PodCamps in Toronto, Atlanta & NYC will offer podcasters and people interested in podcasting a chance to meet, learn and share about podcasting.

• PodCamp Toronto, scheduled for February 24-25, 2007, will be held Rogers Communications Centre at Ryerson University.
• PodCamp Atlanta is scheduled for March 16-18, 2007 at Emory University.
• PodCamp NYC is scheduled for April 6 & 7, 2007 at New School.

PodCamps are free unconferences dedicated to podcasting, blogging and other new and social media.

The Associated Press and NowPublic.com announced Friday that they have agreed to an initiative designed to bring citizen content into AP newsgathering, and to explore ways to involve NowPublic‚Äôs on-the-ground network of news contributors in AP’s breaking news coverage.

NowPublic.com, based in Vancouver, is the world’s largest participatory news network with more than 60,000 contributors from 140 countries. The AP is the world’s largest newsgathering organization with a staff of more than 4,000 employees located in more than 240 bureaus in 97 countries.

The goal of the effort is to expand the world’s access to news as it happens, the companies said. In addition, it is designed to help NowPublic expand its rapidly growing network of worldwide contributors by exposing them to the opportunities they have to produce valuable news material.

The AP move is a sign of mainstream acceptance of the potential of citizen media.

“The Associated Press has a long tradition of pursuing citizen contributions in breaking news events worldwide,” said Jim Kennedy, AP’s vice president and director of strategic planning. “This relationship will make that connection even stronger and result in more news and images from people who are in the right place at the right time.”

MarketWatch reports that Microsoft submitted a filing Monday to the Federal Communications Commission that suggests the company will soon be adding phone service to its line of Zune portable media players.

According to the filing, Microsoft and other firms will submit for the agency’s approval a prototype of a wireless device that could be used to talk over the Internet. Apple Inc. made a similar filing, although chose a different technology, in advance of announcing its iPhone in January.

In the filing, Microsoft describes a wireless device that utilizes OFDM, a technology that can be used to route digital TV and voice calls among devices. Versions of OFDM have been tested and deployed for mobile phone use by carriers. Microsoft says that the intended use of the device is “consumer broadband access and networking.”

While the FCC filing makes no mention of the Zune, Rob Enderle, an analyst with the research firm the Enderle Group, said the filing seems to indicate “an internet device or a mobile VoIP phone,” that “certainly could be a Zune derivative product.”

EMI is reported to be talking to online retailers about selling its entire digital music catalog in MP3 format without copy protection.

The move would create a major split in the music industry. Earlier this week, Warner Music chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. responded to Steve Jobs’ challenge to dump DRM by telling industry analysts that the idea of dumping DRM was “without logic and merit.”

“We will not abandon DRM,” said Bronfman.
London-based EMI reportedly has asked retailers to submit proposals telling the company what size advance payments they would offer in exchange for the right to sell EMI’s music as MP3s. Based on the size of the proposals, EMI will decide whether to proceed or not.

There’s no word on when, how or if the company plans to make this move. ”We’re not commenting on speculation,” said EMI spokeswoman Jeanne Meyer.

via CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

It looks like iPod Monday at Des Moines, Iowa’s The Lift bar may be coming to an end.

Apple wants The Lift to stop using the name “iPod Monday” to describe the bar’s weekly event in which patrons get together and share their musical tastes via their iPods.

“Please choose a name for your product that is consistent with Apple’s guidelines (that does not include iPod or any other Apple trademark or variation thereon),” reads a letter from Apple’s Pete Alcorn.

“I do this little thing called iPod Monday in a little bar in Des Moines, Iowa, that attracts 45 people at most,” he said The Lift’s Clint Curtis. “Why is this billion-dollar corporation worrying about iPod Monday?”

While Steve Jobs may have a vision for the future of digital music, Warner Music isn’t buying it.

The company said on Thursday it will keep anti-piracy copy protection for digital songs sold on services such as Apple Inc.’s iTunes Music Store. The company’s comments come two days after Apple Inc.’s chief executive Steve Jobs called on the four major music companies to drop digital rights management software as a way to boost digital sales.

