An Open Letter to Apple: Podcasts in the Wi-Fi Store, Please!

Dear Apple, Inc.:

Slackershot: No podcasts in the iTunes Wi-Fi StoreI love my new iPod Touch. I love that it has Wi-Fi and can do all sorts of neat things, and I even appreciate the ability to impulse buy music from the iTunes Wi-Fi Store. I have one request: please add podcasting support to the iTunes Wi-Fi Store, as you’ve done in the main iTunes Store. As you know, podcasts are a great way to extend the power and usefulness of an iPod, and a great way to upsell buyers to larger hard drives, particularly video podcasts.

I’d love to go into the iTunes Wi-Fi Store, use the same natural interface to search for podcasts on the topics I like, play them wirelessly right then and there like a radio, and subscribe to them with one touch, then sync back to my iTunes on my MacBook Pro when I get home.

Below you’ll find fellow podcasters and listeners in support of this petition. Please add robust podcast support to the iTunes Wi-Fi Store!

Best regards,

Christopher Penn
Producer, the Financial Aid Podcast
Co-Founder, PodCamp

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AT&T gives FREE Wi-Fi to Southern California

AT&T has decided to make a very generous offer to the Southern California region after wildfires swept through the terrain and destroyed homes and ruined lives in it’s path. The areas that AT&T has stated it will be offering Free T-Mobile Hot Spot Wi-Fi services are San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Orange and Ventura counties. There will be about 600 locations to get AT&T hot spot wi-fi at no charge.

The offering began on October 27th, 2007 at all of the listed locations. The AT&T Vice President stated, “We want to help residents in Southern California in any way that we can and by enabling free Wi-Fi at hundreds of AT&T hot spot locations, we’re hoping to provide families and friends with another way to stay connected - and to reconnect - throughout this difficult time.”

Anything that uses a Wi-Fi connection is fair game so all iPhones, PDAs, Laptops and other gizmos can be found buzzing at rates that are hard to beat throughout Southern California. The free access is expected to last at least 3 weeks.

CBS8 San DiegoThe first place to announce AT&T would be giving away free Wi-Fi was CBS8.com and released the information in their minute by minute updates of the San Diego Wildfires here. CBS8 was also the same station that did a story on their nightly news about AT&T being very short and rude with a customer that had lost their Dish receiver in the San Diego Wildfires. AT&T had asked the couple if they had a chance to grab their receiver when leaving their burning home. when the couple said they did not, AT&T simply stated they would be receiving a bill for $300 and that it needed to be paid immediately. The couple asked AT&T if they could postpone the bill until their home insurance made a settlement and AT&T said that they wouldn’t make any exceptions and the bill would be just like any other.

Not long after this story broke on the news, landed on YouTube and hit the frontpage of Digg AT&T back peddled to state that there was a misunderstanding. AT&T stated that their disaster policy was not understood by the customer service representative and that the $300 fee would waived.This was definitely a smart move by AT&T to try and reverse all the bad publicity they generated by generously giving away their Wi-Fi at the Hot Spots in Southern California. AT&T is trying to prove that corporations aren’t always evil and greedy. Kudos to AT&T.What do you think about AT&T giving away free Wi-Fi? Do you think it’s too late? Do you think this was done to just cover up all the bad press AT&T received for being uncompassionate to Southern California fire victims?

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