I listen to a lot of science on podcasts one way or another. There are the obvious programs from the ABC and BBC. But there are a lot of other radio programs that then get podcast that feature information that is science related - mainly from the BBC as far as my listening habits are concerned, but I am sure there are many more than that.

Some of these programs are radio chat shows, about books, philosophy, sociology and more and more you hear eminent thinkers being interviewed. And more and more they deal with the weighty matters of the day...

Yesterday I was listening to Start The Week with Andrew Marr (on the BBC) where the panel of interviewees included  Richard Dawkins, Sir Roy Anderson (who advised the British Government on Swine Flu), Professor John Shepherd (an expert on Geo Engineering of the planet as a solution for climate change) and Professor Barbara Zahakian (from Cambridge and a leading researcher on cognitive enhancers).

All fascinating, but the topic that was most interesting was the matter of cognitive enhancers. These are the field of drugs that are coming into use to address ADHD - but are being used also to help sharpen the mind generally. They apparently help address jet lag and are apparently also non-addictive - one of them is called modafinil.

In the program Richard Dawkins raised the ethics question about these drugs. After all, its no different from the Olympics, right? What happens when a student takes modafinil before sitting for an exam to help sharpen his or her mind?

But once you get out of the educational system and into business, surely you would do anything you could to help you focus on the negotiation, the report that you are writing, or the speech that you are giving...

And lets face it, all the armed forces of the world give their troops substances to increase their efficiency at killing. Do they ask the ethical question before prescribing amphetamines?

Interesting question isn't it. We run headlong into ethical dilemmas alongside these incredible discoveries that science provides... And what will be the consequences?

Back in 1968 I was in London and was a guitarist and songwriter in a band called Kate.

We were signed to CBS Records.

Our first single was called "Strange Girl" and it was almost a hit. Got great reviews including Record of the Week in Melody Maker (thank you, Chris Welch) and got a reasonable amount of airplay.

But it wasn't a hit. So no cigar. We recorded a couple of other singles and had an abortive tour of Germany and then the band broke up. These things happen!

I am now writing a book about those times...

And I decided to google Strange Girl and Kate. I was totally blown away to find that the single had been on a compliation album of post psychedelic tracks from the UK from that era and to hear the song on a podcast from someone in the UK. Wonderful. Have a listen to it. It sounds pretty good!

The One Minute World team went over to Balmain today to have their picture taken by the Fin Review for a story later this week...

The idea was to get Will to replicate the logo on the public graffitti wall in Donnelly St. But the neighbours apparently didn't know that this is one of those areas where artists are actually allowed to be expressive, and had called the local police....

I am not sure whether the fact that there was a photographer from a newspaper there had anything to do with it, but the police were very nice and let everyone get on with what they were doing.

Here is Will painting the logo and the One Minute World team: Will, Ian and Yvette.

Over the last year here at Perceptric, we've spent huge amounts of time and energy thinking  about 'what's next?' So many great things to do, so little real time. But the pace of our thinking, planning and development quickened in the last four months. Now, a company that we have been incubating makes its first public appearance this weekend.

Welcome Perceptric Media! And, as even more trumpets sound, and applause, (certainly around our offices) just grows and grows, welcome One Minute World! Yes, not one, but two great new entities and ideas.

Perceptric Media is a group of really, really, talented people that we have assembled who all have great backgrounds, long experience and big futures. What they get is that today's social, business and media environment is more open, more fluid, more interesting, than any ever before.

No one knows what's going to work as we go forward. But the incredible thing is that  everyone  bold enough to have an idea gets a chance to shape the landscape. The key differentiator is execution. Can a company do what it says?  Perceptric Media will. We intend that Perceptric Media be one of the companies that do the shaping. More on the team we have assembled in the next few days.

One Minute World is the first community from Perceptric Media. One Minute World is content for today. Byte size brain food. Everything you need to know, everything you want to have. Any media platform, mobile phone, iPod, laptop, PC, podcast; accessible through the internet, RSS feed, 3G; whatever, whenever.

Startups run fast. Perceptric Media is no exception. As One Minute World emerges be the first to be in touch with our releases, news, development, team by registering or joining our mailing list here.  More on the community and our plans over the next few days. 

PodTech received 5.5 million dollars in VC funding this morning. John Furrier is the guy behind Pod Tech's podcasts. The company has grown from Furrier doing everything to this point. 10 staff. Total.

Now with the money  Furrier plans to create PodTech News: a dedicated independent podcasting news team;  PodTech InfoTalk™ Network: a dedicated set of PodTech original and 3rd party podcasting content and PodTech Sponsorship Network: an aggregated set of sponsors and paid content. All good stuff.

Lets assume 5.5 million bought two thirds of PodTech. That values the 10 month old company at 8 million dollars. The new investors will look to sell the company for at least 80 million dollars within a couple of years, that's the way venture capital works. (Early Stage VC) That's a lot of revenue growth from a near standing start.

