One Year of Podcasting, One Year of Connecting

On April 5th, 2007, Apple Universe was born. It was an idea that came to my head mainly because of Leo Laporte and his network of podcasts, TWiT, and also because of Douglas Bell. Douglas has a podcast called PreviewCast, which he recorded and edited an episode of live at my high school. I saw the work behind the scenes of podcasting, and wanted to start.

Now, one year later, Apple Universe is going strong. One hundred fifteen episodes have been released, and many more will be coming. I wanted to commemorate the first anniversary of Apple Universe. I also want to thank everyone who has ever helped Apple Universe. Your help is very appreciated. To all my listeners, thank you for listening, and helping make this such a good podcast. Thank you Robert Scoble who took me from a nobody, a random high school student, into a somebody, almost a celebrity of my demographic.

Thank you,
Daniel Brusilovsky

Behringer HA400 Headphone Amp

Recently, I received a package in the mail from BSW USA, totally expectedly. As usual, I am very grateful for what was in the this package. But before I reveal the contents of the parcel, let me give you a little background on why the item in the package is of particular use to me.

Obviously, there were many things that I learned after holding the Apple Universe LIVE at Macworld 2008 event that I organized. The main lesson is that I need a bigger mixer, but right now that’s beside the point (and mixers are rather expensive). The matter being emphasized here is that guests at events like mine need to monitor themselves, usually through headphones. Monitoring helps speakers feel more confident about how they are speaking into the microphones (or, for example, singing, at a concert), which results in much better recordings. The problem: My mixer (Alesis MultiMix 8 USB) only has one headphone jack, so only one person (usually me 😉 ) can monitor the mix at a time.

The solution: The Behringer HA400 Headphone Amp that I got from BSW. This small device is basically a pro-quality version of those headphone Y-splitters that everyone uses with their iPods. The headphone amp connects to one of the outputs of my mixer, and four sets of headphones connect to the deck-sized box. This way, if possible interviewees live close by, they could come to my “studio” and record here, and both provide and receive high quality audio, instead of burning bandwidth on Skype (of course, we can blame ComCast for that).

Another package will be coming later this week, with a lots more fun goodies and gadgets. All of this new gear is proudly donated, so thank you very much donars!

~Daniel

Born Again Mac User Podcast

Marcelo Lewin of the Born Again Mac User Podcast (part of The Digital Media Dude network) recently brought me on his for an interview. It was a great honor to be on the show. The episode was about switching from Microsoft Windows to the amazing Mac OS X. The two co-hosts, Marcelo, a.k.a. “Rabbi Marcelo” and John Devine, a.k.a. “Reverend John” got really into it, so did I, and they really did a great job co-hosting the show. You can find the episode on the Born Again Mac User Podcast site.We had a blast talking about my switch, and also some problems that occurred. Here are the interview questions, for quick reference:

Tell us about yourself.
Tell us about your podcasts.
Why did you switch to Mac?
Mac or PC in school?
What was the best thing about the conversion process?
What’s been the worst thing about converting?
Biggest conversion surprise?
What’s the best Mac convert resource?
Is there anything from Windows that you miss?
What’s your favorite Mac app?

The Digital Media Dude network has other podcasts that I think you will enjoy. Check it out – you might learn something cool!