Embedded below is a 19 minute screencast on publishing a podcast with GarageBand and some other tools. We’ll walk you through how to export your podcast and get it published!

If you enjoy this screencast, please check out all the other great screencasts at TechUniversity!

Even though the iAd experience has had its issues, the iAd service is in full swing, and it’s where Apple needs to focus its resources. Many acquisitions are purely for talent, and the Quattro acquisition probably had a nice dose of that, given the former Quattro CEO is now VP of iAd.

How do you think the mobile advertising landscape is shaping up? Is Apple on the right course?

Here’s the full text from Apple’s note regarding the move:

iAd is helping advertisers reach millions of iPhone and iPod touch users around the world with dynamic, engaging ads right in their favorite apps. The iAd Network combines the emotion of TV advertising with the interactivity of the web, giving advertisers a powerful new way to reach mobile users.

We believe iAd is the best mobile ad network in the world, and starting next month we’re going to focus all of our resources on the iAd advertising platform. We are no longer accepting new campaigns for the Quattro Wireless Network, and we will soon begin winding down existing campaigns.  As of September 30, we will support ads exclusively for the iAd Network.

Advertisers, learn more about iAd.

Developers, find out how to generate revenue and promote your apps using iAd.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Why 2010 Still Won’t Be the Year of Mobile Advertising

More recently, we released the GigaOM iPhone App, which aggregates all the major content from our network, and what we found was that users are spending huge amounts of time reading content…much, more time than on our separate websites. Om touches on this more:

Little did we know how that app would change everything. It brought home a series of lessons about how people view and interact with our content. One of the biggest lessons of the iPhone app was the extremely high amount of time users spent per session, thanks to us unifying the content from all our sister sites into a single stream. It made us realize one basic fact: the readers appreciated the diversity, depth and deftness of our content, regardless of which network blog it came from. On an average, those who use our iPhone app spend over 15 minutes per session, with a couple of sessions daily. And that is with all the notifications turned off.

So, this evening we’re launching another redesign of all the network sites to bring them under one unified “GigaOM” experience. From a pure design perspective, it’s not a major visual change, but the navigation across all of the sites is a pretty significant change. This change will surface content from the entire network much more efficiently, and ideally, introduce you to new content that you otherwise may have missed.

TheAppleBlog’s content will not change. We’ll continue to bring you the same news, walkthroughs and real-life application that you enjoy. The places where you consume our content won’t change either. As a reminder, here are all the ways, in addition to the site, that you can find us:

• RSS
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Newsletter

We hope you dig the new changes! Let us know what you think below in the comments.

We’ll walk you through how to set up, enable, and tweak all 10 items so you can get the most out of your Mac right from the start.

Below is a sample of the video. The full screencast clocks in at just over 11 minutes.

Topics covered include:
• Adding Tracks
• Recording Tips
• Cycle Mode
• Punching In

If you haven’t already, we suggest you watch our Logic Pro 101 video before this one.

Below is a sample of the video. The full screencast clocks in at just over 20 minutes.

In this TechUniversity screencast on Kidproofing Your Mac (subscription required), we’ll take you through what needs to be done and what tools are available to keep your kids safe.

Topics include…

• Limiting application usage
• Website restrictions
• Mail and iChat restrictions
• Setting time limits
• Checking web and chat logs
• Third-party web filtering

Below is a sample of the video. The full screencast clocks in at just over 11 minutes.

Here in San Francisco, the WWDC line started no earlier than 6:30PM last night…over 15 hours before the event starts. By 10PM last night there were over 20 people in line, and by 4AM this morning, the line started wrapping around the building.

Below are some photos from the action, and by “action” we mean “people standing around.” Enjoy.

Be sure to follow our live keynote coverage at live.theappleblog.com and @theappleblog!

We’ll be providing text and photo updates both before and during the event to see if any of our predictions came true.

The keynote will start on Monday, June 7 at 10 a.m. PST and we’ll be starting our coverage an hour or so before.

You can tune in via live.theappleblog.com and via our Twitter account: @theappleblog

Be sure to signup for a reminder of when coverage starts.

So say you want to show all negative numbers as red and bold…conditional formatting lets us do that!

We’ll cover how to apply conditional formatting to numbers, text and dates in this TechUniversity screencast on Conditional Formatting with Numbers (subscription required).

Below is a sample of the video. The full screencast clocks in at just over 10 minutes.

In this TechUniversity iMovie 101 screencast (subscription required) we’ll walk you through, from start to finish, how to create an edit a movie in iMovie.

Topics covered:

• The projects and events window
• Adding and editing video
• Titles, transitions, sound and maps
• Sharing your video

Below is a sample of the video. The full screencast clocks in at just over 20 minutes.

We’ll show you how to create an 8-bit video game sound (called a “chiptune”) out of any midi track using GarageBand and the Magical 8bit Plug.

This TechUniversity screencast is completely free! Just head on over to TechUniversity to check out the full video.

Here’s a short sample for you as well…

In this TechUniversity Smart Playlists screencast (subscription required), we’ll walk you through creating a Smart Playlist and how to set up different “rules” to control what songs automatically show up in your playlist.

View full Smart Playlists screencast on TechUniversity (subscription required)

Screencast Sample

So after four months of development and production, I’m very proud to announce the launch of TechUniversity.

