Timeshifting: Cram More Into Life 432
jimharris writes "The VCR started it - and then the DVR improved it, so now I want to apply the concept of timeshifting in other ways. I've always wanted an audio cassette player that worked like a VCR so I could listen to more radio talk shows. This morning's NY Times stirred my interest with After TiVo, Radio Rewound about a MP3 device that does just that. Better yet, is Replay Radio - software that is more flexible and you can download the results to a portable player.
I already use Audible.com to squeeze in more books in my life, by listening, rather than reading. I've completed 8 unabridged books in two months just by carrying around my Otis player when I get dressed in the morning, driving to and from work, doing housework, or when I exercise.
Now I'm wondering how I can timeshift even more."
I hope this trend doesn't continue... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I hope this trend doesn't continue... (Score:5, Funny)
I know... it might actually last longer than a minute, *gasp*
Re:I hope this trend doesn't continue... (Score:3, Insightful)
On the other hand, I've gone through a great time-shifing system myself. I got rid of any sort of TV reception. That all by itself has given me hours each day where I am free, instead of flipping through channels waiting for that ONE episode of Seinfeld I somehow missed.
I'm not a 'Kill your television' fanatic, but I do think it is a big huge timesink. And- it will make you fa
And now you can time-shift to the no-reg page.. (Score:3, Informative)
Other ways to timeshift (not just audio) (Score:5, Interesting)
By hitting your seat at 7am when the office is empty and quiet you can get more productive sooner, and get more done between 7am and 9am than most people have done by noon.
Let a woman take you clothes shopping, throw out everything in your closet and replace it with whatever she suggests. Make sure everything matches everything else. Time saved : none, but nobody will know you got dressed in the dark before you had caffeine in your system.
Don't sleep in on weekends. Get up at your regular time instead of 11am and you have effectively doubled the number of hours of daylight you get on each weekend day. God I love to sleep in so I hate this one.
Get your news from FARK (www.fark.com) In the hour it takes to watch the news on TV you could have a synopsis of the important events around the globe from a hundred different news sources. If it is newsworthy, it's on FARK.
Cancel your MMORPG accounts (stop playing Everquest). This will give you back 1000 hours per year. Maybe more.
Re:Other ways to timeshift (not just audio) (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Other ways to timeshift (not just audio) (Score:5, Funny)
This phrase doesn't belong within a mile of a topic about saving time. Ever.
Re:Other ways to timeshift (not just audio) (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd like to point out that you can avoid traffic also by going late to work and heading home late in the evening or even at night. It'll work fine, if your employer is flexible (i.e. trusts that you do you job even when the boss is not around) and especially if you live in an urban area where you can get food 24h/day.
I used to start working at 11 am and work late into the night. I can't get anything useful done before 10 am and I'm at my peak performance somewhere around 4-5 pm, but these days I have to drag myself to work by 9 am. Thank you very much, you morning people who insist on scheduling meetings early in the morning.
Re:Other ways to timeshift (not just audio) (Score:5, Interesting)
I think it's the sadists that schedule morning meetings -- gets the night owls up too early and interrupts the flow of the morning persons work day; everybody is surly.
Re:Other ways to timeshift (not just audio) (Score:4, Insightful)
I bought a laptop to get work done during those stupid sadist meetings. It worked! I'm not invited to meetings anymore. (True Story.)
Re:Other ways to timeshift (not just audio) (Score:3, Insightful)
Productivity != Advancement
When layoff time comes around, is it better to be:
Or
The guy who's always here when things go to hell, even at 8:25 before anyone's had a cup of coffee, and yet he somehow manages to fix it before the 8:55 management meeting?
You have much to learn, PFY, b
Re:Other ways to timeshift (not just audio) (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Other ways to timeshift (not just audio) (Score:5, Interesting)
Back in '99, I got a job where I can show up any time between 9 and 11, and as long as I work my 8 hours, the bosses are happy.
If I'm working on something late, or if I have tennis practice later at night... you know, something that makes me extra-tired, I just sleep in the next morning, as long as I feel it's necessary...
The result?
On the weekends, I tend to get up earlier than on the weekdays. I think it's getting better sleep because there is no knowledge of having to go to work the next day... and also the fact that I'm pretty *rested* already with the flex schedule that I have.
If you feel like sleeping in on the weekends, maybe you should - your body is trying to tell you it needs more rest. Listen to it!
