Podfics – Part 2

If you haven’t read my first post, here’s the link to it.

Okay so I have moved on to Soundcloud.

I am using the same css from the LJ post as last time as I am aiming for consistency.

The main difference is that I am uploading to SoundCloud – which has a limit of 200mins for free users.

Tip: When you upload the file make sure it is in a track form and not a playlist by deselecting the box for automatic playlist creation.

I couldn’t find the link for the AO3 player and embedding it was rather problematic but I eventually found a way, where I downloaded the track using chrome…

Next, I went to the downloads and copied the link from there.

It seems to work just fine – though perhaps next time I’ll use the ‘secret link’ function.

Anyways I’ll link the 2nd chapter here ^__^ take a look!

PS: I am planning a post on editing using Adobe Audition next.

Podfics

Intro

I’m doing a podfic for Of the River and the Sea fanfic. I got full permission from Aleycat4eva to post it on AO3 and a wordpress blog by pm-ing her.

I’m doing this mostly because Of the River and the Sea is my favourite fanfic out of the thousands I have read, and I feel that putting it in podfic form makes it accessible to loads more people (busy people who like to listen to audiobooks, lazy people and blind people.)

It also helps me be more eloquent (practise at enunciating my words clearly.) and get better at editing audio (Adobe Audition CC).

It’s awesome that I finally have an opportunity to use my new mic.

How?

So I got permission from aleycat4eva by PM-ing her on fanfiction.net.

Next, I did the recording and editing. – Using Adobe Audition CC.

Finally, I hosted my podfic on Internet Archive before embedding it in AO3.

It’s interesting that even now, AO3 doesn’t really have much support for podfics. AO3 is much better than fanfiction.net which only supports text but is is rather annoying to have to host my file on a separate site and fiddle with embedding html to post my podfic. Hopefully in the future there’ll be way to directly upload the file on AO3.

So to embed my podfic, I found this awesome LJ post which provided the CSS and after I modified it slightly, I finally got a working version of my first ever podfic up!

PS: There is support for soundcloud’s player on AO3 so I might switch to that in the future.

PPS: My cover art on AO3 comes from DA, this image by Helene Le Heron & kim-e-sens.

Links

So here’s the link to chapter 1 of my Of the River and the Sea fanfic.

It’s also on Internet Archive:

So play it and tell me what you think?

If you are curious how I do it, here’s a link to the post about my podfic setup. (coming soon)

Meanwhile, here’s the link to part 2.

Best Robotic Vacuum

Quick Notes

Okay, so I am getting a robotic vacuum for my dorm room which has hardwood floors, a tiny amount of floor space and a reasonably uncluttered layout since I have yet to move in…

So my personal pick is the Neato Botvac 80 Robot Vacuum. It may not be the best model or most efficient model but it is reasonably good, has nearly all the functions I want and most importantly, it is cheap ლ ( ◕  ᗜ  ◕ ) ლ. – It can return to it’s home dock to charge itself, I can set a schedule and it works well, better than most other vacuums.

An Overview of Robot Vacuums

Neato and Roomba are the classic brands. They are great!

Roomba is more famous

There are also hybrid vacuums that do mopping but they don’t really tend to do so well… Especially if you have pets, they might wipe poop all over the place – An image horrifying enough to me that even though I don’t have pets, I’m definitely not getting a mopping bot.

Bobi by bobsweep is said to be a great improvement over Bob (it’s predecessor)

It is small, cute and can find it’s way home to charge itself. It even follows a schedule!

But it seems to have no sense of direction – it bumps it’s way through life – it’s mopping function is pathetic and it’s not that powerful a vacuum.

Conclusion?

Neato is the best!

So which Neato?

The best of the market – aka the best vacuuming bot you can get – is the Neato botvac connected.

This is the one vacuum to rule them all!

It is also $800 officially – but $700 on Amazon-. .·´¯`(>▂<)´¯`·. The expensive robot of my dreams will just have to wait till I actually have money.

So 2nd best = Neato botvac D series which is an improved version of the Neato botvac series (cnet says it’s not really improved but reviews from amazon says that the bin is larger, the suction power is greater and it is just generally more awesome.)

For students (moths fly out every time I open my wallet.), You might want to look at the Neato botvac 80.

In Summary of Neato,

Okay so the numbers 80, 85 are just about what extra stuff is included and hence not really that important.

The botvac connected has a wifi app (and is $200 more expensive because of that and some improvements like vacuuming in rows & columns.)

The botvac D series is slightly better than the botvac series (without a D) but about $100 more expensive.

Skim to here! Summary Below

Hence I think the Neato botvac series is a fine purchase for those who need to save some money but are still too technologically inclined (read: lazy) to mop their own dorms.

For those who want the cutting-edge technology – the ultimate best – I suggest you get the Neato botvac connected which is only $700 on Amazon.

I think Roomba’s navigation is too erratic – thus it is slower and doesn’t clean as throughly.

PS: Did you know that Neato is actually cheaper on Amazon?

Sources

I prefer to watch user review videos as I find the official videos are incredibly unrealistic.

This is the absolute best comparison between Roomba and Neato.

cnet has a great page for robot vacuums, I particularly recommend looking at their spread which compares the efficiency of the vacuums in sucking up sand, rice and hair from thick carpets, thin carpets and hardwood floors. Though I suggest referencing Amazon reviews too, as their review of the Neato D85 overexaggerates the lack of improvement from the Neato 85. In a nutshell, look at this sheet but read the article with a pinch of salt.

If you just want to compare between Neato bots then use this it gives a great comparison between the different features.

This list was actually pretty okay (not in terms of ranking but in terms of feature comparison.)

 

EDIT:

After about 6 months, the Neato basically died which is really pathetic for a $600+ device. It was a rather good vacuum but I have since found far better ones. Like the Japanese vacuums that vacuum and mop rather effectively (which I am currently using)

So I really won’t recommend getting the Neato.