jkOnTheRun

Wizzard Media acquires Libsyn

An announcement was made by Wizzard Media that will impact thousands of podcasters like us MobileTechRoundupers.  The company announced it has acquired Liberated Syndication, known to podcasters as Libsyn.  The Wizzard announcement states their intent is to improve content monetization and we’ll just have to see what they mean by that.  Many podcasters use Libsyn’s free hosting service to dish out their podcasts to subscribers, although high traffic podcasts like MoTR have been paying for the service for quite some time.  Here’s hoping they don’t change the service too much, Libsyn has been a rock solid solution for podcasters needing a good host.  Full press release after the jump.

Mobility Site Minute podcast: tech news in five minutes

Don't have time to listen to a lengthy podcast today? No problem; just hit up the new Mobility Site Minute podcast hosted by Chris Leckness. I spoke with Chris on the phone yesterday and he shared his reasons for the new tech podcast. Chris realizes that it can be hard to find the time to listen to a podcast that goes for an hour or more. It's also time consuming to produce and schedule a podcast with multiple hosts so Chris decided to host a five minute tech podcast by himself.

I just listened to the first two episodes in the time it took to write this post, so if you're looking for a quick dose of mobile tech news, you'll want to check this out. Here are direct links to the first two shows; if you're a Google Reader user like I am now, you can simply stream the brief audio show within the RSS aggregator:

• Mobility Site Minute #1
• Mobility Site Minute #2

HearHere demos at DEMO

The DEMO conference was held last week while I was working hard in Boston and one of the coolest things I’ve seen come out of the conference is the HearHere podcast searching tool.  HearHere lets you type in a search term for something you want to find in a podcast so you can zoom right to the topic that interests you.  Take a look at the cool video demo and you’ll see why as a podcaster I am excited about HearHere.

Now I know that our listeners always hang on every word in every podcast but this is still very cool technology because it means that HearHere is converting the speech to text in the background somehow.

Mobility Guys interview Tyler Welch; Microsoft MVP Lead

Chris, Jack and Steve have a great podcast interview on episode number eight of Mobility Guys. Tyler Welch, a Microsoft MVP lead, answers questions on the Microsoft MVP program, which I found to be extremely interesting. The conversation turns towards DRM as Tyler's favorite device of late is the iRiver Clix digital audio player. Great stuff and worth the listen!

-kct

Mobility Guys Podcast: must have mobile software and just blame James

Those Mobility Guys are back with podcast number seven. This ep is great roundtable of must-have software for your mobile device, ranging from utilities to remote connectivity and RSS readers. The best part (in my humble opinion of course) is when James gets completely blamed for Jack’s Motion LS800 purchase! What a troublemaker that James is….  Oh, and speaking of RSS readers, don’t miss Greg Smith as a special guest; he developed one of my favorite mobile RSS readers: FeederReader. Download and check it out…

-kct

Minnesota University uses Tablets and Podcasting for class

I thought I was cool in college with a scientific calculator (I wasn't), but Saint Mary's University really puts me to shame. The school has adopted several mobile technology methods which extend learning far beyond the classroom. SMU just signed a three-year agreement with Tegrity for the Tegrity Campus service that provides the framework for the technology. Faculty will use Tegrity Capture along with a Tablet PC or a Tegrity digital pen and notebook and the class lectures are then made available as podcasts for students to watch and listen to on their iPods. According to students who piloted the system, over two-thirds of them believe that it helped them in the learning process.

I'm all for the time-shifting of the class lectures, but now that they can place-shift them too, I'd expect the local bars and clubs to be quite the centers for educational excellence.

-kct

HHB FlashMic- podcasting in the field made easy

So you are a budding podcaster, longing to record those bits of brilliance in the field.  Maybe conduct interviews of your cat, capture the wit of your neighbors sitting on their back deck.  HHB has you covered with the FlashMic, a high-quality microphone with a gig of memory that makes the mic a self-contained recording solution on the run.  A recording time of up to 18 hours and a USB port for downloading direct to your PC makes the FlashMic very powerful indeed.  It does all this on just 2 AA batteries.  Of course, the price of GBP700 may put this out of the budget of most of us.

(HHB via Stuff)

Podcasting for beginners

Podcasts are everywhere now that they have a home on the iTunes Music Store but even so there are many people who are unfamiliar with them.  I found a great “introduction to podcasts” article from the Irish Times that explains the history and ins and outs of podcasts and podcasting in clear terms.  If you have been wanting to find out more about podcasts check out the article, appropriately titled POD PEOPLE.

