gPodder, a free podcast aggregator

gPodder is a free podcast aggregator for Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, Maemo and MeeGo.

I use it to get my 3 favorite podcasts, the Watchtower Study and Public issues, and the Awake! issues.

I enjoy listening to the audio versions. You can then get your studying done (to a degree) anywhere, via your mp3 player, radio, car radio, etc...

Here is what the author had to say about his product:

"gPodder manages your podcasts

gPodder downloads and manages free audio and video content ("podcasts") for you. Listen directly on your computer or on your mobile devices.

Available for Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, Mac OS X and mobile devices like the Nokia N810, N900 and N9.

Versions available:

Desktop    
CLI    
Maemo 4    
Maemo 5    
MeeGo 1.2

Highlights:

    Supports RSS, Atom, YouTube, Soundcloud, Vimeo and XSPF feeds
    Discover new content at our Podcast directory
    Synchronize between devices with full gpodder.net integration
    Easily customizable - support for user-defined hooks and plugins
    Open Source and Free Software (GPL v3 or later)"

*This information is from the website http://gpodder.org/

The podcasts I listen to can be found at http://www.jw.org/

To get to the podcasts section of JW.org, you click on the link "Subscribe to Podcast"

Here is a picture of that link:

I circled the link with red.

Once in the podcasts section, you first choose which language and publication you want the podcast for, i.e. the Awake in English looks like this:

Once you have chosen the language and publication you want, then you need to copy the link to the podcast you want. Their are only two choices, mp3 and aac. I would suggest mp3.

The link will look something like this:
http://www.jw.org/index.xjp?option=sFFZRQVNZNT&rln=E&rmn=g&rfm=mp3

Then open gPodder, click "Subscriptions" on the top left of the program, and then click  "Add podcast via URL". gPodder should already have the link you copied in the box there, so just click add.

Repeat this for any other publications or languages you want to receive.

gPodder will now download the newest versions of the publication(s) you have chosen for you everytime you start up gPodder and click "check for updates" (bottom left of gPodder).

*Special notice for slow internet users (dial up, very slow broadband)

I have to mention though, that people on dial up will most likely not be able to use this function. MP3 files are large, and it would take an hour or more to download just one of the 100 plus mp3 files that are required to listen to all three. Just the Watchtower Study edition would most likely take days of downloading time.

Watchtower Library 2011 under Ubuntu 12.04

*** Updated July 10th, 2012 ***

I had a reader ask me why I haven't written this article.

In all honesty I have yet to come face to face with any bug for Ubuntu 12.04 using the regular Wine package, which currently is Wine 1.4.

I have successfully installed the Watchtower Library 2011 on 4 machines now in the area. (I have several Ubuntu customers who are brothers.)

So this article is simply to inform you of my willingness to help in any situation that may arise from installing the Watchtower Library, and...

I thought since I was writing this article I would also remind you of how I added the Watchtower Library to the left side bar of Unity, Ubuntu's flagship desktop environment. (The default desktop).

To add the icon to the sidebar, you first run the Watchtower Library, then while it is running, you right click the icon on the bar and choose "keep in launcher".

Now when you close the Watchtower Library, you will still have your icon on the launcher.

If you deleted your desktop icon, you can still get to the Watchtower Library by clicking on the Ubuntu menu button on the top left, then click in the type box, and type Watchtower Library.

It will then show you the Watchtower Library icon. (May need to reboot before this works if you just installed the Watchtower Library.)

I hope this has been of some help to you, and please email me if you are having any problems! dennygoot@gmail.com

Your brother,
Dennis Andrew Gutowski Jr,
Weston Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses
Weston Wisconsin

*** Update from July 10th 2012:

I had a brother ask me how to get the icon back on Unity if you accidentally remove it from the Unity taskbar.

Here is my solution:


There is a way to put it back on. First of all, if you click the unity launcher icon near the top left (it will have a ubuntu symbol on it), and then type watchtower, do you see the watchtower library symbol? if you do, then just grab it and drag it onto the launcher bar where you want it.

As a side note to this issue, I wanted to add that while the icon I described works here, it will not launch the application using the same icon like other Ubuntu native applications.

Instead it will launch the Watchtower Library with a half filled wine glass icon. Why it does this I don't totally know, all I can tell you is that the wine glass icon is Wine's icon, which we use to run the Watchtower Library.

Opera, an excellent web browser

Years ago I was looking for the next best thing in browsers.

Internet Explorer sucked in my opinion, in many ways it still lives up to that classification.

Netscape was on it's way out...

So I installed several browsers at the time.

Opera, Firefox, and Kameleon.

I liked Opera back then, but it was buggy, and at the time, nothing held a candle to Firefox.

Well that was some time ago. No one ever even hears of Netscape as a browser choice anymore.

I don't like Firefox anymore. I think Firefox is getting too bloated and huge.

I miss the simplicity of old Firefox.

After installing CrunchBang, I noticed one of the options was Opera.

I had been using Google Chrome, which is better in my opinion than Firefox.

After installing Opera 11.62 for Linux, my favorite browser quickly changed.

Opera is nothing at all like old Opera, but in the best of ways.

Here is a screenshot of the new Opera:

Rock solid performance, speed, and a sleek design that offers a plethora of tools at your disposal without cluttering up the user interface, this is what I have wanted in a browser for a long time.

I also found the email client to be smooth as silk, which is amazing since it's a built in browser email client, and those have been iffy at best.

The only thing I tweaked was setting the junk mail so it wouldn't show up in the unread mail list, which was pretty effortless.

Here is what the Opera team has to say about their excellent product:

"Lightning fast

Make your web browsing faster. Loading pages and running web applications is really snappy. You can even speed up browsing on slow connections, with Opera Turbo.

Safe and secure

Reduce your exposure to threats. Your safety is ensured by industry leading security, Fraud and Malware Protection and a clear display of your security level.

Smart features

Use great features that make browsing faster and easier. Opera has more features built in than other browsers. You can also add even more with extensions."

(This quoted material is from the webpage http://www.opera.com/browser/)

If your interested in downloading Opera for yourself, you can get it here:
http://www.opera.com/download/

P.S. Several weeks after running Opera, and loving it, I did find a flaw.

Opera refuses to let me post and image to Blogger.

Blogger is very trustworthy, and it should be my decision as to whether I can post there or not.

This is proper etiquette in the software world, the user should always have the last say in something like this.

This is a problem for me, and may mean my no longer using Opera.

Here is the error I recieve:
"Information from this secure page will be submitted to a page that is not secure on www.blogger.com.

Submitting sensitive information is strongly discouraged."