CHRISLEYDON.COM

GoDaddy.com is the world’s largest reseller of .com domain names; they’re one of the most trusted companies on the internet and they’ve just started a UK branch.

Most people who listen to The Podzone know that the show is sponsored by GoDaddy.com, through a Mevio Producer Campaign, this explains why I’m dedicating an entire post to them. Another reason why GoDaddy.co.uk deserves its own post is because I truly believe in the product; I personally believe that GoDaddy are by far the best internet solutions company worldwide. I believe this to such an extent that this website and the Keyone Productions network is powered off of GoDaddy’s servers.

I would never endorse a product if I didn’t believe in it myself. I may have sold out to “the man” a long time ago, but I still have some morals. Personally I use GoDaddy for domain registration and website hosting, however they have a full suite of internet solutions available; anything from Podcast hosting to dedicated email servers.

GoDaddy is making a move on the UK market after taking the US by storm. The differences between GoDaddy.co.uk over GoDaddy.com is that prices are now listed in pounds sterling and there is also a dedicated UK helpline number. GoDaddy is truly positioning itself in the UK and is dedicating an entire team to help fit in over here.

As a result of GoDaddy’s launch in the UK, as GoDaddy.co.uk, some exclusive promo codes have been created to give customers a discount at the checkout. These promo codes are exclusive to BTPodShow partnered podcasts, and only 4 shows have been given the special codes; The Podzone is one of these shows. So as either a reader of this blog, or a listener to The Podzone, or even some Googler looking for a fantastic deal on GoDaddy products, here are your exclusive GoDaddy.com & GoDaddy.co.uk discount codes.

• PODZONE - 10% off of ANY order at GoDaddy.co.uk or GoDaddy.com
• PODZONE2 - 20% off of ANY ORDER OVER £24.99 at GoDaddy.co.uk or GoDaddy.com
• PODZONE4 - A .co.uk domain name for £2.70 for the first year at GoDaddy.co.uk or GoDaddy.com
• PODZONE25 - 25% off of ANY ORDER over £49.99 at GoDaddy.co.uk or GoDaddy.com
• PODZONE30 - 30% off of a .com domain name at GoDaddy.co.uk or GoDaddy.com
• PODZONE35 - A .com domain name for £3.50 at GoDaddy.co.uk or GoDaddy.com
• PODZONE50 - 50% off of a .co.uk domain name, for the first year, at GoDaddy.co.uk or GoDaddy.com

I trust and use GoDaddy.co.uk myself. My personal internet solutions are handled by them and so are my business internet solutions. I wouldn’t risk either of them, or promote this company, if I didn’t believe in GoDaddy and think that it’s a worthwhile company.

Take a gander around GoDaddy.co.uk, have a look at their services, their prices and try to find a better deal out there; I personally can’t. GoDaddy.co.uk, the world is your domain.

Chris Leydon.

People have often asked me “what makes a successful podcast?”. Why they’re asking me I have no idea. It could be to do with the little success that I’ve had with The Podzone, or even the soon-to-be hit The Glitch; either way it feels my ego and I’m often happy to answer the question.

I personally define a successful Podcast by the amount of listeners that it has. The next question, of course,  is how many listeners defines a successful podcast? I can answer that question incredibly easily. It only takes one listener to have a successful show. Not one hundred, not one thousand, just one; one listener who enjoys the show and keeps coming back for more.

A few of you may now think that I’m clinically insane and need to be sectioned under the Mental Health act, but let’s think about this. Why do we create content in the first place? Some do it for money, but the majority of us create content to be creative. We like to express ourselves and if other people enjoy it then that’s a bonus. This is why it only takes one listener or viewer to have a successful podcast. One person who enjoys your creativity is all we need to feel fantastic about what we do.

That’s the secret to making a successful podcast; what makes a good podcast is a completely different question altogether and one that will be answered in a future post.

Chris Leydon.

I love writing posts to my blog, I really do. Especially when I actually get a chance to sit down, lock myself away from the world and get on with it.

Over the past few months I’ve noticed that there are several breeds of blogger; those who blog about topics, those who blog for a living (and attempt to be journalists), and those who write about themselves. I seem to fall into the latter category, but then again what did you expect from a site called chrisleydon.com?

The last month has been very busy and productive for me. As you should be aware Keyone Productions has produced two videos for Bishops’ College in the past year; I received confirmation a few weeks ago that we’ve been commissioned to produce two/three further videos in the new academic year. This is fantastic news for a business as small as ours!

Whilst still on the topic of Keyone Productions, we’ve been approached by Mevio to continue to produce our video games show The Glitch. This time it would be in association with Mevio as part of their promotions campaign. If this goes ahead it would mean that Keyone Productions has two successful podcasts on the agreement, the other being The Podzone.

