In October, Ipsos Insight, a Canadian market research company, learned in its market research that "the popularity of online video services has grown significantly with women and older consumers, helping close the age and gender gap within the burgeoning online video audience in the U.S." (See the Ipsos news release here.) Adam Wright, Senior Research Manager at Ipsos, who conducted the research, joins us to discuss what it means for online video content creators and marketers. Read Adam's bio here.     Then, we speak with Persephone Miel, a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at The Harvard Law School, about her groundbreaking study, Media Re:public: News and Information as Digital Media Come of Age, a series of papers exploring the potential and the challenges of the emerging networked digital media environment.   Download the podcast file here (52.2 mb stereo MP3 file, 00:38:01 length). Keywords: compuschmooze, lubetkin, cherry hill, jewish, voice, harvard, miel, news media, ipsos, wright, online video, streaming video, video del.icio.us Tags: compuschmooze,lubetkin,cherry hill,jewish,voice,harvard,miel,news media,ipsos,wright,online video,streaming video,video Technorati Tags: compuschmooze,lubetkin,cherry hill,jewish,voice,harvard,miel,news media,ipsos,wright,online video,streaming video,video Produced in the studios of Professional Podcasts LLC, Cherry Hill, NJ

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On December 30, 2008, the Israeli Consulate General in New York hosted a "citizens' press conference" and invited interested parties to send the Consulate questions about the recent Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip, using the social media website Twitter.com. This is probably the first time a country's diplomats have embraced the use of Twitter for outreach to audiences for their messaging. For those not familiar with it, Twitter is a microblogging website where users communicate with their friends or "followers" in terse, 140-character messages designed to fit the text messaging function of cell phones in a way that makes the communications tool highly portable. Social media initiatives embraced by the Israeli Consulate also include a Facebook page, a MySpace presence, a blog about Israeli life and culture, a blog about Israeli politics, and a YouTube channel. The transcript of the Twitter press conference is hosted on the political blog. In this podcast, we talk with David Saranga, Consul for Media and Public Affairs at the Israeli Consulate General. Before joining the consulate, David served as Deputy Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Israel, and was responsible for contact with the foreign media. He previously served in Israel's embassies in Romania and Spain. As Consul for Media and Public Affairs, David Saranga is responsible for having direct contact with America's New York-based national media, and for public relations. One of his job's main goals is to show the real face of Israel, that which lies beyond the news headlines. One of the innovative tools he uses to do this is the isRealli Blog. Consul Saranga has both extensive academic and private sector experience.He was a Manager of the Direct Marketing Department, Visa-Israel Credit Cards and worked as National Sales Executive at Kidum Ltd. Consul Saranga has been engaged as an academic since 1989, when he worked as a Teaching Assistant at the Hebrew University. Subsequent work has included one year as Director of Studies and Lecturer in Marketing Management at the Open University in Israel. Read the CompuSchmooze column in the Jewish Community Voice here. Download the podcast file here (28.8 mb stereo MP3 file, 00:21:00 length). Keywords: compuschmooze, lubetkin, cherry hill, jewish, voice, saranga, twitter, israel, consulate, social media, citizen press conference, public diplomacy   del.icio.us Tags: compuschmooze,lubetkin,cherry hill,jewish,voice,saranga,twitter,israel,consulate,social media,citizen press conference,public diplomacy Produced in the studios of Professional Podcasts LLC, Cherry Hill, NJ

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  Backup for important business data now can benefit from additional protection from fires, with the FireKing MediaVault HD fire-hardened backup drive. Underwriter's Laboratories® has tested the MediaVaultHD container according to standard UL72 and approved the MediaVaultHD as a 1-hour Class 125 fire rated container. To pass this test, the container must not allow the internal temperature to rise above 125°F or relative humidy above 80% with an exterior temperature of 1700°F during the test. Only a Class 125 rated container will protect sensitive computer disks from a raging fire. In this podcast, we have a conversation with MediaVault HD product manager Bill Rush about the features of this backup system. More information on the product is at http://www.mediavaulthd.com/Index.html. Download the podcast file here (20.9 mb stereo MP3 file, 00:15:10 length). Keywords: compuschmooze, lubetkin, cherry hill, jewish, voice,mediavault, backup, hard drive, fire protection, underwriters laboratories Produced in the studios of Professional Podcasts LLC, Cherry Hill, NJ

