Crossed Wires

When I first joined Twitter, I remember the excitement and intrigue over this new platform, using great third-party apps and having intelligent conversations with people. Sadly, those days look like they have already, or are soon going to be, gone and lots of people are looking for a new place for their social interactions.

Enter Mastodon, an open-source social platform powered by ActivityPub and part of the wider Fediverse. My guest this week is James Smith, an open-source developer who also happens to run the Mastodon instance I joined in the last week or so.

We chat about what precisely the Fediverse is, looking back at the early days of the internet for some context, as well as going fairly deep into the what, why, and how of Mastodon. James also shares the story of what happened to his server during the rapid ‘abandon ship’ style departure from the bird site and how one high-profile member meant a quadrupling of server costs!

One thing to be very upfront about, Jae and I have pretty much decided we won’t be active on Twitter. However, because we don’t want to cut off our amazing listeners who are still on the bird powered platform, our Twitter account is staying put, as well as our new home on Mastodon, which because of the nature of the platform means we have more scope in terms of content.

Have you jumped into the Fediverse yet, or is something holding you back? If you have comments, or have some questions about Mastodon and need some help, we’d love hear from you, so send a note over to podcast@crossedwires.net, leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

• James Bilsbrough on Mastodon
• James Smith on Mastodon
• Crossed Wires on Mastodon
• Join Mastodon
• Fediverse
• Pixelfed
• Funkwhale
• PeerTube
• Fedifinder - Find your Twitter contacts on Mastodon
• Debirdify - Another way to find Twitter contacts.

1. 00:00:04: Introductions
2. 00:04:01: The Fediverse & ActivityPub
3. 00:11:50: What Is Mastodon?
4. 00:14:25: Mastodon Features
5. 00:19:46: No Ads
6. 00:21:51: Content Promotion, Rules, Timelines
7. 00:26:59: Filtering The Fediverse
8. 00:33:02: Equal Apportunities
9. 00:37:03: The Deluge Of New Users
10. 00:45:46: Server Architecture
11. 00:47:34: Self-Hosting & Federation
12. 00:51:33: More Than Just Mastodon
13. 01:01:23: Wrapping Up

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

Yes, this is a podcast episode of a podcast with two podcasters talking about podcasting, say that as quickly as you can and you may win a prize!*

You’ll have heard Arielle’s name pop up on many episodes of this show, as she’s been such an incredible supporter of both the show and me personally as a podcaster through the SquadPod community, as well as other great resources and her energetic Twitter presence.

Whether you just listen to lots of podcasts, are already a podcaster, or are looking to start a podcast, I think you’ll find something of value in this week’s episode. It was a genuine pleasure to chat with Arielle and we’d absolutely love your thoughts on both listening to and creating podcasts, send those over to podcast@crossedwires.net, leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

(*) Please note, no actual prize is available, though if you want to send in audio clips we’ll absolutely feature the best one on our social media!

• Arielle on Twitter
• Earbuds Podcast Collective
• SquadCast [Affiliate Link]
• Descript
• Headliner
• Buzzsprout
• PocketCasts
• Overcast
• Castbox
• Audio Hijack
• Ferrite

1. 00:00:04: Introductions
2. 00:03:13: The Podcasting Community
3. 00:05:42: What Are Podcasts?
4. 00:09:37: Podcast App Choice
5. 00:12:06: How Podcasts Get Delivered
6. 00:16:37: Co-Marketing Your Show
7. 00:20:54: What Makes A 'Good' Podcast?
8. 00:25:51: A Bit About Descript
9. 00:28:10: Transcription
10. 00:33:32: Listener Engagement
11. 00:39:02: Tips For New Podcasters
12. 00:41:05: Being A Good Listener
13. 00:43:50: Wrapping Up

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

When you ask most people about email, they probably show a genuine lack of interest, it’s not new and it’s not fancy. But, email still plays a hugely important part in our daily lives, and even more so in business.