-jk

AudioBay- podcasting on the Pocket PC

AcroDesign Technologies Launches New AudioBay, Introducing Podcasting to the Pocket PC

AudioBay offers a complete podcasting solution for Pocket PCs—from recording to hosting

Colchester, VT, USA (March 16, 2006) -- AcroDesign Technologies today released the AudioBay Podcasting application for Windows Mobile Pocket PCs.  AudioBay provides everything needed to publish a podcast from a Pocket PC.  Within a few minutes, users can record a podcast episode using the Pocket PC’s built-in recorder and upload it to the Web over a wireless Internet connection for immediate access by the public.

Podcasting is the preparation and distribution of audio files for download to desktops and digital multimedia players, such as the iPod. AudioBay makes this process simple and mobile: users can record podcasts from anywhere and the software saves the audio in a file and then uploads it to the AcroDesign Technologies’ hosting service. As soon as the podcast is uploaded it will be available to the public as an RSS feed to download and play on desktop PCs or mobile MP3 players.

“We are excited to release the first software to allow mobile users to create and publish podcasts,” said Scott Thibault, president and founder of AcroDesign Technologies.  “Podcasting offers a great new way to connect with an audience and has already become a major tool for communication. AudioBay enables anyone to become a broadcaster with their own portable recording studio.”

“AudioBay is an integrated solution that let my students use their Pocket PCs to speak to the world,” said Mark Frydenberg, professor of Bentley College's intensive Introduction to Information Technology course, where students use Pocket PCs to  learn about technology.  “Our students served as beta-testers of AudioBay, providing them an opportunity to experiment with podcasting and for AcroDesign to gain valuable feedback about their product.”

AudioBay retails for $24.95 and is available immediately from www.voiceatom.com.

Earthcore now available on the iTunes Music Store

Author Scott Sigler first made news when he decided to release his book EarthCore as a weekly podcast last year. Sigler produced the audio book himself and released it a few chapters at a time via podcast and garnered 10,000 subscribers. The innovative author has now achieved a "second first" by putting the audio novel on the iTunes Music Store. The entire 20 episode audio book can be purchased from iTunes for $9.99 and it will be interesting to see how well this sells. It could pave the way for other authors to self-publish in audio format.

(via iPod Observer)

iTunes loses podcasts?

Todd Cochrane of GeekNewsCentral posted about some comments he received from several podcasters claiming their shows no longer show up in iTunes searches. I can attest to this as neither the OnTheRun with Tablet PCs nor the jkOnTheRun Audio Edition podcasts are showing up in any iTunes searches as of this past week. The shows were turning up properly in searches until last week when they just dropped off the map. The shows are still available in iTunes but only accessible via a direct link from the outside. It seems to me this goes against the claims Apple made when first launching podcast support in iTunes. Now the only shows that regularly show up in searches are either professional podcasts or commercial ventures. Once again the little guy gets knocked out of circulation which is sad, but usually the case. I'd like to here from other podcasters who have any information to add about this.

Auto-transcribing podcasts?

I think it would be really cool if someone could come up with a way to automatically derive written transcriptions from podcasts. This would work similar to speech recognition programs but it needs to be speaker independent to be effective, kind of like closed-captioning used by TV stations. The purpose for producing written transcripts would be two-fold- make podcasts available to those in the community who are deaf and unable to access the information shared in the many podcasts now available and to make the shows searchable once the transcripts are published.

I would love to hear from those in a position who have thoughts about possible solutions that could be used from existing technology. I am willing to work with anyone using any of the podcasts I produce as a test case, with the hope of eventually using this on a wide range of podcasts. Please contact me if you have any ideas along these lines, or post a comment here. Let's see what we can come up with as a community effort.

Please, don’t call them vlogs

Now that we are starting to see video podcasts becoming more commonplace there is confusion on what to call them. A term I see used a lot is vlog and I really hope this term doesn't stick. I mean, how do you pronounce it, vee-log or valog? Either way sounds just plain silly to me. Blog sounds like a real word but vlog never will. Another term that affects me like fingernails on a chalkboard is vblog. We don't call audio podcasts ablogs so why call videos vblogs? The word just sounds goofy to me. The only term I've heard used that sounds OK to me is vidcasts. That kind of fits along with the whole podcast thing and makes sense to me. Of course, I'm open to good alternatives if anyone has some ideas.

jkOnTheRun- My most used applications

I get a lot of email and IMs from friends and readers asking which applications I use and recommend to others.  In the course of a normal day I tend to use a lot of programs depending on the task at hand so my list is pretty long.  I do not use every program every day but each program is important to me when I need it.  I figured it a good time to list my most used applications here on jkOnTheRun so here is the list.  Not all of these programs are Tablet PC specific so I have indicated the programs that are for those without Tablets.  The list is in no particular order so the top of the list is not necessarily more important to me than the bottom.  I’m not going to provide links for each of these, Google will find them very quickly.

