The PimpMyNews Blog

PimpMyNews is Now BuzzVoice

2009-09-08T22:48:00.001-07:00

You'll be redirected to our new home in a few seconds.

>Our new blog is at http://Blog.BuzzVoice.com

>Please sign up for our new service at http://BuzzVoice.com

PimpMyNews Scheduled Downtime Today, We're Upgrading!

2009-07-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

We're continually looking for ways to increase the speed of our service for you, our valued users.

Today, from about 12 pm to 2 pm eastern time, we'll be taking the service off line to make some performance enhancements.

So, if you find that the service is unavailable today, please rest assured that it will be back online shortly.

Thanks for listening with PimpMyNews, and please tell your friends about us.

The PimpMyNews Team

Macworld Magazine Features PimpMyNews

2009-07-11T09:59:00.000-07:00

If you follow this blog, you probably saw our post about Macworld's online review of PimpMyNews in May.

To our surprise, we just learned that Macworld just published a review of PimpMyNews in their August 2009 print magazine. Since the review appears to only be available in hard copy, we've published it below.

Here's the MacWorld Review by Ben Boychuk:
----------------------------------
PimpMyNews:

"Here's an innovative reader that actually does the reading for you. The highly customizable, though unfortunately named, PimpMyNews let's you create "playlists" of blog items, or news stories, from more than 1,200 sources.

The app then reads them aloud on the fly in an almost lifelike voice. The personalized daily podcast, featuring a 10 minute round up of your 10 favorite feeds is particularly appealing."

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On another note, please stay tuned for upcoming news about a new product we're launching to make it even easier for you to get current, and get things done, on the go.

Thanks for listening with PimpMyNews, and please tell your friends about us.

Twitter Meme: Robot Pickup Lines, Now Spoken By Real Robots!!

2009-06-05T17:45:00.000-07:00

Hello Twitter friends and PimpMyNews users. I'm Wesley, one of the PimpMyNews robots, who reads your favorite blogs to you in your car, at the gym, or wherever you happen to be.

I love Twitter, so, I'm going to take a shot at being "transparent." Despite my prowess at reading news and blogs, I have to admit that I get a little tongue tied when talking to the ladies.

To my surprise, I just noticed that the top "Trending Topic" on Twitter right now, as I speak, is "Robot Pickup Lines." [#RobotPickupLines] In fact, MG Siegler over at TechCrunch just posted about it, and it's racking up a lot of comments.

So, without further ado, here are my Top 10 favorite Robot Pickup Lines from Twitter:

#10, "Let's talk about hex, baby." by Um Alawi [http://twitter.com/UmAlawi]

#9, "I love a girl with nuts." by jaspenelle [http://twitter.com/jaspenelle]

#8, "Wow, your buttons are so sensitive!" by Jackie Jeffrey [http://twitter.com/JackieJeffrey]

#7, "I want to stick my flash drive in your USB port." by love is haight [http://twitter.com/loveishaight]

#6, "Can I have your serial number? I'm virus free." by split PZ [ http://twitter.com/splitPZ ]

#5, "It's not the size of the monitor that counts. It's the refresh rate." by kosher [http://twitter.com/k0sher]

#4, "Once you go Mac, you'll never go back." by brad wheeler [http://twitter.com/bradwheeler]

#3, "Processor? I hardly know her!" by tavit [http://twitter.com/tavit]

#2, "You turn my software into hardware!" by X hailey X [http://twitter.com/xhaileyx ]

#1, "Is that a CD tray, or are you happy to see me?" by caustic bob [http://twitter.com/causticbob]

What's your favorite Robot Pickup Line?

Tweet it to @PimpMyNews, and I may just speak it out on Twitter.

And, be sure to follow PimpMyNews founders John Atkinson and Roy Georgia on Twitter.

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If you'd like to listen to your blogs, and multitask on the go, sign up free at PimpMyNews.com, or download PimpMyNews for your iPhone on The App Store.

Lifehacker Asks How You Get News, Tell 'em PimpMyNews

2009-05-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

I was just listening to Lifehacker with the PimpMyNews iPhone app, while relaxing on the couch, and I came across this interesting post by Jason Fitzpatrick. [audio version]

If you're not familiar with Lifehacker, it's a great resource on all things productivity. I listen to it several times a week in the car, or at the gym, and I frequently pop on over to read the comments section.

In the post, Jason asks, "How Do You Get Your News?" He then goes on to say, "if your great grandparents wanted to stay current on news, they had to make a conscious effort to be places where people were talking about it. Now you can have it streamed, beamed, and delivered."

As you know, the news industry, which was dominated by traditional sources for nearly 200 years, is undergoing a massive change. We, as consumers, are now in control, and we expect the news and blogs we care about to automatically come to us, no matter where we happen to be.

We also expect it to be available in multiple formats, so we can choose the format that fits best with the situation we're in, whether we're driving, riding, working out, or lying on the couch.

Be sure to head on over the Lifehacker and answer Jason's question, "How Do You Get Your News?

Hopefully, Jason will be compiling the data and sharing the findings in a future post.

Have a great, productive week!

John Atkinson

Co-founder & CEO

[Image via Digital Inspiration]

Macworld Review of PimpMyNews iPhone App

2009-05-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

Macworld's Ben Boychuk recently reviewed our new iPhone & iPod touch application.

PimpMyNews received a respectable 3.5 stars out of 5. Considering Macworld's reputation as a tough critic, and the fact that The New York Times and ABC News came in at 3 stars, we couldn't be happier.

From the level of detail in Ben's review, it's obvious that he spent a few hours using PimpMyNews, customizing his playlist, listening to various news and blog posts, and composing a well thought out review.

If you keep up with this blog, you know we're diehard user feedback proponents, so any time some one takes the time to do a "deep dive" on our service, we're all ears.

In the review, after Ben finished ribbing us about the "ear-catching" name, he turned toward the unique utility of the app. Ben summarizes the app by saying, "Very simply, the app lets you create 'playlists' of blog items, or news stories, from more than 1,200 sources, and reads them aloud, and on the fly, in a voice that’s almost lifelike."

He then goes on to the core value proposition, stating that, "For people on the move, in their cars, at the gym or multitasking at work, PimpMyNews offers an innovative way to 'read' your favorite Web sites by listening." Ben also cited the daily podcast feature, which plays continuous stories from your playlist for hands-free listening, as his favorite feature.

On the "suggested enhancements" side, Ben suggested that we add the following features, most of which are already in the works:

- A "select your voice" feature
- The ability to add more than 10 feeds to your playlist
- More "continuous play" features, in addition to the existing podcast feature
- The ability for users to manage their feeds on their mobile devices

Thank you Mr. Boychuk. We appreciate your feedback - and we're acting on it.

Be sure to check out the full PimpMyNews iPhone app review on Macworld, and download the app on The App Store. Stay tuned, more time saving enhancements are on the way.

Please keep the feedback coming to Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com

John Atkinson
Co-founder & CEO

Keeping it in the San Francisco Family

2009-04-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

Last week, I took the family out to visit my brother's family in San Francisco. It was great to be in the bay area for a week of rest and relaxation. (that's my niece, Nicole, modeling her stylish new PimpMyNews Tee shirt)

The "hard part" of the trip from Cincinnati to SF (if there was one) was navigating all the trains, planes, and automobiles with our two little kids, car seats, strollers and way too much luggage.

