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If you like podcasts and are someone who enjoys a nice, sweaty workout like myself, then you should subscribe to this. PodRunner is a weekly podcast that is music for your workouts. DJ steveboy sends this out for those who are into running, spinning, or however you workout, and the mixes are all of his own creation.

Here’s the description that pops up on his RSS feed in iTunes.

Like to run or workout to fast, energetic music? Check out PODRUNNER: nonstop, steady-bpm, one-hour mixes from L.A.’s own dj steveboy. A new mix every week to help you groove while you move, whenever, wherever, and however you work out. iTunes reviews are appreciated, and suggestions and comments are always welcome at steve@djsteveboy.com.

If you’d like to be notified whenever new mixes are online, visit the “Mixes” page at www.djsteveboy.com.

I’ve done a few running routes while listening to his stuff, and they are a really great change from the mix of music and podcasts that I usually stick on my iPod mini when I venture out. 170 BPM(beats per minute) is a little fast to set a constant pace to, and I found myself keeping up with the beat more than a few times this morning. That can get tiring if you’re not careful.

Still, this makes your environment pass by with a slightly different perspective, and I do get into the electronic side of music. I don’t know much about who is who, but I dig it. This is great to set your breathing rate to and get a nice pace on your route. You can also use it to tell how long you’ve been running if you press play at the very start of your run and measure by how much time has elapsed in the podcast.

Every episode that is released usually has a name and a short intro of him talking about the mix at the beginning. In addition, every podcast has the BPM in the title. My next trial will be something in the 135 BPM range.

It’s been interesting to watch this unfold over the past few days. There are some folks that have been waiting for the moment to jump on Apple over everything they are doing within the world of digital media, DRM, copyright, trademarks, and so on. This is no exception.

Apple Computer has slapped Podcast Ready with a “cease and desist” letter, claiming that the terms “Podcast Ready” and “myPodder” infringe Apple’s trademarks, and that they cause confusion among consumers. The company has been cracking down on use of the word “pod” by all sorts of parties, even though its trademark is for the word “iPod.”

Podcast Ready CEO Russel Holliman said he’d consider dropping the name myPodder if he had to, but “Podcast Ready”? If that’s infringement, Apple is claiming that it owns the word “podcast.” Sure, the word originated with the word iPod, but most people now see it as a general term for downloadable audio shows that isn’t affiliated with one brand more than another.

Coincidentally, Apple’s letter arrived the day before Podcast Ready unveiled a new version of its software — one that works with the iPod. [wired]

The full version of this letter to Podcast Ready can be found on their site here. The debate is beginning to subside, and the way it has unfolded opens up a couple of observations.

The majority of folks reporting this took this as Apple making the move to trademark the term “podcast” so that no one can use it without their permission. Upon reading the full text of the letting from Apple’s lawyers, this isn’t exactly what this action is intending to do. However, people jumped on it and began bashing the move without getting the full story. In fact, the words “cease and desist” never appear. That didn’t stop the bloggers and podcasters from slamming Apple’s legal action against Podcast Ready.

Podcast411 released a special, soapbox episode[listen] about this issue, and it digs deep into the issue. In fact, Rob did his research, got a copy of the letter, talked to people at the U.S. Patent Office, and reviews how media organizations poorly reported this news. I had a feeling that there was more to this story, and this appears to be the truth. Adam Curry examined the issue as well on a recent episode of the Daily Source Code[dsc#468] and echoes what Rob said on Podcast 411.

Simply put, Apple is defending their right to what they have legally trademarked. “Podcast” is not under threat, and no one can trademark something that exists in the public doman. That’s like someone trying to get a patent on “television” or “radio”, and there is no way that will happen.

There are some folks that take issue with the word “pod” itself, as Apple claims trademark over it. To that, some say the name for the medium should change. I’m sorry, but “netcasting” is the worst thing I have ever heard. It sounds too similar, in meaning, to streaming. Podcasting is what it has come to be. You’ll be hard pressed to change it now.