1. Outlook/ TEO– I live in Outlook all day for email, schedules, time billing, etc. TEO adds full ink capability to all areas in Outlook and I consider it part of it.
2. OneNote– the second most used program I have
3. SnagIt!– simply the best screen capture program on any platform
4. KnockOut– free utility that kills Outlook and Word instantly if they fail to shut down, which is often
5. Skype– can you hear me now?
6. Onfolio– RSS reader and information collection tool, very good
7. BlogJet– my preferred blogging tool, works with most major blog engines
8. True Launch Bar– turns the Windows taskbar into something truly useful
9. Snipping Tool (Experience Pack)– Tablet PC only, captures anything on the screen with the pen
10. Ink Crossword–Tablet PC only, just what it says
11. iTunes– my default music player and podcatcher/ player
12. Adobe Acrobat– I do a lot of work with PDFs
13. Internet Explorer– Firefox who?
14. Audacity– free audio recorder, editor and mixer
15. Zinio– digital magazine reader, one of the best things you can put on a Tablet PC
16. eReader Pro– ebook reader
17. FTP Commander– free FTP client
18. WinDVD– DVD player app
19. Yahoo Widgets (formerly Konfabulator)– good for using those spare resources
20. MindManager Pro– best mind mapping program on any platform, outstanding on a Tablet PC
21. Mixcast Live– audio mixer program, best way to record Skype calls
22. Norton AntiVirus– resource hog but works very well
23. Outback Plus– back up the entire Outlook/ IE/ Firefox environment with one click
24. Outlook Express– I use this for my newsgroup program
25. Quickbooks Premium– professional accounting package
26. Karen’s Replicator– free directory copy/ replicator program
27. SkypeHeadset– lets me use my cell phone Bluetooth headset with Skype on my Tablet PC
28. Sonic RecordNow– came with my dual layer DVD burner, is the only way to record dual layer with this drive
29. Windows Media Player– version 10
30. Send to OneNote 2003 (Education Pack)– Tablet PC only, excellent utility for sending stuff to OneNote as background for inking
31. MS Word– for final drafts
32. MS PowerPoint– slides, slides, slides
33. MS Excel– I use this a lot, I spreadsheet everything
34. ActiveWords– shortcut extraordinaire
35. Ink Pad for ActiveWords– Tablet PC only, Tabletizes ActiveWords
36. Time Meter for Outlook– time and billing for consultants, works within Outlook
37. MS Publisher– I mainly make my business cards with it
38. Norton PartitionMagic– slice and dice hard drives easily
39. Perfect Disk– my favorite disk defragger
40. hdi– little hard disk indicator light that sits in the system tray for those systems lacking one

Apple is trademarking iPodcast

Apple Insider reported today that Apple has made two filings to tradmark the term “iPodcast”.  This might be carrying the trademark / patent thing too far since Apple only recently jumped on the podcast bandwagon but we’ll see.  The really cheeky part of the filings are the two descriptions Apple used to apply for the trademark in the US Patent and Trademark Office:

 "computers, computer peripherals, hand held computers, computer terminals, personal digital assistants, electronic organizers, electronic notepads, apparatus for recording, transmission and reproduction of sounds, images, or other data; magnetic data carriers."

"telecommunications services; communication by computer, computer intercommunication; telex, telegram and telephone services; rental, hire and leasing of communications apparatus and of electronic mailboxes; electronic bulletin board services,"

The evil RSS conspiracy

Everyone is up in arms about Microsoft's attempt to call RSS feeds "web feeds".  Purists and RSS originators are understandably upset over the audacity and arrogance of the Redmond giant and are bemoaning the fact that MS is trying to control the term.  While I don't really care what we call the feeds I'll tell you a true story that happened to me recently.

A couple of months ago, before the whole RSS naming brouhaha, my wife and her friend told me they wanted to start a podcast. Both of them are fairly computer literate so I thought it would be easy to explain to them how podcasts are distributed via RSS.  Let me tell you, every time I said the phrase "RSS" I swear their eyes glazed over and they just didn't get it no matter how hard I tried to describe it. 

In desperation I finally told them that RSS feeds were just web feeds and the light went on in their eyes and they understood that immediately.  They both told me, almost in unison, "why didn't you tell us that first?"  That simple term made sense to them and I for one am glad that someone is trying to simplify and promote a term that is easy for anyone to understand.  Too bad it was Microsoft since many have a knee-jerk reaction to anything they do.

Houston Chronicle considering adding podcasts

I am fortunate to be located in Houston where we have one of the most tech-savvy local newspapers in the country.  The Houston Chronicle has been running computer related and tech advice columns for a very long time and recently they added several blogs that are top-notch.  One of my favorite blogs on the Chronicle web site is TechBlog (naturally) written by tech columnist Dwight Silverman.  TechBlog always has interesting items both local and global that make it a staple in my feed list.

