The FIR Podcast Network

Monday, August 15, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #59: August 15, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #59: August 15, 2005

Content summary: RSS, Atom and phonetic alphabet; listeners’ comments discussion (global Hill & Knowlton blogging; registering podcasts with iTunes; Yahoo’s Blog for Hope); suing anonymous bloggers; finding new voice talent; French PR firestarter; big issues for British Airways and Gate Gourmet; Unilever monitors blogs; the war against blog spammers; Blog Business Summit; challenges with trackbacks on Blogger; changing blog hosting services; upcoming interview.

Show notes for August 15, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 75-minute conversation recorded live from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Concord, California, USA.

Download the file here (MP3, 30MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:29 Neville introduces the show; what the show’s about; how to give your feedback; show notes; what’s in this edition
• 02:31 Shel with some corrections from last Thursday’s show

Listeners’ comments discussion:

• 06:34 Niall Cook clarifies the global reach of Hill & Knowlton’s employee blogging initiative
• 07:35 Lee Hopkins asks for help with registering his podcast with iTunes, and plans to test Skype soon
• 10:05 Kevin Dugan with news about Yahoo’s Blog for Hope

News and Features:

• 17:52 A city councilman in the US wants to sue 4 bloggers for defamation, but first he has to find out who they are
• 22:13 Finding professional voice talent with Voice 123 - could it be the resource for a new FIR intro?
• 25:35 French fire brigade’s media spokesman lights the fires - literally
• 28:04 Significant communication and employee relations issues confront British Airways and Gate Gourmet, not to mention PR and customer relationship ones
• 44:26 Unilever pays attention to a loyal customer… who has a blog
• 48:30 Moderating comments and trackbacks - is it an inevitability for bloggers in the war against the spammers?
• 59:30 Blog Business Summit starts on August 17
• 61:54 From Our Correspondent Down Under: Lee Hopkins - challenges with trackbacks on Blogger and careful thinking about changing blog hosting service

Outro:

• 69:49 Hold-over topics for next Thursday’s and Monday’s shows as Shel won’t be live on Thursday’s show
• 70:15 How to give your feedback; show notes
• 71:09 Upcoming interview - Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek, 16 August
• 71:52 Neville intros the music

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Intro - Howard Harawitz, Adam Curry, pilots’ phonetic alphabet, James Snell, Known Atom Consumers wiki.

Listeners’ comments discussion - Niall Cook, Hill & Knowlton, Lee Hopkins, Stirling Family Church, iTunes, Skylook, Skype, Kevin Dugan, Yahoo’s Blog for Hope, American Cancer Society, Shari Kurzrok, Tsunami relief blog, Hilary Clinton, Ogilvy PR Worldwide, Jeremy Pepper.

News and Features - Blog Herald, US Constitution First Amendment, Christophe Grebert, Napoleonic Code, Geek News Central, Radio Daddy, Robin Good, Daily Mirror, British Airways, Gate Gourmet, Daily Telegraph, Transport & General Workers Union, Charles Pizzo, Unilever, Steve Rubel, Dan Entin, Land Rover, Adrian Melrose, TypePad, Six Apart, Loic le Meur, Trevor Cook, Expression Engine, CAPCHA, Movable Type, Blogger, MSN Spaces, MySpace, Dave Sifry, Technorati, TypeKey, Blog Business Summit, Evelyn Rodriguez, DL Byron, Chris Brownrigg, Dave Taylor, Robert Scoble, Buzz Bruggeman, Chris Pirillo, Eric Rice, Darren Barefoot, Stowe Boyd, Debbie Weil, Sally Falkow, Rebecca Blood, Biz Stone, Michael Wiley, Lee Hopkins, Haloscan, Constantin Basturea, Allan Jenkins, Andy Beacock, Rob Baillie, Blogsome, Ben Hamilton, SiteSell, Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster.

Outro - McGraw-Hill, Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek, Blogpulse, Free Love, Derek James, Garageband.com, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday August 18…

Thursday, August 11, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #58: August 11, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #58: August 11, 2005

Content summary: Listeners’ comments discussion (ID3 tags, an open-source RSS tool for audio, Skylook, copyrights and podcast music, pocasting librarians, “Advertising by the Government of Canada,” and Free Government Information); Hill & Knowlton UK’s employee blogging initiative; Neville’s new computer; Neville’s new blog, the redesign of Desirable Roasted Coffee; our interview with Constantin Basturea; the RSS feeds for Google News; would you pay for podcasts?; RSS and podcast password authentication; AttentionTrust; is innovation dead in Japan and the UK?

Show notes for August 1, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 68-minute podcast recorded live from Concord, California, USA.

Download the file here (MP3, 28MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:27 Shel introduces the show; what’s in this edition; how to give your feedback; show notes.

Listeners’ comments discussion:

• 03:27 Warren Stone on id3 tags and a nifty open-source project designed to generate automatic RSS feeds from audio files
• 07:49 Jeremy Hague on Skylook and RSS/podcasting password authentication
• 09:07 Rob Clark on our use of Homer Simpson shouting “Stop the presses!” in our opener, along with examples of copyright-holders going after people who innocently use their intellectual property in their films and other media
• Daniel Cornwall on librarians who podcast, a report from the government of Canada on its advertising efforts, and a Free Government Information page on podcasts by government agencies and elected officials

News and Features:

• 16:40 Neville introduces his segment
• 17:15 Hill & Knowlton UK introduces an employee blogging initiative
• 27:42 Neville bought a new PC—and it’s a Dell!
• 31:51 Allan Jenkins has relaunched his blog, Desirable Roasted Coffee, with a new design
• 33:49 Neville wants you to listen to our interview with Constantin Basturea
• 35:05 Shel comments on what goes into producing FIR show notes
• 35:52 Shel congratulates Niall Cook on the Hill & Knowlton UK initiative
• 36:02Shel comments on the Desirable Roasted Coffee redesign
• 39:16 Google News introduces RSS feeds
• 43:04 Would you pay to subscribe to a podcast?
• 48:30 RSS and podcast password authentication
• 55:00 AttentionTrust, a new non-profit designed to promote ethical use of people’s attention
• 58:14 Neville’s at Schipol Airport
• 59:09 Is innovation dead in Japan?
• 60:48 Is innovation dead in the UK?

Outro:

• 63:38 Shel wraps up the show with comment and show-note information
• 64:47 Shel intros the music

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Listeners’ comments discussion - id3 tags, Warren Stone’s audio/RSS project (a download of a Zip file), Apple iTunes, Skylook, Lee Hopkins, The Simpsons, the “Mad Hot Ballroom” story, the documentary/ring tone story, Star Trek, Starship Exeter, Open Sauce Marketing, Lawrence Lessig, the Open Stacks library podcast, Advertising by the Government of Canada  (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file), Free Government Information page on podcasts by government agencies and elected officials..

