As you may already know, Apple released an update to the iPhone software (3.0) that include a number of new features such as copy & paste, voice memos, and many others.
Over the next few weeks, Maciverse.com will periodically spotlight a new feature of the latest iPhone OS.
Podcasts
Shortly after installing the iPhone OS update, I found myself listening to one of the podcasts that I subscribe to. When the Podcast loaded up, I noticed that Apple had added a few things to the Podcast User Interface.
Now, when you start listening to a Podcast, 3 buttons will appear below the play status bar. The first new button is an envelop. Clicking this will open up mail and include in the body of the email a link to the podcast you’re listening to as well as text letting people know this is something you’d like them to check out.
These buttons aren’t available on normal songs, so it doesn’t appear that Apple is hoping to increase sales by allowing individuals to spread the word easily about everything they like and listen to. The effort must be to help spread the word on Podcasts and their popularity.
The next button is a 30 second skip back button. This is a great feature for listening to podcasts that often cover subjects and include detail that you’d like to listen to a time or two again to make you sure you got the point of the discussion.
The final new feature is the ability to speed up, or slow down, the speed at which the podcast is playing. Click the 1x button will change it to 2x (double the speed). Clicking it again will reduce the speed to 1/2x (Half speed). I’m not sure how often this feature will be used, but maybe people just wanted to hear their podcasts as if they were being done by Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Overall, its nice to see Apple continually try and add features and capabilities to the user experience. Let us know if there is a new feature in the iPhone OS that you’ve found and we haven’t covered.
