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Space Businesses Apple

Podcasting from Space 167

Posted by samzenpus from the no-one-can-hear-you-podcast dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Podcasting has officially made it into orbit! According to a Geekzone article, Mission Specialist Steve Robinson delivered a short monologue off the southeast tip of Indonesia in which he described the morale of the Discovery crew at the end of their well-publicized mission: 'It's been a fantastic mission up here, absolutely amazing. Some of the hardest work that any of us have ever done. We haven't had a whole lot of sleep, and we've been extremely busy and really happy.' A transcript of the podcast as well as the MP3 itself can be found at Nasa's site."
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Podcasting from Space

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  • Podcasting? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Andorion ( 526481 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @10:45AM (#13279139)
    You mean he recorded a message?

    • Re:Podcasting? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Fizzlewhiff ( 256410 ) <jeffshannon@@@hotmail...com> on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @10:48AM (#13279167) Homepage
      Why the Apple tag? Apple didn't invent podcasting, they just embraced and extended it.

      • Re:Podcasting? (Score:5, Funny)

        by Darkman, Walkin Dude ( 707389 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @11:00AM (#13279290) Homepage

        Podcasting is just another hip-to-be-cool term coined by some luminary metrosexual in the blogosphere. Somewhere out there right now there is a passive agressive latte sipping boob tapping "how I invented podcasting", his first book, into an imac. Its the new warhol, baby. I can't wait until the standard of coolness for these new age middle age wanna be a teen icon sorts is how long you can survive in a room with a starved pit bull.

        • Spawning the wonderful film Metrosexual Podcasters from Outer Space?

          Lets hope the GNAA deal with them swiftly and painfully.

        • Podcasting is just another hip-to-be-cool term coined by some luminary metrosexual in the blogosphere.

          Thank you. Beautifully worded.

          What the article title, especially combined with the whole issue of the word "Podcast", reminds me of is this: I can't be the only one who remembers that back in ~1999-2000, the Slashdot guys had their own internet "radio" show, GEEKS in SPACE [thesync.com]...?

          They would record themselves rambling for a half-hour or so about whatever had been big on Slashdot that week, then post an
      • Because it's Apple-related

    • Re:Podcasting? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by aacool ( 700143 ) <moc.liamg2abmalnamaa> on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @10:51AM (#13279201) Journal
      He doesn't have an RSS feed, so technically this isn't podcasting. It's still cool. This bit,
      Just incredible to be way out there on the end of that arm all by myself and see no evidence of humans anywhere. Just me and the Space Station and the Space Shuttle from a view that neither I nor anybody else has ever seen, and watch the sun come up over the bottom of the Space Shuttle, and get to sort of drink in that big view. I'll never forget it, and I'll never be able to describe it adequately, I'm sure. But I feel very fortunate to have been able to get a chance to do that. And also very glad that it worked!
      • Yeah, I like it when I'm out in the woods and see no evidence of humans anywhere. Just the piles of trash, that old beatup Ford, and the neon glow of the Motel 6 just over the ridge...

        Hint: not seeing humans is not the same as not seeing evidence of humans...

      • Re:Podcasting? (Score:5, Informative)

        by nocomment ( 239368 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @11:18AM (#13279439) Homepage Journal
        Technically it's not, but NASA called it a podcast. NASA does supply an RSS feed for podcasting though. Just search "NASA" in the podcasting thingy of iTunes. They're all pretty short, around 5 minutes.

      • Re:Podcasting? (Score:2, Insightful)

        by ajax142 ( 69131 )
        ...and see no evidence of humans anywhere

        Yes, because that robotic arm, the space suit your wearing, and the GIANT Space Shuttle and Space Station in front of you were not made by humans, they just grew up from the ground.

    • Bah! Those kids and their buzzwords (Score:5, Informative)

      by GillBates0 ( 664202 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @10:53AM (#13279218) Homepage Journal
      The Wikipedia article on Podcasting says: [wikipedia.org]

      Podcasting (also known as blogcasting) is a method of publishing audio broadcasts via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files (usually MP3s)....
      The word "podcasting" is a portmanteau that combines the words "broadcasting" and "iPod." The term can be misleading since neither podcasting nor listening to podcasts requires an iPod or any portable music player.

      So you're right, the astronaut merely recorded a message, which NASA published as an mp3 file, consequently making all the IPod-toting blog kiddies go hyper.

      I could similarly claim Podcasting "officially made it into space" with Neil Armstrong's "One small step for man..." quote, since it's available as an audio file in a variety of places [google.com].

