Some details have emerged over the past couple of days about a patent that Apple has filed for that applies to podcasts (or at least to audio streams of some kind, which for the purposes of the patent are called podcasts). There are some details at AppleInsider and at ZDnet, and some thoughts about the potential implications of what Apple appears to be proposing at Hear 2.0 and Last100 that are worth checking out.

As Ars Technica points out, Apple is clearly thinking about broadening what we think of as the podcasting business, which at this point is pretty much just talk radio on a digital device. Another recent patent application that Apple filed describes what it calls “podmaps” — which appears to be a process for downloading maps and then translating text-based directions into audio. And the most recent patent looks like Apple is thinking of ways to comb through audio files and pull out pieces of them and then let you download just the bits you want.

One of the reasons this interests me is that I just haven’t taken to podcasting, and I’m still trying to figure out why. Friends say they are using podcasts more and more, and that they have pretty well replaced radio. But part of what bothers me (as it does with video) is how difficult it is to scan through an hour-long podcast. If Apple’s patent makes that easier, then I’m all for it (coincidentally enough, this weekend is Podcamp in Toronto, which I’m appearing at with my friend Keith McArthur).

Mark Hopkins at Mashable notes that this kind of idea isn’t particularly new (which makes me wonder whether Apple isn’t reaching a bit in trying to file a patent on it, given such “prior art” and the “obviousness” test in U.S. patent law), but I still think the idea has a lot of merit. I don’t really care whether Apple does it or not, although its dominance in the portable media player business makes it the obvious candidate.

At the last mesh meetup we had — at the Charlotte Room on March 28th — our good friend and podcaster extraordinaire Leesa Barnes was good enough to work her magic with a microphone once again, and we’re going to be posting some of the results at the mesh blog over the next little while.

First up is Parker Mason, who blogs at BlogCampaigning, who talked to Leesa about the differences between Web 2.0 in Australia vs. Canada; what surfing taught him about never giving up; and how social media affects political campaigns. The podcast is here.

Thanks again, Leesa.

If you like things like podcasts, video and a widescreen look to a website, then Digg has just launched a site redesign that will be a nice ChristmaHanuKwanakah present for you, as described by both Om Malik (at NewTeeVee) and Mike Arrington at TechCrunch. But will all of these new additions help to broaden Digg’s appeal, or will they just further dilute that appeal?

If you’ve been following the blogosphere, there has been a fair bit of controversy about Digg — not about it broadening its reach into general news and other areas (in fact, there’s been surprisingly little comment about that) but about it being rigged, about submitters taking money under the table (which I wrote about here), and so on. Jason Clarke has argued that Digg is useless.

It’s obvious that some of this is getting to other people too. Over at TechCrunch, one person says they hardly go to Digg any more because the comments are cluttered with morons, and that “As Digg gains more and more momentum to be mainstream we will see that it no longer becomes a barometer of cool but just another established website beaten by fragmented niche sites.”

There are definitely both risks and rewards to the way Digg is going. On the one hand, video is becoming more popular — and Digg’s crowd-voting system can no doubt bring its value (positive and negative) to that as well. But at the same time, adding podcasts and video streams and other features takes away from the streamlined focus on Web links that made Digg so popular (StumbleUpon, which got its start in Calgary, has also launched a video service).

As Digg-style voting tools get worked into other sites, it’s also possible that people might desert Digg for other, more focused sites in particular areas (the way Digg used to be for technology). Meanwhile, Pete Cashmore over at Mashable says the changes are “ridiculously overhyped as usual.” And Neil Patel at Search Engine Land notes that Digg has also made some changes that will affect submitters in subtle ways.

Anyone who attended the ridiculously successful mesh meetup on November 15th (blog post is here) at the Irish Embassy in Toronto may have seen a woman with a small microphone interviewing various luminaries and other assorted folk. As some of you may know by now, that was podcaster extraordinaire Leesa Barnes, and the fruits of her labours are now available for all to enjoy.

That includes interviews with Dr. Tony Hung of Deep Jive Interests, blogger Juan Gonzalez of global-culture.org, Norman Young of The Talking Company (which is in stealth mode), new blogger Rob Schaumer and Bernie Aho of Conceptshare.com — and those are just the beginning. There are more to come. Thanks again to Leesa for all her hard work, and also for the compliments she bestowed on all of us in a recent post she wrote about mesh.

Podcasts were produced by Leesa’s company Caprica Interactive Marketing, with music from the Podsafe Music Network by Uncle Seth.

Here are the podcasts:

1. Juan Gonzalez

Juan talks to Leesa about:

• Ways in which your online conversations can help you meet people in different countries
• Why Juan left Mexico to settle in Canada (and it wasn’t because of money)
• How to talk with your hands using your blog

2. Norman Young of The Talking Company

Norman talks to Leesa about:

• An idea Norman has for Mesh ’07
• How to handle the misconceptions that mainstream audiences have over the word podcast (or should it be netcast?)
• Why the interactive space will never take the place of the physical space (the Mesh meetup is a perfect example)

3. new blogger Rob Schaumer

Rob talks to Leesa about:

• His big challenge is and whether or not he can do it
• What he hopes to learn when he attends Mesh ’07
• His 3 tips for staying young
• Advice on what to do if you’re interviewing someone really boring

4. Dr. Tony Hung of Deep Jive Interests

Tony talks to Leesa about:

• Whether Mathew Ingram looks better in person than he does online
• What Web 2.0 means
• Why he is excited about Mesh ’07

5. Bernie Aho of Conceptshare

Bernie talks to Leesa about:

• Why ConceptShare.com decided not to set up shop in Silicon Valley and chose Toronto instead
• How ConceptShare.com is building buzz without spending enormous sums on advertising
• How their biggest frustration sharing visual concepts over email turned into a business idea
• Web 2.0? It’s now time for Web 3.0
• Why Bernie would be part of the Mesh organizing team
• Which is colder – Sudbury or Toronto? Bernie settles the debate once and for all

There was a bit of a kerfuffle recently (a kerfuffle is a little smaller than a brouhaha) over whether v-logging or video blogging is worth it or not. I wrote about it here after Alec Saunders brought it up, and everyone from Jeff Pulver to Robert Scoble has weighed in on it over the past week or so. Lots of discussion about whether video is the right way to get certain things across, is it too much bother, etc.

Now we have noted VC blogger Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures announcing that he has given up podcasting. Why? Fred says that basically it was too much trouble to put together a show, with all the equipment and getting guests and editing it down, and so on. He also says something similar to what I think Alec and I and others were saying about vlogs, which is that a big audio file is not necessarily the best way to get information across. My friend Stowe Boyd concurs.

That’s not to say it isn’t worth doing for other reasons — a podcast like This Week in Tech with Leo Laporte is fun to listen to for the entertainment value, especially when someone completely deranged like John C. Dvorak is on. But to me it’s more like a talk show than something you do because it has a huge amount of value to it. So it’s fun to listen to on the train or while you’re running, but it’s not something I would consider a must have.

I know my friend Mark Evans has been doing a podcast with his former colleague from the National Post, Kevin Restivo, and I know that podcasting consultant Leesa Barnes is probably going to call me crazy, but most of the time I just don’t see the point of some of the podcasts that are out there. Of course, I should probably add that I don’t see the point of many of the blogs that are out there either :-)