Aztec Media

Podcast & Portable Media Expo (PME) 2006 - Friday Summary

The Podcast and Portable Media Expo 2006 is in full swing.  Here is my run down of Friday (9/29) from my perspective:

• Keynotes:
  • Leo Laporte: Business perspective is sound. Netcast is hard to warm up to.
  • Ron Moore from Battlestar Galactica Podcast: Nice story and concept.
• Dave Slusher's presentation was excellent! I got a lot out of it to help me better articulate my personal and professional reasons for podcasting.
• Paul Colligan: I only really liked one of the seven ideas - email lists. Some of the others require continue periculation.  The majority though do not fit my personality.
• TWIT#71: How many podcasters does it take to get a mixer to work? More than 10 less than 20.  Nice that Leo invited FriendsInTech.com member Chuck Tomasi on the show!
• Denise Howell: Wow. This session could have been two hours long and completely interesting the whole time.  There was someone from BMI there that from my perspective made a comment that leads me to believe that they do not believe in Fair Use of any content that they represent.
• Podango Unconference: I think the Directiory Discussion when pretty well.  No one got to leave and there as a lot of interaction with the audiance. Thanks to Podango.  Also thanks to Adam @ The MacCast for letting me use his Griffin Air Clip USB and for Michael Geoghegan from GigaVox for the slide on all the podcast directories that he uses in some of his presentations.
• Technorama Live
• Libsyn Party & Winging It

Ning Brings DIY Video, Photos, and Groups To The Table

During a session at eTech 2006, the interesting site Ning! jumped on to the radar screen as a very interesting way to build your own DIY customized application sites that might need a database structure to hold the specific data you cared about.  Like What's Cuter? or Restaurant Reviews.

These 'applications' are clonable.  So, you can sign up and borrow the 'Restaurant Reviews' template so to speak and make a new site called "San Diego Restaurant Reviews' and have all the features that is currenting available now in your site with absolutely no additional work.  Pretty nice.

So ... the folks at Ning! have recently announced three new social websites you can come and borrow for your own: Ning Video, Ning Photos, and Ning Group. Definitely something worth checking out!   

I think the Group template would be something every podcaster not currently reaching out to their listeners in an interactive way should consider.

More On TWIT.TV Advertising

Back on 05Sep06, Leo @ TWIT.TV welcomed network-wide advertisers VISA and Dell to his 'podcasting empire.'

For those who following many of the TWIT shows on a regular basis, and Leo's all-in-one podcast feed, this advertising news shouldn't be too much of a surprise.  But to many it seems like 'new' news, but all-in-all very welcome news for the podcast world. Validation is validation.  If you have a big audience and you want to make money, it is possible.

It honestly could not happen to a nicer guy, and a great group of talented subject matter experts (SMEs) and media producers.

Sources: MacMerc, Advertising Age, Paul Colligan
 

Sponsoring Techmeme

Currently Techmeme has created a three sponsor model for their very popular technology blog if you access via a web browser (RSS feeds to follow?!?).

NY Times Examines Portable Podcast Recorders

Denise Howell @ Bag and Baggage had a good pointer over to Larry Magid @ NY Times Technology who has a review portable podcast recorders from Edirol, M-Audio, and Marantz.

Denise uses an M-Audio 24/96, and I have a Marantz 660.

Alternative Podcast Studios?!?

Need a quiet space to record your podcasts?  My personal podcast studio is a converted extra closet filled with foam dampeners.  I recently noticed some others that might be useful to some:

• The Cell Zone is a soundproof booth that could be installed in an office or a noisy warehouse floor to enable cell phone calls.  Since it aims to make things quite inside, it can dual-use as a stand-up podcast studio.  Pricing starts at $2400.
• For those that want something more outdoors but still isolated, you can dual-use your passion for hunting with podcasting using a Tower Blind.
• If you like to podcast but then also take vacations with your studio, you could consider Airstream BaseCamp.
• For those that are extremely stressed out, they should probably seriously consider Coscto's 3-Person Sauna as a dual-use relaxation zen get-a-way, and podcast studio when not hot and steamy.  It is definitely not a good idea keep one's podcast gear in the sauna while using the sauna.
• If you have the physical land space, and are looking for a prefab building, then you might want to consider the Modern-Shed.
• Lastly, a more practical setup if you already have a room available for recording is something like Auralex MAX-Walls.

Are there others?

Cingluar Turns To Melodeo For Mobile Podcasting

TechWeb reports "Cingular Wireless has struck a deal with podcasting service Melodeo allowing consumers to download and listen to podcasts on their mobile phone."  The Melodeo service is called Mobilcast.

Mobility Today Published Download Data and Highlights There Two Sponsors

Mobility Today reports that they have had over 1.5 million downloads since they started podcasting, and that they have two sponsors: BatteryGeek and ShieldZone.

More Info On BoingBoing's New Classified Ads

Boing Boing has added a new cost effective option to advertise on their very popular site using a "classified/text link ad". 

These start at $350 for a whole week and is currently limited to no more than seven ads displayed in the ad space area on the first page.

Podango Announces New Podcast Hosting Service

Podango is now offering free, hosted podcasting services for independent media producers via thier Station Directories platform.  This service enables a "trusted" Station Director to self-organize the best in podcasting based on their own criteria and share those decisions with listeners.

Part of this "beta" service is a easy way for listeners to provide back feedback and comments to podcasters called 'Castback.'  Other services include: transcription, customized user interface, marketing, search engine optimization, metrics, and advertising.

You can learn more via the Podango press release.