The New, New Thing

I'm not sure why it took Runner's World so long with this, given that MapMyRun has been around for at least a couple of years.

Nonetheless, runners should welcome the Runner's World Route Finder, an online resource powered by TrainingPeaks. The RW Route Finder enables runners around the world to both search for or map new running routes in their own community or wherever they travel.

More details from Runners' World:

The RW Route Finder automatically searches for routes in the runner's current location and displays all the available routes on a map view, not just in a list. In addition to a map, runners can view interactive elevation profiles of any hills, providing a more complete understanding of the route's difficulty level. Finally, runners can search for routes in any part of the world simply by entering a new city in the search field.

In addition to finding new routes, runners may upload their favorite running course to the public RW Route Finder database. Runners also have the ability to drag and drop routes into their training log calendars, which automatically uploading the runs' distances and elevation gains directly into their personal trainer account. Routes recorded in the RW Route Finder can be instantly shared with friends on Facebook and Twitter, allowing runners to post their achievements in real time and receive feedback from the running community.

It's easy to test out the Route Finder, which I did. While it has a great interface and returns results quickly, there still appear to be some bugs in the coding. A search for runs in "Saratoga Springs, NY" produced some excellent runs in that area -- along with a few courses in Saratoga Springs, Utah. Well, they'll come in handy if I'm ever passing through.

There's been a ton of hype surrounding the restricted release this week of Google Wave, the search giant's highly anticipated real-time communications and collaboration platform.

Google on Wednesday invited 100,000 people to play around with the apps platform in order to provide feedback and uncover bugs. And while those of us not lucky enough to be part of the crowd-sourced workforce must wait our turn, Google provides a glimpse of what Wave can do on its Google Wave Preview Featured Extensions page.

Of the half-dozen extensions built over the summer during the developer preview, two seem of particular interest to media professionals -- Ribbit, which enables telephone conference calls via Google Wave, and 6rounds, a real-time video chat application developed by a company called Gig00 Studios.

Below is a good video from Gig00 showing how 6rounds works within Google Wave.

The Museum of American Finance today unveiled a Wikipedia-inspired site called Recessipedia that intends to build a personal/factual history of the current recession based on input from, well, anybody.

As Peter McKay explains in the Wall Street Journal:

Like Wikipedia, Recessipedia will have community-generated encyclopedia entries on key players in the crisis, such as Lehman Brothers and the Federal Deposit Insurance Co. However, it will also invite personal testimonials about the recession from traders, investors, executives, government officials, and the public, with participants allowed to make submissions under pseudonyms.

Pseudonyms. Those should augur well for rational discourse, especially when GoNRAFreedomLovingSocialistHater exchanges views with DeathToCapitalistsAndCorporations.

Fortunately, according to the WSJ, while arguing will be allowed, libel will not. (Here's a little jump-ball for all you Internet entrepreneurs, courtesy of yours truly: libelpedia is available -- .com, .net and .org. Just remember me when it's time for friends-and-family shares.)

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Two days ago I wrote about Nielsen's "Three Screen Report" chronicling the increase in video consumption across television, the Internet and mobile devices.

Before publishing that post I edited out my observation that the lines between these platforms were blurring and one day may disappear altogether. Now I wish I had kept it in because it would have made a damned prescient lead-in to this item reported Thursday by Christopher Rick over at ReelSEO:

Telestream and Wowza (Media Systems) have shined light on a deal between them that will offer live video production and universal streaming to the iPhone, Web and TV. In a major step towards three screen convergence (forget the fact that it's only iPhone representing mobiles) Telestream and Wowza are working on an industry-first, single-encode stream and will show that tech off at the [International Broadcasters Convention] in Amsterdam [Sept. 11-15].

The service will allow simultaneous streaming to iPhones, iPod Touch, Flash players, Silverlight and Quicktime players as well as IPTV set-top boxes. ...

This is one small step for video, one giant leap for the industry. With the ability to simultaneously push to all three screens you'll be giving consumers the ultimate in freedom and choice.

Considering Nielsen's latest survey data showing Americans consuming more video than ever, it's more like giving a tweaker keys to the meth lab.

While we're probably some ways off from the major video producers (television studios) using this technology -- laggards that they are -- smaller production houses (Web TV shows, independent video-makers) should find it intriguing. Here's a statement from Dave Stubenvoll, CEO and co-founder of Wowza:

"Together, Wowza and Telestream enable content owners, producers and delivery networks to realize the vision of true three-screen streaming in a very practical, yet extremely powerful way."

Customers can buy Telestream's Wirecast production software for under $500 and get a Wowza Media Server Software Subscription for $65/month or less per server. The service will be available later this year.

Wowza is a Colorado-based streaming software vendor, while Telestream, based in Northern California, is a video distribution company.

Online research firm GigaOM Pro announced it is now offering a paid-research service designed to help subscribers understand where this Internet thing is headed.

