Month: October 2015

Overcast 2.0 is Free for Everyone

~ shawn

Overcast logoWhen Marco Arment released the first version of his podcast-consumption app, Overcast, it worked on a freemium model where users could pay a one-time fee of $4.99 to unlock all of the app’s features. Today, Arment announced the release of Overcast 2.0. This version will be completely free, with all features immediately available to all users.

Arment explained the reasons for this change on his website:

Overcast 1.0 locked the best features behind an in-app purchase, which about 20% of customers bought. This made enough money, but it had a huge downside:

80% of my customers were using an inferior app. The limited, locked version of Overcast without the purchase sure wasn’t the version I used, it wasn’t a great experience, and it wasn’t my best work.

With Overcast 2.0, I’ve changed that by unlocking everything, for everyone, for free. I’d rather have you using Overcast for free than not using it at all, and I want everyone to be using the good version of Overcast.

Arment is now asking Overcast users to instead sign up for a voluntary monthly subscription to help cover the costs of upkeep and development:

If you can pay, I’m trying to make up the revenue difference by offering a simple $1 monthly patronage. It’s completely optional, it doesn’t get you any additional features, and it doesn’t even auto-renew — it’s just a direct way to support Overcast’s ongoing development and hosting without having to make the app terrible for 80% of its users.

If only 5% of customers become monthly patrons, Overcast will match its previous revenue.

The Overcast developer may offer special incentives for subscribers in the future. For now, he’s seeing these voluntary subscriptions as a true “patronage model,” where users are paying for the app itself and its continued development.

Overcast is available as a free download from the App Store.

Adam Carolla to Speak at DASH Conference

~ shawn

Adam Carolla Show LogoAt first look, the DASH Conference might look like an event devoted mostly to broadcast media. But the conference has been busy adding names from the digital side of the media fence. Recently, DASH announced it would be bringing Adam Carolla, PodcastOne CEO Norm Pattiz, and iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman to its upcoming conference.

This year’s DASH Conference is billed as “DASH 3.0: Radio & The Connected Car – A Survival Guide For Broadcasters.” The list of topics is heavily geared towards the changing nature of mobile media consumption with a focus on the connected car.

Some presentations that’ll take place during the DASH Conference include:

  • Breaking Down the Technology Divide: The Drive and the Dash
  • Keynote Interview With Norm Pattiz and Adam Carolla
  • Fasten Your Seat Belts: Here Come Apple and Android
  • Digital Marketing: Its Rapid Growth and How It’s Transforming the Way We Go to Market
  • The State of American In-Car Audio
  • In the Car/On Demand

The 2015 DASH Conference will be held on November 4-5, 2015, at the Westin Hotel at Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport. Registration is currently open.

PodCon is a ‘Popup Conference’ on October 8

~ shawn

Blab logoPodCon, an online only event that describes itself as a “pop up conference for podcasters and podcast junkies” is happening in less than 24 hours. The conference will take place via Blab, the online video conferencing platform that has become very popular with podcasters.

PodCon will host a “handful” of speakers:

  • John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur On Fire
  • Veronica Belmont of Sword and Laser
  • Rob Cesternino of Rob Has a Podcast
  • Helen Zaltsman of Answer Me This!
  • Brett Terpstra of Systematic Podcast
  • Elsie Escobar of She Podcasts
  • Ray Ortega of The Podcasters Studio
  • Espree Devora of We Are L.A. Tech
  • Chris Brogan, social media maven
  • Jessica Kupferman of She Podcasts
  • Darren Rowse of Problogger

The conference starts as 12PM PDT and will consist of a series of 30-minute sessions, ending at 4PM PDT. PodCon is free to attend. If you’d like to participate, the PodCon website asks that you RSVP. You can do so by following the link at the top of this post.

