Podcasting, blogs, etc.

The Sunday L.A. Times has a big piece on “Podfather” Adam Curry and his plans to mainstream podcasting.

He and Dave Winer created the technology that made podcasting possible, and, as influential ‘early adopters’, definitely helped popularize it. Both were at geek-fest Gnomedex last year, the convention organized by Chris Pirillo, that while small (only 300 or so), is highly influential and draws serious uber-geeks.

I was there last year and look forward to this year. Check the lineup. If you don’t know some of the names, many are influential bloggers, tech gurus, and major players. They aren’t just commentators. One speaker, Marc Andreessen, invented http wrote the first browser. More speakers getting booked too.

(How uber-geek is Gnomedex? Last year, Chris Pirillo told the City of Seattle, who operates the venue where Gnomedex is held, to beef up the wireless net because “you don’t understand who is coming.” Seattle said, we’re the most wireless city on the planet, we can handle it. At the opening session, you walked into the 300-seat conference hall and there were 300 laptops.Many were downloading podcasts, uploading video, etc. The wireless net was on its knees in 30 minutes, and the city had to scamble for more bandwidth. Chris promises mega-bandwidth this year.)