Dwight posed an interesting question on TechBlog yesterday that made me very happy– the Houston Chronicle is considering (just considering, mind you) to add podcasts to the web site.  He is soliciting ideas for what readers would be interesting in hearing covered on such podcasts.  If you are in Houston, heck anywhere really since the web is a global place, jump over to the article and leave your ideas in the comments.  I know I would love to hear what they might produce as I’m sure they would do it in a totally professional way, just like the blogs.

The Real Women Show #6 is available on TPN

Sheri and SuZan's Real Women Show is available for download on The Podcast Network or iTunes.  The girls are getting really good at this podcasting stuff so give it a listen.  Their blog Celebrating Women is now famous as the New York Times referenced a post on the blog about the shuttle launch yesterday.  Way to go, ladies!

Win an iPAQ 6300 from Dave's iPAQ

I am basically ripping this off from kct's digital world on the off-chance that Kevin Tofel will forgive me since it's for a good cause.  Well, that and I wanted to get the word out but don't have time to research like Kevin did.  Here's how to win an iPAQ:

1. The Dave's iPAQ podcast is up for one the TOP awards at the Podcast Awards site. He's up against Adam Curry, so this will be a tough battle, but if you've listened to Dave, Jack, and Steve, you know that they put a top-notch show together week after week. You can help support the gang there by voting daily over at Podcast Awards.
2. If you subscribe to Dave's podcast through iTunes, he is giving away an HP iPAQ 6300, courtesy of Microsoft! What a deal! All of the details are in a special, short podcast that you can find here.

Thanks Dave and Kevin!

Using ink in OneNote with a notebook

Brad Gibson wants a Tablet PC but his company gave him a ThinkPad notebook instead.  Not to be kept down Brad attached a Wacom digitizer and has recorded a podcast about using ink in OneNote using the combination.  The podcast is completely recorded using the audio recording within OneNote which is quite clever.  Listen to his podcast and learn about enabling ink and speech recognition using a notebook, digitizer and Office 2003.

RadioTime podcasts radio shows

Podcasting is exploding and the race has been on for a few months to discover a viable business model to exploit the new medium.  It seems a lot of people can't stand to see something explode in popularity without cashing in but no model has successfully emerged to date.  Mark Cuban wrote about his vision for the "podcast as business" and I don't think many involved in podcasting today will like what he had to say about it.  In a nutshell he doesn't think anyone will make money from podcasting other than some commercial ventures such as distributing radio content via podcast.

Unless you are repurposing content from another medium, it will be rare to find anyone making money from originating podcasts.

Talk Radio Shows repurposed from radio to a podcast. No brainer. It’s cheap and easy. Repurposing industry specific information from tradeshows, speeches, product presentations for employee or customer education or as sales support. No brainer. These are just extensions of existing content into a new low cost medium.

For those who are tying to jump on the podcasting bandwagon and create a “hit” podcast that you plan on selling advertising in, its cheap and easy to do, but even with Google Adsense for RSS its going to be really tough to do it as a fulltime job and make minimum wage back.

Along those lines Droxy reports on RadioTime, a new venture that aims to distribute radio content via podcast for time-shifting listening to the user's schedule.  RadioTime is looking to be the "TiVo of Radio" and offer radio content from tens of thousands of stations world-wide that the user can download in MP3 to any player.  What makes RadioTime so unique is the TV Guide-like interface that makes it easy to find the shows you want.  A $39 annual subscription fee gets you unlimited downloading of your favorite shows, with a 7 day free trial available.

MixCast Live goes gold

I have been using the beta version of MixCast Live for months and it is still the best way I have found to record Skype calls for podcast interviews.  I have been waiting for word from TinyScience that the version 1.0 was released and the word finally came down today, although from Scoble and not TinyScience.  MixCast Live is a complete podcast recording studio that lets you capture audio, mix in sound effects and music and in this new version even publish the podcast with generated RSS.  The new analog record level meter is cool, too.  The upgrade is free for paid beta users and since TinyScience has merged the MixCast program with the Bigfeeder podcast hosting service you should visit the Bigfeeder site for pricing details.

iTunes 4.9 is out with podcast support

Thanks to Gnomedex rumors that Apple would be releasing iTunes 4.9 today users have been watching the iTunes download site to see if the new version is available.  Wait no longer, it's out and downloadable for both the Mac and Windows platforms, although on the Windows side you must manually download the new version as the update feature in iTunes does not pick it up yet.  I have installed it and for the most part the new podcast section is very nice.  Both of my shows, techADDICTION and The Tablet PC Show are already available along with hundreds of other podcasts.  The interface takes a little getting used to but one awesome feature I have not seen mentioned anywhere- if you stop listening to a podcast you've downloaded through iTunes it remembers where you left off next time!  Sweet!  You can download the new version on the iTunes web site.

