Mike Laponis

VO

mike@mikesvo.com
909 899 8149

Archives for January 2019

Apps Worth Using

Apps Worth Using, Business, Mobile Device, Voice Over

You may recall from my ShakeAlertLA Blog, that I am a bit of an App collector. Finding useful, unique, and fun apps is something I enjoy! Some of them I use in my voice over work, content creation work, or just everyday life. I love to pass the info on to you in hopes you will find these apps useful, interesting, and fun. Some are also in a list called #AppsWorthUsing. I started this list on my twitter account a few years ago. You are welcome to follow me there – @MikeRaphone. If you do, please let me know you read this blog and whether you use or tried any of these apps. If you missed the ShakeAlertLA Blog, you can select it here.

Try These On For Size

Through the years I have been on Twitter, I’ve been intrigued by apps I run across. I have built up quite a collection. The apps listed here are mostly useful for those in the business of being a voice talent, content creator, journalist, producer, or recording engineer. So you may or may not have a use for some of these. Most of the apps I am highlighting here cost some money. There are a several that are specific to mobile content creation. While some are just for fun! The app icon is shown with a short description about the app. Here are a few you might enjoy:

Twisted Wave

Twisted Wave is an incredible portable recording and editing software – available for Apple products only. It is intuitive, and fast. Record, edit, then upload your audio by FTP. Excellent for portable voice over work, or other audio recording and editing.

 

 

 

Hindenburg Field Recorder

Hindenburg Field Recorder is a mobile recording app. It allows you to record, edit, and then share the story. Perfect for journalists or those who need to grab quick soundbites. This is available for Apple devices only. Hindenburg has an arsenal of recording software and apps dedicated to specific audio recording needs.

 

 

 

ProPrompter Studio

ProPrompter Studio is a portable teleprompter. Handy for corporate video, video podcasting, commercials, field reporting, speeches, and anything else where there’s a need for a teleprompter. It is available for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

 

 

 

TapeACall

TapeACall allows you to use your mobile phone to record a phone call you are on or are about to make. Please Note: Recording phone calls in the U.S. and some other countries requires permission from the party (or all parties, depending on the state). Please check the laws (a link provided in the app). There is an annual cost of $29.99 per year. The free trial version allows you to use it for 7 days without cost. This app is great for journalists, reporters, podcasters, producers, talk show hosts, etc. It is useful for production work too. Anything where it is handy to record a call you are on.

 

 

 

Audio Tools

Audio Tools is an incredible, multi-faceted audio and acoustic test and measurement tool! It includes SPL Modules, Acoustic Analysis, Speaker Tests, Test Modules, Design Tools, Signal Generator, Audio Calculator, and more. It is a little on the pricey side, especially if you go for all the in-app purchases, but this is one professional tool!

 

 

Waze

Waze Navigation and Live Traffic is super helpful in any area where you need directions, and re-routing due to traffic congestion, and roadwork. Super handy for getting to the studio on time for the voice gig you just booked, on vacation, or nearly any other time you need navigation. Incredible tool that has saved me time and again by helping me get to where I am going.

 

 

 

Girl Scout Cookie Finder

The Official Girl Scout Cookie Finder App. They are on sale only once a year. Peanut Butter Patties (aka Tagalongs) are my favorite!

 

 

 

 

WinPoker

WinPoker is a video poker game that teaches you how to make the best choices in building the best hand possible. Learn how to play video poker while having fun playing. There is a cost for the app, but it will improve your odds at the casinos! It takes lots of practice to really play at the level to make money. After all, I’m still doing voice acting! Have fun!

 

Use These Apps in Good Health

I hope you find these as #AppsWorthUsing. I have many more that are useful, entertaining, and fun. If you like these and want another blog in the future with more, drop me an email at Mike@mikesvo.com. Thank you!

Going Electric: #EV4Me

Electric Vehicle, environment, Voice Over

I used to drive a pickup truck – I really liked it, except for how much it cost for gasoline and for what burning that gasoline was doing to the environment. One day, while heading home from the hardware store, I was T-boned by another vehicle. The other car ran right into my driver-side door and I was sent to the hospital. Fortunately, I was treated and released that same day. My beautiful, gas guzzling truck, was not as lucky. It was totaled! At first, I was set on getting another truck. It had served me well and a new up-to-date model seemed like a good choice. But as I thought of it, and realized all of the environmental and health consequences of operating a car with an internal combustion engine, I couldn’t bring myself to travel down that same path.

Health Issues and Concerns of an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE)

It does not take much digging to find reputable data which shows emissions from gasoline (and diesel) powered cars and trucks are toxic. They contribute to so many health issues and even deaths. In large cities and metropolitan areas in particular, air pollution from automobiles is a factor in asthma, lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, and even brain disease. I think what bothered me most was thinking about the impact these vehicles are having on babies and children. Pollution from cars is damaging children’s lungs! That was the tipping point for me. I no longer wanted to be a contributor to all of that.

