J.C. Hutchins's first installment of the 7th Son trilogy, 7th Son: Descent, hit book stores recently.

I don't read much fiction. I prefer to get my fiction fix by watching movies. This book, however, is worth reading over and over again. J.C. Hutchins tried, unsucessfully, to get his story published before releasing it as a free podcast. I discovered his podcast just before his final book was released on audio. He took to the podosphere and used the power of the internet to spread the message about his book.

After amassing an enormous following to his podcast, publishers finally started to take notice. And now, 7th Son is in print!

The story starts with the brutal assisination of the President by a 4 year child. Readers quickly learn that there is an evil conspiracy consisting of clones and government officials with code phantom clearance.



J.C. is a masterful storyteller and 7th Son is the creepiest story I have ever read. The podcast version of the book is still available, check out the info here. You can also purchase a copy from your favorite bookstore, or from Amazon.

If you're in to sci-fi thrillers, this one will not dissapoint!

If you do pick up a copy, tell J.C. that Beta Clone #235 sent you.

Drum roll, please.

Merriam-Webster gave the honor to 'w00t'. American Dialect Society gave it to 'subprime'. Locavore earned the dubious honor from Oxford.

Not one to shy away from popular fads on the internet, I wanted to play along. After careful consideration and some deliberation with Dawn, I have chosen the mattbeckwith.com word of the year: podcast.



Ok, so some of you might catch me on the technicality here. Oxford named 'podcast' their word of the year in 2005. I started listening to podcasts in 2005 and in the time since I have all but given up terrestial radio. Driving nearly three hours a day, I used to be an NPR junky. Nowadays, I might just need to pull out the owner's manual for my car stereo to figure out how to turn on the radio.

I subscribe, and listen, to 67 podcasts. Most are weekly, some are daily, some are between monthly and weekly. I listen to shows on technology, news, management and couple-casts, among others. So, is 'podcast' the word of the year because I spend so much time listening? There must be more to it than that, right?

Of course. 2007 brought so many great podcast moments. Some highlights:

September - Podcast and New Media Expo
May - Pizza Go Here is born
April - Beckwith Family Podcast is launched
April - Manager Tools conference
April - My Mostly Trivial "appearance"
February - Tour of California
January - Macworld / Mac podcast meet-up
January - I started writing for Typical Mac User

Through podcasting, we have met some great people, in the real-world and in the podosphere. I've had the chance to spend some time with some of the brightest, most interesting people I have ever met, way too many to list. We are grateful for the amazing people all over the world that have allowed us into their amazing lives.

Podcast.

If you have a computer and a pulse, there is a podcast for you. You don't need an iPod. Download iTunes, go to the podcast directory and take a look. While you're there, check out our show, Pizza Go Here.


Me and Victor Cajiao, one of the kings of podcasting.

Podcast.

Dawn and I made the drive down to Ontario (California, not Canada) for the 2007 Podcast and New Media Expo. We have met a ton of other podcasters and are having a great time.

Last night we met up with some other podcasters at the Couple Cast meet-up at the Ontario Mills Mall. It was great to meet Dan and Cj from Love Long and Prosper, Steve and Dawn from For What It's Worth, Matt and Amy from the Redboy Podcast, Rob and Tina from Learning to Fly Together and Barely from Barely Podcasting. There were a lot of other podcasters there but we didn't get a chance to meet them all.

It was great to finally meet Steve and Dawn from For What It's Worth. We have been listening to their podcast for a long time but really wanted to meet them to personally thank Steve for the Pizza Go Here art work.


Today, we met Chuck and Kreg from Technorama (and others), Doug Welch from Career Opportunies (and others), Shelly Brisbane from Shelly's Podcast, Rob Walsh from Podcast411 and Today in iPhone, Ken Ray from Mac OS Ken, Tee Morris from Billibub Baddings and Podcasting for Dummies, Adam Raimer from Mad Town Aces, Don McAllister from ScreenCastsOnline, Aaron from the Big Show, Charles Cadenhead from Mostly News and Desperate Husbands, and a bunch of others.

Congratulations to Chuck Tomasi on being named the co-author of the upcoming Podcasting for Dummies book, along with Tee Morris!

Tonight we had dinner with Steve Holden from Tech News Radio and the Jersey Boys Podcast and Mike Auzenne from Manager Tools. Afterward, we hung out with Victor, Adam, Steve, Chuck, Kreg, Mad Marv, Chris from Amateur Traveler, Steve from Geek Cred - thanks guys for letting us hang out with you.

Check out the pictures here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

1:16 a.m. PDT, May 13, 2007

STOCKTON, California (AP) - The Beckwith Family - Matt, Dawn, Emily and Makenzy, have announced the grand opening of their newest website, Pizza Go Here - a family podcast.  Nearly 10 years after they started sharing family news and pictures on the world wide web they have jumped on the podcast bandwagon.

"We are so excited to be podcasters" said 8 year old Makenzy.  A sentiment that was echoed by her older sister Emily.   

Matt said, "The name, Pizza Go Here, came from a famous slip-up my Mom uttered years ago so we thought it fitting to make our announcement on Mother's Day."

Pizza Go Here has already received praise from the handful of select friends, family and other podcasters that were given a recent sneak preview.

The show will feature Emily's joke and video of the week, Mak's Mac tip as well as other random thoughts.  The podcast will also feature their "Would You Rather" question.  

"We hope that all our friends and family subscribe to the podcast and we hope to get some new listeners as well" said Dawn. 

