Podcasts on the iPhone are great but giving them the same controls that command 4-minute long songs didn’t seem feasible for multi-hour audio files. Answering our gripes, Apple has implemented easier navigation through Podcasts in Firmware 3.0.

From left to right in the pop up iPod controls, an email link allowing you to direct a friend to that Podcast’s page on the iTunes Store. Replacing the Genius button (because that worked so well) is a button allowing you to skip back in 30 second intervals. Dominating the far right is a speed up feature which does just that, it speeds up the rate of your Podcast so you can digest more information in a shorter amount of time, if your ears are up for it. In addition, you can adjust the scrubbing rate to better suit your taste.

A screenshot of the new controls

Via: The iPhone Blog