series | Croncast - From Cool to Cul De Sac

betsy says . . .

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:07:57 -0500

that this is the best description of where i come from. i will say that all these pictures in this series are underpinnings of who i am.

Tags: series underpinnings pictures say best

awsome showerheads of the universe number one

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:24:21 -0500

i start these photo mini series with the best of intentions trying to group like things . . .fails everytime.

I i've done sinks, jackets, beat up cars, bathroom reading materials, etc.

anyway, thought this showerhead from ranch de juan havens was worth its own one photo mini series.

Tags: photo mini series anyway thought

Interviewed by Podcast Free America

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:59:00 -0600

Ryan Irelan of Podcast Free America has started a new series of "interviews with podcasters and new media producers about the stuff they do to make their podcasts great."

Ryan punched my ticket over the weekend and released the interview yesterday, "Inside Look: Kris Smith of Croncast".

We talked a little about the show and its origins, gear and quite a bit about RSS. I can't get enough of the RSS talk.

Look for some more interviews of other long-time podcasters in the future from PFA.

Thanks to Ryan for letting me ramble on!

Tags: PreSonus Sony Sound Forge Ryan Irelan Podcast Free America RSS

Magnified and framed

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 07:27:01 -0600

I came across this really cool flickr photo stream last night of a series of unique shots.

Here's the set and below is a sample.

Tags: magnifying glass diego huacuja flickr intersting photos

Betsy and her husband Kris Dec 12, 2007

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:27:04 -0600

Croncast - 2007-12-12.mp3
Show: #444
Length: 25:31
Size: 17.5mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

My stalker is back
Kris, put the shoe on the other foot
He thinks you are stalking him
I keep my eye on everyone
You are so cute when you laugh
You have the bobble body Mr B
Put it out there to the Secret
You have got to stop this Secret crap
I want to do a training series for HR professionals
How to hire a guy like me and How to hire a gal like me
Gal would be done by Nicole Simon
I need that gum scraper here at home
I have to pay the kids to clean
Elliot gets Webkinz
Listen, it is my trained earwigs
They mulch aluminum cans for me
The cafe press store, so far I have license plate frames
Here it is, shirts on the way
My dad told me white collar prison isn't so bad
Conjugal visits through the fence
We need to have a jail baby
So you can have something to look forward to
Do you mean motivation?
I never met my daddy
He and mama hug real close through the fence
You talked be out of babies
The home vasectomy reversal kit waiting for me at home
Sure, loaded with knitting needles and cat gut
More dog clothing breakdown
I actually heard from your mom that
"The veins are so close in her feet the blood would freeze her heart"
Goodwill has been picking up
My new passion is China
I just got bit by something
My trained earwigs are doing my bidding

Audience Survey, please fill this out for us
Look for the graphic on "Audience Survey" on the main page

Tags: Webkinz The Secret china patterns conjugal visits earwigs

Betsy and her husband Kris Nov 05, 2007

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 07:18:32 -0600

Croncast - 2007-11-05.mp3
Show: #429
Length: 30:35
Size: 21.0mb
Format: mp3

Betsy and her husband Kris Nov 05, 2007

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Betsy sneaks up on you . . .be prepared
Happy Birthday Mr. Mark Chernesky!
The Strawberry Short Cake house
I know why you are stuck in the 80's now
Explain what is on the table
Fisher Price loving family Beatle
Left Behind the kids series
More fear for your kids
The kids wonder if they will ever make it home
End of times, end of days whatever
I need to write a kids book
All about death
Three pages - you were born, you lived and you died
How can you be that grumpy?
What?
Yeah the morning didn't start so good
Maggie at a refillable pencil part
We spent morning at the emergency room
Sure now you want to tell me that I am a bad mommy
Betsy is full of the venom today
Kenny Logins and Annette Funicello made a teddy bear
They are friends with Kenny Rogers
What?
Everyone in the biz is friends with Kenny Rogers
That bears purrty
More venom
Tubs of the Christmas stuff thanks to Unitarians
Yeah, I don't want to look at it
Maggie might end up eating this stuff
Kris is listening just not paying attention
Vickie was important to have for Wheel of Fortune auditions
How am I bad at the improv?

