After blogging (text) and podcasts (audio), you knew the next big thing was going to be video blogs. Known by the rather clunky short cut of vlogs (is that pronounced v-logs or vuhlogs?), budding documentarians are now posting regular video updates of whatever interests them.
Missing right now is a client that can automatically download new programs – that and videos with themes going beyond "slightly curated cable-access". I think it will be much more difficult for amateurs to create compelling content for video than it has been for audio. But you never know what kind of programs are likely to pop up when people get very easy tools to create and distribute them.
On a related note, listen to the IT Conversations podcast of a discussion with tech journalist David Coursey. He has very little positive to say about blogs and podcasts, calling them fads of little consequence that will fade. He also doesn’t think there is anything new in RSS either, comparing the technology to email alerts – which he finds superior.
I haven’t finished the whole discussion but listen to it and tell if I’m wrong in thinking that this sounds like an old media type trying to hang onto the status quo. The fact that I was able to play it in the car, at the time of my choosing, pause the program, come back to it, and pass it along to someone else, should tell him that something new is going on here.