Library has more than books, creates a Fab Lab with 3D printer, podcast studio, green screen

What exactly is a fab lab? “These spaces, known as Fabrication Labs (fab labs), Hackerspaces, and Tech Shops, share common goals: collaboration and ‘making.’ They exist to give their specific communities the ability to ‘make’ through sharing knowledge and skills. They provide the technology necessary to make almost anything. However, these spaces often provide services …

Apple finally releases a Podcast app – with subscriptions, top charts, skip forward/back

Earlier this month, it was reported that Apple would be launching a standalone podcast app in iOS 6. Instead of waiting for the next version of iOS, Apple posted the Podcast app on the App Store today. Podcasts app is the easiest way to discover, subscribe to and play your favorite podcasts on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. …

The Art of Fermentation in coffee, bread, beer, cheese, yogurt…

The list of fermented food in our lives is staggering: bread, coffee, pickles, beer, cheese, yogurt and soy sauce are all transformed at some point during their production process by microscopic organisms that extend their usefulness and enhance their flavors. The process of fermenting our food isn’t a new one: Evidence indicates that early civilizations …

Shakespeare’s Restless World – fascinating new podcast from BBC Radio 4

British Museum Director Neil MacGregor presents Shakespeare’s Restless World, a new series for Radio 4. The 20-part series looks at the world through the eyes of Shakespeare’s audience by exploring objects from that turbulent period. Examining these objects, Neil discusses how Elizabethan playgoers understood and made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in …

iTunes University – free online education – is booming with 100s of millions of downloads

This month both Stanford and Open University reached 50 million downloads of their iTunes U content, a major milestone for online education. Altogether, the service from Apple reached 700 million downloads in January 2012.   Stanford News: In subjects ranging from human behavior to linguistics, Stanford lectures…have been downloaded a whopping 50 million times. The …

Vivek Express – new train connects India over 2,600 miles in 83 hours

A fascinating new podcast for travelers/adventurers talks about the Vivek Express which starts in the far North East of India and travels all the way to the southern tip. It has 52 stops, takes 83 hours, and travels over 4,200 kilometers. It is the 8th longest train in the world. The cost to ride is …

New iPhone app: Stitcher Radio (finally a podcast subscription app!)

There is an awesome iPhone app I want to recommend to you called Stitcher Radio. The key feature of this app is the ability to subscribe to podcasts. Avid listeners know that iTunes offers subscriptions and automatic downloads, but the iPhone doesn’t. For years we have had to individually look up our favorite shows, every …

The Year in Podcasts – best of 2011 from iTunes Rewind

iTunes recently released their 2011 list in the form of iTunes Rewind which covers several categories, including podcasts. Unfortunately, it’s not available online, only in iTunes, so I pulled it out for us. Best of All Best New Audio – The Jillian Michaels Show Best Audio – NPR’s Fresh Air Best New Video – Epic …

U.S. demand for OPEC decreasing "extraordinarily fast"

From Bloomberg Surveillance (podcast): OPEC Matters Less for U.S. Jan Stuart, head of energy research at Credit Suisse Securities in London, says the U.S. is decreasing its dependence on foreign oil at a rate that is “extraordinarily fast.” Running Time: 12:30 But, global demand (China, India) for OPEC is increasing and with Saudi Arabia remaining the …