Author: Shawn Thorpe

Patreon issues Security Notice

~ Shawn Thorpe

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 Thorpe

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.

Cleanfeed is a Broadcast-Quality alternative to Skype

~ Shawn Thorpe

Cleanfeed logoRecording remote interviews can be a real challenge for podcasters. Tools have been around for years to help with the process. But sometimes those tools are unreliable or unpredictable in terms of performance. A lot of services have moved into this field recently, to try and make the process of recording VoIP easier. The latest entrant is Cleanfeed, a service that carries the tagline, “Broadcast-quality audio links are now available to everyone.”

Cleanfeed describes itself as:

…an easy-to-use live audio link in your Chrome browser. Only one party needs an account and there are no confusing costs; just share a link. A higher quality alternative to on-air phonecalls, Skype and expensive ISDN.

Cleanfeed is free to use, even for commercial broadcasters. (The Cleanfeed site does suggest that large media organizers contact the service for a “bespoke license.”) Cleafeed claims it’s a good tool for  podcasters, professional broadcasters, voice artists, community radio stations, and other audio producers.

Is Cleanfeed the VoIP solution podcasters have been waiting for? Its relative ease of use will definitely be attractive, especially for podcasters who need to connect with remote parties that aren’t very tech savvy. Have you used Cleanfeed? Let us know in the comment section below!

PodClear acquired by Blab

~ Shawn Thorpe

Blab logoPodClear, a startup service devoted to recording multi-end VoIP calls, announced today that it has been acquired by another startup, video conferencing service Blab. From the PodClear website:

The PodClear team will officially be joining forces with the incredible Blab.im team to create the coolest content creation and consumption platform on the web.

Blab is an interactive social media platform and a dream come true for those who are already in the audio and video content creation space. By joining Blab, we can continue to work on making a huge impact in content creation and broadcasting community on a much larger scale.

PodClear has been in operation since December of 2014. Blab has been around for a bit longer. So, this acquisition was somewhat of a surprise. Blab’s popularity among podcasters has grown rapidly in recent months due to its ease of use and robust video streaming.

A small FAQ on the PodClear website states that PodClear will stay in operation until October 9th. It’s unclear after that what will become of the service or how it might integrate with Blab. The FAQ also states that all user credit cards have been removed from PodClear’s servers and current customers will be able to continue to use the service until it closes.

SpeakPipe Voice Recorder now uses HTML5

~ Shawn Thorpe

SpeakPipe logoSpeakPipe, a popular voice recording tool used by many podcasters, was recently updated to use HTML5 instead of Flash. This should make SpeakPipe compatible with the widest range of web browsers, especially those running on mobile devices. An e-mail from its developer outlined these changes in the newest version of SpeakPipe:

HTML5 version of the widget: The widget now uses browser capabilities to record audio from a microphone. The main benefit is that it doesn’t require to use the Flash player anymore. The latest versions of Chrome and Firefox support this feature. For browsers that don’t support HTML5 audio recording yet (like Safari and Internet Explorer), SpeakPipe still uses the Flash player. Unfortunately, iOS devices still don’t support audio recording in a browser, so SpeakPipe still needs to use the native app on this platform. The good news is that the latest Android versions support HTML5 audio recording, so SpeakPipe works on Android in the latest versions of Chrome or Firefox without requiring any additional apps.
The widget checks for issues with recording: If there are any issues with the audio during recording (e.g., high or low recording volume, muted microphone or background noise), the widget shows a warning message and asks the user to check the recording and re-record if necessary.

It handles upload errors and allows users to retry the upload
If a user experiences problems with their Internet connection when uploading audio, the widget shows a warning message and allows them to retry the upload.
Enhanced performance: Now users don’t have to wait for audio processing after recording messages. They can listen to or upload the message immediately after clicking the Stop button.

If you use the SpeakPipe WordPress plugin, you can update to the latest version of the software thru your WordPress dashboard. Everyone else using the service can find details on how to get the latest version at the SpeakPipe installation guide.

International Podcast Day returns September 30th

~ Shawn Thorpe

National Podcast Day badgeOn Wednesday, September 30th, International Podcast Day returns for its second year. Podcast Day was founded by veteran podcasters Steve Lee and Dave Lee. Here’s the idea, as it’s explained on the Podcast Day website:

There is National IPA Day, National Waffle Fries Day, National Pancake Day, and National pretty-much-anything-you-want Day. In the summer of 2013, Steve Lee (founder of Modern Life Network) heard a radio announcement for National Senior Citizens’ Day. Thinking that was pretty cool, it begged the question of why wasn’t there a day of celebration for podcasting. That’s when Steve said to himself ‘Let’s create a Podcast Day!’ So the adventure began and a collective team of podcasters put their heads together to establish methods for podcasters and podcast listeners to raise awareness for this great entertainment and education medium.

A long list of events is planned for Podcast Day. These events will happen all over the world, so the event calendar may technically start on September 29th, depending on your location. These events will cover a wide range of topics and many of them will be streamed thru Blab.

The Podcast Day website has a collection of graphics you can use on your own site and/or social media accounts to help promote the event. So, get out there and get involved with Podcast Day 2015!

Podcasts App Crashing after iOS 9 Update

~ Shawn Thorpe ~ 12 Comments

podcastsThis week, Apple unleashed iOS 9, the latest version of the operating system that runs all of the company’s iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches, onto the general public. After applying the latest iOS update and rebooting their devices, many users came to find that Podcasts, Apple’s proprietary podcast app for iOS, was no longer working.

