Podcast lovers, here's some good news for you. MobileCast, a homebapplication for the iPhone that first came out during the firmware 1.1.4 days, has finally made it to firmware 2.x. This new MobileCast still serves the same function - allowing users to search for and download podcasts - while sporting a slightly new look. You can check out a few screenshots of the app in the full article.

Here's a nifty way to make use of podcast technology and Apple's latest gadgets. The Tate gallery in Liverpool has put up an experimental exhibition whereby users can pick up the entire tour of the exhibition on their iPhones or iPod Touches. More after the jump!

We've got great news for people who are anticipating an update on the developments circulating the Leopard Server 10.5.3. Apparently, the latest build has just been finalized and released fixing a few issues with some software components. Details in the full article.

In case you missed it, Apple has quietly released a new build for Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.2 update to developers during the recent Macworld Expo. Actually, it's quite understandable if this was overshadowed due to the several other bombs dropped by the Steve Jobs-led company at the time.

But now that the event has come and gone, we have for you now the massive complete list of changes for the said update. See them all by clicking the "read more" link below.

You've got to hand it to those indie developers, they always have something up their sleeve to give us more bang for our buck with the gadgets that we have. A free application called Dot.Tunes does that and more.

It basically extends the serviceability of your iTunes library so that you can stream it on the net and play it right off your PC. What the application actually does is turn your iTunes library into an SQL database and sends it from your PC to the web using an Ajax front-end and multi-layered security system.

While the basic service of the application is free, plug-ins to stream your iTunes through your Wii's, PS3's or PSP's browser are also available at US$ 10 a pop. Also, there's another plug-in available that gives you a custom interface for your iPhone which extends the amount of music you can fit in it for US$ 20.

DotTunes, an Australian-based company, encourages people to open up their iTunes library to friends through the use of their products. They had this to say regarding the matter:

Why pay to podcast or for internet radio streams, when you can publish your own radio shows, TV programs or music mixes directly to your loyal fans? Dot.Tunes is not some lightweight iTunes utility. It's a fully developed web server application that supports mp3, AAC, aiff, .wav, mpeg, mp4, and .mov files, allowing you to share your iTunes library contents with your friends in other cities, your classmates across the dorm or the coworkers scattered throughout the building.

You can't blame Kevin Rose for speculating like mad about the iPhone, like he did in his latest Diggnation podcast with Alex Albrecht (we'd blame what he's drinking). What makes his speculations interesting - besides that it's in YouTube-uploaded format, courtesy of momo411176 - is that this is the same guy whom MacWorld says accurately called the news from the MacWorld last January, as well as the iPod Nano. And that he claims he's got "inside information" to boot.

So, to all the bookies out there: what are the odds that his speculations today are what come out for the next MacWorld this coming January?

As the video goes on, you may just hit some familiar stories like touch-sensitivity or OS X pop up. You may also expect the Muscle-Bound Henchmen of Jobs to pop up and cut the podcast feed... among other unmentionables - we kid. Anyway, one month away from MacWorld, we'll soon find out if Kevin Rose calls it right again for the iPhone. Or Apple Phone. Or whatever Cupertino pans to call it - but we're betting iPhone. Those guys must have patented the "i-" by now...

You could probably do a survey on this, or maybe it makes little difference to you, but "podcast" still sounds way better than "netcast". Why are we saying this? Leo Laporte, who was recently dubbed as podcaster of the year, with TWiT being just one of his 200 podcasts, wants to rebrand podcasts as "netcasts". Sounds like a real questionable idea, but Leo Laporte won't come up with something like this if he didn't have reasons. Take a look at them:

"It's pod or it's nothing." Basically, Leo Laporte and the rest of Apple's constituents have been all out to preserve the iPod's trademark copyright, after companies who copy, pirate, and try to claim the brand as their own. Laporte and Apple sees rebranding as the only way to keep from experiencing such an insult, and as a way to protect their product.

"Podcasts don't need iPods all the time." A bit on the deeper scale, it's interesting to know that it's become a common assumption for some that to download and listen to podcasts, they need to own iPods. Of course, this is mostly true, and this is precisely why Laporte thinks it's time to cast a wider net and rub out the limitation that podcasting connotes to non-iPod owners. In short, more people would share the world of podcasting once it's been replaced with a more generic "netcasting".

If Apple finalizes Laporte's proposal for rebranding, then it's time you bid goodbye to that beloved, albeit goofy "pod" term. For us, it's what brought Apple more recognition than it ever had. Whether a rebranding to a more generic name such as "netcast" would be welcomed by consumers remains to be seen.

