Monday night I fly out to San Francisco for some meetings and also to attend ad:tech. This ad:tech is a bit different in that we (the Association for Downloadable Media) are presenting our proposed ad standards as well as guidelines for audience measurement. And, as it turns out, the former will be introduced by yours […]

Last night I had the pleasure of joining Tim Robertson, Guy Serle, and David Cohen for a segment on MyMac Podcast #177. Truly was a blast. I also neglected to mention that I did the Mac OS Ken Day 6 podcast with Ken Ray a few weeks back, and it, too, was an enjoyable experience. […]

Due to my travels and schedule this week, John and I decided to take a brief hiatus and skip this week’s Mac Geek Gab. We’ll be back next week, recording Monday night as usual.

The fact that the ADM held its first “in person” meetings here was simultaneously no surprise as well as icing on the cake.We at The Mac Observer and iPodObserver have been media sponsors of the Podcast/Portable/New Media show since its inception, and (unofficially) I’m very much looking forward to doing that again…. That means I won’t have to spend another gorgeous fall weekend in Ontario, California, and I also think Las Vegas brings many benefits, the biggest of them being that it’s easier to get to and also adds the credibility of having this show in a “real” trade show town.Kudos to Tim Bourquin and his entire team for a job well done.

Garrick Van Buren had an interesting post yesterday about a sponsorship he remembered from a 17-month-old episode of Evil Genius Chronicles, a podcast that we represent.Though Garrick’s words say that podcast advertising doesn’t work, his very post proves the opposite…. If it were within the last 6 months, I can bet you he would have remembered that it was iPodJuice who sponsored the show.The best part is because he blogged about it, Dave Slusher (the host) responded, and now the sponsor is getting even more traction from an ad that was written off on *last* year’s taxes.

I’ll post more about the results of the others when we’re ready in a few days, but today I can talk about the Association for Downloadable Media, which had it’s first “member” conference call today.The ADM’s mission is to bring together the podcast/portable media community, help define some best practices, and make it easier and more comfortable for advertisers to sponsor the content…. With that, BackBeat Media is happy to be a corporate member of the ADM, and you can expect us to take an active role in furthering the cause here.

I just wanted to take a quick minute this morning and let you all know about two publications we recently brought into the family here at BackBeat Media. iPhoneAlley.com is a site created and published by Michael Johnston, focusing directly on Apple’s latest gadget and its impact in the market. Already iPhoneAlley has posted some […]

Perhaps I can better explain if I’m a little more pithy: I firmly believe that PodCamp — and events of its ilk — are excellent events (we at BackBeat Media sponsored one of the early BarCamp NYCs, and The Mac Observer and iPodObserver repeatedly are media sponsors of Portable Media Expo)…. That’s fantastic, and support all of it, including the folks that are podcasting for both business and personal reasons.The point I was making is: We at BackBeat Media talk to people every day — those outside of the blog/pod/echo-chamber — who still see podcasting as very much dominated by passionate hobbyists.

Put the same event on Saturday and Sunday (or, heaven forbid, a *holiday*), and it’s a royal pain in the ass — something which they’re likely not going to attend unless they’re absolutely forced to go…. Of course, those of us in business for ourselves know that work often extends into hobby time, and often the lines are blurred between what’s work and what’s a hobby, but we’re not the ones who need to be convinced and educated about new mediums like podcasting.

As many of you know, I was at PME this weekend and, of course, saw the Podshow funding announcement just as things were getting started…. If — between now and the tipping point — they can launch/break a few rock stars that were previously unknown to the world (and I think some of them are there in the network already, at least potentially), then their position is set. All they gotta do then is wait until the tipping point and bam — for 15 million dollars DAG Ventures just bought their way into a sizable chunk of a new record label.That $15 million (or, rather, their chunk thereof) was the cheapest investment they ever made.