About PodChapter Exporter

If you use Garageband to create an enhanced AAC podcast this software is for you. It makes creating shownotes from the file a breeze! Let me know if you use it and like it.

Technorati Tags: enhanced podcast, podchapter exporter, podcast show notes

After that, if you want to see the results from a different search engine, just click on a new search engine and the same query will be run on the new search engine and the results displayed. I personally like this as I always recommend checking at least two major sites for any serious search activities.

As an example, I recently wanted to know about the Salmonella in Pater Pan peanut butter for a future posting here. I went to CrossEngine chose the News tab from the top. Then I typed in “Peter Pan” peanut butter Salmonella and then choose Google. I can look down thru the results and I even found an article from my alma mater college paper the Purdue Exponent.

I then wanted to see what else there was so just clicked on Yahoo and I get their news listings for the same query. The first listing showed me that it wasn’t only Peter Pan brand but also Great Value peanut butter. I then clicked on NY Times and found they had two articles, one on the peanut butter problem and other related to Salmonella problems with cantaloupe which mentions the peanut butter problem also. CrossEngine allows me to quickly and easily with very few clicks, look at the results on different search sites.

My only real concern as a power user is that not all the search engines use the same syntax for advanced searching. As an example, inurl: works on most but not all the web search sites. In Wisenut it defaults to searching for the word following inurl instead since Wisenut doesn’t support searching in specific fields. This isn’t a big deal for the vast majority of users and really isn’t a problem.

Since I do a lot of science related searching, I’d like to see them add a tab at the top to search science specific sites. I have sent them a list of my favorite science search sites (for more on this see my latest podcast Science Search Sites) and hope to see this incorporated in the future.

Overall, I like CrossEngine and it has replaced many of my bookmakrks on my web browser window. I use it to quickly look across various sites without having to retype my query. I had previously used bookmarklets to achieve this but there had to be a different bookmarklet for each engine. I like this approach much better. I always recomend checking at least two sites and CrossEngine makes that very easy.

Technorati Tags: CrossEngine

Here is a search for all bills containing “drug OR pharmaceutical” in the House of the 110th Congress with any status.

GovTrack: Bill Search House (drug OR pharmaceutical)

This contains links to the full text of bills of 11 bills.

Here is the corresponding Senate bills.

GovTrack: Bill Search Senate (drug OR pharmaceutical)

The Senate currently only has 6 bills before it at this time. Both these links should continue to work and give you all the bills at later dates.

You can also use topics set up by the Congressional Research service (CRS) to monitor topic. As an example, here is the link for the topic Medicines. There is also an RSS feed (web feed).

I encourage everyone who has an interest in what Congress is doing to us this resource.

Technorati Tags: drug cost, drug imports, drug price, Government Information, Govtrack

Are BlackBerry users the new smokers? - Yahoo! News:

One of my major complaints is something I see quite frequently when traveling, especially at airports. Men standing at urinals, doing their business while talking on their cell phone! I have observed this with a disturbing increasing frequency over the last year. They stand their chatting away while urinating. I’m not sure what the people at the other end of the phone think?! I’ve even overheard men sitting on the toilet talking on the phone while performing their bodily functions. I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the other end of those conversations.

Manners with new technologies are a growing concern. Many restaurants are banning cell phones and I agree with that manly because I don’t want to be forced to listen to someone else’s inane conversation while I’m dining. Also, people tend to talk louder on a cell phone than they otherwise might and forget those around them.

Here is my list of things I’d like to see people work on in the coming year.

1. Get voicemail and use it. Call people back after you have finished whatever business you have at hand. This way you give the other person your full attention.
2. Find an area away from others to have a cell phone conversation if you must take the call. In restaurants, either step outside or find somewhere where you won’t bother other diners, but not the restroom.
3. Don’t send email while having a conversation! Many people seem to want to multi-task but this is disrespectful in some situations, especially if you are having a one to one interaction. Sending a quick email note during a meeting is okay, but don’t spend all your time reading email.
4. Don’t have a long loud conversation on a bus. A short call is okay but avoid long drawn out conversations in crowded situations.
5. Place phones on vibrate when in meetings, conferences, at dinner, etc. This way you know you have a call but don’t submit everyone around you to your ring, especially when it is a song.
6. Regarding ring-tones. Picking a song or jingle that you like and enjoy is fine. However, don’t continue to let your phone ring just so you can listen to an entire song!! I’ve seen people pull out their phones and wait for several seconds before answering just so they can enjoy their ring-tone.
7. When on an airplane before take-off, please hang up when asked to by the flight attendant. I have been on many flights where the push-back from the gate is delayed because someone refuses to end a cell phone conversation. On this subject, I truly hope airlines do NOT start allowing people to use cell phones while in flight!!
7. Just be aware of your surroundings and try to avoid disturbing others. Most people don’t mind a short conversation however, most of us don’t want to hear a five minute conversation about your toodler making poo-poo or a discussion of who at your company may get fired for sleeping with their boss (I have overheard both of these conversations in the past year).

