WebProNews

USA Today ran two articles on podcasting today. One in the Money section focuses on podcasting as a disruptive force that will impact the media and technology industries.

USA Today: "Now podcasting has arrived with the potential to rewrite the rules of the game.

Podcasting's most distinctive quality lies in the capacity to time-shift the consumption of digital content. Users can grab and tote their favorite shows, then listen while commuting, exercising or doing chores. Think TiVo for radio. "It's the Internet penetrating into the rest of your life, when you're not connected," says podcasting pioneer Adam Curry.

Big tech suppliers and media companies don't know yet whether they need to come to grips with podcasting - or can dismiss it as a flash in the pan. But there is no ambivalence on the part of the technologists who've embraced it."

Another in the Life section spotlights Dawn and Drew"

"Just after dinner three or four times each week, Dawn and Drew plop down in their Salvation Army-decorated living room and record 30 minutes of funny, inane and often racy husband-and-wife yakking - a show about nothing. But how they're delivering the program worldwide is quite something.

The concept involves recording what amounts to your audio blog directly to computer, posting it to a server and making it available to fans via free software that scours the Web for the show. Once detected, the broadcast is downloaded automatically for transfer to a portable MP3 device such as an iPod.

Hence this medium's name: podcasting."

Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.