What good is an extra hour of being awake if you're just going to zombie through the next 15?
Re:Other ways to timeshift (not just audio) (Score:5, Insightful)
These suggestions are totally half baked. Viz:
" Rearrange your work schedule so you start at 7am and get off at 3pm or 4pm. By hitting the streets at semi- off hours you will cut your commute time by possibly half (less traffic.)"
Better solution: find a place to live within 5 minute's walk of work or subway ride. Then you will save on your commute time and not have to get up early. If there is no subway and no residential neighborhoods near work, dump suburbia and move to a proper city. What's the point of freeing up all that time if you're stuck in Boonsville?
"By hitting your seat at 7am when the office is empty and quiet you can get more productive sooner, and get more done between 7am and 9am than most people have done by noon."
This only makes sense if you don't work closely with other people. If you do, you'll spend 2 hours from 7 to 9 waiting for the others to get in. If you can work for hours without needing to ask anyone else for anything, then ask your boss if you can work from home part-time.
"Let a woman take you clothes shopping, throw out everything in your closet and replace it with whatever she suggests. Make sure everything matches everything else. Time saved : none, but nobody will know you got dressed in the dark before you had caffeine in your system."
Wear a suit to work. You can wear the same suit everyday, with the same tie and a range of identical shirts, and no-one will think it odd.
"Don't sleep in on weekends. Get up at your regular time instead of 11am and you have effectively doubled the number of hours of daylight you get on each weekend day."
That may be true, but what's the point? Surely a big reason for saving time where it's not needed is to give you more relaxation time, not less.
"Get your news from FARK (www.fark.com) In the hour it takes to watch the news on TV you could have a synopsis of the important events around the globe from a hundred different news sources. If it is newsworthy, it's on FARK."
Listen to the radio news while doing other things. Try NPR and you might even learn something. Alternatively, admit that for 99.99% of what's reported, there's no reason why you need to know it straight away. So just catch up with the news weekly instead of daily.
"Cancel your MMORPG accounts (stop playing Everquest). This will give you back 1000 hours per year. Maybe more."
And stop reading slashdot. That will save even more.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Tivo2 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Tivo2 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Tivo2 (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Tivo2 (Score:4, Informative)
There's a difference between can't and won't. Won't can be changed to will.
http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/archive/index
Re:Tivo2 (Score:5, Funny)
Does that mean "can't" can be changed to "kill?"
Re:Tivo2 (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't think I've ever wanted to rewind radio. The need just doesn't seem to be that overwhelming.
Re:Tivo2 (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Tivo2 (Score:5, Interesting)
Personally, I have a TiVo that spends most of its day recording stuff from BBC7 [bbc.co.uk], a mixture of radio drama and comedy shows. I then have lots of late night listening for those boughts of insomnia. I would never bother listening to these shows if I had to wait for them to come on, the same way as I don't usallly watch any TV live these days. So it makes perfect sense for some radio, just not for recording the breakfast inane chatter every day... (shudder)
Re:Tivo2 (Score:5, Informative)
Here in the UK we have DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) which, with the appropriate PC card or USB dongle can be recorded and MP3'ed at any time. Compact DAB radios are available to carry where we like. Car DAB radios allow us to hear it on the move.
Advertisments, what advertisments? We have the joys of a comprehensive advert free broadcasting system.
Digital radio is also available via digital terrestrial television, digital satelite and digital cable. The digital PVRs which record direct from the digital broadcasts record it in all it's glory.
And it's all free!
Re:Tivo2 (Score:4, Informative)
We have the joys of a comprehensive advert free broadcasting....And it's all free!
Maybe you have not heard of the 121 (In April) pound
BBC Television License fee [cambridge2000.com].
I will educate you: This fee is collected by the force of the State and given to the BBC. Even people who never watch the BBC have to pay this money if they posess a television.
Or maybe you are confusing "Free" as in free with "Free" as in "The State gave me this using my and other people's money, no matter if I like it or not."..
In any case, here is a website where you can pay up your "Free"
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk [tv-l.co.uk]
Re:Tivo2 (Score:3, Informative)
Well I'm sorry to have to say that I also pay taxes and National Insurance. I have no children and no permanent disability. I've never been unemployed. So I am subsidising families and the sick. But I don't care it's part of being a member of society.