Podcast to Troops- send audio messages to those serving in the military abroad

Kevin Tofel is always thinking of new ways to apply existing technology that can make this world a better place.  He and his better half, Barb, have started a service called Podcast to Troops that lets anyone call up and leave a voice message for the troops serving abroad.  The intention is to let those in the military go to the web site and retrieve real messages of support from those back home who appreciate the difficult thing they are doing in serving for us. 

To leave a message:

• Call 1-661-716-BLOG and then follow the prompts with the info below
• Primary Number:  800-PODCAST
• PIN:   four zeros (0000) followed by the # key.
• Record your message up to 5 minutes

To listen to messages:

• Any message can be heard by clicking on the "Play this Audio Post" button
• To subscribe to all messages and listen to them in your podcatcher just add this feed

Way to go, Barb and Kevin!  Let's see how many messages of support we can send those far from home on our behalf.

iTunes 4.9 to handle podcasts

Steve Jobs, speaking at the D: all things digital conference, said that the next version of iTunes will handle podcasts a la Doppler. Content providers will be able to register their content with the iTunes Music Store where users will be able to sign up to retrieve the feeds for their favorite podcasts.

(via Six Apart)

EarthCore- podcast only novel

Scott Sigler wrote a novel and sold it to AOL/Time Warner who published it in 2001 as an ebook that sold quite well.  So well, in fact, that they intended to release it in paperback in 2002 until in a bout of cost cutting they shut down the division that published books like Scott's.  It took him a year to recover the rights to the book, only to find it impossible to find another publisher willing to release the book.  Not one to let that get him down Scott has come up with a novel way to bring EarthCore to the masses.  From the EarthCore web site:

EarthCore is the world's first podcast-only novel: you can't find it in stores, you can't download the full audio, and the only way to find out what happens is to subscribe to the podcast. This novel is a cross between episodic modern-action fare like "24" and classic sci-fi movies like Predator and Starship Troopers.

To subscribe, copy this link into your podcast application:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/EarthCore

I'm subscribed.

Stay tuned

The Podcast Network debuts Sci-fi thriller

Leave it to the innovative bunch at The Podcast Network to bring their latest podcast "Claybourne".

“Claybourne” was a sci-fi / supernatural thriller / soap opera radio drama, recorded and broadcast nationwide in New Zealand in the late 1990s.

A total of 96 shows were produced by Andrew Dubber (who is hosting the The Jazz Show for us) and Belinda Todd. It premiered on New Zealand radio in 1998 (1999 perhaps?), was made with the help of New Zealand On Air and also won an award as the Best Dramatic Production at the 1999 New Zealand Radio Awards.

Andrew Dubber has given us kind permission to syndicate the show here at The Podcast Network, and we hope you really enjoy what is probably the first serialised radio drama podcast on the internet. Hopefully it will be the first of many “radio drama’s” that we present.

What a brilliant idea to bring mainstream entertainment to podcasting.  Well done, mates!

The Podcast Network is live!

Anybody who has listened to the G'Day World Podcast with Mick Stanic and Cameron Reilly will surely agree that their shows are the most entertaining and delightful podcasts on the Internet.  Their lastest brainchild is The Podcast Network and an email I received from Mick today says the network is now live and the first two shows are available for listeners to get their headphones on.  Check it out, I'm listening to the first show now.  Oh and BTW, I hear a rumor they may have an announcement about The Tablet PC Show vewy, vewy soon.  :)  From Mick:

The Podcast Network is open for business.

Welcome everyone…I’m Mick Stanic, one of the founders of The Podcasting Network, and as the other founder, Cameron Reilly likes to say, “the code monkey” of the team. Being the code monkey means i get to look after all of the technical and day-to-day operational issues of this little endeavour, and as i just pushed the button to launch the site, its my honour to write the first post on our new site…but enough of me…on with the post.

Well, its finally happened. The actual opening of our first shows in The Podcast Network has become a reality. Some people said we were all talk and that we would never get it of the ground…phewy to you i say.

So what do we have to appease the podcast listening masses???

First up, the G’day World podcast is moving to its new home. You will still be able to get to it from the original website address, http://www.gdayworld.com, but you will finally end up over here at its new hosting location. For those of you that have subscribed to the RSS feed from the original site, sorry, but your going to have to re-subscribe to the new RSS feed…but its not all bad news…we now have one feed for G’day World that gives you both the blog posts and the MP3 audio files. We will be keeping the old site open for a while as we will not be moving the comments posted over to the new site, and we have already switched of commenting at the old site as well.

Secondly, we have opened up our first new show…The Gadget Show.

