Lots of podcasting posts

I just realised that 4 out of my last 5 posts have been on podcasting. Don't worry, this is not a podcasting blog, it's just that there are a lot of interesting things going on in that field at the mo'.

Regular programming will resume shortly.

ESPN.com Podcasts

It is often said that "old" and/or "established" media doesn't understand new technology or new distribution methods. A good (bad) example of this is ESPN.com's "Best of ESPN Radio". The podcast is a collection of soundbites thrown together seeminlgy at random and with no show notes or intros . When you've finally figured out what the topic is, the soundbite is over, and another equaly disjointed clip is playing.

My next move? To unsubscribe.

I would think that ESPN.com could do much better than this.

PodCheck Weekly Review

If you're not already listening to Scott Fletcher's PodCheck Weekly Review, get subscribing!

Scott puts together a truly interesting, informative and usually entertaining show about the podcast scene. It could be a little more slick and professional (the June 27 show seems to have sound quality issues), but Scott is still way ahead of 90% of everyone else doing tech and pop culture podcasts (the other 10% is made up of the Inside Mac team, my favorite David Lawrence, Adam Curry and a few others).

Go Scott!

Odeo beta

I received my beta login for Odeo yesterday. Looking forward to trying it out. Expect a post from me on evhead's new project next week.

Have a good weekend!

Top 3 biz blogging errors

You'd be surprised by how many intelligent, and otherwise clued in, business professionals treat their blogs like something far removed from their brand and/or business. It is as if they think that somehow they won't be judged by their blog in the same way they might be on other parts of their communication mix.

It's crazy. And it's wrong.

First, I have to admit something. The headline above isn't entirely correct. This list doesn't include the basic no-no's, like not posting to your blog on a regular basis, or just linking to others instead of writing your own content. Instead, this post focuse's on a few practical aspects of publishing a business blog, and how this influences the perception of you and your message.

When you first get started you are probably busy making sure that your posts are meaningful, and that you incorporate your blog in to your communications mix. Good, for most people that's the order in which to do it. But when that's done, up your game, take it to the next level.

Anyone who's been blogging for more than a month must have made sure to avoid these 3 errors. If not, get cracking on it today. If you need some help, just let me know. I'd be glad to lend you a hand.

Two of the points concern free blog tools and free hosting. There's nothing wrong in using for example Blogger (we do and we love it!), but you have to think about how you use it. More on this in a moment.

We'll add to this list over the next few weeks. Want to contribute? Drop me a line.

Ok, here are the top 3 business blogging errors as compiled by me and some of Orvet Digital's SMB biz blogging clients. Number one...

1) Not hosting your own blog
Leaving your business blog at www.yourblogtoolhost.com/free/myblog/ doesn't exactly make me confident in what you have to say. If you think it's worth me reading your blog, why isn't it worth a couple of dollars to host it properly (preferably under your own domain)?

2) Keeping the nav bar (or equivalent)
Don't even get me started on the nav bars (for ex. Blogger) and their equiv's. Allowing these on your pages is the equivalent of using a Hotmail adde as your business email. It scream's of all the wrong things. Get rid off it (usually by paying for hosting - see above), it doesn't enhance the user experience and it hurts your brand.

3) Not publishing the feed
If I like your blog I want to read it on a regular basis. But that doesn't necessarily mean that I want to use my browser to navigate to it. Give me, and all your other readers, the option to read your clever words in a way that fits us. Maybe I want to use a feed reader like FeedDemon or NetNewsWire. Or I might be a fan of Bloglines. Either way, publish the feed or you will soon, unfortunately, become irrelevant as we find other blogs and subcribe to their feeds.

Portable Media Expo

There's a very impressive line up of speakers scheduled for November's Portable Media Expo (2 events in 1: Portable Content Summit + The Podcaster Conference), including...

Jason Calacanis, Weblogs, Inc.
David Lawrence, The David Lawrence Show
Charlene Li, Forrester Research
Kurt Huang, BitPass
Scott Sheppard, Inside Mac Media
Donald Katz, Audible
Doug Kaye, IT Conversations

More info here.

iPod engraving

I got talking with a former colleague about iPod engraving the other day. Yes, I agree, not the most hi-tech of topics, but whatt'ya gonna' do. Anyway, we noted that Apple now offers free engraving on the iPod and iPod photo.

My former colleague didn't see the point of this, from a business perspective. He would stretch as far as agreeing to it being "a nice detail" and that my first point (below) was valid, but that's it.

In my opinion there are three very good reasons why Apple offers this option, and does so for free.

