While the Associated Press and newspapers around the US debate to compete against online news sources, they may be missing an even bigger threat: you and your iPhone.

The New York Times reports that Fwix – a local news aggregator – plans to enlist mobile social media creators to generate realtime local news coverage:

Fwix, will release an iPhone application this week that enables its users to file news updates, photos and videos, live from the field. The items will appear on Fwix’s year-old Web site, which also collects links to local news articles from newspapers and blogs in 85 cities.

“We believe we are the real-time local newswire,” said Darian Shirazi, Fwix’s 22-year-old founder.

When you consider the flow of information on a site like Twitter, it’s not hard to imagine social media being harnessed to generate localized real-time news.

The biggest challenges are filtering posts to find the real news and getting people’s attention.

“If it could be like The A.P. and be widely distributed,” notes social media researcher Peter Krasilovsky, “that could be fantastic.”

Do you think “social news” syndication, powered by individuals with mobile devices, are ready to replace traditional news syndicates?

The TV industry has as little as two years to get their online act together.

Otherwise, it’s going to face face an “iTunes moment” and cede its online future to Apple, according to Microsoft’s Ashley Highfield.

“The industry has about two to three years to adapt or face its iTunes moment,” said Highfield, the managing director of consumer and online at Microsoft UK, at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. “And it will take at least that long for media brands to build credible, truly digital brands.”

“The traditional television business has to aggressively move its content online, build a critical mass of content that the traditional buyers of airtime will understand and buy into,” he added. “They want to see TV-like reach and impact.”

Do you think Internet media is going to do as much damage to television as it’s done to radio and print media?

With the launch of the Zune HD coming up September 15th, podcasters may be thinking about revisiting the Zune platform.

Microsoft podcasting guru Rob Greenlee offers these tips on how to get more Zune podcast listeners:

Here are a few things that you should do as a podcast content creator to reach as many Zune podcast users as possible.

• If your podcast is already in the directory then visit the below link and search by your podcast title to get link code and Zune icon to add a deep-link to your podcasts page in the Zune Marketplace software and to the podcasts page on our official Zune.net website at  – Click here to get the link code
• If your podcast feed is not already in our catalog, then you can submit it to us on our web-based Zune podcast directory at http://www.zunepodcasts.com, it is a link that says “Submit a Podcast”.  You could also create a “1-Click Zune Podcast Subscription” link for your podcast feed URL by following these directions – Click here

Got other ideas on how to get more Zune podcast subscribers? Leave a comment below!

Google has announced plans to AdSense-up one-off viral video hits on YouTube:

Today we’re excited to announce that we’re extending the YouTube Partnership Program to include individual popular videos on our site. Now, when you upload a video to YouTube that accumulates lots of views, we may invite you to monetize that video and start earning revenue from it (see “Enable Revenue Sharing” in the screen capture).

To determine whether a particular video is eligible for monetization, we look at factors like the number of views, the video’s virality and compliance with the YouTube Terms of Service. If your video is eligible for monetization, you will receive an email and see an “Enable Revenue Sharing” message next to your video on the watch page, as well as in other places in your account:

Once you’ve chosen to enable revenue sharing, YouTube will sell advertising against your video and pay you a revenue share into your Google AdSense account each month.

Is Google Giving Up On Monetizing The Long Tail Of User-Generated Content?

Trying to make money from the wild west of user-generated video has been one of YouTube’s biggest challenges.

Google is moving its focus from monetizing all user-generated video to monetizing the tiny fraction of videos that actually generate a lot of views. This is good news for the rare Jill & Kevin (JK Wedding Entrance Dance), but suggests that Google is finding it impossible to monetize most user-generated YouTube content.

Podcasting novelist, New York Times best-selling author and “failed pimp” Scott Sigler has announced the formation of Dark Overlord Media, a publishing house created to produce books and other properties for established online personalities.

“Entertainers are using the internet to establish their own audiences,” Sigler said. “You no longer need a big publisher or a network marketing machine to generate a fan base. Dark Overlord Media wants to help those entertainers and journalists create tangible products that will make their audiences happy, then facilitate selling directly to those audiences.”

Dark Overlord Media’s first publication is the hardcover release of The Rookie, a far-future football novel written by Sigler. He gave the story away as a free podcast in 2007, then sold a young adult version iPhone App in early 2009.

Sigler’s established online audience allowed him to put The Rookie up for pre-sale on April 24, 2009, and immediately sell 1,000 copies.

“Within three hours, we had capital for layout, design, printing and shipping,” Sigler said. “The pre-sale made the book instantly profitable. That’s turns the traditional publishing model on its head.”

Sigler plans a Rookie Tailgate Tour to support the book, visiting 20 cities in 24 days.