#205 Four Year Anniversary “Best Of” and Giveaway Show

In this 4 year anniversary show, Steve gives us a “best of” show while I just get to give away software and photos! Steve pokes fun at me, recognizes the fans, and helps us laugh at Bart’s hiccups.  I think you’ll enjoy it!

Listen to the Podcast Once (1hr 3 min)

Today is Sunday May 17th, 2009 and this show number 205. This is the highly anticipated 4 year anniversary giveaway show! Steve’s been feverishly working away on what I think is essentially a “best of” show – he’s been crawling through all the back episodes pulling out content and he won’t let me listen to it! That is, until today! He’s broken the show up into eleven segments, so my plan here is to give away some stuff, then do a segment, give away some more stuff, do another segment, until we’re out of stuff and segments!

I had fun figuring out the giveaways because I got to play in Excel! I started by pulling in all the names and emails into an Excel file, then made another tab with all the giveaway items. There were 155 entries for the giveaway and 59 gifts, so that’s about a 1 in 3 chance you’ll win if you entered! I used the Excel random number generator rand() to the gifts, and then again on the people, sorted the two lists in that order and there were the winners! So in the hopes of NOT boring everyone to tears, my plan is to rattle off the gifts as fast as I can, but don’t worry if you won I’ll be sending you an email telling you how to get your gifts!

So let’s give some stuff away, shall we? first up we have the 3 decal set of the Mac Crossbones stickers from artist Ryan Sakamoto and those go to: Dwight Sperry, Ed Kelby, Bob Kosky, Dick Nelson, Michelle L, Ivan Jrgensen, John Fahey, Michelle York, Phoenix-Brian W Priester, Robbie Roof, Joe Cosentino, and Bob DeGrande.

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Hello Allison, this is Steve. I’m here to commemorate 4 yrs of the Nosillacast – what a fantastic achievement! I have to say, in addition to being one of your avid listeners, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching you refine your show over the past 4 years to make it better. I also get a kick out of how much you love doing the show and interacting with your listeners. Given how much you’ve contributed to the community I wanted to find a way to show my appreciation. I struggled with this a bit, not having well honed podcasting skills such as yours. But I realized I do enjoy editing – so I took the easy way and used the content of your show as the material to produce my thank-you segment.

To start things off, here’s a reminder of how your show has evolved from day one, on May 13, 2005, during a period that listener Dean calls “The prehistoric times when there was no music.” What a contrast from your first few shows to the quality, content and diversity of today’s Nosillacast. I particularly enjoy how your expression of emotion has grown over time to the point where Nosillacast now contains a healthy dose of sarcasm and humor with some technology sprinkled in for good measure. So sit back, relax and enjoy this audio montage of 4 wonderful years of the Nosillacast.

Time for the 2nd set of prizes – Also from Ryan Sakamoto – prints of his two spectacular photographs! First Zeke Franko and Jamels Callahan (aka mactrucker) win the Waikiki Yacht Harbor print, and David Hill and John Liberty win the “To a Wild Rose” print. These are gorgeous! You can see more of Ryan’s fantastic photography at ryansakamoto.com.

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One of the ways you stay in touch with technology and the podcast community is through trade shows. I counted – and between the Podcast Expos, MacWorld Expos and All Things Digital Conferences, you’ve attended 11 tech related trade shows over the past 4 years. You always come back energized and ready to convey all you’ve learned to your listeners.

It’s time to start off the software giveaways – Jason Sigal wins a copy of MacFamily Tree from synium.de. Next up is ten copies of QuickScale for scaling your photos from codingmammoth.com going to knigge, Sandy Foster, Will, Zach Levis, Pat Dengler, Chris Sussman, Jeffrey Ingeman, Alvin Toh (from Signapore), Ross Steinwedel and Jeremy North

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One of the things I love about you is your passion for certain things, even if they are a bit quirky on occasion. Whether it be Macs, Hondas, washing & waxing your car, or using your Mother’s Day chain saw, the energy and enthusiasm with which you express your delight about an activity or product is simply invigorating.

The next four lucky winners get their choice of either Feeder (which is a bit of a niche product but if you’re a podcaster it’s a MUST) or Together for organizing your stuff, both from reinventedsoftware.com by Steve Harris: Susan Bready, Bruce Hatherly, Kate Thomas and Melissa Davis (aka themacmommy!)

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Several of your listeners have noted an aspect of your show that sets it apart from the others …that is the humanity you reveal in your podcast. I have to agree this is one of my favorite qualities of the Nosillacast. Your willingness to share some of your personal life experiences and seamlessly blend it with technology is quite refreshing and unique.

Time to give away five copies of the bundle from creativebe.com which includes ResizeMe, Yum, Songe and iArchiver – these go to Anthony Gartner, Peter Boodts, Connor Jackson, Debby Stowers and Don Moeller.

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Another unique aspect of the Nosillacast is your attention to the challenges faced by the hearing and visually impaired in accessing technology. I know accessibility is of great personal interest to you. I believe there are many out there who very much appreciate what you’re doing to shine some light on this often neglected area.

