Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a leading provider of educational solutions for the secondary school market, has announced the availability of iPod/MP3 player compatible audio and video to supplement its popular instructional programs in business education, world languages, math, language arts, science and social studies.

The Glencoe Media Center, which will host the downloadable MP3 audio and video files, will be fully accessible in the fall of 2006. The iPod/MP3 player compatible programs will allow students to download audio and video content to accompany lessons, enhancing learning in – and out – of the classroom.

Apple today introduced a new $899 configuration of the 17-inch iMac designed specifically for education customers, featuring a 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, a built-in iSight video camera and iLife ‘06. The 17-inch iMac for education is available immediately and will replace the eMac, Apple’s last CRT based computer.

Featuring a 17-inch widescreen LCD display, the iMac for education includes a Combo drive for burning CDs and reading DVDs, 512MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory expandable up to 2GB and hard drive storage capacity up to 160GB.

Every iMac also includes a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing out-of-the-box using Apple’s iChat AV, or recording a video podcast or iMovie using iLife ‘06. The 17-inch iMac for education includes built-in 10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet for high-speed networking, built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11g WiFi for up to 54 Mbps wireless networking, five USB ports (three USB 2.0) and two FireWire 400 ports.

Amanda Congdon today announced that she is leaving Rocketboom, the wildly popular videoblog, because “apparently my partner, Andrew Baron, is no longer interested in being my partner.”“I have just learned of this myself from watching Amanda’s video,” said co-creator Andrews Baron when he heard the news. “I guess it is in fact over.”

Rocketboom has posted an official response to Amanda Congdon’s announcement that she was moving on.While many in the blogosphere have been characterizing Congdon’s announcement as if she was fired, the official Rocketboom word is that she quit the show.

“We wanted to meet her demands to move production out to L.A., however, we are a small company and have not been able to figure out a way to make it work, financially and in many other ways at this time. While we continue to remain with open arms, Amanda has in fact quit and left Rocketboom.”

The show plans to continue without Congdon, and says that it will be “better than ever.”

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has recorded a podcast for his local paper, The Northern Echo. Blair recorded a special message for the paper serving his constituency of Sedgefield to mark the launch of the paper’s new podcasting site.

Audio and video downloads are available at the paper’s site.

While the paper is explicitly announcing a new podcast, no podcast feed is clearly marked at the site at this time, and the site also returns no search results for “podcast.”

“In 100 years time another Prime Minister may be using even better technology to get across what newspapers do which is inform people about events and launch some fantastic campaigns that make a real difference to people’s lives,” said Blair.

The Echo is planning to offer a wide range of podcasts via the new site. Editor Peter Barron has recorded a podcast of his paper’s popular Dad at Large column and Mike Amos, who has just been awarded an MBE, will also contribute.

Brooke “Brookers” Brodack, aka the Crazed Numa Fan, is reported to be the first YouTuber to get a TV Deal from her vlog. Brodack was signed earlier this month to an 18-month talent and development deal with Carson Daly Productions.

“The Internet has become a new platform for identifying emerging artists such as Brookers. I hope to give her the opportunity to expose her talent on a much larger scale,” said Daly.

“Several things immediately caught my eye watching her videos,” Daly said. “She’s got a fresh point of view, considerable directing skills and a great sense of music and how to use it. There is potential for Webisodes, mobile series and definitely a great TV show here. She’ll be an exciting package to present to networks”

The video blogger has received millions of views for videos which include Crazed Numa Fan, an homage to Gary Brolsma’s Numa Numa, based on Dragonstea Din Tei by the Romanian Boyband O-zone.

Senator, podcaster and potential presidential candidate John Edwards’ visit to Gnomedex 2006 has generated significant interest in both the tech and mainstream press.

The appearance made strong impressions, both pro and con. You can make up your own mind now that video clips of the session are available.

A new site is promising digital media producers a chance to make money with their video, audio and photo content. The site, eefoof, has the tagline, “Make It. Post It. Profit.”

According to the site:

When you upload a piece of media for submission to eefoof, your first hit immediatly starts generating income. Each month, we measure the amount of individual page views for each item you submit, and then calculate the percentage of hits it accounted for its media type. We then use this number to figure out your share of the sites ad revenue. Once your account exceeds $25, we will send you a Paypal transfer to the email specified at account creation.

Director Bryan Singer has a video podcast that provides an insider look at making his latest movie, Superman Returns.

The Superman Returns – Bryan’s Journals video podcast is primarily made up of vlog-like entries that document the making of the film. Other episodes include trailers and behind the scenes looks at the making of DVD content.

Guests on the podcast include Production Designer Guy Dyas, Eva Marie Saint (Ma Kent), Dan Harris & Mike Dougherty, writers of Superman Returns, Sam Huntington (Jimmy Olsen), and Jor-El.

Superman Returns – Bryan’s Journals video podcast details

via VPN: Superman Video Podcast

At Gnomedex 2006, podcaster Todd Cochrane introduced a new site for podcasters and podcast fans, Blubrry.

The site blends elements from a variety of types of podcasting sites; it’s part directory, part network and part community. The site intends to use social networking to help podcast fans find new podcasts while helping podcasters get listeners, and potentially earn revenue from their podcast.

“Podcasters can get a terrific second point of presence to build their audiences, keeping much of their original site‚Äôs feel,” said Todd Cochrane, CEO of site creators RawVoice.

Blubrry has the features of a typical social networking site, like profile photos, links to friends, and comment boards. But as a podcaster site, it also includes RSS enabled tag clouds, show rankings, and del.icio.us functionality.

The site is free to join for listeners and podcasters alike. Podcasters that opt-in agree to help build the community by promoting the site on their shows. According to Blubrry, new podcasters will benefit from the aggregated power of the network to attract advertisers, and the company shares advertising revenue with podcaster members.

“We’ve taken the model that is already making money for podcasters on the PodcasterNews Network, and are using it on this site,” said Jeevan Padiyar, CFO of RawVoice. “Other media companies may lock in content producers, but RawVoice is different.”

The site is currently in open beta.