Technology Convergence

Ever since The ColdFusion Podcast first came out, I have thought that I would like to listen to podcasts about ColdFusion. Despite my intentions, however, it hasn't really happened.

The ColdFusion Podcast has been inactive lately (though they plan to start again next year), but ColdFusion Weekly has been brodcasting pretty regularly. In the past several months, however, I have listened to only one or two podcasts from each.

Basically, I am unable to listen to a podcast while I work because it is to distracting. If I am not working, then I am usually spending time with my wife. Since she is not a programmer, it seems rude to make her listen to a podcast about ColdFusion.

Ideally, I would listen to a podcast on the drive. A few things prevented this, however - an unwillingness to wear headphones as a drive and a lack of an MP3 player in the car.

Thankfully, a combination of factors has finally solved this. My wife and I recently went to NYC for a brief vacation. While there we picked up a new iPod Nano for my wife to replace her iPod Shuffle (at the Apple Store of course!). This means that I have an iPod Shuffle now (I love leftovers! - product of being the youngest siling, I suppose).

This summer we bought a new Honda Element (not so flashy as the Mini Cooper it replaced, but more useful and still lots of fun).

The Element has an auxillary input, the result of which is that I can listen to the iPod in the car while driving. I did just that today on my drive out to the post office. The drive was only long enough to get through about half of the most recent ColdFusion Weekly, but it was still really nice.

It really felt like I was just listening to a normal broadcast radio show on ColdFusion. In many ways, new technology has the same feel as the old. The major difference is that network radio is unlikely to cover ColdFusion programming, so niche markets are well served by technology that makes content production and distribution.

I look forward to hearing more of both podcasts in the future.