News and Features - Hill & Knowlton UK’s employee blogging initiative (Collective Conversation), Niall Cook, Steve “Bloodhound” Rubel’s post on the H&K UK blogging initiative, Ketchum’s Individual Media Services, Dell Computer, Jeff Jarvis’s Dell saga, Neville’s new blog, Movable Type, Total Choice Hosting, WordPress, Expression Engine, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Constantin Basturea’s blog PR Meets WWW, The New PR, Constantine’s PR blog headline service, Global PR Blog Week 1.0, Global PR Blog Week 2.0, Constantin’s del.icio.us bookmark service, Catalyst Group blog design study, Jakob Nielsen, Google News, Justin Pfister, Blogspotting, Heather Green’s post on paying for podcasts, Audible, Audible’s podcast press release, Your Mac Life, Inside Mac Radio, Amazon.com, XM satellite radio, Sirius satellite radio, HTTP authentication, Feedburner, NewGator Online, PHP, Atom, XML Encryption Syntax & Processing, BlogLines, Blowfish, Greasemonkey, AttentionTrust, Steve Gillmor, Clay Shirky, Mary Hodder, Time magazine, Fortune Global 500, VHS, Sony Walkman, Phillips, Harley Davidson, PlasticBag, Starbucks.

Selected resources on RSS and podcast password authentication - Jason Salas’ Weblog, Quoderat, blog.forret.com, Ian Landsman’s Weblog.

Outro - For Immediate Release, Nevon, a shel of my former self, Brother Love, Summertime.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Monday, August 15…

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Interview - Constantin Basturea - August 10, 2005

Interview - Constantin Basturea - August 10, 2005

In this edition of For Immediate Release podcast interviews, Shel and Neville enjoyed a 45-minute conversation with Constantin Basturea, the man behind The New PR Wiki and Global PR Blog Weeks I and II.

About our conversation partner:

Originally from Romania, Constantin Basturea (pronounced BahshTUra) came to the US when his wife opted to pursue a PhD. Settling in Miami, Florida, Constantin decided to take the opportunity to obtain his own Master’s Degree in public relations at the University of Miami. Since then, he has become a one-man resource for the global public relations profession, building tools that make it easier for PR practitioners to understand and apply the tools of social media. These include a wiki called The New PR, an annual online professional development event titled Global PR Blog Week, a PR headline service, and a comprehensive PR-focused del.icio.us bookmark listing.

Download the conversation here (MP3, 18MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and our future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need software such as the FeedDemon RSS aggregator, or the free ipodder or DopplerRadio).

Interview Segment Time Points:

• 00:00 Neville introduces the interview
• 01:20 Constantin clarifies the pronounciation of his name
• 02:45 Constantin’s PR headline list on BlogDigger
• 07:16 Constantin’s PR blog list on Bloglines
• 11:01 The New PR Wiki
• 19:45 On Constantin’s independence (he’s a trusted source)
• 20:38 Global PR Blog Week
• 21:15 Global PR Blog Week 1.0
• 25:27 Global PR Blog Week 2.0
• 29:05 Constantin’s coverage of Ketchum
• 38:11 What’s next? Constantin’s blog
• 39:10 Constantin calls for volunteers
• 39:50 The new look and feel of Constantin’s blog
• 41:20 Constantin’s new del.icio.us list
• 44:25 Shel wraps up the conversation

Links for the individuals and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the conversation:

University of Miami, BlogDigger PR Blog List, Greg Gershman, Bloglines PR Blogs List, The New PR, Executive Bloggers, Blogging Policies, RSS Winterfest, SocialText, RSS Winterfest Wiki (password required), Global PR Blog Week 1.0, IBM Podcast, List of Business Podcasts, Yahoo Search Engine, Google, pmWiki, The New PR Hot Issues, Ketchum, Land Rover story, Jim Horton, Global PR Blog Week 2.0, Trevor Cook, Jeremy Wright, Kevin Dugan, Jay Rosen, Steve Outing, Jeremy Pepper’s interview with Richard Edelman, Jack O’Dwyer, John Cass, Hill & Knowlton, The Washington Post Company, Jud Branam, BobWyman, PubSub, Constantin’s Ketchum posts, Adam Brown, Ketchum Personalized Media Services, PRWeek.com, GM Fastlane Blog, HassMSL, Ketchum timeline on Hot Issues page, Jeremy Pepper’s interview with Adam Brown, PR Meets WWW (Constantin’s blog), pMachine, WordPress, Expression Engine, Moveable Type, Constantin’s del.icio.us bookmarks

Monday, August 08, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #57: August 8, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #57: August 8, 2005

Content summary: Listeners’ comments discussion (get the message out with blogs; new features for Talk Digger; enjoying the show and music; getting a purpose going forward; yes to password-protected RSS feeds; surreal iPod experience; being blown away by show #56 as a great podcasting tutorial; iPod alarm clocks; less time to appreciate podcasts; podcast music copyright); Podcast Awards and pimping for votes; Google blacklists CNET; Skylook plug in to Skype; Yahoo audio search; IBM podcasts and the first one from space; a new book on blogging and a great essay; upcoming interviews.

Show notes for August 8, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 78-minute conversation recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 31MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:31 Shel introduces the show; what’s in this edition; how to give your feedback; show notes.

Listeners’ comments discussion:

• 02:30 Lee Hopkins says blogs are one fantastic way of getting a message out there quickly as many companies have too long a process to organize changes on the company website
• 04:26 Frédérick Giasson, developer of the Talk Digger blog search portal, has been working on new features (online now)
• 07:36 Lee Hopkins illustrates how a podcast shows its potential and effectiveness as a facilitator of cross-global linkages
• 08:25 Liam Morrison enjoys the show and the music in show #55
• 08:47 Rob Cottingham says the phrase ‘gets it’ still serves a purpose, but he says the phrase ‘going forward’ should be shunned
• 11:32 Mike Strock burns FIR shows to a CD for listening in his car on a his daily drive, asks if we’d do more than 2 shows a week, and wonders whether Fox TV’s podcasts about TV shows will be spoilers for those outside the US, and what’s happened to Furl
• 13:42 Quinton says yes, you can have password-protected RSS feeds
• 17:21 Josh Hallett‘s surreal experience with his iPod playlist
• 18:31 Heather Green is blown away by the tutorial effect of show #56
• 19:27 Quinton with more on password-protected RSS feeds
• 19:48 Nicole Simon says show #56 was wonderful and a great introduction into “what is podcasting and why should you care?”
• 20:07 Dan York also thinks show #56 is a great resource for folks just getting acquainted with the world of podcasting
• 20:44 Heidi Miller has news about one hotel chain’s alarm clocks with jacks to plug in your iPod, another where you can check out an iPod when you check in, and one where guests can get an iPod filled with audio books
• 25:44 Dan York on how a change in commute has impacted his podcast appreciation time, listening to four straight hours of FIR and living to tell the tale, and an emotional experience with the music in show #48
• 32:37 Dennis Howlett on music intros to podcasts - what about copyright?