General Electric has a Sci-Fi Podcast

~ jen ~ 1 Comment

The Message podcast logoGeneral Electric has created a science-fiction podcast called The Message. The first episode was released on October 4, 2015, and more episodes will follow. The podcast tells the story of Nicole Tomalin, as she tries to decode a 70-year old message from outer space. She works for an encryption think tank called Cypher, and has just started working there.

The Message podcast is science fiction. However, it is presented in a way that could easily cause people to immerse themselves in the story and suspend their disbelief for a while. The first episode begins with “I’m Nicole Tomalin, and you’re listening to Cyphercast”.

Yes, that means The Message podcast (which is from General Electric) is presented from as Cyphercast, which is the fictional podcast of the fictional main character. Reuters reports that the cryptologist characters in The Message podcast use real ultrasound technology, that has actually been developed by General Electric, to decode the messages.

Reuters reports that the reason why General Electric wanted to do this podcast was in the hopes that it would raise its profile among a younger, tech-savvy, audience. The Message podcast is being produced by General Electric and in partnership with The Slate Group’s podcast network Panoply. Each episode will be between 40 and 60 minutes long and advertisement free. It is available through The Message website, and on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Overcast, and TuneIn.

Info From Patreon Hack Posted Online

~ shawn ~ 1 Comment

Patreon LogoIt initially looked like last week’s news of Patreon being hacked was just another run-of-the-mill story about a cybersecurity breach. But it turns out there may be more to it.

Ars Technica is reporting that the information acquired by hackers has been posted online in the form of a “data dump.” The information was analyzed by a security researcher, who concluded that it appears to be authentic data from Patreon’s servers. The researcher was eventually able to restore a database from the hacked files and search it, where he found his own e-mail address, as well as the e-mail addresses of other Patreon users.

Account passwords that were extracted during the hack were protected using an encryption scheme called bcrypt. This is good news, as bcrypt requires a lot of computational power to crack. However, hackers were able to acquire some additional source code during the attack. They may be able to use that code to more easily defeat the bcrypt encryption. That’s what happened during the recent high-profile Ashley Madison hack.

Patreon hasn’t released an updated statement to its original security notice. It’s still highly recommended that users reset their passwords, as well as passwords to other accounts that might’ve used the same password.

‘Podcasts Are The Best’ Blog Takes on Reviews, Interviews

~ shawn ~ 1 Comment

Blogger LogoWhether it’s for promotional purposes or just to get some honest feedback, podcasters are always looking for reviews of their shows. Sometimes, these reviews come in the form of ratings and comments left on directories like iTunes. And sometimes, those reviews may come from trusted friends or audience members who can provide a critical perspective. In other cases, there may just be kind-hearted souls out there who really like podcasts and want to talk about them.

I’m pretty sure it’s the third category that describes the Podcasts Are The Best blog. The site was launched in February, 2015. Since then, it’s  produced over 150 posts made up of podcast reviews as well as podcaster interviews.

Podcasts Are The Best is maintained by Andrew Jacobs. There’s no “about” section on the site, and Andrew’s Google+ profile is pretty much empty. So, I can only speculate as to why Andrew decided to start the blog. Regardless, Podcasts Are The Best is very focused on independent podcasters as opposed to the latest and greatest from the usual big-media outlets.

It’s unclear as to how a podcast is considered for coverage on Podcasts Are The Best. But if you’re a podcast producer or just a fan of the medium, Podcasts Are The Best is worth checking out. You may learn something useful from one of the interviews or discover a new show to add to your podcast aggregator.

Product Hunt Launches Podcast Channel

~ shawn

Product Hunt logoProduct Hunt, a discussion-board style website similar to Digg and Reddit, recently launched a channel dedicated strictly to podcasts. Product Hunt works on an upvote/downvote system that allows users to push “products” they like to the top of each day’s product list. Thus, gaining more exposure for the stuff that’s got the most positive votes.

Product Hunt launched strictly as a tech-focused service. It eventually expanded into books and other media before adding podcasts. Product Hunt itself has an established history with podcasting, having launched its own Product Hunt Radio podcast over a year ago.

