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Yesterday, we softly launched our YouTube search feature by announcing it on our blog. Marshall Kirkpatrick picked it up and blogged about it on SplashCast and the story is one of digg’s top stories for today. At this moment when I am writing the post, there have been 616 people who have “dugg” the story!!

We are still trying out this new feature and are very surprised to get such an overwhelming response to this. (And happy that someone is reading our blog! Marshall: Thanks!!! If you would like to chat on this some more, we are happy to have a conversation.)

Many people have contributed to the comments section of digg with questions on the technology we are using and how we are indexing the YouTube videos. We will review those comments on digg and provide answers where we can over the next few days. Please feel free to post any other questions here or send us an email at feedback@podzinger.com and we will be happy to answer them.

PodZinger already makes content from creators like CNN, The New York Times, and CBS Radio searchable; however in 2007 you can expect to see a great deal more. For example, we recently worked with the Associated Press to make all of their podcast material searchable on PodZinger! In other exciting news, we have leveraged the huge amount of user generated content on YouTube by making it searchable on PodZinger right from our home page .

YouTube has garnered a huge amount of press and interest over the past year. Its reputation as a grass roots online forum for sharing is cemented by it being the driving force behind Time Magazine’s choice to name the online generated content user/owner as their “Person of The Year”. Now with this new PodZinger feature, you can access and search YouTube material allowing for more specific search of their user generated content. Now besides simply searching on the metadata of the video files, you can search for terms that are actually mentioned inside the audio, allowing for a greater likelihood you will find relevant material. We’re also automatically organizing the videos into channels based on the actual content of the video. Today you can narrow your search within entertainment, sports, and anime. And we’ll continue to add more.

So give it a try and let us know what you think!

Microsoft launched Zune today, hoping to be the next iPod killer (that’s what they all say). Many are anticipating Zune to be the next big thing for Microsoft after the success of Xbox 360. Reviews have been lukewarm including Ryan at Engaget who complains about installation issues and John Biggs of Crunch Gear seems to agree. Leo Larporte and gang also gave a relatively bad review on the TWiT’s show.

On the other hand Gizmodo gave ZUNE the thumbs up for a “relatively painless installation” and points out that it plays nicely with iTunes. Zing! us to check out what others have to say about Zune here.

Besides Zune, PS3 will also launched this Friday (November 17) and Nintendo Wii on November 19. Although both have different target audiences, there will still be a lot of chatter and comparisons as everyone anticipates Nintendo to be a comeback in the game console market after its huge success of DS Lite.

Amanda Congdon and Joanne Colan of Rocketboom have reached the “online celebrities” status in the world of online video. As online videos gain more popularity, The New York Times reports that even traditional Hollywood talent agencies are creating new divisions to scout for talent to create Internet content.

According to the agencies’ executive,

“The goal…is not only to recruit the next generation of television and film writers and directors from the relative obscurity of sites like YouTube and Revver. It is also to help the major Web portals that are hungry for original content to find the creative people they need.”

So the moral of the story is this: Submit your audio and video podcasts to PodZinger, watch your audience and visibility grow, and wait for Hollywood to come calling!

Although the summer is coming to a close, vacation time is winding down, and the streets of Boston are full with the moving vans of students heading back to school, TV fans everywhere have something to look forward to: a new and exciting season of their favorite network shows.  I am looking forward to the next season of American Idol, finding out whether Meredith will choose McDreamy, and finally, learning whether Link will face execution, as Fox’s Prison Break starts tonight!

While I wait in anticipation for this season’s plot twists, wondering what new show I’ll add to my already-hectic schedule, thousands of podcasts are discussing the latest TV developments and making their own predictions as to season outcomes.  Some of my favorite podcasts on the topic include:

The Lost Podcast With Jay and Jack   
A podcast dedicated to ABC’s show “Lost.”  Join Jay and Jack as they recap the latest episode, discuss Lost news and spoilers, devote a large portion of time to listener feedback, and more.

S’mores American Idol Radio Show   
American Idol talk show.

24 The Podcast   
Welcome to 24 The Podcast, the podcast that follows the show “24,” every intense moment, every week, the day after the show.

Fall TV Preview Podcasts

TV Guide Talk  
Check out this podcast from the popular weekly magazine to stay on top of the upcoming fall TV season.  Join the TVGuide crew as they discuss your favorite shows along with the new series that will soon be hitting the tube.

Reality TV Podcast   
The Reality TV Podcast discusses all of the latest happenings in the world of reality TV, including recaps and commentary of shows like “Survivor,” “The Amazing Race,” “Big Brother,” “The Apprentice” and others.

For more podcast suggestions or to find out the most talked about television series visit our Zing Index. 

