Memorial Day: A Real Reason To Celebrate

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"

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"

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
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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

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"

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!

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

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

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Media Contact: Press@PimpMyNews.com