We note that your clients' PODCAST READY and MYPODDER marks consist in substantial part of Apple's IPOD mark, and contain Apple's POD mark in its entirety...

Thus goes one sentence from the two-page letter that Apple's lawyers sent to Podcast Ready's lawyers. Since we don't have permission to display the letter, we instead offer a quick summary of the high notes of just exactly who owns the rights to the word "Podcast" and "Pod."

• The word "POD" has also been adopted and used extensively in the marketplace by consumers as an abbreviation to refer to Apple's iPod player. (Huh?)
  

• Apple has "no general objection," after all, with the use of the word "Podcast" in "Podcast Ready" - "so as long as it's used as part of a trademark for goods and services offered in the podcasting field."
  
• The guess is that Apple objected to the use of "Pod" in Podcast Ready's "myPodder" software partly because "myPod" sounds like "iPod," and also partly because myPodder is a software designed to manage audio file downloads (in this case, podcasts). That makes the software like iTunes (the letter doesn't reach this conclusion, but we're betting that must be what has Apple tweaked).
  
• That and probably because myPodder is also designed to work with the iPod.

The issue's gotten so far that Leo Laporte, Person of the Year in Podcasting, suggests we could use the word "netcast" instead, if Apple successfully yanks out the word "Pod" from common electronica usage. Speaking of which: do you guys call your iPods or mp3 players "Pods" for short?

A college in Dover, UK (South Kent College) has spent over $50,000 to outfit the student body with the iPod Nano. 250 very lucky students will receive the iPods, free of charge, with the expectation that they will use them for handling lectures from their professors- which will of course be in podcast format.

Digital music players are already in use at Georgia college and the State University in Milledgeville (in the US). At many colleges, the use of digital music players, and other similar digital devices that have the ability to record sound, has become an integral part of the coursework.

Surprisingly, some people in Dover have raised objections to the faculty's decision to spend taxpayer's money on what is seen by some as a "bribe" to get students to attend college. Some, like pressure group Campaign for Real Education Chairman Nick Seaton, have even gone so far as to call the program "a scandalous waste of taxpayers' money." Fortunately, others involved with the situation are more circumspect. Mr. Coleman, the principal of the Dover college involved with the case, asserts that the iPods would only be handed out to those teenagers who had completed all their assignments and had full attendance.

He further added legitimacy to the project by adding that the entire project was funded by money the government saved in a business venture and not from a general fund contributed to by taxpayers. Officials at the school maintain that the staff reaction to the plan has been positive.

Lectures surrounding IT, motor vehicle engineering, and childcare will be the first courses that offer podcast formatted lectures with the remainder of the course offerings scheduled to be available as podcasts next year. Although some people reacted negatively to the plan to give iPods to students, the course has already been set.

Technology is an inseparable part of the educational experience. Students who are not acclimated to technology by using it during their coursework each day will be sorely missing out on an important part of the learning experience.

Last year, after the iTunes Music Store started offering Podcasts, Steve Jobs went on record saying that much every topic was fair game except "pornography." The following month, some well-known sex writers began podcasting without their material being censored or removed. It turned out that Apple had labelled these as "Explicit," which was then construed as a policy.

Since then, however, a very popular sex education Podcast entitled  "Sex Is Fun" was removed. The hosts received a letter from Apple about the rejection on the same day it reached the Top 100 Podcasts List on iTunes. Host Kidder Kaper says that other "fringe"-topic Podcasts have also been removed, such as some with homosexual content.

The company that owns Sex Is Fun has contacted attorneys. "We may have a case for discrimination here and we need to hear from the other podcasters that have been removed," said a company spokesperson.

The Sex Is Fun Podcast is still quite popular, but they say that  listenership has decreased since they were removed from the iTMS. Would they have a real case for discrimination against Apple, since the company has never taken an official stance on sexually-themed Podcasts?

"This is the danger of having one giant resource for the media that was intended to be free of censorship and regulation,"  Kidder announced during an emergency podcast in which he was telling his listeners how to find the show in the future.

"If you say something that the giant disagrees with, you can be silenced in the middle of the night and nobody will even know where you went. If it can happen to us, it can happen to any of the other podcasters too. Nobody knows who is next. It could be Violet Blue, or Dawn and Drew or any of the podcasts that Apple decides isnÂ?t iTunes worthy."

Other sex-themed Podcasts are still available, although they are still labelled "Explicit." This points out the dangers of what happens when self-appointed censors presume to be custos morum publicae. How does one define "pornography?" What constitutes "obscene?"

It will be a happier society - and world - when everyone understands and accepts the wisdom of the statement, "An it harm none, do what ye will." In any event, how long these "explicit" podcasts  remain available depends on where this case goes...more details to come.