Moving onto the subject of Mevio and by UK default, BTPodShow, I’m pleased to announce that I’ve managed to gain an internship with them until September. I’m currently based in the UK, London, office for 30 hours a week. My roles involve, scouring the network for the best content we have, editing shows, monitoring stats, channel organising, spare hand and general bitch boy, or anything else they throw my way. I’m thoroughly enjoying it and will be rather sad when the time comes for me to leave. I’m proud and very glad that I’ve had the chance to be part of such a great team.

Chris Leydon.

So its been two weeks at least since I last made an appearance. Last time we had contact I was coming up with script ideas, wondering whether to sign the new BTPodShow contract and working on my final assignments.

Well I’m pleased to say that I did indeed sign that new BTPodShow contract, which means that The Podzone is guarenteed for at least another two years. I’ve also been working a bit more on script concepts and I’ve finished University for the year.

Finished, completely finished until September, you have no idea how good it feels to say that. Ahead of me I’ve got one long summer of work, making money and enjoying myself.

In the meantime however, I’ve discovered that my web design skills are so fantastic that the new Keyone Productions site, only works on about 90% of the worlds browsers. Yep, it doesn’t work with IE… oops. My day today will be spent correcting that mistake. I’ve started to learn CSS and I’m hoping to implement what I’ve learnt into the redesign.

Tomorrow, as a favour to my father, myself and Nick shall be headed to Bishops College (Gloucester) to film their Year 11 graduation. It should be fun as we’ll have a multicam set up and various other bits of over kill. We know that a job such as this doesn’t require all of the trims that we’re putting in to it; but I’ve got to do something to keep me amused until September.

Chris Leydon.

It’s over a year since I first signed my contract with BTPodShow / Mevio, consequently that first contract has terminated and there is a new one for me to sign. The question is then, why haven’t I picked up my pen, signed it and sent it off already? In all honesty I’m not too sure myself.

I really have enjoyed my first year working with BTPodShow to produce The Podzone, it was fun and I always had support for anything I did; however a year on I’m wondering if I want to sign the contract again. I can say that it’s not the EXACT same contact that I signed last year, it has updated T&Cs, but they aren’t the primary reason why I’m debating signing my life away.

The PodShow / Mevio contract in my eyes has always been a very sound and good contract to sign; it’s not that limiting and at the end of the day I can walk away still holding all of the rights to my programming. The agreement is all about the rights of transmission, I can’t think of the exact word right now (distribution).

Perhaps it’s time to move on. Mevio are having a change in direction, slightly and perhaps it is time for The Podzone to rest. I’m not at all too sure about all of this just yet. I need to talk to Nick Cooper but he’s not available for the next few days.

As you can tell this thing is really playing on my mind. Can I guarantee that The Podzone will still be here in 2 years time or even a years time? Probably not, and it would be wrong for me to do so; I want to move on, but on the other hand I still want to carry on with The Podzone and Mevio. It’s a tough call and one which I’m going to have to spend quite a bit of time thinking about.

Chris Leydon.

So the story that’s quite important for me today, as it affects me directly, is the news that PodShow (Podcasting pioneering company extraordinaire) is changing its name. What to? I hear you ask… MEVIO.

Yep, they’ve dropped the “Pod” from their name and the “Show” too, but that’s besides the point. There are rumours that MEVIO will be a video network, this has a slight truth to it. From what I can gather MEVIO will be more video orientated in nature but will still support and have audio shows.

This would be the point where I say that myself and The Podzone will still stick by MEVIO no matter what, and I’m sure I will, however I’ve just realised that my contract with PodShow UK expired 2 weeks ago. That’s a bit of a bummer, still here’s hoping that it gets renewed, I haven’t heard anything to say otherwise.

Chris Leydon.

All I actually seem to be doing today is typing. Don’t get me wrong, I love to write and type, but there are some days when all you do is one thing and you just get a little fed up of it. However on the other hand I still love it, after all I wouldn’t type otherwise. I have no need to write or type this post, but yet I am.

Most of my day today has revolved around getting the latest Podzone out, which it is by the way - head on over to www.thepodzone.net to download it… Although this morning, whilst recovering from a splitting hangover, I headed down to the Doctors surgery to be informed that I need to get an Ultra-scan to make sure that I don’t have testicular cancer.

My goal for the end of this week is to get v.4.1 of the Keyone site live and functioning correctly. v.4.0 of the site seems to have died in development hell, I’m not too sure why, but it seems as though it will never see the light of day; pity really, but to make sure that its memory lives on I’ll stick a screen shot of it on this post.

