Audio shiurim can be found in a number of places online, two of the best repositories of consistently updated shiurim can be found at YU Torah and OU Radio. These are the two site we will focus on for today’s Mobile How To.

As mentioned above, most of us are aware of the amazing value of online shiuirm, but there is an incredible feature that most of us are probably missing out on: Podcasting. Podcasting is basically just an RSS Feed consisting of MP3 files instead of articles, but the magic of Podcasting is revealed when its features are married with those of today’s always-connected smartphones; with their powers combined they allow the end-user to stream audio shiurim from just about anywhere, without having to download or check for updates. Once you find a class, topic of teacher you like you can use Podcasting just as you would TiVo (chas ve’shalom) to capture new classes automatically and view or listen at your convenience, and using your smartphone (we will focus on Android in this article) you can stream, not download and play, those shiurim from anywhere, whenever the mood strikes or you have a free block of time…think: on your daily commute, waiting in line, waiting for the bus, while at the mechanic…anywhere, anytime.

“How can I set up this magical TiVo for shiurim?” you ask? In about 3 steps and 5 minutes you will be up and running and listening to shiurim wherever and whenever.

Things you’ll need:

• Android Smartphone (any smart phone will do, but we will be using Android for this How To)
• Computer
• Google Account (If you don’t already have one: https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount)

Step 1 – Set Up Google Listen:

Scan this QR Code to download Google Listen

Open the Android Market and search for Listen, visit http://listen.googlelabs.com or scan the QR Code to the right with your Android phone to download Google Listen.

Once you have downloaded and set-up Google Listen be sure that it is linked to your Google Account and proceed to Step 2.

Step 2 – Set Up Google Reader:

Open your browser on your computer and goto http://www.google.com/reader. When you set-up Google Listen and link it to your Google Account it will automatically create a new folder in Google Reader called “Listen Subscriptions”; this is where you will add the Podcasts you want to subscribe to.

Goto to your Reader settings page (by clicking the gear in the upper right-hand corner and clicking “Reader Settings”) and click over to the “Goodies” tab. Now, scroll to the bottom of this page and follow the instructions for adding the “Subscribe” bookmarklet to your browser.

Step 3a – Find Your Shiurim and RSS Feed:

YU Torah: Roll over the series of icons you want to subscribe to

For YU Torah: First, find the topic, speaker or series you want to subscribe to, next click-through to the actual shiur page and you will see a line of icons (RSS, Podcast, Apple logo, envelope), roll over them and click “Podcast”, next select the number of shiurim you want displayed at a time and click “Go”. A new window should now be open with the XML code of the RSS feed of your series of shiurim. Proceed to Step 3b.

OU Radio: Click the RSS icon to open the Subscription page

For OU Radio: Visit http://www.ouradio.org/podcasting, find the series you want to subscribe to, click the little RSS icon and proceed to Step 3b.
>Step 3b.

Step 3b – Subscribe and Enjoy!

Click "Feed Settings" to move your subscription to the "Listen Subscriptions" folder

All you need to do now is click on the bookmarklet you created in Step 2 and subscribe to this page. Once you are subscribed click “Feed Settings” and move the subscription to the “Listen Subscriptions” folder, now just fire up your Android phone, open the Listen app and you can stream all your subscribed shiurim, which will automatically update as new content is added!

Whether you use this tool for professional development, personal learning, to stay in touch with your students or to keep up to date on a class when you can’t be there, podcasting is an amazing tool that will help us all stay a little closer to Torah learning no matter where we find ourselves…happy streaming!

While writing my post, Hebrew for Android, I went to reference an article I (thought) I had written on Mikledet (http://www.mikledet.com/) the amazing online Javascript based Heberw keyboard, but the article was nowhere to be found! I don’t know how I could have forgotten to share this amazing tools/resource with my fellow Frumhackers, but apparently I did. I guess it is right in time for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur to do teshuva!