This week, PodZinger announced the addition of yet another popular player in the vlogosphere population to its partner roster.  88SLIDE, the popular one-minute daily trivia video podcast, has selected PodZinger to power its search capabilities on its Web site.

Hosted by Rachel Rhodes and Blaine Rucker and executive-produced by Noah Bonnett, 88Slide produces a daily one-minute video trivia challenge, where viewers are invited to submit their answer for a chance to win prizes. They also feature weekly outtakes and bloopers.  The video podcast is watched by thousands of viewers around the world on a number of different platforms and it’s even available on your mobile handset.

It’s no wonder why 88SLIDE has grown in popularity since its inception earlier this year. They are kooky, funny and they provide interesting theme-driven questions each day, sometimes with special guests from all over the world. Check them out!

After the marathon game on Sunday in which our beloved Red Sox fell to the White Sox 6-5 in 19 grueling innings, we are definitely ready for the All-Star break and tonight’s game. The first half of the season has been tremendously exciting, complete with triple plays, walk-off home runs, milestone achievements and the continuing steroid controversy off the field. If you weren’t paying close attention, it was easy to miss something.

In my efforts to keep up with the game and any Red Sox details I may have missed, I’ve found a few podcasts to keep me up to speed. 360Pitch is an excellent source for news and information for everything baseball.

A podcast I listen to for Red Sox updates and a slightly irreverent look at the game is the Best Red Sox Podcast, featuring three guys from Connecticut; John Corn, Ron Gordon and Randy Flanagan. They are certainly a treat and I recommend them to all my Boston friends.

Another podcast I came across while searching PodZinger for baseball podcasts is Baseball Geeks. This one is for Fantasy Baseball enthusiasts with rumors, sleeper picks, overachievers and underachievers. If you are looking for a leg up in your league, this is the podcast for you.

So there are my favorite baseball podcasts. If you have any you listen to regularly, I would love to hear about them. We still have half a season to go, and I don’t want to miss anything.

We were really surprised (and sad) to hear that Amanda has left Rocketboom due to a disagreement with her partner. Her witty style has drawn in many loyal viewers and it’ll be interesting to see how things will play out. We’re sure Andrew will take Rocketboom in an interesting and entertaining new direction and we look forward to continuing to work together.

As for Amanda, there are already offers from around the blogosphere, notably from Jason Calacanis over at Netscape.

“So, my offer to you is do your daily report for Netscape and we’ll pay you whatever you need to get paid AND you can own all of the rights to your video forever”

With all the recent hype, traditional media companies might be interested in signing her, but we secretly wish she will stay in the world of indie video blogging.

Here’s her “exit video”. She promises she’ll be back and will post some new stuff on her unboomed site.

Boston’s Mayor Thomas M. Menino recently launched the city’s first podcast designed to share information on services and programs. The podcasts are around 13 minutes long and are released once a month.

According to the Mayor, a lot of people in the Boston community are already using iPods and portable MP3 players so podcasting will be a good way in reaching out and communicating with the young people.

In light of this, we thought it might be fun to showcase a few “homemade” Boston-made podcasts.

Boston Behind the Scenes
A podcast featuring the scenes and events of Boston.

Boston Geek
Geeky residents of Boston who sit around, drink beer, and ruminate on the topics of the day and share their thoughts on technology/gaming news.

Wicked Good podcast
Witty observations and wacky misadventures from the heart of New England.

Best Red Sox podcast
The state of the Boston Red Sox as described by three guys from Connecticut who have it all figured out.

Original Red Sox Podcast
Dante and Todd’s true labor of love, another year in the life of their beloved Boston Red Sox via a series of podcasts showcasing their take on the glory that is the Red Sox Nation.

A bunch of Google’s premium paid video content is temporarily available for free, courtesy of a sponsor whose ad banner appears just above the video pane. In addition to the banner, there is also a post-roll ad from the same sponsor. Supposedly, there are 5 sponsors total, and they are linked to content type exclusively. I’ve seen HP, Burger King, Netflix, Shopzilla, LowerMyBills and that appears to be it. I’ve not noticed BK to be a big online sponsor, so I find this pretty interesting – they seem to have taken all the cartoons and sports videos.

Greg Sterling, founder of Sterling Market Intelligence, thinks this may be in part a response to a lack of users purchasing of the paid content. Still, the reports that I have seen place Google well behind the video leaders YouTube and MySpace.

John Batelle must have emailed Google about how it works, and it appears that Google says that Advertisers bid to sponsor individual videos. I wonder when they will actually start running contextual ads rather than having advertisers bidding on the videos themselves. Would they not at least allow bidding on keywords in the metadata soon?