Zipp Speed Weaponry , a company that specializes in performance cycling gear, has introduced the ZippCast, a podcast aimed at the professional cyclist, triathlete, and cycling enthusiast.

The show is an example of a corporate edutainment podcast. The ZippCast features conversations with professional cycling athletes, shares the stories of the triathlon and road race life style, and also looks at the technical geeky stuff of carbon fiber wheels and ceramic hubs.

A recent episode looked at the triathlon lifestyle (MP3).

VUUM Audio has introduced a vacuum tube amplifier stereo system that provides audiophile quality sound in a hi-fi stereo system designed to work with your iPod, MP3 player and other audio components (CD, DVD players, Satellite receivers etc.).

The CAD $799.99 system features a vacuum tube amplifier (15W x2) with dual inputs, an adjustable iPod docking station that lets you charge your iPod with video output to connect a video enabled iPod to your TV, a pair of speakers in a “piano finish” cabinet, 27 key remote control, dust brush and glove cleaning kit, RCA cables and a pair of high quality speakers cables with banana ends.

Owners of iPods and other portable media players are thieves, according to Universal Music CEO Doug Morris.

“These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it,” UMG chairman/CEO Doug Morris says. “So it’s time to get paid for it.”

Microsoft recently announced that the Zune’s purchase price includes a cut for Universal. Universal refused to license its music to Microsoft for the Zune unless it got a percentage of every device sold, in addition to standard music licensing fees for downloads and subscriptions.

Added to podcast client list: HubDog is a free application for Pocket PCs and Smartphones that combines an RSS reader, a podcast player, a media search engine, and channels that can be shared among community members. The free app lets you download news, radio, music and video podcasts, blogs and any RSS feed to your mobile device so you can read, listen or watch whenever or wherever you want to.

HubDog is a free download, registration is optional.

Requirements:

Hubdog supports all types of Pocket PC and Smartphone hand-held devices using Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows Mobile 2003 operating systems. To access content, an Internet connection is required, either through ActiveSync, 802.11 (WiFi) or Cellular Data line such as GSM/GPRS, CDMA/1X, 3G.

Steven Levy’s The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness is a big, iPod-styled book that’s part thoughtful take on the history and impact of the iPod, and part unfortunate fanboy raving.

The Perfect Thing has benefited from the hype surrounding the iPod, and the publisher has tried to tap into that hype by printing four different “shuffles” of the book. While this may a useful gimmick for marketing the book, the idea is inconsequential to readers, because the book’s chapters are a collection of loosely connected essays.

Levy draws on the contacts that he’s developed as chief technology writer at Newsweek to dig into the stories behind the iPod. For example, the Origin chapter looks at the precursors to the iPod, and reveals how employees at Compaq developed a Personal Jukebox, a proto-iPod, years before Apple came out with a portable music player.

The chapter also looks at how Apple could almost thank Adobe for its wildly successful product. In 1999, Steve Jobs asked Adobe to port its popular video editing package to the Mac. Adobe refused, according to Jobs, which led Apple to develop their own digital media hub applications, which ultimately included iTunes.

At its best, Levy’s book does a great job introducing the people that brought the iPod to life and telling their stories.

Unfortunately, the book is weighed down by Levy’s tendency towards statements that are somewhere between hyperbole and fanboy talk.

A defendant in one of the RIAA’s file-sharing lawsuits will be able to question an idea that has been a core element of the music organization’s case against thousands of others – that one shared song was worth $750 in damages.

In UMG v. Lindor, Judge Trager has granted Marie Lindor’s motion to add a defense that questions the constitutionality of the $750-per-song damages sought by the RIAA.

In doing so, Trager rejected the RIAA’s arguments that the defense was without merit, that the motion was untimely, that the amendment would prejudice the RIAA, or that Ms. Lindor was required to send a notice to the United States Department of Justice of her defense of unconstitutionality.

Amanda Congdon, co-founder and former host of Rocketboom, is developing a comedy program for HBO.

“HBO is exactly the place where I want to be,” Congdon said. “I’m most interested in playing in that new dimension with two parallel levels of programming, online and on TV.”

According to Congdon, she’s aiming for a multiplatform property that will include original online video content. She intends to write and star in the series.

Since her public split with Rocketboom co-founder Andrew Baron, Congdon has been flipping burgers and vlogging across America

via Hollywood Reporter via Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff

Silex Technology has launched wiDock, a wireless dock for the Apple iPod that allows users to transfer songs and videos.

According to Silex, the wiDock is the first solution to transfer songs and videos to an iPod wirelessly while connected to a stereo and TV, becoming an integral part of the living room entertainment system. Users can wirelessly sync with a computer, play music from the stereo, play videos on the TV and charge the iPod battery.

The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg has an early hands-on look at the Zune, and finds many of the same concerns that Microsoft’s Zune announcements raised.
According to Mossberg, the Zune has too many compromises and missing features to be as good a choice as the iPod for most users.

“The hardware feels rushed and incomplete. It is 60% larger and 17% heavier than the comparable iPod. It has much worse battery life for music than the iPod or than Microsoft claims — at least two hours less than the iPods, in my tests. Despite the larger screen, many album covers look worse than they do on the iPod. And you can’t share music libraries between computers like you can with iTunes,” notes Mossberg.

In addition, Mossberg noted that the Zune music store had fewer songs and that Microsoft’s pricing system was cumbersome.

Podcast Search is a new site built on Google’s search API that filters through Google’s results, returning only links from podcast related sites.

The site is intended to help searchers ‘Find everything to do with podcasts from the worlds best sites in one easy place.’