Listen is currently only available for Android-powered phones such as the G1 and myTouch 3G from T-Mobile. To download the application, users can scan the enclosed QR code and follow the onscreen instructions or look for Listen in the Google Android Market.

As usual, RWW Live will be hosted by Sean Ammirati. Our guests are:

• Dennis Crowley from the previously mentioned Four Square (iTunes link). Check out ReadWriteWeb's review of Four Square. Before that, Dennis was co-founder of Dodgeball, which was acquired by Google.
• Tom Coates, from Yahoo! (creator of Fire Eagle). See ReadWriteWeb's coverage of Fire Eagle's go-live.
• Mark Josephson CEO at Outside.in. See ReadWriteWeb's coverage of Outside.in.

We welcome your suggestions for discussion points, either in the comments here or by tuning in LIVE to the show - via Calliflower or Facebook - and participating in the chat room.

UPDATE: The podcast is now available for listening to here.

• Gregg Brockway, President & Co-Founder, TripIt
• Marko Ahtisaari, CEO & Co-Founder, Dopplr
• Hugh Birch, VP of Product Development, Yapta
• Jonah Sigel, VP Business Development, PlanetEye

We welcome your suggestions for discussion points, either in the comments here or by tuning in LIVE to the show - via Calliflower or Facebook - and participating in the chat room.

UPDATE: The podcast is available for download here.

Overall, the application is smartly designed - the scrolling bar for the different channels at the top of the app is a very neat feature, for example - but the amount of content is somewhat limited. That, of course, is a problem that TV.com is quite familiar with, especially after Hulu pulled its videos from the service's web site.

The fact that you can't easily see if TV.com actually has full episodes of a particular show or only clips is especially problematic. A 30-second clip from 'Numb3rs,' for example, isn't usually going to be very interesting, while short clips are probably all you want from the 'Late Show with David Letterman.'

Will TV.com Push Others to Release Similar Apps?

It's a shame that there is currently no application that features a broader range of content from a larger number of networks. The Joost application is interesting, but its content, too, is limited, and we are still awaiting the launch of the rumored Hulu application. NBC experimented with an iPhone compatible mobile site a while back that actually featured full episodes, but that site doesn't seem to feature any full episodes anymore. At least, however, Apple isn't blocking these apps, which are, after all, competing with the downloadable shows in iTunes.

Half the students (32 of 64) skipped the class and listened to the podcast only. The other half attended in person, where they also received a printed handout. A week later, the students were tested on the material.

Podcast Listeners Did Better

The students who downloaded the podcast alone averaged a C (71 out of 100) but those who attended class averaged a D. And those who listened to the podcast and took notes did even better - their average was 77.

Before university classrooms empty out, it's important to note that this is only preliminary research. McKinney's study involved only a single lecture. Also, motivation may have come into play as well. Her experiment didn't count for class credit, so students were encouraged to participate with iTunes gift cards. The high scorer from each group was awarded a $15 gift certificate for use in the online store.

McKinney now plans to further study podcasts in the classroom over the course of an entire semester, instead of just one class. She wonders if students might find podcasts more useful early on in a class, when the material is still new. Still, McKinney is a big believer in the power of technology and its impact on education. "I do think it's a tool," she says. "I think that these kids are programmed differently than kids 20 years ago."

Some of the topics we expect to discuss in the show:

• Measuring effectiveness of recommendation systems
• Draw backs / problems (referring to our recent post 5 Problems of Recommender Systems)
• Opportunities our guests see for innovation in the space

We welcome your suggestions for discussion points, either in the comments here or by tuning in LIVE to the show - via Calliflower or Facebook - and participating in the chat room.

UPDATE: the audio is available now.

Download MP3

RssPlayer is a step in the right direction, and we are happy that Apple has finally allowed it into the App Store. The app does a lot of things right, but it also has to abide by Apple's stringent restrictions.

The Good

Compared to Apple's own podcast implementation, RssPlayer is a major step forward. You can check for new episodes right from the app, stream audio to the device without having to first download the show, and you can even download password-protected feeds. The app also displays show notes and has some other basic functions like marking episodes as played or deleting a download.