Of course, I used the two 8 hour stretches of on the go travel time (going there, and coming back) to catch up on my blogs by listening to them via PimpMyNews.

On the plane, I was able to catch up on a full week's worth of PR Squared, CenterNetworks, Mashable, TechCrunch, Seth Godin, and The Wall Street Journal.

Of course you would expect this, but using PimpMyNews on my iPhone is the way I get all of my news, whether I'm at home, at the gym, or out of town.

I'd love to hear how you use PimpMyNews to stay current and multitask on the go.

Please shoot me an email at John@PimpMyNews.com

Be sure to download our newest iPhone app on The App Store [http://bit.ly/PMNiPhone]

Take care,
John

PimpMyNews Is Coming To Blackberry App World.

2009-04-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

After a nine hour commute and four hours of sleep, we're here onsite at the CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas, with 40,000 other people.

The biggest news so far has been RIM's opening of the Blackberry App World storefront yesterday. Several of the tech blogs we love covered the news, including Mashable, VentureBeat, and Techcrunch.

Today, we're excited to announce that we'll be rolling out PimpMyNews in Blackberry App World this spring.

Below is an excerpt from our news release. You can read the full release on PR Web.

PimpMyNews To Bring "Mobile, Social, Vocal" News Service To Blackberry App World

Popular Service That Converts News & Blogs To Audio Coming to Blackberry Smartphones, Allows Busy Consumers to Listen & Multitask On-The-Go.

Las Vegas, Nevada - April 2, 2009 – PimpMyNews today announced its plans to launch its popular talking news and blog service on The Blackberry App World Storefront.

The service, which received Apple’s coveted “Staff Pick” for its unique iPhone application, will be available this spring for seven Blackberry smartphones.

PimpMyNews is a new media service that puts consumers in control of their news, by automatically collecting breaking stories from over 1,300 news sources based on their preferences, and converting them to audio.

The service eliminates the time-consuming process of searching for news on the Internet, and allows mobile users to listen and multitask while driving, working out, riding the train and more. Users of the service can also set up personalized playlists, view text, images and video, and share “talking stories” on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, and other social sites.

Co-founder John Atkinson states, “We believe the news you care about should come to you, and that you should be able to decide when, where, and how to consume it. Our real-time news engine does the heavy lifting, so consumers can effortlessly receive the content they want, on their terms.”

The company, which launched its talking news service for Apple's iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPod touch, iPod and other MP3 players last year, reports that people from over 160 countries have used the service.

The company’s newly updated iPhone app can be downloaded on The App Store here. The service can also be used on Macs and PCs by signing up on the full site.

According to Pew Research Center, 112 million Americans (37%) now use the Internet for news, compared to 2% a decade ago. A recent comScore study indicates that the number of people using mobile devices to access news, and information, more than doubled in the last year.

Representatives of the company are onsite at The CTIA Wireless Conference in Las Vegas. Members of the press can schedule interviews by emailing Press@PimpMyNews.com

Ex-Mashable Blogger Likes The New PimpMyNews [SXSW Interview]

2009-03-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

When we first launched about 15 months ago, we considered ourselves very lucky to receive dozens of positive reviews in the press. However, a critical review by Mashable’s Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins led to a “Eureka” moment, which helped us improve our talking mobile news service.

Mark’s review, titled “PimpMyNews: Fun For 10 Minutes,” cited several positive features, but his "verdict" was that, without significant enhancements, people might not be able to listen to the service for an extended period of time.

If you keep up with this blog, or use PimpMyNews, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve released a constant stream of enhancements and new products over the past year. These enhancements are based on your feedback, and feedback from Mark, and other members of the press.

A Chance Meeting with Mark...
Coincidentally, just last week, I ran into Mark at SXSW in Austin. And, when I introduced myself as “one of the founders of PimpMyNews,” Mark was clearly apprehensive. He was concerned that we might have been offended by his review.

After assuring Mark that we took his feedback from 15 months ago to heart, and used it to improve our service, the “tension” vanished. Then, after showing him how far we’ve come with our new iPhone app, he called PimpMyNews “a really great service.”

Mark was intrigued to learn that users of the new PimpMyNews iPhone app use the service for a lot longer than 10 minutes. (Our latest metrics show users spend over 30 minutes per day using PimpMyNews, significantly more time than people spend on the average text news site, according to Google).

Please check out Mark’s interview of us below. [we apologize for the audio and video quality, as it was done “impromptu” on a noisy, sun lit balcony at SXSW]

[Tap Here to Watch the iPhone Version]

You can download the new iPhone app on The App Store Here.

We would love to hear your feedback. What would you like to see in the next version of PimpMyNews? [Leave your comments below, or email suggestions@PimpMyNews.com ]

UPDATE: Mark has posted his take on our meeting on his blog here

Note: Mark Hopkins now blogs for John Furrier's Silicon Angle blog, covering "The Social Web and Tech Innovation."

BlogWorld Expo Radio Interviews PimpMyNews at SXSW

2009-03-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

[Listen to the Interview]

We just returned from the SXSW Interactive conference last night. During our three days at the show, we reconnected with old friends, met many new ones, and brushed up on emerging trends in tech and social media.

For me, the highlight of the show was hanging out in the Techset blogger lounge and sharing stories with other entrepreneurs and bloggers, and talking with PimpMyNews users.

Gracious hosts, Brian Solis, who pens the popular PR 2.0 and Bub.blicio.us blogs, Stephanie Agresta, and the Windows Mobile team treated everyone like family, regardless of your Google Page Rank.

While in the Techset lounge, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Blogworld Expo Radio's Jim Turner. To listen to the interview, click here.

We also shared the news about the new PimpMyNews iPhone application with many other top bloggers and social media folks, including Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins, Derek Overbey of 100 Interviews, Jason Falls, Derek Wilmot and many others.

Be sure to follow these thought leaders on Twitter, using the links at the bottom of this post.

[Follow these great folks on Twitter:

Jim Turner: http://twitter.com/genuine

Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins: http://twitter.com/rizzn

Derek Overbey: http://twitter.com/doverbey

Jason Falls: http://twitter.com/jasonfalls

Derek Wilmot: http://twitter.com/derekwilmot ]

Is Voice the New "Killer App" for Mobile ?

2009-03-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

Back when text-to-speech voice quality was "unlistenable," and before the explosion of mobile devices, TTS seemed to be a technology looking for a market beyond applications for the visually impaired.

Now that nearly everyone has a mobile device, and we're all looking to multitask on the go, it looks like voice could become the killer app for mobile.

Today, Apple announced a new talking iPod Shuffle. Instead of including a display on the new shuffle, Apple added a feature called "Voice Over", which reads the artist and song name aloud to you. A couple of weeks ago, Amazon launched the Kindle 2, which includes a text-to-speech feature that drew a ruckus from the overly sensitive Author's Guild.

Voice-to-text technology is also on the rise. Mobile services like SpinVox, Google Voice, Cha Cha, and many others have been coming out of the woodwork lately, allowing you to speak into your phone and receive transcribed text messages.

The talking iPod, the vocal Kindle, and these other cool voice-enabled services, seem to further validate the relevance of our mobile talking news & blog service.

Reading your blogs and driving don't mix... but listening? Now there's a benefit!

