As promised in the last issue, we are currently experimenting with the photographs on the HMC website (http://www.magician.org.uk/hmc) using new technology brought to you by a Canadian company called Flickr (http://www.flickr.com). The site allows you to upload them and share them with either the whole world, or privately amongst friends and family. You can group your photographs into sets, and tag them with key-words, and anyone can comment on them, not just by leaving text-based comments, but by adding tags and notes to the photographs themselves. You can see this in action on the main page, where it will always display the last three pictures uploaded. You can then click to see each photo and links to the latest sets. Currently we have a new HMC set and a Young Magicians’ Workshop set. Let me have your comments on this new way of delivering our photographs, I would be interested to see what you think.

So what’s next for the site? I’m always looking for ways to link technology with magic and I have been looking into Podcasting. Some of you may have heard this recent buzzword, for those that haven’t, read the Wikipedia explanation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting). It is a method for publishing audio broadcasts via the internet, which people can subscribe to, download and play on their personal audio players. Usually the audio (or even video) files consist of talking or music, and mostly on a specific subject. You can subscribe using Podcatching software such as iTunes or iPodder (http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/).Just as Weblogs have caught on recently in the magic community, I think Podcasting will enable the individual to easily publish their own thoughts, ideas and views on the magic scene, and even provide an information service. It also means you won’t have to be tied to a computer get these services, as you can listen to them anywhere you have a personal audio player, out jogging, in the bath, at the gym etc.I want to experiment in the future, by putting up parts of the Oracle as a Podcast, much the same as you can access it as text on the website. Again let me have your thoughts on this, and if it would be of use to you, do you own a personal MP3 player and would prefer to listen to the Oracle, whilst you do other things?

I will leave you with some examples of people already Podcasting in the magic world. The Go Magic Go Podcast (http://thetrapdoor.libsyn.com/) is talking about things as diverse as Derren Brown, Andre Kole, Criss Angel, and various product and show reviews. The S.A.M. (http://www.magicsam.com) are doing something quite unique and interesting, they are publishing regular Podcast updates on their 2006 convention to be held in Louisville Kentucky (http://www.samconvention.blogspot.com/). Lastly L&L publishing have just started experimenting with this technology, and have published their first Podcast on the L&L Blog (http://www.llpub.com/weblog/) which features an introduction to the new products and audio clips from their new DVD releases.