Audience Survey, please fill this out for us
Look for the graphic on "Audience Survey" on the main page

Tags: Strawberry Short Cake Mark Chernesky Kenny Logins emergency room Annette Funicello

Buy Rockies Tickets at flafoo.com

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:41:02 -0500

If you missed your shot at picking up some World Series tickets, Colorado Rockies Fans, you can find them for sale at flafoo - http://flafoo.com/rockies+tickets.

Boston Fans you can do the same at flafoo (the Switzerland of the internet) - http://flafoo.com/red+sox+tickets.

Tags: World Series Boston Red Sox Rox Colorado Rockies World Series Tickets

Successful Web Design for Podcasting

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:31:39 -0500

You can listen to web design and RSS nerd out from my presentation at Podcast Academy 4 last September on "Successful Web Design for Podcasting". It is in the Podcast Academy channel from GigaVox Media.

Thanks to GigaVox team for putting on this series and letting me be a part of it.

Tags: Podcast Academy GigaVox Podcast Academy 4 Kristopher Smith

Podcast Academy 5 Presentations

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 15:33:56 -0500

Thanks to Steve Fisher tipping me to the release of the Podcast Academy 5 presentations, mine included. Get them here(mine's toward the bottom): Podcast Academy 5 Schedule
iTunes

The Duke folks have links to our presentations in audio and video. Woot! You can see me in all my glory and gesticulations.BTW, in the very beginning of my presentation . . . you might think I am crazy but the voice that I am talking to is nearly inaudible.

I'll hip you non-nerds to something that might save you some time. I get way nerdy about authenticated and personalized RSS feeds for 38 minutes. So you might want to pass.

Thanks to the Duke team and to GigaVox Media for making this event happen and letting me be a part of it.

Check out the sessions from these other guys too.

Tim Bourquin, Greg Cangialosi, Noah Bonnett and Michael Geoghegan at Podcast Academy 5

Tags: Tim Bourquin Greg Cangialosi Noah Bonnett Michael Geoghegan Kris Smith

Betsy and her husband Kris Feb 02, 2007

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 07:27:59 -0600

Croncast - 2007-02-02.mp3

Show: #334
Length: 34:16
Size: 23.5mb
Format: mp3

Betsy and her husband Kris February 02, 2007

Nick T rating of 4

Nick T rating system:
Scale: 1 = Safe for everyone
Scale: 2 = Some parental guidance
Scale: 3 = Maybe this is for 12+
Scale: 4 = Not legal? Probably not for you - Adult themes (like HBO series)
Scale: 5 = Only safe for Betsy's dad

The jokey who left the 300th comment on the Wii Friend Code post
1 (900) Wii-Code
Getting them on the line to chat about their code
Anybody here? Anybody here? Anybody here?
I'm here . . . Now refresh
Betsy shook me down for old equipment to sell on eBay
She sold my brown Zune to some sorry soul
Yeah, I thought it sucked
Next to the Netgear SPH101 Skype phone it was the worst
iTunes is so far ahead of where Microsoft wants to be
The store is a science . . . MS doesn't have a chance starting so far behind
Urge? Yeah, urge to puke . . . urge to bodily
She also sold my DBX compressor/limiter/gate thing
Sold to the Columbus Arts Council
Betsy, "I have a new business idea."
Rows of monitors like head stones staring at you
Maybe they need parts
If I can sell it, it doesn't matter if it was free to me
"Free to Me" to be Betsy's autobiography title
Haven't you said about 100 times that you are going to do that
Land of Nod trip for the purse business
Is this a purse business anymore?
It's back to any hustle that you can get?
Yes, you're right Bears
Manipulating the Land of Nod staff with crying babies
The best day is to go the first day of the month for mark downs
Why it is no longer a purse business
What people expect in our basement . . . it is underwhelming
The Wii article ran in Reuters and then got picked up in many places
Betsy reads the article
"If you have ever picked you nose or punched someone . . . "
I am so embarrassed
What a 32 year old tool
Bernadette says, "Have you thought of horses?"
We know how that would go
Needle in the balls and bullet in the head
Betsy says they still cap them
Dramatic ending needed for champions
Maybe back in 1930 they shot them
FFA, the sheep and the shotgun . . . tell it Betsy
The big dollar sheep showing check
You were chasing the wrong poontang in high school, Kris
Those beefy farm chicks had mad cash

Tags: brown Zune FFA sheep Netgear SPH101 Columbus Arts Council Free to Me

Podcast Academy 5 - February 14th and 15th

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 09:34:22 -0600

I'll be speaking with a cast of great characters including Tim Bourquin, Greg Cangialosi, Noah Bonnett and Michael Geoghegan at Podcast Academy 5 Feb 14-15, 2007 sponsored by GigaVox Media.

This time it is being held at Duke University . . . so any east coasters interested in academic podcasting, podcasting production or the technical side of podcasting should come out to the event. So don't think that if you haven't defended a thesis you're not welcome. Like I said, I'll be there.

Feel free to read the schedule for more information.

My presentation will be on authenticated and personalized RSS feeds. 'Authenticated' meaning password protected feeds and what they are good for and 'personalized' meaning that the content delivered through the feeds is specific to the individual receiver. I'll also dabble a bit in the importance of being able to track individual RSS usage.

And since this is being held at an academic institution a portion of my presentation will come from my work with JCAHO delivering professional development (sort of academic) with RSS as piece of a low-threshold Learning Managment System (LMS).

Tags: Podcast Academy 5 podcastacademy5 GigaVox GigaVox Media Duke University

About Croncast - From Cool to Cul De Sac

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 12:30:42 -0600

Once cool, Kris and Betsy are now living on a cul de sac and breeding. This is not your typical husband and wife podcast. Betsy should really be on the road making mad cash but that would interfere with breastfeeding.

A bit more:
We've been podcasting since November 8th, 2004
We release podcasts every Mon - Wed - Fri by 3:00 P.M. CST
You could listen one show every weekday for 1 year and 2 months without repeat
- 480+ podcasts
- Average podcast length 32 minutes
- Total length played end to end - 256+ hours (as of 04/14/08)

Check out the show archive page to download past shows.

New to the show?
Try listener favorites from the Vacation Series, Acts 1, 2, 3 and 4. Though it is over a year old you might also try "Croncast - We're Coming Over ". It's a 79 min. best of our first year selected from over 100 hours of Croncasts since Nov '04.

Subscribe with iTunes:

RSS Feed: http://www.croncast.com/all.rss
Shows, news, blog all in one

Tags: Kris Smith Betsy Smith Croncast Funniest Podcast Best Talk Podcast

Rerun Friday is upon us

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:08:52 -0600

This is for those of you catching up on shows. We're heading out of town tomorrow and won't be around to record a new show. Instead of doing a cheesy "What is your worst Thanksgiving moment Betsy?" show we're going to rerun the vacation series.

Maybe you can distract your family with our misery and laughter from our trip to Denver.

And from us to you . . . have as good a Thanksgiving Holiday as you can.

Tags: Thanksgiving Denver vacation Croncast vacation Betsy Smith Resale Queen

Portable Media Expo audio released

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 13:14:46 -0500

Wanted to let those of you who were interested in my session from the Portable Media Expo a couple weeks ago that the audio from the Expo is now available. The audio is bundled so you can't get individual sessions (like mine) without picking up the entire set for $99.00 for now. GigaVox will be releasing some of them later . . . if my session makes the cut I'll let you know and point you to the podcast.

My recommendation is that if you are interested in podcasting this is a steal. And look at it this way, you didn't have to see the painted gals and you can hear all the good information that was shared.