What's next? A talking toaster? Probably.

New PimpMyNews iPhone App, Watch The Demo

2009-02-12T19:45:00.000-08:00

As we mentioned in a recent blog post, the new native iPhone & iPod touch app is here!

If you've used the iPhone web app, you'll love the feature-rich speed of the new native application. If you've never used PimpMyNews on your iPhone, now is the time!

Check out the brief demo below, then head on over to The App Store to download the new application. [Tap here to watch the iPhone version]

Please let us know what you think, by sending your feedback to Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com

PimpMyNews Launches New iPhone, iPod touch App!

2009-02-06T16:52:00.000-08:00

After several weeks of coding, we're excited to announce the availability of our new native iPhone and iPod touch application!

Our goal is to continually enhance our service, to give you instant access to the content you care about, when you want it, and how you want it.

The new mobile app takes advantage of the advanced features of the iPhone SDK, to offer a faster, feature-rich user experience, making it even easier to keep up with your news on-the-go.

Here's a list of some of the new application's cool functionality:
>Real-time text-to-voice conversion
>View each story's text, pictures and video
>Stream your daily podcast
>Share stories on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other social sites
>Visit the source of each story

Our friends at The Inquisitr and JAIB seem to like the application. Be sure to swing over to their sites to see what they have to say.

>You can download the new app on The App Store for $3.99.

Please check it out, and tell us what you think at: Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com

Thanks for listening with PimpMyNews, and please tell your friends about the new application!

John & Roy, Co founders

PimpMyNews Makes TechZulu's Best of 2008!

2009-01-11T12:48:00.000-08:00

Techzulu is a great new resource to learn about hot new startups in the technology and media fields. In 2008, they made a name for themselves with lively onsite interviews of dozens of startups at popular conferences like BlogWorld, CES, and many others.

We were pleased to learn that Amanda Coolong's interview of us at BlogWorld Expo 2008 made TechZulu's "Best of 2008." [Watch the iPhone version here ]

Be sure to visit TechZulu to watch the rest of their Top 2008 interviews in the blog post titled "Here's To Ringing Out 2008."

We would like to thank all of our loyal PimpMyNews users for a great 2008! Have a great New Year!

Vote For Us In Mashable's Open Web Awards!

2008-11-08T13:31:00.000-08:00

Mashable's Open Web Awards honors the top achievements of Web technology startups.

And, Cincinnati is rockin' Web 2.0 in a major way, with great companies like ShareThis, Zipscene, Photrade, and of course yours truly, PimpMyNews.

Please vote for PimpMyNews in the "mobile applications" category. Thanks for your support!

TechZulu Interviews PimpMyNews CEO, John Atkinson

2008-10-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

Efren Toscano, CEO of TechZulu calls PimpMyNews, "One of the most useful companies for the business person on the go to come out of BlogWorld Expo."

In the video interview below at BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas, TechZulu's Amanda Coolong talks with PimpMyNews CEO, John Atkinson, about the benefits consumers and publishers are receiving from this unique service.

[Watch it on your iPhone - Click Here]

Be sure to visit www.TechZulu.com to see interviews with the likes of Robert Scoble, Mark Cuban, Jason Calacanis and other leaders in the technology and media industry.

PimpMyNews User Spotlight: Damien Howley

2008-10-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

We love getting feedback from you, our valued users. We especially love hearing about how you are using our service, and the benefits you're receiving. In this post, we share the feedback we received from one of our power users, Damien Howley.

Damien, a prolific blogger, and a graphic designer for MindTouch, had this to say:

"Upon first being introduced to PimpMyNews, I thought, "nifty, I can listen to blogs on my walk to work." However, I quickly found my whole consumption of blogs and news change drastically.

While at work, I used to listen to music, now I use your web interface [at http://www.pimpmynews.com/ ], and can catch up on all my blog posts while I work.

This has increased my ability to read more blogs, and keeps me extremely more informed than all of my co-workers. Bottom line is, PimpMyNews has saved me hours and hours each night of reading blogs."

Damien also gave us some great suggestions for new features, which we are evaluating.

How are YOU using PimpMyNews and what benefits are you seeing?

Shoot us an email at Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com today.

We would love to hear from you.

Cincinnati Magazine Calls PimpMyNews "Brilliant"

2008-09-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Cincinnati Magazine called to interview us about our "new media" service that turns text into mobile audio. The progressive monthly publication draws over 300,000 readers and visitors to its website.

The story below, which we've already pinned to the office wall, is in their October issue:

Now Hear This

Let PimpMyNews trawl the Web for your news - and read it to you.
By Chuck Sambuchino.

TO ALL YOU DESK JOCKEYS who waste the company dime, by clicking through endless streams of Web-based info-tainment, ad nauseam: PimpMyNews.com could save your job.

The brainchild of John Atkinson, a dot-com journeyman and UC grad who conceived the idea with his friend and tech consultant, Roy Georgia, at a hotel bar two years ago, the site provides a simple, brilliant service: It translates text from more than 1,200 news hubs, entertainment sites, and blogs into computer-generated speech (think “Fitter Happier” by Radiohead, only happier) that can be downloaded onto your computer, iWhatever, or MP3 player for you to listen to later.

“Over the years, I’ve been traveling like a road warrior, so I couldn’t keep up with newspapers,” says Atkinson, who now lives in Cincinnati. “I kept thinking that there had to be a better way than being tied to a computer all day for news.” PMN got its first significant boost when Apple chose it as a “staff pick” in January 2008. Since then, they’ve attracted 80,000 regular users.

“PimpMyNews opens a whole new world of content to everyone,” Atkinson says, “and it’s a great opportunity for productivity enhancement.”

Which makes us wonder: Are you reading this online?

PimpMyNews Goes to Vegas. Want a Cool Tee?

2008-09-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

Technology Guru, Roy Georgia, and I are packing up the wagons (and the new T-shirts) and heading west to Las Vegas today! We just can't wait to spend some quality time with the 2,000 bloggers who will be at the BlogWorld and New Media Expo this weekend.

Can You Write 5 Sentences?

Even if you're not going to BlogWorld, you still have a chance to score yourself a cool new PimpMyNews T-shirt! Just write a short blog post titled "5 Reasons Why PimpMyNews Rocks!," and shoot an email to blogs@PimpMyNews.com when it's up. The five best posts will get free PimpMyNews T-shirts!

If you'll be at BlogWorld this weekend, be sure to come up and say "hello." We may just have an extra shirt for you. Because one thing that's definitely "Staying in Vegas" this weekend is 100 pounds of PimpMyNews T-shirts.

Have a great weekend!

John Atkinson

Co-founder & CEO

Follow me on Twitter

PimpMyNews On Twitcast Radio...

2008-09-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to "Twitter Rock Stars" Warren Whitlock and Deb Micek, who recently had us join their "TwitCast" talk show on Blog Talk Radio.

Warren and Deb are the creators of the new, and wildly popular, Twitter Handbook. The Twitter Handbook is packed with tips and tricks for both Twitter newbies, and veteran Twitter users. You can download the handbook for free at http://twitterhandbook.com/

People from all over the country tuned into the TwitCast Radio show last Friday night, to learn about PimpMyNews and ask us questions. You can listen to the full show here.

After the show, we were flooded with requests from bloggers asking us to add their blogs to PimpMyNews, so people can listen to them on the go, on iPhones, iPods, computers, and other mobile devices.

