Step 1: Create your podcast audio file

Audacity. photo credit: Sloshay

Record your podcast in a standard audio format. Mp3 is pretty common and universal. If you need a free audio recording and edition program, I suggest Audacity. That’s what I use. It’s free and open source.

Step 2: Upload to the Internet Archive

On Archive.org, click on the SHARE button. If you don’t have an account, you’ll be prompted to create one. You can even login with your usual OpenID if you have one. If you’ve already created your WordPress.com account (which you will need to do in Step 3), you can use your WordPress.com URL as your OpenID/Login.

With the SHARE button, your browser will prompt you to select the file or files. On the new page, you’ll be able to see the status of your upload. In the Title field, put the short name of your podcast. Archive.org will generate an identifier with this name that you can use to add more episodes of your podcast as your create them. Although you really don’t need to keep all of your podcasts under the same identifier and can upload anywhere, the site has what it calls Collections and it simplifies things to keep all of your episodes under the same collection. The description and keyword fields should be about the general podcast and not episode specific. Choose a license if you want. Finally, click Share My File(s).

It will take a minute or so for the site to create your page. Save the url that it generates as this is where you’ll be updating your podcast from now on. Under “Audio Files”, you’ll see the file name of your episode. Right click (Windows) or Command click (Mac) on the listand copy the link URL to your audio file to your clipboard.

Step 3: Create your WordPress.com Site

In this example, I’m using a free WordPress.com blog. You can substitute the blogging site and software of your choice as long as it will generate an rss feed.

Follow the directions on the site to sign up. It’s pretty straightforward. Create a new blog post. Put the episode title as your post title. Add any description or show notes or links about the episode as needed in the body. At the very end, paste your url to the mp3 and make the url link to the mp3. Publish the post to the web.

Step 3: Create your podcast RSS feed

This is the part that turns your blog and mp3 file into a real published and subscribe ready podcast. By default, WordPress.com will put a link to your RSS feed on your blog’s page. Copy that url. Google’s Feedburner service makes this part pretty easy. Log into your Google account or create a Feedburner account and past the URL in the field marked Burn a Feed right this instant. Check the box that says I’m a podcaster. Hit next. You’ll have to title and create a short url for your feed. Continue through the options hitting next and filling out all of the fields until Feedburner says “You have successfully updated the Feed”.

Step 4: Submit your podcast to iTunes

Most of my listeners come from iTunes, so this step is pretty important. Follow this link to Submit Podcasts to the iTunes Directory. This will open iTunes. Copy your feed URL from Feedburner, paste it into the iTunes’ Podcast Feed URL box, hit continue until your submission is complete. It could take up to a few days for your podcast to appear in the iTunes Podcast directory.

That’s it, you now have now have a podcast!

Comments

• March 6, 2010, Matt writes: This was a great walk-through. It helped me immensely and actually got my podcast up and on iTunes, all for free too! Thank you!

Marble Bowl

Comments

• January 30, 2010, Indigene writes: Wonderful concept, sort of dreamy! .-= Indigene´s last blog ..Focused On Positive Art that Uplifts the Spirit! =-.

photo credit: Angélique ~

• CNET. 2009 Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide

From the mouth of the tech news site CNET comes a great guide including articles on budget gadgets, luxuries and green stuff. Highlights: Canon PowerShot A480 10 MP Digital Camera. Klipsch IMAGE S4 In-Ear Headphones.

• Etsy Gift Guides

The editor’s of Etsy list their favorite handmade and unique gifts in a ton of categories. Highlight: Egg Carton Book

• ExtraBux Gift Guide: Grown-Up Stocking Stuffers

8 stocking stuffers for adults. Highlight: Burt’s Bees Mini Lip Gloss Collection

• Heeb Magazine’s Graphic Novel Gift Guide

I don’t talk about illustration and drawing quite enough anymore. If you’re here looking for a gift for the illustration enthusiast in your life, maybe these graphic novels will work for you. Highlights: The Book of Genesis Illustrated. All Star Superman.

• Gamertell’s 2009 Holiday Gift Guide

Gamers need love too. Look here for video games and gaming gear. Highlights: Dead Space Extraction for Wii

• Chicago Now: Our Favorite Green Gifts

For the environmentally conscious person. Or maybe a gift for the person you want to be more environmentally aware. Highlight: KOR BPA-Free Water Bottles

• GQ’s Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide

GQ Magazine’s gift guide filled with fashion conscious and stylish selections. For a laugh, also check out their Tiger Woods Gift Guide. (Sorry, Tiger!) Highlights: Ion USB Portable Turntable. Fujifilm Instax Mini 7S Camera.