Making the Switch

I made the switch! Going hybrid, was not enough of a commitment. I wanted to have a car that was able to be on the road with zero-emissions, so it was #EV4Me. I had considered going to an electric vehicle a few years earlier. At that time, I was interested in a Nissan Leaf, but it just did not have the range I was looking for. Too much “range anxiety.” But finally, the technology had arrived, with cars like Tesla and Chevy Bolt. I wanted a Tesla, but let’s face it, I work as an entrepreneur voice over talent and that was out of my price range (another type of range anxiety). I settled on the Chevy Bolt – I call it a poor man’s Tesla. The Bolt has a driving range of 238 miles before it needs to be charged. I can usually get a little more than that.

Zero Emissions

Sure, electric vehicles come with a bit of a hefty price tag. But with so many financial incentives the price ends up being not much more than a conventional ICE car. I have had the Chevy Bolt for a little over 1 year now. It has so many great high tech features, and is quick off the line! It has saved me about $3000 per year in fuel costs. But most of all, it is a zero-emission automobile! No toxins are being placed into the air from my vehicle while I drive. That is important to me!

Resources

If you might be thinking of going to an all electric car, there are some resources I would like to share with you:

PlugIntoThePresent.com is designed to support education and awareness of zero emission vehicles (ZEV)

Clean Transportation – American Lung Association Clean Transportation Initiative and Resources

Cleaner Cars For Cleaner Air – California Air Resources Board site

Alternative Fuels Data Center

Electric Car Incentives

SCE Charge Ready Home Installation Rebates

A Voice to Advocate Change

As a voice actor, I enjoy putting my voice to products, services, and eLearning projects which I have a passion for. As the owner and everyday user of an all electric vehicle, I look forward to the opportunity to put my voice to good use in being an advocate for positive change in our environment and overall health.

Oh, by the way…the vehicle that totaled my gas-guzzling truck, was a Tesla!

Three Podcasts You Should Listen To

Podcasts, Sound, Technology

There are so many podcasts out there to listen to. In fact, there are over 630,000 podcasts available! No, I don’t mean episodes, I mean podcasts. The episode number is absolutely staggering, at over 18.5 million episodes. That’s a lot of listening!

What’s Good?

There are so many great podcasts out there, and they cover just about any subject matter you can imagine! As a voice talent, sound designer, and audio production guru, I am always interested in great podcasts that cover things I find interesting. I have three, excellent podcasts I want to highlight for you. Twenty Thousand Hertz, The Tech Guy, and This Week in Tech (TWiT), are all amazing. I find each of these stimulating and interesting. Each is educational and informative to me in what I do as voice actor, sound designer, audio producer, and a teacher of audio production. I will explain a little about each.

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Twenty Thousand Hertz is simply amazing! To use their words, it is a podcast about “The stories behind the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds.” That sums it up perfectly! Everything from Voice Acting, Foley Sound, Voice of Siri, to Jingles, Slot Machines, THX Deep Note, and more! The topics are so well produced and the stories told so well, that it is one of the BEST podcasts I have ever heard. Dallas Taylor is the host and executive producer. His background is as a sound designer and mixer. He launched and runs Defacto Sound, an award winning, sound design and mix studio for high profile projects. He and his team are the people who put together the podcast. It has become a passion of Dallas’. The topics are interesting, the interviews are with experts in the field, the stories are so well put together, and the sound design of each episode makes it a masterpiece! This is my absolute favorite podcast. So much so, that I am sustaining monthly contributor. Dallas has recently put out a challenge to each listener to spread the word and to get 10 new listeners to Twenty Thousand Hertz. So, if you check it out and listen, to even one episode, please email me and let me know. I would like to report back to them that this blog got them at least 10 new people to take a listen. I am at mike@mikesvo.com or you can let me know via my Twitter, MikeRaphone. The podcast is worth your time, especially if you are into sound and the stories behind them. You can find Twenty Thousand Hertz website here and you can subscribe through so many players and sound providers, including Apple Podcasts, and Google Play. Also, be sure to follow them on Twitter, 20korg.

 

The Tech Guy

These next two podcasts are part of an amazing empire of what are really called Netcasts. These podcasts and Netcasts are the brainchild of Leo Laporte. Leo is the host of The Tech Guy. Let me tell you about these next two podcasts, and then I will tell you more about the incredibly well-thought out and orchestrated TWiT.tv Netcast Network.

Leo does a masterful job on this podcast of explaining all things technology! This includes computers, and the Internet. This feed is actually twice a week and is the full audio of his radio talk show that is heard on the Premiere Radio Networks on radio stations all over the U.S. He covers a wide array of topics and is probably the most knowledgeable tech guys I have run across. I actually met Leo a long time ago at a Podcasting conference at the Ontario Convention Center. He was promoting his show and what was then, the very onset of podcasting. More about Leo in a bit. This podcast is worth your time!