News and Features:

• 36:00 We didn’t win in the Podcast Awards; thanks to everyone who voted for us; why we pimped for votes
• 42:54 Google didn’t like a CNET News report so puts CNET on a blacklist for a year - smart or not?
• 49:02 The Skype environment for software developers - more cool Skype add-ins to enhance your overall communication experience
• 54:47 Yahoo jumps into audio search with a beta tool - worth paying attention to
• 56:27 IBM‘s investor relations department starts a podcast (but it’s not the first IBM podcast)
• 64:03 The first podcast from space as the Space Shuttle Discovery plans to return home
• 64:56 From Our Correspondent Down Under: Lee Hopkins - great show #56 from McGraw-Hill, a new book on blogging and a crackingly-good essay on how to set up a blog

Outro:

• 70:33 Hold-over topics and what some discussion themes will be for next Monday’s show as Neville’s not live on Thursday’s show
• 71:24 How to give your feedback; show notes
• 72:28 Last week’s interview with Jeff De Cagna; upcoming interviews - Constantin Basturea, 9 August [Update: postponed, being rescheduled]; Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek, 16 August
• 74:05 Shel intros the music

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Listeners’ comments discussion - Lee Hopkins, Naked Conversations, General Motors, Bob Lutz, Frédérick Giasson, Talk Digger, Robert Scoble, Mary Hodder, Technorati, WELS, Stirling Family Church blog, Liam Morrison, Rob Cottingham, Cluetrain Manifesto, Mike Strock, Fox, Furl, McGraw-Hill, Quinton, FeedBurner, Audible.com, Gnomedex, Adam Curry, Podcast Brothers, FeedDemon, Josh Hallett, Heather Green, Blogspotting, Stephen Baker, Nicole Simon, Dan York, Heidi Miller, Southwest Airlines, iPod, Hilton Hotels, KSL Resorts, Algonquin Hotel, Virgin Atlantic, del.icio.us, Rob Costlow, Digital Sandbox, Daily Source Code, Dennis Howlett, MashupTown, Amazon, The Lascivious Biddies.

News and Features - Podcast Awards, Evil Genius Chronicles, IABC Gold Quill Awards, Media Artist Secrets, BBC Radio 4 In Business, Smallbizpod, Cubicle Escape Pod, Todd Cochrane, CNET News, Eric Schmidt, Google, Jeremy Zawodny, Jason Shellen, Steve Rubel, Skype, Jyve, Skylook, Microsoft Office Outlook, Stuart Henshall’s Skype Journal review, NEO Pro, Yahoo, IBM, IBM’s IR podcast, Reuters, IBM Systems & Technology Division podcast, podcast from the Space Shuttle Discovery, Lee Hopkins, Barons to Bloggers: Confronting Media Power, Rupert Murdoch, Stephen Downes’ essay.

Outro - Jeff De Cagna interview, Principled Innovation, Associations Unorthodox, Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek, Blogpulse, Podsafe Music Network, Adrina Thorpe, Never Meant.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday August 11…

Friday, August 05, 2005

Interview: Jeff De Cagna, Principled Innovation - August 5, 2005

In this edition of For Immediate Release podcast interviews, Shel and Neville enjoyed a 55-minute conversation with Jeff De Cagna, founder of Principled Innovation LLC. Topics and themes discussed include: the challenges for volunteers and staff of association; reducing governance in associations; advocacy and taking stands on issues; the dead strategic planning model and what should be in place instead; opening up to new ideas and learning; the uneven distribution of a future that’s already here.

About our conversation partner:

Jeff De Cagna is chief strategist and founder of Principled Innovation LLC, Arlington, Virginia, USA. A former association executive with various regional, national and international associations, Jeff founded Principled Innovation LLC in February 2002 to advance his mission of making innovation more possible in the association community. Today, Principled Innovation LLC works exclusively with associations on the challenge of organizing for innovation in a turbulent and uncertain world. Jeff is also principal and co-founder of Association Renewal LLC, a joint venture of Notter Consulting and Principled Innovation LLC, with offices in Gaithersburg, Maryland and Arlington, Virginia.

Jeff is a Fellow of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), and a frequent speaker and author for various trade and professional organizations, including ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership.  He served as the founding managing editor of the Journal of Association Leadership, the association community’s only peer-reviewed journal, and still serves on the publication’s editorial advisory board.  Jeff has been a member of both the ASAE Executive Management and Professional Development Section Councils, and has chaired various task forces and working groups over many years.

Jeff writes The Association Innovation Blog and he is the association community’s podcasting pioneer, producing the Associations Unorthodox podcast. A graduate of The Johns Hopkins University, Jeff received a master of education degree from Harvard University.

Download the conversation here (MP3, 22MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and our future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need software such as the FeedDemon RSS aggregator, or the free ipodder or DopplerRadio).

Interview Segment Time Points:

• 00:07 Shel introduces the interview.
• 01:15 Jeff talks about his background and his involvements with various associations on the staff side, and his activities with his companies.
• 04:11 Jeff on his volunteerism roles in associations.
• 06:41 Neville comments on volunteerism and the small groups of ‘always volunteers’ and asks if that is to do with the characteristics of individuals or something not right with the structures of associations.
• 07:42 Difficult to avoid the ‘core group phenomenon,’ Jeff says, and speaks about the challenges facing associations and their staffs.
• 12:14 Shel comments on IABC reducing the size of its executive board ands asks if this is a good first step.
• 12:39 Jeff explains why he believes it’s essential for associations to reduce the size of their governing groups, some of the benefits of doing so, and comments on the risks of associations not doing so.
• 20:39 Neville comments on the seeming preoccupation of associations in talking about their structures rather than the benefits they deliver to members, and why they don’t take stands on crucial issues - such as ethics in the case of the PR profession - asking if this is something you would expect an association to be involved in.
• 23:40 Jeff’s views on association advocacy and issues to consider including political and financial.
• 30:32 Neville on why he thinks associations should collaborate to represent the profession on issues like ethics.
• 31:44 There is value for associations in collaborating, Jeff says, building cooperation around issues of common interest.
• 33:28 Jeff: we live in fundamentally different times which will be more different as we go forward; the web has taught us about the plausibility of the impossible.
• 35:12 Shel comments on strategic planning and asks how heretical it would be if associations didn’t do strategic planning.
• 35:48 Strategic planning is dead, says Jeff, and explains his indictment on why, believing that strategic planning today operates as a mechanism for top-down control by boards and CEOs.
• 46:49 Shel asks what are some of the characteristics of associations that are starting to move in the right direction.
• 47:02 Jeff: those who have moved beyond strategic planning as a methodology, and opened themselves up to ideas and learning, comment on organizational myopia and what the CEO should be paying attention to - the important not the urgent.
• 49:46 Jeff: the future is already here but it’s unevenly distributed in the associations community.
• 52:58 Shel and Neville wrap up the interview.
• 53:59 About this podcast and where to find For Immediate Release.