The last thing I take issue with is the way that so many reporters took up this story without getting all their facts in check. Wired.com posted a follow up to the story above, with a copy of the letter to Podcast Ready. Not once did they mention anything about getting clarification on the matter by actually seeing a copy of the request from Apple’s legal team. There’s poor journalism going on here.

Regardless, Podcast Ready now has more publicity than it could have ever imagined.

I was originally thinking of making this a W.I.L.T., but the Global National Podcast isn’t something that I’m regularly checking out. I’ve caught enough of their commercials to gather enough interest in seeing what they’re doing.

A basic background to the program, Global National is a half hour news program that is broadcast across Canada. Kevin Newman is the guy behind the desk, and I have to add that the guy is huge. He must workout between commercial breaks.

There are two ways you can get the program in podcast form. The video version makes the most sense because, afterall, this is a television program. If you would rather get your daily dose in audio, you can do that as well. The interesting thought here is that the audio is exactly what you hear on the video version of the podcast. Basically, it’s TV without the pictures.

They promote this podcast with the slogan of, “Missed the Global National newscast on television? Now you can watch or listen to Global National on your portable media player!” This stands to reason because you are getting a carbon copy of what they aired on TV. At the same time, this is a lot of content to be pulling down everyday, and being national news, there is a lot more that you can get from surfing into a couple of websites, like the Globe and Mail or CBC, in the amount of time it takes to download just one of these podcasts.

This is another example of big media trying to get into the realm of what’s new and independent. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but there seems to be poor elements within Global’s effort. Kevin Newman might be pretty to look at on your iPod, but do you want to spend time staring at a head on a screen telling you the news? There are much more effective ways to have this done, but to each their own.

Dear National Public Radio,

I really enjoy listening to your podcasts. Being someone who used to work in the network, I understand the content that you guys offer with your podcasts. The new is incredibly informative and a great addition to my playlists when I go running. The five minute updates clue me into news happening around the world that I’ll usually look into future among my many RSS feeds.

I also like the other content that you guys offer. The Whad’Ya Know stuff is great. I’ve been listening to Mr. Feldman for as long as I can remember. Although it’s just a small portion of the weekly program, his satire is quite humourus.

What I was to know is… why do I always have to crank up the volume when I listen to your podcasts? It’s annoying. I get that there is a certain “style” to the way NPR does things. I have also run into a number of arguments in the broadcast engineering world to know about the dislike for compression among public radio enthusiasts. To each their own, but this is podcasting we’re talking about.

When I’m in the shower, CNN podcasts are perfect. Once your news update hits, I get nothing but some mumbling. And if I decide to switch my playlist up when I go running, my ear drums get blasted when music follows said news update because I have to turn up your stuff just to understand the content. Listening to Feldman on the podcast produces some of the same mumbling followed by laughter from the audience. I completely miss what was funny and shouldn’t have to rewind to catch it.

And for the love of god, shorten up the intro and outros. That beginning music is one thing, but you can be way more brief in telling me thanks for downloading your five minute news summary. Perhaps it’s the ads that drive me even more nuts. The non-commercial rule of thumb doesn’t apply so much to podcasts, and I doubt the FCC is going to or can regulate that.

Just give me the news, and let me be able to hear it without having to crank the volume all the way up.

I recently re-discovered this podcast. Meaning, I’ve know about it for a long time but never listened in. And as you may or may not know, I have a thing about critics. Film, music, TV, or what have you, they tend to not be the types of folks that I pay not a lot of attention to. It’s a complete love/hate relationship that I have because, yes, I am a critic myself. How hypocritical of me.

During my days at KRUI, there were only two film review programs that I really enjoyed. The content was good, the personalities were enjoyable, and for putting together a weekly program without pay, they did an incredible job. I saw others try to do it and fall short. Some actually crashed pretty hard. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled onto this podcast.

Filmspotting[wiki] is hosted by Adam Kempenaar and Sam Van Hallgren from Chicago. They do a weekly podcast about, you guessed it, movies. They review the latest releases as well as discuss films they love, new and old. You can really tell how much these guys love not only what they do, but their passion for film is apparent in every episode. The production and overall quality of the podcast is superb, and the relationship these two guys have are visible each minute.