I think technology is wonderful and can make life much easier. However, as with all new technologies, it needs to be used in a manner that is respectful of others.

Technorati Tags: cell phone manners, cell phone use, manners, politeness

Podcasting is not jut a fad but is an efficient method, unique, low-cost method to communicate with your costumers or just anyone with access to the Internet.

Feel free to contact me if you’d like to further discuss how podcasting can help your company.

Technorati Tags: consultant, consulting, podcast, podcasting

I feel voting is very important and wanted to contribute something to the podcasting community. I went through many sites before settling on the ones I decided to include. Episode 012 covers election information sites. These include:

• Yahoo News Midterm Elections 2006
• C-SPAN
• CNN America Votes 2006
• Fair Vote
• getvoting411.us
• League of Women Voters
• Vote411.org
• Electionline
• Elections 2006
• Factcheck.org
• Media Matters for America
• Politics1.com
• Project Vote Smart
• RealClearPolitics
• Election Protection 365
• Election Incident Reporting System
• Electroral-Vote.com
• Election Projection - 2006 Edition
• Clusty Results for 2006 Midterm Election
• Mooter Results for 2006 Midterm Election

I feel voting is the most important duty of any American and I hope this episode helps people make informed decision at the polls on Nov 7.

Technorati Tags: election, vote, voting

Basically it takes any WAV or aiff file and will level the sound volume. This is particularly useful if you do live interviews or have a situation where the levels are uneven.

And the best part is it’s free. Note though that it is still beta and almost certainly has bugs in it.

Here is Michael Geoghegan CEO of Gigavox, posting about Levelator on his blog.

Technorati Tags: audio software, audio volume, Gigavox Media, podcast, sound volume

Google snatches up YouTube for $1.65B - Yahoo! News

First, as a podcaster I believe that video is indeed here to stay and not just a fad as some think. So, I do believe there is value in video over the Internet. However, I really don’t think a brand new company such as YouTube is worth that much. I am glad to see that Google did the deal as an all stock transaction. Maybe the fact that I think Google’s stock is way over valued makes up for part of the inflated price.

Some folks have said its about culture and not business. However, I think both need to keep in mind that they are in the business of making money especially since Google has shareholders they are accountable to. It is good to see that Google will allow YouTube to operate as an independent unit.

I realize Google wants to be a major player in video and their attempts to date have not been very successful. It is nice to see that they don’t have the “not invented here” mentality and are willing to go after a major player in the online video area.

The price paid is too much when you consider the amount of potentially copyrighted material on YouTube. While I realize that YouTube has managed to get a truce with Universal, there are many other media companies out there who are not as likely to settle in my opinion. Also, this transaction has served to put YouTube on the radar screen of other major media companies. Also, not that YouTube will soon be a part of Google, there are now much deeper pockets involved. Some analysts seem to think that media companies will now rush to make a deal with Google, but I fear the opposite is true. Too many old stream major media companies still do not understand the new economy and the impact of the Internet. They would much rather take legal action against anyone they feel has impinged on their territory.

Bottom line, I think it was a good acquisition for Google, but I think they vastly overpaid for it. Only time will tell if it was a wise move.

Other Sources

News Stories

• google youtube - Google News
• Yahoo! News Search Results for google youtube

Blog Posts

• Google Blog Search: google youtube
• google youtube - Ask.com Blog and Feed Search

Technorati Tags: Google, video, Youtube

I have several shows on the major networks that I watch regularly and I have these set to only record first run episodes. Then lower in my season pass list are some other shows that I like to watch but they aren’t priorities. I have these set for first run and repeats. What this allows is that I see the shows I want and after the regular season I get to catch up on the lower priority shows. This is particularly true when two shows are on at the same time.

This lets me see two shows that may be on the same time without having to either have two units or a unit capable of recording two shows at the same time.

