first-hand. I'm also curious to see the screen size and try to gauge whether this is a viable platform for viewing and what type of video content might work best on the video iPod.

Regardless of whether the video iPod takes off, I think that this will be the day that people will look back on and point to as the beginning of the portability of video. Imagine what this allows me to do. I can take some video content, throw it on my iPod and watch in anywhere. On the train on the way into work in the morning...hooked up to my PC or laptop...through my new hi-def television (OK, wishful thinking there...).

Just as the original iPod (and other MP3 players) made music and spoken word content portable (do you remember the days of lugging cases of CDs around with you?!), I think that the new iPod will absolutely do the same thing for video. DVDs? What are those? I think as soon as a few years from now people might be asking that question.

It's a brave new world and we're glad to be a part of it. We're excited to bring you educational and self-development video content in the coming months. So when you do get that brand spankin' new iPod for the holidays make sure y'all come back here to fill it up!

Before I go, here are some more cool links related to the new iPod:

"One more thing..." Special Event Video
Engadget's First Impressions of the new iPod
How to get your own videos onto the iPod

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 11, 2005

Help us Change This!

There's a cool website called ChangeThis.com that I've been a fan of for quite a while. They invite authors to write "manifestos" that propose new ideas and ways of looking at the world. In the past they've had some pretty cool manifestos from the likes of Tom Peters, Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin.

I have a proposal listed on their site right now. It would be a manifesto about audio learning and its ability to revolutionize peoples' lives. If you have a minute (it won't even take a minute), please cast a vote for the proposal at the following URL:

http://www.changethis.com/proposals/545

The more votes the proposal gets, the more likely that it will be turned into a full-blown manifesto.

Thanks in advance for helping to support the Audio Learning Revolution!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

Podcast Show Notes: Oct 11th, 2005

Audio Learning Revolution Podcast for Oct 11th, 2005

Intro Music - "Warning" by DJ Lennoxx from garageband.com
Introduction
- Direct Link to the show
- Link to Feeds for Audio Learning Revolution podcasts
- Link to LearnOutLoud.com Podcast Directory
- Comments or Questions about the Podcast directory E-mail - Promo: Link to Animal Voices Podcast.
Interlude Music - "Fast Jazz and Funky" by Larry Seyer from The Podsafe Music Network
Science Podcasts
- Link to Science Podcast Category Page.
- Link to The Naked Scientists Science Radio Show Podcast
- Link to Disaster News Network Podcast
- Link to Slacker Astronomy Podcast
- Link to Science@Nasa Podcast
Social Science Podcasts
- Link to Social Science podcast category page
- Link to NOW - PBS Podcast
- Link to the Here On Earth podcast
- Link to A Time for Choices Podcast
Interlude Music - "Run Rabbit/The Chase" by BRAIN BUCKIT from The Podsafe Music Network
Sports & Hobby Podcasts
- Link to Sports & Hobbies Podcast Category Page.
- Link to Winecast Podcast
- Link to Grape Radio Podcast
- Link to Wine Making Radio Podcast
- Link to Crushing Grape Podcast
- Link to Endurance Radio Podcast
- Link to General Aviation Weekly Podcast
- Link to Rockets Away! Radio Podcast
History Podcasts
- Link to History Podcast Category Page.
- Link to Speeches and Historical Audio Podcast
- Link to History According to Bob Podcast
Interlude Music - "Watcher of the Skyline" by m7 from The Podsafe Music Network
Misc Podcast Categories
- Link to Languages Podcast Category Page.
- Link to Very Vocabulary Podcast
- Link to Literature Podcast Category Page.
- Link to Crackle Back Short Stories Podcast
Outro - "El Puente Closing Theme" by Larry Seyer from The Podsafe Music Network
- Link to Audio Learning Revolution podcast page

Posted by LOLSeth | Permalink

Space Shifting

I heard another great phrase today which got me thinking. I've had to explain podcasting to more than a few people lately and one of the words I often use is "timeshifting" which is essentially the TiVo-like ability that allows you to listen to what you want, when you want. But for me that didn't really do podcasting justice. There was something else there...

