Voxmedia Wire

Web logs — those self-published Internet gazettes that have injected so much mischief into the world of national politics — have spread to golf. The online journals, known as blogs, are often devoted to professional golf, with the authors issuing predictable 19th-hole rants: Tiger vs. Vijay, Michelle vs. Annika, Nicklaus vs. the long ball, Hootie vs. the 21st century, yadayadayada. Maybe it’s just us, but a little bit of that inside-the-fairway chin-pulling goes a long way.

Want to tell all about your 30-footer for double bogey? Start a golf blog.

The main reason more businesses are blogging is because the tool costs little or nothing to use, which is attractive to businesses with small marketing budgets. Additionally, it is a good way to be heard and stand out from the crowd. “Blogs are a way for you to tell your story over and over again, and do it in a personable way. If you are blogging and your competitor down the street is not, then it can be a competitive advantage,” said Paul Chaney, principal of Radiant Marketing group, a blogging consultant firm focused on small businesses.

Business Blogging on the Rise (Inc.com)

“I don’t know why Brian Williams isn’t blogging right now,” [NBC Universal Television Group President Jeff] Zucker said of the anchor of NBC’s top-rated evening news program who took the helm after veteran journalist Tom Brokaw stepped down in December. “We should be looking for a more interactive component … and be experimenting more.” … U.S. networks can no longer count on a “dinnertime” audience to watch their half-hour news broadcasts at an appointed time every night, given the inroads made by 24-hour cable news channels and the wide availability of breaking reports on the Internet.

NBC Chief Mulls Blogs for Top News Anchors (Washington Post)

On holdup, however, has been the ability of regulations and laws to keep pace. Speaking in the days before the NAB convention, Lamar Marchese, general manager for Nevada Public Radio, said the station was having trouble keeping up with customer demands for “podcasting.” Listeners, he said, want to be able to download programs to their personal devices — such as iPods — and play it at a time that fits their schedule. The problem, Marchese said, is that copyright laws do not cover such broadcasts.

NAB speakers urge broadcasters to keep pace with technology (Las Vegas Sun)

There’s a new kid on the blog who is taking Web communications — and ultimately the way we communicate — in a compelling direction. I’m talking about the video Web log — vlog for short. The potential for vlogs has existed since the late-1990s advent of blogging itself. But only with the growth in fast Internet connections and the willingness of Internet service providers to host fat video files for a reasonable fee has vlogging become practical for general users. Don’t enter the world of vlogs expecting TV-like quality or anything near it. Still, vlogs bear watching (in more ways than one) for a couple of reasons.

Vlogs not there yet, but keep watching (The Seattle Times)

Podcasting sounds like something you’d do with a rod and a reel, but it’s actually the latest iPod phenomenon. A sort of on-demand radio broadcast downloaded straight to your MP3 player, podcasts give you the freedom to roam around the city - even underground - listening to your favorite radio program. (Say goodbye to sequestering yourself at home or being tethered to the computer listening to an online broadcast).

Radio Active (New York Post)

Oh, the perils of “podcasting.” [Rob] McLeod is a recent convert to this fledgling geek’s pursuit, a portmanteau of “iPod” and “broadcasting,” which consists of making amateur radio shows and posting them on the Internet for fans to download and enjoy at their leisure… Some think of podcasts as audio versions of weblogs. Similar syndication technology allows for content to be sent from podcast sites to subscribers. Podcast fans can even automate the process to the the extent that software can retrieve their favourite shows while they sleep.

Ottawa’s premier podcasters (The Ottawa Citizen)

“Podcasts are very much an extension of blogs,” [Toronto resident and multimedia student Jonathan] McKinnell says, referring to the chronological on-line journals called weblogs kept by millions of Internet users. “They’re like audio blogs. Some people take it to another level and create actual radio shows. Others just record their thoughts. That’s what I do…” While most podcasts are the product of hobbyists, the technology is starting to be used for commercial ventures, too.

From your lips to millions of ears via podcasting (The Globe and Mail)

Predictably, like personal websites and blogs, the quality of amateur videos ranges from the inspirational to the abysmal. “Anybody who has watched public-access TV will know that not all viewer-submitted content is good,” said McLean Greaves, executive producer of ZeD. “You need to filter content.” Greaves, a former AOL Time Warner executive who has worked with Spike Lee and P. Diddy, said ZeD’s mission is to democratize media production, but filters must be put in place… So ZeD employs a team of online editors to sift through the content, check it for copyright issues and either publish it on its website or pass it along to a producer who will give it a lick of professional polish.

Gore’s TV Seeks Northern Insights (Wired)

The Google Video Upload Program is now in public beta at https://upload.video.google.com/. This is a quick tour of what’s inside, in case you don’t want to click through or sign your soul over to Google. All images and related content are copyright Google, Inc., and are presented here merely as a public service of Voxmedia. You are invited to comment on the service in the Voxmedia Video Forum.

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