The Reach - Podcasting and other Portable Media Strategies

Now This is Traffic, originally uploaded by Ed Weaver.

On our way to the hotel from the airport, for another overnight layover in Kolkata (I’ve always been Texan in the way I’ve pronounced the name - Kal-Cut-ah, but apparently the appropriate way to enunciate is Call-ka-tah, with the emphasis on Call). This picture doesn’t really do justice to the intensity of the traffic and the sea of automobiles. These cars coming from right to left in the picture just inserted themselves - no traffic lights at this intersection - just blind faith.

Extreme Podcasting, originally uploaded by Ed Weaver.

We came to India to train leaders how to educate others that cannot read by using MP3 players loaded with informative audio content, rather than handing them books! This is a shot of one of our training sessions.

Siliguri, India is the crossroads in Northeast India for everyone traveling to Nepal, Bhutan, Bangledesh, Burma, and China. It’s a city of around 3 million people - but not a single highrise to be found anywhere. From what we’ve been told, if you’re traveling to Mt. Everest, you’ll stop here on the way, or at least pass through. BTW, I think each of the countries mentioned above are no more than 50 Km from Siliguri in their given direction.

Wheels, originally uploaded by Ed Weaver.

Some forms of transportation have more authority than others. Here are a few of the brave souls that battle dump-trucks, buses, cars, vans and other forms of transportation. Combine that with the fact that there are no apparent traffic laws and you have many near-death experiences each day. And that was just our experience - in vans and SUVs. We weren’t brave enough to get on a bike or scooter!

I made a comment to folks that the cyclists have faith that you won’t run over them and the cars/buses/trucks, etc expect you to move out of the way.  With both parties being that stubborn, it is amazing there are not more accidents and deaths on the road!

Traffic, originally uploaded by Ed Weaver.

This is pretty typical of traffic. Everyone generally drives on the left, except for when they don’t. It’s somewhat of a challenge when everyone wants the middle.

Arrival in Delhi was around midnight and since it was an overnight layover, we didn’t get a chance to see anything but the potholes in the roads at night and the work traffic the next morning.  Of course as we passed a Radisson Hotel close to the airport, we were wondering why our travel agent put us in a no-name hotel further away….:-)

Big Planes Still Get Me, originally uploaded by Ed Weaver.

It doesn’t matter how many times I see them or the fact that they are ancient planes - a 747 is still a sight to behold.

Greg Sterling discusses the new Pew Research report regarding the segregation of internet users.  Greg’s headline is more grabbing than the stats, as it appears that what could be defined as the “Web 2.0″ crowd is 23%, which is more than I would have guessed at this point.  Pew’s own report says about 31% - but their definitions seem to conflict, so I’ll stick with the 23% number.

The greater issue, which comes up from time to time is whether there is an echo chamber that is Web 2.0 and will that continue our break out to widespread adoption and purpose?  No answers hear today, but a word of caution to consider if Web 2.0 is something you alone embrace, or your entire family, including near retirement “Boomers”…..

Under the category of “it’s about time!”, we see Motorola getting agressive with alternative energy sources for powering cellphones - check it out here and other comments by CrunchGear here.

Of course, as my title suggests, this allows for wider distribution and logical use of cell phone technology in countries where electrical power for recharging is unpredictable at best and possibly not available at all in the worst case.  Since other devices have been using solar power for self-charging for some time now, I think this could be a great step forward for large-scale adoption of solar power.

Skiing in the Mall (Ski Dubai), originally uploaded by Ed Weaver.

This is a picture of the ski slope in the Mall of the Emirates, mentioned in the post below…enjoy!