New Media interchange, my new show with 3rd Pass Media, is now available on iTunes.

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New Media Interchange is a podcast spotlighting various developments in New Media & focusing on the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. Hosted by Douglas E. Welch , pioneer podcaster, blogger and new media consultant.

Listen to New Media Interchange 3: Podcasting Trolls Turned Back and Why .sucks…sucks

New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media Network which is launching a series of shows this week including Mindul(l) Media, The Render Break Report, New Media Interchange and More. You’ll find more information about 3rd Pass Media at http://3rdPass.Media.

Podcasting Trolls Turned Back and Why .sucks…sucks

This is New Media Interchange where we talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. I’m your host, Douglas E. Welch, pioneer podcaster, blogger and writer.

In today’ show…

• Podcasting Patent Trolls Turned Back


• .Sucks domains also suck for new media creators


• Part 1 of my interview with Michael Anderson of GameWisp.com which is helping game play video makers expand their monetization optons


• I’ll round out the show with the next installment of my Subscribed series.

More after this…

Today’s show is brought to you by Audible.com. I love New Media like podcasting and YouTube, but I also love all types of books. If you love audio books you can support New Media Interchange and 3rdPass Media by starting your free 30-day trial with Audible today. Choose from over 100,000 books. Including one of my favorites, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – an amazing magical fantasy novel.  Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today.

Podcasting Patents Invalidated

In a move that is sure to warm the hearts of many a New Media producer, The US Patent and Trademark Office invalidated a number of claims on podcasting patents that were held by the company Personal Audio. Personal Audio made a splash in the podcasting world a few years ago by claiming that they owned a patent on the various podcasting technologies and everyone — especially the big boys of podcasting including Adam Carolla, Leo Laporte and even CBS — either paid them licensing fees or face being sued. CBS even settled a lawsuit that was filed by Personal Audio in Texas rather than fight the claim. They might be wondering what they paid for now, though, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) effectively countered Personal Audio’s patent claims, leading the USPTO to invalidate key portions of the company’s patents. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Personal Audio, or others, won’t try to claim these patents in the future, but it certainly limits their options.

The USPTO ruled that the patent granted did not take into consideration the fact that the technologies and methods of podcasting were quite obvious at the time of filing and therefore not new, unique or patentable.This is a very common problem with patents in the US as it struggles to deal with technologies never even imagined when it was first set up. The New Media world will be continue to be threatened by “patent trolls” such as this due to the nature of the US patent system, and its inherent flaws, If people can find a way to exploit the system to their advantage, they will, until some of those flaws are corrected.

In an EFF Press Release, Staff Attorney Vera Ranieri said, “We have a lot to celebrate here. But unfortunately, our work to protect podcasting is not done. Personal Audio continues to seek patents related to podcasting. We will continue to fight for podcasters, and we hope the Patent Office does not give them any more weapons to shake down small podcasters.”

For my own part, in 10 years of podcasting I have seen many people attempt to make money on the back of content creators. Individuals and companies have tried to insert themselves as content gatekeepers, subvert podcasting content and RSS feeds to their own ends through portals and basically acting as “digital carpetbaggers” — attempting to extract income in every way but creating content themselves. Every new industry faces this particular type of intruder as it grows, so all New Media creators must be constantly vigilant of how they might be abused and how to stand up for themselves when issues occur.

You’ll find links to additional information, as always, in the show notes.

Read more at:

• EFF Helps Bust Bogus Patent That Was Being Used To Shake Down Podcasters


• Podcasts are safer after the EFF helps gut a patent troll


• EFF Busts Podcasting Patent, Invalidating Key Claims at Patent Office

Why .sucks — sucks

.com. .org. .edu .mil. These are all familiar endings to Internet domains we type into our browsers every day. They are called Top Level Domains or TLDs by ICANN or Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. These are the folks that control a large part of the Internet, including domain name systems. For years, we lived with relatively few TLDs like those mentioned earlier, but lately there has been an explosion of new TLDs being offered including .tv, .guru, .tips, .events and even — as our own network 3rd Pass Media uses — .media. There are a host of reasons for adding new TLDs, even if the average Internet user still reflexively types .com when entering a web address. Companies and individuals want to reinforce their brand. I understand that. They are looking for web URLs that somehow better reflect the nature of their business. I have a variety of issues with one new TLD, though, .sucks.

Yes, you can now purchase a domain name like xyz123.sucks to host your blog and other content. As you might be able to see though, .sucks is different. Unlike other Top Level Domains, .sucks is almost universally derogatory and I believe, like a recent article on The Next Web declares, “This new domain is the future of trolling.” There are very few scenarios I see for someone purchasing a .sucks domain and none of them are pretty.

First, there will be the trolls mentioned in the article, buying well-known names in order to harass companies or individuals and generally make a pain of themselves. Trolls, spammers and other nefarious Internet users already cause a host of trouble. Do we really need to give them another weapon in their arsenal. While I can’t imagine DouglasEWelch.sucks being that popular, you can imagine sites like apple.sucks. windows.sucks and more have already been snapped up. This is inevitable with such a derogatory TLD. We are basically giving people the right to troll others in ways unheard of before. Sure people could have registered applesucks.com or some such name, but