    • Podcasts via the Apple iPod have given the masses something simple and recognizable, packaging a short audio message from a single person to be consumed by lots of other people, usually strangers, personally (and on their own schedule). Many of us have been doing that for many years with the Net and other technologies, but it's finally gone massive with iPods. So we geeks should welcome the arrival of a simple word the normals can use to talk with us about all the other great stuff they could never otherwis
      • Podcasts via the Apple iPod have given the masses something simple and recognizable, packaging a short audio message from a single person to be consumed by lots of other people, usually strangers, personally (and on their own schedule). Many of us have been doing that for many years with the Net and other technologies, but it's finally gone massive with iPods.

        "The Normals"?

        You're an idiot.
        • You bitch about "the normals" I cited (though you introduce extra capitalization), but you don't complain about "the masses"? Though you quote the wrong sentence. And just offer an insult, without any actual defense of your obnoxious complaint. You're abnormal, and you're a massive asshole.
      • The name can and will continue to be "podcasting".

        But this article should still not be under "Apple".
        Podcasting is much bigger than Apple or the iPod.
        Yes, the iPod was crucial to the sudden surge in popularity of the concept --and the activity-- but they get all the credit they deserve in the nickname, PODCASTING. IMO that's already too much credit.

    • Re:Podcasting? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by springbox ( 853816 )
      You mean he recorded a message?

      Podcast: Someone had the revolutionary idea of taking a compressed audio file and putting it online. [thebestpag...iverse.net]
      Basically.

    • Exactly. They've been doing live 2 way audio and video from space for a while. I guess they were desperate for a first for this mission so recording MP3 somehow rates NEWS.For some reason this mission has acquired an INCREDIBLE amount of hype for a mission that didn't actually do much.

      Its good in that it increases lagging interest in space, its bad because it been so overdone people are getting tired of it. Then they start tuning it out for subsequent missions, kind of like major hype Apollo 11, some hyp
    • I listened to the entire crew conversations on bbc.co.uk via streaming audio.

      It wasn't given any ghey name, I just listened, it was great, I could heard them calling out rolls pitches, deltas, and it was quite spooky, at one point the hairs on my neck stood on end.

      Now. FFS. They obviously used the same audio channel to record his 'mp3'. So I wouldn't even say this qualifies as 'recording an mp3 in space and copying the file to somewhere else'. Just recording the perfectly good live stream, which was mulitpl

  • iPods in space (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by Hergio ( 870237 )
    I wonder if they brought iPods into space with them

  • Hopefully all future spaceships (Score:5, Funny)

    by BlackCobra43 ( 596714 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @10:46AM (#13279148)
    Will have escape podcasts. *rimshot*

  • "podcasting?" (Score:4, Informative)

    by Saven Marek ( 739395 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @10:46AM (#13279154)
    isn't the main thing about podcasting that it is a subscription based service and not just an mp3?

    this looks just like a downloadable mp3 that has had the name podcast attached to it because well because podcasting is the meme of the month
    • That's really all podcasting [wikipedia.org] really is. Except this is without a news feed.
    • This is another one of those technologies like "blogging" that technically has been around forever (I could record an mp3 of my journal or whatever years ago), but suddenly is the hip new thing for journalists to talk about. Just like blogging, which is just a simplified version of one's home page as far as I'm concerned. Have we ran out of actual new tech to make fads out of? And who are the people that get into this podcasting...i just don't get it.

  • A haiku. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @10:46AM (#13279157)
    What is podcasting?
    New NASA technology?
    Something like blogs.
  • Doesn't the definition of "Podcast" require RSS?

    Anyways, I thought it was very interesting and cool how they have done this, it should make others feel better about the space program.

    I hope they continue this on future missions.

  • Okay, I give up. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by xerxesVII ( 707232 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @10:48AM (#13279172)
    What the hell makes a podcast so different from an MP3 that it deserves its own word? I'm honestly not trolling here, it's just that the word is driving me nuts.

    • Re:Okay, I give up. (Score:5, Informative)

      by twoshortplanks ( 124523 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @10:50AM (#13279194) Homepage
      A Podcast has a RSS feed (or Atom feed, whatever) that you can subscribe to to tell you when there's a new mp3. That's it. That's the difference.

      Which would make this not a podcast. It would make it an "audio recording".

      • Which would make this not a podcast. It would make it an "audio recording".

        Well, I got this funny feeling that this whole "audio recording" thing is gonna take off like gangbusters...
      • Thanks for clearing that up. I am now left wondering why this is the buzzword du jour, as it seems pretty boring. Do we have "Podcasts" of "blogs" now, so the angsty teens can discuss their angst in full 44kHz angst-filled audio? These types of trends make me fear for our future sometimes. :-(

        • Thanks for clearing that up. I am now left wondering why this is the buzzword du jour, as it seems pretty boring. Do we have "Podcasts" of "blogs" now, so the angsty teens can discuss their angst in full 44kHz angst-filled audio? These types of trends make me fear for our future sometimes. :-(

          Yes, yes we do. But it doesn't matter because just like you never read their blogs, you don't need to subscribe to their podcasts.