Now for an app I can’t do without, the one in charge of making the others go away – AppDelete from Reggie Ashworth – copies go to Ted Porray, Robert Brown, and Steve Trent. Next up from Bruji.com – copes of Bookpedia go to Dean Elger and Bill Meehan and DVDpedia goes to Sandro Cuccia, Nolan Sanders, and John Widgen.

===INSERT SEGMENT 5====

The only thing to say about this next segment is that you have a rich vocabulary and within it you sprinkle some fairly uncommon words. In your unique Nosillacast style.

We’ll take a short break to give away two copies of Screenium which allows you to easily create video screencasts from synium.de to Adrienne Landry and Roger Fleisher.

===INSERT SEGMENT 6====

You don’t have many sponsors but you’re quite loyal to each of them. Most Nosillacast listeners know if you advertise a product or service, you really use it and believe in it. Even before the Nosillacast, you often promoted items you found useful to acquaintances. I think you noted in an earlier episode your friends and relatives were quite relieved when you began the Nosillacast since it gave you another outlet to promote the products you love.

Well it sure seems like the right time to give away three copies of ScreenSteps to Imtiaz Mohamed, Jesus Fidalgo, and Bob Corea. You guys are so lucky!

===INSERT SEGMENT 7====

Now we get to the part that really makes the Nosillacast special – your listeners, readers and contributors. This medium is exciting because it’s two-way and dynamic. Through reviews, comments, dumb questions and interviews, many of your listeners enhance the Nosillacast and are integral to your show. Many have also noted how accessible you are. Your show reflects the respect you have for your listeners. Whether it be through e-mail, Twitter, Facebook or the uStream chat room, you’re involved with them. The community you’ve built around the Nosillacast is remarkable. Here are just a few of those people who help make the Nosillacast my favorite podcast.

We’re getting there guys – for this break let’s give away Audio Hijack Pro from rogueamoeba.com to Marc Beddawi. I couldn’t do the live NosillaCast on Ustream without Audio Hijack Pro! Let’s also do three apps from telestream.net: Michael Malloy gets Flip4Mac WMV Studio, Cindy Stockman gets Videocue, and Katherine Haviland wins a seat of Drive-in. But that’s not all, Nancy Jentzch wins a copy of the backup software I depend on – SuperDuper! from shirt-pocket.com.

===INSERT SEGMENT 8====

Many aspects of your show are a reflection of you and your experiences. Such is the case with Dumb Question Corner. Well before Nosillacast started, I recall you saying many times “If you have what appears to be a dumb question, go ahead and ask it. Chances are someone else has the same question and just doesn’t wanta ask.”

We’re almost done giving away prizes, only four more left! Corky Heath is now a proud owner of the Mac Switcher Bundle from macswitcherbundle.com by Jean MacDonald of Smile on my Mac.

===INSERT SEGMENT 9====

Now fortunately Allison, I know you have a good sense of humor which often includes self deprecation. We’ve all enjoyed hearing about your lack of musical talent, tendencies towards ADD and challenges in keeping liquid in containers. You have a most unique and interesting way of describing how you address your life challenges.

I record every week with Bart with WireTap Studio from ambrosiasw.com, but they’re giving away not just WireTap Studio, but also their new SoundBoard application. Mark Allison, Paul (from Peru) Korswagen and Greg Hill will be happy campers with their new software.

===INSERT SEGMENT 10====

No one I know does a rant like you Allison. You deliver them sometimes with humor and other times with ferocity. However you do it, I would not want to be the vendor on the receiving end of one of your rants.

For our final gift I thought I’d save the six month subscription to ScreenCastsOnline from the talented and lovely Don McAllister, and that coveted prize goes to Kevin Simmons!

===INSERT SEGMENT 11====

Undoubtedly the most successful segment of the Nosillacast is Chit Chat Across the Pond. Listeners have described this segment using phrases such as used “spirited repartee, spear throwing and arguing across the pond”… to name just a few. It’s clear people get a kick out of you and Bart challenging one another. But if you listen between the lines, what shines through is the close friendship you have with Bart and the respect you for have for each other. It is during Chit Chat where I hear the most laughter and see how much you love doing the show. You and Bart have really developed something special here and we’re delighted you choose to share it with us each week.

I have to say Allison, it’s really been enjoyable seeing you develop your podcasting skills and refine the Nosillacast over the past 4 years. You’re clearly in your element with your community of listeners, readers, reviewers and fellow podcasters – many with whom you’ve become close friends. You put your heart and soul into the show and you dedicate a good portion of your life to it. Several people have asked how do you do it all. The secret is simple – anything you love to do, you find the time to do … and you love doing the Nosillacast. So I’ll close by congratulating you on 4 tremendous years of the Nosillacast. You know you have my full support in this adventure and I very much look forward to seeing how the your show progresses over the next 4 years, and beyond. Oh and one last thing …. You can be sure I’ll stay subscribed.

That’s going to wind it up for this week, be sure to stop into the live show and meet all the fanatical fans at ustream.tv/nosillacast at 5pm GMT-8 (which is also known as Pacific Time). If you’re shy, just email me at [email protected], and follow me at twitter.com/podfeet. Thanks for listening, and stay subscribed.