Podcasts on your mobile with River of News

I’ve been following Dave Winer’s work on adding popular sites (NY Times, BBC) and blogs to mobile devices. Now I don’t access site feeds via my cellphone but assumed this was already in place. And maybe it was, but apparently not very cleanly or with the intuitive “River of News” model.

Forgive me if I’m fuzzy on the topic. If I had a used a mobile device in this way it would all be clear. I learn by doing.

But what hit home last night is that he added NY Times podcast feeds to the mix. As a podcaster, this is an “Ah-hah!” moment. Podcasts have been available to some degree via other services or via certain devices. But again, not in such a simple way. Easily browse podcast feeds via the River of News, then click the “speaker” icon to listen on a device meant for listening (cellphone, hello?). Dave asks what this might mean for the iPod. Whoa. The question now is how accessible are MP3s over HTTP, and what does it cost, and that info is already coming out.

Meanwhile, I just want the UC Berkeley feeds added to the mobile River so it’s that much easier for folks to listen. I added Berkeley feeds to Dave’s new community podcast directory a few months ago, but that project seems to have been pushed to the backburner for this latest mobile venture. Now Dave drops a hint that makes me hopeful these two projects will come together very soon and it will be double happiness.