We’re incredibly excited to introduce our newest application, iWriter.

iWriter allows teachers and students to create study tools for the iPod in minutes, then share those tools with (other) students, colleagues and friends - instantly. See it in action here. Several of us here at Talking Panda are the offspring of teachers, so we used our built-in focus group to design iWriter very carefully, with the particular needs of educators (and those being educated) in mind: Read the rest of this entry »

If you are a blogger or follow the blogs, then you likely use an RSS reader. (What?! You don’t? Read this article first.) And, if you are one of the millions who uses Microsoft Outlook, you should try Newsgator Inbox.

This tool let’s you manage all of your RSS content within your Microsoft Outlook folders. So, for example, you can forward content from the reader to co-workers, clients, etc.

Technorati has been hard at work cutting deals to bring the blogosphere to the masses. This week was a busy one for them with three separate announcements:

1. Technorati has teamed up with the Associated Press to add blogger commentary to AP newstories.

When readers visit an AP member Web site that uses AP Hosted Custom News, they will see a module featuring the “Top Five Most Blogged About” AP articles right next to the article text, dynamically powered by Technorati. Additionally, when readers click on an AP article, Technorati will deliver “Who’s Blogging About” that article. Read the rest of this entry »

Two recent revelations about the validity of comments being posted on blogs are raising some interesting questions. In one instance, an LA Times columnist was caught in April posting comments to his own blog under a pseudonym. More recently, bloggers have identified an apparent coordinated effort to post opposing views on some pro-Net Neutrality blogs with concerns that the effort is being funded by the opposition. (For more on both, see Mark Glaser’s Media Shift.) Read the rest of this entry »

This new software product from Talking Panda turns an iPod into a study tool. It allows you to mix text and audio files into learning programs (e.g. spelling quizzes, reading lists) and includes eight project templates to help get you started.

The tool can also build Web sites for students without iPods.

CNet, which published Eliot Van Buskirk’s review of our “very good” rockin’ guitar companion for iPod recently. And while iRocker may not be stocked by any of their merchants (at the time of the review, anyhow), it is always “in stock” and ready for download at TalkingPanda.com. iRocker (and all Talking Panda iPod applications) is also available Apple Stores, Best Buy, CompUSA, Fry’s, J&R, Amazon, and so on…

On the BroadbandReport.com blog, for example, IDI was recently referred to as a “Bell PR firm” with “a long history of trying to trick the public.” I chose to respond to the post with the following comment:

Response from Issue Dynamics

I want to respond to the unsigned story that attacks Issue Dynamics Inc., as a “Bell PR Firm” and then suggests we lie by saying “take their claims with a grain of salt.”

In fact, our on-line business is primarily not for Telco clients, and has included, or still does, among others: The Human Rights Campaign, the Holocaust Museum, and the Center for Community Change, the National Environmental Trust, Amnesty International, NAACP, The National Council of La Raza, the US Chamber of Commerce, The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Mark Warner for Governor, the National Association of Realtors, Harris Miller for Senate, United Church of Christ, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

IDI has a long and positive history of LEADING in the use of the Net for advocacy by both non-profit and corporate clients. The portrait of IDI by some who don’t know us and who have their own axe to grind in fact paints a completely false picture.

IDI was the first to put the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee on-line. We have hosted early web sites for the Democrats in New York; we sold early technology to the Bradley for President Campaign; we did the first on-line petition to the FCC for a company called Metricom that provided an alternative wireless internet service. We are and have been a leader in developing Internet tools for advocacy for both corporate and non-profit clients.
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And yes, we do work for Telcos, Verizon, USTA, BellSouth, and we have worked for Comcast, and other corporate Telecom and many non-Telecom clients. The services we offer are diverse but for this discussion the point is we connect our clients with organizations and groups that they might not otherwise work with and help build positive on-going relationships. (We do this for Telcos and for non-profit clients as well.) We offer to build and strengthen connections between business interests and non-profit interests. Or non-profit interests and other interest groups. (e.g. environmental groups with minority groups)

We do not believe the world is “either or.” We sponsor and support a number of pro-labor and pro-consumer organizations as well. It is my view that in civil society constructive relationships that promote dialogue and common values is good.

I suggest that in the last few years some folks whose interests run counter to those of some of IDI’s clients have decided it is a good idea to smear and slander us. A number of folks, including Fred Goldstein, whose post is linked to in the original article, have taken up with others and made this effort a vendetta against both me and IDI. The argument is: if we work with Telco’s we are bad guys.

In fact, I believe our work and our innovation have been responsible for helping to create the best of internet and off-line advocacy and standards. We have been responsible for some great win-win solutions, including provisions in the law that help education and people with disabilities.

We do not engage in spamming, screeds or personal attacks. We do not hire people to post comments and do not encourage anonymity.

Finally, if anyone wants to really get to know us or me, there are places to go:  One is professional and one is personal. People can also Google me under either Sam Simon or Samuel A. Simon – I have never posted under an alias and you will find posts from the early 1990’s forward. (We also ran a bulletin board from 1986 to 1990, called the IDI Board. It was RBBS and much of the then “on line” discussion about the “modem tax” took place on the IDI Board.)

Sam

In this instance, we have decided to add our voice and perspective to this discussion. Our contribution will help readers decide what to make of it all. We think this is a good thing. Ignoring the attack won’t make the discussion go away. So instead, we choose to be a part of it.

As prominent blogger Steve Rubel notes, two high-traffic blogs — Blog Maverick and Seth Godin’s Blog — have disabled the comments feature on their sites. According to Mark Cuban, author of Blog Maverick, comments have “devolved to the point where they add no value.” And while Seth Godin thinks “comments are terrific,” he has decided that they don’t work for him. He does not have the time to review and respond to them and he anticipates that his writing may change over time as he anticipates the responses he will get from his readers. Read the rest of this entry »

While Pew Internet reports that only 13% of internet users “have a good idea” about what podcasting is, New York Times columnist David Pogue recently released a video where he explores the variety of podcasts available to users Read the rest of this entry »

The recent fight between bloggers and the Washington Post provides the best example of the emerging role of bloggers in the public debate. Bloggers have become the Ombudsman of the traditional media.

Read the rest of this entry »

Left-leaning blogs have been fairly unanimous in condemning DIck Cheney, Scott McClellan and other Bush administration officials for their handling of the Harry Whittington shooting. Right-leaning blogs have revealed a split in Read the rest of this entry »