The Blubrry PowerPress plugin for WordPress version 0.2.1 is now available. The latest version incorporates a number of bug fixes and enhancements.

Here’s what’s new:

• Fixed itunes:subtitle displaying ‘…’
• Display itunes:summary in items option
• Add trailing slash to media url if not present
• Enhance ability to copy Podpress settings

Details are available at the Blubrry site.

Want to know why Steve Jobs is still calling Apple TV his “hobby”?

New research by The NPD Group offers an explanation:

• 41 percent of dollars budgeted for movies and video is spent on DVD movie purchases;
• 11 percent for purchases of TV programs on DVD;
• 29 percent on DVD rentals including Netflix and other video-subscription services;
• 18 percent is spent on movie tickets;
• Just 0.5 percent is spent on renting or purchasing TV shows or movies in digital format from the Web.

“Everyone is guessing when video on demand and digital downloads will spell the end for packaged media”? says NPD’s  Russ Crupnick. “At this point, though, digital video is still an extremely small part of overall consumer entertainment spending.”

While digital video purchases have yet to take off, people are flocking to free video sites. Just 2 percent or those surveyed by NPD had purchased a digital video download from the Web, but more than half (52 percent) reported visiting sites likeYouTube, in order to watch streaming video.

“Though the near-term talk of a digital revolution is probably overblown, as we’ve seen previously in the music industry, new content delivery sources can quickly take root among consumers,” adds Crupnick. “That’s why many home video companies are aggressively pursuing digital strategies, because the inflection point will come — it’s just not coming tomorrow.”

Think you need more gear to make that video podcast/music video/movie/viral video hit?

Think again. 

This video, for the Eskimohunter’s Surfing at 32ºF, was shot entirely on Nokia Nseries cell phones.

“Each of the Nokia Nseries devices I used was perfectly suited to the kind of experimental, ‘out-there’ shots I wanted to capture for ‘Surfing at 32ºF’,” says director Mike Hodgkinson. “For example, as a highly compact slider, the Nokia N95 slotted neatly into the customized pouch I attached to my fishing-line monorail, while the flip-out screens on the Nokia N93 and N93i allowed me to cover the lens with DIY color filters quickly and easily.”

“I’ve taken Nseries devices underwater,” adds Hodgkinson, “attached them to helium balloons and dangled them 100 feet above the Los Angeles River . . . and I’ve never lost a shot.”

Hodgkinson used only the Nokia N93, Nokia N93i and Nokia N95 to shoot the music video.

blinkx announced today that it is the fastest growing video site in the U.S., and also one of the fastest growing online sites in the U.K.

According to findings by Compete.com, blinkx is the fastest growing video site among the top 20 video competitors in the U.S. Its traffic grew by 1,036% between July 2007 and July 2008, boosting blinkx to 16th place among the top 20 video sites.

In another recent report, Neilsen Online listed blinkx.com as the ninth fastest growing site in the U.K. as its traffic soared 681% between June 2007 and July 2008. The report noted: “Video is one of the fastest-growing sectors and blinkx is allowing viewers to search across millions of hours of professional and consumer-generated video. The site also taps further into the social media phenomenon by enabling viewers to build customized video walls for their blogs or MySpace pages.”

Microsoft today released a free software update that will bring new features to all Zune portable media players.

The new software will allow Zune users to:

• wirelessly stream and download music from the Zune Marketplace store on the go;
• tag and purchase songs directly from the built-in FM radio; and
• tap into new, personalized music recommendations and programming.

Microsoft also announced that it is working with high-speed Internet access provider Wayport to deliver Zune users free wireless access to the Zune Marketplace from more than 9,800 participating McDonald’s restaurants across the U.S.

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JJ Abrams‘ new series, Fringe, is one of the most talked-about television fall television debuts, in part because it introduces as many mysteries as it answers. 

