Minicipal wireless Internet in New West? (spoken word)

This afternoon, I appeared on CBC Radio Vancouver's "On the Coast" drivetime show. Guest host Jaeny Baik and I talked about the City of New Westminster's feasibility study/pilot project to create a citywide Wi-Fi network (from the May 11 New West council meeting). We didn't cover everything I wanted to mention—most notably, community-driven mesh networking approaches—but I think it was still a worthwhile discussion. It became a seven-and-a-half-minute interview (2.3 MB MP3 file). © 2009 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Cancer a year later (spoken word)

More than a year after my previous appearance on CBC Radio about my cancer, I spoke with (5.2 MB, about 12 minutes) host Stephen Quinn of the afternoon radio show "On the Coast" about all the drastic stuff I've been through since June 2007, including my major surgeries and several chemotherapy regimes, as well as the new phase of my cancer treatment, that of living with the disease rather than simply trying to destroy it. © 2008 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Life, death, and the blog (spoken word)

I spoke to the Editors' Association of Canada, where I used to be an executive, for more than an hour (24 MB Enhanced AAC audio file) in March 2008. I talked about how I've mixed my online and offline lives since developing colon cancer last year. It's less of a bummer than it sounds, really. The audio file includes accompanying visuals. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit.

Blogging when it gets tough (spoken word)

This audio, from June 29, is my third appearance on the Vancouver afternoon radio show “On the Coast,” following others in January, and again in April. This time my wife joined me on air, and we talked about how I have continued blogging despite further bad news about my cancer diagnosis. We spoke with host Paul Grant for about 10 minutes (6 MB MP3 file) about mortality, the Cancer Foundation’s Underwear Affair, my upcoming birthday and surgery, and the fabulous people at the B.C. Cancer Agency. © 2007 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Happy birthday to Derek from podcasters (spoken word)

Mark Blevis emailed me an audio file (3 min 21 sec), a happy birthday message (I turn 38 tomorrow) from podcasters all over the place. Holy crap. Thanks everybody, I’m stunned. My wife had to get me some tissues after I started listening to it, so it did its job. The backing track is my tune “Fakeout.” The message is © 2007 by Mark Blevis, Bill Deys, Sean McGaughey, and Bob Goyetche, as well as everyone else who contributed. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give everyone involved credit.

Talking more about cancer (spoken word)

I first appeared on “On the Coast,” the popular afternoon drivetime show on Vancouver’s CBC Radio One, at the end of January, talking about how I use my blog to discuss my colorectal cancer. This week I was back again with host Priya Ramu for a followup chat. We spoke for about seven minutes (3 MB MP3 file) about how things are going and what has changed since January, which is fair bit. Priya and I also talked about peanut butter sandwiches. © 2007 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Why blog about my cancer? (spoken word)

On January 30, host Priya Ramu of “On the Coast,” the popular afternoon drivetime show on Vancouver’s CBC Radio One, was skeptical about why I’d want to blog about something as personal as my diagnosis and treatment for colorectal cancer. We talked for nearly nine minutes (5 MB MP3 file) on air about why I chose to be so public about it. There is also a followup interview (6.3 MB) with Barry Stein of the Colorectal Cancer Society of Canada. © 2007 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Thomas Dolby on being like Austin Powers (spoken word)

Starting in the early 1990s, Thomas Dolby spent more than a decade out of the music business, building his company Beatnik from a MIDI synthesizer and web audio firm into the world’s leading provider of polyphonic mobile phone ringtones. Now he’s back recording and touring, and says he’s like the Austin Powers of the music industry, unfrozen and amazed at the new opportunities. He spoke (13 MB MP3 file) in November 2006 in Seattle, and I recorded him there. This is the full 42-minute version; an eight-minute edited version appears in episode #28 of Inside Home Recording, the podcast I co-host. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me and Thomas Dolby credit.

Writing and editing in the new tech world (spoken word)

In October 2006 I spoke to the Editors' Association of Canada about writing and editing (15 MB MP3 file) for websites, email, podcasts, and other new-technology media, which is what I do for a living and as a hobby. I also talked a bit about how search engines work, what “Web 2.0” is, and so on. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit.

SFU onscreen editing workshop (spoken word)

For most people, editing onscreen means Microsoft Word, so when I ran a day-long workshop for Simon Fraser University on July 6, 2006, I focused mostly on Word. The entire workshop was 2 hours, 53 minutes long, and the MP3 file is a little over 50 MB to download. Go to penmachine.com/word for reference notes. If the single big file is too large, you can also get it in three parts: part 1, part 2, part 3. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit.

Build your website, make it work (spoken word)

My seminar on building your own website and making it work effectively. Associated with the Editors' Association of Canada 2006 annual conference in Vancouver. The MP3 file is more than two hours long. If you prefer shorter chunks, download part 1 and part 2. You can also view my slides. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit.

Penmachine Podcast Promo

If you want to promote my tunes on your own podcast, my podcast promo is the way to do it. So far this is the most recent promo MP3 (about 2 MB, 1 minute 30 seconds long). It's also available at Podshow Promos. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit.

Get started with blogging (spoken word)

On February 11, 2006, I was part of a four-man panel (55 min MP3 file, about 13 MB) on getting started with blogging at the second annual Northern Voice conference. The other panelists were Matt Mullenweg, creator of WordPress; Arjun Singh, municipal politician in Kamloops, B.C.; and Roland Tanglao, super-uber-blogger and prolific user of mobile phones. There is also a wiki transcript. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give us credit.

Build your website in 15 minutes or less (spoken word)

Can you build a website in 15 minutes or less? Yes! In fact, during my February 2006 talk (14 MB MP3 file, about 1 hr 23 min) to the Editors' Association of Canada, I did it three times with three different tools. To fill up the time, I also discussed blogs, and how domain servers are like phone books, and why Search Engine Optimization isn’t too useful, and why it’s better to hack yourself out a blog than to try to get your website perfect and never actually update it. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit.