Casting a spell.

Three separate times on the tube today, somebody asked me what I was listening to on my iPod (probably because I tend to laugh out loud).

When I explained to them that I only used my iPod to listen to podcasts, they were perplexed: who doesn’t have music on their iPod?

I don’t.

I do have a lot of podcasts, however, and because they asked me to share my playlist, here’s a quick list of what’s playing in my headphones today:

Tech: CBC Search Engine, CBC Spark, This Week in Tech, net@nite, Macbreak Weekly, commandN.

Sports: Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn, Best of Mike and Mike, Football Today, Tirico and Van Pelt.

Film: mamo! *, The /Filmcast, Cinemaslave.

Culture: Do Right!, Indiefeed Performance Poetry, Mahalo Daily, NPR Pop Culture, This American Life.

Humor: Ask a Ninja, Russell Brand, You Look Nice Today.

* mamo! is my favorite podcast of all time. Seriously. If you’re just starting out with it, go back a few episodes and learn more about the dynamic between Matt and Matt — they’re great.

Do you have any favorite podcasts I’m not listening to? Let me know!

Unsolicited Testimonial: Working Class Heroes

Working Class Heroes makes sleeves for your laptop and other electronics from high quality wool felt and leather. Their products combine quality craftsmanship with excellent aesthetics and protection and come shipped with care from Austria within a few days.

The Experience

After buying my Macbook Pro, I spent a good two weeks looking for the perfect sleeve to keep it protected. I have a tendency to bang my laptops around a bit, so I needed to find something that not only looked great, but offered some serious protection. After two weeks of pretty intense research, I found Working Class Heroes and I was sold.

Made with high quality wool felt and leather, the sleeves are hand crafted in Austria with impeccable craftsmanship and an acute attention to detail. The sleeves are sturdy, beautiful, and absolutely functional. So much so that I bought three of them: one for my MB Pro, one for my iPod Touch, and one for my Moleskine.

Ordering the sleeves is remarkably easy, with several payment options (including Paypal) and low priority shipping charges. The products arrive quickly, and each package includes a Austrian chocolate wafer bar as a nice little treat.

The Gotchas

There is very little I can say about the Working Class Heroes products that is negative. The only thing I do warn everyone about is that fact that the sleeves are actually thicker than they appear in the photos on the website. While that’s not a problem (in fact, it’s a marker of the high quality of the materials they use) it’s an important tidbit to remember when you’re ordering so you can plan your pocket or bag space accordingly.

And I hate to harp on price, but these things cost a pretty penny. I can substantiate paying a premium for this kind of craftsmanship, but they are on the expensive side when it comes to laptop sleeves.

What It Costs

These sleeves are not cheap. The cheapest among the laptop sleeves costs about 60 euros, and even little things like the Moleskine cases will run you over $75 US. Luckily, shipping is pretty cheap, and the customer service is fantastic, but be prepared to pay a premium for this kind of quality.

Recommended If You Like

Wool, felt, leather, keeping your computer and gadgets well protected, European craftsmanship, Austrian wafer chocolates, having something cool that your friends will probably never see with anyone else.

This Unsolicited Testimonial has been inspired by (shamelessly stolen from?) Anil Dash’s series by the same name. Please see that post for more information and background.

Portable Personal Portfolios in Pockets

Kris Krug is a fantastic photographer. Trust me. If you don’t believe me, then just ask him. He’ll pull out his iPhone and prove it to you.

Like many of us, Kris keeps photos on his iPhone. But for Kris, who works as a professional photographer (among many other things), the photo feature on his iPhone isn’t simply a place to store photos of his family and that great party he went to last week.

It’s his portable personal portfolio.

When Kris meets a potential client or someone that’s just interested in his work, instead of pointing them to a website, he can pull out his iPhone and set up a slideshow so that they can see his photographs right there on the spot. Instantaneous gratification.

Which got me thinking: I can see the use of the iPhone (or iPod Touch) for carrying the portfolios of photographers and artists, but what about other kinds of content creators? How can they carry their portfolios in their pockets?

For example, my writing portfolio doesn’t translate all too well to the small screen (maybe it should?) and I feel as though I’m limited to just giving people a card so they can visit my website. While Eloquation looks great on an iPhone, the mobile device still isn’t conducive for consuming large amounts of text.

I’m exploring ways of making my writing portfolio more mobile and easier to consume. If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them.