Send in your contributions ahead of this weekend's Mosen At Large. Here are some of the things we're discussing

Kia ora everyone. I’m really looking forward to us all getting together again for the next Mosen At Large. Once again, the live version of the show will be packed with three hours of discussion on a range of things from a blindness perspective.

But first, I must provide you with some reassurance. While I have stood for Parliament in New Zealand before, I am not standing this year. I make this point because having made a promise twice now that I haven’t kept, you might be forgiven for thinking I am a politician. In my defence, we are getting so many thoughtful and good quality contributions to the show that we are bursting, bursting I tell you, at the seams. Nevertheless I’m going to keep my promise this weekend.

A few weeks ago, I made a very successful switch to a new podcast host for Mosen At Large. As I did my research, I made some notes so I could share thoughts with you on some podcast hosts. This weekend, I really am going to share that information with you, promise. And, vote for me! Oops, slip of the keyboard there sorry.

Plus I’ll be joined by Matt Basta. He is the founder of Pinecast, the podcast host I now use for the show. We’ll discuss what makes a good podcast host, why he started a podcasting hosting company in 2014, and his commitment to accessibility. When signing up to Pinecast, use my referral code to get a 40% discount for your first four months and help out with the costs of running Mosen At Large at the same time. The code is:

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We have a couple of questions already on producing a podcast, but if you have any, whether you have your own podcast now or have dreamed of starting one, feel free to get your contributions in.

For those who listen via the podcast rather than live on Mushroom FM, I’ll be publishing my review of podcast hosts and the interview with Matt in episode 54 mid next week to make it easier for people to find in future.

This week, I’d like to ask you a question that has been inspired by a chance remark made by a listener who has already written in and I’m looking forward to hearing your responses to this one. If you could choose to keep only a computer, or only a smartphone, which one would you choose to keep and why? I suspect there’ll be various perspectives on this among our diverse listening audience.

Also this week, we love it, we hate it, and we seem to talk about it an awful lot. No in this instance I’m not referring to soup. I’m talking about the weather. Weather apps are a very popular category of smartphone apps. What’s your favourite weather app and why do you like it?

We have some excellent contributions once again on Braille displays and text-to-speech engine preferences, Bonnie will be here with her bulletin, and much more. And if everything behaves itself, we’ll be using a new audio interface to get the show out to you for the first time. Because new gadgets are fun. Frustrating sometimes, sure, but fun.

Remember, the podcast version of Mosen At Large is abridged. To hear the full version, tune into when I record it live, on Mushroom FM at 2 PM US Eastern time, 7 PM UK on Saturday, that’s Sunday at 6 AM in New Zealand.

You are very welcome, and in fact encouraged, to get contributions in ahead of time. To contribute, send an email with an audio attachment or just written down to Jonathan at MushroomFM.com, or call the listener line, +18646066736, that’s 1-864-60Mosen.

Thank you so much for listening, and see you soon for Mosen At Large.