We talk with Helen about the concept of your digital identity, and how owning your email domain and being the customer, not the product, can make a huge difference to your email, calendar, and contacts experience.

It was a great pleasure to have Helen join us, especially given her wealth of experience and knowledge in the email space. We really appreciate the behind-the-scenes work that went into getting this episode together, especially the willingness of Fastmail to partner with us for this episode.

What's your experience with email been like? We’d love to hear from you, so send a note over to podcast@crossedwires.net, leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods.

To help you get started with Fastmail, they’ve very kindly set up a discount link so that you, our wonderful listeners, can get 10% off your first year of Fastmail service.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

• Helen Horstmann-Allen on Twitter
• Fastmail acquires Pobox in 2015
• Fastmail
• Masked Email integration in 1Password
• Digital Citizen Podcast - Website / Apple Podcasts

1. 00:00:05: Introductions
2. 00:03:47: Why Do We Still Need Email?
3. 00:08:05: Email Services
4. 00:18:38: A Word About Apple
5. 00:19:50: Masked Email & Domains
6. 00:24:09: Pricing Model & App Usage
7. 00:27:06: Calendars & Contacts
8. 00:33:36: Fighting For The Users

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

As many of you know, the Amiga A600 was my childhood computer, so when I saw Ravi doing a DJ set in ‘The Cave’ with Neil a few years back, I was mesmerised. I’m not musical, but music technology has always been an interest. So it was genuinely exciting to chat with Ravi about how he uses these incredible retro systems.

Ravi also talks about the recent Amiga 37 event in Germany, DJing for a horror movie festival in the woods, as well as his rather ambitious A600 laptop build.

If you’re like me, you’ll have some fond memories of Amiga game music, and of course the tunes from the demo scene; I’d love to hear your memories of that music, maybe even your favourite tracks. Send those over to podcast@crossedwires.net, leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over via our Ko-Fi page.

• Ravi on YouTube / Twitter
• Amiga A600 - Centre for Computing History
• PT1210
• Mod Files

1. 00:00:04: Introductions
2. 00:02:02: An Amiga Laptop?
3. 00:06:04: Music On The Amiga?
4. 00:14:21: Hardware & Software Setup
5. 00:25:19: DJing With Other Retro Game Systems
6. 00:26:41: PT1210
7. 00:34:46: Favourite Sets
8. 00:40:17: Amiga 37
9. 00:42:57: Modern Experiences
10. 00:46:46: Wrapping Up

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

Amanda Sloan is a friend I’ve known for years, actually longer than I’ve known James; I’ve known both for a long time. Amanda and I first met when I replied to her tweet about a hippy village floating on the water. I once met her and her partner Thom for coffee when they came through my state; I also worked with Amanda on the podcast network Dragon Powered Studios.

Amanda co-runs Geek Herring, is a writer, does workshops and more. She also streams on Twitch in her off-hours, but gosh knows how she has the time. She also works in freelance, which is one of the reasons we asked her to come and chat to us for this episode.

We’d love to hear about your freelancing experiences or any questions you may have, so please leave a comment below, email us via podcast@crossedwires.net or start a discussion over Goodpods.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our new Ko-Fi page.

• Amanda Sloan’s Website
• Amanda Sloan on Twitter
• Geek Herring
• Amanda Sloan on Twitch
• 5 Day VA Challenge

1. 00:00:04: Introductions
2. 00:06:10: Freelance Copywriting
3. 00:10:37: Starting Out Freelancing
4. 00:15:04: Freelancing Tools
5. 00:22:30: How Can Tech Hurt Freelancers
6. 00:28:04: Keeping Client Logins Safe
7. 00:31:44: Doing Things Differently?
8. 00:36:32: Recognising Your Limitations
9. 00:39:04: Dealing With Awkward Clients
10. 00:46:53: Advice For New Freelancers?
11. 00:51:45: Wrapping Up

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW