AdWeek has an article today looking at 60Frames, a new company that hopes to provide a platform for mainstream actors and directors to create and distribute short-form Internet videos. 60Frames is hoping that the “high-quality” content that makes movie blockbusters and hit TV shows can create the same buzz online.

60Frames is a spinoff of United Talent Agency (UTA) and advertising agency Spot Runner.

In the article, AdWeek and the industry figures they talk to appear to be completely dismissive of the current state of online video.

AdWeek’s Brian Morrissey writes “Internet video has remained mostly the stomping ground of the dramatic chipmunk, Diet Coke-Mentos fountains and Lonelygirl15.”

“When I started looking on YouTube at what was available, it became clear to me that most of what was there was not very good,” said Jeremy Zimmer, a partner at United Talent Agency. “People were excited about going online to look for video but they quickly became disenchanted because the quality wasn’t there.”

“There hasn’t been enough high-quality consistent inventory for advertisers to move their budgets online,” said former UTA exec Brent Weinstein, who will serve as CEO of 60Frames. “There’s this big gap that artists want to fill.”

By dismissing the current state of Internet video, there’s a real risk that 60Frames and mainstream Hollywood are disregarding the very types of content that have proven to be successful online.

Everybody knows that the iPhone can make phone calls, play movies & music, surf the web, and a lot more. But, Will It Blend?

While it’s interesting to see what it looks like when an iPhone gets blended, what’s really striking is how effectively Blendtec uses video podcasts to get people interested in an expensive kitchen gadget.

The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, has warned Apple CEO Steve Jobs and the CEO of AT&T that they need to agree to new consumer safeguards in connection with the Apple iPhone that will be introduced to much fanfare later today.

The group is asking Apple and AT&T to address two serious potential problems:

• Battery replacement. Unlike all other handheld phones, the iPhone battery is not user replaceable. FTCR calls upon the companies to provide free and immediate replacement at their retail locations for the life of the iPhone.
• Cancellation penalties. The companies have announced that consumers must agree to a two-year contract for AT&T wireless service to activate the iPhone; they will also impose a hefty cancellation fee for early termination. FTCR says that such fees are unnecessary, and that consumers should be permitted to cancel the contract at any time based upon device failure, loss or theft, inadequate wireless service/coverage or any other reasonable basis.

“The introduction of the iPhone has been heralded as a major evolution in the multifunction cell phone,” said Rosenfield. “Apple and AT&T should take this opportunity to adopt policies and practices that respect the rights of their customers.”

FTCR is a non-profit, non-partisan citizen advocacy organization. It has brought several lawsuits on behalf of the public challenging the practices, services and charges of wireless companies including AT&T, Cingular, T-Mobil and Nextel. The group has also sued Apple on behalf of customers who bought the second-generation iPod Nano and were charged for replacement of its defective screen. That design has since been discontinued.

Web hosting provider SherpaHost has added a new podcasting service to its hosting accounts.

SherpaHost’s Quick Podcast tool is designed to help people:

• create podcast recordings;
• manage and publish multiple podcasts by uploading their audio and video files;
• generate and publish podcast RSS feeds for iTunes and other directories; and
• automatically notify podcast directories when new podcasts are available.

SherpaHost’s Quick Podcast tool can be used with a personalized domain name or set up as a subdomain and are offered in three plans, including Economy, Deluxe,and Premium plans.

Hosting plans start at $3.99.

V-MODA today introduced the VIBE Duo, a dual-use earphone with microphone combination designed for use with the Apple iPhone. The headphone/headset features “hi-definition” sound, in addition to optimum communication capabilities.

The VIBE Duo features three sizes of soft silicon fittings for a secure fit. V-Moda says that the headphones reduce outside noise and provide accurate response from 12Hz to 22Hz.

The headset is available in black and chrome and retails for about $100.

Nominations for the 2007 Podcast Awards are in progress. According to organizer Todd Cochrane, over 100,000 visitors have made nominations via the site for the event, now in its third year.

