Become an iOS app developer

Quite possibly the most watched and most popular series on iTunes U, Stanford University programming series “CS 193P“ covers iOS development. Originally titled “iPhone Application Programming” when launched in 2008 and taught by Apple employees Alan Cannistraro and Paul Marcos, this series of lectures has kept up to date with changes in iOS development, and its latest rendition, “Developing Apps for iOS” is very well-rounded. Adding to this course’s value are the slides and assignments also made available online by Stanford.

See through a different lens

If you’re looking for artistic inspiration, consider MIT’s “Sensing Place: Photography as Inquiry.” While the creator of this series of eight lectures could stand to take some lessons in videography, the discussions and dialogue are well worth the time invested in watching them. National Geographic also has a great series called “Masters of Photography” that takes you behind the scenes of some of their amazing projects. If you’re looking for something a little more technical that will help you with post-production editing with Photoshop, consider Jason Welsh’s “Photoshop CS5” from Michigan’s MI Learning.

Get philosophical

You can get a good foundation by attending Oxford University’s four-part “Philosophy for Beginners,”  then dive right into the big questions about life, the universe and everything with Yale’s Professor Shelly Kagan in “Death.” If you’re wanting something a little more practical, though, then go back to Oxford for the twelve part “Critical Reasoning for Beginners.”  Finally, a little off the beaten path of philosophy, and more grounded in mathematical logic, consider a refresher course in “Probability and Statistics” with Diane Kiernan.

Geek out on physics

MIT’s Professor Walter Lewin has a series of physics lectures called “Physics I: Classical Mechanics” that is on par with PBS’s classic Julius Sumner Miller and even the more recognizable Bill Nye the Science Guy. In fact, Professor Lewin’s lectures have been viewed over 5 million times by people all over the world. The big draw online has been his live demonstrations, including one experiment involving a human pendulum. Unfortunately ,Professor Lewin gave his final ‘performance’ earlier this year in lecture hall 26-100. But his book For the love of Physics is available in the iBookstore as both an eBook and audiobook, and of course his previous lectures are still available on iTunes U.

Explore the universe

The Michigan State University Department of Physics hosts a series of open lectures titled “Saturday Morning Physics” that has become quite popular online.  If you’re a fan of the Science Channel’s “Through the Wormhole” with Morgan Freeman or “Wonders of the Universe” with Brian Cox (both series available on iTunes), then you definitely need to check out Ted Bergin’s ”How Did Earth Get Its Water.”  The University of California has also put together a well-rounded series called “Astronomy.”

My list barely scratches the surface of what’s available on iTunes U.  And accessing the content couldn’t be easier, since you subscribe to iTunes University courses in the same way as you subscribe to podcasts. So take a look, you just might learn something.

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Audio Podcasts for iPhone/iPod Touch

TWiT TV’s The Tech Guy. (iTunes Link) Leo Laporte is the Chuck Norris of all tech-based talk shows on any format. Leo may be trying to record every moment of his life, given the number of shows he’s involved with. With audio and video podcasts, and traditional over-the-air shows, it’s amazing he finds the time to tweet. While Leo tends to be more Mac-focused than PC, the tech discussions can go either way.

The Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab. (iTunes Link) Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun have been with The Mac Observer for a long time, and have been producing a quality podcast for almost as long. Their enthusiasm never seems to die out. The depth of knowledge they have regarding Mac-related technologies is proven over and over. There’s also an enhanced iTunes version with premium content, but you can only grab it through iTunes.

The MacCast. (iTunes Link) For Mac geeks by Mac geeks. With five years of history behind him, Adam Christianson is another veteran of all things Mac. The variety that each show has to offer is refreshing. Adam is very articulate, and you can easily visualize the detailed step-by-step walk-througsh typically included in each show.

Mac OS Ken. (iTunes Link) A quick podcast bringing you the latest Mac news — all of the latest Mac news. Ken Ray has a familiar format that’s often imitated. At times, you expect a full-on rant to ensue, but Ken manages to pull back and keep to the facts with just enough commentary to keep things interesting. This podcast even has its own iOS app.

For Mac Eyes Only. (iTunes Link) Beyond the quick tips, the weekly program is a collection of how-tos mixed in with news and rumors being discussed online.

Listening to Podcasts

Lately, I’ve been trying to steer clear of having to sync daily. I use MobileMe to keep my bookmarks, contacts, calendar and notes in sync when on the go. I have my favorite albums on hand and utilize services like Pandora to fulfill my other music needs. Podcasts, on the other hand, are very time-based, and it wasn’t until I found Podcaster for $1.99 in the App Store (iTunes link) that I was able to wean my iPhone completely off of its dependence on iTunes. Without having to search all over again for my favorite podcasts, I was able to export the OPML file from iTunes, upload and share the file from my MobileMe iDisk, and import the URL into Podcaster. That way, my iPhone will always grab the most current content automatically.