Links for the individuals and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the conversation:

IABC, BPW/USA, American Corporate Counsel Association, Greater Washington Society of Association Executives, Special Libraries Association, ASAE, Center for Association Leadership, Chaordic Commons, Jay Rosen, Ketchumgate, Betsy Boyd Flynn article (PDF), Journal of Association Leadership, Kevin Kelly article, Wired, Skype, Netscape, The Attention Economy, William Gibson, PRSA, CCM, CPRS, IPRA.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #56: August 4, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #56: August 4, 2005

Content summary: Presentation on podcasting to McGraw-Hill’s communicators in New York City; conference questions-and-answers discussion.

Show notes for August 4, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 60-minute conversation recorded live from New York City, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 24MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Additional download - PowerPoint presentation (2.8Mb). Requires Microsoft PowerPoint or free PowerPoint viewer for Windows.

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:31 Neville introduces the show from the McGraw-Hill communicators’ conference at the Digital Sandbox, New York City
• 01:06 Shel: we’ll be discussing comments from the last show in next Monday’s show; today’s conference PowerPoint will be available for download

Presentation on podcasting to McGraw-Hill’s communicators:

• 01:37 What is podcasting?
• 04:18 The background to podcasting
• 05:57 Why podcast as a business?
• 07:41 About For Immediate Release
• 09:00 Finding and subscribing to podcasts
• 10:03 RSS feeds, podcatchers, direct downloading and iTunes
• 11:35 Subscribing to podcasts through RSS aggregators
• 13:14 Producing podcasts and which businesses are doing it
• 15:06 What do you need to do a podcast - a look at software and equipment
• 17:54 Metadata and ID3 tags
• 18:48 Finding a place for your MP3 files
• 20:18 Updating the RSS feed and linking to it
• 21:03 Marketing and promoting your podcast
• 21:37 Conducting podcast interviews
• 22:34 Strategizing a business podcast and the communicator’s role
• 26:09 Podcasts on intranets
• 27:24 Books about podcasting

Discussion - audience Q&A:

• 28:41 “You told us about making sure you have a good reason to start a podcast. Why did you start one?”
• 31:32 “Currently with iTunes, you can purchase music. Are there podcasts for sale, and do you think there’s a buisness in actually being able to sell podcasts?”
• 35:47 “In a corporate environment, should there be complementarity between the messages that go out in the corporate blog and the messages in a podcast? And is there any tracking between what you write in your blog and what you talk about in your podcast?”
• 39:02 “Is it fair to say that the podcast would likely be more amenable to commercial applications than to a blog? Because in a business-to-business environment you don’t want to put out value-added information that thousands of people can get which should be one-to-one. Is there accepted wisdom now that blogs need to be less commercial and perhaps podcasts?”
• 42:40 “If you’re going to put the resources behind doing a podcast, you do want to know that it’s being listened to. What are the metrics? How do you know how many people are listening to your podcast over time and who they are?”
• 48:50 “Should companies do podcasting even if they don’t have the content right now just so they can be seen to be on the cutting edge?”
• 51:04 “Podcasting has a such an advantage over radio because you can play it back, but it also seems that it’s hard to find a place in a podcast where the interesting thing was. Is there any way of capturing that, the same way a TV guide?”
• 53:31 “In a business-to-business situation, we sometimes provide content to a big customer on a contract basis. Do you know of anyone using this technology in that way? How do you think this will play out?”

Outro:

• 57:20 Neville outros the show; how to give your feedback; show notes
• 59:06 Shel thanks the participants and McGraw-Hill
• 59:16 Upcoming confirmed interviews - Jeff de Cagna, Associations Unorthodox on August 5; Constantin Basturea on August 9; Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek, on August 16

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Intro - Digital Sandbox, McGraw-Hill.

Presentation - iPod, Dave Winer, Adam Curry, MTV, Daily Source Code, iTunes, Apple, FCC, Lee Hopkins, Dan York, Podcast Alley, iPodder, DopplerRadio, FeedDemon, Windows Media Player, NewsGator, FeedStation, Walt Disney Company, Michael Geoghagen, GM FastLane Podcasts, GM FastLane Blog, Purina, Skype, Plantronics, Hot Recorder, Audacity, Libsyn, Geek News Central, Virtual Audio Cable, Podcasting: The Do It Yourself Guide, Neville’s book review.

Discussion/Q&A - PR Week, BBC Radio, Audible.com, Endurance Radio, Gatorade, Gartner, CNET News Headlines podcasts, Business Week, Behind the Scenes, Dawn & Drew Show, Rock & Roll Geek Show, Heather Green, Steve Rubel, Evil Genius Chronicles, Heineken, Podscope, Jupiter Research, Forrester Research, Duke University, Robert French, Virgin Atlantic podcasts, the podcasting vicar, WELS.

Outro - Jeff de Cagna, Constantin Basturea, Global PR Blog Week 2.0, Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Monday August 8…

Direct audience engagement with live podcasting

Today’s edition of For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, show #56, will be a little out of the ordinary.

The show will be recorded live from a McGraw-Hill internal conference taking place in New York at which Shel is presenting. I’m in Amsterdam as usual and Shel and I will be connecting via Skype as usual.

What’s different is that the show will be, in effect, the presentation that Shel will be making to a live audience in New York City, with me here in Amsterdam participating remotely. We’ll have active audience involvement during the presentation and discussion. Indeed, the audience will be part of the show - the most direct audience engagement for a podcast.

We’ll be doing the show at about 6.30pm GMT today, a bit later than we normally do. As a result, show notes won’t be posted until tomorrow morning. The show MP3, though, will be online today so if you subscribe to the RSS feed, you’ll get the show automatically as usual.

Yet more experimentation!

[UPDATE 9pm GMT] The show is recorded and now available. If you subscribe to the RSS feed or via iTunes, you’ll receive it automatically. If you’d like to download it directly, here’s the link:

Show #56 - direct download (MP3, 24Mb).

Show notes will be posted here during Friday morning GMT. There will be a PowerPoint presentation to accompany the podcast; a download link will be in the show notes.

Monday, August 01, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #55: August 1, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #55: August 1, 2005

Content summary: Listeners’ comments discussion (on enjoying On A Podcast; effects of failing to meet customers’ expectations; collaborative new media in the church; understanding the tech landscape; digital rights; pitching bloggers; PR uses for tags, supporting a cause); FIR in GNC; open source production at GNC; Talk Digger; Fox Network podcasts; talking blogs with Talkr; GoingOn aggregates the digital lifestyle; Simply Fired; the Kryptonite perspective; being unplugged from the blogosphere and the perspectives.