If you are a blogger, to apply to have your blog added to PimpMyNews, just email your blog's RSS feed to Feeds@PimpMyNews.com

If you are looking for creative ways to use Twitter to make friends, or to expand your network, be sure to follow Warren and Deb on Twitter: [ @WarrenWhitlock @CoachDeb ]

The Inquisitr Blog Reviews PimpMyNews

2008-09-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, The Inquisitr published a story about our free service, which turns your favorite blogs into portable audio. The Inquisitr is a relatively new blog started by former TechCrunch Blogger Duncan Riley.

Tech blogger JR Raphael profiled our service, saying: "..Great idea, great service. Being able to load up your MP3 player with reading — rather, listening — for the morning drive is a cool convenience." JR also pointed out a couple of suggestions for improving the service, which we are actively working on.

You can read the full story here: [ http://bit.ly/InquisitrPMN ], or listen to it on PimpMyNews here: [ http://bit.ly/ListenPMN ]

The frequently updated blog features a unique mix of Technology, Entertainment and Odd news.

For a fresh perspective, check out The Inquistr at http://www.inquistr.com/ , and be sure to add it to your PimpMyNews playlist, so you can listen to it on-the-go.

New PimpMyNews Feature: Stream Your Podcasts Anywhere!

2008-08-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when you're out and about, and realize that you forgot to sync your MP3 player with your computer, to get your latest podcast episodes?

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, that is no longer a problem.

You can now STREAM your PimpMyNews podcast episodes over the air, on your iPhone or iTouch, with a single tap... No syncing required!

To check out this cool new feature:

1. On your iPhone or iTouch, go to www.PimpMyNews.com/m

2. *Log in with your PimpMyNews username and password, and

3. Tap the link labeled "Stream My Podcast"

*If you haven't signed up for a personalized account, please go to http://www.pimpmynews.com/ on your computer first, and sign up.

Please tell us what you think. More new features are on the way!

New PimpMyNews Feature: Stream Podcast on iPhone

2008-08-05T14:07:00.001-07:00

When people sign up for our free service, they're sometimes surprised to find that it works on so many different types of computers and mobile devices.

We built it to run on Macs, PCs, iPhones, iPods, or any MP3 player, so you can easily catch up on your favorite news and blogs, no matter what you might be doing. And, we're constantly adding new features to make PimpMyNews even more flexible.

As you may know, there are three "use case scenarios" for PimpMyNews:

1) You can use the Full Site on your Mac or PC, at home, or in the office. For example, you may want to listen to your stories "in the background" while working on a spreadsheet.

2) You can use the iPhone and iTouch application on the go, when you want to listen and interact with PimpMyNews. For example you might hear a cool story at Starbucks, and then forward it to a friend, or post it to Twitter, or Facebook.

3) You can use the Personalized Daily Podcast feature on your MP3 player, when your hands and eyes are busy, and you want to hear continuous stories. For example, you might listen to TechCrunch on the tread mill, or Perez Hilton in your Pinto.

Until now, as with any podcast, if you forgot to sync your MP3 player with your computer before leaving the house, you were out of luck. We're excited to say, that, if you have an iPhone or iTouch, that's no longer a problem!

You can now listen to the most recent episode of your PimpMyNews podcast on your iPhone or iTouch with a single tap... No syncing required!

To check out this cool new feature:

1. On your iPhone or iTouch, go to www.PimpMyNews.com/m

2. *Log in with your PimpMyNews username and password, and

3. Tap the link labeled "Stream My Podcast"

(*If you haven't signed up for a personalized account, please go to http://www.pimpmynews.com/ on your computer first, and sign up)

Please tell us what you think!

Gary Vaynerchuk Helps PimpMyNews Help The Blind.

2008-08-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

[On Your iPhone? Click Here To Watch Video ]

Shortly after we launched, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that blind people were also using our service to listen to their favorite news and blogs. [see our first post about this here ]

Since we think companies should also "give back" in some way, we've decided to try to use the power of social media, to raise money for blind charities.

To bring some attention to our effort, we hit up our new friend, "Internet Celebrity" Gary Vaynerchuk, who graciously agreed to do a video for PimpMyNews. Over 70,000 people a day watch Gary's Wine Library TV Show.

>Be sure to check out the video. John introduces Gary, who talks about "Helping People and the Transparent Web."

>Click Here To Donate. And please tell your friends. Every dollar you give goes to a charity for the blind.

PimpMyNews iPhone Tip: Add To Home Screen

2008-07-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

Many of our users report that they use our service to catch up on their favorite news and blogs on-the-go. On trains and planes, at Starbucks and gyms, ...well, you get the idea.

For our iPhone and iPod Touch users, here's a quick tip to make sure PimpMyNews is always at your finger tips...

Add PimpMyNews to your Home Screen in 3 easy steps:

1. On your iPhone or iPod Touch, go to www.PimpMyNews.com/m

2. Tap the plus sign ["+"] at the bottom of your screen, and select "Add to Home Screen."

3. Tap the "Add" button at the top right of the next screen, and the PimpMyNews icon will be placed on your home screen.

That's it! Next time you need news in a flash, just tap the PimpMyNews icon.

Thanks for listening with PimpMyNews.

What YOU Said About PimpMyNews - Survey Results

2008-07-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

We're obsessed with listening to YOU, our valued users. And, we know that our continued success is directly tied to reacting quickly to your feedback. To that end, we recently conducted a User Survey. And, we received a lot of great feedback!

Here are some of the key findings from the PimpMyNews User Survey:

The majority of users access PimpMyNews on iPhones and iPod Touch Devices. These users also reported the highest overall satisfaction rate.

Nearly half of all respondents said they use PimpMyNews 3 or more times per week.

The top 2 benefits users reported were: Number 1, the "Productivity Benefit" of being able to listen to news & blogs while doing other things, like driving, working out, etcetera. And Number 2, the ability to instantly receive "News I care about"

Many users also suggested that we offer additional ways to "customize" PimpMyNews to their liking, which we're already working on.

Our Top 5 Favorite User Comments are:

1. "Thanks to PimpMyNews, people think I'm much smarter than I am. I'm more informed all the time."

2. "Excellent idea, excellent execution. Keep improving."

3. "I'm kind of a PimpMyNews Junkie."

4. "I have no attention span, so it's perfect."

5. "Dig it all. Hard."

Thanks to everyone who responded to the survey. If you haven't taken it, please click here to take The Survey - If you'd rather shoot us an email, you can reach us at Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com (we review every email, immediately).

You can rest assured that we're continually working on improvements. And, we'll be announcing some really cool new features in the near future, so stay tuned.

Keep the great feedback coming. We'll always be listening!

John & Roy

PimpMyNews Schwag, Embroidered Lids!

2008-06-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

PimpMyNews users seem to like to share stuff with their friends, whether it's posting "talking stories" to Twitter, Digg or Facebook, or sending their PimpMyNews podcasts to others.

So, here at PimpMyNews, we've been checking out different "Schwag" vendors, looking for the coolest T-shirts, hats, wrist bands and stickers we can find.

This weekend, we stopped by The Embroidery Station to have "Saw-heed"[it's really spelled "Said"] stitch up some cool PimpMyNews lids, for us to pass around for feedback. (If you're following us on Twitter, you may have seen our tweet about him stitching up his finger. Ouch!)

