years | Croncast - Life is Show Prep

Bear Dog, Doorman Gossip, SoHo Uniform

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:06:47 -0500

Episode: #715 | Length:33:18 | Format: mp3

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The thing on the block
Doormen are the true housewives of new york
Dreaming of found things in the East River
SoHo man uniform . . .
Dress like a fat farmer?
Cuffed as well
Throwback Banana Republic shirt
It's not about keeping it real
Chinatown outfit?
Hip Hop apparel from three years ago
Anything you want to wear . . . as long as it's black

Tags: newfoundland lots water cuffed skinny jeans soho uniform

Sweet Sickness, Gibberati, Front Facing Camera

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 13:32:16 -0600

Episode: #707 | Length: 28:44 | Format: mp3

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Sweet Sickness
She totally was an escort
Front-facing camera
Gibberati

Tags: kris smith betsy smith 6 years podcast

Man Stuff, Lots of It, Happy New Year

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:59:44 -0600

Episode: #704 | Length: 27:54 | Format: mp3

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Man Stuff
Lots of it
Happy New Year

Tags: kris smith betsy smith 6 years podcast

End It Right, Junker Gene, Queen Bee

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 18:16:50 -0600

Episode: #702 | Length: 21:45 | Format: mp3

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Snowpocalypse
East Coast Style

Tags: kris smith betsy smith 6 years podcast

Season 28 Episode 03: Full Episode!

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 18:12:54 -0600

Episode: #702 Season 28 Ep. 03 FULL
Length: 21:45
Format: mp3

To listen:
1. Click the iTunes link above
2. Once iTunes opens click 'Subscribe' on the top left 'Croncast'
3. Enjoy

Hate iTunes and want to listen?
Head over to this player - http://vil.ag/6Njzxm

A full show to wrap up the year for those that still check the free feed
Happy Merry Peace . . .
Get on board with us for $4.49/month or less

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Tags: kris smith betsy smith 6 years podcast

Tires Spin, Misery Catcher, Snowpocalypse NYC

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:31:24 -0600

Episode: #701 | Length: 31:25 | Format: mp3

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Snowpocalypse
East Coast Style

Tags: kris smith betsy smith 6 years podcast

In Season, Grandma Sitting, Dr Tohpis

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 21:24:29 -0600

Episode: #699 | Length: 27:23 | Format: mp3

To listen to this and all new Croncast episodes Get Cool!

Short on notes
But if you listen you'll know why :)

Tags: kris smith betsy smith 6 years podcast

Organic Tuber, Century 21, The Keys

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:39:05 -0600

Episode: #698 | Length: 27:23 | Format: mp3

To listen to this and all new Croncast episodes Get Cool!

Short on notes
But if you listen you'll know why :)

Tags: kris smith betsy smith 6 years podcast

Wanna party, Giant?

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 22:47:44 -0600

Rambling introspection and poor writing to follow.

The headline? We'll get to that.

A little over a year ago my wife and I moved to New York City with our two children. We left a house and life in suburban Chicago, as evidenced in all these Flickr photos that serve as a reminder of our histroy.

We sold the house, packed up tight and left town in a stretch limo with six suitcases and a hermit crab in my wife's front pocket.

We arrived with no apartment to rent, jobs or money. The money was tied up in the sale of our house that was occurring in a couple days, I had interviews lined up but nothing solid and for lodging a friend named Tom hooked up a tiny studio for the four of us.

I'm going to take the liberty of speeding up this story. I'll share more of it another time.

Needless to say, things didn't work out quite like we have hoped or planned.

I didn't get the jobs that I had interviewed for. The money from the sale of our house didn't clear our bank for 3 weeks. Once it cleared we got on with things.

Which brings me to the short version of things:

New York has been many things to our family. I fell it love with every part of it and convinced my family to come with. They've stood by me as opportunities have come and gone. They've believed in me in what my own personal history will recount as one of the most challenging years of my life.

Things are on the up and I feel a little more comfortable taking the time to look at this last year as a series of challenges.

My children may never forgive me. Hopefully, later in life, they'll appreciate that mom and dad took risks in order to provide them a more interesting life. Who else gets to watch a midget hooker try to work their father at a subway stop with a sweet line like, "Wanna party, Giant?"

Nothing in suburbia packs that much excitement except a play-date at the local children's museum.

Tags: house life children money left

My New Blog

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 17:25:59 -0600

After years of keeping shop on my own platform, I'm moving on Flickr for a bit.

Croncast, the core of my online presence (with that of my wife as well) has turned into the main place for our show and doesn't feel like a good home for things non-show related any longer.

Flickr offers everything that any publisher needs in the way of tools, speed and being search friendly.

