Techstravaganza for Wednesday, Nov 5, 2025

iCatcher App Tutorial Overview

Siena led a tutorial on the iCatcher app, demonstrating its features and functionality. She showed how to add podcasts, search for content, and customize the layout of the app. Siena also announced that Techstravaganza is now available as a podcast, and she added it to her list as an example. The session included technical instructions for participants, including how to mute/unmute and raise hands during the meeting.

iCatcher Podcast Player Overview

Siena demonstrated how to use the iCatcher podcast player, including following podcasts, searching for shows, and filtering the podcast library. She explained that iCatcher offers features like bookmarks, external media importing, and customizable playback options, which are not available in the default podcast app. The group discussed the differences between iCatcher and Voice Dream Reader for audiobooks. Ali suggested that iCatcher is cleaner and more customizable than the default podcast app. Siena showed how to access episode show notes and options within iCatcher.

Podcast Player Features Overview

Siena demonstrated how to use a podcast player, showing various options like downloading, streaming, queuing, and marking episodes as played. She discussed the features of the player interface, including bookmarks and show notes. Ali and Macara clarified the difference between the download and queue functions in the menu, explaining that queueing means downloading episodes in a specific order. They encouraged listeners to join their social media groups and newsletter to stay updated and engage with the community.

Comparing Podcasting Platforms: Zoom vs Google Meet

The team discussed technical issues with Google Meet and compared it to Zoom, agreeing that Zoom is superior for podcasting due to its more robust features. They explored various menu options and buttons in a podcasting interface, including download, stream, and queue functions, with Ali explaining how the queue feature works by pausing downloads. The conversation concluded with Macara and Ali expressing appreciation for Siena’s clarification on the queue option, which she had previously been unsure about.

Podcast Mini Player Controls Discussion

The team discussed issues with the podcast mini player, particularly the inability to find a back/rewind button when using the mini player in the podcast app. Siena demonstrated that by double-tapping on the episode title in the mini player, users can expand it to access full playback controls including rewind functionality. Ivy shared her workaround of accessing the full player controls through the lock screen, which led to a discussion about how the mini player is a scaled-down version of the full player interface.

Eye Catcher Podcast Management Demo

Siena demonstrated how to use the Eye Catcher app to manage podcasts, including downloading episodes, creating playlists, and accessing various playback options. She showed how to protect downloads, rename episodes, and convert them to streaming format. Ali clarified some features of the app, such as the Q menu and built-in playlists. Siena created a new playlist called “Nighttime Listening” and discussed the app’s settings for managing playlists.

Podcast Playlist Management Tutorial

Siena demonstrated how to create and manage playlists in an audio application, including adding episodes from different podcasts, reordering them, and using various navigation gestures. Ali provided tips on accessing show notes and dismissing them, while Macara joined in with suggestions. The group worked together to create a nighttime listening playlist containing episodes from Techstravaganza, Books Panel, and another podcast, and discussed how to reorder the episodes using drag and drop functionality.

Media Player Playlist Management Demo

The meeting focused on demonstrating and discussing features of a media player application, particularly around playlist management and episode organization. Siena and Ali explored drag-and-drop functionality, with Ali explaining how to enable or disable the feature in settings. They agreed to cover additional topics including autofill playlists, disabling built-in playlists, and features like bookmarks and sleep timer, pending time availability.

iCatcher Playlist Customization Demonstration

Ali demonstrated how to disable built-in playlists and create autofill playlists in iCatcher, encountering and resolving an issue with a connected braille device that was causing audio input problems. They successfully filtered and customized a playlist by selecting specific podcasts and episodes, including “Locked on” series and other sports-related content, while ensuring continuous playback was enabled.

Playlist Settings and Meeting Scheduling

The team discussed playlist settings and episode selection criteria, including filters for downloaded, streaming, and newer-than-x-days content. They agreed to start their next meeting 30 minutes earlier, from 12:30 to 3:30, to cover the topic of “eye-catcher” in more detail. 

Coming up Next Week, on Wednesday, Nov 12, 2025

We will start by finishing up with iCatcher. The rest of next week’s workshop will focus on the Voiceover rotor.

Contact the team:

Email

support@techstravaganza.ca

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