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For podcasts lovers who are tired of connecting their MP3 players to a PC to download the podcasts they want, CastGrabber is offering something that would make your lives easier. OK, we mean to say that part of your life that you devote to downloading podcasts, and not life in general.

According to the CastGrabber product information listing, the device is a sort of a universal docking station for MP3 players which when connected to a network automatically grabs podcasts and transfers them to the MP3 player. How the device does this is a mystery to us, but it does require an initial setup using your PC. 

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Internet podcasting company, Modavox, Inc., has made their VoiceAmerica Networks audio broadcasts available to cell phones users. The live stream audio feeds are provided by UpSnap, Inc., which already provides audio content to mobile devices. VoiceAmerica’s programming includes more than 100 hosts across four channel, with shows including “Design Matters with Debbie Millman,” “Dr. Carole’s Couch with Dr. Carole Lieberman” and “R.E.A.P. What you Sow with Elana S. Daley.”

To access the service [mobile phone and mobile network device users] should send a text message indicating the desired network with the station indicator “va” for VoiceAmerica or “vab” VoiceAmerica Business or “vah” for VoiceAmerica Health and Wellness, or “7wn” for the 7th Wave Network to 27627.

Don’t get VoiceAmerica confused with Voice Of America (VOA), the US government’s official international radio and television broadcast service, which was formerly based just north of Cincinnati, OH.

Site [VoiceAmerica]
Site [Modavox]
Site[UpSnap]

After covering CES and Macworld all week, we somehow let the Apple TV slip by without giving it a fair share on the site. During Steve Job’s keynote, he announced what was previously codenamed the iTV. The Apple TV is Apple, Inc.’s solution to bridging the gap between the computer and the living room. It allows you to wirelessly play all your iTunes content from your Mac or PC on your TV, including movies, TV shows, music, photos and podcasts.

“Apple TV is like a DVD player for the 21st century—you connect it to your entertainment system just like a DVD player, but it plays digital content you get from the Internet rather than DVDs you get from a physical store,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Apple TV plays the same iTunes content that users enjoy on their computers and iPods, so now they can even watch part of a movie in their living room, and watch the rest later on their iPod.”

Apple TV has a 40GB hard drive to store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each and is capable of delivering 720p output. It comes standard with HDMI, component video, and analog and optical audio ports, and it hooks up to your computer and internet via 802.11b/g/n. Apple TV can auto-sync content from one computer or stream content from up to five additional computers right to your TV. Apple TV requires an enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen TV. It also ships with a remote that works from up to 30 feet away.

The Apple TV and Remote will be shipping in February for $299.

Read [Apple]

We just finished telling you how to get podcasts on the go and now I am going to followup with blogging on the go...all from Nokia.

Without downloading or installing any applications, Globe customers can upload photos and video clips directly from their Nokia Nseries device to G-Blogs. The first devices to support this feature are the Nokia N93 and Nokia N73 multimedia computers.

Globe customers can also post entries to G-Blogs directly through Nokia Lifeblog. Nokia Lifeblog is a unique collection and storage solution for personal multimedia content, where, with the push of a button, content from a Nokia handset can conveniently be transferred to a compatible PC or to an online blog. Nokia Lifeblog is available in all Nokia Nseries devices and other Nokia devices such as the Nokia 3230, Nokia 7610, Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681, Nokia 6630 and Nokia 6260.

A couple of Yale students started a new site called PerSecondPodcast. Basically, it is an online time capsule of audio...and offers a pretty unique advertising opportunity that anyone can contribute to. The space is provided for whatever audio you like (podcasts, ads, music, stories, rants, messages, etc) at a per second basis.

Submissions will be broadcasted via four online podcasts, will soon be RSS-subscribable via iTunes, played on college radio stations across the country, submitted for play on XM and Sirius satellite radio, and physically housed in several iPod time capsules to be buried upon completion of the project.

[Thanks Elliot]

Timeless Radio answers Griffin’s iFill in hopes of changing the way you listen to radio. It combines Internet radio, a personal recorder, and streaming audio. Timeless Radio allows you to search, find, play and record radio programs that match your preferred genera. It lets you automatically record your favorite radio programs, whenever they are on, and captures and stores your podcasts and other audio and video files. Once recorded, you can easily transfer content to your iPod or media player, even remotely without worrying about the content format (but possibly worrying about RIAA at your door).

The web portal enables you to control the recorder in addition to selecting and managing your content from anywhere in the world, and remotely transfer the recorded media into your media player.

Timeless Radio is powered by Radio Time, whose Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) search feature provides access to content from the thousands of streaming Internet radio stations worldwide.

[Press Release]

PodZinger , the only podcast search engine that enables full-text search, announced the company has been selected by Internet video pioneer Rocketboom to power and host their search results.  Using PodZinger’s video search tool, Rocketboom visitors are now able to search the entire library of Rocketboom video to find specific videos and segments of interest to them.