Some of the other highlights include (from the GigaVox site):

Keynote - Leo Laporte, Host of TWiT and Tech Guy on KFI 640
Keynote - Ron Moore, Executive Producer Battlestar Galactica
Kris Smith - Leveraging Your Knowledge as a Podcasting Consultant
Dave Slusher - "Amateur Means You Do It For Love"
Panel - For Musicians Only: Promoting Your Music with Podcasting
Paul Figgiani - Planning and Building a Podcast Production Studio/li>
Michael Geoghegan - Solving The Corporate Dilemma
Paul Colligan - 7 Proven Strategies to Monetize Your Podcast
Panel - Monetize with Ads and Sponsorship
Jason Van Orden - Promoting Your Podcast: Cost-Effective Strategies
Panel - Podcast Metrics: Gauging Success With Different Audience Segments
Keynote - Andrew Baron, Rocketboom
Peter Levitan - Podcasting: Marketing's New Change-Agent
Panel - Successful Podcasting in Education at the University Level

Tags: Portable Media Expo PME Kris Smith Palegroove Studios GigaVox

I'm speaking - Podcasting: An Insider's View

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:25:42 -0500

Update: View archived session.

~~Register (It's free)~~.

I'm speaking tomorrow for a webinar series put on by ReadyTalk here's the lowdown:

"Kris Smith will bring his insider's view of podcasting from the beginning of this exciting medium straight through to today and into the future. We'll discuss podcasting's history, tools, music, theme, content creation, copyright and other tips that can help you hit the ground running as a producer."

Tags: Kris Smith podcasting ReadyTalk webinar Palegroove

Speaking: PME and Podcast Academy two days!

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 13:23:08 -0500

No time like the present to let the world know that this Thursday I'll be in Ontario, CA speaking at the Podcast Academy 4 and Podcast and Portable Media Expo.

On September 28th I will deliver the 'Integration' session at the Podcast Academy on "Successful Web Design for Podcasting". I will be comparing successful podcasting sites, techniques for user interface design and code engines that can make implementing a podacast site quick and simple.

On September 30th I'll be leading a session titled "Leveraging Your Knowledge as a Successful Podcasting Consultant". Isn't that a mouthfull? During this session I will share my experiences as a podcast consultant both good and could have been better, communicating ideas effectively to the client, what to put in a proposal, and tips on streamlining your audio production.

We'll also talk pricing.

Tags: Podcast Academy Podcast and Portable Media Expo Kris Smith PME Gigavox

Referrer spammers get Wiki smart

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:57:35 -0500

I just checked the referrers to Croncast for the day and with the usual referrer spam traffic URL's like supertexasholdem.com and acasinopokerplaynowloser.com was one from wiki.cs.uiuc.edu.

I thought cool a wiki at UIUC here in Chicago had a link to us. Wrong! These everchanging spammers posted in the wiki itself a URL that hijacks the page and refreshes to a series of poker domains.

Brilliant! But a huge pain in the ass. If I am new to this and this phenomena is old hat forgive my stumbling upon this now, but damn what a mess this is going to cause with legitimate wiki's being used.

P.S. I am not going to put the link in this post but if you want it I can email it to you. Just drop me a line.

Tags: referrer spam wiki's hijacked wiki wiki hijacking poker

Brotherhood's heart beginning to beat

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 07:16:10 -0500

Brotherhood, an original series from Showtime has finally started to come to life after 4 episodes. It is too bad that it took this long. If it weren't for OnDemand I wouldn't have recorded them or even cared after the second episode.

Why? The cinematography is a slipshod style with wide angles (that finally work) and color blown out of most shots for a gritty feel. The story is slowly progressing but like all new shows the introduction of characters seemed forced and predictable. Not a recipe for entertainment success.

But that wasn't it. My real problem with the show was and still is editing. The replaying of multiple shots, rough cuts and the worst, from this audio guys humble opinion, is the sound design. Background and meaningless sounds are brought to the front of the audio mix and they seem out of place. How about a deck of cards being shuffled cranked up so high that it sounds like someone eating an ice cream cone at warp speed.

At episode 4 things are coming together. The photography is meshing with the story, the reuse of shots seems to have stopped and the characters are a little less predictable than before. If you haven't seen Brotherhood I do recommend it as a good study of, "What would I do in that situation?".

BTW, I did figure out why the sound design in some of these episodes is off . . . at the end of episode 3 there is a great sequence for a Nine Inch Nails song that is total rock star video. And, amazingly, it fits with the story. I'm thinking they blew the audio budget getting the rights to the song and the audio engineer is some guy's 8 year old kid.

Tags: Brotherhood Showtime Sho sound design TV