TechUniversity is a video tutorial and screencast site dedicated to teaching you how to use your Mac and Apple products better. We’re launching with close to two dozen screencasts and will be adding new videos every week. You can watch the videos directly on the site or download high-quality, DRM-free videos with chapter markers. And to get your feet wet, you can check out a few free episodes in the Freebies section.

To view all the videos and access the downloads, you pay a small monthly fee of $4.95 (or $49.95 for a year). Being a subscriber also lets you interact with the screencast authors and other community members.

For those new to the Mac, I suggest checking out our 101 Series.

So, check out TechUniversity and let us know what you think! We’re extremely proud of this and would love for you to be a part of it!

David Klein

Waited outside in the cold for 15 hours. Store opened at 9AM. Had it at 9:08. Interviewed by a variety of local reporters and Molly Wood on CBS. The iPad is heavier than I expected. Very smooth transitions. Apps designed specifically for the iPad are beautiful. Apps that haven’t been adapted for the iPad are ugly in full screen mode. Typing with two fingers is fast. Typing with ten fingers seems impossible so far. I can’t wait to try all the new apps, but for now I must sleep.

David Greenbaum

Apps are significantly faster, virtually instant on the iPad. I’d appreciate a faster bootup time, though. The sound is incredible and unexpectedly brilliant. Netflix streaming and LogMeIn are killer apps for this device. I also like Gmail’s new iPad web interface for email. The smudges on the screen are frustrating me, though. I’ll wait for screen protectors, though as we know you won’t find those at the Apple store. The most annoying aspect of the iPad is the inability to easily share it with others. Unlike a MacBook or a netbook, I can’t login with my own settings. Sharing it with the spouse is proving to be a problem and I’m sure not going to buy two! I’m using the Facebook App while anyone else that uses it has to use the web interface. For other things like twitter, we are using different clients.

Weldon Dodd

The iPad just might deserve the “magical” moniker. This device is an absolute joy to hold and use. It feels very responsive and quite fast compared to an iPhone. I fired up the Netflix app and started a movie, launched the ABC Player app and watched a show and I felt like I was visiting the future. Can’t wait for Hulu. I think Apple got the screen size just right and the orientation lock was a better choice than the original mute switch. Native apps are wonderful, but iPhone apps on iPad are only so-so (especially true for games).

I think the iPad will highlight the importance of good UX design in software. There is just enough room on the screen that well designed interfaces are going to shine on the iPad. It was possible to scoot by with a simple, list-based UI on the iPhone. That approach will not cut it here. The early efforts on native apps like Omnigraffle and Twitterrific for iPad (amazing to think that they were designed with only a simulator) show just how good native iPad software can be.

Alex Layne

The interface is incredibly responsive and video playback is immediate. The virtual keyboard is a lot better than I expected; typing is faster than on my iPod touch, especially in landscape mode. It’s also heavier than I expected and my arms got a little tired in the five minutes that I played with it, but they weren’t falling off. The hardware is sleek: Imagine taking the screen off a MacBook Pro and adding some thickness.

Kevin Keheley

First thoughts are this thing is heavy. It has some weight to it and takes a minute to figure out the best way to hold it. Second, it makes my iPhone look tiny after using the iPad for a while then move to the iPhone. Third, fast. The iPad screams with the speed. Snappy and loads things super quick. Fourth, my new favorite app, ABC Player. Great quality video and the speed is again fast. Fifth, non-iPad apps look like garbage. The look of these apps makes me not want not want to use them. iDisk and Gallery apps are great examples of how these iPhone apps do not look great on the iPad. It is a neat idea that Apple used to blow the size of the apps up to fit the iPad screen but I think that it makes the apps less appealing on the iPad.

A few things I really like on the OS. When you plug in the iPad you get a pop up window on the lock screen that tells you the percent the battery is charged. Nifty little addition. The screen rotation switch is amazing. The speakers are not awful like I thought they would be. The last is the little flower icon on the lock screen, a nice touch to make the iPad a picture frame while it is docked and charging.

Mark Crump

The screen is never better than I had imagined. I have no problems withe the virtual keyboard and can even thumb type in landscape mode. It’s very fast and responsive. The Zinio app is amazing. It’s the virtual magazine reader I’ve always wanted. I’m less happy Apple is apparently censoring what Zinio can display in the device. I’m finding Pages to be harder to figure out than I expected. It seems not very Apple-ey, in that there is an extra step to complete a task. I’m also not thrilled you can’t create your own templates, and moving files isn’t intuitive. I’m also amazed it doesn’t support iDisk.

iPhone apps in 2x mode look like crap.

So far all I have been doing has been content consumption. I’m looking forward to creating content this week.

Josh Pigford

As others have mentioned, my first impression was that the iPad felt a lot heavier than I expected. Sure, we all knew that it weighed in at 1.5 pounds but I know I didn’t have any sort of real idea of how it felt to hold a device with that weight. I still haven’t figured out a really good way to hold the device for reading.

The device is blazing fast and all the iPad-specific apps I’ve tried have been beautiful. iPhone apps blown up on the iPad look awful. But those few issues aside, it’s just plain fun to use.

So, do you plan on waiting in line in hopes of snagging one of the few your Apple Store may have on hand? When do plan on starting your wait? What will you be doing to pass the time?

Let us know your game plan in the comments!

Related iPad Content from GigaOM Pro (subscription required)