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How To Use A Podcast

By on May 17, 2012 in communications, education

No I am not trying to sell you an eBook on how to make the perfect podcast and I’m not looking to rent you my god-like podcast consulting services at an “ungodly” rate. I don’t care if you make a podcast, what I want to talk about today is how to use a podcast from a listener’s point of view. It seems that everyone out there these days is experimenting with podcasts (I may even jump on the bandwagon myself at some point), and apparently they are the much ballyhooed (there’s a throwback word) “next big thing” in the web world. Given my initial experiences with this relatively new medium of communication, I can definitely see that there is potential for a lot of people to tune out of podcasts and not see the benefits of them if you don’t know how to use them properly.

Isn’t Podcasting Basically Radio?

When I first seen this whole podcast idea, I was skeptical to say the least. I thought, “When do I have time to sit down and listen to someone talk for 45 minutes?” It turns out I was basically right. I tried to listen to a few podcasts concerning topics I was interested in, and I just didn’t find it all that stimulating, and for someone who is used to reading through blog posts and academic journal articles and full speed+, the information seemed to be delivered so slowly and with so much fluff (BTW, if you thought this was a post on how to make a great podcast, that experience should be a big hint – get rid of the fluff and condense your content).

how to use a podcastThere were two things that changed my view on podcasts and got me thinking about how to use a podcast to maximize entertainment value and efficiency. The first was doing dishes and the second was Bill Simmons. I’m probably the only person to ever say that. Doing dishes is my contribution to the food preparation process in our house. I’m not a terrible cook, but I have no patience for it, and I don’t particularly like to try new things, so my girlfriend generally dominates that part of the operation. When I’m doing dishes I found I liked to keep my mind busy with other things, and since I’m not a big music guy, I started listening to “The Sports Guy” Podcast by Bill Simmons. I have read his columns for years (big plug here, if you love sports and want to waste copious amounts of time at work then Bill Simmons is your boy) and thought I’d give his podcasts a shot. While I didn’t find them as hard-hitting as his columns, the podcasts were pretty cool in a talk radio/background noise kind of way. So it became kind of a ritual for me to do the dishes and tune in to some sports talk. Continue Reading →

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6 Free Apps That Will Make Your Personal Finance Life Easier

By on October 11, 2010 in communications

I promised a few weeks ago that I would include a post on some of my favourite apps that help manage my personal finance more easily.  I know I promised to do it last week, but I thought you might be somewhat iPhone info overloaded, so I decided to give a break for a week.  I used these apps when I had the iTouch and am still using these apps on the iPhone (because they are so awesome).

I’m sure you can find the same (or similar) apps on your Android or your Blackberry too (and other smart phones/iPads etc).

Six Great and FREE Personal Finance Apps:

  • portable Pictures, Images and PhotosBloomberg: I love this app! I use it daily (or at least Monday to Friday).  You can input your stocks (amount acquired, price acquired) and it tells you how much you are up (wheee!!) or down (boooo!!).  You can also track stocks that you don’t currently hold but want to watch.  It helps me keep track of my stocks to make sure they’re not doing anything too crazy and helps cue me to take action and pounce when I see a stock that I’ve been eye-balling that’s on “sale”.
  • Cheap Gas: This app is pretty cool too.  It tracks your location and tells you when and what the most recent prices on gas are in your vicinity.  The main drawback is that it depends on people reporting the price, so sometimes the prices can be a bit outdated (like 8 hours ago).
  • Pay Back: I find this app quintessential, especially for traveling and going “dutch”.  You leap with faith when inputting the numbers, but it really does work and is 100% accurate.  How it works is you create a trip, input the people chipping in for the trip, input the expenses and who paid (and who is chipping in for the expense) and then press ‘It’s Pay Back Time!’  You will know who owes who what..just like that!  It eliminates the need to pay two or three people when you just need to pay one (makes the transactions much “cleaner”).  It’s one of my all time favourite apps.
  • Balance: Great app for writing down what you spend your money on (as mentioned in my 3 part Financial Cleanse series).  It tells you how in the negative you are so you can keep track of your debits and credits to your account.  Automatic net worth calculation if you’re meticulous about inputting the data at the point of transaction.  Doesn’t include your bank information etc. so if you’re not good at updating, then this isn’t the app for you.
  • PageOnce- This is a great app (sort of works like Mint.com, but the Mint app is only applicable to US accounts currently) and tracks all of my credit cards (having two credits cards, my AMEX and MBNA, it can be difficult to keep track of the balances and transactions I make), bank accounts, and investing information.  You can set a pass code for it and you can log out to delete the data from the device you are using for added security.
  • iData Usage- Tracks the data that I’ve been using on both Wifi and Cellular to make sure I don’t go over my data.  PageOnce also has an app that tracks your bill from AT&T (but alas, not for Telus).

There you have it. These are my utmost favourite apps for my smartphone.

Do you have any personal finance apps that are free (or very cheap) that you are a big fan of?

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youngandthrifty’s iPhone 4 Review

By on September 29, 2010 in communications

Yesss! I have finally received my iPhone 4 (just supported the Bay area, Financial Samurai!), and I was able to get it before the September 30 cut off for the free i Phone 4 case.  I wanted to hold out on my review until I had a week or two to give it a good go at it.  Because I haven’t ever had an iPhone before (I just had an iPod Touch which I felt was invaluable anyway), I am pretty happy to be hooked up 24-7 (now I can tweet more often!).

I did sign up for another three years (yes, ball and chain) with Telus.  I had about two months and a bit left on my contract.  After using my own blog post on How to Save Money on your Cell Phone Bill as a reference, and numerous calls to Telus (they were obviously getting very tired of me calling),

Here’s what my contract with Telus looks like:

Continue Reading →

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