Yahoo! launched a new search shortcut today, the details of which can be found on the Yahoo! blog. Essentially, it allows you to type in “shortcut” in the search box to take the stress off of your tired fingers. A keystroke here, a keystroke there…maybe you can ward off carpal tunnel a few more years.

My favorite shortcut is the one that literally starts with a bang (!). One that starts with a bang can take you directly to a given website. I made one called !Wot that takes me to this site.

Maybe I am missing something. I’d much rather have Yahoo! incorporate these shortcuts with Konfabulator to allow me to create graphical desktop shortcuts that avoid the search box altogether.

This rich media tsunami should hit our shores in early 2006.

Seems Santa has a blog. Must have wireless access in the North Pole.

In this installment, Allen and Mike discuss commerce and community, two essential forces driving the evolution of podcasting. 

We address these issues through the lens of Podshow, the well-funded venture headed by Adam Curry and Ron Bloom. 

Mike is somewhat circumspect during this discussion as some parts of the Podshow story are still under wraps. 

A year ago, I started the project that has manifested itself in this Website, an odd assortment of media thoughts, rich media content (Podcasts and Videoblogs) and a bunch of other notions. This site has allowed me to grow in my knowledge of how things work and how they can be applied to new opportunities.

The next step in my growth has two components: 1) We (Mike McGuire and I) have to make our MADCasts sound better. I’ll match our content against any other technology Podcast on the Web, but the sound quality…well…is less than desirable (I am being polite). If we are able to up our production game, I think we could have more widespread recognition. 2) I want to create a few five-to-seven “TV programs.” Along those lines, we are fairly far along in turning our garage into a TV studio (it’s a little chilly out there, though) and I have my next video camera lined up. I have two workable ideas for programs and am close to “storyboarding” them. The year of shooting videoblog segments along with some previous experience in producing and hosting a cable TV program called “On Video” (circa 1987-1988) allows me the visualize my new “programs.”

I think the five-to-seven minute format will be the next great thing. It allows for two or three commercials (one pre roll, one at the end and maybe one on the middle) and tells a good story. It’s the right length to be viewed in real time, downloaded and enjoyed on an iPod or viewed in the workplace for someone wanting a quick break or diversion. As much I don’t believe in the mobile phone as a viewing medium, this length will also work in that venue.

I have no time frame for my first segment of my first program. I hope to have at least one done by the end of January. Stay tuned.

Interesting. This sets the stage for the AOL-Microsoft relationship in which AOL uses “Fremont” as its classified platform or a hook-up with Google in which they use Google Base. Stay tuned!

AOL will no longer support personal classified listings, but will instead become an aggregator. The company issued a statement in response to an article in AuctionBytes Newsflash on Wednesday that referenced an email from a partner that AOL was closing its classifieds site altogether (http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m12/i14/s00).

AOL spokesperson Cindy Harvey sent a statement regarding the AOL Classifieds Marketplace: "Due to a strategic shift in direction pertaining to our Search & Directional Media plans, the AOL Classifieds Marketplace will no longer support personal classifieds listings and as of December 31st will transition into an aggregator of listings from leading industry partners."

After seeing the top searches from Yahoo! for 2005, I think it’s time for me to go on vacation and get-reoriented to the real world. There are no top searches from the world of politics, critical world affairs or even such events as Hurricane Katrina. It makes you wonder if anyone over the age of 15 searches the Web.

The Yahoo! Search 2005 Overall Top 10 Searches:

1. Britney Spears

2. 50 Cent

3. Cartoon Network

4. Mariah Carey

5. Green Day

6. Jessica Simpson

7. Paris Hilton

8. Eminem

9. Ciara

10. Lindsay Lohan

When my 72-mile commute from Marin County to San Jose came to an end, my car-radio relationship with Howard Stern came to an end. Love him or hate him, he got me from my home to work in the wee hours and distracted me from the horror of my ride.

Today marks the last time I’ll be listening to Stern, live on K-ROCK, from my hotel in NY. That has also been a bit of traditional for me as a way of kicking off my travel work day off with a laugh. Howard is done (for now) on over the air radio in two days. In fact, Yahoo! will have a special online event to mark the day.

I toyed with the idea of buying a Sirrus radio, but decided against it. I just cannot imagine listening to Howard in my home in the morning. I have no commute, so his time on air does not coincide with any time I am in my car. So, like many others, today I’ll be saying goodbye to Howard Stern.

Good luck Howard; you may need it.

One of the issues with the Marriot Marquis in New York was its lousy elevator system. Well, that’s not true anymore. Check out this video—The Marriott Marquis has gone high tech!