Show notes for August 1, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 72-minute conversation recorded live from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and New York City, USA.

Download the file here (MP3, 29MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:30 Neville introduces the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; thanks for your votes in the Podcast Awards.

Listeners’ comments discussion:

• 02:51 Jeff Clavier enjoyed listening to On A Podcast, good luck in the Podcast Awards, happy 50th, and BlogHer
• 03:39 Nik Friedman on the Google effect, trackbacks and the blogger community on companies who fail to meet customers’ expectations; Shel’s negative hotel experience in New York
• 05:06 Sallie Draper with news on collaborative blogging and podcasting by her Lutheran church community
• 07:18 Neville reports on email discussion he’s had with Cruisebox, the band who produced On A Podcast: “Indie podcasting sooo over? We think not!”
• 08:35 Rich Casey says communicators need to understand the tech landscape much better than they currently do
• 10:33 Marshall Kirkpatrick on protecting digital rights, pitching bloggers, PR uses for tags, and gaining blogger interest in supporting a cause

News and Features:

• 17:26 FIR gets a mention in Geek News Central (thanks Todd!)
• 19:02 Shel describes the new audience-produced opening to Geek News Central - great open source production
• 20:43 Searching multiple blog search engines with Talk Digger
• 26:52 Fox Network jumps into entertainment podcasting, delivering show summaries to reinforce their brands
• 31:35 Listening to blog posts with Talkr - blog podcasting via RSS; developments in voice synthesization
• 38:04 Online personal identity management with GoingOn - a digital lifestyle aggregator
• 40:58 Rick Bruner returns to the blogosphere with a new collaborative Business Blog Consulting
• 44:02 Learn about other people’s ‘exit strategies’ at Simply Fired
• 46:45 What’s the real story about the Kryptonite bike lock and the Bic pen? Almost a year on and Kryptonite’s PR manager joins the conversation
• 55:45 From Our Correspondent Down Under: Lee Hopkins - on being unplugged from the blogosphere for two weeks, how blogs and podcasts differentiate communicators, putting it all in perspective

Outro:

• 63:40 Shel outros the show; how to give your feedback; show notes
• 64:50 Upcoming confirmed interviews - Constantin Basturea on August 9; Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek, on August 16
• 65:32 Something different for Thursday’s show - recorded live from a McGraw-Hill communicators’ meeting
• 67:20 Neville introduces the music

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Intro - Podcast Awards, Todd Cochrane.

Listeners’ comments discussion - Jeff Clavier, On A Podcast, BlogHer, Nik Friedman, Quick Boys Movers, Sallie Draper, WELS, Greg St Claire, Cruisebox, Rich Casey, IABC 2005 conference, IABC, Raytheon, del.icio.us, iTunes, iPod, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Committee to Protect Bloggers, Steve Rubel’s tag request, John Udell, Gillmor Gang, Furl, Live8, Heather Green, Stephen Baker, Digital Sandbox.

News and Features - Geek News Central, RadioDaddy.com, Talk Digger, Bloglines, Technorati, Blogpulse, PubSub, Ice Rocket, Feedster, Blogdigger, MSN Search, Google, Mary Hodder, Robert Scoble, Fox Network, 24, Libsyn, Dawn & Drew Show, Catholic Insider, Adam Curry, Talkr, Corante, Ford, Flickr, Marc Canter, GoingOn, LinkedIn, Rick Bruner, Business Blog Consulting, Paul Chaney, Wayne Hulbert, BL Ochman, Steve Rubel, Todd Sattersten, Debbie Weil, Simply Fired, Mark Jen, Kryptonite Bike Lock, Ingersoll-Rand, Fortune article about Kryptonite, Shel Israel, Naked Conversations: Kryptonite Argues Its Case, Donna Tocci, Eric Eggertson, Jeremy Wright, Engadget, Lee Hopkins, Tom Peters, Lee Lefever, TypePad.

Outro - Constantin Basturea, Global PR Blog Week 2.0, Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek, McGraw Hill, Business Week, La Tribu, Sylvia, Garageband.com, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday August 4…

Thursday, July 28, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #54: July 28, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #54: July 28, 2005

Content summary: Listeners’ comments discussion (on getting value from FIR and where to listen; European digital rights); BlogHer on Saturday; Dave Winer’s OPML editor launched; Podscope indexing every podcast; indie podcasters On A Podcast; made up quotes in press releases; PR bloggers should quit whining about being pitched; the missing link in mission statements; blog search tools comparisons; upcoming interviews; Podcast Awards.

Show notes for July 28, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 74-minute conversation recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 25MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:32 Shel introduces the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; vote in the Podcast Awards.

Listeners’ comments discussion:

• 02:58 Trackbacks to the last show’s show notes from Angela Booth, Tom Murphy and James Cherkoff
• 04:06 Frank Meeuwsen on the value he gets from FIR and how he listens; and wonders about upcoming podcasting conferences
• 11:08 Nicole Simon on her pledge for a European digital rights initiative and why communicators should pay attention

News and Features:

• 20:42 BlogHer on Saturday 30 July - the open and inclusive forum to discuss the role of women within the larger blog community, and much more; and how you can participate even if you’re not there
• 22:20 Dave Winer launches an OPML editor; OPML’s key role in producing content for the web
• 25:08 Podscope plans to index every spoken podcast on the web by the end of August
• 27:30 Indie podcasters don’t do it for the money and are here to stay - the message in our bonus music track from Cruisebox: On A Podcast
• 35:17 Making up quotes in press releases - should you be shocked?
• 41:20 Some PR bloggers want to be treated like journalists but complain about being pitched. Andy Lark and others say “Quit, you whiners!” What can PR bloggers do to make their interests clearer to pitchers, before they pitch?
• 48:27 The missing link in mission statements is employee understanding of the organization’s mission and its relevance to them - assuming the mission is clear from the outset, that is
• 57:13 Mary Hodder’s post on blog search tools and the comparisons (PDF) highlight the differences in how the tools work; the competitive edge Blogpulse has with its Blogpulse Profiles offering

Outro:

• 65:53 Neville outros the show; how to give your feedback; show notes
• 67:22 Upcoming confirmed interviews - Constantin Basturea on August 9; Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek, on August 16; to be confirmed: Jeff de Cagna of Associations Unorthodox
• 68:48 Shel introduces the music

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Intro - Podcast Awards.

Listeners’ comments discussion - Angela Booth, Tom Murphy, James Cherkoff, Frank Meeuwsen, 9rules.com, IBC 2005, Portable Media Expo, Podcast Hotel, PodcastCon UK, Amy Gahran, Nicole Simon, Nicole’s pledge call for European digital rights, EFF, EDRI, Reboot7, Flickr, Tris Hussey.

