Tech & Biz

Curse of the “Pod”

by Jarrett Martineau | April 23, 2008 at 03:45 pm

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Remember a few years back, when podcasting was supposed to be the future and saving grace of radio, tv, video, and human civilization?

It's funny how quickly web slang and buzzwords come and go out of style. I don't know if anyone uses the word vlogging anymore, and I guess it's only a matter of seconds before the Twitterati's "tweets" become equally passé.

In a positive sense, however, it's a good reminder of how meaningless these 2.0 terms actually are. Here's to bringing back some meaning to teh internets.

Lolspeak will save us yet.

PodShow is the latest company to ditch that oh-so-2005 name by switching to the relatively meaningless Mevio this week. Others who have dropped the “pod” include EveryZing (nee PodZinger) and VoloMedia (nee Podbridge).
Can you escape the curse of the pod? It’s not looking too good for companies like podcast search engine Podscope, which hasn’t updated its blog since 2005, or podcast network PodTech, which has seen the departure of all the memorable personalities it’s been associated with (Robert Scoble, Irina Slutsky, Steve Gillmor, John Furrier). Then again, Odeo’s original incarnation fell through, and the second one is way slow out of the gate, so maybe it’s not just the name. Who’s left? Podango, Podtrac? Are you surviving the curse of the “pod”?

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Jarrett Martineau

at 15:48 on April 23rd, 2008

Even the jPod television show was cancelled. Coincidence? I think not.

Rob Peters

at 15:54 on April 23rd, 2008

Apparently the unfortunate term "podslurping" refers to downloading someone's iPod library all at once, although I've never actually heard anyone use it.

I've been to a few parties where "podbarfing" would be a good term to describe the iPod output.