The cost of radio is small relative to the cost of television. I pay my licence fee which equates to abou
Re:Tivo2 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Tivo2 (Score:3, Insightful)
I would guess you don't commute in your car in the NYC metro area. If you only hear parts of a report about a road closing you'd want to hit the 8-second rewind a few times, too. Not to mention how many times have I (and others) just missed the latest traffic report "on the 8's" while listening to a CD.. i'd love to cache radio while playing cd's.
forget timeshift. (Score:2, Funny)
Just figure out how to live forever and this will not be and issue.
Re:Cram more into life ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Cram more into life ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Am I the only one who thinks modding up of comments like this is ignorant? "Don't do what you enjoy doing, instead, go outside because it's automatically better than using a computer for reasons I won't go into."
Re:forget timeshift. (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh boy (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Oh boy (Score:5, Funny)
Yep. Glad to see you're avoiding this profound philosophical problem by keeping yourself busy posting about it on Slashdot...
Cheers,
Ian
Re:Oh boy (Score:3, Funny)
Bartender, I'll have what he's having.
Time compression (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Time compression (Score:5, Insightful)
On some shows eliminating pauses, laugh tracks, and speeding it up would be fine (talk shows, cooking shows, sports, reality shows) but for any work of fiction (movies, dramas, even sitcoms) timing and pacing are a significant part of what makes the show good or bad (sit through a poorly edited movie sometime, or watch any of the last several seasons of Friends and you'll see what I mean). Eliminating these subtle touches greatly affects the perception of the quality of the show.
Re:Time compression (Score:3, Insightful)
I wouldn't be particularly surprised if you finished the Harry Potter series whi
Re:Time compression (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, do this. Speed everything up, chew less and swallow more. When someone is talking, encourage them to talk faster by making a fast winding motion with your hands. Leave cinemas as soon as the first credit appears (and slip the projectionist a sawski to crank the handle faster).
Actually, someone made a nice speed-reading version of Cory Doctorow's Creative Commons-released novel, Eastern Standard Tribe [craphound.com]. The speedreader applet, with adjustable speed, is here. [smith.name] You could use this to gauge your aptitude for the compressed life - and your limits. It's surprising how fast you can comprehend, although at higher speeds you're a bit like a rocket-powered train that's easily derailed...
Re:Time compression (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Time compression (Score:5, Funny)
He'srightitworksfortexttoo!!! LookatthebandwidthIsaved!
Re:Time compression (Score:5, Funny)
Until you concider that not watching it would have saved you, an additional 22 hours.
Me - cynical? (Score:5, Interesting)
(Yes, I checked out the site)
Re:Me - cynical? (Score:5, Funny)
No. It isn't disguised.
Faster pussycat! To the Library! (Score:5, Insightful)
Dontcha think it's possible to go a bit too far [fasterbook.com] with the cramming?
Personally... (Score:5, Funny)
Speed Up The Audio! (Score:3, Informative)
why timeshift? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:why timeshift? (Score:3, Insightful)
No-one's saying you've got to buy one of these, or even that if you've got one you have to use it all the time.
Re:why timeshift? (Score:5, Insightful)
Guilty? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Guilty? (Score:4, Insightful)
Hey, wait, you're right.
Re:why timeshift? (Score:5, Insightful)
And yes, commercials can be considered 'dead' time, but I'd rather have 20 minutes of dead time in a row versus 20 minutes of dead time split into 3 minute chunks every 10 minutes.
Re:why timeshift? (Score:3, Interesting)
Two things:
1. I think the world would be better if people crammed more "life" into "stuff" rather than vice-versa. (That said, there needs to be an understanding of what constitutes "life" in this context.)
2. I would argue that it does matter how much non-edifying stuff you put in your life. Note I didn't say "non-productive", because productivity is not the issue here. The question is, how much d
reading while distracted (Score:4, Interesting)
like someone said after "speed reading" War and Peace when asked if he could review it.. "um.. it's about some war, and things."
howard stern listener (Score:5, Informative)
alt.binaries.howard-stern has commercial free shows everyday. you can also find other popular radio talk shows on newsgroups daily. just have to look.
College students: timeshifting lectures (Score:5, Interesting)
iPod missed a great bit, though -- if they'd included the mp3-recording capabilities (something like the iRiver's hd recorder, or the Ripflash) then I bet that would've caught on VERY quickly. (You go to class today, I'll go tomorrow, we'll exchange mp3s tonight.)