As soon as the Keyone site is up and running I’ll modify it to fit the needs of my Internet and HTML assignment; I’m pretty sure that plagiarising work that you’ve already created is allowed, although I’ll get that checked out.

Chris Leydon.

The second of my three posts today is concerning PodShow, more specifically, the rumours circulating about PodShow’s current state. I’m not allowed to go into much detail about this, due to contractual reasons and moral obligations, but I shall try to clear the air a bit.

It has been reported on Valleywag that PodShow are making radical changes to their company. First of all I’d like to point out that Valleywag is a rumour blog and nothing more, there are no quoted sources and most of it is speculation. Second of all what should it matter IF PodShow is making layoffs, IF it needs to downsize, let it.

Adam Curry, President of PodShow, has contacted PodShow producers today to inform them of exactly what’s happening within PodShow. As an independent PodShow producer myself, I too have been informed of these changes; they are not as radical as certain “publications” and fabrications are making them out to be.

This is a typical example of a rumour snowballing. Valleywag has no evidence of these layoffs and there has been no word from PodShow itself. PodShow is still committed to creating fantastic content and supporting its producers. Version 2.5 of its site launched this week and this sees a whole fresh look on PodShow itself. 2008 is set to be a big year for PodShow and I for one support them 100%.

My 12 month agreement with PodShow UK Ltd is up for renewal within the next few weeks, I have no plans not to agree to an extension; and as far as I’m aware, neither do PodShow. My experience with PodShow has been fantastic and I think that we are great partners together. The Podzone isn’t a huge internet sensation, but it is indeed great content that many people do want; PodShow and I see this and hopefully we’ll continue to produce fantastic content with each other for another 12 months. The money hasn’t been that bad either.

Blogs such as Valleywag exist to spread and fuel rumours. This is just PodShow bashing, it must PodShow’s time again. After all there’s no Apple news in sight to wank over, so it must be a slow “news” day.

Chris Leydon.

Another week has gone by and still all I can manage to do is one post, but still I suppose that it’s better than nothing.

Last weekend I was kidnapped by my parents and taken back home for a few days, they were only supposed to pop up here with a receipt so that I could change my digibox. Going home was rather fun and it gave me time to think back over al that’s happened over the past few weeks that I’ve actually been at University for. It also gave me the chance to meet up with the fabulous Mr Cooper and record a few more Podzones.

This weeks lectures haven’t been that interesting. Film Technology, however, was quite fun. We were allowed to start experimenting with the Cannon XL1s and we were set a task where we had to create three independent shots and frame them correctly.

In Digital Image Production we were introduced to Photoshop and taught the basics. Needless to say that I was one of the few in this class who left early as we had, had a bit of experience in Photoshop. I did stay for the actual lecture and demonstration but when it came to replicating the demonstration I buggered off.

Audio Production, once again, seems to be a waste of time. I wont go into another anti-Audio Production rant but pretty much the same thing happened again as it has done for the past few weeks.

The Keyone Productions website has been down for most of the week as I’ve been redesigning and reprogramming it. I must say that it is indeed starting to look very good, especially with the new Flash players that I’ve installed. No longer do we need to rely on Google Video.

I’m extremely pleased about the news of Leopard, otherwise known as Mac OS X 10.5, which is basically Apple’s new advanced operating system. It comes out on Friday and I’m hoping to be able to pick one up at the launch party in London’s Regents Street. I’ll take a few photos of the event and post them up on my blog after I’m finished. I know it’s a rather geeky thing to be doing, but who cares?

Chris Leydon.

What a busy few days I’ve had. The best part of this weekend has been spent attempting to get The Podzone Online back, well, online. As a few of you may know I’ve recently switched my web hosting to GoDaddy.com (use promo code “podzone” for 10% off any purchase) after falling out with my previous hoster, so this week I’ve been putting the pieces back together.

The Podzone Online is now back up and once again there is a new Podzone Podcast up and ready for download so I urge you to check that out at either www.thepodzone.net or podzone.btpodshow.com. The Podzone, in general, is still moving along swiftly, this o course is helped by the fact that myself and Nick recorded some shows in bulk last week, so we have a bit of a back catalogue to fall on if things don’t go fully to plan.

Lectures this week have been interesting and very challenging in certain areas. Audio Processing is seriously over my head. The lecturers seem to have this idea in their heads that everyone in their class is musically talented and has an advanced knowledge on music technology. This, of course, isn’t true and so quite a few of us are struggling in this aspect and are having to do so much outside research it’s untrue.

The ideas for Film Technology are still flowing and I’m busy writing up my plans for the 3 minute film, it’s all good.

Oh and I’d like to take the oppourtunity to wish my Mother a very Happy Birthday.

Chris Leydon.