I’m pleased to announce one of my projects has hit the ground running today.

IDG Communications has signed up as one of Telstra’s content partners to deliver news and information via i-mode (Telstra’s FAQ page is here). And today we launched the i-mode versions of Computerworld, PC World and GamePro magazines. In geek-speak, it means we have built cHTML versions of each site and linked them with Telstra’s i-mode portal - a feature built into new i-mode phones being sold in Australia.

While i-mode is a global (and non-US) phenomenon, it’s obviously not yet a household name in Australia. That being said, I can see the opportunity. It’s clear to me that our audiences don’t want to be constantly tied to a PC/Mac and browser. Mobile phone sales a booming in Australia, and i-mode is a great opportunity for IDG to test the mobile waters by offering people a different way to access our content.

Now for the ‘but,’ full disclosure statement. Official i-mode sites are subscription based. Australia is following the rest of the world in this regard. We charge $4 per month for unlimited access to content on Computerworld and PC World, and $3 for GamePro. In addition, Telstra charges 2.2 cents per kilobyte.

Do I think our subscription rates are too expensive? Given the amount of content available, no, not really. We’re also charging the same rate as i-mode sites like Fairfax’s SMH and The Age.

Do I think Telstra’s 2.2 per KB is too expensive? Yep. And I believe they should move to a cheaper rate or flat rate pricing scheme ASAP. I’ve also told them as much. The official line is that it’s ‘under review’.

That said, Telstra’s "I like i-mode very much" $7 million marketing campaign includes picking up the cost of your content subscriptions for the first two months while it evaluates user reaction to the service. So if you’re due to sign up for a new contract, get your hands on a mobile that includes i-mode. The models I have tested don’t attract an up-front premium for i-mode.

So, lemme know what you think? Telstra is pretty ambitious about its ability to attract millions of people to this platform. Will they succeed? Do you use similar services from Optus, Vodafone, or 3?

A former editor of mine was fond of saying "a market is greater than two and less than ten." Given that wisdom, The Podcast Network now has a serious competitor in Odeo.

Odeo is run by ex-Google/Pyra Labs blogger Evan Williams and Noah Glass. They’ve got a blog, Evan’s written about the story here, and the start-up is basking in the light of some very valuable NYT exposure.

Want to understand what they’re on about? Evhead summarises thus:

Odeo aims to enable this new distribution channel and medium by creating the best one-source solution for finding, subscribing to, and publishing audio content.

And so a market’s been born thanks to start-ups on both sides of the Pacific. What a coincidence that the latest one is based in San Francisco, a city that became wealthy during the gold rush by selling picks to miners.

Amazing. Telstra’s BigPond Internet division actually understands the fundamental user demand that’s driving the growth of online radio & TV. The Australian reports on BigPond’s decision to ‘compete’ with sister company Foxtel by delivering electronic program guides and TV content via the Net, on demand:

…[BigPond's general manager of content Guy] Gadney, who previously worked at Foxtel, said that while they were focused on bringing content to homes they were not taking on pay-TV or free-TV. "It is not a TV via a PC," he said. "What it is is time-shifted, 24/7 convenience with content on demand. It will not replace free-to-air or subscription TV. We see it as addressing different behaviours and consumption habits and offers different functionality."

The question is how long it will take for the majority of consumers to shift their viewing habits from the free-to-air model to on demand. The age of PVRs is already upon us.

A smile crossed my face this morning when I got an email from Colin Crawford, IDG’s San Francisco-based Vice President. He’s started a blog, and it’s already a great read. To my knowledge he’s the first exec from IDG Corporate to join the blogosphere.

It’s even more interesting given some of the controversy our CEO Pat Kenealy generated when he instituted IDG’s ban on deep-linking to our sites. He also argued that Google is a competitor (and I agree in principle because Google competes for online ad revenues, but think co-opetition is a better description). Read this piece in OhMyNews for the full story.

Regardless, Colin tells IDG employees:

Look to develop your site in a way that includes content from a variety of sources. It is very important that your online teams understand and embrace the whole concepts of cross linking while ensuring that your brands remain the central reference site.

It will be interesting to see how this thinking plays out across our sites, particularly in the US.

I asked Colin via email why he’d started the blog, and he gave the ok to copy his response here:

I started a blog to see if it could be an effective way to communicate my ideas and to comment on developments in online space - primarily to individuals within IDG. I considered password protecting the site but decided instead just to keep sensitive IDG materials off it !  I may subsequently set up a secure area for more sensitive materials but will more likely use IDG Central for such content.

I’m a huge believer in community generated content and I strongly recommend that all the IDG brands find a way to embrace valuable content generated by their users. I will use the weblog to showcase some of the most interesting trends in online - covering SEO, blogs, moblogs, vlogs, RSS/XML, web metric and web analytics, online revenue trends, M&A activity and anything else that catches my eye.

I hope many others within IDG will create their own blogs so we can harness the power of our network - the talent that exists within our organization is amazing and we can use the internet to share ideas and best practices in an efficient manner while being careful of the content that is posted . I just have to find the time to update the blog as it can become a real time sink and distraction !