News and Features - BlogHer, Dave Winer, iPodder.org, Podcasting News, Podscope, iTunes, AAC file format, Blinkx, Business 2.0, Greg Lindsay podcasting article, Shel’s podcasting post, Neville’s podcasting post, Cruisebox, On A Podcast, Adam Curry, Daily Source Code, iTunes Podcast Directory, Dan Gillmor, Steve Crescenzo, Cluetrain Manifesto, CEO Blogs List, Andy Lark, Steve Rubel, Om Malik, Marketing 1 to 1, Neville’s post on mission statements, Financial Times, Avis, NASA, Disney, Mattell, Hasbro, Dilbert’s Mission Statement Generator, Sue MacDonald, Intelliseek, Blogpulse, Technorati, PubSub, Robert Scoble, Mary Hodder, Bloglines, Feedster, Ice Rocket, Dave Sifry, Blogpulse Profiles, Ketchum.

Outro - Podcast Awards, Constantin Basturea, Pete Blackshaw, Jeff de Cagna, Podsafe Music Network, Lejeune, Dead Again, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Monday August 1…

Monday, July 25, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #53: July 25, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #53: July 25, 2005

Content summary: Listeners’ comments discussion (on winning credibility in the blogosphere); Land Rover campaign update; road testing BlogPulse Profiles; Fast Company’s blog jam; talent and innovation depart Ford and Hewlett-Packard; an interview with Intelliseek about BlogPulse and BrandPulse; new data from Pew; AdCandy’s open approach; pledge for digital rights in Europe; PodcastCon UK; CNET podcasts; Mike Manuel and clear thinking; BBC Backstage innovates; Yahoo snaps up Konfabulator.

Show notes for July 25, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 70-minute conversation recorded live from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and almost live from Concord, California, USA.

Download the file here (MP3, 28MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:32 Neville introduces the show; Shel’s not live today, but we have pre-recorded commentary; vote in the Podcast Awards; how to give your feedback; show notes
• 02:31 What’s in today’s show

Listeners’ comments discussion:

• 04:03 Adrian Melrose on winning credibility when campaigning on customer satisfaction with a blog and how the blogosphere is a free and fair medium to ensure balance if brands are transparent and open; the latest on Adrian’s Land Rover campaign

News and Features:

• 07:24 Shel’s intro - why he’s not live on today’s show
• 09:05 Shel road tests the new BlogPulse Profiles, and likes what he sees
• 12:53 Fast Company magazine plans its second annual blog jam - an opportunity for editors and readers to discuss business, leadership and innovation on the FC Now blog
• 14:34 Ford lays off 20 PR managers and Hewlett-Packard lays off thousands of employees - talent and innovation departs and is anyone safe these days?
• 18:25 The low-down on the new BlogPulse offering from Intelliseek, especially BlogPulse Profiles, plus a look at BrandPulse - Neville speaks with Sue MacDonald, Intelliseek’s communicator and blogger
• 32:50 Shel reports on a Pew Internet study which says the average American internet user doesn’t know much about podcasting and RSS - a good example of why communicators still need to pay attention to traditional communication methods; and what’s in a name?
• 40:54 AdCandy‘s ad slogan contests - an open source marketing approach
• 46:02 Supporting digital rights in Europe - Nicole Simon wants your pledge
• 49:49 PodcastCon UK, the first podcasting conference in the UK, takes place in London in September - with a session on podcasting from the business point of view
• 52:16 Recommended listening: a daily dose of tech news from CNET News Headlines podcasts - and an opportunity for someone to do something like this in Europe
• 54:50 Corporate and employee blog policies unplugged - Mike Manuel highlights some clear thinking
• 56:10 More innovation from BBC Backstage - a competition to make more from the TV schedules that could change how we use TV
• 59:02 Yahoo snaps up Konfabulator - desktop widgets to spread in great giveaway

Outro:

• 62:08 Neville outros the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; the music

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Intro - Podcast Awards.

Listeners’ comments discussion - Adrian Melrose, The Truth About the Land Rover Discovery 3, Jeff Jarvis, Dell.

News and Features - BlogPulse Profiles, Allan Jenkins, Star Trek, James Doohan, Fast Company, FC Now, IBM, Ford, Boston Herald, Steve Lubetkin, Hewlett-Packard, Alan Kay, Xerox PARC, Intelliseek, Sue MacDonald, BlogPulse, BrandPulse, Technorati, PubSub, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Steve Rubel, Amy Gahran, Todd Cochran, Marqui, Contra Costa Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, iTunes, HC+T Update newsletter, Safari, Firefox, Windows Vista, FIR interview with James Cherkoff and Johnnie Moore, AdCandy.com, ClickZ, NAACP, Skype, Nicole Simon, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Danny O’Brien, Jim Graven, European Digital Rights International, PodcastCon UK, Paul Nicholls, Alex Bellinger, Adam Curry, Dave Winer, BritCaster, CNET News, Mike Manuel, BBC Backstage, TiVo, Konfabulator, Yahoo, AP, Jyve, Virtual Earth, Google Earth.

Outro - Audacity, Adobe Audition, PodcastNYC, Sound Scientist, Bill, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday July 28…

[UPDATE 26 July] There is a new version of the MP3 file now available. If you received the MP3 file in your RSS reader or directly downloaded it before about 6:30pm GMT today, I recommend you download it again. The replacement file has some signficant audio fixes that will make your listening experience much better with this file than with the original version yesterday. No content has changed and the show length is the same.

Production Challenges

Production has been a bit of a challenge with today’s edition of The Hobson & Holtz Report, show #53.

Not especially because I was doing it this time rather than Shel; no, more to do with using an audio recording and editing application with which I’m not yet fully familiar. So doing things like clicking on a button or icon to answer the question “I wonder if the sound improves if I do this…” definitely was not a good idea today.

The application in question is Adobe Audition 1.5 for Windows. Excellent program, without doubt. But my unfamiliarity with it meant that producing the final MP3 file has taken much longer than usual with some major fixing needed during the process plus, in the end, some essential correcting work with good old trusty Audacity.

Anyway, finalizing the show MP3 file is a bit delayed, sorry to say. It will be up on the server as soon as possible, and if you subscribe to the RSS feed, you’ll get it automatically.

The usual detailed show notes will be published here, also as soon as possible.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #52: July 21, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #52: July 21, 2005

Content summary: Listeners’ comments discussion (on videocasting; success with iTunes; codes of ethics; blogging about Dell and Land Rover; concerns about Technorati); Canon’s new tool; Blinkx TV and Smartfeed; BlogPulse relaunched website; Global Blog8Live launches; helping Shari Kerzrok; Land Rover customer dissatisfaction campaign; PR Week on podcasting; report from the Spinfluencer; RSS advertising in Europe; Podcast Awards.