I'd love to record my lectures, but I don't have $400 for an iRiver, and I can't find a minitape recorder that will last for 1.5 hours without stopping and flipping...
Re:College students: timeshifting lectures (Score:5, Funny)
Whoa. Tell me how you plan to do that! I have a test coming up I could use some advance info on...
Re:College students: timeshifting lectures (Score:3, Funny)
Eventually the lecturer came to the lecture, left his dictaphone on play and came back later to pick that up.
Re:College students: timeshifting lectures (Score:3, Informative)
Re:College students: timeshifting lectures (Score:3, Informative)
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObject
What's the point? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:What's the point? (Score:3, Interesting)
More Yuck (Score:4, Funny)
There is something very, very wrong about this.
Good idea, actually (Score:3, Interesting)
Does make me wish that the ipod had some more interactive features, though. Like, say, a wireless sync. That way I could just keep sending it new info (such as a text-to-speech version of an RSS feed) all day. Unlike an audio book, I wouldn't mind so much if the news turned into a background drone and I missed some of it.
The idea of taking off my ipod headphones when I set down at the desktop and putting a different set on (and then swapping everytime I want to get up from the machine) is not a good one. I dont even like putting it in the cradle because it's yet another thing I have to do before getting up and walking away.
A good Tivo timeshift trick somebody pointed out to me is to record the early news on a channel where they do one of those crawlers across the bottom of the screen. Then, watch on fast forward.
Simple: (Score:5, Funny)
Step 2:: Invent Flux Capacitor.
Step 3: Timeshift.
Is timeshifting really /better/ ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you really absorb as much listening to something while you do other things as sitting down and reading? I have enough trouble getting it all to sink in and not skimming boring parts with a good ol' mass market paperback
Mac users, shift! (Score:5, Informative)
(Now just SHIP the darned thing, Griffin.)
Ghetto engineering (Score:5, Insightful)
Ghetto engineering! I jacked my stereo through the back of a VCR's audio in, used a VHS tape set on SLP, program the VCR to start and stop recording at a predetermined time, and abracadabra: 6 hours of hassle free recording.
Glad to know that there are less ghetto ways of doing it now, the Griffin Technology RadioSHARK looks promising for OSX. www.griffintechnology.com
No more drivsway-moments? (Score:3, Insightful)
One word (Score:5, Funny)
Once you get rid of that annoying sleep habit, you find the possibilities are limitless. I finished the entire "A la recherche du temps perdu" in 18 hours in the original and I don't even speak French. I think. Except for these damn spiders crawling up my arms, this is great. Just great!
Re:One word (Score:5, Funny)
We combine a heat bead suit with the common knowledge of ordinary street junkies to bring you this: Jimmy Tango's Fat Busters!
You wear the patented vibrating heat bead suit and jam gobs of raw crystal meth into your system!
Don't be afraid to RIDE THE SNAKE!!!
Testimonial:
Not only did I lose 140 lbs in two weeks, I also learned I am the devil!
The parent's insightful (Score:4, Insightful)
So in those days when our descendants won't have to sleep to stay alive, what will they REALLY do with all the extra hours?
Ack! Are you serious? (Score:5, Interesting)
It's going to be interesting to see how this all plays out. We're the first generation to have this much data available to us at all times, but I don't think we've really started to see the true effects of it yet. Just think about how much more media (music, movies, books, etc) we're exposed to than previous generations-- I wonder what the implications of that will be.
I can already, as a musician, see a very big change to music and to how people interact with it. People spend so much less time actually appreciating music than they used to. Just think that, not that long ago, people used to sit down together and listen to a record and do nothing else. You rarely see anybody do anything like that anymore. Hell, most people I know barely finish listening to songs anymore now that they have access to MP3 players.
If you examine other areas of media (news, books, movies, etc), all of this is happening in much the same way. I digest easily 100 times the news in a day that somebody would've 50 years ago, I see at least five movies a week (thank you, Netflix and Suprnova!), etc. Not to mention how many ads I see in any given day.
I think that having all of this information at our fingertips is going to be a double-edged sword. Just like having MP3s around commoditized music, the same will go for all media. And just as search engines/data collection sites (say, for example, Slashdot or Metafilter-- sites that find data for you) became the "killer app" for the web, I guess these "timeshifting" devices, like TiVo, which allow you to collect the data you wish to collect from a given source (i.e. record all episodes of "Arrested Development," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and "The World Series of Poker"), will become the "killer app" of their respected medium. I just have to wonder how it will affect us as people and our society as a whole.
