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Shure has announced its entry into the full-sized closed headphone market. They are launching a new series of headphones that should be out early this summer, and early reviews are very positive. See the Shure product page for the SRH840 here.

The Wall Street Journal reports that “In America today, there are almost as many people making their living as bloggers as there are lawyers…” I have to say I was somewhat shocked to see the statistics, which come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and claim that there are over 450,000 professional bloggers in the US. I wonder when blogger jokes are going to surpass lawyer jokes?

This weekend we took the kids to the Renaissance Faire in Irwindale, CA. The folks who put on the festival did a wonderful job and it was a lot of fun. The faire is on for the next six weeks, so if you live in the area you should check it out. I posted some pictures to Flickr as well, and a video should be up shortly.

Many thanks to Alex Lindsay for turning me on to the Beachtek mic adaptor. This little, ingenious gadget allows you to connect professional XLR microphones to a standard camcorder, as long as it has an 1/8″ mic input available. I recently purchased a Canon HF 100 high def camcorder to shoot some interviews and video podcasts and I added the Beachtek into the mix. If you’ve ever shot video you’ll know that audio is one of the most important factors in making a quality video, which means you really need a much better microphone than what’s available on handheld camcordes. For less than $200 you can add a Beachtek and start using your favorite mics with an inexpensive consumer camcorder. Thanks Alex!

Here’s a quick financial prediction; I’m interested to know what you think so please feel free to leave comments or send me an email. As I write this post we’re in the throws of a global economic crisis. The US Government’s response, i.e. a Keynesian approach to shoring up the economy through massive injections of capital, will have the inevitable effect of driving up national debt to historic levels. Eventually that debt has to be repaid, but I have a pet theory on how that painful reality is going to be softened: I think the federal government will pursue a strategy of intentional, controlled inflation. But why will they do this?

During an inflationary period, prices, wages, etc. all tend to go up. This has the effect of “cheapening” the dollar; what used to cost $1.00 now costs $1.50, therefore a dollar in the future is worth less than a dollar in the past. A side effect of this (or in our example, the primary motivation) is that debt incurred in past dollars can be paid with future dollars at a reduced cost. Let’s look at a simplified example:

Assume it’s 2007 and John works for a company that pays him $50,000 a year. By 2012 (post crisis) inflation has been underway for a while and prices have risen. John’s salary will rise as well, and while it may not rise as quickly as prices (a bad side effect of inflation), his nominal income is now $60,000 a year. Let’s also assume that John borrowed $1000 back in 2007 and now, five years later in 2012, he is ready to pay it back. Because of inflation the value of $1000 in 2012 will be less than it was in 2007 when John borrowed the money. So the net effect for John is that he can pay off old 2007 debt using cheap 2012 dollars; it’s a advantage to John and a disadvantage for the lender.

So lets get back to the US government and the massive amounts of debt they are accruing right now in 2009. Given the fact that the government can directly affect inflation through fiscal and monetary policy, why would they not pursue a strategy of controlled inflation? It’s an advantage to borrowers, both the US government as well as all of the individual borrowers who spent too much and saved to little. Unfortunately it’s a disadvantage for all of the people who saved their money, as well as all of the lenders (like China) who loaned the US a lot of money in pre-crisis times.

Any thoughts?

I just completed a podcasting survey that’s being conducted by the University of Memphis. If you’re a podcaster you should take a few minutes to complete it – I’m interested to see the results!

https://umdrive.memphis.edu/kmmrkman/www/podcasting.html

This past weekend was the Annual Networking Day for USC’s Greif Center (their center for entrepreneurship). Morley Winograd spoke, addressing generational issues as the Millenial generation enters the workforce alongside Generation X and the Baby Boomers. The presentation was fascinating and I’m very interested to check out his book “Millenial Makeover.” Check out the book’s website, or order a copy on Amazon.

Lifehacker has a short post that links over to Epic Sound’s “Guide to Sound Effects.” If you’re a podcaster looking for some interesting sound effects for your show it might be  a good place to start.