Show notes for July 21, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 77-minute conversation recorded live from Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 22MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:31 Shel introduces the show; vote in the Podcast Awards; how to give your feedback; show notes;

Listeners’ comments discussion:

• 03:06 Dave Traynor on videocasting and Nerd TV
• 04:40 Mike Bellina has success in getting FIR from the iTunes Store, and thinks the show length is fine - where else can you get seminar-quality listening? Shel has some comments for anyone who is experiencing difficulty with iTunes
• 06:47 Allan Jenkins says every PR and political blogger should follow a personal code of ethics, much as the LA Times is asking its journalists to follow; we agree and discuss what this means for trust and credibility; how professional associations could back such individual efforts
• 12:14 Josh Hallett thinks it’s an order of magnitude on more bloggers commenting about the Dell customer dissatisfaction issue than the Land Rover one; concerns about Technorati and the differences in results between it and other blog search engines

News and Features:

• 17:47 A new tool from Canon lets employees who don’t have access to PCs print documents from the company intranet or internet - how feasible is this idea in the workplace?
• 21:02 Blinkx TV and Smartfeed finds specific content in audio and video files and gives you the results via RSS - could this be the answer to everyone’s prayers?
• 28:09 BlogPulse relaunched its website with a raft of new features such as BlogPulse Profiles (helps you answer the questions “who are these bloggers and why should anyone pay attention to them?”); brief comment, more in next Monday’s show
• 30:12 Global Blog8Live launches its first country site in The Netherlands with the goal of getting people/celebrities blogging for a good cause with each post a contribution to making poverty history
• 31:35 Helping Shari Kerzrok - Ogilvy’s call to the PR community to find a donor for Shari’s liver transplant; the PR blogosphere responds
• 34:17 Adrian Melrose’s Land Rover customer dissatisfaction campaign - 14 open questions to Land Rover and a challenge to answer them via the campaign blog
• 37:43 A blog offers positive benefits for a company where a happy customer blogs, as is the case with Rob of Podcast NYC and his Red Room Chronicles blog about Marriott Hotels; some further thoughts on Rob’s critique in show #48 about the Virgin Atlantic New York podcasts
• 43:01 PR Week reports that podcasting opens the doors for new customer relationships
• 46:07 Blog attacks on PR - circling the wagons in defence mode; developing a PR black list; how focusing on the positives can help overcome the consequences of the negatives
• 54:42 Spinfluencer Eric Schwartzman reports from Los Angeles with an interview with John Markoff: on email and spam filters; Bitorrent and RSS is the future of TV
• 66:01 FeedBurner and VNU Business Media link up for the first RSS advertising programme in Europe - opportunities for content publishers (including bloggers) as well as other RSS service providers

Outro:

• 70:20 Neville outros the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; Podcast Awards; the music from Shel

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Intro - Podcast Awards, Geek News Central.

Listeners’ comments discussion - Dave Traynor, Nerd TV, Mike Bellina, iTunes Store, Adam Curry, Allan Jenkins, Dan Gillmor, IABC code of ethics, IABC Cafe, Warren Bickford, Creative Commons, Josh Hallett, Dell, Land Rover, Jeff Jarvis, Technorati, PubSub, Bloglines, Dave Sifry.

News and Features - Toby Ward, Canon Web Access Software Kit, Canon Australia, Blinkx, PC World, Podscope, BlogPulse, Intelliseek, Blog8Live, Startpagina.nl, Google AdWords, Bob Geldof, Jeremy Pepper, Shari Kerzrok, NYU Medical Center, Ogilvy PR, O’Dwyer,Google News, Media Week, New York Daily News, AdWeek, Adrian Melrose, The Truth About the Land Rover Discovery 3, Mike Mulholland, Rob of Podcast NYC, Marriott Hotels, Treonauts, Virgin Atlantic New York podcasts, New York Minute, Loudish, PR Week, Keith O’Brien, Christopher Carfi, Russell Beattie, Jeremy Zawodny, Brett Arends, Steve Lubetkin, IABC, PRSA, CIPR, Tom Murphy, BL Ochman, Eric Schwartzman, Charlie Rose, John Markoff, New York Times, What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer, Google, Microsoft, Bitorrent, Longhorn, ParticipatoryPR, Spinfluencer, Skype, Forrester Research, FeedBurner, VNU Business Media, Nokia Enterprise Solutions, FeedDemon, NewsGator.

Outro - Podcast Awards, The Lascivious Biddies, Lee Ann Westover, Famous (sample, MP3), For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Monday July 25…

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Did I say Flash?

I meant Java.

I mispoke in #51. In discussing the RSS newsreader BlogBridge, I’m pretty sure I said it was a Flash application. It’s not; it’s a Java app. Sorry about that.

Monday, July 18, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #51: July 18, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #51: July 18, 2005

Content summary: Listeners’ comments (more 50th show congrats; do one topic; intercontinental collaboration; a milestone and keep going; the word is getting out; seeking PR feedback; more on blog design and usability; the power of the blog for customers; monitoring and tracking blogs); Adrian Melrose and his Land Rover, continued; advice from GM to would-be bloggers; business scandals at Volkswagen and Infineon; LA Times and ethics guidelines; what’s up with Technorati?; FeedDemon on beta test.

Show notes for July 18, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 66-minute conversation recorded live from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Concord, California, USA.

Download the file here (MP3, 30MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:31 Neville introduces the show; what’s in this edition; how to give your feedback; show notes;

Listeners’ comments discussion:

• 02:17 Constantin Basturea posts a congratulation on his blog on our 50th anniversary last week and looks forward to 500 more; and Robert Scoble says “I love your show!”
• 04:01 Marcel de Ruiter asks if we can do a show dedicated to one subject
• 04:40 Guido van Nispen looks forward to more intercontinental collaboration
• 04:57 Dan York‘s congratulations on the 50th show, and likes the show length
• 05:52 Marie Alden says congratulations on a milestone and keep going!
• 06:12 Judy Jones looks forward to 100 and 150 shows and says the word is getting out about FIR
• 07:24 50th anniversary greetings from Cameron Reilly
• 08:26 Jeff Risley, who still has the very first show, asks for PR feedback on a PR cause-related marketing survey
• 09:23 Alex Bellinger also says congratulations on 50 shows
• 10:08 Graham Wallace comments on the blog design and usability study discussed in show #50; Shel facilitated an exchange between Graham and Nick Gould
• 12:29 Max Hansen with thanks for mentioning his podcast blog; Neville on why there’s no report from Our Correspondent Down Under, Lee Hopkins, this week
• 14:14 Max Hansen again with commentary on using the power of the blog to bring companies to the point that they need to treat all customers well
• 17:47 Chris Thilk wonders why companies are having such a hard time with monitoring and tracking blog commentary

News and Features:

• 20:22 Max’ and Chris’ comments lead into a discussion on the latest news on Adrian Melrose’s Land Rover campaign; if this had been in the US, it would have been big news by now; how search engine results level the playing field for any blogger
• 27:19 General Motors’ advice to would-be corporate bloggers - jump off the fence; Ragan Report’s article on Toyota and an internal blog
• 29:41 Business scandals at Volkswagen and Infineon - the communication and reputation issues for companies confronting real crises; advice for the communicators; little opinion currently in the blogosphere
• 41:49 The Los Angeles Times issues ethics guidelines to its journalists - differentiating professional journalists and bloggers; will this be taken up by other newspapers and should there also be such a code for bloggers?
• 46:16 Why do Technorati searches produce different results than searches using other search engines such as Bloglines?
• 53:42 First results from NewsGator’s acquisition of FeedDemon - first beta of the next version of the RSS aggregator for Windows: Neville reports on his testing so far; Shel’s been looking at BlogBridge for the Mac

Outro:

• 59:00 Shel outros the show; how to give your feedback; show notes; Podcast Awards; the music from Neville

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Listeners’ comments discussion - Constantin Basturea, Podcast Awards, Robert Scoble, Marcel de Ruiter, Guido van Nispen, Dan York, Marie Alden, Judy Jones, Cameron Reilly, G’Day World Podcast, Jeff Risely, PRWeek cause-related marketing survey, Alex Bellinger, Graham Wallace, Nick Gould, Business Week, Max Hansen, Build a Better Podcast, Lee Hopkins, Jeff Jarvis, Dell, Dave Winer, Don Katz, Chris Thilk.

News and Features - Land Rover, Adrian Melrose, Consumer Reports, ePinions, Statcounter.com, Ford, General Motors, Bob Lutz, Information Week, GM FastLane Blog, Naked Conversations, Shel Israel, Robert Scoble, Ragan Report, Toyota, Volkswagen, Peter Hartz, Infineon, Business Week, American Executive Magazine, Dan Rather, Eason Jordan, Kryptonite Bike Lock, WorldCom, Enron, Tyco, Adelphia, International Herald Tribune, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Society for Professional Journalists, James Rainey, Bill Dwyer, Allan Jenkins, IABC code of ethics, National Union of Journalists, Technorati, PubSub, Ice Rocket, Bloglines, Tim Bray, BlogPulse, Doc Searls, Google, MSN Search, Yahoo, Stephen Baker, Jason Calacanis, Dave Sifry, Copernic, FeedDemon, Bradsoft, Nick Bradbury, NewsGator, BlogBridge.

Outro - Podcast Awards, Adam Curry, Daily Source Code, I Got Sex and Drugs and Rock and Soul, Mashuptown.com, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday July 21…

Thursday, July 14, 2005

The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #50: July 14, 2005

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #50: July 14, 2005

Content summary: 50th anniversary greetings; listeners’ comments (podcasting won’t disappear, iTunes problems; an interview suggestion; the power and passion of podcasting; providing insight on podcasting); weblog design confuses visitors; CBS News editorial blog and the BBC’s open source developments; dissatisfied Dell and Land Rover customers who have blogs.

Show notes for July 14, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 72-minute conversation recorded live from Washington, DC, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 32MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free iPodder, DopplerRadio or iTunes 4.9, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:32 Shel introduces the 50th anniversary show; how to give your feedback; show notes
• 01:49 Shel and Neville reflect on the past 49 shows, discussing some favourite highlights - including some bloopers
• 08:08 50th anniversary greeting from Eric Rice; figuring out Skype and how we all learn from each other

Listeners’ comments discussion:

• 09:37 Lee Hopkins agrees with us that podcasting won’t disappear
• 10:24 Britt, Mary-Ann Horley and Susan Getgood tell us about problems they’ve encountered in getting the correct shows from iTunes
• 13:01 Angela Booth likes the length of the show, also thinks iTunes has a bug, and says ‘keep up the good work!’
• 14:12 Lee Hopkins suggests someone we might want to interview; Shel’s not impressed with their website, though
• 15:56 Graham Wallace likes the discussions about listeners’ comments, talks about the power and passion of podcasting, and Skype recording
• 17:49 Dan York suggests we include a discussion topic on producing professional-quality business podcasts
• 19:32 50th anniversary greeting from Michael Wiley; how blogs and podcasts help build a real community

News and Features:

• 22:03 Weblog design - A new study highlights the way most blog designs, layouts and terminologies confuse visitors; addressing usability and intuitiveness to make visitor engagement easier
• 30:40 CBS News’ web strategy includes a new editorial blog, intended to engage directly with viewers - Will it create ‘unprecedented transparency in communication’ by mainstream media? Also, what the BBC is doing in engaging with the open source software developer community; the differences between British English and American English
• 41:04 50th anniversary greeting from Amy Gahran; Beyond Spin for discussion
• 42:49 Customer dissatisfaction and the power of blogs, from Jeff Jarvis and Dell to Adrian Melrose and Land Rover - How should companies deal with such situations? What are the opportunities and risks through engaging with customers in this way? And for not doing so?
• 61:12 50th anniversary greeting from Steve Rubel and from Sam Whitmore; a middle-aged anniversary and using video
• 64:00 50th anniversary greeting from Steve Lubetkin; and thanks to everyone for their comments

Outro:

• 65:34 Neville outros the show; topics coming up for next Monday’s show; how to give your feedback; show notes; the music from Shel

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Intro - Skype, Paul Woodhouse, East Bay IT Group, Eric Rice, Jay Byrne, Robert Scoble, Fergus Burns, Jeremy Wright, Steve Rubel, Michael Wiley, Loic Le Meur, Mike Wing, Angela Sinickas and Tudor Williams, show archives listing, Audioblog.com.

Listeners’ comments discussion - Lee Hopkins, Britt, iTunes, Apple, Adam Curry, Mary-Ann Horley, Susan Getgood, Angela Booth, Donna Papacosta, International Nanocasting Alliance, Graham Wallace, Dave Taylor, Dan York, Michael Wiley, GM FastLane Blog.

News and Features - Catalyst Group Design, Expression Engine, TypePad, Blogger, WordPress, Business Week Well Spent, Business Week Blogspotting, TypePad new features, Technorati, del.icio.us, Furl, CBS News, Vaughn Ververs, New York Times, CNN, ABC News, NBC News, BBC News, BBC, BBC Open Source, BBC Backstage, Creative Commons, Forrester Research, Amy Gahran, Beyond Spin, Dell, Jeff Jarvis, Adrian Melrose, Land Rover, Discovery, The Truth About the Land Rover Discovery 3, Christopher Carfi, General Motors, Treonauts, Treo, Harrison-Cowley, Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear, Steve Rubel, Sam Whitmore, Steve Lubetkin.

Outro - Christian Dozzler, Louisiana (MP3), For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Monday July 18…

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