Then I heard the phrase "spaceshifting" today and it fell into place. You see it's not just that I can listen to what I want when I want. It's also that I can listen to what I want where I want. With my iPod my content follows me around. I can be at the office or in my car or out for a jog and I'll still have my same audio books and podcasts with me. I think that's one of the things I'm most digging about podcasting and audio learning in general.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for video learning. With video, in most cases, I'm still somewhat tethered. If it's a DVD course I need to be at a PC or TV with a DVD player. Then I have to load up the DVD (usually takes a few minutes), figure out where I am, etc. It's not the instant gratification that we're coming to expect in our society.

Let me give you another example of this. I was checking out Integral Naked tonight and was a bit bummed that most of the content was video (I promised I would tell you why...). If all of the stuff was audio I think I would be stoked. I'd download it all to the ol' iPod and that would be the end of it. But with video I honestly don't know if I'll find the time to sit down and watch all of it. The files are short and since I have to be at a PC I can't just crash on my couch and watch it.

Don't get me wrong. I love the potential for video learning. There are many things that are so much easier to learn when you combine video with audio. But we've still got a long way to go. I want to be able to load all my video content on a portable device and be able to watch it on the device anywhere I am or plug it in to my laptop, PC, TV, etc. if I want a bigger screen. Give me time shifting and space shifting and then it'll be off to the races.

Of course that's probably a ways off...unless Apple decides to go ahead and announce the new video iPod at their "One More Thing" event tomorrow. :)

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 10, 2005

Integral Naked

David did a great job of highlighting some good sites for MP3 downloads of great authors and teachers a couple of days ago. I'll add one more to the mix: Integral Naked. It's an interesting collection of audio and video self-development material with interviews with such luminaries as Deepak Chopra and Tony Robbins.

In Integral's own words:

Integral Naked is a multimedia doorway to the world of integral awareness. Conversations, performances, live events—all involving the most influential, provocative, and important thinkers and leaders in the world. Often these are moderated by Ken Wilber, considered the most influential integral theorist today, and his colleagues at Integral Institute.

It's a $10 monthly subscription which is pretty cheap considering the wealth of material. I was a bit bummed that most of it is video rather than audio (more on that later...) but it's still a pretty cool collection of content. I listened to a couple of interviews that Ken did with Tony Robbins today and was pretty impressed by what I heard.

Definitely go check it out as you'll have some more good stuff to stick into your iPod.

(Kudos to my buddy Bri for the tip on this one.)

Discuss this post in the LOL Forums!

Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 09, 2005

The Dan Millman Podcast

I'm proud to announce the launch of another new podcast. We just put the wraps on the first episode of the Dan Millman Podcast. Dan is one of our all-time favorite authors and an amazing teacher. For those of you who aren't familiar with Dan, here's a brief bio:

Dan Millman is a former world champion athlete, university coach, martial arts instructor, and college professor. His books, including Way of the Peaceful Warrior, The Journeys of Socrates, and The Life You Were Born to Live have inspired millions of readers in 29 languages.

If you've read or listened to any of Dan's book we're pretty sure you'll love the podcast. You can check out the first episode here:

http://www.learnoutloud.com/millmanpodcast

If you dig it make sure to subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, Odeo or your other preferred podcatching apparatus. We'd love to hear your thoughts as well. Please feel free to send feedback on the Dan Millman Podcast to suggestions@learnoutloud.com.

Oh, and don't forget to check out our Dan Millman author page. In addition to the podcasts we have links to nine other audio titles and as well as his Peaceful Warrior Workout DVD.

We're honored to be able to bring you Dan's podcast and we hope that you have as much fun listening to it as we had putting it together.

Discuss this post in the LOL Forums!

Posted by jbischke | Permalink

MP3 Downloads of Great Lecturers & Speakers

We just put up three new publisher pages for What Is Enlightenment?, The Great Lecture Library, & iAmplify:

www.learnoutloud.com/whatisenlightenment
www.learnoutloud.com/greatlecturelibrary
www.learnoutloud.com/iamplify

These are three great publishers that offer downloadable lectures from leading speakers in a wide variety of fields. What Is Enlightenment? features speakers that discuss the latest trends in spirituality, psychology, religion, politics, science, and other topics. For $10/month you can subscribe to them and have access to all their streaming audio and video as well as the ability to download all their audio content on MP3. They've got samples of all their titles and they offer a free one month trial that gives you access to all their content.

