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Last week, it was very clear to most of us not in line for the iPhone that the most exciting aspect of the iPhone 3G release were the GPS capabilities.  We haven’t seen more announcements for locationally aware social networks come across our newsbox here at Mashable (or anything that takes advantage of GPS technology) before or since.

One such network is one called Whrrl.  It’s not particular to the iPhone, but it is one location aware socnet that’s been getting a fair amount of buzz lately. Kristen initially reviewed it here at Mashable, describing it as “Yelp Plus Twitter.”

The topic that Sean and I grapple with today on Mashable Conversations is exactly why it is you’d want the whole world knowing exactly where you are at any given point.  Aside from just wanting to have a little anonymity, it seemed to us that we’d occasionally want to slip down to the bar without the wife knowing.  Or perhaps go with our friends to a batchelor party while still being eligible to run for public office a decade later.

The internet has a long memory (at least a year long).  We’re already responsible for every errant word spoken ont he net.  Would you like to also be responsible for everywhere you’ve ever been?

We explore this a bit further in the show, and then are joined by the folks from Whrrl at Seattle SummerMash, as they tell us a bit more about the service.

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---Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Whrrl is Yelp Plus TwitterCoupon Alerts As You Shop OnlinePlacesToDo Takes Social Bookmarking MobileIs Ad Infuse Too Creepy for Mobile Advertising?Yahoo Invites More Developers to Use Location-Based Platform, Fire EagleGeoTwitterous: Personalized Twitter on a MapEveryScape Takes Virtual City Tours to the Next Level

Wizzard Media, the podcast hosting and monetization giant, a couple of days ago released a letter to their shareholders that went towards explaining a bit of their corporate strategy:

In a very short time, Wizzard has surprised many people by becoming the largest distributor of digital media via RSS (podcasting). While many other companies took the route of launching online video websites and treating RSS distribution as nothing more than an add-on feature, Wizzard has focused its early efforts in this industry on dominating RSS delivery of media. Why you may ask? The quality of content and the reliability of podcasting publishers are head and shoulders above what you find on most video websites.

The letter goes on to list in great detail the numerous milestone achievements they’ve attained over the last year or so, some of which we’ve chronicled here at Mashable (you can find the full letter here).

Aside from the company’s achievements, they bring up an interesting question.  In the world of online video, is RSS simply a feature or is it part of a central strategy.  Personally, I’ve always viewed podcasting and RSS technology as central, but in the continuing production of Mashable’s ongoing video series, I’ve seen that validated as a matter of practice, as opposed to something to be thrown on as an afterthought.

We went through, in our search for a solid video platform, literally dozens of providers.  Granted, due to our desire to monetize in specific ways from the onset, we had a much more demanding pattern of standards for what we’d accept, but it was amazing to us how many video hosting providers didn’t even offer anything close to conforming to RSS podcasting standards.

For instance, take Brightcove, the embedded video platform very widely used by media giants and tech pundits alike. It has probably one of the most customizable embedded video platforms I’ve ever worked with.  The features in the player are second to none, and their ad serving capabilities are very impressive.

They don’t, unless it’s been recently added, have any ability to serve MP4 files via RSS though.  For us at Mashable, we’ve found that this lack of ability can mean cutting out as much as 80% of your audience.  Generally, we’ll receive hundreds and in some case thousands of video views of an episode through the website even when posted in off-peak hours, but very rare is it we’ll have less than a thousand downloads to a video we put out if it’s on the podcast feed.

Why is that?  Well, part of it is that we’re generally fans of long-form content.  A lot of our shows range upwards of twenty minutes, and rarely are shorter than ten minutes. Thus they aren’t the smoothest fit for someone who’s browsing through our site in search of a quick update on the news. They do have time to tag it as a download and watch it later or to throw the RSS feed on their iPod and subscribe to it.

When it comes to a corporate strategy, is it the best route though?  I think if it’s coupled with a solid promotional strategy, the answer is yes.  We view the web posts accompanying the episodes here at Mashable as your alert - that which lets you know that we have a new episode out (or that we have a series, depending on your level of awareness). Focusing on episodic content, though, very much improves the overall level of quality in the content - and if you need proof, look at YouTube’s new strategy.

A while back, when Robert Scoble was touting the fact that it was longform video that was inherently superior to shortform (and hence the reason why YouTube was raising the allowed length for YouTube videos), I put out a (shortform) video that talked about the quality level differences between episodic, targeted videos and the general UGC fare (at least on a commercial level).

