January 21st, 2009 by Bill Deys
Hey Bill here! This is the first post you’ve seen from me here, but it will definitely not be the last. I’ll be posting some cool things that we’d like to feature on CastRoller and helping you out to learn more about the site and whats going on behind the scenes a bit. So not much more to say but, on with it!
Some of my favorite features, and the pieces that get me excited most about CastRoller, are the social aspects. Upon launch you’ll see how easy it is for you to be able to share episodes that you think your contacts should hear.
But what I want to draw you attention to right now is the ability to create a channel for an upcoming event, be it a podcasting conference or other social media type event. By setting that up and sharing that with everyone, they can get to know people and connect with them before they even get there! How cool would it be to show up and already know some people?
I’d like to feature three for you that you can add to your aggregator even before the site launches! In order of event date, as to eliminate bias (not really I’m a HUGE fan of all three!).
PodCamp Toronto 3 is coming up in February (21 + 22), I highly recommend making it out to this event. It’s the third year and it’s only going to be better then the awesomness it has been in the past! To subscribe add http://castroller.com/channels/pcto09/feed to your podcast aggregator.
Second is PodCamp London (April 25th). I do have to say I’m heavily involved with this events planning but after looking at the list of people registered and the planned session I can’t help but want to share this feed! It’s http://castroller.com/channels/pclo09/feed.
And Finally, Podcasters Across Borders (June 19-21)! An amazing conference run by two good friends of mine Bob and Mark! If you are a podcaster, do not miss this conference, and subscribe to http://castroller.com/channels/pab2009/feed to hear from the attendees.
I think you are going to love what you’ll hear as well as how social podcast consuming is going to become! Pre-Launch if you want to get a feed setup for an event you are participating in send me an email (bill@castroller.com) and we’ll help you out. Thanks so much, and if we don’t talk before launch add me (billdeys) and I’ll see you then!
July 19th, 2008 by Will Spaetzel
It is now easier to listen to and watch podcasts on CastRoller. There is now a small link next to every media player on the site that will cause the same player to open up in a small window. This lets you enjoy a podcast while continuing to browse CastRoller or the rest of the web.
May 13th, 2008 by Will Spaetzel
AideRSS offers an API to filter RSS feeds by their popularity which is used by CastRoller for our Filter Channel Episodes Feature. They just published an enthusiastic entry to their blog about the filtering feature. Check the post out here.
If you haven’t been able to check out the new feature enter your e-mail address at castroller.com/beta to get into the private beta.
July 11th, 2007 by Will Spaetzel
I just pushed a brand new and exciting feature over to CastRoller. You can now create a Widget for every list of Podcasts or Episodes on CastRoller. This will allow you to post these lists on your website or blog. Great for sharing your favorite podcasts with your website’s viewers.
To get the widget, just click the Embed icon that appears on most pages on the site. You will be taken to a page that gives you instructions on how to create a widget and how to customize it. There are a number of options given to you, allowing you to create a widget perfect for your site.
As an example, the list on the right contains the most popular podcasts on CastRoller. Also, I have updated the list of new podcasts that appear on the sidebar of this blog to use the new widget.
April 7th, 2007 by Will Spaetzel
Last week, we published a new feature to CastRoller, the explore page. This is a page on CastRoller that contains many features that help you to find new podcasts to listen and subscribe to on CastRoller.
First, there is a list of categories. You can click on each of the categories to find podcasts that are related to that category. If you find any podcasts that you think belong in these categories, just use the category name to tag the podcast; that podcast will then appear in the category.
Next, is a feature everyone saw coming, the most popular podcasts on CastRoller. This is a list of the podcasts that have the most subscribers on CastRoller. This is a good way to see what is popular with everyone. You can even keep up to date with this list by subscribing to its feed.
In addition to the top podcasts, there is a list of random users of CastRoller. You can click on any of these people’s names to see what podcasts they have subscribed to and how they have tagged them. You may find someone with similar interests to yourself.
Lastly, is a cool new feature that may not be too useful, but it is quite cool, Explore by Podcast logos. This feature displays a selection of random podcast logos on one page. At a glance, you can see the logos for many different podcasts. Click on a logo that interests you and you might find a podcast that you will love.
Also, as you can see in the screenshot on the left, you can set the podcast logos to be your wallpaper. Click here to read about how you can do that. It just takes a few clicks, and you will then have a constantly updated desktop wallpaper full of cool new podcasts for you to discover and enjoy.
April 7th, 2007 by Will Spaetzel
Bill Deys, who I just met last week at the London Geek Dinner just posted
an episode of the DeysCast where he talks about CastRoller. If you want to hear what a user of CastRoller thinks of the site, and to hear some of his tips, listen to the podcast episode
here.
You can subscribe to the DeysCast using this feed:
http://deys.ca/feed
March 15th, 2007 by Will Spaetzel
You may have noticed that CastRoller was unavailable for several hours on Tuesday. This is because CastRoller was being moved over to brand new hosting servers. These new servers should give the site huge improvements in speed.
As with most upgrades, there were a few hiccups along the way, however we believe that they have all been fixed. If you find any problem with the site, please use the
contact form to let us know.
February 28th, 2007 by Will Spaetzel
We just completed work on a new
registration wizard. This new method for signing up for a new CastRoller account steps you through everything that you need in order to get the most out of CastRoller.
The wizard helps you to subscribe to your first podcasts, import your existing subscriptions and subscribe to your personal RSS feeds. We think that this new wizard will make it a lot easier for new users to get going on the site.
If you aleady have an account, you won’t notice any different. But, if you have not yet signed up, head over to the
registration page and create an account today.
February 4th, 2007 by Will Spaetzel
Hello and welcome to the CastRoller blog. This site will cronicle interesting information about the CastRoller website, its developers and other podcasting news.
