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First Look: GarageBand 3 by Cyrus Farivar Podcasting may be a great way to make your voice heard, but no one would call the process of recording, editing, and posting a podcast simple. Consider blogging for a moment—at its essence, all that activity requires is launching blog software, typing, and posting. In contrast, creating a podcast is a multi-step process that involves some know-how. Even those of us who podcast regularly would welcome a way to simplify the whole process.…

So I just found out from my co-worker, Jim Galbraith, about the SF Indie Fest 2006, an indie film festival coming up right here in the City by the Bay. First, the SF Lebowski Festival ! Fuckin’ A, Dude! On Feb. 4 at ArtSF! The Third Annual Big Lebowski Party takes place Saturday, Feb. 4 at ArtSF. The party starts at 9p and lasts till they kick us out. Come dressed as your favorite Lebowski character! Free admission with any…

This is my first attempt at any musical composition. It melds the incredible auctioneering skills of Dan Skeels, the 2004 World Livestock Auctioneering Champion with the most awesome sounds of my buddy Nick Freilich, aka Epicte the Elemental. Dan Skeels vs. Epicte the Elemental – Sold ‘Em Way Up High At 1200 (2:21 – 160 kbps – 2.8 MB) And yes, that is a real picture of Mr. Skeels.

This is from the blog of Marie Javins, an American living for three months in Kuwait as an illustrator, who a few years ago did a World Tour. The Scene: Four employees of an unnamed publishing company are in a small office on the 28th floor of a high-rise in downtown Kuwait. The lovely, youthful Lebanese translator is working on translating a panel in an unspecificed comic. She looks up at the Indian copywriter, a young man with a slightly…

Boing Boing posted this list of the World Livestock Auctioneer Championships. This is pretty amazing. I’m thinking that they’d sound good also mixed with an electronic/techno track. I’ll try one later today. When I showed my co-worker, Curt Poff, our resident Midwesterner — he hails from outside St. Joseph, MO — he told me that his father is a professional auctioneer. That’s pretty sweet. This is a part of America that I know nothing about. On the American (Hadsell) side…

In 2006, Paul Boutin and I often lunch together here, in South Park, San Francisco, just across the street from the Macworld offices. In 1906, the same area was used as a refugee camp after it was leveled during the Great Earthquake. [via MeFi.] Whoa.

Everyone, please send good thoughts to my buddy Benjamin Harvey, who is covering the bird flu situation in eastern Turkey. He’s been keeping a blog about his experiences on Washingtonpost.com — two days ago he reported being sick. I hope he’s ok. Keep up the good work, Ben.

Wired News: The U.S. Navy is field-testing a new short-range communications device called LightSpeed that could soon let sailors talk securely up to two miles away — just by looking at each other. The device uses infrared, similar to that of a television remote control, to transmit audio and visual information. To overcome range limits, LightSpeed connects to ordinary binoculars and uses the optical lenses to amplify the signals. Then soldiers on either end can simply plug headphones and a…

So Google Earth for OS X is finally here. I took this screen grab of Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif.

MacUser: Today’s the big day. So what will I be doing? I will be recording the Stevenote and will be scurrying to produce a podcast by midday if at all possible. I will also be recording a live session of the Macworld Podcast on the Expo Show Floor (Macworld’s Booth is #807) today from 1 pm to 1:30 pm. I’ll be interviewing Anthony King, of MacMod and Ben Long, a Macworld freelancer, to talk about Adobe Lightroom. Hungry? Check out…