The Bad

The app still has its limitations, however. There is no way to search for feeds, for example. You have to enter the URL of the podcast feed by hand (including the 'http://'). You can also point the app to an OPML file with your podcast subscriptions. Starting with the next version, RssPlayer will also allow you to simply click on a podcast feed in Safari and automatically subscribe to it in the app.

Far more damaging, however, is the complete lack of playback controls. We don't know if Alex decided to leave these out as a concession to Apple, but we can't believe that the developers of an audio playback application would deliberately leave this basic functionality out. According to the developers, this feature will return the next version of RssPlayer.

Because Apple insists that the apps only function within their own sandbox environment, your subscriptions won't appear in the iPod application and the audio will stop when you exit the application (though playback automatically resumes when you re-open RssPlayer).

Verdict

In most respects, RssPlayer is a major upgrade over Apple's built-in podcast player, but the downsides of having no playback controls and no podcast directory make it a bit hard to recommend the app just yet. If you are already frustrated by Apple's podcast support, however, the $1.99 for the application is money well spent, especially once the Apple approves the new versions that iron out most of the bugs we mentioned above.

Of course, if you want to take the risk, you could also jailbreak your iPhone and install the latest version of Podcaster on your phone.

Here are the details of our guests in this show (in alphabetical order):

• Brian Kissel is CEO at JanRain, Inc.
• Scott Kveton is VP of Open Platforms at Vidoop
• Chris Messina is employed by Vidoop, runs Citizen Agency and works on the DiSo Project, facilitating the development of the "Open Stack" for the social web.
• David Recordon is Open Platforms Tech Lead at Six Apart.

Some of the topics we'll explore on the show include:

• How to increase adoption of OpenID
• Plans for the OpenID Foundation
• Opinions on Google Friend Connect & Facebook Connect

We welcome your suggestions, either in the comments here or by tuning in LIVE to the show - via Calliflower or Facebook - and participating in the chat room.

UPDATE: the audio is available now.

Download MP3

BrightKite started as a "nights and weekends" project that they submitted to TechStars, a small funding initiative similar to Y Combinator. TechStars provided mentorship, a bit of seed capital and generally got them off the ground - in return for some equity. BrightKite did a working prototype, then raised an angel round of $1M last year.

I then asked the two companies about how their product plan will be affected, if at all, by the economy downturn. I noted that Zoho has a wide variety of products in their Web Office suite, so for example do they plan to fold some of those into bigger products due to the economy? Zoho replied that they make money from their business applications, rather than their collaboration apps. So they have made it a priority to integrate their collaboration apps into the business apps over the coming year(s). They will also continue to add new apps, however those will be money-making business apps.

I put the same question to BrightKite: has their product plan changed due to the economy? BrightKite replied that it hasn't changed significantly, they were always planning to ramp up the marketing and do more partnerships this year. They also plan to introduce revenue drivers - e.g. location-based advertising and analytics for businesses. Generally the economy hasn't changed their revenue-generating plans too much, although it's perhaps brought it forward by a month or so.

In terms of success factors, Zoho mentioned that "constant innovation" has allowed them to keep ahead of the pack. In the online word processing space, there were around 17 competing apps when they launched Zoho Writer - but continually improving their product helped them keep ahead. Zoho has about 250 staff, so that has helped. On the other side of the staffing coin, BrightKite is a small 10-person team. They believe that being open and iterating on user problems is key for their success.

There are many more tips in the podcast, which we invite you to listen to below. Also let us know your own thoughts on not just surviving, but thriving, in this current economic environment.

Download MP3

Cat pic: fofurasfelinas

We will post the audio from the show at the end, but we hope you join us LIVE on Calliflower or Facebook.

Here are the details of our guests in this show:

• Sridhar Vembu, CEO, Zoho
• Raju Vegesna, Evangelist, Zoho
• Martin May, co-founder, BrightKite
• Brady Becker, co-founder, BrightKite

UPDATE: the audio is available now.