Damn, Unplug and take a walk (Score:5, Insightful)
Once a year for a week I just force myself to unplug. I yank the network cards and modems out of my machines, unplug the controllers on my game systems, take my tv remote, monitor power cord, PDA and cel phone - put it all in a box and drop it off at a friend's house.
No radio, no news, no newspapers, no magazines, no tv, no nothing. I allow myself books, but only stuff that I've been planning to read for at least a year and putting off. The first few days are a little stressing, I start to get jittery and keep panicking that I'm missing something important. But by the end of the week I've got more perspective on life, more perspective on all those little electronic leashes that I impose on myself and generally a much much much lower tolerance for most of the info-garbage that I regularly consume.
Someone who's unironically posting a message seeking help on ways to more efficiently consume more media than he already does has to step back and think about that for a second. I don't mean to sound judgemental at all - really - but damn man, if your problem is that you can't figure out how to cram a little more media into your life then you need to step back for a minute and really give your life a good hard ponder.
I don't mean to sound all hippy zen on you, but when was the last time you felt grass on your bare feet? Best of luck, but no one ever said on their death bed, "If only I had listened to more talk radio..."
Re:Damn, Unplug and take a walk (Score:5, Funny)
I think what you are looking for is the power switch.
Re:Damn, Unplug and take a walk (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, at the end of the week when I get everything back, I'm so used to enjoying the quiet that I don't put it all back right away. I fish my cel phone out right away, bu
Re:Damn, Unplug and take a walk (Score:5, Funny)
isnt going to the park one of the advantages of having a laptop?
Alvin Toffler: Future Shock (Score:5, Insightful)
Future Shock [amazon.com] by Alvin Toffler [wired.com].
-kgj
Re:Alvin Toffler: Future Shock (Score:3, Funny)
Timeshifting dinner (Score:5, Funny)
I timeshift my movie rentals (Score:3, Interesting)
I dont always have the time or inclination to go to the movie rental store, and face the possibility that a movie I want to see has been rented by someone else already.
So whenever I happen to be near the store, I go browse the movies that interest me, and rent a few.
When I get home, if I dont have time to watch them within the rental time frame, I rip them to my HD until I can watch them, then I delete the rip.
Not enough free time (Score:4, Insightful)
People have been complaining about "not having enough free time - we used to have so much free time, but we don't anymore. We have too much work!" The theory was that we don't have as much leisure time as we once did - that work was somehow consuming it all.
So, they had these people record what they were doing for a few weeks.
They found that the people were correct in that the didn't have as much "free" (i.e. uncommitted) time. However, they had VASTLY more leisure time - it was just crammed full of leisure activities!
Yes, you can time shift/time compress TV and radio, listen to books on tape while you drive, read
But please, should you do this, don't bitch about not having enough "free" time - you chose to live that way, you have the problem with knowing what activities you cannot do without, YOU CONSUMED ALL YOUR FREE TIME!
Recommendations (Score:4, Insightful)
speedread - If you pronounce words in your mind as you read them, you are forced to read much slower than if you learn to read without that habit. Supposedly one can read and fully comprehend a few thousand of words a minute.
abridged books - You claim to read unabridged books, but if you're wanting to absorb more, why not read the versions that get to the point quicker?
read/listen/watch only shows/stories/articles recommended by trusted sources - People you know recommend that you should read/watch/listen to certain things. Some turn out to be a waste time, but some turn out to be truly enjoyable. Only listen to those who have usually recommended the latter.
ask for paraphrasings of stories - Maybe you don't need to read/watch a story. Maybe it's not worth your time/interest to go through every word. Just get someone who's good at summarizing to explain the story to you within 2 minutes. Maybe that will be entertaining enough.
fast forward - If you liked Alvin and the Chipmunks, then try this. A friend of mine watches all of his anime at double speed. I think he's nuts, but it works for him.
switch to cell phone-only - Here's something I follow. If you only have a cell-phone, you have an excuse to hang up on people who talk too much, "Sorry, using up too much airtime. Gotta go."
pay someone else to do housework - A maid can clean your house for a reasonable fee once a week. Please don't hire an illegal alien though.
carpool - You might have to drive to work and do your Otis listening routine sometimes, but othertimes, you can sit in the back while you speedread. This works best if you can ignore your talkative buddies and maintain focus.
drink more coffee - Just make sure it doesn't interfere with the sleep you need. Most people need enough sleep to maintain most of their ability to pay attention to what they read/listen to/watch.
work less hours - depends on your priorities in life. If you're an independent contractor who's being paid a lot, maybe you can take off a day every other week to get more reading in.
become financially independent - or maybe you don't have to work at all after you've saved your money enough or started a business that runs itself.
raise your slashdot filter - Most of the posts here are crap. You shouldn't bother with anything less than a rating of 4 unless you're moderating.