The Great Lecture Library is a digital audio library of 1200 lectures and sermons from over 600 speakers that have been recorded at the Chautauqua Institution over the past 35 years. These lectures cover a vast array of topics and can be purchased a $5.95 per lecture or for an annual subscription fee you have access to all their lectures through streaming audio as well as a set number of audio downloads. They have a 15 day free trial that gives you access to all their lectures through streaming audio.

iAmplify features MP3 audio downloads from fitness professionals, lecturers, spiritual leaders, and self help speakers like Marianne Williamson and Barbara De Angelis. Users can browse through 24 different topics with downloadable programs on personal growth, yoga, parenting, and a wide variety of exercises. Once programs have been purchased they can be downloaded as MP3s or played through streaming audio.

So check out these publishers for great original audio content that you can download and take with you.

Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

October 07, 2005

Language Learning Software

Sometimes when learning a language you don't want just the Listen & Repeat CDs or tapes because there are limitations to simply learning a language on audio. You can't see the words you're saying which limits your understanding of how spelling informs the pronunciation of the language. You can't read or write the language at all with audio language programs and that can be important when you're in a European city trying to read all those signs. And interactive language learning software can be a lot of fun since there's so many entertaining tests, exercises, and games you can play to learn the language instead of just memorizing it through listening and repeating.

So in the case you're interested in obtaining CD-ROM or online software for language learning you should check out our recently added publisher pages for Rosetta Stone and Transparent Language. You can check them out by going to:

www.learnoutloud.com/transparent
www.learnoutloud.com/rosetta

Rosetta Stone offers software in 29 languages with Level 1 & Level 2 programs that you can buy on CD-ROM or access through their monthly online subscription which costs $49.95 per month. Level 1 programs provide 92 interactive lessons and Level 2 programs include 118 lessons. Through these lessons you'll learn through 4 methods:

1. Listening to native speakers speak their everyday language
2. Speaking the language and making sure your pronunciation is right through speech recognition that compares your voice to native speakers
3. Reading exercises that link written language to real-life objects
4. Writing exercises that check your spelling, syntax and punctuation

Transparent Language has a more extensive offering of languages with over 100 different languages to learn through their 7 product lines that are available on CD-ROM with some of their titles available as online software that you can download. These product lines are all described in detail on their publisher page but basically they are an interactive mulitmedia immersion into a foreign language teaching you how to comprehend, converse, pronounce, read, and write a language. Their Complete Suites include three of their software programs along with Linguaphone's PDQ Talk which has 4 audio CDs and a translation dictionary.

Demos of their products are available online. For the online demo of Rosetta Stone click here. To download Transparent Language's free trial software click here. We feature most of Rosetta Stone's titles and Transparent Language's titles on our site so check them out.

Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

Cure for the Common Commute

It's starting to catch on. People are awakening to the fact that their morning commute doesn't have to be this dreaded, boring, tedious activity. Driving to work can be the one time during your day when you get to be selfish. You get to listen to what you want to listen to and learn about the things you might not normally have the time for. It's a great way to learn and develop personally and professionally.

Kudos to the gang over at Simply Audiobooks for helping spread the gospel of audio learning. They've launched a campaign called "Cure for the Common Commute" which is both catchy and apropos.

The common cold and the "common commute" have a lot in common. Many people deal with both and both are very annoying. There are some common-sense ways to prevent the common cold and likewise, there are some easy ways to prevent frustrating commutes. We can think of over 8,000 of them in our Catalog. :) (Speaking of which, we added over 1,500 new titles to our catalog this week. Check it out!)

One day we might figure out the cure for the common cold. In the meantime, finding the cure for the common commute seems a little easier.

Discuss this post in the LOL Forums!

Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 05, 2005

ThinkArete: The Podcast

I'm proud to announce that we've got an exclusive new podcast up on LearnOutLoud.com. It's called ThinkArete: The Podcast and I think you'll really enjoy it. It's a daily podcast done by Brian Johnson, CEO and Philosopher and CEO over at Zaadz, Inc. For those who've never heard the word "arete" before (I hadn't until I met Brian), here's a brief description:

The classic Greek philosophers had a word for the process of self-actualizing and striving to reach your highest potential. They called it 'Areté.' (pronounced ar-uh-tay) In fact, Areté was one of the most important values in classic Greek culture. Guys like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle tell us that the meaning of life is happiness and that the way to achieve happiness is to live with areté (aka excellence, striving to reach your highest potential). By looking at the universal truths taught by philosophers, religions, and current psychological research, I think we can find the keys to self-actualizing and happiness; hence, my desire to get you to “ThinkAreté.”

