According to Steve Rubel the New York Times has launched a couple of new podcasts. One will be a daily recap of the day's biggest stories and the other - and this seems like kind of an odd choice - is a music review show. Steve doesn't seem to have all his facts straight, though. Or at least he hasn't checked for an update. In his post he says the shows are available only through iTunes but if you check the podcast page on the Times website you'll see a button to add the show to My Yahoo or just grab the generic RSS feed.  Anyway, if you're interested check them out.

[graphic via Rubel as well]

Adam Curry is the Podfather. We know that, great. We can't give Adam, and of course Dave Winer, enough credit for not only creating Podcasting but also pushing the medium to become what it has. Much respect in that regards.

But this isn't about Adam Curry as a person or about what he's accomplished - this is about The Daily Source Code. There's a battle of emotions that ensues within me whenever I listen to The Daily Source Code, and unfortunately I feel like I *must* listen to it for the hope of hearing some juicy info about the Podcasting Community.

Now, I know DSC has a massive following so I'm probably opening myself up to a public flogging by criticizing it, but I can't hold this in any longer. Continue reading Droxy's critique of The Daily Source Code after the jump...

Diggnation, the weekly podcast for the social bookmarking engine Digg.com, is now on it's seventh episode and in only a month and a half has taken Podcasting audiences by storm. Within it's first few weeks, it quickly shot up the ranks of the iTunes Podcast Directory (as well as other directories), and has in the process created a fan-following for a Podcast like no other (buy your t-shirts here).

Why has it grown so quickly in popularity? Sure, you can attribute it to the huge number of the Digging masses subscribing to the show (not to mention the iTunes hack *cough*) but Diggnation hasn't just jumped in popularity and fizzled out, it continues to grow by leaps and bounds. And to tell you the truth, it's one of the only Podcasts I listen to that I can't wait to hear the next episode. It truly captures you from beginning to end.

So let's disect it a bit and maybe we can learn a thing or two from Diggnation's skillz.

Ok, so this isn't what you would typically consider a podcast, but it's a great use of RSS and podcasting technology. Pirate Weather provides local weather for every zip code in the United States on their website. The weather information is very detailed and rivals that of more well known sites. Pirate Weather provides something that the other sites don't however: the ability to subscribe to weather forecasts via RSS, and more importantly, weather conditions via podcast!

To receive a voice-synthesized version of your weather via podcast, simply subscribe to the Pirate Weather feed. The link will tell you to add your zipcode to the end of the URL; we tried to write this post so it work for everyone's zip code, but we can't do all of the work.

The major record rabel Interscope recently released The Rock Podcast program through Apple's iTunes. The first episode contains tracks from a number bands published by the label (like NIN, U2, and AudioSlave)with interviews and other good stuff coming in the future.

This level of endorsement from a major record label like Interscope shows that the industry has quickly embraced this medium as a way to promote their artists.

While I think it's great, it would be even better if they included the entire song in the Podcast, truly embracing it as a replacement for radio - but only adding snippets, it's just not the experience that Podcasting should be.

(via Punknews.org)

The Podsafe Music Network was officially announced to the public on last Friday's Daily Source Code and after spending several days messing around on it, I have to give this thing a 5 star review. It's really truly an amazing resource, for both the Podcaster and the Musician. For the Podcaster, we finally have the ability to easily find and play Podsafe Music to our heart's desire. For the Musician, there's now the ability to publish your music in an organized method, and most importantly, to allow your music to propegate throughout different Podcasts.

For unsigned artists, this marks the true beginning of a revolution. In the past, being an "indie" musician meant having to go from gig to gig, and praying to be played on the local college station. That was really the only way for the word to spread about you. With Podcasts, we now have a mass distributed method of exposure. It's like Syndicated College Radio. The Podsafe Music Network puts it all under one area, and best of all they "get it" when it comes to the balance of making money and providing a service.

Awesome. Three thumbs up. 5 Stars. Great job boys, keep it coming.

It's not a common occurence when you hear about a Satellite Radio company offering up Podcasts. Afterall, Podcasts are free (or should be) and Satellite Radio isn't free (nor should it be). Both are considered to be competition to each other, though each providing a much needed alternative to Terrestrial's boring portfolio.

So when you see a Podcast offered up by Sirius Satellite Radio, eyebrows raise and ears perk up. Enter the Lance In France Podcast. Short, quick, audio snippets updating the curious Tour de France masses with Lance's progress. Nothing fancy, just what you want when you want it.

Sirius uses this as a promotional vehicle, which is neither unexpected nor overly annoying. In fact, it's done "just right" in a way that not only provides the listener with the updates they want, but captivates us in a way that makes us desire more. Perfect.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has launched a podcast. I give points to Ahhnoold for his enthusiasm but there's not a whole lot of substance to what he's talking about. It's basically a five or six-minute state of the state report about how just unbelievably fabulous California is doing and how things are just great and destined to get better. The podcast is worth listening to if for no other reason than to hear Schwarzenegger say "Calleeeforneea" about a half-dozen times. He also seems to get tired about two minutes into it which raises all kinds of speculation about how many takes he had to do for his movies.