Best, Colin

In the struggle to deconstruct blogs, we’ve embraced us vs. them arguments. In the public theatre that we call the media we’re constantly occupied by discussions of black vs. white, good vs. bad, journalists vs. bloggers, new media vs. mainstream media, open source vs. lock-in, creative commons vs. traditional copyright, right vs. left, real news vs. infotainment, and in some cases the conversation has even risen to the lofty heights of democratic freedom vs. state control.

So today’s little epiphany, inspired by the late Hunter S. Thompson’s passion for turning life into an event, is bring it on.

One of the first rules I learnt in journalism is that conflict makes great copy. When there’s debate, people are interested. And interested people read interesting stories.

Journalism and mainstream media under threat? It’s a fantastic story because the more you talk about it, the more the ball stays in the media’s court. How will the editor of the NYT respond to the blogosphere’s challenge? (via Steve). Is ex-CNN exec Eason Jordan really a martyr? You can only find out the answers by reading the best sources, be they blogs or mainstream press.

Implicit in our assumptions is there’s little value in advocating the middle ground, regardless of whether it holds truth. We want blogs to be either good or bad. So if you’re a marketer and you think blogs are a waste of time, tell me why? Give me a decent argument. You’re in journalism and you hate bloggers? Is that an educated opinion? You’re a blogger and you don’t trust journalists? Is that because you think all journalists are exactly the same?

If there’s one thing I love about any form of media or art, it’s the pursuit of great stories. So here’s to avoiding grey and embracing the theatre of black or white - the media business is counting on it.

ClickZ: Of the 52 million adult Americans who use instant messaging, approximately 30 percent have received "spim," or unsolicited commercial instant messages, according to a surveyPew Internet & American Life Project.

This amounts to approximately 17 million adults who have received the instant-message variant of spam.

Really? That many people? Call me behind the times, but today’s the first day I heard about spim, let alone receive any.

HP’s Mark Potts has moved from (I assume) the US to Perth, Australia. Could you get any further away from the US, Mark? heh.

Anyway, good to see another IT industry blogger in the country. Mark, you should meet fellow Perth blogger Richard Giles (shhh, don’t tell your boss he works for Sun).

ps. I would have posted a comment on your blog, but it doesn’t seem to work?

Still wondering what all the fuss is about? The blogosphere’s thought-leaders are forging ahead with v-logs, moblogs, and podcasts, but many communications, PR and marketing folks still have some pretty fundamental questions.

So kudos to H&K for recognising the knowledge gap and doing something about it. They’re throwing a breakfast seminar next month and if you’re in Sydney on the day, you’re invited!

I’ve copied the official email invite from H&K below, and only feel slightly self-conscious that they put me first. Does that mean I get all of the blame? Either way, I’m looking forward to the real-time conversation. Hope to see you there.

*****

"Weblogs" — websites that can be updated as quickly as talk-back radio — have become a worldwide phenomenon.

Blogging is the focus of Hill & Knowlton’s next Breakfast Bytes seminar, which will be in panel format.

Join some of Australia’s leading bloggers and communication experts for a frank and engaging discussion of blogging, marketing and public relations:

Mark Jones, Deputy Managing Director, IDG Communications, who pioneered the use of blogs in IT journalism

Frank Arrigo, Group Manager, Microsoft Australia, and a prominent corporate blogger

Andrew Kirk, Associate Director, Hill & Knowlton, and an ex-Channel 10 and radio reporter

Mick Stanic, proprietor of Principius, the mind behind Splatt, and a ‘podcasting’ pioneer

This event is brought to you by Breakfast Bytes, Hill & Knowlton’s seminar program for marketing and communication professionals.

Where

Level 1, 338 Pitt Street

Sydney, NSW, Australia

When

7.15-9am, Thursday 10 March

Breakfast will be served from 7.15am

The panel will begin 7.45am sharp

Spaces are limited - please register

Register or Unsubscribe

To register for this free event or to unsubscribe from future invitations, please visit the

Breakfast Bytes

registration page.

Further Information

02 9268 0242

breakfastbytes@hillandknowlton.com

If true, this astounding account of Sun Microsystems CTO Jesus David Rivas ‘brutal’ treatment of a blogger/podcaster is clearly way beyond the bounds of acceptable behaviour.

Mr Rivas’ sudden attempt to delete the blogger’s (I can’t find his name?) audio recording of the interview in turn prompted the written abuse you find on his blog. You can delete the recording, but not the experience.

Cameron Reilly has linked to the story, now yours truly, and I’m sure many others will. Here’s hoping Chief Blogger Jonathan does indeed step in to mend a burnt  bridge. This one really sounds out of character for Sun execs - and I’ve met a lot of them. I’d love to know what question our nameless blogger asked that triggered the outburst.

I knew there was a reason I miss watching US cable TV - Jon Stewart’s Daily Show. Jason Calacanis has called this the greatest video clip ever. It’s an absolute must-watch if you’ve even got a passing interest in media, journalism, blogs or US politics.

And meanwhile, when are we going to get the networks to add RSS to video downloads? Take for example Daily Show’s archive. It’s screaming out for RSS.