Think we’re missing any truly great audio podcasts? Please share in the comments.

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HD Video Podcasts for Apple TV

TWiT TV’s This Week in Tech (TWiT). (iTunes Link) Leo Laporte was at the core of The Screen Savers, and TWiT is what is left of of the old classic, in podcast form.  While not as polished as a it’s studio production of times past, the video is more like a visual of a radio talk show. The technologies covered are not specifically or exclusively Apple related, but conversations seem to always come around to Apple in one way or another. The only fault Leo has is that he has remained friends with John C. Dvorak, a well-established Mac critic. Coincidently, John’s awesome show, Cranky Geeks would have made the list, if it had not been canceled. (Show Notes)

Revision3′s Tekzilla. (iTunes Link) Patrick Norton co-hosted Screen Savers for a long time and now works at Revision3.  Veronica Belmont co-hosts the longer weekly version and seems to take the lead on many of the shorter daily episodes.  Again while not centered on solely Apple content, the show does tend to feature Apple related technology more than not. Patrick is a straight shooter that gets right to the point.  More than just the facts, the opinions and reviews of technology expressed on the show are are well worth considering. (Show Notes)

Revision3′s diggNation. (iTunes Link) Despite the fact that the Digg website is in trouble due to a failed upgrade earlier this year, Kevin “Mac” Rose and Alex “PC” Albrecht were the original PC vs. Mac odd couple. Kevin was once featured on The Screen Savers, and Alex co-hosted the G4 version of the program as Kevin’s comic relief sidekick just before G4 decided to cancel it.  At times, the show can seem to lack any focus at all, but it’s still an icon of the Mac vs. PC battle. (Show Notes)

Revison3′s GeekBeat.TV. (iTunes Link) Cali Lewis, once a co-host on Call for Help with Leo Laporte, is at it again with a new show, GeekBeat.  It  covers a wide variety of gadgets and technology.  While Cali has in the past been a very devoted Mac lover, recently she has been straying away from Apple by using various “other” smart phones.  Truly a gadget lover, Cali was featured as one of the ShowGirls in 2007 as well as being part of a GoDaddy Superbowl commercial. I highly recommend trying to keep up with this almost daily podcast. (Show Notes)

Pixel Corps’ MacBreak. (iTunes Link) There’s a series of Mac-specific podcasts produced under the Pixel Corps umbrella. One of the more famous podcasts is MacBreak Weekly, which Leo Laporte co-hosts. Also in the series are Dev, Studio, Tech, and Work-specific versions of the show.  Founded by Alex Lindsay, the crew at Pixel Corps are dedicated to digital production.  It should therefore be no surprise that MacBreak was the first podcast shot in 1080p.  If the earlier four recommendations did not have enough Mac content, this one won’t leave you wanting. (Show Notes)

Viewing Podcasts

If you’re like me, and are now subscribing to the video podcasts on your Apple TV as favorites, simply take the list above and search for the podcasts in the internet section of Apple TV. Be sure to add them as a favorite so you don’t have to keep searching for them again and again. Otherwise, find them in iTunes and subscribe to keep them synced to your iOS device. Think we’re missing any truly great ones? Please share in the comments.

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If you’ve never heard of Huffduffer before, you’re in for a treat. If maybe you’ve played around with it before but never quite grokked it, this may help shift your thinking a bit. Simply put, Huffduffer helps you publish an RSS feed of audio files you find online. Once published, this “podcast” can then be subscribed to via iTunes and its “episodes” synced to your iPod for later enjoyment. Its real value though, comes not from the ease with which it lets you get podcasts onto your iPod, but rather from how effectively the Huffduffer community works together to find and organize great audio content on a wide variety of topics from across the web.

When I first started playing with Huffduffer I thought of it simply as a personal bookmarking site for audio content that happened to be online. This made perfect sense to me as it’s how I’ve been using sites like Delicious for years. Always aware of the community/network aspect of the service for surfacing content, but being more interested in the service’s ability to keep my bookmarks organized in a central place and accessible through an API.

So, I grabbed the bookmarklet, threw it in my bookmarks bar and waited to stumble across some great audio content to save for future use..and waited..and waited. The thing is, I don’t really happen across interesting audio content all that often. It’s not like the blog posts that get shoveled my way all day long via Twitter and Google Reader or the quirky images I get pointed to on TwitPic and Flickr or for that matter the latest LOL video on YouTube or hipster mockumentary on Vimeo. I see those types of links all day long. For some reason though, people don’t seem to share long form audio content in the same way. So the bookmarklet sat in my bookmarks bar, largely unused.

