RadioShack has announced that, starting Dec 14th, it will offer an ultra-lightweight, mobile netbook Internet device with integrated 3G wireless technology. The Acer Aspire one netbook is priced at $99.99 for customers who sign up for a qualifying two-year AT&T DataConnect mobile broadband service agreement with plans starting at $60 a month. 

The netbook has a couple strikes against it – starting with the fact that it’s an Acer and it’s underpowered for media editing – but, with its ultra-tiny size, built-in 3G and Web cam, looks like it could be a great platform for mobile blogging/vlogging and social networking. 

Here are the specs:

• Weighs 2.44 pounds
• Ultra-compact size measuring 9.8″ x 6.7″ x 1.1″ (W x D x H)
• Built-in 3G capability
• 802.11b/g wireless (Wi-Fi)
• 8.9-inch LCD screen
• Built-in Web cam
• Intel Atom processor
• Windows XP Home
• 1GB memory
• 160GB hard drive
• Built-in memory card readers (dedicated SD and 5-in-1)

Podcast network Blubrry has announced a new mobile version of their site:

Today we are proud to announce the availability of our mobile site. You can try it out by visiting m.blubrry.com. This is our first release and in coming weeks we will have extended capability.

Check out the newest content or search for specific content or shows. This is a great way to get a new media fix when you are mobile.

The San Francisco Chronicle has published their take on the year’s top 10 Web viral videos.

They don’t explain their criteria – but it’s an interesting list:

• Tina Fey As Sarah Palin: Not only was Fey’s impression of the Alaskan governor arguably the seminal pop culture event of the year, it also represented a turning point in the paradigm between TV and the Web. More people watched Fey’s sketches on NBC.com and Hulu.com than on television.
• The Real Palin: Though Fey’s many parodies of Sen. John McCain’s running mate set the Internet on fire, the real McCoy gave her a run for her money. 
• Christian the Lion
• Yes We Can
• Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
• Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad
• Sarah Silverman and Matt Damon
• Puppy Cam
• Frozen Grand Central
• Late-night Hosts Brawl

The WordPress team created this video to highlight the new features of WordPress 2.7.

Much of the focus in WordPress 2.7 has been on usability, which should make it faster than ever to work with WordPress.

Here’s a list of what’s new:

• XMLRPC Comments API (Ticket 7446)
• Keyboard shortcuts for comment moderation (Ticket 7643)
• Sticky Posts (Ticket 7457)
• Theme update api, like we do for plugins (Ticket 7519)
• Dashboard and write box rearranging (write box in trunk)
• One-click plugin installs (Ticket 6015)
• Reply to comments from admin (Ticket 7435)
• Core updating (Ticket 5560)
• Frame-like method for moderating ping/trackbacks
• Plugin browser embedded (Ticket 6015)
• PHPXref hosted on WordPress.org
• Separate Large and Full image sizes, related improvements (Ticket 7151)
• Comment threading (Ticket 7635)
• Comment paging
• Batch and inline editing (Ticket 6815)
• HTTPOnly cookies
• Column hiding for all management pages
• Post box hiding for all edit pages
• Upgrades and install over SFTP
• Template Tag wp_page_menu wrapper for wp_list_pages and support for Home page (Ticket 7698)

The New York Times takes a look today at some of the people that are making real money on YouTube:

Cory Williams, 27, a YouTube producer in California, agrees. Mr. Williams, known as smpfilms on YouTube, has been dreaming up online videos since 2005, and he said his big break came in September 2007 with a music video parody called “The Mean Kitty Song.” The video, which introduces Mr. Williams’ evil feline companion, has been viewed more than 15 million times. On a recent day, the video included an advertisement from Coca-Cola.

Mr. Williams, who counts about 180,000 subscribers to his videos, said he was earning $17,000 to $20,000 a month via YouTube. Half of the profits come from YouTube’s advertisements, and the other half come from sponsorships and product placements within his videos, a model that he has borrowed from traditional media.

People like Williams are, obviously, outliers – but more and more people are figuring out ways to make money online with new media. Key to the success of people like Williams is that they have taken their content to where an audience is.

The news was not unexpected, yet somehow was still surprising when it came today.

The two big (for-profit) new media conferences, Blog World Expo and the New Media Expo are combining into a new annual event, The Blog World & New Media Expo. The hybrid conference inaugural run will be at the Las Vegas Convention Center (site of both former events in 2008) October 15-17, 2009.

Blog World Expo’s founder, Rick Calvert, and New Media Expo founder, Tim Bourquin, are longtime acquaintances and fellow trade show organizers. On his blog, Bourquin says he is “handing over the reins” to New Media Expo to Calvert’s team, in order to take that conference “to the next level.” Bourquin calls the combined show “a great move for both attendees and exhibitors.” Calvert, in turn, says the event “will truly be the comprehensive, industry-wide event that Tim and I had both searched for.”