Download MP3

In the call we discussed the highlights of 2008: the top Web companies, the biggest technology trends - including an especially good conversation on open versus closed systems - and finally some predictions for 2009. We also touched on some of the 2008 in Review posts we've published in December:

• Top 100 Products of 2008
• Best LittleCo of 2008 & Most Promising for 2009
• Best BigCo of 2008: Apple

We look forward to doing more RWW Live shows in 2009!

The user experience is great and we think it makes NPR podcast content immediately more compelling. You get an instant preview of what will be in your feed and it's really easy to use.

There's some rights issues with a couple of the big NPR shows but that's not the end of the world. It's pretty great that this new custom configuration is now the default setting for the Podcasts page.

We would also love to see these custom podcasts made accessible through the great year-old NPR mobile site.

We hope the innovation over at NPR will continue fast and furious, especially now that there's a new CEO in town. Former head of NYTimes.com Vivian Schiller was just named the new CEO of NPR last month.

We'd like to continue the discussion in the comments - and also tell us how you listen to podcasts these days. I usually listen to them while walking the dog. But everyone is different, so tell us your preferred podcast listening method.

Richard MacManus

• NPR: All Songs Considered, plays all the latest music; check out their review of the top music of '08, it's must-listen for music geeks
• Live in Concert from All Songs Considered
• ReadWriteTalk (iTunes link), our own podcast channel, hosted by the awesome Sean Ammirati
• RWW Live, ReadWriteWeb's bi-weekly podcast show hosted by Sean, featuring a few of the RWW authors and special guests
• The Semantic Web Gang, Paul Miller and his Semantic Web crew

Marshall Kirkpatrick (walking the dog while listening to podcasts is a common theme here at RWW)

• StackOverflow (and many other things on ITConversations)
• TWiT: This Week in Tech
• Gilmor Gang
• NY Times Backstory
• RedMonk Podcasts

Sarah Perez

• CNET's Buzz Out Loud ("my hands down favorite")
• Diggnation
• CNET's Loaded
• TWiT: This Week in Tech
• The Social Geeks (featuring Sarah)

Frederic Lardinois

• Slate Gabfest with @jdickerson
• NPR On the Media
• Nature Podcast
• FLOSS Weekly (Free Libre Open Source Software)
• New Yorker Out Loud

Lidija Davis doesn't listen to podcasts, but she participates in one - The Drilldown.

10 Favorite Podcasts From the RWW Community

We got a great response from our friends on Twitter (follow @rww on Twitter if you want to participate in future polls). A number of podcasts were mentioned multiple times. Here are 10 of those that randomly caught our eye:

• This American Life, presented by Chicago Public Radio
• For Immediate Release, a show about PR and tech
• TED Talks, brain food
• You Look Nice Today, "an audio-based Journal of Emotional Hygiene"
• Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, NPR quiz show
• KEXP song of the day, Seattle radio station which has a selection of great podcasts
• Six Pixels of Separation, podcast of Twist Image, a Digital Marketing agency
• MacCast, Mac fans computer show
• BBC Friday night Comedy, "a satirical take on the week's news with the cream of UK comedy talent."
• Strange Love Live, which @dieselboi described as "a fun, insightful and sexy podcast"; our own Marshall Kirkpatrick was on it recently.

Below is the full unstructured list from friends of RWW! Sorry there are no links, but generally you can copy and paste an item into Google to find out more...

Kate LaFrance: Stephen Pierce's blog dtalpha.com.

Roger Harris: Nature magazine, Scientific American, NPR

Terri Ellman: This American Life and Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me.

Kenny Hyder: the maccast & atomfilms

Mike Billeter: Marvel's own Mighty Marvel Podcast and The B.S. Report with Bill Simmons (ESPN).

Rob Inskeep: Killer Innovations - http://bit.ly/killer and, on a lighter note The Instance - http://bit.ly/Instance

Mike Keliher: You Look Nice Today, On the Media, Shill, Inside PR, For Immediate Release

eco2oh: Cool Hunting Video (brilliant art/culture/design snack) Tiki Bar TV, Eban's Lounge Podcast Selection, Dishy Mix

Joseph Miller: This American Life, TWiT, Stanford Entrepreneurship.