Timeshifting != Multitasking (Score:3, Interesting)
Multitasking would be doing several things at once, such as listening to an audio book while jogging. This is pretty common, and anybody who has a busy job knows what it's like. A coworker follows you into the men's room to chat at the urinal. You print something out before getting up to go get coffee so that you can use the time while you wait for the printout to finish. And so on. Hardly a new idea.
Timeshifting would be manipulating one of those tasks that you might not have been able to in the past. Besides Tivo and ReplayRadio, I'd suggest that the whole RSS aggregator phenomenon fits into that category. You used to spend X minutes visiting Y sites every day. Now you spend 1/10th that time by putting them all under your nose simultaneously. It's not like you're doing 10 things at once, you're not visiting 10 sites at the same time -- you're cramming more valuable info into your web browsing time.
Or how about those elevators that have a CNN newsfeed in them? Sure, technically it's multitasking, giving you something to do with otherwise down time (or I suppose up time depending on which floor you're going to :)). But it's also time manipulation in that you used to be limited to "Watch news in the morning before going to work." Now you get to take it with you up to the office. Of course I could make the opposite argument that you're not manipulating it, as anybody that's seen this setup knows. It asks a trivia question, then you have to wait 30 seconds, and you end up on your floor before you see the answer and you get all cranky.
Timeshifting vs. Prioritizing (Score:5, Insightful)
Why are we trying to cram all this stuff into our lives? When you multitask your entertainment, all it does is take some of the pleasure out of it. I'd rather *read* a single book in two months and really take it in than squeeze 8 of them into the little gaps of time during the day.
I subscribe to the field of thought that it's better to make priorities of what makes you happiest and go after a few of them full bore in the spare time you have, rather than spend a little time with each of them and get nowhere. Accept the fact that you can't possibly do everything you want, and take seriously the things you *can* do.
ATI ALL-IN-WONDER (Score:5, Informative)
I made a radio "VCR", and it's easy. Try it! (Score:5, Interesting)
Total cost: $0.
It's been working now for about a week, and already I love it. I can listen to Car Talk and Marketplace whenever I please. I'm saving up a bunch of Fresh Air interviews to listen to on a car trip.
Since a modern hard drive can store about 5 years of compressed talk radio, I don't think I'll need to "change the tape" any time soon. ;-)
Re:I made a radio "VCR", and it's easy. Try it! (Score:3, Informative)
I described this system on my weblog [cactii.net].
Total Recorder (Score:3, Informative)
Another nice tool (Windows only, sorry) is Total Recorder from High Criteria [highcriteria.com]. It installs an audio driver shim and can record audio from any source. Essentially, if you can hear it on your PC's speakers, you can record it. I use it for time-shifting and for converting RealAudio and other streams into MP3 for my portable player.
Up next, shorten your time with timestretching!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Timestretching!! By cranking up the speed at which you watch something while keeping the audio pitch sane, you can drop a good 25% (or more, if you feel *X-TREME*) from your viewing time. And if you think I'm joking, check out this winDVD page [intervideo.com] where they outline their timestretching tech. Pop in a DVD, and use your choice of "finish by a specific time" or "finish within a certain amount of time." And voila, suddenly everything takes 25% less time. Which leaves you able to catch up on all those anime reruns your tivo has been accumulating while you were busy watching the Daily Show.
It's important, or something. Who knows.
BBC already timeshifts and streams for you! (Score:5, Informative)
It's RealAudio, not Shoutcast, but hey, you can't have everything.
This kind of power gives you interesting abilities. For instance, on my friends mailing list we were joking around pinpointing the exact second at which ex-minister Clare Short realised quite what she'd done by exposing UK spying activity against the UN on the Radio 4 interview this morning.
