´óÏó´«Ã½

Hello digerati!

The podcast is lying in wait for you to listen and if there's a link or a name you didn't quite catch, then you're in the right place to find out more.

Thousands of people are still making their way home after the cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökul closed British airspace. Many will remember this as a time where they were stranded in one place or grounded in another, waiting to travel.
One of these travellers was , magazine aficionado and writer. So while stuck in Ireland, waiting to get a flight back home to America, he put a call out to artists and writers in a similar position. Many talented people got in touch and together they have worked out a multimedia memento of these times. DJs have arranged play-lists, writers put together fiction based around the event and photographers and citizens in all sorts of places captured their surroundings to make a magazine. You can find out what Andrew comes up with by checking his site for updates and maybe even adding your own information.

Meanwhile, also on the ground, the ifixit team, though unable to fix the ash cloud, launched an ambitious project that might help us all improve our repair skills when it comes to the gadgets and other items we own. Kyle Wien is the CEO of ifixit. Usually he can be found taking the back off the latest Apple product and photographing the innards so we can all see what is happening inside.
Now the ifixit team is calling upon all of us who have a way with repairing our stuff. The manual aims to put our collective skills together so that we can fix almost anything from replacing iPod batteries to bicycle inner tubes and old fashioned computers. If you know how to fix something or you are looking to learn, it's well worth a visit to their Repair manual to find out more.

This week on the podcast, I also caught up with a man who has realised that getting a girl can be almost as simple as providing the right meal. Richard Fitzgerald was lucky enough to win a prize draw at the Twestival event, lucky enough to win burritos for a year. Rather than scarf them all down by himself, Richard gallantly turned to Twitter and offered 52 girls, . He's Tweeting and blogging as he goes along, but will series of Mexican meals mean he finds the girl of his dreams? Better read his blog to find out.

Thanks this week to "Don Joe" for writing in to us about his blog - . Anyone who has worked in an office environment will recognise the office politics, management-speak and awkward moments that arise as we spend years of our lives in cubicles or open-plan environments. Don writes under a pseudonym, satirically taking on the daily grind and sharing stories with his readers who enthusiastically participate, adding tales of their own from the stationary cupboard to the water cooler. Cathartic reading for many.

That's it again for this week. But you're not off the hook that easily. Is there a podcast, blog, vlog, website or app that you love and have yet to share with us? If so, drop me a line and we'll track down the creators and find out what makes them tick.

You can email me at Podsandblogs at bbc dot co dot uk, or come and say hello on Twitter, where we are of course @PodsandBlogs !

Until next week -
Jamillah

Hi all,

It's been another good week where I was let out of the studios to take a trip to Cambridge. The weekend saw the first ever TEDx event in the academic city and it involved a great selection of speakers and attendees; all sharing great ideas. You can hear all this and more on the podcast.

Video and more links are expected on the site soon so do drop by and see what they have been up to from presentations to the hackathon.

Back at base I was reading through all your lovely emails and tweets and noted that @mattcopp on Twitter highlighted one of his favourite podcasts - . This web radio show and podcast makes use of the creative commons licensing system to find and play great music. Dan Lynch is the man on the mic and he told me all about his show as well as the up coming Rathole Radio live event.

The week also saw the launch of . Benjamin Blundell got in touch to let me know about the wonderful tagging and story telling abilities of objects - or things. The project uses QR tags and RFIDs to store data about items that can be shared and added to. Imagine a whole world of tagged items....

As usual I've had fun talking about great ideas and finding new things on-line to explore. If you feel that I am missing out on a blog, podcast or other web related happening that could be shared, then let me know.

Drop me a line at Podsandblogs at bbc dot co dot uk or come and say hello on Twitter where you can find me as Podsandblogs.

Until next week!
Jamillah

Hello again,

This week on Pods and Blogs we have been taking in tips from you as well as exploring some of the darker content available online.

The website caused a sensation last week with the release of some classified military video footage. Chris Vallance talks to , a young US Army veteran who commented on the video on his blog.

Please note that the military video footage on the links above contain imagery that some may find disturbing. Please approach with caution.

Thanks this week go to who tipped me off about via Facebook. A step or three on from Flashmobbing, the Subtle Mobs show a depth and creativity that stays with the participant for longer. Duncan Speakman is the creator who makes events happen around us in innovative ways.

If, in the slightly impossible event, you may be stuck for something to read on-line, then you will be excited to know that 365 bloggers over 365 days are contributing to a Posterous page known as . Daniel Honigman and Len Kendall oversee the project which is drawing attention to some fresh voices and extraordinary writers who are documenting the year around them.

As is often the case when browsing, one thing leads to another. It was through reading the wonderful posts on The 3six5 pages that I came across the organisation known as . Working with NGOs, Salaam Garage brings together groups of content makers, citizen reporters, network specialists, photographers and more to present stories and news from extraordinary places. Amander Koster is the founder who explained more about how it works.

Plenty to explore this week and more of course coming up next week as usual.
If you have been inspired by something online or maybe there is a podcast, blog or webpage that you return to time and again for your internet kicks - then do let us know.

You can email me at podsandblogs at bbc dot co dot uk, or do come and say hello on Twitter where you can find me as @PodsandBlogs.
Until next week!
Jamillah

Another week and another edition of Pods and Blogs. I hope everyone had a fine Easter and that the return to work is not too jarring! Something to ease you into the week is our podcast which is packed full of the usual delights.

This week Chris Vallance orients himself with mapping. has released open data so that people involved in mobile and online apps for mapping can make good use of the information. Chris chatted with Christopher Osborne of who is one of the many people working on making our where abouts more interesting and useful.

Following our Time based edition, Lucy Inglis got in touch to let me know about her wonderful and award winning blog about . She took me back in time and described why this time and place is one of the most exciting places to explore.

Causing ripples across the web as usual, the novelist and podcaster has declared his intention to retire from podcasting. He was one of the early novelists to gain a publishing deal after releasing his thrillers in various forms, free to anyone who would listen. Four years later, with an enormous following and a publishing deal, he is stepping down from the free model of publishing. We chatted about the pros and cons of making it as a writer when your stories are free.

That's all for this week. As usual, I am taking your recommendations and finding out more about who is doing what on-line. If there is something you have seen that should be shared or maybe you want to know more about the creators behind a podcast or blog, then drop me a line. You can reach me at PodsandBlogs at bbc dot co dot uk or come and say hi on Twitter.

Until next week!
Jamillah