Simon Young: http://forimmediaterelease.biz, http://jaffejuice.com/, http://twistimage.com/blog, and of course http://ijump.tv :)

ipevo: Inside Mac Radio

itamarw: The Bugle (Times Online), BOL

Mike Robinson: BBC Friday night comedy http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/... TED Talks, always interesting... http://www.ted.com/index.ph...

kitalooclef: More Hip than Hippie, You Look Nice Today, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Real Time with Bill Mahr, The World's Tech podcast

Paul Laroquod: ill doctrine; Cult of UHF; Quirks & Quarks; Art & Story; Sessler's Soapbox.

Andrew Korf: Ian Masters on KPFK.org: http://www.ianmasters.org/

Rob Cottingham: For Immediate Release, Lullabot, Six Pixels of Separation, CBCRadio Comedy Factory, Manager Tools

Kevin Marks: RadioLab; In Our Time; This American Life; BBC Friday night Comedy; On The Media more at my last.fm account kevinmarks

Daniel Howe: The Father Bob Show - He's a disgruntled elderly priest from Melbourne who likes to speak his mind http://is.gd/bQ92

Iben Rodriguez: WNYC-RadioLab, VODcars, PBCC-Sunday-Sermons, ScienceFriday, and Berkeley-Groks.

chase squires: Marketplace ( http://marketplace.publicra... ) and the Stuck in the 80s podcast ( http://blogs.tampabay.com/80s/ )

Adam Ritchie: sound opinions from american public media, nyt popcast, npr all songs considered, boston globe page one, rocketboom

Erin | Books in 140: This American Life, CBC's Writers & Company, New York Times Book Review, New Yorker podcasts

Steve O'Hear: TWiT, phonesshow (prev smartphoneshow), mobile with the guru

Charles: "The Lew Rockwell Show" http://lewrockwell.com/podc...

Kim Gaskins: Savage Love http://is.gd/2rG0

Ethan Watrall: iFanboy, Quirks & Quarks, Wormwood, Leviathan Chronicles, OnBoardGames

Kevin Pedraja: This American Life, Fresh Air, NPR Morning News Summary, KEXP Song of the Day, Beautiful Places in HD

Kiran Max Weber: Future Tense, Core Intuition, gdgt, StackOverflow and TWiT. Gillmor Gang would have made it but think it died.

Andrew Korf: http://ecorner.stanford.edu...

Mike Maney: "Open Sources" podcast from @mjasay and @daveofdoom at http://www.opensources.com/

mike dunn: http://www.podiobooks.com, http://www.somethingtobedes, http://www.thebitterestpill, http://www.evilgeniuschronicles, http://www.deltaparkproject.

Hanna Wiszniewska: Changesurfer Radio http://bit.ly/OF7d, Pop!Casts http://bit.ly/liEk, TEDtalks http://bit.ly/vUTq

Tony Bain: venture-voice

alexislyon: Coffee Break Spanish!

McMatt: Sci. Am's "60 Second..." series. Informative, leads to other info and very chipper. http://tinyurl.com/5vgr79

Shaun Trennery: Twit, No Agenda, ZA Tech Show, Tech 5

Sarah Wood: Diggnation, Totally Rad Show, The Stealth Mac, We Need Girlfriends, KEXP song of the day

aussiesasha: social blend @ mixxingbowl.com :)

Sea-Fever Consulting: For Immediate Release, Six Pixels of Separation, No Agenda, You Look Nice Today, Just One More Book

Will King: TEDTalks, FastCompany.TV, MacCast, NPR Planet Money, KRCW LeShow

Sherif Mansour: 1) The Scoop (Aussie) http://tinyurl.com/594dwx 2) Instantiate Podcast (Aussie) http://instantiate.platform... , 3)TWiT (US)

arikhanson: For Immediate Release; Marketing Over Coffee

Chris from Germany: http://www.podcast.de/podcast/8995/Sci_xpert_-_Leschs_Universum
it's in German, a Munich university professor, over 30 parts, 15mins each