Nominations are being accepted in 22 categories. Voting is expected to be opened in mid to late July. The 2007 awards ceremony will be held during the Podcast and New Media Expo in Ontario California on September 28, 2007.

An article at Campus Technology reports that the pedagogical value of podcasts depends almost entirely on student motivation and the learning “context” of the application.

“Podcasting does not contain any inherent value,” said researcher Ashley Deal. “It is only valuable inasmuch as it helps the instructor and students reach their educational goals, by facilitating thoughtful, engaging learning activities that are designed to work in support of those goals.”

In a survey of the latest academic studies on the impact of podcasting on learning and teaching, Deal, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, found that podcasting follows the pattern of many campus technology innovations.

“As with any educational technology, whether and how podcasting impacts the quality of the learning experience and/or educational outcomes depends largely upon how the technology is put to use,” Deal wrote.

MSN is hyping its audience for the 24-hour LiveEarth event, which was broadcast live on the Internet. According to MSN, the event received more than ten milion video streams and had the most viewers of any online concert ever.

“History is being made today,” said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president and chief media officer of MSN. “The over 10 million streams MSN has delivered so far today represent a milestone in live Internet broadcasting. We expect to see an even greater number of streams after the concerts are over as people return to watch their favorite performances or enjoy them for the first time if they missed the concerts live.”

Ten million streams is huge for an Internet event, and is beginning to get close to the number of viewers that hit television shows get. Last week (the week of June 25th), the number one show NBC’s America’s Got Talent had about 11.5 million viewers (Nielsen), slightly more than the LiveEarth event. The second most-viewed US television show, though, CSI, had about ten million viewers – about the same as the LiveEarth event.

Obviously, this isn’t comparing apples to apples. An online stream isn’t the same as a viewer, LiveEarth was a 24-hour event, not an hour-long show, and it might be more fair to compare the audience for this event to something like the Academy Awards, which gets about 40 million viewers.

Nevertheless, it’s clear that we are watching Internet television catch up with traditional broadcast TV. Currently, Internet TV is typically kludgy, lower-quality and not nearly as user-friendly as broadcast television, but that’s changing rapidly.

US broadcast television is scheduled to go digital on February 17, 2009, by order of the Federal Communications Commission. Broadcast television’s move to digital could be the start of something big. But with Internet broadcast audiences in the millions, video download audiences in the tens of millions, and portable devices like the iPhone making Internet video increasingly available, it’s starting to look the broadcast television’s switch to digital may be traditional television’s last hurrah.

There’s a lot of discussion going on about Apple’s decision to ban Flash from the iPhone.

From all appearances, this looks like it was a business decision, not a technical limitation of the phone. The iPhone is likely to double Safari’s market share very quickly, and it looks like Apple isn’t interested in using this development to strengthen a competitor’s technology. Apple also doesn’t want to make it easy for you to make Internet phone calls…..

via Scoble

Donna Bogatin at Insider Chatter is questioning the importance of Twittergram, podcasting pioneer Dave Winer’s latest concoction.

Winer’s unfortunately named Twittergram service (how long until the cease & desist notice is delivered?) is a sort of mashup between Twitter’s short-text message broadcasting and audio podcasting.

Here’s how Winer describes a Twittergram:

A TwitterGram has a title and a small MP3 file. The title explains the gram, it must be no longer than 75 characters, to allow room for the URL of the MP3, which is about 50 characters.

Underlying this is the idea that anyone should be able to publish a stream of short audio, video or other types of messages as easily as publishing text.

Bogatin’s concern is the same concern that we heard from early critics of podcasting – that when you make it easy for amateurs to publish, all you’ll get is an endless stream of crap. Bogatin calls this “narcissim enabling and voyeurism inducing”, and bemoans the fact that Winer is “helping Twitter blabber flourish”.

Bogatin’s criticism does have an element of truth in it.