Monday, September 26, 2005

blogs etc.

sep 26th

thanks guys for the feedback. yes, the 'ads by goooogle' on the left: do click on them. it results in some pocket money for me, or so google leads me to believe, i haven't seen any money yet (reminds me of 'charlie macguire' and 'show me the money'). thanks to those who are clicking. :-)

oh, so blogspot does not provide for tags. too bad, guess i can't do that.

creating my own website is something i have toyed with for some time, but i prefer the simplicity and spontaneity of the blog format. so i have to figure out what to do. one possibility is to cut down the topics of interest to one or two, but that sounds so... boring :-)

re. things that record in mp3 format, i have seen creative, rio and other mp3 players (flash-based) for $75 or so at fry's electronics in palo alto. they play mp3, do voice recording, and have fm tuners, but they tend to consume aaa batteries.

by the way, i am consumed with envy about the ipod nano. does anyone on this blog have one of the black ones? how is it? i hear the screen gets scratched up easily. i have a lowly ipod shuffle which is great for my limited music needs and podcast listening. can't beat the form factor and weight! but i might upgrade one of these days. i am not an early adopter.

randhir asked me some time ago what my itunes playlists were. not very avant-garde, i'm afraid:

podcasts:
kqed forum

indian music:
100's of malayalam film songs
a few hindustani ragas from nikhil chakrabarty, ravi sankar et al

western music:
some pink floyd, beatles, simon and garfunkel, jethro tull, the who, dire straits, rolling stones, et al
some symphonic works

devotional:
the entire bhagavad gita
chants of shiva from the banks of the ganges
chants of buddha

btw, i found an interesting podcast named a moment of yoga by some san francisco yoga teacher with an american name. the cover art for this was a krishna picture, that's how it caught my eye. the podcast is not great, but not bad. all about yoga.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rajeev you might want to check out typepad. I have seen many serious bloggers who started with blogger mature on to typepad. Its a much easier option than running your own website. Of course you do have the pain in migrating all your old post to the new site and redirecting your readers to the new place.

nizhal yoddha said...

dassyu,

i found the bhagavad gita by googling of mp3 of the gita on the net. i forgot exactly where i got it from, but it is available for full, free download.

the 'chants of siva' and 'chants of buddha' albums (the former is much better) are from times music in india. some folks from the sri sri ravisankar community recorded them.

kuttan/anon, thank for additional pointers to blog/web options. maybe i'll start a new blog with typepad, but i am lazy about learning a new mechanism when the current one (blogspot) does most of what i want to do.

Anonymous said...

Rajeev:

Thanks for remembering my request about the iPod playlist - I had forgotten about it :-)

Business 2.0 has 9 fads to ignore and Podcasting makes the list!!!!

Here's the complete list:

1. PODCASTING
Yes, it’s nice to get MP3s downloaded to your iPod. But where are the revenues? Podcasting will continue, but as a business, it’s the latest iteration of CB radio.

2. SPACE TOURISM
Travel to the final frontier is riskier than buying a vacation home in Aspen. When the first billionaire perishes in the icy void of space, it’ll take years for this nascent industry to bounce back.


3. OUTSOURCING
It works for rote or clerical tasks, but creative and management functions are still most effective close to home. If your job hasn’t been outsourced by now, it’s unlikely to happen in the years ahead.


4. DOWNTOWN CONDOS
In cities like Chicago, Miami, and San Diego, short-term speculators snapped up many of these “entry-level” homes. With price-to-rent ratios at absurd highs, it’s time to head for the exits.


5. CHINA RULES THE WORLD
Don’t forget your recent history: Japan didn’t surpass the U.S. economy in the 1980s, and it’s unlikely that China will in the next half-century.


6. HIGH-DEFINITION DVDS
Which will it be: HD-DVD or the incompatible Blu-Ray format? Get ready for a rerun of VHS vs. Betamax -- if, that is, consumers want high-definition DVDs at all.


7. HYDROGEN-POWERED VEHICLES
The technical challenges are huge, and they will probably take 10 to 15 years to overcome. Until then, you can safely ignore hydrogen hype.


8. PRIVATE-LABEL MOBILE-PHONE SERVICES
Lucrative niches are few and far between, and the best ones (such as teens or sports fans) are already taken. Whatever’s left is likely to be too small or too hard to reach to turn a substantial profit.


9. CELEBRITY CLOTHING BRANDS
Sean “Diddy” Combs made celeb-branded clothing fashionable. BeyoncĂ©, Jennifer Lopez, and Gwen Stefani followed. Now comes proof that this fad will fade: Jessica Simpson has launched her own line of plus-size jeans.