Steve Spalding: You Look Nice Today - Merlin Mann's podcast, Buzz Outloud, TWiT

Aaron Hockley: TWIP, TackSharp, Hanselminutes, .NET Rocks

Bram Pitoyo: strangelovelive

Chris O'Rourke: StrangeloveLive, Webb Alert, The Microsoft IT Manager Podcast

Chris Judson: FOSS Weekly, Reduced Shakespeare Co, YouLookNiceToday, Speaking of Faith, Wait, wait...don't tell me (last two are NPR types)

Michele: The Moth, Splendid Table, This American Life

dieselboi: Strangelovelive is a fun, insightful and sexy podcast

Brett Roberts: TED, Ask a Ninja

dekkerd: GDGT weekly, TwiT, loaded, Buzz out loud, geekbrief.tv

Shelley O'Connor: www.polyweekly.com

Jon Burg: FIR, Six Pixels of Separation, Cranky Geeks, NBC News, Naaleh

Finally, if you're wondering who is the guy who got a podcasting RSS tattoo, it is Drew Olanoff!

You can tune into the show, and interact with us via the chat, by clicking here. You can also use the Calliflower Facebook app to tune in and participate.

• Jack Jia, founder and CEO, Baynote, a collective intelligence platform for online shopping, featuring recommendations and social search.
• Eric Koger, CEO, ModCloth, an online retailer of vintage, indie, retro and mod clothing.
• Andrew Eisner, Director of Community and Content, Retrevo, a "matchmaking service for people and electronics".
• Kurt Collins, VP of Business Development, Cartfly, a social commerce store network that enables online merchants to turn their storefronts into portable widgets and distribute them across major social networks.
  
• Mateo Gutierrez, Director of Social Marketing, ThisNext, a social shopping network "where people interact with community-validated taste makers and influencers to discover recommended products".

RWW Live is hosted as always by Sean Ammirati and ReadWriteWeb editor Richard MacManus.

Before the show starts, we're interested in what questions you have for the panelists. Please leave a comment on this post and one of the RWW crew on the call will do our best to ask your question.

We will post the audio from the show at the end, but we hope you join us LIVE on Calliflower or Facebook.

Related: 10 Wish List Websites For The Holiday Shopping Season

UPDATE: the show is now finished, here is the audio:

Download MP3

You can tune into the show, and interact with us via the chat, by clicking here. You can also use the Calliflower Facebook app to tune in and participate.

• Scott Shreeve, MD, from Crossover Healthcare. Dr. Shreeve is a board certified Emergency Medicine physician and was a co-founder of Medsphere Systems Corporation, the first open source electronic health record for the healthcare enterprise.
• Abe Lederman, President and CEO of Deep Web Technologies. He has helped design several major search engines in health notably science.gov and worldwidescience.org and the new search engine Mednar.
• Robert Shelton, Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO of Private Access, a suite of web-based applications that "solve the significant privacy hurdle that the medical community faces when attempting to recruit subjects for clinical trials and share confidential records in pursuit of faster diagnoses and better treatments for diseases and chronic illnesses."
• Sramana Mitra, author of the book Entrepreneur Journeys, who in her Forbes column has been calling for Internet entrepreneurs to tackle the health care industry.
• Malcolm Costello, SVP Marketing and Strategic Relations at Kryptiq, a provider of connectivity solutions for healthcare - for information sharing among healthcare professionals, their colleagues, and patients.
• Steven Krein, CEO and CO-founder of OrganizedWisdom, a human-powered, doctor-guided search service for health.

RWW Live is hosted as always by Sean Ammirati, with Marshall Kirkpatrick and Richard MacManus from ReadWriteWeb on the call.

Before the show starts, we're interested in what questions you have for the panelists. Please leave a comment on this post and one of the RWW crew on the call (Sean, Marshall and Richard) will do our best to ask your question.

We will post the audio from the show at the end, but we hope you join us LIVE on Calliflower or Facebook.

UPDATE: the show is now finished, here is the audio:

Download MP3