2005 November

Despite a few “minor” setbacks (some of which we're in the process of resolving), I've got a few relatively “major” updates to give you about our still-running-strong megasearch service, gada.be.

1. We have an official Updates page / feed.

Read more on gada.be Going Strong…

For some odd reason, we decided to do a live program every Thursday evening with The Chris Pirillo Show. Certainly, we have a dedicated core of listeners – but we thought we'd add a little more incentive for everybody to tune in and participate. Starting with this week's live broadcast, we're going to be giving away one substantial gift every single week. Yes, even beyond Christmas – so it's like Christmas year-round for active audience members. And when I say substantial, I'm speaking at the level of a PSP or Xbox 360 for some weeks. We'll likely rotate the “big gift” every week, but it'll always be worth a few hundred dollars.
This week, we're going live again with Major Nelson from the Xbox team. What'll the big gift be this time around? No sense in telling you now – I don't wanna ruin the suprise. All you need to do is tune in, call in, and listen. How difficult is that? No joke!
For emphasis, I'm going to repeat our “Christmas 365″ proposition: During every live weekly broadcast, from now until the hereafter, we'll be giving away something substantial to a single participant (every week). You'll have to tune in, call in, and listen – and subscribe, of course. Yes, we're insane.

Read more on This Gift has Your Name on It?…

For some podcasters, the idea of business entering the equation is like inviting ATF agents to a Grateful Dead concert. For guys like Paul Colligan, business and podcasting go together like a horse and carriage. Paul’s The Business of Podcasting blog, combined with his current book project, The Business Podcasting Bible are working to provide seamless integration for businesses looking to add podcasting to their online offerings. At the 2005 Portable Media Expo Paul and Chris chatted about the role of podcasting in business and the idea of mixing business with podcasting. Paul explains the business model behind his Premium Podcasting service. Mixed in with some discussion of the upcoming book is a smattering of the importance of metrics, podcast sponsorship models, business opportunities, and a little bit about how businesses can better communicate with customers through podcasting.

Read more on Paul Colligan on the Business of Podcasting…

For some odd reason, we decided to do a live program every Thursday evening with The Chris Pirillo Show. Certainly, we have a dedicated core of listeners – but we thought we’d add a little more incentive for everybody to tune in and participate. Starting with this week’s live broadcast, we’re going to be giving away one substantial gift every single week. Yes, even beyond Christmas – so it’s like Christmas year-round for active audience members. And when I say substantial, I’m speaking at the level of a PSP or Xbox 360 for some weeks. We’ll likely rotate the “big gift” every week, but it’ll always be worth a few hundred dollars.

This week, we’re going live again with Major Nelson from the Xbox team. What’ll the big gift be this time around? No sense in telling you now – I don’t wanna ruin the suprise. All you need to do is tune in, call in, and listen. How difficult is that? No joke!
Read more on Christmas 365 with The Chris Pirillo Show…

I don't watch the local news all that often, but was tuned in to FOX for The Simpsons / Family Guy last night. They touched upon a subject that's weighing heavily on everybody's mind this time of year: picking out a Christmas Tree. No, not Homer or Peter – although they're just as likely to face the fir-picking stress as well. This is a local company, it seems, but their Christmas Tree rates aren't all that shocking (after having celebrated a decked-halls Christmas in Los Angeles). Growing up, the family would venture out together on a Sunday afternoon and pick out the pine tree that looked best for our living room. I haven't experienced that for a while now – which isn't to say that it's not possible in the Pacific Northwest, just that I'm struggling to find the time, the right lot, the right tree, the right price, etc. So check this out:

Read more on Christmas Trees with Treesleigh…

The Portable Media Expo was certainly a success from the perspective an industry just barely turning one. Leading experts were on hand to share knowledge with colleagues and meet face to face for the first time. A number of services also received deserved attention throughout the course of the event. Among the many people we talked to at the event, Seattle local favorite, CrapMonkey, talks about being a professional video producer as well as his role talking about technology, beer, music and movies. Following the CrapMonkey is PodScope, a company that searches inside podcast audio files to deliver text search results. In the wasteland of information overload, PodScope is quite possibly the podcaster’s best friend, powered by technology used to search the audio of television programming, the company boasts 80%+ accuracy. I still contend podcasters should be providing a search-friendly synopsis of their podcast in text format, but barring that, PodScope is a great alternative. Last up in our show wrap-up is an interview with John Federico of Audible, talking about the new Audible Podcasting service. If you want deliverability, uptime and unmetered bandwidth, Audible offers these and other compelling reasons to consider using their service to deliver your podcast subscription.

Read more on Portable Media Expo 2005 Wrapup…