Ok. I have been reading news all day about a service that used to be called MessageCast. It was just bought out by Microsoft and rolled into a service they are calling “MSN Alerts”.
From what I gather from the new MSN site (which is completely awful, I cant even really find out what the site really does) this service will allow you to get an email, IM or SMS about updates to something that interests you. I didnt really understand at first how this made any sense until I started at looking at some of the affiliates they have.
* FOX Sports – Sports scores and updates from Fox Sports
* weather.com – Receive forecast and inclement weather alerts
* MSN Hotmail – Receive reminders of appointments, due dates, birthdays
But the problem is, they have only really been in the news (at least in my searching) because they have announced a podcasting service as well. They will send you an IM, SMS or email letting you know that updates are available for one of the podcasts you subscribe to.
Honestly, isn’t this why we have developed podcasts with RSS and the aggregators the way we have? I don’t need an SMS every time Adam Curry makes a new Daily Source Code. I just need to look in iPodder and it will show me it when it is downloaded and ready to play.
Maybe its just me. Your thoughts?