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An easy decision I was sure, but then only to be confused again by conflicting reports between the two.

Macworld said go with the Griffin iTalk, especially because of its sound quality. A client of mine swears by the Belkin. If I had to make a decision in terms of sound quality, the Griffin should be the clear winner, but both record at 8KHz, 128 Kbps mono wav-format (the guys at Apple were clever to think of possible copyright infringements and hard coded the file recording rate) – it’s pretty much all the same really.

The funny thing is most US websites report that the Belkin is more expensive than the Griffin, but in SA – it’s mostly the other way around, with the Belkin about R50 cheaper if you shop around a bit. By the way, Wayne’s World in Cresta won hands down in the price war versus Incredible Connection and the former is up to R200 cheaper than the Apple SA store. (Besides, Wayne’s World has tons of stock.)

Apart from the obvious usefulness of either product, which is to record voice memos, meetings etc., is the fact that both have a small speaker to play back voice recordings or any of your songs is a bonus. Finally you can put the alarm function on the iPod to good use.

The other nice function of the Griffin is the audio-in/audio-out jack, which means you either can plug in an external microphone or your headphones. An external mic may just improve the quality of the recording. Note that this applies to microphones that do not need additional power. If you want this functionality in the Belkin, you’d best go for another product in the range, the Belkin Universal Microphone Adapter.

Anyhow, since all my other accessories are Griffin (iTrip, PowerPod) I figured it best to stick with the same brand. Question is though – is anyone using the Belkin and what’s your verdict?

Pure genius – but now I have a cramp in my hand….

According to MacNewsWorld, Churches are taking advantage of new technology with what they have dubbed ‘Godcasts‘.

Godcasts range from a daily dose of scripture to a weekly dose of the Bible translated into Klingon, the language spoken by certain characters in “Star Trek.” The vast majority are Christian-based, but they also include New Age, Jewish and Buddhist podcasts.

Some examples include, The Catholic Insider, a podcast by father Roderick Vonhögen, catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Locally we have Mosaïek, ‘n post-denominal macro-congregation in Johannesburg that records its sermons and makes them available for download in MP3 format from its website. Although most of the sermons are delivered in Afrikaans, they do on occasion have English contributors.

So if you’re interested, pop over to The Godcast Network, Podcast.net, Christian Podcasting.com, SermonAudio and SermonIndex for more.

According to CARtoday.com, Volvo Cars has developed an experimental car with a built-in breathalyser and speed limiter, guaranteed to stop would-be offenders.

Apparently the car’s seat belt clip doubles as a breathalyser. The driver is required to blow into the built-in device before fastening the seat belt. The car will only start if the breathalyser test is negative and the seat belt secured.

In the next stage, the car’s speed can be limited to a predetermined speed using the special ignition key.

Controversial indeed.

Here’s an idea: Why not build a system that will make taxi’s automatically stop at intersections instead of jumping them and engage the indicator lights when the steering wheel is turned. Better still, when a taxi driver gets into the vehicle he has to swipe his driver’s licence for validation before he’s able to start the engine. Bet you that system will be cracked in seconds.

For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report is the twice-weekly podcast of Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz, a pair of communication professionals who think they have something to say.

They recently held a presentation on podcasting to McGraw-Hill’s communicators in New York City and released the notes on, well, a podcast. The content covers the basics from what is a podcast, to why podcast, through to what you need to do a podcast and eventually marketing and promoting your podcast.

You can get the full MP3 (24MB) here or download the PowerPoint version (2.8MB) here.

Now these concepts might not be new to people like Scott Sigler, who from relative obscurity has risen through the ranks to become a 10,000-subscriber podcaster with a signed book deal to get EarthCore reprinted, but if you have some of the same aspirations you should be sure to check it out.