We think the hats turned out incredibly cool, and we're thinking about giving a few a way as part of an upcoming charity drive for the blind, which we'll be doing with Wine Library TV's Gary Vaynerchuk (more on that soon!).

Check out the PimpMyNews lids in the pictures, and tell us what you think! Shoot us an email at Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com

Hey PimpMyNews Users: Please Take Our Survey!

2008-06-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

Dear Genius / PimpMyNews User,

Yes, we mean you, the person reading, or listening to, this blog post. We built PimpMyNews for you, and we'd love your opinion, so we can serve you better.

>>Please Click Here To Take Our Brief Survey

It's only 10 questions ;)

Thanks in advance for your help!

Roy Georgia & John Atkinson
Founders of PimpMyNews
------------------------------------------

Fun Facts About PimpMyNews:

Since December, people from 155 countries have used it
1,132 of the web's top news & blogs are now talking on PimpMyNews.com
We now have 939,504 "talking stories" online, with 5,000 new stories added daily.
You can share any "talking story" to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, & other social sites

Memorial Day: A Real Reason To Celebrate

2008-05-26T06:14:00.000-07:00

To honor our military servicemen this Memorial Day weekend, we asked Trish Forant to write a guest post for the PimpMyNews blog. Trish is the president of http://www.emailourmilitary.com/ , a popular service that connects ordinary people like you and me, with members of our armed forces.

To remind others of the real meaning of Memorial Day, please share this post by clicking the envelope icon.

A big "THANKS" to the members of our armed forces, and "Thank You," Trish!

Here's Trish' post:

Throughout our history, we have been blessed by the courage and commitment of Americans who were willing to pay the price of their tomorrows. They have fought and died for our freedom, and have kept us sleeping secure each night in safety.

Every one of them, from all different backgrounds, races and religions, no matter what battlefield they died on, every one, helped to build this strong nation we love. I'm proud to be an American and I don't take my freedom for granted.

The great German poet, Goethe, said to his generation:

"What you have inherited from your fathers, earn over again for yourselves, or it will not be yours."

We inherited freedom. We seem unaware that freedom has to be remade, and re-earned in each generation of man. As you spend this Memorial Day weekend with your family and friends, remember those who came before you and paid the ultimate price, paving the way for the freedoms we enjoy.

Take a moment at 3:00 pm eastern today, Memorial Day, to pause for a National Moment of Remembrance.

If you'd like to thank a veteran, or connect with a military service member one on one, but don't know one personally, stop by the http://www.emailourmilitary.com/ projects page to learn how you can get involved.

Scoble is "Shocked How Many Like PimpMyNews"

2008-05-17T17:24:00.000-07:00

Just yesterday, in FastCompany magazine, Robert Scoble and his Twitter followers named PimpMyNews a favorite iPhone application, ranking #2 to Google Reader, in the news category.

While on Twitter today, we spoke (or should we say, "tweeted") with Robert about the accolade, and we loved his response so much, we just had to post it here on the PimpMyNews Blog.

Here's the transcript from Twitter:

John: "Scobleizer, great FastCompany iPhone story - We're glad your fans like PimpMyNews! Big things in the works. We would love to share the vision with you."

Robert Scoble: "I was shocked how many people like PimpMyNews. Would love to hear more."

John: "We're shocked too! It is taking off - since December, People from 154 countries have used PimpMyNews (80% from the US, 86% on mobile devices)"

John: "We've made a lot of enhancements based on early adopter feedback - Could you ask your fans to send me theirs?"

See the image of the conversation on Twitter below. We're looking forward to sharing our vision with Robert Scoble, and we'll do a blog post of the conversation to keep you in the loop.

Thanks for listening with PimpMyNews, and keep the feedback coming! Oh, and be sure to follow us on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/JohnAtkinson

Robert Scoble Names PimpMyNews "A Favorite iPhone App"

2008-05-15T05:36:00.000-07:00

Since our December launch, we've been lucky to have received lots of positive coverage from the blogosphere, but this one really took us by surprise, in a very good way.

Regarded by many in the tech industry as "the man with his finger on the pulse of early adopters," when A-List Blogger Robert Scoble talks, a lot of people, including us, listen.

In the June issue of FastCompany magazine, the great "Scobleizer" gives a full run down on the iPhone application he loves, in a story titled "Star-Spangled iPhone." These are the killer apps that, as he puts it, "add skyrockets to your 'genius'" phone.

Scoble and Fans Weigh in on Mobile News Apps

Before writing the story, Robert asked the 18,000+ early adopters following him on Twitter to chime in on their favorite iPhone apps.

In the "news" category, Robert and his followers named the iPhone-optimized version of PimpMyNews their second favorite application. Second only to mega-popular Google Reader.

Considering that there are more than 1,500 applications listed on Apple.com, we're pleased... no, to be honest, we're pinching ourselves, to share the leader board with Google.

Here's an excerpt from Scoble's FastCompany story:

"I am still a Google Reader addict, and so are many of my fans. Reader was mentioned in my poll more than any other app. Another one that came up often was PimpMyNews.com , which turns text blogs into MP3 audio files, so you can listen on the go." (the iPhone/iTouch version can be accessed at www.PimpMyNews.com/m )

Robert also mentions his, and Steve Rubel's, fondness for sports news application sportstap.mobi, which he describes as "quite good."

Check out the full story on FastCompany's website: [http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/126/star-spangled-iphone.html]

You can also check out Robert Scoble at http://scobleizer.com/

A Message to Robert: If you're reading this, or listening to this on PimpMyNews, we'd love to share our much larger vision with you. We're good guys, rapidly building a new media platform for the future, based on user feedback.

Thanks to everyone for listening with PimpMyNews, and please tell your friends about us. And, keep your feedback coming to: Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com

John
Co-founder & CEO
-------------------------------

About PimpMyNews
PimpMyNews makes your favorite news & blogs TALK, so you can get current by listening, anytime, anywhere. It continuously scans the web for breaking stories, and converts them to audio, so you can listen on your computer, or, on-the-go on your iPhone, iPod, or any MP3 player.

Get current, save time, and listen on-the-go with PimpMyNews.

>Create your personalized account on your Mac or PC at: www.PimpMyNews.com/SignUp.aspx

>Access the iPhone/iTouch app at: www.PimpMyNews.com/m

Chris Brogan "Starting to Get" PimpMyNews

2008-04-05T05:44:00.000-07:00

For those of you who follow "social media," Chris Brogan needs no introduction. For those who might not be familiar with him, he's the proverbial "social media superhero." Thousands of people follow him on Twitter, read his blog, and hang on his every word (or, should I say, his every character?).

A Little New School "Fairy Dust"

Chris is well-known for sprinkling "textual fairy dust" on things... which usually ignites healthy conversations about those things. Just last night, we were pleased to find that Chris signed up for PimpMyNews, and wrote a post about us on his highly-trafficked blog.

The blog post is titled "Listening to Blogs - Really Listening."

Chris doesn't really do "endorsements," but we were pleased with the positive things he had to say about PimpMyNews. Here are a few excerpts from his post:

"What’s neat about PimpMyNews is that you can cook off a bunch of MP3 files of blogs you like reading, dump them into your MP3 player (portable or on your desk), and listen to a bunch of blogs while doing stuff."
"I listened to my own blog post (natch), and found it actually reasonably listenable."
"It’s neat, and you might give it a try."