I call it Tivo Tide because the shows on my Tivo seem to go through a series of undulations and now shows that I haven’t thought about or seen an episode of in a long time are appearing. Then as the TV season slows and comes to an end, those fade and I get to see a whole new crop of shows and catch up on them.

Technorati Tags: television, Tivo, Tivo Tide, TV

Although it may be possible to extract stem cells without destroying embryos, in this case, they actually extracted cells several times and did indeed destroy the embryos in this case. The report was accurate but there seems to be a misunderstanding. Here is an excerpt from this article:

M. William Lensch, a stem cell researcher at Harvard, said using the method to create stem cell lines might be more difficult than the study implies because it’s not clear why only a small percentage of the extracted cells formed new lines.

“I think the study was written in a clever way so that it’s technically correct, but what they claimed beyond the paper, and on the Nature Web site and in the popular press, isn’t right,” he said.

In an interview yesterday, Dr. Robert Lanza, the senior author, noted that he and his team never claimed the embryos survived the experiments. When the study was published, Lanza and other experts had noted in interviews that embryos routinely survive when single cells are extracted in genetic tests at fertility clinics.

It seems more work needs to be done but I feel it is a step in the right direction and the work should continue with the hope in the near future of actually accomplishing what was reported in the popular press.

Technorati Tags: Advanced Cell Technolgy, stem cell, stem cells

KRT Wire | 08/31/2006 | Journal will clarify human embryo study (Chicago Tribune)

This article outlines the fact that the journal Nature will add a statements to clarify what was actually meant.

Technorati Tags: Advanced Cell Technolgy, stem cell, stem cells

• The Stem-Cell War Heats Up - Newsweek Health - MSNBC.com
• TIME.com: Why the Stem Cell Advance May Not Be a Breakthrough
• Firm makes “ethical” embryo stem cells | Top News | Reuters.com
• Critic Alleges Deceit in Study On Stem Cells

The technique describes a method to remove embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo. While many think this gets around some of the ethical objections, I’m not as hopeful. It will be interesting to see how this develops and I think there will still be objections to this. It will b interesting to se what objections are now raised. My best guess is those opposed to stem cell research will suggest that after removing the stem cells the embryos may no longer be able to be implanted into a womb and therefore it is the same as killing them. There will be many questions raised and the goal for everyone should be to see if these are legitimate scientific questions or are they objections raised to prevent or slow further stem cell research. Look for phrases such as “we don’t know what will happen after a cell is removed from these embryos” or “we don’t know that the embryo is indeed viable” and further no effort made on their part to support such claims.

Technorati Tags: stem cells

If you look at the home page for Rozerem they list a “listen to podcast” on the main page.

However, you can’t even click on this. That itself is pretty poor but even worse, once you do get to their so called podcast page, it is just a link to a TV commercial!?

Podcasts are regularly updated audio and/or video enclosures within an RSS feed. You can subscribe to that field in a podcatcher such as iTunes. There is no feed anywhere on this site as far as I can tell. You have to go to the website and watch the mp3 or m4v files or download them. This is NOT a podcast. This is merely making your commercials and some music available on a website which has been going on for years now.

I think it is possible to make podcasting work commercially. However, too many large companies just look at it as another method to force their advertising on consumers. This will not work. If it had some advice about sleeping problems and what to do about them or maybe had some easy listening music each week to help you fall asleep, then it might be worthwhile.

As another example, Disney had a podcast about Walt Disney World called “Walt Disney World® Resort: Plugged In“. The feed still exists but it hasn’t had any new content since April; over four months ago! I did listen to a couple of these and they ended up being hour long commercials for the Disney resort. Now, I understand the desire to use this new content distribution as a means for advertising, but I think that misses the point of offering something worthwhile to the listener. If they had information on using the fastpass system, or maybe tips and hints on dealing with crowds at the parks, etc. then it might be worth it. There are many very popular podcasts regarding Disney and I regularly listen to several of those, but the Disney company itself isn’t one of them. On of my favorites is Ricky Brigante’s “Inside the Magic” podcast.

Bottom-line, if your company looks at podcasts as a means to distribute your advertising without offering anything worthwhile to your listeners, I think you will be sorely disappointed. However, if you offer something interesting and exciting, you can fit in your ads without turning off your listeners.

