I’m in a hotel in Portland, Oregon, preparing for a couple sessions with the US Forest Service. I opened the door this morning to pick up my copy of USA Today. The word “podcasting” leapt at me off the front page. There are actually two front-page stories on podcasting in the paper, one in the Money section and one in the Life section. The business article looks at the rise of podcasting and its future, including some of the obstacles. For instance, the manufacturers of the more popular MP3 players (notably Apple, which refused to comment for the story) are joined at the hip with big record labels and are in hurry to retool their devices to accommodate podcasts. The lifestyle section looks at the A-list podcasters.