Yahoo Podcasts Joins The Deadpool

Re: Yahoo Podcasts Joins The Deadpool

Yahoo Podcasts, a comprehensive podcasting search, directory and listening service that launched in October 2005, is closing at the end of October, a fraction past its second birthday.

There is no official word from Yahoo as to why the site is shutting, aside from a message at the top of Yahoo Podcasts that reads “Yahoo! apologizes deeply, but we will be closing down the Podcasts site on Oct. 31, 2007.”

Other podcast directories have struggled as a medium that years ago held so much promise was surpassed by the rise of video. Odeo was acquired from investors, then sold off, then acquired another podcast directory called FireAnt; and more recently the podcast provider/ directory Podshow is rumored to be closing a third round of funding this week as they run short of money.

Yahoo Podcasts joins the ever growing Yahoo graveyard along with Yahoo Bill Pay (announced in July for Sep/ Oct shutdown) and the hat trick of closures in May of Yahoo Auctions, WebJay and Yahoo Photos. Yahoo Podcasts joins the TechCrunch Deadpool.

I think this would be a great time to mention Mefeedia just rolled out OPML import. You can now import all your subscriptions from yahoo podcasting, Fireant, Miro, and of course iTunes. Best of all you can not only use mefeedia with video and audio podcasting aggregators like Fireant, Miro and iTunes but mefeedia's services greatly enhance the experience because you can access, manage, view, and listen to your subscriptions anytime and anyplace, not just when you're at your home computer.

Vidoeblogging Week 2007

How's this for a lame excuse to not be videoblogging. Mefeedia has teamed up with Irina of the Vloggies and Podtech to cover Videoblogging Week 2007 and I've been so busy I haven't had time to even do a blog post or a videoblog about it. Here are a few hilights so far. 1) The Videoblogging Week Widget (on right) 2) Randy Wicker does some on the street citizen journo style interviews about the "Chocolate Jesus" exhibit which was closed in New York do to controversy. Favorite line; "Well do you think it would have been less controversial if it was made out of white chocolate?" "CHOCOLATE JESUS" Watch movie Original post on April 02, 2007 from YouTube :: Tag // videobloggingweek2007: (RSS feed) "A nude Jesus made out of over 200 pounds of dark chocolate brought complaints from Catholic officials & death threats to the gallery owners at 47th St. & Lexington Ave in NYC. Randy Wicker & Ryan Wolowski were on hand for the scheduled opening. Here is what happened.... Author: RandolfeWicker Keywords: videobloggingweek2007 chocolate Jesus Catholics cheese Wyoming piano Cavallaro censoship art nude eating threats NYC Lab Added: April 2, 2007" (Via Mefeedia)

Major new Mefeedia release this week

There's a major new release of mefeedia out today. Lots of bug fixes, usability enhancements, and all around improvements like mefeedia playlists and guides!

One of my favorite new toys is the "What I'm watching" widget. It shows all the latest videos from your favorite vloggers and provides great link love to their blogs. It's the sweetest blogroll widget around.

You'll see mine on the right hand sidebar of my video blog at mmeiser.com/blog and on the left hand sidebar of my mefeedia channel. You can create yours by subscribing to you favorite video blogs and podcasts on mefeedia and copying the code from your own mefeedia channel and pasting it into your own blog or web page. Let us know what you think! We're always looking for ideas for making mefeedia better.

I'm really exited about mefeedia's renewed direction and vitality. This is just the start of some great things to come. A special thanks to Frank Sinton the new owner and Devlon who's been helping make Mefeedia great for almost two years now. Great job Frank and Devlon!

Below are the details Frank posted to the mefeedia mailing list. Be sure to join up and tell us what you'd like to see.

We are very happy today - a new version of Mefeedia has been released! :-) Lots of improvements, bug fixes, and a nicer user interface. This was the work of a lot of people, mainly ideas from videobloggers and brainstorming sessions within the Mefeedia team.

Three main areas of focus for this release were:

Reliability / Bug Fixes - this was our#1 focus. Mefeedia has been very strong on creating great tools for videobloggers. We want to make those even better - not by adding more bells and whistles, but instead by making sure the current features work GREAT. Here is a list of some of the fixes (not comprehensive, but a good sampling):

• RSS - tons of fixes to account for special characters and others special cases. Your Queue, Guides, Favs, Tags, and other RSS feeds coming out of Mefeedia are now working very reliably. :)
• When adding a video to a playlist, the playlist uses the thumb from the playlist post.
• Each folder in a Playlist can now be exported via RSS and JSON formats directly from the playlist start/"Home" page.
• "Add to Queue" from a Playlist is working again.
• Adding individual videos to your Queue is woking again! This broke back when the new database schema was implemented. It is fixed now - add any video on Mefeedia.com to your queue now without having to subscribe to the entire feed.
• Your feed page - removed a number of broken links and overall, a bunch of clean-up.

Usability / UI Update - really, making it easier for users to use Mefeedia!

• Home page - "latest/last 24 hours" theme
• Header change
• Navigation change (Guides and Playlists now get prominent placement in the nav).
• Sign-up on home page is now only shown on clicking the "yea baby."
• Full registration validation (with AJAX unique username and email lookup)
• Visibility and Rollover effect (rollover effect only on Firefox for now) when cruising through entries (favs, feeds page, etc.)
• Centering of "Entry" / Watch your video page - just nicer in general.
• Site-wide style sheet changes (non-underlined, nice blue for non-visited links, grey underlined for visited links, among others).

New Features

• "What I'm Watching" widget - put your Queue on your website or blog. :) Mine is on this blog in the right sidebar. To use your "What I'm Watching" widget, just login and click on the "My Channel" navigation link, and copy and paste the code from the left column textarea box. Looking for inputs on this… lots of cool widgets are possible with the use of great thumbs, so let us know what you would like to see with this widget and other possible widgets (maybe a "Who's vlogging" widget?).
• "Latest from [feed name here]" widget - see an example here: http://www.mefeedia.com/feed_promote.php?id=6988 - lots of linky love. All thumbs link directly to your vlog post!
• Videos, feeds, and websites count on the home page.
• Latest Tags (24 hours) on Home Page and Tags page

So, check out Mefeedia and let us know what you think! Enjoy. As always, use this forum to post suggestions, ideas, issues, and thoughts. :)
http://www.mefeedia.com

Thanks,
-Frank

Youtube'r LisaNova goes to Mad TV

This just crossed the wires via the Yahoo videoblogging group. The Youtuber known as LisaNova has signed with MadTV. If I'm not mistaken she's the second youtuber to cross over to mainstream media. Youtube user "Brookers" was the first. She signed with Carson Daly Productions a few months back.

Watch LisaNova's announcement

Original post on February 12, 2007 from YouTube :: Videos by LisaNova: (RSS feed)

Just wanted to make a quick video saying thanks to Youtube and everyone who watched my videos. My first episode airs on FOX on Saturday Feb. 17th @ 11PM Author: LisaNova Keywords: LisaNova MadTV YouTube Thanks Added: February 12, 2007

I've started a guide on mefeedia for podcasters and videobloggers and youtubers who have crossed over to broadcast / mainstream media.

Cross-over - a guide to videobloggers, youtubers and podcasters who've crossed over to mainstream media.

I know there are quite a few podcasters and a few other videobloggers who've made the leap and would appreciate any reminders if you know someone I've missed.

(Via Mefeedia)