The Mikledet keyboard is and amazing tool, it is basically a simple web-based application that allows you to type in Hebrew without any special software of settings, the Javascript “hi-jacks” your keyboard and whatever key you hit while your cursor is in the text area is converted to the corresponding Hebrew character. It even has an on-screen keyboard for reference which lights up as you type. The app also allows you to switch from the classic Hebrew keyboard layout to phonetic layout. It is really awesome for those times you need to write an email response in Hebrew or do a quick Google search. There is even a Facebook app which allows you to access the keyboard from within Facebook for convenience while communicating with Hebrew speakers.

Mikledet is developed by Chen Levkovich, and Israeli from Tel Aviv, here is a quote from the about us page:

I created Mikledet.com mostly for myself (and my wife). We lived in Munich at the time, without any P.C. at home. I connected to the Internet mostly from Internet cafes, which of course had no Hebrew support. We had no possibility to send Hebrew emails, until I created Mikledet.com (well at the beginning the name was e-vrit and then just Mikledet). I wrote all the initial code at the easy Internet cafe next to Munich’s central station, and at the time I used my home page at geocities.

He has also developed 2 other amazing apps, http://skypetranslate.com/, an app to translate Skype conversations to and from Hebrew, and http://www.muftah-alhuruf.com/, an Arabic keyboard similar to Mikledet (very useful for doing searches of Gaonic Literature in the original Arabic ).

Now that I have written the article that I (thought) had written before, I can tell you that Android 2.2 (Froyo) which I just updated to supports Hebrew and supports the Mikledet mobile and regular keyboards!

[Mikledet] [Mikledet Facebook App]

I just got the Android 2.2 (Froyo) update and, amongst other really cool new features, it features Hebrew support! I was able to access Mechon Mamre’s library (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/) and lots of other Hebrew sites and content. I can even now see Hebrew in my Gmail app and in various other apps throughout the phone. If you have a Droid (like me) and want to get the Froyo update before it gets pushed to you OTA, check this article out for a quick and easy way to get the update without breaking any rules.

[UPDATE: I would recommend using the "ללא ניקוד" (non-vowelized) versions of Mechon Mamre (Tanach is available chaser (בכתיב המסורה) and maaleh (בכתיב מלא), because the vowel support isn't that good (read: doesn't work)]

Also be sure to check out our previous articles about Judaism and Hebrew on the Android Platform: [http://www.frumhacks.com/2010/03/android-apps-i-would-love-to-see/] [http://www.frumhacks.com/2010/02/android-rundown/]

The database covers a wide array of foods, from Ale to Zwieback, and has sources, which range from Mishna Berura to Halachos of Brachos, to back up its claims. Additionally, most database entries include pictures of the food in question to guarantee that we are talking about the same item, the actual text of the bracha for easy reference and articles about the proper shiur to be consumed to require an after bracha.

The database features an easy to search interface, with search (and autocorrect), alphabetical and food type references. All in all, it is well designed, very useful and intuitive and provides of wealth of neccesary information to the Frum consumer.

Well Done!

Image by audioeric via Flickr

We only have one oven in our kitchen and it is Fleishig (for meat), but I love pizza…the classic Kosher Kitchen Dilemma. Recently, after a late night post-shabbaton food party, I discovered the solution, stove-top tortilla pizza.

Recently we had a small remodel done to our kitchen and I felt it was time to clean up the place. The first place I decided to start was the fridge, the most gross part of the kitchen. When I removed the shelves I found them to be much grosser than I thought, caked with old organic food grossness. With the remodel of our kitchen we also had two (yes, we have finally made it) dishwashers installed and they came with free detergent, the fancy Cascade liquid kind that “dissolves foodstuff“, so I thought, I wonder if it will dissolve this “foodstuff”. I filled up the bathtub and added a squirt of detergent, sure enough after a few hour soak, they were completely clean! No scrubbing or any elbow grease at all!