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In June, the International Association of Online Communicators (IAOC) held its international conference in Reykjavik, Iceland. In October, the Icelandic economy collapsed, the three largest banks were nationalized, and tens of thousands of Icelanders found themselves unable to withdraw money from their savings accounts to pay for ordinary expenses. Mortgages and car loans written in foreign currencies became impossibly expensive, and the country's government went hat in hand to the International Monetary Fund and even to Russia for foreign aid. In the forthcoming Fall issue of Attitudes, the semi-annual color magazine of the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey (on newsstands in early November), I'll have an article about Iceland as a travel destination. In this podcast conversation with Hjörtur Smárason, we update the economic situation in Iceland and talk about how Icelanders are coping with their changed status. Hjortur is an Icelandic social media and marketing consultant who also authors several blogs in Icelandic, and one, Marketing Safari, in English. Recently, he's focused some of his blogging on the emotional and economic impact of the credit crunch on Iceland. Photo taken at Hotel Holt, Reykjavik. From left: Steve Lubetkin, Belgian blogger Luc Van Braekel, Hjörtur Smárason. Download the podcast file here (19.3 mb stereo MP3 file, 00:14:02 length). Keywords: compuschmooze, lubetkin, cherry hill, jewish, voice, iceland, iaoc, reykjavik, attitudes, smarason, hjortur Produced in the studios of Professional Podcasts LLC, Cherry Hill, NJ

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In Episode #25 of the Compuschmooze Podcast, we interview Travis Todd and Scott Scheyer of GrowVotes.org, a social networking website devoted to local politics across the US; and Nathaniel Wice, co-founder of Mishare.com, which offers the Mishare device that enables iPod owners to copy the contents of one iPod to another one, legally. Sponsor: The CompuSchmooze podcast is brought to you by GoToMeeting.com. Try GoToMeeting free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.gotomeeting.com/techpodcasts. mpt = new Date();mpts = mpt.getTimezoneOffset() + mpt.getTime();if (!document.layers) {document.writeln(""); } else {document.write("" ); } Download the podcast file here (41.9 mb stereo MP3 file, 00:30:32 length). Keywords: compuschmooze, lubetkin, cherry hill, jewish, voice, ipod, mishare, growvotes.org, scheyer, todd, politics   Produced in the studios of Professional Podcasts LLC, Cherry Hill, NJ

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In epsiode #24 of the CompuSchmooze podcast, we speak with Voice Editor and General Manager Harriet Kessler about the Voice's new website at http://www.jewishvoicesnj.org. We also speak with Stephen Larson, founder of Our-Hometown.com, the service that builds and maintains websites for community newspapers like the Voice.   Sponsor: The CompuSchmooze podcast is brought to you by GoToMeeting.com. Try GoToMeeting free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.gotomeeting.com/techpodcasts. mpt = new Date();mpts = mpt.getTimezoneOffset() + mpt.getTime();if (!document.layers) {document.writeln(""); } else {document.write("" ); } Download the podcast file here (34.4 mb stereo MP3 file, 00:25:05 length). Keywords: del.icio.us Tags: compuschmooze,jewish community voice,kessler,harriet,larson,our-hometown.com,website,jewishvoicesnj.organizing,lubetkin You can read the full text of the related "CompuSchmoozeTM" column as it appeared in the Jewish Community Voice of Southern New Jersey.

