"Why surf when you can ride the bus?"Remember back on January 9th when I said that "TOURBUS is, for the most part, distributed every Tuesday-ish and Thursday-ish?" Well, today's TOURBUS post is quite "ish." :)
Actually, one of the reasons why today's TOURBUS post is so "ish" is that your fearless bus driver had to go out of town the other day to do an in-service at Houston Academy in Dothan, Alabama (which is, by the way, a *really* cool place). I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, but I am just now getting caught up with all the stuff that I should have done before I left (I still have 380 e-mail messages waiting for me in my in-box!).
Your fearless bus driver is going to be on the road again soon, and if you want to see if I am as goofy-looking in person as I seem on the Net, feel free to visit me during my presentations at any of the following conferences:
Tuesday, January 28th Mississippi Educational Technology
Conference -- Biloxi, MS
Saturday, February 8th Southeastern Business Education
Conference -- Athens, GA
Wednesday, April 16th to Georgia Educational Technology
Friday, April 18th Conference -- Macon, GA
Since I am driving to each of these conferences (it's a long story), you
can bet that I am going to stock up on some "road music" before I go.
Fortunately, I have a pretty good idea where I can find *EVERY* CD that I
am looking for:
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FREE Weekly Music Zine - Buy 7 Get 1 FREE Everyday - Treasure Hunt!
TOURBUS Rider Discount code: SAVENOW! use it and save 5%
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Occasionally, we pull our little bus of Internet happiness into sites that
are guaranteed to be "time sponges," soaking up hours of what would
otherwise be productive time (remember our two visits to cnet back in
September?). I'm not saying that these sites are not worthwhile (cnet, in
fact, is *still* one of my favorite resources on the Net). What I am
saying is that, from time to time, we visit sites or tools on the Net that
are so absolutely wonderful that they are guaranteed to keep everyone happy
-- and busy -- for DAYS!
Today's TOURBUS stop is dedicated to just such a tool: Real Audio.
You may have heard Bob and me talk about Real Audio from time to time, but I'm not sure we ever explained what it is. Real Audio is a program (and Web browser plug-in) that allows you to listen to live and on-demand audio on the Internet over standard modems. What makes Real Audio so mind-numbingly cool is that, thanks to something called "streaming," you can actually listen to the sound files AS YOU DOWNLOAD THEM!
Wait, it gets better. The software that you need to be able to do this is ... brace yourself ... FREE! (Actually, if you really like to spend money, you can purchase an enhanced version of the Real Audio software in your local computer store or on the Net for about $20 to $30 (US), but the basic, free version of the software is just fine for those of us who are just starting out).
Okay, now for the technical stuff. The Real Audio software is currently available for Microsoft Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 3.1, Macintosh PowerPC and Macintosh 68040 (the software is also available for Linux, Solaris 2.5, Irix 5.3, FreeBSD, SunOS 4.1.4, Solaris 2.4, and DEC Alpha NT). To use the Real Audio software, you'll need either
If you don't have either of these types of connections, or if you aren't sure exactly *how* you are connected to the Internet, contact your local Internet Service Provider or network manager and ask them "how can I use Real Audio on my computer?" (Real Audio is so universally popular that almost every Internet Service Provider or network administrator should be able to help you.)
Okay, with that out of the way, let's go get the software. You can download the free Real Audio software at http://www.realaudio.com/products/player/download.html
Downloading and installing the software is actually pretty easy. In fact, the folks at Real Audio really have done a great job of making this whole process as simple as possible. :)
Back in my September 10th TOURBUS post (which you can find on the Web at http://www.worldvillage.com/wv/hotel/tourbus/091096.htm), I mentioned that cnet Radio "offers three new technology-based ... "radio" [broadcasts] each day that you can play on your browser." Let's go take a look at today's broadcast!
You can find the cnet Radio page on the Web at http://news.com/Radio/
cnet Radio produces three news broadcasts a day: one at 10:00 A.M. (PST), one at 1:00 P.M. (PST), and the final one at 4:00 P.M. (PST). By the way, "PST" stands for "Pacific Standard Time" -- cnet is based in San Francisco. :)
To listen to the latest cnet Radio broadcast, click on the words "click to listen" to the right of Brian Cooley's picture. Unless something goes wrong, within a few seconds your computer should say something like "live from San Francisco" and start playing the latest cnet Radio broadcast.
If you are looking for a good way to keep abreast of the latest technology news, cnet Radio is probably *THE* best place to find it! I personally visit this page at least once a day (Monday through Friday), usually in the mid-morning (that way I get to hear the previous day's final update).
(You can find the April 26th TOURBUS post on the Web at http://www.worldvillage.com/wv/hotel/tourbus/042596.htm).
Car Talk is both a public radio show hosted by, and a newspaper column written by, Click and Clack, two Boston-area auto mechanics (who both also happen to have engineering degrees from MIT). The premise of both their show and their column is that Click and Clack answer car-related questions sent in or called in by their audience.
Well, now that you have Real Audio running on your computer, you can hear snippets from the Car Talk radio show on the Web at http://www.cartalk.com/Radio/replay.html
Even if you are not a Car Talk fan, I *strongly* recommend that you download and listen to http://www.cartalk.com/Radio/RAfiles/shuttle1.ram
This file is HILARIOUS ... and it will take you a few minutes to actually figure out what is going on!
This site is dedicated to the purpose of letting you sample music from different genres that you might not otherwise experience. Just click on a music category from "punk" to "Chicago blues," and your Real Audio player will start playing music from that category! Neat, huh?
By the way, if you find an artist or song on this site that is so cool that you *must* find a copy, make sure that you keep today's TOURBUS sponsor in mind (http://www.Mass-Music.com). :)
That's about it for this week. There are HUNDREDS of Real Audio sites out there, and in the weeks to come we may drop in on a few of the best. In the interim, take a look at what today's TOURBUS sites have to offer ... and have a safe and happy weekend!
-------------------------------- TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE DAY -------------------------------- GUZINTA (verb). Mathematical term for division. "Fav guzinta fifteen three times. Two guzinta eight fer times." (Special thanks goes to Tommy Baca for today's wurd.) YOU CAN FIND ALL OF THE OLD SOUTHERN WORDS OF THE DAY ON THE SOUTHERN WORD HOMEPAGE AT http://ua1vm.ua.edu/~crispen/word.html
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