• Entertainment Weekly’s Holiday Gift Guide

Shopping ideas for TV lovers, movie lovers and star watchers. See also: ‘Twilight’: 12 Great Gifts! Highlight: Gilmore Girls: The Complete Series Collection.

• Times Online’s Geek-free gadget guide for Christmas 2009

Enough said. Highlight: ASUS EEE Seashell netbook

• ANidea’s 2009 Holiday Gift Guide

This guide compiles ideas from social network sites such as twitter and Facebook. Highlights: Vibram Five Fingers

Gifts for Graphic Designers: A Wish List

My own guide selecting out items and ideas for the graphic designers of the world. Highlight: Pantone 100 Top Colors

The Lifehack Last-Minute Gift-Giving Guide

Last-Minute edit to the list to add Lifehacker’s guide. Highlight: The Men’s Underwear Repair Kit

In many cases, such as in the Momnesia photo, I helped further develop the photo concepts and art direct the shots to some small degree. The photographers are excellent to work with and really deserve all the credit. For the most part, I just try to tell the story with the design and hope the ideas comes across.

Howard Magazine Editorial Design: Kids Count

Maryland Family Magazine Editorial Layout: Preschool Listing

Maryland Family Magazine Editorial Layout: The Importance of Preschool Volunteers

Maryland Family Magazine Editorial Layout: Preschool Listing

Maryland Family Magazine Editorial Layout: Can your newborn hear?

Howard Magazine Editorial Layout: Best of Dining 2009

Howard Magazine Editorial Layout: Momnesia

Howard Magazine Editorial Layout: Who was Claudia Mayer?

Baby Steps Magazine Editorial Layout: What’s the difference between age 3 and 4? Plenty!

Maryland Family Magazine Editorial Layout: Private & Parochial Open House Guide

Maryland Family Magazine Editorial Layout: Family Favorites Ballot

After confirming that you own your e-mail address, compose a message on the site. Or you can send to a special lettermelater.com e-mail address. Either way, specify when you want the e-mail to be sent. It will go out into the world just as if you sent it yourself!

LetterMeLater’s free service limits the size of attachments and how many messages you can send a month. For $19.95 you can get more messages and send bigger ones.

LetterMeLater.com

Think about it. You can create furniture models easily and then design the new interior decor of your house. You can animate and share the videos. And many models are available for your use to play with for free. The program can access the net to get whatever it needs.

There is a free version and also a more powerful Pro version:

With the Google 3D Warehouse, everything you might need is already out there for you to quickly mock up your city, town, school project or that new bedroom set.

With the new version objects that are smarter and know how to react to you. drawing hints that are clearer and more consistent.

Google Sketchup [Google.com]

Comments

• October 29, 2009, akento writes: Brian: Thanks for the 3D info on Sketchup. Been a while since I reviewed the platform. Good job on your blog articles & content here. Planning a new blog for Storyboard Artist Services to ad agencies. Kent

TwitterLink Comments

For WordPress Blogs: The TwitterLink Comments plugin will add a new field to your comment so readers can add their Twitter username. Right along side their website name in your comments, they’ll get a link to their twitter.

You can either the plugin to automatically set up your form and display or the link to avoid ever needing to touch a template. Or you can do it manually for more control.

You can even customize the CSS classes, HTML, link and message within the settings page!

TwitterLink Comments [comluv.com]

Rubber stamp

Scalloped scissors and typewriter

Reusing perfume samples

Tissue Boxes and Marker

Cereal Boxes

More Cereal Box Cards

Gift Tags

Comments

• September 29, 2009, Felisha Wheeler writes: Great innovative ideas.. Thank you for uploading pictures.. .-= Felisha Wheeler´s last blog ..Club Toys that always attract you =-.

How to listen? The most popular way to listen to podcasts is to use the iTunes software. The name “podcast” is misleading since you can access them without having any iPod related hardware or software.

For more information, read the Wikipedia article about podcasts.

Recommended Podcasts

Here are podcasts that I really listen to. Instead of just telling you what they’re about, I’ll highlight the latest episode at the time of writing this and give you .

Audio Podcasts

Daily Giz Wiz is a hilarious daily gadgets podcast featuring fun, wacky and sometimes even useful gadgets. The gadgets are really often just a premise and setup for tons of jokes. Each episode features several funny jingles and themes; for example, Gadget Warehouse Fridays pulls out dead gadgets from the past. The hosts are Dick DeBartolo of Mad Magazine and Leo Laporte, formerly of TechTV. The latest episode was a Turn the Table Tuesday episode which breaks the formula of Dick (the Giz Wiz himself) presenting the gadgets. My favorite thing is when they have the Mad Minute, presenting Mad Magazine type humor. Recommended if your interested in: Technology, Computers, Gadgets, Jingles

This Week in Tech. Tech news with Leo Laporte and a panel of top industry folk.

