Charles on… anything that comes along

At the New Statesman, my thoughts on what Apple’s announcement on podcasting really means for the future of the genre. Are we all going to start listening to Dave Winer? Or will it be Melvyn Bragg (this week, Renaissance mathematics)?

The beginning:

Against a background of squeaking that sounds like unoiled bicycle wheels, Adam Curry says: “Sunday night . . . it’s 104 degrees outside at . . . is it quarter to 11 or quarter to ten? We’re in Phoenix! So we had a - oh, look who it is!” He doesn’t tell us who it is, and we don’t find out in the 12-minute audio recording that forms his blog entry for 23 May. Nor do we find out what the squeaking is, though we learn he’s at an airport, so possibly it’s a baggage trolley or carousel.

Welcome to the world of podcasts, the latest invention by the pajamahadeen to spin off and head for a computer near you. Why “podcast”? Because it’s not broadcast; you have to hunt out the files, then download and listen to them on your iPod.

(Note: this article is definitely not available in podcast form.)

Note too that New Statesman’s website allows you to view one article for free; although the leader and main article are free to view through the week. Else it’s a subscription, or £1 per read.

You know, it would be easier just to buy the physical magazine. Though I realise this may not be so easy for those not based in the UK…

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• Video podcasting to iTunes; Cocoalicious; Camino hits 1.0a1 (16 September 2005; score: 42.56%)
• The father of articles about podcasting? (13 June 2005; score: 37.87%)
• Dowling on Adam Curry: nailed in a second; and looking back at predictions for 2005 (23 January 2006; score: 34.43%)

My latest article for The Register looks at how likely a bird flu pandemic is - and more particularly what it might be like in the aftermath.

Bonus links: Nature’s blog from December 2005 (ie the future) as the pandemic spreads; Nature online special about avian flu (links to mostly premium content); New England Journal of Medicine article on our preparedness.

Feel free to add any you’ve got..

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• Forget the chicken flu pandemic, what about the cough+cold epidemic? (14 March 2005; score: 83.64%)
• OK, I *really* don't get Lord of The Rings (8 July 2005; score: 45.37%)
• A mobile phone pandemic? (12 March 2005; score: 38.2%)