I'm not a fan of what they're doing to photos of late with new compression and color changes, but that doesn't matter as it is simplest way to publish that I know of.

Tags: flickr speed search friendly tools

French Weep, Blundering, Friendly Abstraction

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 11:13:20 -0600

Episode: #693 | Length: 30:22 | Format: mp3

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Holy cats!
Forgot to release this last night
Enjoy!

Tags: kris smith betsy smith 6 years podcast

Full Bars, Maid Witches, Art Lesson

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:39:56 -0500

Episode: #688 | Length: 28:33 | Format: mp3

To listen to this and all new Croncast episodes Get Cool!

Nearing the 6 year mark!
We recap Halloween on the Upper East Side
Madonna didn't give out shit
Maids dressed as Witches
Art lesson

Tags: kris smith betsy smith 6 years podcast

Sebaceous, Raising Leona, Stand By Me

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:08:57 -0500

Episode: #661
Length: 31:09
Format: mp3

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Wear that shirt
I feel better all dressed up
Where is the real Betsy?
Sebaceous
That should never be done
14 years of marriage
Your pustules are off limits
Stand By Me train track walking
I lived it
From the scene of the crime
Raising Leona Helmsly and Bob Denver

Tags: train tracks time served crime scene Sebaceous leona

New Invention, Kroc, Lowest of the Low

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:44:09 -0500

Episode: #650
Length: 30:28
Format: mp3

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Newest inventions
Yes, I invented the Croc
And you told me that it was stupid
15 years later
It could have been Kroc with a 'K'
Someday
You can't take a cab from kids
You can but that is some low shit
Nothing prepared me for that
A new kind of Spanx

Tags: new spanx inventions cab rides krocs

Season 25 Episode 25: The Croncast Shorty

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:34:55 -0500

Episode: #650 The Croncast Shorty
Length: 4:10
Format: mp3

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Tags: new spanx inventions cab rides krocs

Park Recruiting, 5 Years Long, Silent City

Mon, 24 May 2010 10:22:34 -0500

Episode: #631
Length: 33:18
Format: mp3

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Short on the notes
Is a pretty good show
We're back to recording at night
Need to get out night owl talk on!
Oh! And if you use the Twitters, check out Ville - http://ville.ag

Tags: quiet new york lost nyc park recruiting pre-k

Pressed Jacket, BBQ Dip, The Other Foot

Fri, 21 May 2010 14:33:18 -0500

Episode: #630
Length: 30:15
Format: mp3

To listen to this and all new Croncast episodes Get Cool!

We tell stories
Touch on my Twitter interview from two years ago
I made a claim last week
This story defines our relationship
Also our karma
There was no ending
That's so 2007, Betsy Food photos
Caesar salad in Seattle
No nerdy smarminess
Lack thereof?
Aww, baby
A guy goes to a job interview and . . .
Oh! And if you use the Twitters, check out Ville - http://ville.ag

Tags: gaucho pants coordinating hair piece team smith captain chair

Street Turtles, Tube Top Wins, The Mist

Fri, 07 May 2010 17:17:50 -0500

Episode: #624
Length: 30:02
Format: mp3

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She did time
Biggest drop in 23 years
Want to buy a turtle?
An inspiration to all
What's at the end of the rainbow?
Rolling the dice, again
Maybe this is what we're supposed to provide for the kids
Tube top winners
Did you bust out The Wheel?
Hell, yeah!
It's a great go to story
Oh! And if you use the Twitters, check out Ville - http://ville.ag

Tags: street turtles rainbow end the wheel tube top

Season 24 Episode 24: The Croncast Shorty

Fri, 07 May 2010 17:08:32 -0500

Episode: #624 The Croncast Shorty
Length: 4:01
Format: mp3

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Tags: street turtles rainbow end the wheel tube top

Lockdown Interview, Holiday Deities, Olympian Judo Champ

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:04:35 -0600

Show: #553
Length: 31:48
Format: mp3

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I don't mean to brag but I can wash my clothes at will
The ultimate walk of shame in NYC - laundromat
You can make a living here face painting or suing people in New York
What was the magician's name?
Her name?
What?
Yeah, her.
That is awesome
The Holiday Deities
Betsy busted out to get to Naperville
Because you took me to your job interview at the prison on lock down
Of course that is normal
Am I supposed to leave in two years?
You should have left me last year
Attacked by a former Olympic Judo champ
Reprogrammed by a sloth
I need to wake up, eat and take a nap
Quasi homeless former Olympians have nothing to look forward
No, like Hulk Hogan
Oh! And if you use the Twitters, check out Ville - http://ville.ag

Tags: laundromat holiday deities olympic judo hulk hogan

Season 23 Ep 18: Croncast Sampler

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:56:45 -0600

Show: #553-Sampler
Length: 4:25
Format: mp3

To listen to this and all new Croncast episodes in full Get Cool!

