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I’ll admit I’ve been a little slow lately grabbing on to new technology. If I can’t find an immediate benefit to it then I complete forget about it. In the last few days I’ve run across two things that I can’t believe I’ve lived this long without:

Podcasting - Holy cow, it’s talk radio whenever I want it! I can listen to people debate the merits of browser versions all day long. The only downside I discovered was that any tom, dick, or harry can have a podcast. I found very few quality podcasts that I actually would want to hear on a regular basis. The few that I liked:

MPR: Musicheads - The elitist music nuts from The Current give their opinion even when off the air. It’s typically only 10 minutes long and airs once a week.

This Week in Tech - Highly nerdy nerds talk and debate. Their arguments typically end up dwindling down to “Yeah, well, shut up.” At least they talk about technology.

NPR Story of the Day - People always talk about having “driveway” moments when listening to NPR. You get so engrossed in a story that you can’t leave your car until it’s complete. Now I can listen to it later.

I tried to listen to Adam Curry, the self-proclaimed father of podcasting, but I couldn’t tolerate his ego. Maybe he’s a little jaded because he doesn’t feel he got the mad props he should have for being an innovator in the podcasting world. I listened to one show and decided it wasn’t entertaining. A side note - his podcast is called “The Daily Source Code.” Does Curry know how to actually right any code?

Del.icio.us - It’s online bookmarking. That’s it. Plain and simple. Kyle had shown me Del.icio.us a while go but I just couldn’t find a real use for it. Then I was shown how it can be used to categorize and store useful links. w00t! It allows me to label any URL which helps organize and store all the random corners of the web I visit.

Call me slow, call me a technophobe, but I’ve finally found a use for these two things. I’m off to play a bit.

I picked up Neil Diamond’s new album 12 Songs a few days ago. I picked it up after hearing that Rick Rubin produced it. Rubin has the magic touch not only with rap stars but also aging musicians on the brink of extinction. Johnny Cash found a whole new audience with the American recordings with Rubin’s help. 12 Songs doesn’t go out on a limb as much as the Cash albums, but it’s pretty damn good. It’s Neil with an accoustic guitar and very simple backing music. Most songs are slow with a simple and small sound. Topics don’t stretech too far from love and women. The song Hell Yeah is a reflection on his career and past. He makes no apologies for enjoying his life. Delirious Love is very radio friendly and has a catchy beat. Although its Diamond’s first new music in 20-some years it still feels like him and his music. The album has the feeling of an older, wiser musician, much like Cash’s American albums.

Nerd Note: 12 Songs is one of the albums recalled by Sony over the whole XCP rootkit debacle. I was a little fearful to stick the disc into my computer. After doing a little research I discovered that users were presented with a message box prior to installation of XCP. Luckily mine had zero remenants of the botched DRM. I had no problems with the disc and my computer.