Bourquin’s New Media Expo is the longer-running of the two events, and debuted in California in 2005 as the Podcast Expo, with a focus on (duh) podcasting and downloadable media. As podcasters’ needs and interests expanded into other new media, the event name also morphed, to Podcast and Portable Media Expo in ’06, then Podcast and New Media Expo in ’07, and finally moved to Las Vegas as the New Media Expo earlier this year.

After this year’s New Media Expo, Bourquin talked candidly about the challenges of running a for-profit technology industry trade show, and mused whether it was worth staying in the business.

Calvert’s BlogWorld Expo debuted more recently in fall 2007. In “Internet years”(which are like dog years, but even more accelerated), being two years newer yielded a far different conference experience. While it also touched on podcasting (and boasted Podango, Wizzard, Blog Talk Radio and Blubrry among their exhibitor/sponsors), BlogWorld Expo’s first year focused mostly on blogging. There was a military blogging focus, and a “Godblogging” session track, and it seemed the BlogWorld Expo sessions and exhibits (at least that inaugural year, when I attended), skewed toward the more conservative end of the new media spectrum.

The acquisition of the New Media Expo, with its dedicated following of podcast creators, is a smart move for Calvert and the BlogWorld Expo. What remains to be seen is whether the combined conference will still attract and preserve the funkier end of the personal media spectrum, and whether the podcast and downloadable parts of the New Media universe will be accommodated.

Location’s Hero 3 series of outdoor jackets are are some serious jackets.

They offer two sets of performance lenses, one for daytime, one for nighttime and connections for your gear. The Location Hero 3 Google ICU Check Jacket even has an integrated control panel for iPods at the arms.

I can imagine a lot of practical uses for an all-weather jacket with iPod support – but the jacket will freak out all the kids you meet.

Features:

• Taped seams
• Windproof
• Waterproof
• Breathable
• Recco “avalanche rescue system”

via TrendHunter

GOSHone claims that his video forNewteknowledge is the first music video shot entirely on an iPhone.

It was filmed using a jailbroken iPhone 3G using Cycorder. Edited using After Effects, since Final Cut didn’t like the resolution from Cycorder.

The video itself isn’t especially notable, but the fact that it was shot an an iPhone is.  The iPhone isn’t capable of great quality video, and that may be why Apple hasn’t allowed official video apps. 

Nevertheless, the video demonstrates that the iPhone is capable of useful video. It’s easy to imagine Cycorder being used for video blogging, citizen journalism and just for fun.  

Newteknowledge is off the GOSHone debut album, ctrl_alt_ego. You can download it here (zip).

What do you think – should Apple allow video apps like Cycorder into the App Store?

comScore released its latest stats today on online media use.

Here are comScore’s top ten video destinations, ranked by numbers (in thousand) of videos viewed:

There are several highlights worth noting:

• More than 147 million U.S. Internet users, or about half the country, watched an average of 92 videos per viewer in October. 
• 77 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
• The average online video viewer watched 274 minutes of video.
• More than 80 percent of the 18-34 year olds watched online video, higher than any other age segment. The average 18-34 year old online video viewer watched 4.8 hours of video during the month, also ranking above all other age segments.
• The duration of the average online video was 3.0 minutes.
• The duration of the average online video viewed at Hulu was 11.6 minutes, higher than any other video property in the top ten.

The site to watch is Hulu.

People are watching video 4 times longer at Hulu compared to other sites, and Hulu’s videos can all be ad-supported. Hulu may have YouTube beat, in terms of figuring out how to make Internet video pay. 

YouTube has said that about 3-4% of its videos can carry ads. Out of all the videos YouTube served, about 214,951,000 could carry ads – compared to all of Hulu’s 235,096,000 videos, which just happen to be four times as long, too.

Hulu’s rise could also prove to be a challenge for user-generated media. As Hulu proves that traditional media works online, sites like YouTube will have to adapt. It’s likely that they will feature more and more traditional media fare, because it will be more profitable content.

Internet conference-call and podcasting company TalkShoe recently announced enhancements to its Talkcasting service. TalkShoe is a service that lets users host a “community call,” in which others participate via computer or phone (text and voice chat), which is recorded for later publication as a blog post/podcast.

Previously, TalkShoe required that calls be scheduled in advance via their website or Facebook. The new enhancements allow unscheduled Instant Talkcasts, which they say is “like Twittering but for your voice.” Users with a TalkShoe account and an existing “call series” can make impromptu recordings at any time, including via cell phone.

Information about setting up your own Instant Talkcast is here.