Giga Omni Media founder Om Malik explains on the pages of Salon:

Slowly but surely, the web is being disaggregated, dismembered and at the same time, becoming more interactive. Some call it the Now Web, others are labeling it the Real-Time Web, while still others view it as the Social Web. They all describe components of what we refer to as the NewNet. ...

Why the name NewNet? To reflect the fact that the web of tomorrow will be very different from the web of today. The change is being brought about by two major trends: The first is the availability of increasingly more bandwidth, both wireless and wireline. The second is the number of devices we can now use to create and consume content.

What Malik's second point really is about is the rise of social networking -- "non-professionals" creating, sharing and discussing the content they produce -- and the advent of instant ("real-time") information distribution.

Malik also offers this:

More and more people are publishing more and more "social objects" and sharing them online. That data deluge is creating a new kind of search opportunity.

This is an important insight because navigating the web today really is like driving in a large parking lot: There's little order and things are coming at you from all directions. That's the challenge semantic web technology and other "smarter search" efforts are attempting to address.

Among the types of research reports you can read as a subscriber to NewNet:

"Understanding Google Wave: An Experiment in Real-Time Web Use"

"Why Facebook & Twitter Should Work Together"

"It's Time To Get Real Time, Corporate America"

Next time you're thumbing through a copy of Entertainment Weekly, don't panic if the magazine comes to life in your hands.

A video player running Pepsi ads and CBS programs will be embedded in an upcoming EW print edition, according to Associated Press Business Writer Andrew Vanacore.

The ad comes in a heavy-paper package resembling the kind of novelty greeting cards that make noises. A roughly two-inch screen starts playing automatically as the page flips open. A speaker is embedded below it.

This will be the first time a video has been embedded in a magazine, say CBS and Entertainment Weekly (which is owned by Time Warner Inc.) A Los Angeles "multisensorizing" company called Americhip Inc. created the video player insert. AmeriChip also has created audio ads (Kelloggs, Mazda) and scented ads (Diet Pepsi) ads for print.

As Vanacore notes, magazines and newspapers are experimenting (at least the smart ones are) with non-traditional ways to reach an audience, breaking long-standing publishing conventions and melding content platforms.

The video ad is expected to run in the fall TV preview issue, but only selected subscribers in the New York and L.A. areas will receive the embedded version. If you're one of those people, here's what to expect:

In the ad, characters from CBS's "The Big Bang Theory" talk up EW and give a how-to on navigating the different buttons that bring up more clips.

A menu of additional spots includes a clip from "Two and Half Men," a sneak peek at the new CBS comedy "Accidentally on Purpose" and a preview of the network's fall drama slate. There's also an ad for the Pepsi Max diet soft drink.

The rest of us will just have to wait. I think I can do it.

The Website based on the Cable TV show that covers books and their authors has been redesigned and now there's this video about it. That's a whole lot of media in one sentence.

There's a new place on these World Wide Webs that aims to suck up your time combining breaking news and social networking.

SodaHead.com hopes to combine their "active and robust community" with breaking news to create the first "social newspaper." The initiative provides a forum to discuss breaking news and hot topics differently than traditional news sites.

"Existing online news outlets are great for reading the news, but they lack any meaningful interaction among readers to engage, discuss and learn from each other," said Michael Glazer, president and co-founder, SodaHead.com. "SodaHead is a place to voice your opinion and see what the world is thinking on issues important to you. Everyone needs an outlet to express themselves, SodaHead is that place."

SodaHead boasts a 2.5 million strong community in which users select stories, generally from mainstream sites and newspapers, then discuss them, rank them and vote on them.

Says CEO Jason Feffer, "Unlike The Drudge Report, Digg and The New York Times that are full of links to stories or the content is selected by an editorial staff, SodaHead allows readers to engage with one another and to talk about these stories in a dynamic, rather than static, environment."

Well folks, we're on to Round 2.

Last week I asked for your vote in the "I'm a Blogger...Get Me Out of Here!" contest, which runs in conjunction with NBC's "I'm a Celebrity..."

With enough votes in Round 1, I'm now in the final six — and advanced to the "offal" stage of competition. What's offal? Watch the video blog below, and please vote so I can report for WebNewser from the jungle of Costa Rica!...

As mediabistro.com managing editor Rebecca Fox did today in this must-read on FishbowlNY, I'll be dropping the royal 'we' for this post.

Here's the deal:

Last week we were approached by Terpin Communications, a PR agency, about participating in a contest run by Granada USA in conjunction with NBC's reality show, "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!"

So beginning today, and running until June 11, I'll blog about various elements of the Costa Rican jungle, where the show is set, in a Web game show of sorts, "I'm a Blogger...Get Me Out of Here!" The winner joins "celebs" like Heidi Montag and Patti Blagojevich on the set to live blog from the jungle.

Now I have a one-in-eight chance to fulfill my lifelong dream — to blog from Costa Rica. And I need your help.

Let's get the power of the mediabistro.com community together and all vote...and get me out of here!

Click continued to see the release...

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