Since 1894, when Guglielmo Marconi invented a spark transmitter and founded the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company in Britain in 1897, radio has been part of our lives when it comes to information including news, weather forecasts, and entertainment. Today we have many other communication, information, and entertainment tools to aid us in every day life. Since 1925 when Charles F. Jenkins made his first public demonstration of the television, it has been part of our lives just as radio had, except enhancing the presentation with moving pictures. 

But the most innovative technology to date is the computer, along with its doorway to the world, the Internet. In 1957 the USSR launched Sputnik, the first earth satellite. Then the United States formed the Advanced Research Projects Agency within the Department of Defense to establish US lead in science and technology applicable to the military. The satellite was used to transfer information on missiles and bombs throughout the world to the US military. This was the first wireless link between two or more computers. Later in history the internet grew and became public. Today businesses use it as a tool for selling their products, game designers use it to entertain users, ordinary people use it to talk to other ordinary people all of the world, etc. 

Today people such as former television entertainers, radio DJs, etc. are becoming tired of the old mainstream media process. They think that they should have a choice of what they do and how they do it in the media. The former MTV DJ Adam Curry developed the idea of automatic download and synchronization on computers. This idea was explained in an article by Ben Hammersley named “Audible Revolution”. In this article, the word “podcasting” was used as a synonym to “audio blogging”: recording an audio web log, which can be in the form of a diary entry, a news break, etc. and posting it up onto the internet. 

People may think of podcasting as “recorded radio shows” or “audio news”. But it is much more than that. Podcasting is a community that creates its own media with its own rules. It can be about anything, from life to technology to uses for extra baby wipes. In June 2005 the popular music manager and online music store iTunes added a podcast directory to its music store. Podcasts from the start were free and today they stay free of charge to subscribe to. Each day, week, month, or whenever the podcaster feels like it, he or she releases a new addition on their “feed”, so anyone subscribed will automatically receive it the moment the podcaster sends it. 

Podcasting isn’t a career and has no requirements. All someone needs to become a podcaster is the right tools, such as a computer with a microphone and the internet, and they can start recording whatever they want to say, whether it be about news, life, or anything they feel like saying. There is no limit to what a podcaster can do. 

One notable podcasts is This Week in Tech, shortened to “TWiT”, a weekly technology news podcast created by radio and television “Tech guy” Leo Laporte. It won 2 podcasting awards, one for the best technology podcast, and the People Choice Award. With 20 episodes and counting, and one recent live appearance in an Apple computer store in California, they are on most top ten lists including the iTunes directory. 
Also the founder of the idea of the podcast subscription system, Adam Curry, has a podcast called Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code. It includes Podsafe Music, which is a developing network of artists and podcasters working together to present new music to the public, promos of new podcasts, and mash-ups, which are two or more songs edited together to create a new song. He talks about his life and his progress in helping to develop the Podsafe Music network along with the podcasting community. 

Podcasting has become big in the past year; it is another form of media, like radio and television, but with more freedom to do what one desires. It is an alternative of mainstream media; a new community of artists and journalists giving information and entertainment to the general public. And so, in the words of Leo Laporte, “Another TWiT is in the can”.