For years you've had MattBeckwith.com and BeckwithWeb.com.  Pizza Go Here is a new way to experience this whacky family from California's heartland.  "It's like pizza for your ears!" proclaimed Matt.

Visit Pizza Go Here online at pizzagohere.com.  If you have no idea what a podcast is or need help subscribing, send an e-mail to help@pizzagohere.com or call the Pizza Go Here listener line at 206-309-1631.

Download the show promo here.

I arrived at my hotel in Dulles, Virginia a little while ago. I am here this week attending the Manager Tools Effective Manager Conference. I have been listening to M-T for a year and a half or so and am very excited to be here for this event.



If you are a manager (or hope to be one soon) I highly recommend listening to Manager Tools. Putting their teachings into practice will absolutely have a tremendously positive effect on your career (as well as those on your team).


4/20/07 update



What a great two days. Without question, the most valuable conference I have ever attended. Mark and Mike, along with Michael, Cathy, Travis and Laura perfectly planned every detail of this entire event. Mark and Mike took us through the details of the management trinity and spent countless hours allowing the 100 attendees to pick their brains.

I met a lot of other managers from a vast array of industries and from all over the world. It was great to see that no matter what the background, industry or continent, management is management is management.

I am a self-professed podcast junky. One of my favorite podcasts is Mostly Trivial, with your host Johnee Bee. After doing some research on the penny-farthing bike I bought recently, I decided to pitch some trivia questions to the show. I was driving home from work, listening to podcasts, and Mostly Trivial started to play. I was blown away when Johnee Bee introduced the category as 'bicycles'. I'm practically famous! Finally, I knew all of the questions.

If you haven't listened to Mostly Trivial, give it a try. It is a short, very well produced weekly show.

Check out the episode I contributed to here.

Click here for Mostly Trivial on iTunes.

My first trip to Macworld was great! We had an absolute blast at the expo and afterward at the Mac Podcasters meet up. Check out the piece I wrote for the Typical Mac User Podcast (http://typicalmacuser.com/wordpress/?p=237).

The non-Mac highlight of the day had to be meeting Sinbad. He is a true Mac fan and it was great to talk to him about his thoughts on the iPhone.



Check out the pics here.

Pew Internet & American Life Project released it's study on podcast downloading today, 12% of internet users have downloaded a podcast, but only 1% do so on a typical day (check out the study results here).

I am part of that 1%. Lately, I spend more time listening to my favorite podcasts than I do the radio. Nearly everyone I know uses the internet; all but a few friends or family members have an active e-mail address and some, like me, have personal web pages. But podcasts? Nope. Besides my twin brother Mike, I don't know anyone who even knows what a podcast is. I have a feeling that the number is actually lower than 1%.

So, who's downloading podcasts? I have a theory. First, let's assume there are two types of podcasts. There are those that are produced professionally (or excerpted from radio shows) and then there are the rest: the mutlitude of 'casts that are done in living rooms and basements in Anytown, USA. This population, the Mom and Pops of podcasting, are the very ones most likely to regularly subscribe to and download podcasts. That's the great thing about podcasting: anyone can do it, and so many actually are. So who's downloading podcasts? Podcasters, and me.

I openly admit that I am a self-professed podcast junkie. I like podcasts because anyone with a computer and a microphone can publish a show. I enjoy podcasts because they are a welcome break from mainstream, overly politically correct, radio. I enjoy podcasts because, given that the audiences are so small, regular people can actually participate with the shows. It's the intimacy of the format that is the cause of it's growing popularity, and the reason that it's mostly podcasters that are downloading podcasts.

Some of my favorite podcasts:

Diggnation
Chicken Fried Radio
Manager Tools
NPR: Sunday Puzzle
NPR: Motley Fool Profiles
Mostly Trivial
For What It's Worth
Productive Talk on 43 Folders
The Typical Mac User Podcast
MacCast
Mac Attack
Mac Tips Daily
iTunes New Music Tuesday
One Minute Tip
Business Week Cover Stories
Technorama
Mac OS Ken

As if having my own theme song was not enough... The Grape asked if they could invade The Outback and record not only mattbeckwith-dot-com but pizzagohere-dot-com.  I was more than happy to oblige... and here's what we came up with....  

The Grape showed up the night before to set up the drums and then again at 10 am the next morning to get to work.  The Outback was just too small so we re-modeled our living room for the day.  With a couple cases of beer we were on our way! After they did the guitar, drum and guitar parts we were finally able to convince Mike to do the lead vocals!  Awesome job bro!  Once we were ready for the final mix down and listening one last time to make sure it was good Ralph started making some strange half harmonica and half scat sounds... that was it!!! Alas... the song is perfect!
matt-beckwith-dot-com (click to play or right click to save)

 
After mattbeckwith.com was done the band re-did the vocals to pizza-go-here-dot-com!  And since the Dominos guy had just showed up we said, what the hell... we have to get a picture of the guy... and yes, we did tell him... PIZZA GO HERE!
pizza-go-here-dot-com (click to play or right click to save)

 
We also recorded a new song written by Ted to appear on the next release from The Grape.  I have been asked by the band not to publish this new song on the 'net so you'll have to wait for the new CD to hear it.  Thanks y'all for letting me play lead guitar on this one... and Tom... great piano idea!
 

It was truly an honor to work with The Grape.   I am sure we will work together again soon!  (Tom's Grapevine: TOM'S  GRAPEVINE)
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GO SEE THE GRAPE LIVE . . . FRIDAY, AUGUST 27th AT BLACKWATER CAFE!!! WHILE YOU'RE THERE... REQUEST MATTBECKWITH.COM ! ! ! Check out there site here: The Grape
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