VCR capabilities for Radio (Score:3, Interesting)
OK, I answered my own question (with a tiny bit of help from Google). Media Forte [mediaforte.com.sg] makes a couple of FM-tuner PCI cards and bundle software that records, too. The description says Linux-compatible (drivers?), though the bundled software looks Windows-only.
I am just the opposite.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Stop and smell the roses...sit in one place and daydream...meditate...lay in the sun streaming in through the screen door on a warm day and take a nap...watch an ant mound...observe the wind through the trees, and the fall of leaves.
I was far more creative and energetic when I spent more time doing those things than I am now, every waking moment crammed with some activity - either work or family oriented.
It is not the quantity, but the quality of the life you live that counts.
Faster MP3s (Score:4, Informative)
I find that for spoken word (such as audiobooks), I can increase the playback rate to as much as 150% and can understand and enjoy the material for an extended amount of time. If I am really paying attention, I can play back at 200% for shorter lengths of time & if I'm feeling "distracted," I may have only a ver small increasae in the rate.
I don't know what hardware currently has this feature (I'm sure other /.ers will know & hope they post it, as I'm in the market for a player), but the winamp plugin pacemaker [prohosting.com] works quite well in winamp or Xaudio.
Other ways to timeshift - low tech (Score:4, Informative)
Do your homework the night before it is due, instead of the morning it is due.
And use a VCR to record the radio, it is possible, just leave the radio tuned to the right station and on, and program the VCR to record the Line in if possible.
Time shifting your whole life? (Score:5, Funny)
- Work
- It's a pain in the ass, we all know it. Ask your supervisor for flex time, or work from home
- If that doesn't work, start your own business, so that you can set your own hours
- Commute
- This is basically related to work, so see above. Alternatively, you can move closer to work, or just start sleeping under your desk.
- School
- For you, assuming you're an adult, you can attend distance learning classes in place of the regular college curriculum, or you can look to see if there are schools in your area that focus in adult education.
- You could start working for a university, as they tend to be flexible in allowing staff members to attend classes, and they're nearby, saving you from the need for seperate travel time. [you'll have to coordinate with your potential manager to make sure it's okay]
- For your children, you can use home schooling, so you don't have to worry about when their tests and vacations are when you're planning family trips.
- Relationship
- Let's face it, dating, marriage, or whatever is another major waste of time. You have two major options -- make enough money so that your SO doesn't have to work, and can be at your every beck and call, or soliciting prostitutes.
- Shopping
- With Amazon and other online retailers, there's no reason to go out shopping anymore. If you're not in an area supported by Peapod or a similar organization, you're going to have to find some place online that sells MREs.
- Food
- Between Shwanns, MREs, and a microwave, meal perperation shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Consumption, however, is another waste of time, and so I would suggest only buying mushy foods, to save on chewing. You may wish to switch to a diet high on Ensure, Carnation Instant Breakfast, and/or Slimfast [is there anyone still reading this?]
- Bathroom Breaks
- MREs prove salt peter which may allow you to time shift your bathroom breaks. You can also try Depends, or other incontience aids. [not quite to the punchline yet]
- Sleeping
- Doctors may recommend 10 hrs per night, but let's be serious -- 3L of Mt. Dew per day, and you can easily cut that back to 4hrs, so long as you perform relatively sedentary tasks for those 6 hrs that you lose, such as watching TV or playing video games. [are you still reading?]
- Friends
- Provided that you started your own company, you can then hire your friends to work with you, so you can get all of that companionship crap done while you're still at work, eliminating the need to waste time with extraneous interaction. [It's not that good of a joke]
- If you're an extrovert, and still have a need for other interaction, you're their boss, and can pressure them to do whatever you want, and/or hire extra yes-men to replace them. [it's rather dark humor, too]
- Life
- Unfortunately, I don't have a solution for this one, other than hoping that there really is reincarnation, and when you want a break, killing yourself, so that you can just come back to it later, when you have more time. However, if that one doesn't work, you're pretty much SOL, but the bright side, is you won't really notice that it didn't work, as you'll be dead. [hey, I told you it was dark, damnit]
Now for the real advice -- get a life. Take up a hobby. Quit your job. Do something, but don't try to burn out early. I've already done that -- twice. There are things you can do to remove wasted time, but there are times when we really just need to relax, and do nothing important. [and that's what we have American sitcoms for -- no thought required, and no redeeming qualities]I have an idea. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Question about Otis player (Score:3, Informative)
-N
Re:Question about Otis player (Score:3, Informative)