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In epsiode #23 of the CompuSchmooze podcast, social media and internet entrepreneur Jeff Pulver discusses his commitment to early-stage investments in startup technology companies in Israel. We spoke with Jeff during a recent social media breakfast gathering he hosted in Princeton, NJ. Steve photographed with Jeff Pulver at the Philadelphia breakfast. This podcast is based on an interview conducted at the Princeton meeting. Sponsor: The CompuSchmooze podcast is brought to you by GoToMeeting.com. Try GoToMeeting free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.gotomeeting.com/techpodcasts. mpt = new Date();mpts = mpt.getTimezoneOffset() + mpt.getTime();if (!document.layers) {document.writeln(""); } else {document.write("" ); } Download the podcast file here (20.0 mb stereo MP3 file, 00:14:36 length). Keywords: del.icio.us Tags: compuschmooze,lubetkin,cherry hill,jewish,voice,pulver,internet,entrepreneur,Israel,angel,early stage investing,vc,venture capital,high technology Here's the text of the related "CompuSchmoozeTM" column as it appeared in the Jewish Community Voice of Southern New Jersey.CompuSchmooze? March 2008: Internet Entrepreneur Supports Israeli Start-Up Tech CompaniesBy Steven L. LubetkinCopyright © 2008 Steven L. Lubetkin. All rights reserved.WORD COUNT: 660Internet entrepreneur Jeff Pulver discovered the Israeli high-tech sector as an early adopter of technologies that enable web surfers to transmit voice conversations over an Internet connection.Pulver, founder of Pulver.com and a millionaire who sold several Internet companies, recently launched PulverTV, a 24/7 Internet television channel.He became an avid user of voice technologies in the late 1990s, and a company he started, Free World Dialup, obtained a milestone decision from the Federal Communications Commission in 2004 that protected Internet-based voice technologies from additional federal and state regulation. The decision is often referred to as the ?Pulver decision.?Later, as chairman of PulverMedia, organizer of conferences under the ?Voice On the ?Net? banner, he recognized that the Israeli military and high-tech sector had made a major contribution to the growing success of Voice over Internet applications, but no one else seemed to be giving Israel due credit.Israeli companies were attending the conferences regularly and chasing opportunities in the rest of the world, Pulver said.Voice over Internet technology was largely developed for internal use by the Israeli Defense Force in the 1980s, Pulver explained in a recent interview during a ?social media breakfast? in Princeton.In 2005, Pulver organized his first high-tech mission to Israel that culminated with recognition ceremonies in Jerusalem for 23 Israelis responsible for making voice technology commercially viable.?If I?m ever looking for inspiration or for what?s happening next in technology, there?s no better place that I?ve ever found to go,? he said.Pulver runs what he calls a ?dream fund,? a small investment fund to make early stage investments in Israeli high-tech firms.?Typically it?s below the radar of any professional venture capitalist or angel investors,? he said. ?I meet with people who are just absolutely brilliant, they have to have an idea that I can connect with, and I?m investing in helping them build their idea.?During 2008, Pulver said he?s raising money for a microfund of $3-5 million for investment in Israeli technology companies.Pulver says right now his investments focus on video embedded in Internet sites, social networking applications, and a new approach to information gathering called the semantic web, or Web 3.0.The semantic web simplifies how a web browser will collect and display seamlessly all the different ways people refer to themselves online, so that a comprehensive snapshot of an individual?s online presence can be pulled together automatically.Most of the small firms in which Pulver has invested are still in ?stealth? mode, not yet ready to discuss their technologies.?I?m hopeful that a bunch of the companies that we?re nurturing will be able to grow,? Pulver said. ?What I really enjoy is seeing the seed of the idea, even helping to incubate it myself.?Pulver makes his first of a planned seven 2008 trips to meet with Israeli startup companies in March. A VON conference is slated for April in Tel Aviv.While he?s there this month, he will also host a Tel Aviv seating of his continuing series of social media breakfasts. At these informal gatherings, online devotees of Facebook, Flickr.com, and Twitter get to meet Pulver and each other face to face, often for the first time.Pulver held the first of the breakfasts this year in Philadelphia and Princeton, later moving on to Washington, Providence, RI, and Fort Lauderdale.Pulver acts as party host, and provides breakfast participants with ?real-time? social media networking kits containing stickers, Post-It Notes, labels and markers to use for what he calls real-time social tagging. Participants write tags or keywords and paste them on each other, as if they were adding bookmarks and keywords in an online environment. By the end of the meal, everyone is adorned with multiple tags and labels, and some even have larger labels or ?walls,? where people have written messages, like they do on Facebook or MySpace.com.# # # #

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