"Kindling" for the User Feedback Conversation.

Chris also said "John and team have done a good start," and offered constructive criticism by suggesting tweaks to our navigation. Then, he ended the post by asking his readers to share their feedback on PimpMyNews. And share, they did.

Please check out the post on Brogan's blog and, don't forget to read, and add to, the comments.

[Read the full post here: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/listening-to-blogs-really-listening/ or - REALLY listen to it here: http://pimpmynews.com/p.aspx?i=632354 ]

This is exactly what a startup needs... Feedback from, and ongoing dialogue with, its users.

Thank you Chris Brogan, you fire-starter, you ;)

John
PimpMyNews Co-Founder & CEO

PS: As always, please send your feedback to Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com

PimpMyNews Tops 500,000 "Talking Stories"

2008-04-04T07:10:00.000-07:00

Did you know that you can now access more than a half a million "talking stories," from the web's top 1,000+ blogs on our full site at www.PimpMyNews.com ?

[see the news on Yahoo here: http://tinyurl.com/yu4cd3]

If you're accessing this story on your iPhone, or another mobile device, you just gotta check out all the cool functionality on our full site on your Mac or PC.

A Few of the Cool Things You Can Do on the Full Site:

1) Sign Up for a Free Personalized Account & Get the News YOU care about

Just click the sign up link on our home page to create your personalized account.
You can choose from more than 1,000 of the web's top blogs to create your playlist.
Then, you'll be able to log in on your iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac or PC, and hear YOUR favorites, anytime, anywhere.

2) Create a Daily News Podcast for Your MP3 Player

Just log in to your account, click "Manage MyPodcast," and select the blogs you'd like in your daily podcast. Then, every morning, PimpMyNews will automatically check your blogs for new stories, and create an episode with 10 minutes of uninterrupted stories.
Just sync your MP3 player with your computer, and... Listen at the gym, on the train, while doing laundry - anywhere!

3) Share, Share, Share!

With over half a million stories to choose from, chances are good that you'll find something funny, shocking, or just plain interesting. Why keep it to yourself?
You can email any "talking story" to friends, or post it to Digg, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Delicious, Stumble Upon and other social sites, with a single mouse-click.
To share any story, just click the envelope icon, or click the "View Summary" link and look for the social site icons at the bottom of every story.

To enjoy all of the fun, time-saving functionality, sign up on your Mac or PC today, at: http://www.pimpmynews.com/

Thanks for listening with PimpMyNews!

>We love feedback: Share your ideas & thoughts by emailing: Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com

>Are we missing a blog you like? Just email the name to: Feeds@PimpMyNews.com

PimpMyNews Users: Please Speak Up!

2008-03-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

Our goal is to make PimpMyNews a "user-driven" application that makes it easy for you to get current on the blogs you love, by listening to them, anytime, anywhere.

And, that can only happen if you "join the Conversation."

Since we launched in December, we've received lots of great feedback from our valued users. And, we've used this feedback as the basis for the many enhancements we've made to date.

If you haven't shared your ideas to improve PimpMyNews, Now is Your Chance!

Are we missing an awesome blog that you'd love to listen to?
Got an idea for a "killer feature" you'd like to see?
Or, perhaps you'd just like to tell us what you like, and what you don't like?

Please shoot us an email now at: Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com

Thanks for listening with PimpMyNews!

The PimpMyNews Team

>Don't Keep PimpMyNews All To Yourself - Spread The Word

Do YOU have a blog or a website? If so, we'd love it if you'd write about us, or, simply link to us at: www.PimpMyNews.com/

PimpMyNews Gets Listeners From 149 Countries, and New Features

2008-03-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[Original release 2/27/08, numbers updated 3/18/08]

New Media Startup Enables Users Around the Globe To Get Current

By Listening To Their Favorite News & Blog Sources On-The-Go

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - March 18, 2008 - Web 2.0 startup PimpMyNews.com today announced new product features for its user base, which has grown to include users from 149 countries since its mid December launch.

PimpMyNews is a new media application that allows consumers to stay current on breaking stories from their favorite text news and blog sources by listening to them wherever they happen to be. The free service continuously scans the web’s top 1,000+ news and blog sites for breaking text stories, based on user preferences, and instantly converts them to near-human sounding audio. Users can listen online on computers, or on the go on iPhones, iPods, Zunes and other MP3 players and mobile devices. The service also allows users to create playlists and personalized news podcasts, rate and share “talking stories” with friends, and post them to Facebook, Digg, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Mixx, and other social sites.

The company has rolled out a series of enhancements based on user feedback since the December launch of its full site at www.PimpMyNews.com. In mid January at Macworld, the company released its iPhone-optimized mobile application at www.PimpMyNews.com/m, which received Apple’s coveted “Staff Pick” designation.

Today, the company announced new mobile personalization features, integration with MySpace, and enhancements to its home screens. The new release allows mobile users to access their PimpMyNews favorites playlists from any location, delivering the same personalized news experience of the full site on mobile devices. Users can also now post audio versions of their favorite stories to MySpace to share them with their MySpace network. Additionally, the application home screens have been enhanced to load audio versions of the latest stories from the web’s top thirty blogs.

“Today, with our busy lifestyles, and the vast amount of news released each day, it’s difficult to stay current through traditional methods. PimpMyNews saves time by finding stories that you care about, and lets you get current by listening while you do other things like drive, work out, ride the train and more. It’s like TiVo for news and blogs,” said PimpMyNews Co-Founder & CEO John Atkinson.

Anyone with Internet access can sign up for the free service at www.PimpMyNews.com

About PimpMyNews

PimpMyNews scours the web 24/7 for text news and blog posts that you like, and converts them to audio that you listen to [vs. R-E-A-D] on your iPod, iPhone, Mac or PC, anytime, anywhere!

- Listen online or on-the-go, in the car, at the gym - anywhere
- Stay current on the news and blogs you care about
- Save time - your favorite stories come to you
- Express Yourself - share and rate stories, create playlists and more

###

Media Contact: Press@PimpMyNews.com

Blind Ambition, An Unexpected Blessing For Us

2008-02-24T06:33:00.000-08:00

A few days after going live in mid December, we received a very "special" email saying: "Thank you for creating this service, it has opened up a whole new world of content to me."

A few days later, we received a similar email. - Then, they began to pour in.

>You Ask, ...What's so "special" about someone liking the service?

>The Answer? The senders of these emails are blind.

Close your eyes for 60 seconds, and think about all of the blogs and websites you enjoy reading.. Now, imagine if you could never see again.

Learning that our technology might make sightless people's lives a little more enjoyable has spurred us to take this on as a "corporate cause."

We're now in talks with charity orgs to figure out ways to help more of the visually impaired. (There are 10 million visually impaired people in the US).

We would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on helping the visually impaired. Just comment on this post, or send your suggestions to Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com

Please stay tuned!

The Enquirer States: "Market Poised For PimpMyNews"

2008-02-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

Writer Jeff Huggins contacted us about a week ago for a story he was working on for The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Jeff immediately grasped "the concept," and the consumer and publisher benefits that our personalized talking news solution provides. The story, titled "It's News to Me," recently ran in The Enquirer's print and online edition.

