USB Flash Drive With Built-In Voice Recorder

This $23 USB flash drive offers not just data storage, but also a built-in voice recorder. It’s not going to replace your digital audio recorder or podcasting microphone, but it does promise to let you record 70 hours of audio.

Features:

• Built-in voice recording On/Off switch
• 1GB ~ 70 hours recording .wav format
• Built-in rechargeable battery
• Battery powered (around 5 hours per full charge)
• LED indicator
• USB 2.0
• Plug and Play
• Supports Window 7 / Vista / XP, Linux 2.4, Mac OS X or latest version

Details

via geekalerts

WordPress quietly added some hosting options to its WordPress.com content platform that could be welcome for podcasters:

Based on feedback we received from our users, we decided to add two new space upgrade options: 50GB and 100GB.

To access either of these upgrade levels, go to your blog’s dashboard and click on Upgrades. Select the space upgrade that you want to purchase. It’s super simple. Price information is included on this page, too.

After your purchase is complete, go to your Media Library. You will see that the upload space remaining for your blog has been increased. Enjoy!

The Space Upgrade options let you upload these additional file types:

• .mp3
• .m4a
• .ogg
• .wav

Note that, if you’re interested in videopodcast hosting, they offer a separate VideoPress option.

USB Mic TestbySomeAudioGuy

SomeAudioGuy did a couple before & after tests comparing the results that he could get from a typical USB computer mic setup and a low-budget treated recording space.

The example above was recorded using a Zoom H4n, connected as a USB mic, in front of a computer.

The following example was recorded in the treated space.

YouTube has announced that it has reached a new milestone, serving over 2 billion views per day:

Today, thanks to you, our site has crossed another milestone: YouTube exceeds over two billion views a day. That’s nearly double the prime-time audience of all three major U.S. television networks combined.

What started as a site for bedroom vloggers and viral videos has evolved into a global platform that supports HD and 3D, broadcasts entire sports seasons live to 200+ countries. We bring feature films from Hollywood studios and independent filmmakers to far-flung audiences. Activists document social unrest seeking to transform societies, and leading civic and political figures stream interviews to the world.

YouTube has been the biggest success story of the new media revolution, but they’re aiming higher, gunning for traditional TV audiences:

Although the average user spends 15 minutes a day on YouTube, that’s tiny compared to the five hours a day people spend watching TV. Clearly, we need to give you more reason to watch more videos! And we want to give you all the tools and support to make YouTube both your career and your community. After all, this is only the beginning of the video revolution. We’re just getting started.

To do that, YouTube is going to need to need to attract long-form content and remove some of the barriers that keep people from sitting back and watching for longer periods of time.

Do you think YouTube or Internet video will grow to overtake traditional broadcast television? If so, how long do you think it will take for this to happen?

Acoustic treatment manufacturer RealTraps has introduced Carrel, a portable recording studio designed to make it easier to capture dry sounding voice-over recordings in almost any space.

According to RealTraps, the Carrel works great for creating a noise-free environment for busy offices, libraries, study rooms, telephone call centers, and testing labs. Unlike typical carrels that offer only isolation, the RealTraps  Carrel also absorbs ambient sounds, making the enclosed space even quieter.

The RealTraps Carrel is similar to the company’s Portable Vocal Booth, but adds a third 2 by 2 foot hinged panel instead of the PVB’s microphone stand mounting base. The expanded size creates an even larger protected area than the PVB.

RealTraps Carrel is available for $379.99, with fabric color options of black, white, wheat, and gray. The metal frame portion is black only.

This video, based on the book Socialnomics by Erik Qualman, serves up an amazing collection of social media and new media statistics.

The best quote: “The ROI of Social Media is Your Business Will Still Exist in 5 Years.”

1stVideo (App Store link) is a new $9.99 iPhone video editor that’s described as the”world’s most advanced video editing suite running on a mobile device.”

Features:

• Use the onboard camera from within the App, or import h.264 video or pictures already saved in the Camera Roll.
• Edit with VeriCorder’s unique, multitrack, patent-pending editor.
• Send smaller files ( < 10MB ) by email, or share larger files with your computer over a WiFi networks.
• Export completed video projects into the Camera Roll, for simple posting on YouTube or MobileMe accounts.
• Software includes a multitrack audio editing suite, with advanced features, including volume curves, sound mixing, gain control and more.
• 1st Video can also combine still images with sound to easily create narrated or musical slideshows, ready for posting to the web.

If you’re interested in mobile video blogging – 1stVideo could be a great option.

Note: 1stVideo works only with iPhone 3GS devices.

Flash is dead and the iPad is its tombstone – but somebody forgot to tell Pixar.

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber points how the new Toy Story 3 site looks on an Apple iPad. There are lots of similar examples to be found, but this one seems particularly ironic, given Steve Jobs roles at both Apple and Disney.

We’ve been surprised at some of the high-profile sites that we’ve found that are useless with Flash disabled, too – and at how clueless it makes companies look.

Has it really been ten years since usability guru Jakob Nielsen said that Flash use was 99% bad?

Podcasting Software: Reinvented Software released Feeder 2.1 today, an update to its Mac RSS newsfeed and podcast feed editor.

Version 2.1 adds support for WebDAV publishing, an updated iTunes Store preview and customizable colors for iTunes U page previews. This release also adds drag and drop Sparkle appcasts, improves MP3 tagging, working with Twitter accounts, gesture support and will now run as a 64-bit application on Snow Leopard.

It looks like Microsoft is joining the Flash Is Dead bandwagon, announcing that its new direction for Internet Explorer is to focus on HTML5 + H.264:

The future of the web is HTML5. Microsoft is deeply engaged in the HTML5 process with the W3C. HTML5 will be very important in advancing rich, interactive web applications and site design. The HTML5 specification describes video support without specifying a particular video format. We think H.264 is an excellent format. In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video only.

H.264 is an industry standard, with broad and strong hardware support. Because of this standardization, you can easily take what you record on a typical consumer video camera, put it on the web, and have it play in a web browser on any operating system or device with H.264 support e.g. a PC with Windows 7.

We’re focusing our HTML5 video support on H.264.

Given the level of controversy that Apple has faced over its decision to move away from Flash and towards Web standards, it’s a bit surprising to see how quickly others have followed suit.