The Quick and Dirty Tips Network provides just what you’d expect with that name. The original is Grammar Girl

Munchcast. Hilarious podcast about foods we all know and love.

NPR. Concerts, tech news, financial advice and various other podcasts delivered straight from NPR radio.

Science Talk: The Podcast of Scientific American. Science news and discussion from the venerable magazine.

Rookie Designer. Graphic design postcast. Pretty well rounded.

Tech Talk Radio. Australia’s take on the technology world.

Tech Weekly. Tech news from The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom.

The InDesigner. Video tutorials about InDesign.

WebbAlert. A daily tech news roundup.

Battlestar Galactica Podcast

Buzz Out Loud. Tech news and opinions.

JobDig Career Advice. Tips for being a great part of the workforce.

GQ Radio

InDesign Secrets

HBO Comedy Stand Up Comedy

Summer Programs & Camp Guide Illustration

Last February, I finished designing the Summer Programs & Camp Guide 2009 edition (Patuxent Publishing/Baltimore Sun). It was just the year before that I had taken over the supplement/special sections design position and so this was my first time completing the Camp Guide from beginning to end. The interior pages are grayscale, so I had to come up with some texture. I decided on using a crumpled paper that was created in Photoshop. I don’t know if I’ve ever said, but most of these publications are designed using InDesign to put together the pieces.

The cover montage was decided on to cover the scope of the editorial pieces, but I did illustrate an original cover (see below). Both also use the crumpled texture effect. It’s all over the place. The sports and skating stories had new photos taken. (by Justin Kase)

This was the alternate cover for the Summer Camp Guide. (Original Illustration by Brian E. Young)

Comments

• July 21, 2009, moony soprano writes: Your cover illustration for the camp guide is very appealing. Reminiscent of the style and colors used for children's book illustration. Great work!

I sold this painting, Sonnet of Snow, on eBay a few years ago.

Buy what you like. Look at lots of art and learn your tastes. Pick out art pieces that you feel express your personality and fit with your lifestyle. Is this something you will feel comfortable displaying in your space? Will you enjoy talking about it? Will looking at it every day enrich your life? It’s okay to be eclectic if that’s your personality. Have you been to museums and galleries? What really excited you there?

Ask a friend to help if you don’t trust your eye. There is a lot of junk out there online. That’s part of the fun of it, but when it’s about your money you may need an art saavy help. E-mail your friends about it or ask for opinions on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace. Post on artist’s message boards such as Wetcanvas for professional advice.

Know what you’re buying it for. The average person won’t be buying for an art collection or for an investment. Buy art that works in your home or office. Measure out a space or wall. Is there a theme to the room? If it’s for an office, is the piece fitting with the professional image of the company? While a piece of art doesn’t have to match the colors of a room, you will want to consider how the colors of the artwork will look in your space. Be prepared to frame or re-frame the work as this is the more important to fit your decor. Keep works away from direct sunlight. A small piece of art displayed on a large wall won’t look as nice as a piece that fits the space perfectly. So plan accordingly if you can. If it’s a flat piece, cut a piece of paper to the size of the artwork and place it on the wall to get a better idea of how it will work in your space.

Art can be a meaningful gift for a friend of a family member. If you’re buying art as a gift, buy a piece that says something about your relationship with the person: a moment you shared, a subject or color that you know they love, or something that seems special. Just remember this is something meant to be displayed so only do this if you really know they will want to display this piece in their home. You don’t want to give them a painting that they’ll only hang when they know you’re coming over.

Do your research. Find out more about the artist that you want to buy from. You don’t want to buy a piece that is just a blatant copy or rip off of another artist, for example. Read the descriptions and fine print. You also don’t want something in your space that might have a meaning that you didn’t intend. Something displayed in your home represents your ethics, values, and tastes. You might even decide that you want to buy from a local artist, an artist who attended your college, one who supports a organic workflow or some other quirk that fits with your personality. That’s what makes for a great conversation piece in your home. Visit the artist’s website. Sign up for the artist’s newsletter or RSS feed to keep up with their work after you’ve bought it.

Decide on a reasonable budget after looking at pieces you may want. I emphasize reasonable since you probably won’t know what the market value for types of art without some research. If you’re expected a 6-foot sculpture for $30, you’re going to need to downsize your expectations or expand your budget.

Request a letter of authenticity if it’s not specifically mentioned to be provided. This document should contain artist’s name, title, dimensions, medium and year of creation. The point is to buy an original piece of art and this simple document will ensure that you have. Make sure it has an assurance by the seller that it is an authentic original work. Keep any documentation in a safe place and make copies.

Resources

eBay’s Direct from Artist listings
Wetcanvas, online community of artists