In this edition of the MADCAST, Allen and Mike discuss tagging and consumer-to-consumer taste sharing and their importance to the next stage of growth in media industries.

After eight months of videoblogging, I have decided to duplicate my videos on a site dedicated to videoblogging—What’s On Tonight: The Videoblog. I have tried to embed the videos on this site, but (as much as I love Blogware) it appears semi-impossible. The embedded player is crucial because my MPEG-4 videos are challenging for many people to see. So far, I using Vsocial as my embedded host because I think the transcoding (from MPEG-4 to Flash) is great with no loss in quality. I will continue to post hem here, but will also post them on my new site. I might do osme exclusives on the new site as well. Stay tuned.

After a year and a half of waiting, we finally got to the Barrio Café for dinner. It has been voted the best Mexican restaurant in Phoenix, and indeed it’s worthy of the honor. Here’s one of the restaurant’s great charms—tableside preparation of guacamole.

Yes, I know my camera is low-light challenged. I am working on that….

Note:

After eight months of videoblogging, I have decided to duplicate my videos on a site dedicated to videoblogging—What’s On Tonight: The Videoblog. I have tried to embed the videos on this site, but (as much as I love Blogware) it appears semi-impossible. The embedded player is crucial because my MPEG-4 videos are challenging for many people to see.

They are called Webclips. Looks interesting....Stay tuned.

Today's contestant is Vsocial; the company appears to be in my nexk of the woods. Great transcoding!

Interesting story. China is selecting MPEG-4 as its offocial IPTV coding standard. No doubt this will persaude software firms to provide better editing tools as well as a reasonable DRM standard.

No mention here as to whether this will just be on MSNBC (as Nightly News is) or on a dedicated NBC Portal.

Am I in the minority of those people who will not watch TV (of any form) on my mobile phone? That means I have to pay for the phone, the service and the content. With the video iPod, I buy the device and then pay for the content I want and view it on a decent-sized miniscreen and then can play it through my TV when desired. I am missing something here.

CBS has announced that several of its top shows, including CSI and Survivor, will begin producing video clips for the Verizon VCast mobile video package. Besides its top prime time hits, CBS is releasing video snippets from The Late Show with David Letterman, Entertainment Tonight, CBS Evening News, and several other shows to the burgeoning mobile video on demand service starting this month.

This is the first CBS content to appear on VCast, which launched early last year with clips from CNN and ESPN, along with specially produced "mobisodes" of the hit series 24. Like the majority of VCast content, CBS' content will be edited into short form clips, which are generally considered as most appropriate for the mobile environment.

Cool move by CBS to put March Madness on the Web. Advertisers will be lining up.

It's the fourth year that CBS Sports will offer the mostly regional games--ones that wouldn't appear across the whole network. Beginning with the first games March 16, there will be up to 56 NCAA men's tournament games available on the Web through the regional semi-finals. For the first three years, including last year, it was a premium service through the college sports site CSTV.com.

This year, CBS has shifted NCAA March Madness on Demand to an ad-supported service in an effort to gain more viewers. The move is in line with CBS' online strategy in news and elsewhere.

"We felt it was time to continue the evolution to an ad-supported free model that will be the biggest growth down the road," said Michael Aresco, senior vice president of programming at CBS Sports.

In addition to the games, there will be streaming video available of news conferences before and after the games, as well as interviews with players and coaches. Games in the Web viewer's local markets will be blacked out, much as the NCAA tournament coverage on a DirecTV subscription package.

Some more thoughts on NBCU content on the video iPod:

1. There has to be search. I want to find the episode of “Dragnet” where Joe Friday said, “No one said that to me ma’am.” (My wife’s favorite Dragnet line). Rich media search can do that.
2. I don’t think all shows should be priced the same, but for starters it’s fine…the marketplace will show these Media Titans what sells and what doesn’t (and rejigger pricing to suit). I don’t think an old episode of “Adam-12” is worth the same as last week’s “Monk.”
3. There has to be recommendations to sort through the titles. Just like celebrity music mixes or mixes from music aficionados, I’d like to see (Tv critic) Tom Shales’ top 10 episodes of “Law and Order.” Or maybe even (former Tv critic) my top 10 episodes of “Hill Street Blues. (wink, wink). That will get TV shows to fly off the shelf.
4. By the way, with NBC-U, I’d like to see “The Rockford Files,” “Hill Street Blues,” “Cosby,” “I Spy” and (of course) “Seinfeld.”

The best is yet to come. Welcome to a new world order for TV. Apple is at the forefront. No suspirse!

Episodes of Monk on the video iPod? Are you kidding me? I think I could fly from here to Timbuktu watching Monk on the video iPod. A great show that is even better on second viewing (and third, fourth...)  Now about that battery life….