Fox has also introduced a Fringe podcast, which addresses a lot of the questions raised by the pilot. It’s a great idea: get people hooked on a mysterious show, and then offer a variety of ancillary media for superfans to explore. 

You can preview the Fringe podcast below.

Unfortunately, Fox links directly from their Fringe page to the pilot podcast MP3 file, making it impossible to subscribe to the podcast. 

Somewhere at Fox, there’s someone that’s never used an iPod and doesn’t understand podcasts. They just cost Fox a great opportunity to be on thousands of people’s MP3 players.

Amazon’s Internet Movie Database announced today that it had added over 6,000 videos to the site, transforming it from a encyclopedia into a formidable video destination site.

Content is being provided by CBS, Hulu, Sony Pictures Television and over 500 independent filmmakers. Videos are featured alongside IMDb’s encyclopedia of movie, TV and celebrity information. IMDb plans to rotate the content, but doesn’t detail its plans for this. 

Highlights of the new content include:

• 24
• Big Brother
• CSI
• Family Guy
• Heroes
• House M.D.
• The Office
• The Simpsons

Older television shows are also available, including:

• Beverly Hills, 90210
• Bewitched
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Charlie’s Angels
• Star Trek

IMDb now also has recent and classic films:

• Fever Pitch
• Fiddler on the Roof
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Hoop Dreams
• Raising Arizona
• Some Like It Hot

MTR Podcast Recorder is a free WordPress plugin that lets you record real-time podcasts and save them on the server where your WordPress blog is installed.

Recordings are saved into the MP3 format. The plugin also lets you manage your playlists and recordings from the WordPress administration, and it lets you add a Podcast Player widget to any of your sidebars, posts, or pages.

Features:

• Podcast recording into MP3 files. WAV files used as a fallback format if errors occur.
• Podcast organizing into playlists. Easy and intuitive administration of playlists and their contents.
• Podcast playing: a single file or an entire playlist.
• Sidebar widget available for podcast playing.
• Makes adding a podcast to a post or page very simple.
• Control over where the player will display within your post or page.
• Supports unlimited number of MP3 files.
• Uses XSPF Web Music Player, which is Open Source Software and can be used, modified and custom styled by anyone, including for commercial purposes.

The U.S. Department of State has launched a worldwide competition aimed at “enhancing the global dialogue on democracy”. The launch is timed to coincide with the United Nations’ first International Day of Democracy, September 15, 2008.

With the contest, the Department of State is making a big Web 2.0 leap, complete with a YouTube channel and Digg buttons.

The Democracy Video Challenge asks you to create a video short that complete the phrase, “Democracy is…” Winners will be selected by the online voting public.

Six regional winners will be eligible for a paid trip to the United States that includes screenings of their videos in New York, Hollywood and Washington, meetings with film directors, public officials and democracy advocates from nongovernmental organizations, and time on film and TV sets. Contestants who wish to compete anonymously may also submit videos. One anonymous video will be selected as a winner; however, that contestant will not be eligible to claim the travel prize.

Here are the details:

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Alex Sokirynsky, developer of the banned iPhone app Podcaster, is using the little known “ad hoc” method to distribute his software, via the site NextDayOff. Podcaster is designed to let you subscribe, manage, stream and download podcasts directly to your iPhone and iPod Touch.

Some, like Read Write Web‘s Sarah Perez, think this may let developers work around application bans:

Obviously, an app distributed this way will have less chance for success than one made publicly available in the App Store, but it appears to be not only a perfectly viable workaround for getting past the Apple censors, but a perfectly legal one as well.

Unfotunately, the ad hoc distribution approach is convoluted for both developers and users. Apple created the ad hoc approach to allow for corporations to test internal applications, and it’s limited to distributing an app to 100 devices. 

If that’s not enough to scare people off, Sokirynsky notes: “The program should work for a minimum of one year, but since Apple can turn it off remotely, the 1 year installation is not guaranteed. We will do everything in our power to keep the program working. All donations are final and cannot be refunded.”