It wasn’t until I ran across Give Me Something To Read that I had my “aha moment” and realized that I should be using the main Huffduffer site in the same way. If you’re not familiar with Give Me Something To Read, it’s essentially a curated list of popular articles being bookmarked across Instapaper. If for some bizarre reason you don’t actually have anything to read, go there and you’ll find great stuff.

Huffduffer provides a number of options for discovering content in this same way. You can browse through tags, look over what’s popular across the service, and follow people who share your interests. Just like you can subscribe to your own Huffduffer podcast in iTunes, you can also subscribe to any of these feeds as well. Once in iTunes you can then obviously sync the podcast to your iPod and listen at your leisure. I’ve been able to find really great content this way. Things I would have otherwise never come across. Anything and everything from a BBC story about the role Douglas Adams played in classic Dr. Who episodes, to an Explanation of Dark Matter, to all the 2010 SXSW panels I missed, and everything in between.

I’ve been using this approach to fill up my iPod for a couple of months now and it makes all the difference in my daily commute; which can range from about an hour to almost two hours depending on how idiotic my fellow DC drivers decide to be. The only thing keeping me sane during this daily marathon of stop and go traffic in a stick shift is having my iPhone loaded up with great podcasts.

I have to admit though, that I do end up feeling like a bit of a drain on the community because the stuff I’m huffduffing for my own podcast is stuff that’s already been hufduffed by someone else. I’d love to be able to supply fresh content to the community but other than trolling through the iTunes store I’m at a bit of a loss for where to locate it. If you’ve got your own secret for finding great audio online please share it in the comments.

Syncing in general has been improved in the sense that users can now drill down and sync more specific content. Music can now be synced by a combination of playlists, specific artists or genres. Podcasts can be synced by specific episodes and TV shows can be synced by specific episodes or seasons.

New altogether is the ability to sync iTunes U content which also has its own category, instead of being mixed in randomly between podcasts and music. Photo syncing has also been greatly enhanced, allowing support for specific albums, events or faces. Searching has also been enabled in many of these areas to allow you to quickly narrow down your choices. While these are all great features, they have really intensified the syncing interface. Hopefully it’s not too much for some users.

Still No Love for Audiobooks?

As mentioned in my wish list, I was really hoping for an improved way to sync audiobooks. Apple answered my hopes in an odd way. In the Music section, you can now search through your artists and, upon searching for a particular author, I was able to sync up those specific audiobooks. This isn’t a perfect solution though as a user may have multiple audiobooks from the same author. Why not just add another tab across the top? Apple added one for iTunes U. (I’m completely kidding. Remember, the interface is getting too complicated. iTunes 8 had eight tabs for syncing options while iTunes 9 brings the number to 10.) I personally feel the number of tabs across the top is too many, but I do feel audiobooks are important enough to warrant a more selective approach for syncing instead of just creating playlists for them.

Home Screens, Sweet Home Screens

Of course, the part most of you will really care about is the ability to organize your iPhone and iPod touch home screens via iTunes. This is simply amazing and is surprisingly quite functional. You simply navigate amongst the home screens, deleting or adding as needed and dragging applications between them. If you want to drag an item from the first screen to the fifth, just click and drag the app and hover over the fifth screen. It’ll pop up in the main view and you can place your app.

You can also select multiple apps by holding down the Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) keys. Moving complete screens around is also a snap, just by clicking and dragging them. All in all, this feature works quite well and should give users no excuse for messy randomly placed apps on their iPhones (or at least quell frustrations of people who attempt to switch between pages while editing apps only to grab and app and move it instead).

Generally speaking, these new syncing options do give users more flexible options to manage content on their devices, but I’m curious to see if any of you feel the interface itself has become a little overblown?

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I basically have two types of podcasts in my library: “timely” news podcasts and “timeless” informational podcasts. Some of the newsy podcasts, like my soccer news (football to the rest of the world), have a limited shelf life. Another example is TV show commentary podcasts. I don’t need to hold on to episodes from three months ago. I really only want the last week or so. Then I have the “timeless” podcasts like NPR Live Concerts that I probably want to keep forever so I can keep those live performances in my iTunes library.

How is it done?

The settings for podcasts in iTunes 8 are found by clicking on the “Settings…” button (whodathunkit?) found at the bottom left below the list of podcasts.

You can select how often iTunes checks for new podcast episodes (every hour, day, week or manually) and you can then use the dropdown labeled “Settings for:” to select individual podcasts. Here’s a look at my default settings, which are configured to keep all episodes.

And the settings for ESPN Soccernet (a “newsy” podcast) where I want to just keep a few recent episodes.

And the settings for NPR: Live Concerts from All Songs Considered Podcast (a “timeless” podcast). Here I just left the default settings to keep all episodes.

These new features are a welcome addition that allow for much better control over your podcast library. Have fun tweaking yours just the way you like it!

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