September 12, 2005

Dead Time Learning

I was listening to the Marketing Online Podcast today and heard the hosts use a great term: Dead Time Learning. Dead Time Learning refers to time that you have where you’re not really doing anything else and you could be learning. Commuting is probably the #1 opportunity for Dead Time Learning that most of us have. Exercising is another great time. You can even be a Dead Time Learner when you’re doing chores around your house, brushing your teeth, making dinner, etc.

My guess is that most of us probably have at least two and probably more like three or four hours each day of Dead Time Learning time. For instance, my morning thus far has consisted of the following:

-1 1/2 hours spent in traffic after dropping my friend off at his hotel (gotta love LA traffic). My Dead Time Learning? Dan Millman’s audio course The Path of Self Discovery.

-An 8 mile jog on the beach. My Dead Time Learning? The Marketing Online Podcast (where I learned the term “Dead Time Learning”!), The Diggnation Podcast (love those guys!) and a couple of podcasts from Podtech.net.

3 hours worth of Dead Time Learning and it isn’t even noon yet!

Now it’s your turn. During your Dead Time Learning time today what will you be Learning Out Loud?

September 11, 2005

Listen & Learn in 10 Quick Steps

Online Today publishes a series called “10 Quick Steps” which are downloadable audio programs that teach ways to do over thirty different things in just 10 Quick Steps. There’s useful ones like “10 Quick Steps to Converting VHS Tapes to DVDs“, there’s techie ones like “10 Quick Steps to Perfect Backups“, and there’s fun ones like “10 Quick Steps to Becoming a Standup Comedian”. They typically run between a half hour and an hour. Check them out:

https://www.learnoutloud.com/10quicksteps

September 9, 2005

Audio Book Sales en Fuego

From the Association of American Publishers:

Another big winner was the audiobook category, which gained 197.9 percent in July ($33.5 million), and 40.5 percent for the year. “We have seen a nice increase in the audiobook category over the years,” says Kathryn Blough, vice president of the AAP. “It’s been pretty steady.” Blough stresses that despite recent reports that in an age of media saturation, people have less time to devote to reading, she doesn’t see audiobooks replacing their printed brethren any time soon. “We’ve seen steady growth on the print side,” she says. “I think the growth in audiobooks is due in part to the exciting varieties of titles out now.”

(Here’s the complete article.)

People have less time for reading? An exciting variety of titles out now? I guess it’s time to Learn Out Loud!

September 9, 2005

Holy Crap, the Ipod Nano!

I won’t lie, I held out on buying an iPod cause I just couldn’t justify the expense. I wanted one, we all do: who wouldn’t want to have their whole music collection in one place? Anyway, I received one as a gift and I don’t know what I was doing without it. Its like every toy I ever had as a kid consolidated into the palm of my hand.

What am I getting at? Well, now all those toys will take up the place of a fingertip with this new iPod Nano that just came out. Look at the picture man, this thing is the width of a pencil, no joke. I don’t know how insane things will get with ipod sizes, but it’s almost becoming like this parody I saw recently. Soon the ipod flea will be real and maybe, just maybe I’ll end up with one. Apple isn’t selling iPod’s anymore, they’re selling lifestyles. When they get to a $50 price point, even my Grandma Doris will have one.

September 8, 2005

Brian Tracy Wants You to Learn with Audio

From a recent Brian Tracy newsletter:

Your mind is your most precious asset. You must be continually working to increase the quality of your thinking. One of the best ways is to turn driving time into learning time. Listen to educational audio cassettes in your car. The average driver according to the American Automobile Association, drives 12,000 to 25,000 miles each year, spending 500 to 1000 hours that you spend each year in your car. That is the equivalent of 12 1/2 to 25 forty-hour weeks. This is the same as two full university semesters spent behind the wheel of your car each year.

If you did nothing but use that traveling time as learning time, this decision alone could make you one of the best educated people of your generation. Many people have gone from rags to riches simply by listening to audio programs as they drive to and from work.

Wow. I can’t think of a much better endorsement for audio learning. Think about it. If all you did is use drive time as learning time you would be one of the best educated people of your generation. Pretty powerful stuff…

And if you’re interested in following Brian Tracy’s advice who better to listen to than Brian Tracy himself. We have a complete selection of Brian Tracy audio and video material (100 titles!) at the following page:

Brian Tracy Audio and Video Titles

September 7, 2005

Shakti Gawain Author Page

I just put up an author profile page for Shakti Gawain. While I was working on her biography I became rather interested in her concepts. She basically says what we want can be made manifest through mental will. In other words, the physical can affect the spiritual and become physical again. Does that make sense? Let me go over it again, there are parts of the body that we can utilize to affect parts of the mind, once the mind is stimulated, our world can be made to change. That’s some pretty provocative stuff. If anyone knows more about her work, I’d love to talk further and get some recommendations if possible.