Warner Music chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. said in a call with analysts that the argument to drop copy protection also known as digital rights management (DRM) is “without logic and merit. We will not abandon DRM.”

via Reuters

Apple iPod connectivity is standard across the Scion lineup for 2008. Scion’s standard 160-watt maximum output Pioneer AM/FM/CD audio system features a head unit with iPod control. The head unit integrates track, artist and album information from the iPod into a one-line display on the head unit’s screen.

Connectivity is achieved by plugging the iPod into a port via a connector cable, providing optimal sound quality and constant power to the iPod. Music is controlled through the head unit and steering wheel audio controls. A standard mini-jack port also allows users to listen to their portable music collection through the tC’s Pioneer speakers.

More accessible technology and maturing business models are opening the floodgates for web video from both professionals and non-professionals, according to experts.

According to Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of web video provider Brightcove, the internet is rapidly moving from a “text web” to a “video web”, spurred by the dropping costs of producing and hosting video. Allaire was the keynote speaker at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Forum’s Brave New Web conference yesterday

High-quality professional video content is going online as media companies develop strategies to use the web as distribution medium, said Allaire.

“We’re right on the verge of an inflection point where the quality [of web video] will reach TV quality and the user interface will become a TV-like immersive experience. We’re likely to see a flood of quality video on the web that the rights holders have allowed to go online. Within two years, it will be a bigger category,” added Allaire.

via silicon.com

Apple’s new iPhone will easily meet its sales goals, with nearly 1 in 10 interested in buying the new phone. If Apple can cut the price, demand for the phone could double.

Here are the highlights of a recent survey on the iPhone:

• Meeting sales goals shouldn’t be a problem. The survey shows that this will be relatively easy. Nearly one-in-ten respondents (9%) say they are likely to buy the new multi-function iPhone — a combination cell phone, iPod and Internet browser — when the product becomes available (3% Very Likely; 6% Somewhat Likely). Another 7% say they are likely to buy it for someone else.
• Four-in-five planning to buy the iPhone say it will likely replace their existing cell phone.
• The most exciting selling point is the iPhone’s overall integration of iPod, phone, camera and email/Internet capability (34%). As one respondent puts it, “It’s an all in one device with a big screen and fairly small size, and Apple normally does a great job with new innovative products.”
• The survey also asked respondents who aren’t considering buying the iPhone why they weren’t interested. More than half (55%) said they have no need, but the key finding is that 28% cited the issue of price. A follow-up question revealed that if and when the cost of the iPhone were to come down from its proposed $500-$600 range to the $200-$300 range, there would be a double-digit surge in demand for the product.

“The worldwide market for total cell phones is somewhere around 1 billion and our objective of getting 1% of it would yield 10 million units across the calendar year,” CFO Tim Cook said in a recent call. The survey’s findings provide strong evidence that 10 million units are very attainable for Apple in 2008 — if the iPhone performs to consumer expectations.

“The issue for Apple won’t be in meeting its iPhone sales goals. The survey shows that this will be relatively easy,” said Tobin Smith, founder of ChangeWave Research. “The real issue will be whether Apple can keep up with consumer demand — including making sure there are enough parts available to fulfill all of its iPhone orders — while maintaining product integrity.”

Bamboo MediaCasting today launched MediaToob, a mobile podcast service that delivers audio and video podcasts to mobile phones worldwide for offline access. The MediaToob one-click selection and viewing interface, together with background delivery, is designed to make it easy for users to enjoy mobile podcasts.
MediaToob can deliver rich audio and video content including television programs, home-made or professional video clips, music, news and other long or short digital content to mobile handsets. New content is automatically updated and delivered according to subscriber preferences.

‚ÄúUsers now have the flexibility and freedom to enjoy their choice of entertainment anytime anywhere at an affordable price,” says Guy Morag, CEO of Bamboo MediaCasting.

The service currently offers a selection of podcasts mainly from Europe. The company is growing its library as podcasters submit content for direct delivery to mobile users. Users can also recommend podcasts for the MediaToob directory.

Access to MediaToob content is free of charge, but you have to pay your regular service provider for the data costs.