Wow! IBM and podcasting. Those are not really two words that you would expect to hear in the same sentence. Still, it is happening right before our eyes.

Big Blue is getting hip. Just a few months after adopting a corporate blogging policy, IBM (Profile, Products, Articles) is latching onto another hot tech trend, podcasting. On Friday the company posted the first podcast in a new series aimed at sharing its researchers’ views about the evolution of technology in various fields.

Podcasts are audio files (IBM will use the popular MP3 format) that can be downloaded automatically by programs such as Apple’s iTunes or the open source iPodder. Users subscribe to their preferred podcasts, then listen to the programs on portable music players such as iPods, or through audio software on their PCs.

A format that initially caught on for “broadcasting” music programs has been rapidly adapted for other uses. IBM hopes its podcasts, available on the investor relations section of its Web site, will help investors see beyond financial figures to better understand the company’s broad research interests and expertise. [Read the rest]