I don't mean to brag but I can wash my clothes at will
The ultimate walk of shame in NYC - laundromat
You can make a living here face painting or suing people in New York
What was the magician's name?
Her name?
What?
Yeah, her.
That is awesome
The Holiday Deities
Betsy busted out to get to Naperville
Because you took me to your job interview at the prison on lock down
Of course that is normal
Am I supposed to leave in two years?
You should have left me last year
Attacked by a former Olympic Judo champ
Reprogrammed by a sloth
I need to wake up, eat and take a nap
Former Olympians have nothing to look forward
No, like Hulk Hogan
Oh! And if you use the Twitters, check out Ville - http://ville.ag

Tags: laundromat holiday deities olympic judo hulk hogan

The Night Out, Black Coats, Greasy Spoonage

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:32:47 -0600

Show: #541
Length: 32:33
Format: mp3

To listen to this and all new Croncast episodes Get Cool!

Leaving the comments
Sexy Betsy
That is all that I am calling you from now on
Like Galore Vixen
I went out with a new friend
It's hard to know what to dress like with new friends
She's a cool, cool kind of chick
Got pink streaks in her hair
She's a mommy, she's a nice lady
Guilt laden Bear speech
What?
Like wearing laundered clothes?
You gotta fill in the gaps
Had to put in earings
Always, but that is gaps of two years
Cough, cough
You didn't sound awful before
There are plenty of other folks that take 5 photos of themeselves a day
Maybe, they do
Let it hang there
Everybody here wears black
All winter coats are black
They all want to melt, it's like camo
Fast food is a class issue in NYC
If someone could ship me a chili cheese burrito from Taco Bell
The greasy spoon with Rolls Royces parked out front
It's a friggin greasy spoon
Park it in the cross walk
The kind you want to be!!
Driver will play on his iPhone while he waits
Angel the pitbull that attacked me
What kind of tool knows the name, got attacked and puts up a flier?
Talk of the NYC rub and tug joints
I was too busy doing the farmer's daughter

Tags: betsy smith night out pink streaks farmers daughter

Bundle of flowers or bale of hay?

Sat, 23 May 2009 10:05:19 -0500

I am trying to be cute here. After testing out the Google Reader Bundle feature yesterday I came to the quick conclusion that it is a step in the right direction but closer to a bale of hay than a bundle of flowers.

Do you know what goes into a bale of hay? I learned in my years of small town living . . . a 100 plus pounds of unorganized hay and two brown pieces of twine. They're heavy as hell to lift from the bailer, the machine that scrapes up the hay from the field, and only those with the patience to wear long sleeves, jeans and gloves in 90 degree heat are allowed the privilege of participating while they are fresh.

Google Reader's Bundle feature has more similarities to this analogy than I would care to admit. And, yes, when I demoed it I made sure to put on a flannel shirt, Lee jeans and some mittens - the closest thing I now own to leather workman's gloves.

So, here's what I've got for you - there's plenty of room for improvement.

People don't want whole feeds combined to make one massive feed filled with content from the highest level filter that exists, publishers. Well, maybe they do if that is all that you offer. Granular access to content isn't the Holy Grail or what is next . . . it is simply how it should be.

And besides, there have been utilities to combine feeds like this for years. Do you know any of these product names beyond Yahoo Pipes? Remembering Pipes is easy because the last time you used it you told yourself you would never do it again.

A Google Reader Bundle has a web page and a feed . . . an Atom feed, not an RSS feed. Enough said here, it needs a RSS feed. The Atom feed itself is missing critical meta data like title, description, pub date, source, feed item origin, publisher, etc.

As a publisher, my concerns about this initial release of the bundle feature are the missing RSS feed and the lack of associated meta data for the content that makes the bundle. Which begs the next question of what metric is available to know how much additional syndication my content is getting once it has entered the Google Reader Bundle ecosystem? Currently there isn't one that is publicly available and I would venture to say that not for a very long time, if ever, there will be one offered.

With some more work Google can bring new features and hopefully a full set of tools that users and publishers can both use. But in this current state it is still in an insular silo of Google user nerdom. Yes, it still is a walled garden of content, of sharing and privileged consumption. It is a bale of hay.

Tags: Google Reader Bundle RSS feeds bale of hay Atom feeds

Make better RSS feeds by not making them

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:00:20 -0500

Did you pick the content of the RSS feeds that you are syndicating from your site right now? Or did you let your readers pick?

Within reason my guess would be that most of you answered, yes then no. I know on my sites, even this site, I would have answered the same.

