MWGblog

Today at Podcast Academy #6, Marantz Professional revealed it’s new handheld digital recorder the PMD620. We posted details over on the Podcast Academy blog.

On Friday Sept. 28th at 1:00PM, all the authors of our new book, Podcast Academy™: The Business Podcasting Book will be doing an author signing at the New Media Expo. If you’d like to meet some of the original practitioners of podcasting, this is a great opportunity to see them all at once: Greg Cangialosi, Ryan Irelan, Tim Bourquin, and Colette Vogele. I’ll stop by as well. Check us out at the Expo’s book shop.

As reported on TechCrunch today, we have sold GigaVox Audio Lite and its technology to Podango. Moving forward, GigaVox Audio Lite will be integrated into Podango’s P2 podcast publishing platform.

Some have noticed I have been a little quiet regarding GigaVox Audio Lite recently. Well, now you know the reason. I am excited to see how Podango and their team builds on our technology. They are passionate about podcasting and podcasters and with the integration of GigaVox Audio Lite into their P2 platform they will have a extremely attractive offering for publishers and a decisive advantage over their competition. You can download a pdf of the official press release here.

We have a number of announcements coming out this week. In addition to some of our own, Podcast Academy #6 promises to have a few announcements you will not want to miss. If you want to keep up to date on the latest in podcasting’s breaking news and be amongst the first to know, you can follow me on Twitter. I’ll also regularly post where I am am and upcoming events we’ll be attending during the New Media Expo weekend. The excitement starts Tuesday! Here is my twitter page: http://twitter.com/mwgblog

This last week I received my first advanced copy of our new book, Podcast Academy™: The Business Podcasting Book. This is one serious book. When I agreed to do the project, I did what any respectable “Editor-in-Chief” would do. I invited the smartest people I know to act as authors. They turned out an impressive 420 page tome that weighs in at a hefty 2.3 pounds! If you are involved in any sort of corporate or organizational podcast initiative this is the book for you. Should be on store shelves by the end of the week. Bravo once again to our impressive list of contributing authors: Greg Cangialosi, Ryan Irelan, Tim Bourquin, and Colette Vogele!

Only six days left until Podcast Academy #6. We have an amazing lineup of speakers for the corporate or professional audio/video podcast practitioner. This event is geared for those where the bottom line and results are both concerns. In addition to our spectacular lineup of instructors, we have also filled all our sponsorship slots. Marantz Professional is sponsoring all the refreshment breaks (and making a special announcement), Blue Sky Factory is sponsoring lunch and Intellipodcast is sponsoring the after event cocktail party. This looks to be another great Academy and promises to hold a number of special announcements relevant to all podcasters. We have a few spots are left. Don’t miss out. Register now!

Congratulations to Todd Cochrane for joining those of us on the full time podcasting train. Kind of nice to pay your mortgage while pursuing your passion huh? Todd and I had some productive discussions at last year’s CES. Glad to see he can now focus his energies. I know it has been a long term goal of his. Welcome aboard.

This is our newest family member: Orson W. Geoghegan. (For the film buffs out there you can easily figure out his namesake.) He is probably the only 10 week old purebred Bulldog puppy that has seen Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, F for Fake, The Lady from Shanghai and The Third Man. He has been with us a few weeks and today the kids and I took some pictures. A few have suggested we nickname him “spot” due to his rather distinctive rear marking.

Is there a Federal law I missed that says if a guy in a red vest and bow-tie places an orange cone in front of a parking spot it becomes verboten? I am generally happy to follow directions etc. However, tonight I was sent to pick up a large take out dinner order and found myself circling, looking for an open spot in a parking lot (paid for, I assume, by the leases of the establishments surrounding it) with countless other cars while driving past a sea of empty spots all blocked by orange cones. There was activity at the valet stand which was using maybe 10% of the spots they had cordoned off. Don’t get me wrong, I love valet. Big supporter: easy parking – way to go – sign me up. However, tonight I was self parking and when the bow-tie “credentialed” guys cordon off enough spaces in a public lot to run a used car dealership – all empty – I had a problem. People were forced to illegally park next to handicap spaces, fire hydrants, trash bins and in the bushes all to maintain the sanctity of the “coned” spots. So tonight the rebel in me came out and I went ahead and plowed over a cone into the last spot at the end of a long line of empty spots. I think I even heard cheers from the circling motorists as I made my “bold” move.

After returning from picking up dinner, I hiked back to the end of a long line of empty “coned” spaces and sure enough the valets had blocked me in by positioning a car 6 inches off my bumper. Keep in mind, my car and this newly placed “road block” were all alone in a sea of empty asphalt. Touche! I appreciate their hutzpah. I have to admit, as frustrating as it was, part of me thought, “well done.” (Not sure how the unaware owner of the rather expensive newly deployed “road block” felt. He was probably happy having martinis and had no idea I was about to use four wheel drive to extricate myself, and that I viewed his shiny brand new and extremely expensive new car as a mere obstacle.) So I went ahead and plowed over the 8 inch curb into the bushes, back and forth a number of times. (They advertised this capability repeatedly in the brochure for my car.) I even gathered a rather supportive crowd as I tried to get out. However, short of really violating some laws, the valets had succeeded. Apparently they have done this before. So I hiked back down the long line of empty “coned” spaces, passed the circling cars looking for available parking, to the valet stand to let them know they had “accidentally” left a car behind mine. The valet saw me coming and said, “You know that is our valet spot?” I responded that I had seen no defining markings indicating the space belonged exclusively to him but that someone had errantly abandoned a parking cone there which was now lodged underneath my truck. He sized me up pretty quickly and realized that the tip paying customers were a better use of his time. I did ask who was the landlord, the name of the valet company and his manager? These are universally viewed as “pain-in-the-ass” customer questions and resulted in a quickly dispatched valet to move the abandoned car. Why not get back to the tip paying customers right? The best part was while I spoke with the valet I had a support group of folks who had not braved “the cones” offering verbal support. “I can’t believe these guys.” “Who do they think they are?” “Do they think all the spots belong to them?” I felt like I had liberated us all.

Anyway, lesson learned – plow over the cone. What the hell are they going to do?

Legal readers: I know it is private property etc, but given that you are patronizing a lessee on the property does anyone really know what the significance of an orange obstacle (read cone) means in a parking spot? Looks like if you are willing to put up with the occasional “block in” it is fair game. Anyone know? I am curious.