          But, if there's any kind of audio content you enjoy listening to, there's now a

      • Re:Okay, I give up. (Score:2, Insightful)

        by sp5 ( 867987 )
        A Podcast has a RSS feed (or Atom feed, whatever) that you can subscribe to to tell you when there's a new mp3. That's it. That's the difference.

        Which would make this not a podcast. It would make it an "audio recording".

        Well.... strictly speaking the definition of a podcast doesn't even qualify as a "cast".

        Since you are pulling the RSS file and checking it for updates, and then choosing to downloading the audio file if you're interested it can't be considering casting since everything is pull and n

        • Re:Okay, I give up. (Score:3, Insightful)

          by timster ( 32400 )
          Yeah, but it works in a sort of pushy way. Some of us old folk (i.e. over 20 years old) will remember that during the Netscape vs. Internet Explorer days, there was a brief fascination with the idea of "push" content. So when there was new content, you wouldn't have to go get it -- it would be "pushed" right to your desktop through a "channel"!

          Once "Push" was implemented, it turned out to be a "reload this Web page every 5 minutes" feature. Alas, though, the eventual simplification of the concept did not
    • What the hell makes a podcast so different from an MP3 that it deserves its own word? I'm honestly not trolling here, it's just that the word is driving me nuts.

      Because it makes the tools who create them feel self important. It has absolutely nothing to do with iPods either (at least, until Apple jumped on the bandwagon).

      Basically, Podcasting is the spawn of the overhyped iPod and overhyped RSS.

  • So lemme get this straight... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fimbulvetr ( 598306 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @10:49AM (#13279180)
    1. Nasa publishes an MP3.
    2. Someone finds the link to it.
    3. Someone realizes they can listen to it on their portable media device.
    4. This automagically turns into "podcasting".
    5. Someone submits it to Slashdot under Apple using "Ipod" in the summary, solidifying it's chances of making it to the front page.
    6. ???
  • I believe this may mark the birth of the first podcast actually worth listening to! What would be sort of hilarious is if I got modded down by angry podcasters. Not THAT hilarious though... :-(

  • More amazing than you think! (Score:3, Funny)

    by standards ( 461431 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @10:52AM (#13279208)
    This is truly amazing once you understand the details.

    They take audio from the Shuttle, digitize it, convert it into an MP3 audio file, create an XML document that refers to the MP3 file, and then jam it all on an accessible web server.

    The most amazing part: they have a pretty good workflow to do this whole thing!

    Strangely, the web server was not actually located on the shuttle itself. What gives?
  • I don't see the link to the RSS feed anywhere on that page.

    No RSS = not a podcast.

    • I don't see the link to the RSS feed anywhere on that page. No RSS = not a podcast.

      And that RSS feed would make just how much of a difference, if I may ask?

      I refer you to Maddox's "If these words were people, I would embrace their genocide" [thebestpag...iverse.net]. It's a good read for all you people who seem to think all these blogs in the blogosphere podcasting Filegate-pundits actually is something more than stupid words for old things.

      No, really. Read it.

  • I'd like to know what steps an organization like NASA (who documents everything in quintriplicate) takes to send MP3 players to orbit.

    First, I know that there's no requirement to have an MP3 player to make a podcast, so shush, this is just a segue.

    For decades, astronauts and cosmonauts have brought cassete tapes with them, and then CDs. It's almost certain that they have MP3s now because of the dramatic weight savings, but how does a government organization as high-profile as NASA handle the copyright infr
  • Isn't it a podcast only if there are at least two shows, and you can subscribe through RSS or something similar and get updates automatically? This sounds like a big miss-naming incident.
    • Well, I don't know that the number of shows is relevant, but unless this mp3 is pointed to by an enclosure tag in an rss file, then I don't see that it is a podcast. Essentially, it is just an audio file since you can't use a podcast aggregator to "subscribe" to it even if said subscription will only ever have one episode.

  • A plea (Score:5, Informative)

    by Gothic_Walrus ( 692125 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @10:55AM (#13279240) Journal
    Podcasting is an overused buzz word.

    Please, stop calling every kind of audio stream or download that hits the Internet a podcast.

    • Your comment just created a deep disturbance in the blogosphere. May the trackback be with us.

    • Agreed.

      The iPod is the most overhyped mass-marketing since, well, perhaps Tamagochi. Especially when there are much better alternatives.

      "Podcasting" is just the latest "buy an iPod and you can do this too" marketing drivel.