I looked at Product Hunt’s podcast channel for the first time today. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the most upvoted shows weren’t the typical selection of NPR/celebrity/comedy shows that are usually found at the top of the iTunes charts. It also looks like Product Hunt users are adding specific episodes of different podcasts to the site, as opposed to just overall podcast feeds.

But despite Product Hunt’s podcast channel not looking like the front page of iTunes, what is represented there is still fairly limited in scope. Most of the episodes added today are from either technology or business-focused podcasts. Hopefully, this’ll change over time as more users join the Product Hunt site and contribute to the podcast channel.

‘Serial’ Crossing Over to TV

~ shawn

Serial logoThere’s no question that Serial has proven to be podcasting’s first true breakout hit. The show has been referenced in numerous places far outside the confines of the podcasting space. That continual notoriety is about to pay off for Serial in a brand new way. It was announced this week that a new TV show is being produced about the podcast.

The TV series won’t be a dramatization of the story covered in Serial’s first season. It will be a documentary-style look at Serial’s upcoming second season.

The series is being produced by Christopher Miller and Phillip Lord. The duo have past credits with films like The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street. Global distribution rights for the Serial TV show have been optioned by Fox 21 Television Studios. The program will most likely air on a cable network but Fox 21 is still in the process of finding a home for the show.

The second season of the Serial podcast is currently in production. Rumors have circulated that the series will focus on the case of former military officer Bowe Bergdahl. Representatives of the show have not confirmed these rumors.

Patreon issues Security Notice

~ shawn

Patreon LogoPatreon, a popular crowdfunding platform used by many podcasters, issued a security notice earlier this week to all users. From a statement posted by Patreon CEO Jack Conte:

Yesterday I learned that there was unauthorized access to a Patreon database containing user information. Our engineering team has since blocked this access and taken immediate measures to prevent future breaches.

And:

There was unauthorized access to registered names, email addresses, posts, and some shipping addresses. Additionally, some billing addresses that were added prior to 2014 were also accessed. We do not store full credit card numbers on our servers and no credit card numbers were compromised. Although accessed, all passwords, social security numbers and tax form information remain safely encrypted with a 2048-bit RSA key.

The statement goes on to say that no action is required in response to this issue. But Patreon is recommending as a precaution that users reset their account passwords. For full details on the nature of the security breach as well as what Patreon did to correct the problem, click the link at the top of this blog post.

 

SoundCloud Making Changes to e-Mail Handling

~ shawn

SoundCloud LogoEarlier this week, SoundCloud sent a mass e-mail to users about an upcoming update to its e-mail handling procedure. Previously, SoundCloud only sent certain account notifications to an account’s primary e-mail address. Once this change goes into effect, those notifications will also go to secondary e-mail addresses. From the e-mail:

Beginning October 20, 2015, all notifications surrounding your account’s security will be sent to all email addresses associated with your account. These notifications include password recovery emails, notifications related to email changes and confirmation of account deletion requests.
Currently, these notifications are sent only to the primary email address associated with your account. At SoundCloud, we take security very seriously—we are making this change to make sure that you will always be notified when important or unauthorized changes have been made on your account. To ensure that you can always get back into your account, you can then use any of your connected email addresses to sign in.

The notifications that will be sent to all e-mail addresses include:

  • Password recovery messages
  • Notifications related to e-mail changes
  • e-Mail addresses added to your account
  • e-Mail addresses removed from your account
  • Confirmation of account deletion requests

By default, SoundCloud sends all notification to an account’s primary e-mail address. Those notifications could include the ones listed above. But it’d also contain less critical correspondence, such as newsletters, etc. I’m guessing SoundCloud extended these more important notifications to secondary addresses because a lot of people tend to ignore most of the e-mails they get from the services they use. Sending these more-important notifications to all of an account’s e-mail addresses should help to ensure the security of all SoundCloud accounts.