[You can read the full story on the Enquirer's website here: http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008802170394]

Below are a few excerpts from the story:

"Integrating several Web 2.0 technologies, PimpMyNews continuously scours more than 1,000 Internet sources for text news and blog posts, converting approximately 5,000 stories to a digital audio format each day. The service features about 315,000 archived talking news stories from 1,000-plus news and blog publishers.

'PimpMyNews is like TiVo for news and blogs,' explains co-founder and CEO, John Atkinson of Mason. 'Today, we have access to so many different news sources, but still everyone struggles to stay current. Our service puts consumers in control, letting them listen to breaking news on their own terms.'

Huggins then goes on to say:

"The market appears to be poised for PimpMyNews. According to research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, nearly one in three Americans regularly get news online, and 39 percent of Internet users, or about 57 million adults, read blogs.

Additionally, a significant number of young people (13 percent), say they now get news via a cell phone, a personal digital assistant, such as a PalmPilot or Blackberry, or an iPod or other portable music player.

In the short time it has been live, PimpMyNews has enjoyed considerable critical acclaim."

>Anyone with Internet access can sign up for a free PimpMyNews Account at: http://www.pimpmynews.com/

>iPhone & iPod Touch users can access the mobile web application at: www.PimpMyNews.com/m

PimpMyNews Update and New iPhone Features!

2008-02-04T11:22:00.000-08:00

We're excited that PimpMyNews is taking off around the world thanks to YOU (our valued users), the press and fellow bloggers, who are spreading the word about the instant benefit it provides to anyone looking for an easy way to stay current on their news and blogs.

We're now up to users from 114 countries, 1,000+ news and blog sources and 300,000+ talking stories online - and, we're adding new sources and more than 5,000 new stories every day.

When we started "this thing", we pledged that PimpMyNews would be "user-driven", and we're excited to announce that, based on your feedback, we've added even more time-saving features to PimpMyNews.

But first, for those of you who may not be familiar with PimpMyNews, here's the obligatory "elevator speech"...

Simply put, PimpMyNews makes your favorite news and blogs TALK. It scours the web's top 1,000 news and blog sites for breaking stories and instantly converts them to near-human sounding audio that you can listen to anytime, anywhere. You can listen on your Mac, PC, iPhone, iPod, or any ol' MP3 player.

With PimpMyNews, instead of being tied to a computer searching and reading, you can kick back at your computer and listen, or, you can take your content on-the-go and make the most out of your time while you drive, workout, cook and more.

We're Continually Enhancing PimpMyNews Based on Your Feedback:

>In mid December, we launched the full PimpMyNews site at PimpMyNews.com, which allows anyone to choose from the web's top news and blog sites to create a free "personalized talking newspaper."

>In mid January, we followed up with an iPhone-optimized version of PimpMyNews at Macworld, that allows you to listen to breaking stories from the web's top 30 News and Blog sites on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

>And now, we're pleased to announce a brand spankin' new "personalization" feature for iPhone and iPod Touch users... You can now log in and access your "PimpMyNews favorites playlist" on your iPhone or iPod Touch from anywhere!

To use this cool new feature, sign up on your Mac or PC at PimpMyNews.com and complete the brief Account Setup Wizard... then, login from your iPhone or iPod Touch at PimpMyNews.com/m

Plus, you can now save a PimpMyNews icon to your iPhone homescreen, so you'll be able to get to it with a single "tap" - to do this, while on PimpMyNews, just click the "plus" sign and click "Add to Home Screen."

Keep the great feedback coming to Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com, and remember to tell your friends about us!

---------------------------------------

What They're Saying About PimpMyNews:

"It's like magic... PimpMyNews is ideal for productivity junkies who can satisfy their news and blog cravings while doing other things," says Touchtip.com. [http://tinyurl.com/3ajbkc]

"A great service for listening to your favorite news and blog sites... and sharing them," says Just Another iPhone Blog. [http://tinyurl.com/29jwol]

[About iPhone personalization] "It’s a great inclusion, and shows that the iPhone site is developing at a swift pace," says PocketPicks. [http://tinyurl.com/2sd4uu]

Talking iPhone Web Application Unveiled at Macworld, Receives Apple's Prestigious "Staff Pick" Designation

2008-01-16T18:52:00.001-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 16, 2008

New iPhone Web App Instantly Converts the Web’s Top Text News and Blogs to Audio -Allowing Users to Get Current & Multitask While Listening On-the-go

San Francisco, Calif. – January 16, 2008 – Web 2.0 startup PimpMyNews.com announced today at Macworld the debut of the world’s first “talking social news application” designed specifically for iPhones and iPod touch devices.

The application has received Apple’s prestigious “Staff Pick” designation and can now be accessed from any iPhone or iPod touch at www.PimpMyNews.com/m or through Apple’s web app directory.

The PimpMyNews web app features key functionality from the PimpMyNews full site, which launched in December at http://www.pimpmynews.com/. The web app scours the Internet for breaking text stories from the most popular news and blog sites and converts them to near-human sounding audio that users of iPhones, iPod touch devices and other mobile devices can listen to wherever they happen to be. Users can also share audio versions of stories with friends, or post them to other social sites including Facebook, Digg, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Mixx and more.

Since the December launch of the core PimpMyNews offering, the company reports that visitors from 99 countries have flocked to http://www.pimpmynews.com/ to listen to audio versions of breaking news stories from the web’s top 1,000 text news and blog sites on their computers, iPhones, iPods, Zunes and other devices.

PimpMyNews users who sign up for the free service on the main site can create a “personalized talking newspaper” by selecting their favorite text news and blog sources from 59 unique categories, including Technology, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Colleges, Business and more. Users can listen online or on-the-go by creating a personalized news podcast that is continuously updated with fresh content from their favorite sources. The site has over 200,000 talking stories online, adds more than 4,000 new stories per day and was recently selected as “The Cool Site of the Day”.

“We’re excited to provide yet another option that empowers people to get current on their favorite news and blogs by listening to them anytime, anywhere. Being selected as a “Staff Pick” by Apple is further validation that PimpMyNews provides meaningful value to users everywhere,” said PimpMyNews Co-Founder & CEO John Atkinson

PimpMyNews will be demonstrating the new iPhone web app at Macworld in San Francisco this week. Members of the press can schedule a demo by emailing Press@PimpMyNews.com

About PimpMyNews
PimpMyNews scours the web 24/7 for text news and blog posts that you like and converts them to MP3’s that you listen to (vs. R-E-A-D) on your iPod, iPhone or PC – anytime, anywhere!

- Stay current on the news and blogs you care about
- Save time – your favorite stories come to you
- Listen online or on-the-go – in the car, at the gym – anywhere
- Express Yourself – share and rate stories, create playlists and more

###

Media Contact: Press@PimpMyNews.com

PimpMyNews Picked as Today's "Cool Site Of The Day"

2008-01-07T15:40:00.000-08:00

We love it when others help us spread the news about PimpMyNews, and we're very thankful for the press, fellow bloggers, "Twitterers" and "Diggers" who have been spreading the word since we launched a few weeks ago.

Last week, the folks over at "Cool Site of the Day" contacted us to let us know that PimpMyNews had been chosen as their "Cool Site of the Day" for today (Monday, January 7th, 2008). After Googling them and seeing praise about them from Yahoo and New York times, our excitement grew.