  • "Come here Watson. I need you." (Score:5, Interesting)

    by richdun ( 672214 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @10:56AM (#13279244)
    So, we should now credit Alexander Graham Bell for the first podcast?
  • Podcasts and other recorded messages like email as opposed to instant messaging and live broadcasts are certainly highly suited to space use due to the high distances involved and the problems presented by information only being able to travel as fast as the speed of light.
    • Are you talking about the 1.28 seconds it takes radio waves to reach the Moon, the 1.23 milliseconds to the ISS or the 4 minutes 22 seconds for signals to reach Mars?
    • There are a few other important, not immediately apparent facts I would like to bring to the attention of fellow slashdotters:

      - Space is big, because of the high distances between everything
      - Digital audio is usually recorded, stored and played back using digital equipment
      - The human ear is generally used by humans to listen to audio signals

      Can I have my mod points now?

      (can't say I can really blame the parent, though... this article is such a non-story that there isn't much to say beyond "it's not a podcast

    • Re:Definately Suitable (Score:4, Funny)

      by amliebsch ( 724858 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @12:30PM (#13280094) Journal
      Plus, since mp3s are smaller than uncompressed audio, the files weigh less.
  • OK, so someone recorded audio in space? i think the Russians did this almost 50 years ago. I know our shuttle is 20 years old tech, but if you are celebrating the fact that someone one did something that's been possible for about 100 years and was first done half a century ago .. there is something wrong with you. or maybe i dint see the significance of it.
  • Major Tom come in this is ground control...what are you listening to on your Ipod? Yes I am very serious Major Tom...I have a phone call with prime minister Dimitry in ten minutes. No I can't ask him...he'll see the big board!

  • We're going to Podcast wherever we can, just like we install Linux wherever we can?
  • Poddddddddddds... iiiiiiiiiin... spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!
  • What does this have to do with Apple?

  • Sorry, but I think I'm getting old. What exactly is Podcasting? Why is it hyped by even non-tech media? It is just an audio-stream recorded at home and put on a blog, is it? Why is it called Podcasting?

    I'm not trolling here, but I really wanna know what's so special about Podcasting.
    • Why don't you go find out? [google.com]

      Normally I don't like saying "just google it" or whatever, but this is such a well documented idea, that there's loads of info out there. Just find out for yourself, without raising the issue in a public forum on a different subject (this SPECIFIC "podcast").

    • Sorry, but I think I'm getting old. What exactly is Podcasting? Why is it hyped by even non-tech media? It is just an audio-stream recorded at home and put on a blog, is it? Why is it called Podcasting?

      Podcasting is publishing audio files (not streams) and announcing them via an RSS feed -- a standardised machine readable format. As someone else has pointed out, no RSS == not a podcast, so this NASA story is a red herring.

      The result of this is that with an appropriate client, you can subscribe to RSS feeds,

  • If you'd like to listen to the "podcast" (Score:5, Informative)

    by Guano_Jim ( 157555 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @11:28AM (#13279536)
    Here it is. [nyud.net]

  • one way to counter this 'podcast' label would be to start giving it a new name such as wavecast or beamcast or something else. and everytime some one uses podcast incorrectly then quietly correct them without raising any extra conflict and proceed with the conversation.

    if they dont understand, create a framework for agreement by pointing out the similarities in the two definitions. once this framework is established proceed by pointing out the differences but follow that with an example of the new label's u
  • The first instance of podcasting in space occurred in 2001 when Dave said: "Open the pod bay doors please Hal!"

    BTM
  • Am I the only one who has had it with the stupid trendy names?

    I put up a personal web page that I update somewhat regularly. In 1993, I just had a web page. Now, ooooh, look at me, I'm "Blogging". In 1998, I put an MP3 link on my web page. Today, I do the same thing, and I'm oh-so-hip "Podcasting". It's so much lame marketing hype.

    Not that marketing hype doesn't have it's value, and at least _real_ podcasting involves using RSS ( which it seems this doesn't ) but all the same: Bloggers, you have a web page.

  • Hamcasting (Score:3, Informative)

    by leighklotz ( 192300 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @01:35PM (#13280689) Homepage
    I also listened to the shuttle mission live on my VX2R [yaesu.com] handheld (about the size of an iPod), courtesy of NA6MF [nasa.gov], the NASA Ames amateur radio club retransmitting their internal audio feed on 145.585 MHz.

    And just for funsies, I made a sample PodCast RSS [wa5znu.org] of W1AW Morse code practice [arrl.org].
  • ... getting Geeks in Space back up and going? I mean, podcasting is all the retard rage these days so why not ring it back slashdot?
  • "Some of the hardest work that any of us have ever done. We haven't had a whole lot of sleep, and we've been extremely busy and really happy."

    The more you have to occupy your time, the less idle time you have to hang around with the other astronauts and start saying things like "So... think we'll make it back?"

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