TWiT – This Week in Tech

This podcast is also hosted by Leo Laporte (and Friends) and is part of the TWiT.tv Netcast Networks. Each episode of This Week In Tech records every Sunday and starts starts the week off with top tech pundits and experts in a roundtable discussion of important news and trends in technology. Also worth your time, if you are interested in or work with technology. Whatever the latest topics in technology in a given week, that is usually the topic of conversation and inquiry for that week’s show.

TWiT.tv

Now, let me give you a little background on this incredible brainchild of Leo Laporte, and company. TWiT.tv Netcast Network has approximately 20 different shows currently in production. I believe Leo hosts about 10 of the 20 shows! He also produces many of the shows. Check out the complete listing of shows here. This all started back in 1998 with a cable television network, I remember watching, called ZDTV. This channel was great. All of the programming was dedicated to computers, the Internet, and technology. After a while, ZDTV turned into a channel called TechTV. In 2004, it was sold and basically evaporated. Leo Laporte, and many other of the TchTV hosts, and producers, came together again in 2005 and started the beginnings of TWiT. From very humble beginnings, Leo and company have created an amazing network of great shows centered around computers, technology and the Internet. They work out of incredible studios in Petaluma, CA. Not sure what all they have added to the technology they use to produce the shows (they are available on line from their website as studio video productions, as well as podcasts), but it is an amazing set of NewTek video production gear using the TriCaster at the heart of the operation.

Amazing Podcasts and Free Knowledge

Each of these three podcasts/shows are amazing. They are all free for you to listen to and have access to the expertise of the hosts, their guests, and the stories they tell. You also can learn from the technical and production quality of each of these as well. Hope you will give each a listen. If so, please drop me a line and let me know what you think.

ShakeAlertLA #AppsWorthUsing

Apps Worth Using, Earthquake Preparedness, Safety

This App Could Be Considered Earthshaking

A couple of years ago, as part of my Twitter account, MikeRaphone , I began tweeting about #AppsWorthUsing . You see I’m a collector of sorts, of apps. I am not intentionally downloading as many as I can to increase my collection, but rather as I see interesting apps, I try them out. That being said, my collection is now at 723 apps on my iPhone 6+. When people learn how many apps I have they ask, “how many do you really use?” My answer is, maybe about 20 or so. That got me started on my hashtag and tweeting about apps I felt were worth using! These are apps I find useful for my voice over business. Some of the apps are great for content creation.  Others I find useful for social media & marketing, and some are just for everyday life or fun!

A New App that was Just Released

A couple of days ago, Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti, the City of Los Angeles, the Information Technology Agency and the Department of Emergency Management, released ShakeAlertLA. It’s a mobile app that sends alerts to users within greater Los Angeles County in the event of an earthquake, greater than magnitude 5.0 or level IV intensity. It’s built on the ShakeAlert system developed by the U.S. Geological Survey. The most amazing thing about this new app and the technology behind it, is it acts as an early alert system! It notifies you an earthquake has been detected and that you may soon feel shaking in your area. It is really quite amazing!

• Download on the Google Play Store

• Download on the Apple App Store

How It Works

It’s quite interesting to see how the system works. Check out this video. There are two types of seismic waves that carry energy, p-waves and s-waves. ShakeAlert uses those waves to alert you and give you an early alert so you can prepare and Drop, Cover, and Hold On with this early alert of perhaps just a few seconds.

The Threat is Real

Believe it or not, there are about 10,000 earthquakes each year in California! That means there are almost 800 each month, which is about 26 per day. That’s a scary thought! However, most of these are relatively small and cause little or no damage and aren’t even felt my most of us. Here is the statistic that really makes the threat REAL! In California, it is almost certain that there will be a STRONG earthquake by 2037. In fact, experts say there is a 99.7% chance of a magnitude 6.7 or greater magnitude between now and 2037. Most likely, this would occur in the greater Los Angeles and/or San Francisco area since these cities sit on (or near) the San Andreas fault. This fault is the source of most seismic activity in California.

Makes Even a Californian Sit Up and Take Notice

I’m a native Southern Californian. I’ve weathered many an earthquake, and most don’t bother me…too much. I’ve been through several that have rattled my nerves, and a couple that have scared the ever-loving, pudding out of me! They were less than that 6.7 (or greater) that we are supposed to have in the next 30 years. Scary thought! This ShakeAlert app will help save lives, especially as the technology improves, even if it only gives us a few extra seconds to prepare. Speaking of preparation here are a couple of earthquake preparation links you might find useful:

Ready Los Angles County

FEMA Earthquake Safety Checklist

Even though this ShakeAlert is an #AppsWorthUsing, I am going to give it one more hashtag – #AppIHopeINeverHaveToUse (But Glad I Have It)

Be prepared. Stay safe. – Mike