The Gadget Show is hosted by one of the known “players” in the gadget blog field, Richard Giles who was responsible for bringing us gadgetlounge.net. Richard will not only be bringing us all news of the latest and greatest gadgets, but he will also be interviewing key people as can be evident by his first show in which he interviews Cory Docotorow. Lets all welcome Richard to the team, by visiting The Gadget Show and subscribing to the feed.

Thirdly, we have another show joining The Gadget Show as being first of the rank…please put your hands together for…The Mobiles Show.

The Mobiles Show is brought to us by a host with years of experience in the mobile phone field, especially in the European market…Ewan Spence. But its not just Ewan on this one…nooo…the “All About” team will be giving a helping hand and lending some occasional sanity to Ewans Scottish accent as required. For those of you who don’t know about “All About”, checkout their lengthy list of sites…All About Mobiles, All ABout Symbian, All About N-Gage, All About Series 60, All About Series 80 and All About UIQ. Oh yeah. a few more of those “All About” site are probably coming along as well ;) Ewan and the team will covering developments in the mobile/cell phone area’s from not only Europe, but around the world. His time spent as a leader in the mobiles area on the web, will also ensure that he gets some great interviews.

We have also launched this site, The Podcast Network Blog in which we will keep you up to date on not only the state of new shows and hosts but also to give you a view into the day-to-day running of a network media site which is living and operating on the edge’s of the known media world.

Stay tuned to this blog, because in the next few days we will also be announcing some of our other hosts who are currrently working on their shows and I think you will be as surpirsed as we are at how much of our little idea has become a reality.

So have a look around, subscribe to a few feeds, bookmark the site and enjoy…welcome to the future of media….welcome to The Podcast Network….

Doppler 2.0 is out

Doppler 2.0 has gone gold and has so many new features I have to list them after the jump.  My favorite is resumable downloads, no wait, it's multi-threaded downloads, no, it's on the fly conversion from MP3 to AAC for iTunes users, no...  You get the picture now get Doppler 2.0.

jkOTR featured blog on ESC podcast

Teenager Matthew Bischoff has a podcast that discusses technology related stuff and his current podcast (ESC podcast) showcases jkOnTheRun as featured blog.  Matthew has recently gotten a Mac Mini and he discusses that a little on his cast.  Check it out!

Really Learn Spanish podcasts

Podcasts are everywhere these days and cover such a range of topics you can find more content than you have time to listen to it all.  Probably the most useful podcasts I have run across are the Really Learn Spanish podcasts that teach you conversational Spanish as recorded by Johan van Rooyen.  Talk about a good idea!  It will be interesting to see if other Podcasts start appearing that are educational in nature as the medium is perfect for this type of information sharing.

(via Greg Hughes)

No Podcasts on your iPod Shuffle

Apple announced the iPod Shuffle this week and a lot of buzz was generated by the new flash memory member of the iPod family.  At $100 - $150 Apple was able to keep the size and cost down by excluding a display and instead going with a simple blind control mechanism that only allows the user to go forward and backward from one song to the next.  The first thought that hit me about this control scheme was how this makes the iPod Shuffle useless for listening to Podcasts and it seems I am not the only one.

Join the discussion on the jkOTR Yahoo Group

That didn't take long- first Podcast Infomercial

Todd Cochrane is the brain behind the Geek News Central blog, a nice site with tech news of the day.  He has been producing a Podcast two or three times a week and it is pretty good. Todd also recently became a paid blogger in the controversial Marqui ad campaign that pays bloggers to write about their software.  Todd has been aboveboard about his involvement in this program and he always makes it very clear when one of his articles is a "paid" one about Marqui.

This is old news and I'm only mentioning it now to provide a little background so this news item will make sense.  This evening I received a notice from Todd that a special edition of his Podcast was now available for download. This special Podcast is an interview with Stephen King (no, not that one), the CEO of Marqui, where they both talk about Marqui and the Marqui software.  If I am not mistaken this just might be the first Podcast infomercial.  Todd is always ahead of the curve. You can find the special Podcast at this link. (35 mins.)

BlogMatrix Sparks- Podcasts and recording streams

I have not seen much mentioned about BlogMatrix Sparks but this free program couples Podcast handling with audio stream recording which makes perfect sense. The utility will put the Podcasts and recordings into both iTunes and Windows Media Player for listening or for downloading to your portable audio player. Sparks makes it easy to record your favorite Internet radio shows for listening whenever you want.  Sparks is open source and is updated frequently so have a look at it and see if it will work for you.

OpenPodcast.org- Audio Wiki

I knew it would not be long before someone set up a "Wiki" of a Podcast so anyone can contribute their own recordings to an open Podcast.  The folks at openpodcast.org have now done it and anyone can contribute short segments (under 5 minutes is suggested) discussing anything you want.  All contributions are then put together and Podcasted as a group effort.  Complete details covering how to contribute are on the OpenPodcast web site.  So if you have an interest in Podcasting but want to see how you would sound jump on over and submit your recording.

jkOnTheRun Podcast?