The solution isn't to create more feeds. The best solution is for publishers to create no feeds at all. Let your readers make their own.

Here are a couple examples why this is a better method for content syndication than relying on your own editorial skills.

Example 1: How not to do it.

Don't get me wrong on this, CNET is offering nearly all of its content up for syndication. This is an excellent strategy to create value from older content. However, do readers really need the option of subscribing to 100 plus predefined RSS feeds? Simply, no.

Finding feeds for the topics you are interested in is difficult. The worst of it is that you can only access them individually, i.e.; you want 10 of feeds, copy and paste them one by one into your feed reader. Sounds like a party to me. If you have more skills you might use a service that rolls all of them up into one feed for you. I would guess that about three people have done this.

Why overwhelm your readers like this? And besides, it is pretty intimidating for someone new to the RSS game. Shouldn't they be able to access your content in a way that makes it relevant to them?

Example 2: How to do RSS right.

What you see above is one of two flavors of how to let your readers pick what they receive in RSS feeds. It's a simple and easy to use text input that allows readers to enter keywords and phrases that they want in their feed. There's nothing fancy, easy access to old content in the straight-forward way that RSS is delivered; updates of the newest items first and set number items in the feed, usually twenty-five.

What the second screen shot shows is the magic of thinking differently about RSS feeds. This image demonstrates what happens when someone clicks on the 'advanced' link. The reader is then given control over every aspect of the RSS feed. They choose the content, when it is delivered, how much content, in what order (none of this newest stuff first mumbo jumbo - great use for episodic content) and how many updates to get at a time.

Who is better to choose than the person doing the consuming? RSS needs to be like Burger King where a customer can have it their way.

When this concept is applied to large volumes of content the value of it increases with each new article or podcast. Imagine if you could have this type of access at the NY Times or with your local paper. Even the obits from 30 years ago are now of value again. Value to the reader and value to the publisher with ad inventory.

The future of content syndication isn't in prescriptive channels created by publishers. The future is in the subjective choices of the consumer. They neither need or want every product that you have to offer.

We need to be smarter about our syndicated content via RSS and take into consideration how to make that user experience more satisfying. Whether it is by allowing users to pick topics or order of updates, something needs to change. Why? Because it is all about attention; the premium of which is measured in subscribers, influence and the influence of those subscribers.

Tags: RSS CNET readers consumers interaction

Season 21 Ep 24: The Mexico Part 3

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:52:03 -0500

Croncast - 2009-03-30.mp3
Show: #524
Length: 41:24
Size: 38 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

When, when, when, when
This was supposed to go out Friday
Maggie has been insanely sick
What happens when you read all of these Oprah books?
It should come with a six pack of Xanax
Difficult times?
Write a book
You need to change your name to Kristina
Sending email as Kris Smith
People would respond to me as a woman<
br> So I had to make it Kristopher Smith Wait, Mr B
I have to give a shout out to Carrie, thanks for coming to my show
The Mexico Part 3 begins now
Betsy, you are at the buffet, go . . .
If I had known that they served guacamole breakfast, lunch and dinner
Standing at the buffet
A woman sidles up next to me
"What part of Canada are you from?"
I speak like that because I lived in Milwaukee for a few years
Where's that?
Wisconsin
Is that a big city?
All the push ups that you do
They could throw a rock at it
She was wearing the crocs
Then I scanned the room and it was covered in crocs
That is he face of colonialism
Later . . .
I'm the only American
What is the most expensive shit you got behind this bar?
Grand Marnier on the rocks the entire trip
Do you want to know how to cook the guacamole?
He was like a bull fighter
Super hot
Fellas watch out for this
They will whisk you wife away
The Italian says, "You mean this prison"
You must leave this compound
They will take you to the jungle
They get electricity for 2 hours a day
It is wonderful
Deciding to go deep see fishing
How did you get over the shark fear?
We were stuck at the front gate
How many signs do you need?
It was like a road block
We were there on a gift certificate
I'm thinking that this will be so nice
The authentic Mexican experience awaits
We get to the place
Sure, it would have have been authentic
But didn't the charter company name tell you all you needed to know?
Captain Rick's
It should have
Yeah, if it were Captain Ricardo's
On the boat with a Canada
They start swearing at us in Spanish
Turns out I am the only one that knows it
I kept my mouth shut
Betsy catches Dory (see photo in post)
"Chocha Grande"
How is the fish doing?
Mas muerto
They pull it back into the boat
Cut up Dory and turned her into chum
We had Captain Bicho
More protected species were caught
Chopped and chum
Chocha account is over 11 at this point
I'm the bloke, right
Don't be a chocha Mr B

Tags: Crocs Canadian Tourists The Mexico GrandMarnier