On this weeks show Mitch Ratcliffe was harsh on Adam Curry and podcasting, his bigger points are logical and make sense. To Adam Curry’s credit he has encouraged people to be creative and has spread the word. This is not the whole story about Podcasting though. As I have always said the whole podcasting hype is cultural not technological. It would be good if many of you who wrote can look past the hype and harshness to really think hard about podcasting for what it is and its roots.

Mitch Ratcliffe has been a guest co-host on the show for almost 6 years and he has brought thought provoking discussion to show listeners. While some have not always liked his commentary, others do agree with some of what he says. Thus he is doing what a good blogger does and sparks discussion. Mitch has done that here with podcasting.

The point of the show is to talk honestly and openly about the online issues of the day and sometimes that involves being very open about these issues as many podcasters and webcasters feel the same as Mitch on some of his topics.

You can be assured that Mitch is not jealous of anyone, these are his honest journalistic thoughts from many years of being involved in the creation and delivery of online media.

I want to thank everyone for being involved in the discussion and giving us your thoughts as that is valuable as well.

I have heard through Microsoft Blogger Robert Scoble that Bill Gates announced at the RSA event that we will all be getting an IE upgrade for XP. Internet Explorer Browser 7 Beta is coming this summer.

From Microsoft Press Release:
Gates announced Internet Explorer 7.0, designed to add new levels of security to Windows XP SP2 while maintaining the level of extensibility and compatibility that customers have come to expect. Internet Explorer 7.0 will also provide even stronger defenses against phishing, malicious software and spyware. The beta release is scheduled to be available this summer.

Microsoft has been under pressure to do this for months, but it does not seem like it will be a features upgrade as all that was promised was greater security in the IE browser. I hope they slip in some features upgrades like support for RSS, Tabs and better search integration.

I downloaded the new MixCast Live software onto my new HP notebook computer and recorded a 10 minute mid-week WebTalk podcast today. I just posted this new mp3 file to our podcast RSS feed.

Many of you have asked for more shows per week and I am curious to try some of the new podcasting tools that are coming out online.

I am now mobile with WebTalk in my ability to do interviews and recording from anywhere. Please let me know how you think WebTalk should evolve or change to remain competitive online with the explosion of other technology podcasts?

I am also looking at dropping all my broadcast radio distribution as it costs money in fees paid to the radio stations per hour. I also like the opportunity to produce a show or shows that do not have highly structured segments and breaks. Dana and I spend so much time editing for length to the second that it is just not time efficient for us to keep producing such highly structured programs. We like the ability to be able to go as long or as short as we want with the show. I want to spend more time in producing quality shows and less time being worried about length of segments.

Please visit PodcastAlley.com and Vote for our show if you like it. If you do not like our show then please let us know what we can do to make the show better. Get the new mp3.