Technorati Tags: Disney, podcast, Walt Disney World, rameltreon, Rozerem, sleeping pill, Takeda

In an effort to improve my podcast and to meet some fellow podcasters, I will be attending the Podcast and Portable Media Expo in Ontario CA from Sept 29-30. I’m looking forward to the event as there are many talks and presentations on a wide variety of topics from corporate podcasting to podcasting as a business to podcasting as a hobby.

I’m looking forward to meeting many of my fellow podcasters whom I have never met. Several of them I have exchanged email and audio comments with but have no idea what they look like, so maybe I’ll just close my eyes and listen for voices I recognize There are actually a few who I know from photos online of last years conference or from their websites. I’ve heard people describe the conference as a cross between a blind date and a high school class reunion!

Also, I’m going to try and keep posting during the time I’ll be away (Sept 28-Oct 2) but did want to let folks know if that doesn’t happen it because I’m soaking in all that this conference offers.

Technorati Tags: podcast, podcast expo

Rogue Amoeba (I love that name and their “mascot”) has updated Audio Hijack Pro (AHP) to version 2.7 and has made it very simple and easy to record any VOIP client including Skype Gizmo, and iChat. This is something I had been wanting in AHP for a while now and maybe I’ll now try to do some interviews.

Their weblog (entry for July 31, 2006) has the instructions:

And so, for v2.7, we’ve simplified it down to the following:

Not only is there no Step 3, there isn’t even a joke “There’s no Step 3″ step. Make your session, hit Record, and it just works.

They also make it possible to record each end of the conversations on separate tracks! This is especially useful if you have someone who’s voice isn’t loud enough and you need to do some manipulation in post-production. You can easily increase the volume of just one side of the conversation.

Go read their weblog, it has a nice visual tutorial on using Audio Hijack Pro v2.7.

I should note that this can be used for so much more than just podcasting. If you need to capture audio and you use a Mac, this software is for you!

I must say, I’m a very happy user. Also, the price is more than reasonable for software that works this well ($32; or $10 upgrade from Audio Hijack). Version 2.7 is a free upgrade to anyone who has v2.x.

Technorati Tags: audio, Audio Hijack Pro, audio software, Rogue Amoeba

What is Design of Experiments (DOE)?

Design of Experiments is the use of a carefully selected group of experiments chosen to give the most information with the fewest number of experiments. While not well know, the technique has been around for many years. It is just now becoming popular as is a great tool for optimizing any process. If you need to maximize or minimize some measurement then DOE can help you. Not only do you get the most information from the fewest experiments, but you also generate a model which allows you to predict results at other areas within your experimental space.

What Can Design of Experiments Do for You?

• Optimize any process
• Optimize the yield of a chemical reaction
• Minimize the amount of an impurity
• Allows you to show that you understand and have a chemical process in control
• Gives you an indication of what further experiments may be needed

Contact QD Information Services for a free quote for an experimental design for your specific needs. Since each situation is unique, the pricing depends on your exact needs.

Technorati Tags: design of experiments

1. Vioxx: I looked at the trends for “Vioxx”and the results spike at the end of Sept 2004 when Merck announced they were withdrawing the drug from the market. It’s been relatively flat since.

2. If you limit the results to just the US, it is interesting that the number one city searching for Vioxx was Barnwell, SC (population 24,000), So I was curious as to why such a small town in SC would be by far and away the largest searcher for the term Vioxx. A quick search for “vioxx” and Barnwell yields the answer; one of the law firms involved in the Vioxx case in NJ was Weitz & Luxenberg and they have offices in Barnwell, SC. They also have offices in Mannford, OH.

3. Search for “Plan B” has also seen a trend up. Unfortunately, Google trends doesn’t list any news items for this term.

4. A Search for “FDA” shows that there are more than twice as many searches for this term in India than in the US. This isn’t surprising since India is a growing market for pharmaceutical products, active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and other related services.

If we limit it to the US, then Rockville, MD is the number one city, not surprising since that’s where the FDA headquarters are located.

I’m sure there may be even more interesting results after I’ve had time to play with it more. Also, keep in mind that uncommon search terms don’t give good results.

Technorati Tags: Google, Google Trends

Technorati Tags: tagcloud

I’ve set up TagCloud for the following:

• American Chemical Society (ACS) organic journals
• Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) organic journals
• all ACS journals
• all RSC journals
• pharmaceutical news
• interesting science blogs that I read

Let me know what you think.

Technorati Tags: tagcloud