nineball media

It’s been all over the Internet… Zunes for $99 on Woot. It’s a good thing from a podcasting perspective, since they support podcasts about as well as iTunes, but considering Zunes have – so far – made nary a ripple in terms of social or industry impact, I’d say the flood of Zunes entering the marketplace at bargain-basement prices won’t register too terribly much in podcasting stats. Still, you can’t sneeze at any device that makes it easier to subscribe and listen…

WSB in Atlanta reports an unfortunate case of the dreaded “pants on fire” variety… apparently his Nano caught fire for 15 seconds in his jeans pocket. The good news is, glossy paper is now a serious shield to burnage. Good to know.

Apple is going to replace the unit as soon as possible… file that under “duh.” I’m kinda bummed the guy didn’t take a picture of his newly crispy nano, as it forces me to use a picture of some other nano that went all Human Torch on someone. Thankfully, it took .0003 seconds to find.

Have a good weekend!

Having been nearly beaten up by several flight attendants for the audacity to work a cell phone in airplane mode, this brings a smile… Alaska Airlines is testing wifi on selected flights. If you’re like me and you applauded the testy interchange between Toby and his flight attendant on the first episode of The West Wing, then this is sweet news. Frankly, if the relative safety in flight depends on (a) our seats and trays being in the full and upright position, and (b) that nothing electronic (except, I guess the plane) is running during takeoff and landings, then I may have to reconsider Amtrak.

But, now this…. not only can we open our laptops, but we can turn on the wifi. Welcome to the 21st Century! Woohoo!

I was in Oklahoma this weekend for a 95th birthday party (note… not my own), and got a real close look at the iPod of 100 years ago. The Edison Disc Phonograph. As far back as the late 1800s, this little gizmo dominated the music scene… well, it kind of created the recorded music scene, quite frankly. Now, I’m not sure if it’s ironic that I took pictures of it with my iPhone, a sibling in the current line of recorded music dominance, but it’s at least interesting to note the juxtaposition.

Who knows what’s next?

I mentioned in a previous post that I hadn’t seen anything to indicate that podcasts will be available over the WiFi iTunes store… it wasn’t demonstrated at the Apple event announcing it, and the webpage makes no mention. However, at least a couple of people are suggesting that podcasts will be available on the store… Natali del Conte from Textra stated pretty emphatically on GeekBrief that podcasts are on Apple’s new WiFi iTunes Store. Here’s hoping she knows something we don’t know!

UPDATE… Natali got back via comment here on the blog and said she’s wprking to confirm it through her press contact at Apple. On This Week in iPhone with Cali, it sounds like Jobs might have mentioned podcasts, but nobody’s too sure. Mistake or not, it’s a surefire bet that podcasters would embrace the hell out of inclusion in the wifi store.

A quick hit from Costa Rica… Just heard about the new iPods and the
(gulp!) massive price drop on the iPhone. Kudos to Apple for pushing a
rebate to us early adopters though.

From a podcasting perspective, I’m most intrigued by iTunes wifi
music store… I’ve ranted about the possibility of wireless downloads
of podcasts for months, and this brings us a step closer. From what I
can tell, however, the wifi store does not include podcasts… Maybe a
future add, perhaps? Regardless, I think these new products and
services are good additions to the tech marketplace. And, since I
apparently have a $100 rebate available from my iPhone purchase, I
suspect apple will get more of my money. It’s an illness, really.

Back in the States tomorrow… Regular blogging resumes Monday. I
missed you too.

Podshow/Daily Source Code’s Adam Curry dropped his iPhone in a place you flat out don’t want to drop an iPhone. Pre-flush. He’s now apparently resorting to a kitty litter moisture absorption rescue mission (see left).

Word to the wise out there… if you drop your precious iPod, phone, PSP, etc. in the drink (or toilet), get it out… turn it off… remove the battery (if you can). Let it dry out completely. You have a shot at getting it back. Last March a buddy of mine pushed me in the pool at a resort in Tobago… pretty funny, except for the nice digital camera in my pocket! A couple of days drying out in the tropical breezes, and my camera was up and running again.

Which reminds me… I’m going to Costa Rica for a week starting on Saturday, which means it’s entirely possible the blog will be dark from September 1st to the 9th. Well, not dark I guess… just stuck on whatever wackiness I find on the Internets this Friday.

Nineball Media has been good enough to upgrade equipment to the new iMacs… while the PowerBook was making nice with the new iMac, I realized that I would be without a computer for over an hour during my most productive time of the day. iPhone to the rescue… it’s amazing how technology can at once be the cause and solution of downtime. In any event, we’re all up and running now. For the speed freaks out there, I threw in 4 GB of RAM into the new computer… a podcast that took 7 minutes to crunch into an MP3 on the PowerBook took less than a minute on the new gear. Niiiiice.

While I was waiting for the Apple announcements yesterday I discovered a pretty compelling podcast tutorial on Apple’s website. The Podcast Recipe seminar is a free online tutorial that, while painfully corny in a few spots, actually gives some nice information on microphones, mixers and the scope of Garageband’s podcasting capabilities. If you’re a beginner, it’s not a bad place to start… if you’re a more seasoned podcast creator, but haven’t used Garageband before, it showed some of its basic capabilities.

The last minute rumors floating about regarding today’s Apple announcement… brand new iMacs (including a price drop on the high end 24″)… new Mac Minis… a revamped iLife 08 and .Mac. All of these are great news for podcasters who are ready to upgrade their equipment. I’m not anti-Windows at all, but I’ve been using Macs at Nineball for the majority of my work. Depending on what gets announced today, there just might be some new gear on the way.

The announcements begin at 11 AM PDT… I’m not sure if there is any liveblogging of the event, but MacWorld is liveblogging the announcements… I’ll post the scoop as soon as I find out.

UPDATE: New iMacs… iLife 08… it’s a party. Details here.