- Yahoo says they're "the original and still the best."

- New York Times calls them "the arbiter of good taste on the Internet."

Then Panic Set in...
We asked ourselves, "What if 'Cool Site' brought an avalanche of millions of people with click-happy fingers to our site today? Could our tireless, "near-human sounding robots" fetch and read the news fast enough?

As I write this blog post at 7:36 pm eastern, I'm happy to say that our traffic has more than tripled, and we haven't heard a single complaint from our "robo news team."

I suppose as long as we continue to treat them humanely and provide a rewarding upward career path for them, the "PimpMyNews machine" will continue to run like a top. (Fingers crossed, of course ;)

Please cast your vote for PimpMyNews at "Cool Site of the Day"

On a side note - keep sending your feedback to Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com - and share a talking PimpMyNews story to your mother-in-law.

PimpMyNews Press and "The Tivo Analogy"

2007-12-14T18:36:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

It's been a great week here at PimpMyNews. Our first news release [http://tinyurl.com/2meaxt] went out just a few days ago and visitors from 58 countries flocked to http://www.pimpmynews.com/ to listen to their favorite text news and blogs talk.

We've already received quite a bit of press coverage, which has been very positive, for the most part:

Speech Technology Magazine did a story about us on their homepage.[http://tinyurl.com/3yov6c] It was nice to see PimpMyNews, named alongside Facebook and MySpace with the statement, "PimpMyNews also gives users the ability to consume media in a unique way."
KillerStartups.com thinks we might be a "killer startup", saying "PimpMyNews is convenient for anyone with a long commute who doesn’t want to, or doesn’t have time to read news either in print or online. Personalized channels with handpicked feeds make it easy to customize your account to your liking, and unlike other TTS services I’ve reviewed, this one allows you to download the mp3 file so you can listen to it on your iPod, iPhone or computer" [http://tinyurl.com/2hyx4l]
Mashable's Mark "Rizz'n" Hopkins' story on us, titled "PimpMyNews: Fun for 10 minutes", [http://tinyurl.com/23rd7p] [http://mashable.com/2007/12/12/pimpmynews-fun-for-10-minutes/] had me worried when I first saw the title, but he had some pretty positive things to say, including: PimpMyNews "comes fully-loaded with a good number of feeds you already read, and works quickly and fairly seamlessly." However, I respectfully disagree with Mark's assumption that you have to "fool the human ear into thinking it is actually human" before there's much value. In my opinion, no computerized voice will ever be able to "fool the human ear." - The human ear is just too good at detecting sound,.. which brings me to my soap box speech,...

PimpMyNews' value statement is not about "fooling the human ear."

Strangely, PimpMyNews = TIVO for Text News and Blogs.

Are you confused? Please hear me out.

If you have signed up for PimpMyNews.. Not just clicked around on the homepage, I mean actually signed up and personalized your account with your favorites, and configured your daily automatic podcast for your MP3 player, you will understand exactly what I mean when I say that PimpMyNew's value statement is very similar to TiVo's..

PimpMyNews' Value is about "setting it and forgetting it", always being current, and portability.

While you do other things, PimpMyNews scours the web all day long, grabbing your favorite text news and blogs. When you login to your account, your content is right there waiting for you to listen to it (just like "Desperate Housewives" is waiting for you to watch it with TiVo).... With PimpMyNews, there's no more surfing around to different websites hunting for news... And you can kick back and listen to a "near-human sounding" voice..instead of reading a bunch of text.

Do You Have an iPod, iPhone or some other MP3 player? If so, you can cut off your PC schackles.

Every morning, when you sync up your iPod or iPhone, you'll get fresh audio versions of your favorite text news and blogs that you can listen to while doing other things, like driving, working out, flying, putting up holiday lights and more. This "portability" factor of PimpMyNews is very powerful because you can get current on the best of the web, anytime, anywhere.

If you ask my wife, she'll tell you that I fall asleep every night with PimpMyNews playing on my iPhone, listening to Mashable, TechCrunch, Seth Godin, Wall Street Journal and, yes, I'll admit it, sometimes Perez Hilton. She will also tell you that rolling over on an iPhone really annoys her.

Please keep sending your feedback to Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com, and keep telling your friends about PimpMyNews!

News Release: Talking Social News Website Puts You in Control of News and Blogs

2007-12-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 12, 2007

Talking Social News Website Puts You in Control of News and Blogs

Convergence of Web 2.0 and Social Media Technology Lets Anyone with Internet Access or an MP3 Player Listen to Text News Online or On-The-Go

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. Web 2.0 startup PimpMyNews today announced the availability of the world’s first “talking social news site” at http://www.pimpmynews.com/ PimpMyNews is a free service that allows anyone with Internet access or an MP3 player to listen to thousands of breaking text news and blog stories that they would otherwise have to read.

Throughout the day, the site’s proprietary software scours the Internet for breaking text news and blog stories matching each user’s preferences, The site then converts text content to near-human sounding audio in real time, using text-to-speech technology similar to technology used in talking GPS navigation systems.

During the sign up process, users select their favorite topics from hundreds of text-based news and blog publishers to create a “personalized talking newspaper.” For deep personalization, users can choose content from fifty-seven unique categories, including Technology, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Colleges, Business and more.

Users with iPods, iPhones, Zunes and other MP3 players automatically receive fresh content matching their preferences every morning for listening on the go, whenever and wherever they desire - allowing users to stay current on their favorite news and blogs without being at a computer. The company believes this feature will appeal to people with active lifestyles and commuters.

The site also includes rich social media tools for users to rate, share and participate in the distribution of news and blog stories. With a single click, users can email audio versions of stories to friends, or post them to Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Mixx, and other social sites.

“The idea grew out of a need that a group of friends had, which we believe millions share. We needed a way to stay current on the news and blogs we care about and a way to share interesting stories with the world with minimal effort. PimpMyNews puts consumers in control and lets them listen to breaking text news on their terms. Publishers of text news and blogs now also have the ability to augment their reader base with listeners,” said PimpMyNews Co-Founder John Atkinson.

About PimpMyNews

PimpMyNews scours the web 24/7 for text news and blog posts that you like and converts them to MP3’s that you listen to (vs. R-E-A-D) on your iPod, iPhone or PC, anytime, anywhere!

- Stay current on the news and blogs you care about.
- Save time - your favorite stories come to you
- Listen online or on-the-go - in the car, at the gym - anywhere
- Express Yourself - share and rate stories, create playlists and more

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Media Contact: Press@PimpMyNews.com

Welcome to PimpMyNews, Alpha Friends!

2007-11-16T21:11:00.000-08:00

Thanks for visiting the PimpMyNews blog. The purpose of this blog is to serve as an informal communication channel between us and YOU, the valued users of PimpMyNews.

Not Sure What PimpMyNews Is?
PimpMyNews is a new personalized audio news and blog service that automatically hunts down your favorite TEXT news and blog topics and converts them to MP3 files that you can LISTEN to on your PC, iPod, iPhone (or any MP3 player), anytime, anywhere. You can learn more about PimpMyNews and create your free account at: http://www.pimpmynews.com/

YOU are the Most Important Element of PimpMyNews!
We created PimpMyNews for YOU, so please take a few minutes to tell us how we can make it better. And be sure to check this blog periodically to learn what's new at PimpMyNews.