Audiobookshelf and Driving
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Audiobookshelf and Driving

Byrichard

In an ideal world I would use Audiobookshelf when I’m driving tomorrow. In the real world I can’t, or at least shouldn’t. The reason for this is simple. There is no iOS app which, in turn, means that there is no car play app. Combined this means that if I want to use the app during a road trip I need to fiddle with the app’s website when one podcast ends and the next begins.

Focusing on the Road

At 120 kilometres per hour you do not do such things. At 120 kilometres per hour you want the app you’re using to switch from podcast A to B to C automatically. You want this when you’re walking too. This is especially of walks on rainy days.

Long Audio Books

In my experience it’s better to find books that are seven or eight hours long, if you listen to books. Longer books will eventually give me headaches as I focus on the road and the book at the same time. It’s good to vary what you’re listening too, for focus, and for endurance.

No Pause during Driving Directions

Usually I use the GPS in silent mode. During most drives you have plenty of time to see the display change, understand what you have to do, and do it, without audio guidance. In the cases where you get audio guidance you want it to pause the podcast or audiobook. It’s frustrating to miss ten to fifteen seconds just because of a driving instruction

Setting Up a Playlist

I tried setting up a playlist but that is very slow. You need to add each podcast manually to the list, without the option to bulk add, and it doesn’t seem to auto-play the next podcast anyway.

Podcast or Book

When I walk and drive I like to listen to podcasts and books, so today I’m considering whether I will listen to books, or podcasts. In the past I have listened to two books during that drive. Tomorrow I think that I will start with podcasts.

And Finally

The web interface works very well and I am very happy with the app. When I get onto the testflight version of the app I will gain access to that functionality and then I will be able to use that app for road trips. For now I have to use the Apple Podcast app.

If it wasn’t for traffic I would set off now but it’s better to drive when the roads are quiet. That’s why I drive on Sunday mornings.

Twitter Threads and Blogging
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Twitter Threads and Blogging

Byrichard

Twitter threads and blogging are both free but whereas with one you need to click to read the continuation and it’s hard to print the other is self contained and easily shareable.


I see twitter threads, that as twitter threads are a waste of time on a conversational channel but would be ideal for a blog post. Imagine that you combine two or three tweets. That length would justify a blog post.


Blog posts can be of any length but ideally they should be three hundred words or more. In the case where a twitter thread has three or more points it would perfectly justify a three or more paragraphs post.


With a blog post you can source and give examples of the point you are trying to make and you are not limited to a specific number of characters. You don’t need to run a sentence from one tweet to the other.


You can also add images, documents and more and add headings and more. If you often feel the desire to write threads you could even take up blogging again.


Your blog posts can be written with a mobile phone at any time of day or night and from anywhere. I mention this because with the unreliability of newer Mac book pros mobile phones become a more tempting proposition.


I deleted twitter from my mobile phone because the signal to noise ratio is so high that it is no longer a social tool. It is used like RSS and the conversation is uni-directional. Do you really want your train of thought to compete in such a noisy environment?


The blogosphere is just as noisy as twitter but with one key difference. People who read blog posts are looking to invest their time rather than scroll mindlessly. We might as well take advantage of that.


I saw an image on Facebook that said that we need to keep our social media appropriate for good mental health. I’m suggesting that we take it a further step and skip social networks like Facebook and twitter and start conversing via blog posts again. Let’s re-allocate the time that we devoted to social media to self owned blogs and platforms where we go to learn, share and be creative.


I still love blogging because the aim and the challenge is to find just one idea to write about daily. It’s easy to write 20 tweets and post twenty thoughts a day to Facebook. It’s much harder to write one blog post a day. The challenge is good. We gain in creativity, self discipline and focus.


Next time you’re tempted to write a twitter thread stop yourself and write a blog post. It will take the same amount of time but your audience will be more engaged, eventually. Give your ideas the treatment they deserve.