Interestingly enough, Adam was host of “Burn Hollywood Burn” during his days at KRUI around the same time I was there. In fact, I recall teaching him how to use the phones so he could put callers on the air during the show. So much of what was “Burn Hollywood Burn” has made it into the podcast, and it’s even better than I remember during his days on the radio.

However, this just isn’t a podcast. Once a month, these guys get to put their chops on air over Chicago Public Radio, WBEZ. The Top 5 and Massacre Theater have both made it to this project, and it’s something that any movie lover can come to appreciate. I can’t fail to mention that they do give away contest prizes, and free stuff always makes things better.

To me, this is how movie reviews should be. You can like or dislike the latest and greatest releases, but when it comes down to it, you can all agree that movies rock. No matter how much you complain about the price you pay at the box office, your love for the big screen will keep you coming back. And now, Filmspotting is a podcast that movie addicts can come together for and share that experience.

I’ve been getting caught up on some of the podcasts I’m subscribed to.  That’s not to say that I’ve been overly busy to catch everything that comes in, but this is the reality of listening to podcasts.  While taking a shower after my run along the Seawall this morning, I caught up with Benjamin Walker’s Theory of Everything a little bit.

Readers of Overheard in Vancouver will really find this episode interesting because Walker grabbed an interview with Morgan Friedman, the founder of Overheard in New York[wiki].  Friedman gets into the premise behind the site, how it started, and the things he loves about it.

While I’m at it, I have to give a big plug for podcast listeners out there to subscribe to the Theory of Everything.  Walker has been working the public media wheel for a while now, taking his works through the PRX and now with alt.NPR.  I’ve been listening to his stuff since his early days of venturing into podcasting.  Very good stuff.

I’ve been listening to geek.farm.life since the first episode. If you are wondering what this podcast is all about, then you’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head already. Andrew and Misty are a couple who left their silicon valley lives for the more simple life of the midwest. Podcasting from Indiana, they are two tech-heads that now raise a variety of farm animals that makes your trips to the store seem easy, if not cleaner.

The element of this podcast that first captured my interest was the fact that Andrew[blog] is a native Albertan while Misty[blog] is an American. They first met while being career geeks in California, only to get fed up with the west coast and the post dot-com boom. Somewhere in the fray of things, these two passed through a Las Vegas union on their way to creating their modern day farm that would make Old McDonald proud.

Three-Elms farm is located in north-central Indiana. We’re on the border of what many local call Michiana. Our hobby farm is 10 acres, of which we’re letting 6 return to trees and the the rest is the house and pasture. We have too much lawn and neither of us like mowing so we’re looking to do something with all that grass.

The reason we’re called Three-Elms is due to the three huge siberian elm trees in our front yard. The biggest three is several feet across. They dwarf our two story house, standing about 3 times as high. The provice awesome shade in the summer and we’ll get hundreds of birds sitting on the branches singing in the morning. [three-elms]

These are one of those podcasts that are more of the audio blog style. Each episode usually hits the three main topics that makes up the title, in addition to any of the other interests that the two have. Of particular interest was Andrew’s story of buying his father’s car in Canada and then driving it across the border from Manitoba. It’s not that it’s a great story, but it’s entertaining for anyone familiar to the joys of border crossing.

The way this podcast is recorded makes me more inclined to stay subscribed. Quite often, the barn is the studio, and the stereo effects of ducks, cows, geese, and goats is very cool. Listening with headphones, you feel like you are hanging out with the couple as they talk about how their animals are doing, the joys of their labor, and the pains of waking up in the morning to take care of the chores. If you are one to have lived through or, like me, experienced this type of lifestyle, the sounds can also trigger a sense of remembering what it smells like inside that barn as well.

The latest episode of geek.farm.life was published on Sunday, June 18, 2006. With nineteen episodes under their belt, the duo are getting more and more comfortable with their efforts, not to mention having done remote recordings while one of them is on the road. If you like true, simple reality, you might dig this.