I have been kicking around the notion of starting a jkOnTheRun Podcast with my good buddy Kevin Tofel and we are trying to come up with a format that listeners will find useful.  No point in making one just to make one, and unfortunately if you have listened to very many Podcasts you know that some of them sound like just that.  The Podcast would be about mobile technology, computer software, and just about anything else that listeners might find interesting.  It seems appropriate that since a Podcast is really for the listeners and not the 'casters that it would be a good idea to solicit feedback on what you would like to hear. 

There are many ways this could play out (pun intended) so chime in with any ideas you have.  A lot of Podcasts do current topics in the tech world and give little snippets of information about each one, kind of like an audio blog.  This could be a viable format but we could also do more in-depth analysis about gadgets or software that are in the news.  You tell us what you would most like to hear.  We can also answer questions called in via Skype.  The sky's the limit.  We'd also like to hear how long a show you think is just right.  Some Podcasts run an hour, some a half hour, etc.  What do you have time to listen to?

So drop a comment and tell us what you think.  Are you even interested in a jkOTR Podcast?  We're completely open to your suggestions.  Also, if anyone would like to contribute some non-RIAA background music drop me an email.  And of course, anyone who would like to sponsor a jkOTR Podcast should also get in contact with me.  We're waiting to hear from you.

Podcasting, PiMcasting and now Speechcasting

You can hardly turn around on the Internet these days without bumping into a Podcast or even a PiMcast.  Something about pulling content when it is convenient for you and then being able to listen to that content when you want (and often while doing something else) has appealed to thousands of people.  The folks at Nullstream thought pulling text blogs from RSS feeds and having software read them aloud was the next obvious step and call it "Speechcasting".  They have an article that contains full details and describes the software you need to do this with your Pocket PC on their site.

Forget Podcasts, now there's PiMCast

Just when everyone is getting on the bandwagon about Podcasting, the audio blogging that is pulled to your MP3 player (like an iPod) for listening at your convenience, a new form of information distribution is emerging for those with Personal Media Centers (PMC).  From VolkerW's Weblog:

PiMCast is the new means by which we will consume information, learn about new technologies and hear AND SEE snippets from other people's lives in the form of video downloads for our Portable Media Center (PMC) devices. Even though these devices are not yet widely spread, a few enthusiasts already started sharing their recordings of Friends, West Wing or other soaps for download and watching on the PMC.

PiMCasts have been inspired largely by the Channel 9 videos and employees of Microsoft are really pushing this video blogging.  A website has already sprung up to produce and distribute content specifically for the PMC.  Podcasters have been talking for weeks about taking them to the next level, video, and PiMCasting may be the obvious vehicle.  We'll certainly keep an eye on it.

iPodder 1.1 adds podcast browsing!

iPodder 1.1 has just gone live and adds a podcast directory browser that looks really useful.  If you are not using iPodder then be sure and check the new version out and if you are then you really want this new version.  I am getting mine right now.

(iPodder via engadget)

How podcasting will save radio- i love radio.org

Tod Maffin of i love radio.org has written an excellent article discussing how podcasting will save radio. Tod has a great perspective on the whole podcasting phenomenon and always has insightful things to say about it. The article points out that contrary to impressions that many people have good programming is not easy for beginners and it will take a good effort for budding podcasters to be successful. He also discusses the potential revenue streams that might evolve for successful podcasts. If you have an interest in this new area of technology then check out the whole article. Here's a quote to whet your appetite:

"The Podcasters are few today, but as the tools mature, expect plenty more to jump on the bandwagon. By podcasting, sometimes in public venues, some are already developing broadcasting skills the radio veterans have spent years learning: quick reaction to live events, multitasking technologies while speaking, the art of the cold-read, and voice performance. Podcasting also removes the barriers to getting on the air – as long as you can build enough of a brand to get people to your site, you are “on the air.” There’s no station producer or news director to convince. Already, netizens like Adam Curry have developed a brand with their podcast, and that brand can easily be turned into revenue."

(Tod Maffin via i love radio.org)

Podcasting support coming for FeedDemon

Nick Bradbury has written one of the best aggregators around in FeedDemon. I use it and it works so well for me that it passes the jkOTR test for good technology. If you can use it without thinking about the tool at all then it is a GREAT tool. That is how well FeedDemon works for me. Nick is always improving FeedDemon and adding user requested features. I was very happy to see this morning on Nick's blog that the next beta version of FeedDemon will have integrated support for Podcasts. He has even posted the documentation now so users can see how the Podcast support will work in FeedDemon. Way to go Nick!