September 7, 2005

NYC Soundwalks

I was in New York City for the first time this summer. And I downloaded a couple audio programs from the publisher Soundwalk. Basically these programs are audio walking tours of various sections of New York City that are timed to your footsteps. The narrators are NYC natives that know the ins and outs of the neighborhoods and tell you where to go.

Right now they have 13 programs for New York City, 1 for Paris, and 1 for India. New York City is perfect for these audio tours because the neighborhoods are so dense and there’s so much history and diversity in a small area.

I did the Chinatown walk and the Lower East Side Manhattan walk. Both were excellent. The Lower East Side of Manhattan is incredibly diverse as they take you into delis, into back alleys that were former speakeasies, and into a Jewish temple that is now a place for artists to jam and put up their art work. There was even an acid jazz band playing when I went in to the temple.

The second walk I took was in Chinatown narrated by a guy who was born and raised there. This tour took us off the tourist trap strip of Chinatown and down some very interesting streets. Some of the doors he requested us to enter were locked probably due to too many people doing these walking tours. This one ends in a peaceful Buddhist temple.

If you’re going to New York I definitely recommend doing a few of these. They’re about 45 minutes long. They have great music that keeps you in step. They’re not for the faint of heart as they take you into some potentially dangerous places but nothing too serious and the narrators use some dirty mouth so they might not be for kids. You can buy them as mp3s through the Soundwalk website or on Audible.com or Amazon. So load up your portable digital audio player or CD player and hit the streets with Soundwalk. It’s better and cheaper and less obtrusive than any NYC tour bus.

September 7, 2005

Disaster Relief PSAs

Hey all. I just wanted to let you know that we recorded a brief public service announcement tonight for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. If you have a podcast you are welcome to use this PSA. Here’s the link:

https://www.learnoutloud.com/podcasts/LOLKatrina.mp3

I’ve included the transcript for the PSA below. If you are looking for other PSAs, Podshow has assembled a collection of them. Here’s that link:

http://www.podshow.com/relief

PSA Transcript

Hey everybody. It’s Jon Bischke here from LearnOutLoud.com. If my voice sounds a bit weary it’s because I just returned from Louisiana where I spent the last few days helping out with the Red Cross. We were helping out in Lafayette where there are 40,000 evacuees currently residing. It was heartbreaking to see many of the people and realize how much they had lost and how their lives had been impacted by Katrina. At the same time, it was inspiring to see thousands of people coming to the aid of others who had been complete strangers only a few days before. So much is being done but there is so much more to be done. Please do whatever you can even if you don’t think it’ll make much of a difference. Donate to the Red Cross by going to www.redcross.org. Look for volunteer opportunities in your area on places like Craig’s List. And please keep the people of the Gulf Coast in your thoughts and prayers in the coming weeks and months.

September 6, 2005

Podcast Alley Acquired by Podshow(?)

In one of the more low-key acquisitions I’ve seen it appears that Podcast Alley has been acquired by Podshow, Adam Curry’s high-profile podcasting start-up. In the podcasting space this is a pretty big deal since “The Alley” has been a mainstay for podcasters and listeners since almost the very beginning.

I haven’t seen anything official-looking from either company yet so it’s possible that this is still in rumor stage but based on the links below it appears that it’s a done deal:

Podshow Buys Podcast Alley – Thoughts
PodShow’s first acquisition: Podcast Alley

What will this mean for podcasting? Who knows? I’ve always been a big fan of Podcast Alley but also have felt that there were a lot of improvements that could be made. Perhaps now they will be. Kudos to Chris McIntyre for all he has done to build Podcast Alley into what it is today. I’ll continue to wear my Podcast Alley T-shirt with pride!

September 6, 2005

Katrina Update (Live from Louisiana)

Hey all. I just wanted to make a quick post with a link to my account of the last few days spent in Louisiana. This is the text of an e-mail I sent out to family and friends so if some of it doesn’t make sense that’s probably why. It’s incredible what’s going on down there and I encourage everyone to help out in any way that they can…