Bottom line - if you’re working with video online: by all means have a web strategy, but if you don’t understand podcasts and RSS, be prepared to fight with one hand tied behind your back.

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Typically I give a popular service around an hour to get its act together before posting about its downtime, but for the last 15 minutes or so my Twitter friend timeline has been lighting up with messages about Facebook being down. Being Friday and all, I figured why not have some fun with it.

Twitter’s “fail whale” has become somewhat iconic, at least for those of us that use the site regularly and have become used to its quirky downtime messages. But all Facebook gives me when it goes down is this stinkin’ browser default “connection reset” page:

What should Facebook’s version of the “fail whale” be? Leave your own ideas in the comments … bonus points for original artwork We’ve got two $25 iTunes gift certificates for the best submissions.

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Early this week, I wrote about how the Blu-ray drive in the PlayStation 3 is changing the video game business. Sony's console is built for gaming, but features like Blu-ray and online connectivity make it a home entertainment system in disguise. So is Microsoft's Xbox 360.

It's no secret that Sony and Microsoft are fighting to establish a footprint in the American living room. That's why they're both willing to lose money selling consoles - they think they'll make the money up on games, but also with online services and video on demand. For the past few years, however, both companies have gone out of their way to market their machines as game consoles, which only made sense. What self-respecting gamer is going to buy a movie machine?

All three companies fought for the family market during their annual presentations at the E3 industry conference. Microsoft made the case that its Xbox 360 is a full-featured home entertainment system, complete with the ability to download TV shows and movies, through a deal with Netflix. Sony announced its own movie service, and pointed out that its PS3 already supports the movie format of the future. Both showed impressive games, but the hardcore gamers who are waiting for them have already bought a console. Now they're fighting over the family audience.

So far, Nintendo has captured most of that audience - not only because the Wii is delightfully easy to use, but because the price is right: $250. And, to the despair of fanboys, Nintendo kept pushing its family appeal. Its new "Animal Crossing" game is like MySpace for the stuffed animal crowd. And "Wii Music" seems made for the younger siblings of "Guitar Hero" fans.

Nintendo has no broader home entertainment strategy. The Wii isn't meant for TV, movies, or music - just plain old games. And in an age of integrated entertainment, some analysts suggest it won't be nearly as appealing.

I don't believe this for a minute. For hardcore gamers, the 360 or PS3 are the obvious choices. But I think families will stick with the Wii. As we head into a recession, the Wii looks like a bargain - and Nintendo could easily lower the price without cutting into its profit. For many adults, renting movies through a game machine just sounds confusing - whether it actually is or not. And while Xbox Live is optimized for gamers, Nintendo's online service sacrifices ease-of -use for security features that make parents feel better about who their kids are talking to. These kinds of features are why Nintendo is winning this round of the console war - and why it will keep on winning for at least another year.

Robert Levine is the MOLI View contributing editor for Business and Technology.

At this time last year, Sony's video game business looked like it might take a beating. Sales of its PlayStation 3 lagged behind those of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii. Sony's machine was more expensive - at least $400 compared to $250 for the Wii. And although the PS3 has more processing power than the others, few games have taken advantage of all the horsepower under its hood.

Now at the start of this year's E3 - the annual business conference that sets the tone for the industry - everything is different. Well, not everything: The Wii is still outselling the other machines, and Nintendo is still making more money than its rivals. But the PS3 suddenly looks like a good deal compared to the Xbox 360. This has very little to do with any difference in performance. At this point, most third-party publishers develop their PS3 and 360 games together, so any differences are minor. And though Microsoft has some impressive exclusives, including the "Halo" and "Gears of War" franchises, most analysts expect it to gain ground on its Redmond-based rival.

One reason the PS3 carried such a high price tag was Sony's decision to include a Blu-Ray player that could be used to view movies in that format. A couple of years ago, this seemed foolish - it doesn't do much for game play, there weren't many movies available and Sony was locked in a format war with Toshiba, which was promoting its HD DVD technology with help from Microsoft. Gamers didn't think the extra feature was worth the extra cash.

This winter, Sony won its format war - to the extent that Toshiba abandoned the format in February. Blu-Ray suddenly seems useful, if not quite necessary. And since video game console makers subsidize machines to make money on software, the PlayStation 3 looks like a bargain. It costs $400, while the most reasonable Blu-Ray player I could find on Amazon is going for $330. If you're in the market for a Blu-Ray player, you can get a next-generation video game machine for $70. If you're thinking about getting a Bl