Public Radio Exchange- get paid for Podcasts

A lot of people are now creating Podcasts and it seems new ones appear almost daily. The Public Radio Exchange has created a forum that lets podcasters get paid for providing Podcast content. The aspiring Podcaster uploads his content and sets the level of rights he/she is willing to sign over to the purchaser. Once a "radio" station picks up the content the podcaster receives a royalty for the programming provided.

i love radio.org did an interview with a rep from the Public Radio Exchange (PRX) that explains the service. The interview is about 6 minutes in duration and is a 2.4 MB file.

(via i love radio.org)

jkOnTheRun mentioned on the Whole Wheat Radio

I just found this yesterday and it is so cool I have to mention it. An article from jkOnTheRun was mentioned on a Podcast by Jimbob of the Whole Wheat Radio show that aired October 18. The article is my prediction that we will soon see a legal frenzy over the use of copyrighted material in Podcasts. Whole Wheat Radio didn't say much about the article other than listeners could check it out for themselves but the important point is they mentioned it.

The web page that discusses this show also has a link to the Podcast if you want to listen to it. He has a unique style, that's for sure. Kind of a laid back, I don't care about anything style. Cool to be mentioned on a Podcast. :)

Roadmap for Podcasts

A nice article that discusses what Podcasts need to grow successfully in the future has been published by Tod Maffin of I Love Radio. Tod covers the five points he thinks needs to be address to insure Podcasts provide the utility listeners want. His points are right on and I have been discussing some of them with friends prior to his article. The first point on his roadmap is a Podcast aggregator to make it easier to find the recordings that interest you before you download it. Excellent article so if you are interested in Podcasts you should check it out.

Podcasting and copyrighted material

With the rapid growth of Podcasting it is possible for anyone with a PC, microphone, and a place to host their recorded programming to set up their own "radio" show. It is a fledgling field and the parameters are just being defined now with a few innovative bloggers taking the lead. I think a number of issues affecting Podcasting are going to raise their ugly heads sooner rather than later. A lot of Podcasts I listen to are using really nice background music and I'll bet a some of it is copyrighted material. I predict we will see some nasty legal battles that end up shutting down some bloggers who are dabbling in Podcasting. It is not a straightforward issue and sure to divide the community into sides, as these issues usually do. I guess the basic truth is that copyrighted material is owned by the copyright holder and their permission must be obtained before using this stuff. No doubt a lot of people will argue that the Podcasters are just little guys and hobbyists and they should be allowed to use this copyrighted music (or other material). The fact will probably come out that some of these Podcasters do in fact do this for money (in the form of advertising or the like) and the issue will get even muddier and messier. Keep an eye out for this- I am predicting this will get nasty.

Another issue I think will also create controversy pretty quickly is advertising in Podcasts. The cost of bandwidth for Podcasters is not trivial with a lot of the programs running in the tens of megabytes in size and this is going to put a lot of pressure on the biggest Podcasts to start accepting advertising. What is not clear at this point is how listeners will react to recorded ads in Podcasts and how intrusive they will be. We often see that public reaction to charging for anything on the Internet is often negative so we will see where this goes.

The other thing we must watch out for as Podcasting becomes more mainstream is regulation. Right now it is a totally gray area if Podcasts will end up being regulated like radio programs. Let's face it, regulation pretty much killed off Internet radio and Podcasts are really no different. It will probably take that first landmark case to crop up to determine how the legal issues will play out. This may happen much sooner than we think as mainstream media is not only taking notice but likely to scream bloody murder if Podcasts end up with less regulation than they broadcast under.

It will be interesting to keep an eye on Podcasting to see how these things play out. Podcasts are cool- they are just new media and this is a territory that must be defined on the fly.

Podcasting- can you hear me now?

Pretty much everybody who hasn't been in prison for the past few years has heard how popular blogging has become. Well, to tell you the truth they may even be blogging from prison for all I know. The ability for Joe Everyperson to start their own little hub on the web and post their inner most thoughts and dreams has grown to mammoth proportions. Witness this site, for example. Blogging has become such a mainstream part of the internet that it's caused a major ripple in mainstream media. Blogging has become, well, respectable.

There's a tech-savvy bunch of people (blogging pioneers) who felt that just writing the blog wasn't enough. They said "let's broadcast like a radio station". On their blogs. Using RSS to blast it to anyone who signed up for the feed. Podcasting was born. It's called Podcasting as the earliest feeds were made to download to iPods for listening on the go. I believe that Podcasting is going to be huge in coming months and we will see an explosion of personal broadcasts on just about any subject you can imagine. Just like blogs but with sound. Even mainstream media is noticing and I believe they are a little bit scared. With bloggers providing acceptable coverage of global events, Podcasts can start replacing mainstream media coverage with very little cost to the broadcasters. Remember where you read this. Maybe before long you can hear articles like this on jkOTR.

To read more about the tools to get started enjoying the world of Podcasts read on.