Rocketboom is a three-minute daily videoblog based in New York City. The site covers and creates a wide range of information and commentary from top news stories to quirky Internet culture.  It is currently one of the most popular videoblogs on the Internet with more daily subscribers for original syndicated multimedia content than nearly any other site, including podcasts. 

PodZinger uses speech-to-text technology to create a text index of the audio, which enables users to find content anywhere within podcasts and jump directly to the point where their keyword is spoken.  For partners like Rocketboom, PodZinger licenses its engine to the partner for use on their site.  Without leaving the site, visitors are then able to take advantage of PodZinger’s innovative technology to search the partner’s audio and/or video content.  For potential partners, this arrangement increases the amount of time visitors stay on the site, helping to build brand loyalty.

[Press Release]

What the future holds is a column written every Thursday by Adam Berger about the future of technology.

I assume that the one gadget you will always have with you is your cell phone. I have written previously about the benefits of replacing an iPod or other MP3 player with your cell phone so why not podcasts too? There actually are many podcasting fans that are moving to mobile phones, which increasingly boast more computer-like features than your everyday MP3 player. It makes sense right, there are tens of millions of iPods and about 700 million PCs already capable of playing podcasts. These are small numbers compared with the 2 billion mobile phones now in use around the world.

New software from Pod2Mobile and UpSnap allows cell phone users to download and listen to podcasts wirelessly, cutting the PC and portable music player out of the equation. Read about the services that are offering these cellcasts.

With UpSnap, which launched 100 free mobile podcasts on March 27, you can simply dial a number to listen to your program from your phone. In a few weeks, the service will also allow users to get podcasts to their phones wirelessly by sending UpSnap a text message. Rival Pod2Mob allows for the text message feature and has built a user base in excess of 100,000 since its launch last summer. Like a particular podcast? Share it with your friends by sending them a text message, or send the sound file directly to their phone via Bluetooth.

Mobile podcasts are expected to become different from their PC- and iPod-based cousins by becoming shorter. Perhaps a longer broadcast would be sliced into 30-second “chapters,” so that if users are interrupted by a call, they don’t have to listen to the program from the beginning again.

In many ways, advertising on mobile podcasts makes more sense than plain podcast ads. As with a video iPod, a cell phone ad can feature audio, graphics, or video. With a phone, though, a user can immediately respond by calling a marketer’s call center or by wirelessly surfing the advertiser’s Web site.

Read [Mac News World]

Apple, the company that has sold itself as the pure alternative to big business (specifically Microsoft), will be adding graphic ads to iTunes to increase their revenue stream. The introduction of ads could be the first step to allowing ads in other content areas or on iPods. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has supported the idea of ad-supported podcasts, so adding a visual component to the existing audio ads isn’t much of a stretch.

While users typically don’t tend to mind today’s advertising tactics (everyone you know is using MSN, Google, and are reading blogs), adding ads to a service that was previously pure (iTunes) or when you have your headphones in and are trying to unplug from the world (iPod/MP3 player) doesn’t typically fair well with consumers.

That may be why Apple’s current plans call for the ads to appear only in the lower-left corner of the iTunes library while users listen to podcasts from their computers rather than from portable devices. But it’s a big step for the service, which has so far limited ad intrusions to audio spots embedded in some of the podcasts offered via iTunes. ESPN Radio, which supplies some of iTunes’ most popular ad-supported sports podcasts, is working with the service on the new advertising offering.

For now, the TV networks are making money from iTunes’ ad-free model, charging viewers $1.99 to download an episode of a show. J.P. Morgan analyst Spencer Wang estimates the networks make $1.44 per iTunes sale compared to 57 cents per viewer in ad revenue for every episode aired on broadcast TV. Even still these networks are testing their own ad avenues. ABC is going to offer free versions of several of the same shows it sells on iTunes on its own site with ads that can’t be skipped. NBC will launch free original Webisodes this summer of its hit “The Office.” AOL’s In2TV plans to offer free, ad-supported original fare and just signed a distribution deal with A&E Network.

Not only does iTunes face distribution from content owners’ sites, it will soon face competition from other digital download sites. Amazon has announced it will enter the game, and MTV is weeks away from the Beta test of Urge, the digital media service it created with Microsoft.

I guess it all comes down to whether consumers prefer to pay for convenience and portability or just want free content but whenever they can get it.

Read [Ad Age]

PodZinger announced that users can now use its search capabilities to find the video podcasts on the web. This new video search is the only available site that allows users to search each and every spoken word of video segments.

Users now can search the ever-expanding world of video content.  In the universe of searchable podcasts and vodcasts, the categories of information range from sports and science to art and the absurd.  Harry Potter fans can find the latest news and reviews on their favorite student wizard, while snowboarders can seek fellow enthusiasts, and brides-to-be can find wedding information.  With PodZinger, users can also find their favorite independent video podcasts—or vodcasts—such as Rocketboom, Homestarrunner and Ask a Ninja. Advertisers will also find a new, more-targeted method for reaching consumers who use keyword-specific searches to find relevant content.

Via Press release