A thread started by user jplang56 on the Apple Support Communities forum about this problem has racked up 58 replies so far. Most of the responses are from other iOS users expressing their own frustrations with the now-broken Podcasts app.

I’ve tried the app on my iPhone 6 Plus as well as my iPad Mini Retina and it worked fine for me on both devices. But I don’t use Podcasts as my main podcast consumption app, so I don’t have very large podcast libraries inside the Podcasts app. Being subscribed to a lot of different shows may be a factor in this issue, as many users are reporting that they’re receiving an “Updating Library” message just before the app shuts down.

No one from Apple has yet to chime in on this problem. If you’ve been affected, try some of the solutions users have posted in the support thread linked above. Presumably, Apple will address this issue with the next iOS update.

If you’re looking for an alternative to the Podcasts app, I highly recommend Downcast. I’ve used it for a couple years on iOS and my iMac and it’s been a good experience so far. Downcast has also survived the transition to iOS 9 with no known issues.

Court Ruling Favors Fair Use in Takedown Claim

~ Shawn Thorpe

EFF LogoFor years, podcasters have mostly slipped under the radar of major media companies. But with the recent rise in awareness of podcasting, this is starting to change. It seems that, more and more, I’m seeing reports of podcasters whose episodes are being removed from the Internet in response to DMCA takedown requests, usually because a rights holder believes those podcast episodes are infringing on their copyrighted material.

Of course, not every DMCA takedown request is valid. But due to the lack of a robust appeals process in DMCA law, content producers who’ve fallen victim to a bad claim have little recourse to overturn the takedown. But a recent court ruling may give a small edge to content creators who believe their work is protected under Fair Use law.

Earlier this week, a tribunal of judges made a ruling in a case that’s been working its way thru the courts since 2007. In this case, Universal Music Group issued a copyright takedown claim on a YouTube video featuring a baby dancing to a Prince song. The Electronic Frontier Foundation took up the case and in turn sued Universal, saying that the media company’s takedown practice actually violated the rules of the DMCA.

In its final opinion, the court decided that Universal hadn’t properly considered the rules of Fair Use law before issuing the takedown request. In the ruling, the judges stated that copyright owners will need to consider Fair Use before they send a takedown request. A new trial will now go forward to determine if Universal knowingly misrepresented its “good faith” belief that the YouTube video was infringing its copyright.

Overall, this ruling probably doesn’t seem like a huge victory for content creators. It’s certainly not going to change the way takedown requests are handled in the short term. But anything that can be done to strengthen the appeals process for those who receive these takedown notices is a good thing.

Audio Hackathon 2015 is Coming

~ Shawn Thorpe

This American Life LogoThe term “hackathon” is fairly self-explantory. Take a bunch of like-minded people, put them together in the same place over the course of a day or two, and see what they create. Hackathons are nothing new in the software development world. And now, the producers of This American Life are bringing the concept to podcasting with their first-ever Audio Hackathon. From the Hackathon website:

Quality content deserves quality technology. Captivating stories deserve an incredible listening experience. Better tech could make it easier to access, share and discover great stories and great moments within stories. We want your help brainstorming and implementing new and exciting ways to hear the world.

We are inviting developers, coders, designers, producers, sound designers…anyone who has skills and ideas to offer to join us. We will group you into teams, and after introductory talks by audio professionals, you will participate in a two day hackathon. Afterward, teams will present their creations to our speakers and to employees from our partners, who will evaluate and critique their work.

The event will host some notable speakers:

  • Ira Glass of This American Life
  • Alex Blumberg of Serial
  • Daniel Alarcón of Radio Ambulante
  • Dana Chivvis of Serial
  • Sean Rameswaram of Studio 360
  • Anne Wootton of Pop Up Archive
  • Andrew Kuklewicz of PRX
  • Kristin Calhoun of PMP
  • Stephanie Foo of This American Life

Audio Hackathon will take place in New York on September 19th and 20th. The Hackathon website doesn’t state whether or not the event is open to the general public.

Huffington Post Needs an Audio Editor

~ Shawn Thorpe

Huffington Post LogoIf you’ve got the right qualifications, it’s a good time to be in the podcasting industry. With each passing week, more and more podcasting jobs are hitting the classifieds. And it’s not just startups looking for podcasting-savvy talent. Earlier this month, digital media juggernaut Huffington Post put up a listing on its website for an Associate Audio Editor. The position is available at Huffington Post’s New York office and it is a full-time job:

We are looking for someone with audio editing chops and editorial sensibilities. The Associate Audio Editor will be in charge of taking HuffPost Podcast episodes from tape to polished shows. Reporting to the Senior Producer and working closely with the SP, Audio Engineer and Hosts, the Associate Editor will be in charge of assisting with recordings and field recordings; editing episodes and feature stories; helping to steer episode development and execution; and overseeing research. The Associate Editor will help hone our existing shows, and shape the future of our young program.

The Associate Audio Editor will participate in editorial planning, edit interviews and create rough cuts, second cuts and final cuts, perform production tasks including writing, editing, reporting, booking and arranging, work on other special projects and administrative tasks as needed, and more.

To get further information on this job and apply, head over to the Huffington Post website.