Presidents’ Day at the TWiT Brickhouse
February 20, 2012 by Leo · 0 Comments
Via Posterous
Why TWiT 337 video is missing.
January 23, 2012 by Leo · 0 Comments
Should TWiT blackout on Jan 18 to protest SOPA?
January 15, 2012 by Leo · 0 Comments
Party At The Ham Shack
August 15, 2011 by Leo · 0 Comments
CQ CQ CQ Calling all hams! We’re having an open house at our new TWiT Brick House Studios August 20 and 21 and you’re invited.
A special event station will be active on 40 and 20 meters afternoon and evenings commemorating the official opening of the new TWIT studios of Leo Laporte, W6TWT. Tours of the new studios and classic Collins AM broadcast station will be available 10AM – 10 PM Saturday and 10AM to 5p Sunday to all Amateur Radio operators. The TWIT Brick House studios are located at 140 Keller St. in Petaluma, CA.
The call sign to be used will be W6KB, the Redwood Empire DX Association whose members have been instrumental in the planning and installation of the antenna system during the final construction of the new broadcast studios, home of the HAMNation netcast which is produced each Tuesday night hosted by Bob Heil K9EID, Gordon West WB6NOA, and George Thomas W5JDX.
The radios will include the IC-9100, IC-7800, and IC-7200, all courtesy Icom America and mics from Heil Sound. We’ll broadcast a preview of the new gear tomorrow night at 6p Pacific/9p Eastern on HAM Nation.
QSL direct to W6TWT, P.O. Box 1018 in Petaluma, CA 94953 or leo@w6twt.org.
HAMnation
August 9, 2011 by Leo · 0 Comments
Starting today and every Tuesday from here on out, I’ll be joining Gordon West WB6NOA and Bob Heil K9EID on HAM Nation, TWiT’s show for amateur radio enthusiasts. We broadcast live at 6p Pacific/9p Eastern/0100 Tuesdays UTC on live.twit.tv but you can always download audio and video of the show any time after the show from the TWiT web site, iTunes, and wherever better podcasts are sold available.
73!
Radio Corner at the TWiT Brick House
July 10, 2011 by Leo · 0 Comments
Radio corner at the new TWiT Brick House Studios – note the lack of actual radios but one genuine, soon-to-be, ham.
The TWiT Brick House – It’s Mighty Mighty
June 14, 2011 by Leo · 0 Comments
We’re about a month away from moving into our new studios, two blocks away from the TWiT Cottage. (I’m predicting July 24 but we’ll see.) In case you missed the first walkthrough of the building it’s here:
But we’ve come a long way since then. In fact, you can see exactly where we stand on the TWiT Dropcam (thanks to Dane Jasper and the folks at Sonic.net who will be our primary bandwidth provider at the new studios):
Roger Ambrose, our creative director, is painting the floor right now, then we can begin installing lights, cameras, and wiring in earnest. We hope to be broadcasting from the studio around mid-July 2011.
Our brilliant lighting and camera guy, Brent Bye of Ocean Studio has created a Sketchup 3D walkthrough of the place which you can download from our Dropbox.
(You’ll need a copy of the free Google SketchUp program to view and interact with it.) Brent will be updating it over time and we’ll keep the latest version in the Dropbox, so check back.
We’ll be using the model to plan the placement of our 30 Canon HF G10 cameras and dozens of Kino Flo, Litepanels, and other lighting fixtures.
We have a great many people to thank for help with our new studio, including Crestron for studio automation, Newtek for the brand-new Tricaster XD850 switcher, Telos for our digital Axia audio system, Restoration Hardware for the furniture in the new studio, Bob Heil for our mics and stands, and many many others.
But most of all, I want to thank you, our community, for your perpetual support. There’s no way we could do this without you. And a special thanks to all of you who have bought bricks for our Wall of Honor in the entry foyer. As of today we’ve sold about 800 bricks, but there’s still room to buy a brick for yourself at http://bricks.twit.tv.
The new studio is going to be a major step forward, and your help makes it possible. We’re pretty excited – I hope you are too!!
Read All About TWiT in Monday’s New York Times
December 26, 2010 by Leo · 0 Comments
Thanks to Jon Kalish for the fantastic article about me and TWiT in the New York Times on Monday. (Page B4 of the December 27, 2010 print edition.)
I especially liked the comments about our community:
During tapings of “This Week in Tech,” as many as 1,500 people are in chat rooms typing away at a furious pace. Fifteen volunteer monitors around the country keep the chat family-friendly. But sometimes the comments can get tough. Although Mr. Laporte is patient with even the most clueless callers, chat room regulars are not as tolerant.
“We’re making comments like, ‘This person needs to have their computer taken away,’ ” said Lillian Banchik, a Long Island surgeon who is known in the chat room as Dr. Mom.
Dr. Banchik, who listens to TWIT programs 20 hours a week, said she once spent an hour in a private chat with someone who helped her solve a problem with her husband’s iMac.
Many other chat room regulars have serious alternative lives, but like to spend time with the show. Amanda W. Peet, a physics professor at the University of Toronto, goes by Kiwi Nerd. Teresa M. Mensing, an associate professor of geology at Ohio State University, uses the handle Darth Emma.
Thanks to Mark McCrery, Dan Hendricks, Lillian Banchik, Amanda Peet, and Terri Mensing for taking the time to talk with Jon. He clearly understood that it’s the community that makes TWiT happen.
Thanks also to Jim Wilson for the very flattering picture (as my daughter puts it). What a great way to launch into 2011!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/27/technology/27podcast.html?_r=3&src=twr+
Today In Tech?
November 2, 2010 by Leo · 0 Comments
One of the radio stations that carries the Tech Guy radio show, KGO in San Francisco, asked me if I would be interested in doing a daily technology minute for them. Just as an experiment I wrote and recorded one – it took me about an hour and a half to do it, but I think I could cut that down to half an hour with practice. I’m not sure if it’s worth the effort. What do you think? Would you subscribe, listen, or watch such a thing if I did it every day?
Yes, I know it’s a terrible acronym. Or is it?
Battle The TWiT Army
August 27, 2009 by Leo · 0 Comments
The TWiT Army has finally found a battle it might be able to win. The .comwars Tech Community Outdoor Laser Tag and Picnic this Labor Day, September 7, at Junipero Serra Park in San Bruno.
We’re fielding a team commanded by General Colleen Kelly with buck privates Tony Wang, Erik Lanigan, Lisa Kentzell, Mike Kentzell, Abby Laporte, and me. (We can have up to 10 players so I’m going to recruit a few more TWiTs – preferably someone who can run through the woods without stumbling on a log or crying for his mommy.)
You can come and watch for $15 which includes a catered picnic lunch, or field a team for $52/player which includes rental of state-of-the-art radio-based Battlefieldsports outdoor lasertag equipment rented from specopsliveplay. We’re looking for a few teams we can beat play – I’m talking to you Google and Apple! Sign up at SFLaserTag.org.
Thanks to Ziggy and Funcrunch for putting this cool event together!
