I’m trying out a new wordpress plugin called “CommentLuv”. If you have a wordpress blog, then leave a comment here with the URL of your wordpress blog. It’ll do something cool.

My parents are here this weekend and we’re having a great time. They were sad when I left Boston, or at least my father was. I had a very interesting life change recently, some of you know what it was, and this is the first time my parents are coming to visit afterward. I’ll be writing a protected post about it shortly.

lolcats for a gray day.

I recently purchased a Samsung Fascinate, a galaxy S phone. They are notoriously easy to “root” and install a custom rom. This cleans out all of the Verizon crap-ware, consequently improving battery life. It also enables you to do more with your phone – use it as a wireless access point, skype from wifi or verizon’s network, and customize much, much more.

One of the cooler things I’ve done with the phone is to have it automagically download my favorite podcasts so I can listen to them on the subway. I sometimes listen to Pandora on my 30 minute morning and evening train ride, but sometimes the train gets stuck beneath the Potomac River and there is no Verizon data signal down there. Pandora will drop the song half-way through and I’ll be sitting listening to farts and coughing for the remainder of my ride.

I chose a free application called Acast to listen to podcasts. I always choose a free application first because I can get rid of it without a second thought if I don’t like it. Acast will:

- Show all of the podcast feeds so I can choose the most recent content (basic functionality)

- Download podcasts to my SD card so I can listen when my phone is off the network or in a tunnel

- Be configured to download podcasts only when my phone is plugged in and on wifi at night (save that battery!)

Anyway, it is cool. The new version of Acast works well. The previous version had some issues with the “podcast control pane”, so when I wanted to pause or ffwd I couldn’t find the pane and would be SOL.

My four favorite podcasts are:

- NPR Marketplace Money

- NPR: Technology

- HVW8 International Podcast – All kinds of funky music

- Gilles Peterson’s Podcast – All kinds of music from Jazz to House, all super tasteful and good for parties and chilling out.

That list is being refined and complemented by other podcasts, so check back.

I highly recommend you download ACast and subscribe to some podcasts of your own! You can customize your content endlessly!