Great iPhone WordPress Theme Plugin With AdSense

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Ever since the advent of the iPhone, I’ve always tried to have an iPhone optimized theme for my sites. For the last 2 plus years I’ve been using the iWPhone plugin for WordPress. It did the job with a simple straight forward approach. However recently, I switched to WPtouch. This plugin is a power house. It also provides a feature I’ve always wanted for my mobile themes – Google AdSense integration. More on that in a minute.

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To start it lets you set up a simple theme and then, when you are ready, you can really dig in an customize all types of features. As you can see, the home page displays a simple chronological listing of your most recent posts (I chose calendar display – it also has thumbnail view), allows for a number of menu functions and a feature to read the first few lines of the post before committing to the next screen. [Read more…]

EFF Takes on VoloMedia Podcast Patent

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation has added the VoloMedia podcast patent to it’s “Most Wanted” style list for its Patent-Busting Project.

I wrote about this patent back when it was first announced. As expected, there is now some movement in challenging it. Specifically, the EFF is looking for examples of prior art: “evidence that the podcasting methods described in the patent were already in use before November 19, 2003.” You can read the whole story over at the EFF.

(I was only half joking when I said I was “adding podcasting/episodic media expert witness to my resume.”) We’ll see what happens.

New Podcast Academy Content

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We’ve started posting more content to the Podcast Academy site. If you’re looking for great presentations about all things podcasting and new media be sure to check it out. Recent episodes include Automating Your Podcast Workflow, Podcasting in Higher Education, Building a Television Studio in your Basement and one from Steve Garfield entitled: Videoblogging in 5 Steps.

BTW if you in need of a great podcasting microphone check this out. Auction ends todays.

VoloMedia Podcast Patent… Remember When?

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Via the Association for Downloadable Media (ADM) website, VoloMedia (formerly PodBridge) explained the patent just issued to them for “podcasting.” I use quotes because they say it is for “podcasting.” Patent #7,568,213 actually covers a “Method for Providing Episodic Media.” You know, like TV and soap operas. My guess is they posted it to the ADM website because no one noticed it on the VoloMedia website. Reading about this recent success just takes me down memory lane.

Remember when…

Adam Curry, Dave Winer and VoloMedia came up with that crazy idea about enclosures in RSS?

Or the time Winer, Christopher Lydon and VoloMedia really put it into practice?

Or when Doug Kaye and VoloMedia chatted and IT Conversations was born?

Or how about when Dave Slusher and VoloMedia spotted Dannie Gregoires’s RSS aggregation software using the agent name ‘podcaster’ and chimed “Podcasting! right on!” and podcasting got its name?

Wow! The memories…

I know when early on Todd Cochrane, Dawn & Drew, Dan Klass, myself and many others were trying to sort out how to podcast it was always the folks at VoloMedia who came to our aid to explain episodic media done right. Heck – they invented it!

All that initial media attention: NY Times, Wired Magazine, USA Today, CNN etc., etc. It was always our basic crew – plus the great guys & gals from VoloMedia.

You couldn’t help but bump into the VoloMedia team in the green rooms at conferences. In fact, I can’t think of a podcast conference I went to where I didn’t see their banners or leave without them forcing a VoloMedia branded shirt and pen on us.

Those VoloMedia folks are awesome! They always covered the bar bill. The stories I could tell.

Those were the days…

How about the time an overly VC funded company tried to carve out an island of potential IP defensibility and future for litigation based revenue via a broad patent?

Good times, good times….

VoloMedia can claim whatever they like, good for them. IP claims like this can be used in many ways. Nuisance litigation, acquisition value etc. etc. Prior art from many listed above will be an issue but it comes down to dollars and sense.

The big loser in my opinion is the ADM. Who in the world agreed to post this to their site? Recent “notes”, “updates” and “clarifications” aside they gave it credibility under their name as an organization, an organization supported by the very people who will likely take issue with it and litigate it. No one paid this any notice until it was on the ADM site. Well played VoloMedia. The ADM folks are all smart people, how they allowed this to happen baffles me.

What am I doing about it? I’m adding podcasting/episodic media “expert witness” to my resume. When in Rome…

Brian Clark Blood Drive – Podcasters Needed

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BC.jpgBrian Clark, a great friend and partner in GrapeRadio.com was involved in a horrible car accident in Central California last Friday. He is currently in the ICU and has received in excess of 13 units of blood and platelets.

Many of you know Brian as a core member of the Grape Radio podcast, recipient of the 2006 Podcast of the Year award and a 2008 James Beard Award.

Along with myself, Brian is also a member of the Orange County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team. He is the kind of guy who is always there, ready to help others in their time of need. As a member of our team he responds to calls at all hours of the day and night to help people he has never even met. I hope that we can return the favor.

When asking, “What can we do to help,” the only thing that his wife has requested was for us to give blood. A blood drive has been planned for Wednesday, March 18, from noon to 6pm. For local folks the information is below. Due to limited time slots it is important to have everyone make an appointment on line.

If the 18th will not work or you are out of the area, please contact your local American Red Cross or http://www.givelife.org where you can also donate. If you participate, please email me and let me know or post a comment below. It will be great to tell Brian how many people donated blood on his behalf.

We always hear about the “podcast community”, I would like to show the power of our network.

How you can help:

  • Donate (Wherever you can)
  • Link to this post. Tweet and Re-Tweet about it, Facebook, whatever your platform may be.

While flowers are nice, blood may save the life of a loved one.

Any help towards this cause is greatly appreciated.

Please keep Brian and his family in your prayers.

Thank you in advance!

Michael W. Geoghegan

Note: Blood Drives aren’t so much about donating for a particular person as much as donating in the name of a person to help support a critical system in saving lives. So donate wherever you can and let us know so we can add it to the tally.

Brian Clark Blood Drive

When:
March 18th
Wednesday
Noon to 6:00

Location:
Tustin Hospital
14662 Newport Ave
Tustin, CA. 92780
Tel. 714. 669-5881

Sign Up:
http://www.givelife.org
Use sponsor code: THMC

*If you are out of the Orange County Area and wish to locate a place to give in your area, please visit http://www.GiveLife.org