1) It sweetens the deal.
2) It's a differentiator. You don't see this option for any of the (completely rubbish) iRiver MP3 players, correct?
And, 3) It cuts down on the number of iPod's that get sold by their original owners. If the engraved message is from a loved one, a work reward or similar, the chance/risk that it goes on eBay, and Apple loosing out on selling a brand new iPod, is far slimmer than for a non-personalized piece of kit (any kit, not just iPods).

Here's a tip: have your own iPod engraved with your email address and "$250 reward". It might help you get it back if you loose it.

RIM

I'm glad to see that RIM has responded well to the patent challenge. The combination of a technological workaround, and the fact that "the director of the U.S. Patent Trademark office asked that four of the five patents in dispute be reexamined", can only be good for the company and its devotees. More here.

Technorati Beta

The new Technorati is in beta. Worth a look, there are some interesting new features.

Podcast your VC pitch

A both amusing and strangely appealing idea. David Hornik of August Capital writes about elevator pitches via podcast.

Spotted at SiliconBeat.

Laptops rule the home office

Home office computing is a topic that's near and dear to my heart. I was pleased to read about some of IDC's latest findings over at CNET News today.

Here are a few nuggets:

• 56% of US home office's are equipped with laptops.
• "Thing and light" is the most popular category, followed by the desktop replacement notebooks.
  
• When it comes to brands, Dell is #1 followed by... nothing.

Big congrats to Dell for capturing the mind-share of the home office worker.

Google 3D mapping

This almost sounds like a souped up version of all those QTVR panormas that everyone used in the late 1990's. Watch out A9!

"Google plans to use trucks equipped with lasers and digital photographic equipment to create a realistic 3D online version of San Francisco, and eventually other major US cities."

Related posts:
Talk about localisation January 31, 2005
Google Maps - now with satellite pix April 7, 2005

BBS SFO 05

Learn all about business blogging, meet some of the key people, etc etc at the recently announced Blog Business Summit event in San Francisco.

I didn't make it to the Seattle Blog Business Summit earlier this year, but I *will* be at BBS SFO 05, August 17-19. If it's only half as good as some of the people I know claim it was, well then it'll be time and money well spent.

Google Sitemaps

Not sure what to do this weekend? Brand new (launched just a few hours ago, still in beta) Google Sitemaps might be a good way to spend an hour or ten.

"Google Sitemaps is intended for all web site owners, from those with a single web page to companies with millions of ever-changing pages. If any of the following are true, then you may be especially interested in Google Sitemaps:

• You want Google to crawl more of your web pages.
• You want to be able to tell Google when content on your site changes.

RAW Longhorn

Finally some good news from the Longhorn camp. Apparently the next version of Windows will support RAW.

"The company on Thursday announced deals with camera companies Nikon and Canon, as well as Fuji Photo Film and Adobe Systems, to let Windows users view, print and eventually edit uncompressed digital camera images - which are stored in what's commonly known as "raw" format."

IE-only Y!PhotoMail

Yahoo! launched their latest value adding email feature last week - PhotoMail. As the service requires users to install an app which in turn requires IE's ActiveX functionality it's currently only available to IE users running XP or 2000.

I've had quite a few people contact me about PhotoMail. (This usually happens whenever Y! launches a new service or does something that hits the headlines. Other former Y! employees are probably in the same situation.)

Their feedback on Y!PM, and that of various bloggers, has been varied. But I'm puzzled about some of the comments.

First of all, I haven't yet tried PhotoMail myself (being a Firefox devotee, working mainly on a Mac... well you can see why...), so I can't comment on the service. But I do know a couple of things.

1) There are some brilliant people working on Y!Mail, and even if you don't agree with everything they do - you should pay attention to their work. If for no other reason than to compare it to Gmail, Hotmail et al. As we know - what one does, the others will try to match or beat. That's good for us as end users.

2) Various versions of IE for Windows still unfortunately make it the dominant browser out there. That's why it makes sence for Yahoo! to release services for that unquestionably dominant part of their user base.

3) Feedback and criticism on a service, like PhotoMail, is ok if you're actually trying to use it on your XP machine, running IE 5.5, and it's not working. Most companies want feedback so that they can improve their product. But complaining about it not working on Opera, or some obscure Linux build is an expression of having very little insight in to the reality of running a business. And if you're actually in the industry and complain about it... well, you should know better shouldn't you ;)

Apart from that, I look forward to testing PhotoMail, and following that I'll get in on the discussion on the pro's and con's of it.

Until then, SiliconBeat has the best story on PhotoMail, including word from Y! Mail's VP Andy Spillane, who "says the company is exploring using XUL to build a Firefox version of the software".