The River

This is pretty awesome. Jaguar is adding (as a dealer-installed option) what it calls a Rear Screen Connectivity System (RSCS). Basically, it’s an AV panel that allows rear-seat passengers to connect any digital device that has an audio/visual output. Each rear-seat passenger can connect his/her individual device, hear the audio output on a wireless headset, and see the video on an LCD screen built into the front seats’ headrests. Next time I’m a back-seat passenger in a Jaguar, I’ll be sure to bring my video iPod…

Ok, so I was skeptical about podcasting. But the last two days I’ve done many hours of driving, back and forth to San Jose for the Kelsey Group “Drilling Down on Local” conference. Here’s what’s been on my podcast list (besides the Ricky Gervais podcast which remains a classic):

• Joseph Jaffe’s Across the Sound. This served as a great way to use former “down time” to think about issues related to interactive marketing. Also interesting for anyone considering getting into podcasting.
  
• Jason Chervokas’ Down in the Flood. Despite my great fondness for Chervokas, the general lack of podcasts in my diet meant I’d never listened to DITF in its entirety. Remedied this over the last couple of days with the “Best of 2005” episode. Excellent stuff on the origins of American music.
  
• Fred Wilson’s Positively 10th Street. A bit hokey at times, I’ll admit, but Fred and his family have good taste in music and I’ve gotten turned on to some stuff I’ve enjoyed. Both current and classic music is represented.
  
• Lostcasts (which turns out to be by some of the folks at interactive agency Click Here). For LOST addicts.
  

Next up… all the podcasts Pete Lerma mentioned in his recent ClickZ column including Search Engine Watch’s podcast.

Any other suggestions?

I bought the video iPod and have been regularly torturing people making them watch videos of my 8-month-old son. One question I’ve gotten regularly is how I got these videos to the device. And here’s the answer, for those of you who’d like to bring the same torturous experience to your friends and loved ones.

1. Capture video on our digital still camera. We use a Canon A95 Powershot. This results in an .avi file.
   
2. Use AVS Video Converter ($29.95) to convert the .avi file to iPod format. This has been a great tool in working with video, because it translates nearly every input to nearly any output you’d like. In the latest version, there are special outputs for iPod and PSP. You can also burn onto DVD — even in PAL format, which has been handy for sending videos of the kid to our family in Scotland.
   
3. Import the converted files into iTunes and sync.
   

Now all I need to do is figure out a way to translate my TiVo-To-Go files from my computer to the video iPod. There’s some “official” way to do it via some $60 software, but there’s got to be an easier (read: cheaper) method. Helpful hints much appreciated.