Cellphones are quickly becoming an integral
part of our lives. They increase the convenience
factor, help us stay organized, and keep
us in touch with the people that we love.
They can also help us keep informed!
As cellphone technologies increase, cell
phone manufacturers are finding new ways
to pack great programs into their cellphones.
One such program that is being built into
cellphones now, and will increase in the
future, is the RSS feed capability.
Having this capability will mean that
your cellphone can act like an MP3 player,
and perhaps you already have a cell phone
that has MP3 player capabilities. But
in a cellphone with RSS feed capabilities
take the MP3 player format one step further.
The word "podcasting" was coined in 2004.
It is a technology that no one heard about
until recently but is gaining popularity
at an exponential rate. A podcast is like
a radio program that broadcasters create
in an MP3 format and attach it to an RSS
feed on their web site. Computers and
cellphones with RSS feed capabilities
can grab the MP3 file and download it
automatically. This means that every time
the podcaster makes a new show, your computer
or your cell phone can automatically pick
it up.
(A quick note on terminology: podcasts
and punchcasts are virtually the same
thing except that podcasts are typically
the "radio show" that goes to your computer,
while punch casts are considered the ones
that end up on your cell phone, even if
they are the same show in the same MP3
file.)
The value of listening to podcasts on
your cell phone is tremendous. While most
people have not heard of podcasts, there
are literally thousands and thousands
of podcasts out there, and each one is
designed for a specific niche: the baseball
enthusiast, a wine lover, a news junkie,
an entrepreneur, and the list can go on
and on. If you have a hobby or interest,
you'll probably find a podcasts on it.
or 10 podcasts on it!
Aside from topics, podcasts vary in length
and quality: just like television shows,
they can have an interview format or a
quiz show format or a monologue format,
to name a few. They can be well done or
poorly done.
Here's how it works: you find the podcast
you are interested in and subscribe on
your cell phone (it's free) and every
time the podcaster creates a new podcast
and attaches it to the RSS feed, it gets
automatically loaded onto your phone.
So now you can stay on top of all the
exciting news in your industry, or in
a hobby or an area of interest that you
might have and you can do it all on your
cellphone!
This article was posted on October
07, 2005
