Google TechTalks On Your AppleTV
So, you’ve got your AppleTV setup and are jonsing for some content. You’ve added a bunch of mildly interesting video podcasts, but are looking for some more long form content?
Well, a podcast is just an rss feed with enclosures, yes?
And Google Video supports RSS feeds, yes?
And in iTunes you can add any arbitrary RSS feed!
Tie these facts together and you can tailor your own feed of interesting videos! As an example, lets try generating a feed of all Google TechTalks.
- Go to the advanced search page on Google Video
- The author for all Google TechTalks is “Google engEDU”, so enter user:”Google engEDU” in the “with all of the words” text box.
- In the sort results by dropdown, select “date”.
- In the results per page dropdown, select “100”.
- Now select “Google Search” and get the results.
Cool, now we have a page of results, and the URL is something like http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=user%3A%22Google+engEDU%22&so=1&num=100.
Add &output=rss to the end, and you’ll get a URL for the RSS feed. Copy that and head over to iTunes.
In iTunes, select “Advanced” and “Subscribe to podcast…”, enter the URL of the RSS feed in the box and voila! You’ve subscribed to a feed of Google TechTalk videos. Anytime a new one is published, you’ll get the new one too as the search is live!
For added coolness, if you’ve got an AppleTV and it’s syncing your podcasts, all these videos are also available in your living room…
Right now I’m sat on the couch watching last week’s TechTalk by Merlin Mann of 43 Folders, talking about Inbox Zero…
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Thank you!!!!!
How would I convert the feed to audio--are the files something my iPod Shuffle could play? I would like to listen to the Google TechTalks while driving to work. I watched Merlin Mann's presentation, but I really could have listened to it while driving and saved that hour for other things.
Thanks!
Steve,
Thanks for telling us about Tech Talks - I didn't know they existed and thought that You Tube and Google Video were just full of junk! I have watched Inbox Zero and agree with Pete - I could have just listenned. I would be really interested in your thoughts regarding how/if you can play .mp4 video in an audio only way.
Thanks,
Craig
Steve, this is awesome. I was just checking out AppleTV last week and thought the same thing. How cool it would be to get feeds of videos. Since I have zero talent and skillz to match, I thought it would be forever beyond me to set it up. Is it really so easy? I guess I'll have to take the plunge and see for myself. Thanks for the how to!
Jerome
Update. The Google Video search page now has a nice little RSS button on the right that generates the subscription xml for you. Apple Tv + Itune = Happiness