Podcast User Magazine (PUM) sends word that it has recently passed 100,000 downloads.

The magazine, now at Issue #10, is a free PDF-based magazine about podcasting, combining information for experienced podcasters, newbies, and listeners with news, reviews and interviews.

According to the publishers, PUM is downloaded in over 100 countries worldwide. PUM is available as a direct download from the website or as a free subscription via RSS in the same way as a Podcast.

Added to podcasting resources list: Podlinez is a free service that lets you listen to podcasts on any cell phone phone. The site lets you enter the RSS feed URL for a podcast and then get a phone number you can call to listen to the podcast.

The site also has a directory of podcasts. If your favorite podcast isnt already in our directory, you can add it and it will be available to call within minutes. Podlinez keeps the latest version of the podcast on hand.

While listening to the podcast, you can use * the and # keys on your phone to skip forward and back in one minute increments through the recording.

The site notes that they are currently struggling to meet demand and are running low on phone numbers

Business Capital Edge today announced an upcoming conference for communications professionals, Social Media 2007, to be held January 30-31, 2007 in Atlanta. The conference will focus on presentations and case studies from corporations and organizations that successfully using corporate blogging and podcasting.

Social Media 2007 will be held at the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta and is geared for communications, PR, and advertising professionals to better understand how to implement Social Media.

UK Podcasters will be assembling this weekend for for November 18th’s PodcastCon, a UK podcasting expo, held this year in Shoreditch, London.

According to organizers, the conference promises something for all types of podcasters, with an extensive program and live music sets from well-known podsafe artists.

Panelists include: US podcaster C.C. Chapman, Nicole Simon from Cruel To Be Kind, Tom Hall from Lonely Planet, Guillaume du Gardier from Edelman, Heather Gorringe from Wiggly Wigglers, Suw Charman from Open Rights Group, Chris Vallance from BBC, Neil McIntosh from The Guardian, John Buckman from Magnatune, famed UK podcasters Martin Devaughan, Mark Hunter, John Buckley, and MCing the whole event is “Podcast” Paul Nicholls (UK Podcasters Association).

Details are availalable at the PodcastCon site.

NBC News announced Monday that it will offer NBC Nightly News and Meet the Press as free podcasts. While NBC has been streaming its video on MSNBC.com and offering audio of both shows as audio podcasts, this will be the first time that both shows will be available for video download.

“It makes sense to provide the content to viewers in whatever format they prefer,” MSNBC.com deputy editor Randy Stearns said. He said that MSNBC.com still believes that streaming ad-supported video-on-demand is what users want.

NBC Nightly News will be available every weeknight at 10 p.m. EST; Meet the Press will be available at 1 p.m. EST, both after their West Coast airings.
It will be the first full evening newscast available in a video podcast.

Sling Media and the 3 Group, a leader in 3G mobile broadband, have announced that they are partnering to give customers access to their home TV channels on mobile handsets. Using the latest mobile broadband handsets and a Slingbox, mobile customers will be able to watch anything they are able to watch on their own TV.

The SlingPlayer Mobile service will be exclusive to 3 customers who purchase both an X-Series handset and a Slingbox. The X-Series from 3 will be available in the UK from the 1st December 2006 and in 3’s other markets around the world in early 2007.

According to Microsoft’s Bill Gates, founder and president of Microsoft, the Zune may soon get useful additions to its wireless functionality, adding interoperabiltiy with the Xbox 360 and PCs.

On Tuesday, Gates said that Zune will soon be integrated with other platforms, including Windows Vista and the Xbox gaming console.

“We will take it even further, connecting the Zune to the Windows PC or Xbox,” he said during the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday. “There is a lot more coming there.”

Gates said that Zune’s wireless connectivity is just one way Microsoft is changing how people enjoy and share various multimedia. “We’re changing entertainment from something you do in isolation to connected entertainment,” he said.

Microsoft’s Zune introduction has been widely viewed as disappointing, and the company is now positioning the portable media player introduction as the first step in a long process.

Foxconn Electronics is reported to have been chosen by Apple to make an iTunes mobile phone, dubbed by many, the iPhone.

The Chinese-language Commercial Times on Wednesday reported that Apple had ordered 12 million iPhones, and that they were due during the first half of next year. The reported order, if accurate, would confirm estimates made by PiperJaffray earlier in the year of 8 to 12 million iPhone first-year sales.

Foxconn is the controversial iPod supplier that Apple determined manufactured its products under unacceptible conditions. Apple reviewed Foxconn’s labor practices earlier in the year and determined that iPods were made under conditions that violated Apple’s Code of Conduct. Foxconn also sued the journalists that exposed their labor practices.

Hon Hai/Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, has declined to confirm or deny the report.

via AppleInsider, Bloomberg

Yahoo! on Monday launched its online video competition, Yahoo! Talent Show, and named Maria Sansone, Tom Green and Ask a Ninja as judges.

Talent Show will award $50,000 and a development deal to produce a show on Yahoo! to the winner of the contest, which is looking for original Internet video talent.

Sansone also hosts daily video blog The 9 on Yahoo!, Green now hosts an online talk show and Ask a Ninja is a video blog series with a ninja answering viewer questions.

No word on whether or not the ninja will kill the runners up; competitors are advised to read the fine print carefully.

via Broadcasting and Cable

In the United States, college football is winding down (or up, depending on how your favorite team is doing) for championship bowl games. Professional (US) football is likewise midway through its competition schedule, which culminates in the TV commercial extravaganza Super Bowl in early February.
This seemed like a good time to mention a few new football podcasts that have recently come to our attention which aren’t of the Big Twelve or NFL kind.

Another new football podcast, this kind the Futbol/Soccer/Calcia kind, has been launched this week by TribalFootball.com. The Daily Football Podcast promises a round-up of the latest news, interviews and views on all the big soccer-related stories of the day.

The other kind of football podcast we heard about this week was all about rugby. The Rugby Football Union (RFU) in the UK has a new podcast series, “The Gillette Rugby Podcast,” sponsored by Gillette Grooming (think: razors and shaving). The “Gillette Rugby Podcast” will be a weekly 8 ‚Äì 10 minute audio podcast, available during the rugby season. The first installment features England‚Äôs Investec Challenge match against Argentina.