Venrock says the plan is for Furrier to generate revenue from advertising, from hosting, from distribution of podcasts and from "syndication" -- with "corporate marketing" being a big part of that.(Silicon Beat) Caveat. There's no guarantee that any of that revenue is possible at the moment. Just very informed supposition.

But, you have to assume that the speed of takeoff for podcasts; the revolution of the iPod and other MP3 devices; RSS getting bigger, better, more efficient; all mean that this is a leading edge deal of many to come.

Rocketboom has sold advertising rights on its 3 minute podcast/vLog for 40,000 US Dollars for one week. The winner, TRM Corporation, was the largest seller of ATM machines in the world. Rocketboom also sold a second week to Earthlink, a leading American ISP. (started by Skye Dalton, now the guy behind Boingo) At 1 million views a week, this rates the monetizetation of this podcast at 4 cents per download, stream, or whatever.

In essence, this establishes the benchmark for everyone in podcasting, as well as validates the rates The Podcast Network is obtaining for their sponsorship arrangement.

Rocketboom is quirky and fun. They monetized through eBay. They linked to Tivo to deliver to TV screen. (where I watch)  Recently, Amanda appeared on CSI. They have moved from outsiders with nothing but an idea a year ago, to at least 80 grand of ads; which annualized is 2 mill bucks (if sustained); a claimed 1 mill and rising fast downloads a week; the ability to pinpoint their viewership exactly, and major first mover advantage.(ie they can lose attention but its more likely they gain because they have resources to improve and market.And everyone's talking about them)

Other podcasts may command more per download. That will be based around the audience size and value(say for education or highly motivated high end users, like old Jag enthusiasts) But most will not. Hence, for any stand alone podcast under 25,000 downloads a week, (a thousand dollars) the podcaster is a hobbyist. 99% of podcasters are hobbyists.

The podcasting business model is that increasingly, aggregators like Adam Curry, are running a menu of podcasts and sharing revenue. They will make money.  Most current podcasters will not.

That will be OK too. What will be fascinating is to see how the podcasting business grows and then shakes out as we get beyond the "look I can do it stage"  Rocketboom's ads start the maturing process.

Steve Schurtz, a sound recording exepert and Chris Gilbey talk in San Francisco about the things you need to do to make a good podcast. Technology, Audacity, recorders, sound quality, microphones, listenability; its all in here. You will be able to create a better podcast after you hear these two talk! Available soon from the Perceptric Media site.

Podcasting is starting to draw big numbers and explosive growth. 5 million listeners last year says Bridge Research almost ten million this year.

And according to a new Taylor Nelson Sofres survey, one in three, 32%, know about "podcasting". 32% of those have listened to a podcast — ie 9% of the online population.  Next step. 41%, of them have listened to a podcast in the past seven days. Then the demographic breakdown is 78% male. Yet, women are more likely than men to have listened in the past week.

Interpretation. A new media is emerging. It's users are basically male at the moment, yet women are more consistent in their listening habits once hooked. And almost no one yet, stress yet, is actually listening. So, the best days are yet to come.

Where will podcasts go next?

Today, many podcasts sound like simple ‘hand-held’ interviews, where the  rougher the recording, the more authentic the story.

If the sound dialog really contains everything that is important in a podcast, then the intelligibility of the words is the only thing that  matters.  And therefore, using lower bit rates and mono files for ‘voice-casts’ are just fine.  They also have the advantage of being smaller files that's perfect for download speed and storage.

But if that's all, we're missing an important opportunity in this exploding world of podcasts! 

Think about it for a minute.  Most podcasts are  listened to on headphones or earbuds.  That's creates a different medium. 

Headphone listening offers the possibility of amazing stereo imaging, full frequency response, detailed dynamics.  Listening in stereo makes the sound world come alive. It can create the illusion of being there.  New tools, like Dolby Headphone encoding, are becoming available for surround sound as well.

So, good stereo recording technique can capture both ambience and spatial imagery in a conversation.  Like quality radio production of the past, (and not so past) the podcast offers a new creative format that can combine dialog, music, background ambiences, sound effects, for a more engrossing and entertaining experience.

Perhaps, podcast purists will protest post-production, but virtually every recording can be improved by editing.  Even the most articulate speakers cough, sneeze, pause overly long or just need to stop for a  drink of water.  Interruptions like a phone ringing, an unexpected visitor butting-in or an airplane fly-by are typical of podcast  recording locations at the moment.

Good editing makes the material sound like it is not edited. 

The biggest challenge for podcasters right now is to take podcasting to another level by improving the overall listening  experience without sounding over-produced.  Taking advantage of the stereo headphone experience should make that challenge even more fun.

Popcast aggregates podcasts and publishes top ten lists of whats making podcast waves. Note the difference between iTunes, big, major and commercial world; and Odeo, (the alumni of Blogger regroup) community, DYI, no money podcasts.