Startup digital advertising and technology firm VoloMedia has launched a new version of podcast advertising tracking plug-in that is compatible with Apple’s iTunes.

VoloMedia, formerly PodBridge, has created downloadable software that is designed to measure audience activity, such as how many people listen to a particularly podcast. The program also works as an ad-serving platform, letting marketers place timely messages within podcasts and other digital content even after they’ve been downloaded to various devices.

The company has created a version of its plug-in that works specifically with iTunes. Podcasts that contain the VoloMedia plug-in will feature three clickable buttons, identified as “Share,” “Bookmark” and “More” — which allow users to automatically spread content, much like they do with videos on the Web.

via AdWeek

Sandor Ferenci, a biker who posted videos of himself on YouTube performing stunts and speeding at up to 210 kph (130 mph), has been jailed after confessing his misdemeanors to the police.

Ferenci, 28, was contacted by the police after a motorist saw him speeding on his powerful motorcycle and noted his registration number. When they visited his house in Oxfordshire, England, he asked if they had seen his YouTube video.

Ferenci was Monday sentenced to 12 weeks’ jail. Judge Terence Maher told Ferenci that he had carried out “lunatic and grossly irresponsible maneuvers at considerable speed.”

Boxee has announced an update which adds Hulu support to the open source social media center:

our forums, twitter and inbox are filled with messages such as “now if I could only play Hulu on boxee..”, “give me Hulu!”, or my personal favorite “if you somehow figured out how to make Hulu work… I will kiss you on the mouth. ;)” (hey @beiting we figured it out! hope you’re a good kisser)

we just released a new alpha version of boxee that includes:

• streaming TV shows, movies and clips from Hulu, CBS, Comedy Central and MySpaceTV (we integrated their players into boxee)
• major changes to the UI
• web interface to adding RSS feeds
• improved performance

… and yes the new version is also available for Apple TV (click upgrade and its there).

Boxee plays media from your computer and other devices in your home network, and can connect you to various Internet sources that allow you to stream or download movies, tv shows, music and photos. Versions are available for Mac, Windows, Linux and Apple TV.

Here’s a video intro to Boxee:

The Podcast Awards has announced its slate of nominees for the 2008 Podcast Awards. 

This is the fourth year of the event, which has the goal of recognizing the best podcasters, nominated and chosen by podcast fans.

Voting will open on October 23rd with voting closing November 6th, at 2359.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a coalition of public interest groups today called on four television networks to stop stifling political debate on the Internet with overreaching copyright claims and proposed two measures to help YouTube protect online political speech.

In an open letter sent to CBS, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Fox, and NBC, the coalition asked the broadcasters to stop sending takedown requests based on copyright in short clips of news footage used in election-related videos. Last week, the McCain-Palin campaign contacted YouTube after CBS, CBN, and Fox targeted the campaign’s videos for removal from YouTube. The Obama-Biden campaign has had at least one of its videos removed from YouTube in response to a similar copyright demand from NBC.

“The videos at issue include clips of news footage that last only a few seconds, used as part of constitutionally-protected political speech. This is not piracy, but fair use,” said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann. “Sending unfounded takedown notices is not only against the law, it also threatens to interfere with the vibrant political debate occurring on community video sites like YouTube.

“Remixing the news to make your point is what political speech looks like in the 21st century,” added Lohmann.

A demo from Digg’s Kevin Rose of the Qik iPhone app – an app that promises to bring live streaming video broadcasting to the iPhone. 

Before you get too excited, remember that Apple still has to approve this for the App Store.

There’s an online petition asking Apple to save the FireWire port on Mac laptops.

More than 6,000 people have already signed the petition.

Here’s the text of the petition:

To: Apple Inc.

We all love your products, Apple Inc.! But your recently refreshed line of consumer notebooks lacks the possibility to plug in digital audio and video equipment as well as fast mass storage devices. Therefore, we pledge to purchase a new MacBook or MacBook Air if you, the inventor of FireWire technology, would be so kind to bring back FireWire ports to those products.

You can sign the petition here.

Founder of the Podcast Awards Todd Cochrane plans to announce the 220 shows that have made the final voting slate for the 2008 event on Sunday, October 19th at 4PM Pacific Time @ PodcastAwards.com.

This is the fourth annual Podcasting Awards, which has the goal of recognizing the best podcasters in the world by allowing the people to nominate and vote for their favorite podcast.

Raw Voice CEO Todd Cochrane has introduced the company’s Podcast Advertising Campaign Management System (PACMS), a tool for managing podcast campaigns from proposal to completion.

Cochrane explains how it works:

• “A podcast advertising campaign typically starts with a request for proposal (RFP) from a media buyer or advertiser. With the RawVoice PACMS, we enter the requirements of the buy into the new system.
• Using data sets we have internally, including media statistics, survey sampling, demographic information, show content and other info, we are able to determine instantly what shows are best suited for a specific advertiser. This allows RawVoice to submit a concrete, detailed, unique proposal.
• Once the actual insertion order comes in from the media buyer, we post the campaign requirements to the selected podcasters through the campaign account management system; the content creators then review the requirements and sign off on the campaign.
• From that point the podcasters can access all of the campaign deliverables, aka banners, scripts, etc., via their campaign management account. This allows podcasters to review campaign requirements as needed and allows us to issue updates throughout the campaign.
• In a few weeks, we will make available the ad reporting system, which will be tied directly to each podcaster’s statistics account. This allows instant auditing and, more importantly, allows for quick billing to the vendor and fast payment to podcasters.”

“This meets a long term goal — to have processes in place that allow RawVoice to execute highly complex podcast advertising campaigns in a matter of hours,” Cochrane says. “We have invested heavily in technology that gives us the data sets needed to reach the exact demographics media buyers and advertisers are wanting to reach.

It looks like NBC is hoping to capitalize on the fact that Tina Fey is hotter online than off by debuting her show 30 Rock online. 

According to MediaPost, NBC plans to debut the full season premiere online seven days before its on-air takeoff.

The debut will be streamed on NBC.com starting Oct. 23, as well as on Hulu.com, before it launches on the network on Oct. 30 (Thursday) at 9:30 p.m.

NBC said Monday that Salma Hayek will become a recurring guest star on the show as a love interest of Alec Baldwin’s character Jack Donaghy.

Earlier in the week, we reported that “Tina Fey’s impression of Sarah Palin has been hugely popular, big enough to influence the future of television.“

It didn’t take long, did it?