Good stuff... I've listened to the first dozen episodes or so and I can tell you that you're in for a real treat. You'll be exposed to some new quotes, teachers and concepts. Brian starts off the series with a special rendition of his ThinkArete manifesto. Then each day (if you're subscribed) you'll get a short (3-5 minutes) dose of his daily wisdom. It's a great way to kick off your morning. Highly, highly, highly recommended!

To subscribe to ThinkArete: The Podcast, go to http://www.learnoutloud.com/thinkarete or search the iTunes podcast directory for "Brian Johnson". You can also use that URL to download individual episodes or stream the podcast (and if you simply need more info on podcasting, please check out our Introduction to Podcasting article).

We're going to be putting up some more of Brian's stuff in the next week so you also may want to bookmark http://www.learnoutloud.com/brianjohnson.

We're excited about bringing you this new podcast and welcome any suggestions you might have about new audio content that you would love to see here at LearnOutLoud.com!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

Headphones for the Long Run

Well it's official. I'm running the OC Marathon in January. It'll be my third marathon and I'm definitely looking forward to it. My goal is to better the time my brother ran at the San Francisco Marathon in July...3:33. It isn't going to be easy and I realize that I'll need to train hard.

Part of the nice thing about running an "audio learning company" is that I can actually work during my workout. I review a number of podcasts and audio books every week and my run is a perfect time to listen to them. There's something about being in motion and getting the ol' heart rate up that makes listening to these even more enjoyable. It's definitely something I look forward to.

Lately I have realized the need for some better headphones to use while I'm doing my runs. The white earbud headphones that come with the iPod have never worked for me while working out as they fall out way too easily. I got some cheap earbud headphones that wrap around the ears but those aren't much better. I figured it was time to invest in something a little better.

I spent an hour or so reviewing posts over on the iLounge forums. It's amazing how much discussion there has been about the best headphones for running! I probably combed through at least four dozen threads and while there wasn't a consensus, a couple of favorites emerged.

It really depends on whether you want noise-cancelling or not. The upside of noise-cancelling headphones is that they drown out sounds around you. While this can often be a positive (such as while flying) it can sometimes be a negative while running as it would suck to get hit by a bus that you never heard coming...

In the end I decided to get both a pair of cheaper, non-noise cancelling headphones (the Sony MDR-A34L) and a slightly more expensive pair of noise-cancelling headphones (the Shure E2c). I'm excited to try them both out and see how they stack up against each other. My guess is that I'll use the Sonys whenever there is traffic around and the Shures when there isn't. Regardless of what I do, I'll report back here.

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 04, 2005

LearnOutLoud.com E-Newsletter #4

The new E-Newsletter has been posted to the site here. Dead Time Learning, Free Audio Books and a whole lot more! Check it out and if you're not subscribed to our E-Magazine yet please do so by going here.

Posted by jbischke | Permalink

Choices

I'm listening to Wayne Dyer's old Nightingale-Contant program How to Be a No-Limit Person right now (Note: Unfortunately it's out of print so your best hope of finding it is probably eBay. We do have a ton of other Wayne Dyer audio though!). In it, he talks about how we always have choices about how we can perceive the world. He specifically mentions our choice about how we respond when we're faced with a traffic jam.

Many people decide to let the situation control how they feel. They'll start to feel mad or frustrated or bored because of their external situation. Dyer makes the point that letting external conditions impact your internal emotions is very disempowering. Rather than get angry about the way the world is you should instead look for ways to make the best of whatever situation you're given. His recommendation for traffic jams? Audio learning! He tells the audience (it's a live recording) that you can learn French in a couple of years of sitting in traffic jams without ever having to set foot inside a classroom. How right he is...

It all boils down to choices. When you drive to work tomorrow morning you'll have an endless array of choices of things to listen to. Some will educate you, fulfill you or uplift you. Others won't. I'll be the first to admit that I don't always (or sometimes even often...) make the best choices. But I don't think that being perfect is the goal. I tihnk the goal is to continue to strive to make better choices.

That's one of the main reasons we started LearnOutLoud.com. We want to give you better choices for your morning commute and for any other time of the day when you can listen to something or watch something. There is SO much good stuff out there and we're only scratching the surface with our website. Having said that we do hope that we can help you to find some alternatives and that before long, like Wayne Dyer, you'll look forward to sitting in traffic.

OK, this rant is over. But please keep letting us know what we can do to serve you!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

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