Saturday, October 29, 2005
Taking your iPod for Halloween!?
Ready for Halloween?
While I am sure many of you had the perfect costume picked out 2 months ago, some of us are a little slower on the uptake. I have a few 'used' costumes from previous years that I am sure I could reuse, but I have had no good inspiration for Halloween 2005...
So, with three days left before the big day, I have been looking around the Net trying to decide on this years big costume. And while I haven't quite settled on anything yet, I did come across a cool idea. Check it out:
Ready for Halloween?
While I am sure many of you had the perfect costume picked out 2 months ago, some of us are a little slower on the uptake. I have a few 'used' costumes from previous years that I am sure I could reuse, but I have had no good inspiration for Halloween 2005...
So, with three days left before the big day, I have been looking around the Net trying to decide on this years big costume. And while I haven't quite settled on anything yet, I did come across a cool idea. Check it out:
Not sure I can accomplish that in the next three days, but maybe next year.
For those of you who already have a costume, I have another holiday idea for you. Ever go to those parties and wish that you had a little more control over the music selection. You can either put up with the music and suffer all night, take-over the CD player, or take your own music, either of which would show bad form. Well, we have another idea for you... Dress up your iPod!
That's right, dress up your iPod and you can take it anywhere you go as part of your getup!
Pirate iPod! AAarghh Matey!!! With this, instead of being the shmuck who is listening to his own music in the corner, you will be the talk of any party you go to!
Happy Halloween everybody! Trick or Treat!!!
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Big Business VS The Grassroot Independent Podcaster
Here is a continuation on our look into the Big Business vs Grassroot Independent Podcaster difference:
After a rollercoaster year for Podcasting, independent podcasters are finally learning to develop further and stretch deeper into music programming and earning money from advertising.
For some -- including the flagship Dawn & Drew Show, made by a couple on their disused dairy farm in Wisconsin -- creating a Podcast is still just a personal experience. For others, such as American technology writer and broadcaster Leo LaPorte, it is effectively another extension of their own personal, professional brand.
“Independent podcasting has been driven by an insatiable desire for better listening,” says Adam Curry, a former MTV presenter who has been one of the pioneers of the format. He thinks the failings of traditional radio -- particularly in the United States -- have left people looking for vibrant, new solutions, and finding these through the Internet; hence, the Podcast.
While independents are exploring new ways of using a podcast, media organisations have been among the first to latch on to its benefits, for obvious reasons. Many already have expertise in producing high-quality audio material and creating a Podcast would be a natural extension for these businesses.
The BBC, for example, makes many radio shows available via newly created Podcast s-- and is set to begin doing the same with video content, too. But, basically, it is repurposed, time-shifted radio -- TiVo for MP3 players.
“For the moment, that’s true, but I would see it changing,” says James Cridland, head of new media at Virgin Radio, which was the first United Kingdom radio station to produce a podcast. “In the next few months, we are going to be using some of our archive material, and I would only see that type of thing increasing. And new presenters and new talent might eventually come from podcasting, not from hospital radio or overnight slots on local stations.”
After a rollercoaster year for Podcasting, independent podcasters are finally learning to develop further and stretch deeper into music programming and earning money from advertising.
For some -- including the flagship Dawn & Drew Show, made by a couple on their disused dairy farm in Wisconsin -- creating a Podcast is still just a personal experience. For others, such as American technology writer and broadcaster Leo LaPorte, it is effectively another extension of their own personal, professional brand.
“Independent podcasting has been driven by an insatiable desire for better listening,” says Adam Curry, a former MTV presenter who has been one of the pioneers of the format. He thinks the failings of traditional radio -- particularly in the United States -- have left people looking for vibrant, new solutions, and finding these through the Internet; hence, the Podcast.
While independents are exploring new ways of using a podcast, media organisations have been among the first to latch on to its benefits, for obvious reasons. Many already have expertise in producing high-quality audio material and creating a Podcast would be a natural extension for these businesses.
The BBC, for example, makes many radio shows available via newly created Podcast s-- and is set to begin doing the same with video content, too. But, basically, it is repurposed, time-shifted radio -- TiVo for MP3 players.
“For the moment, that’s true, but I would see it changing,” says James Cridland, head of new media at Virgin Radio, which was the first United Kingdom radio station to produce a podcast. “In the next few months, we are going to be using some of our archive material, and I would only see that type of thing increasing. And new presenters and new talent might eventually come from podcasting, not from hospital radio or overnight slots on local stations.”
Monday, October 24, 2005
Past And Future Of The Podcast
Statistics from Feedburner, a company that helps podcasters create and publish their works, show an estimated 212 podcast feeds on Nov. 1, 2004. By mid-May of this year, the number had grown to more than 5, 300.
A recent prediction from The Diffusion Group, a technology research consulting firm, showed that the use of podcasts will grow from an estimated 4. 5 million users this year to 56. 8 million by 2010.
A recent prediction from The Diffusion Group, a technology research consulting firm, showed that the use of podcasts will grow from an estimated 4. 5 million users this year to 56. 8 million by 2010.
