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RadioPublic
RadioPublic offers free tools to help podcasters grow, like podsites and listener tipping tools.
Listening apps
RadioPublic offers free tools to help podcasters grow, like podsites and listener tipping tools.
Listening apps
Stories
February 1, 2024:
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RadioPublic is to close at the end of March. The public benefit corporation launched in 2016, asking podcasters to support an investment round in 2018. It offered podcast websites and had a listening app. After it was bought by Acast in Feb 2021, our news archives show the disappointing story of what happened next. OP3 reports it currently has a 0.003% share of podcast downloads.
December 7, 2022:
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RadioPublic Pro is to discontinue. For $12/month, the product offered enhanced podcast websites, an enhanced embedded player, and a tipping service. The free service RadioPublic Basic will continue; the company has been owned by Acast since Feb 2021.
June 24, 2022:
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In an email, RadioPublic says it is updating its privacy policy to accurately note that the service is now owned by Acast. On Mar 11, it quietly restored its earlier privacy policy after we reported that it had been entirely deleted; on June 14 the company amended RadioPublic's website after we reported it was misleadingly claiming that it still had Public Benefit Corporation status. RadioPublic has sent unsolicited commercial email on behalf of Acast, emails now fixed after we reported some were non-compliant. RadioPublic's original policy stated that it would notify users beforehand if the company was merged or taken-over by another: but this promise was not kept.
June 14, 2022:
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Acast has been misleadingly claiming that one of its companies has Public Benefit Corporation status: that means legally-defined goals for positive impact on society, workers, the community and the environment. The website for RadioPublic, a company Acast bought in February 2021, includes a seal claiming it's a "public benefit corporation", while its privacy policy starts with a similar claim. Yet, RadioPublic PBC ceased to exist on Dec 31 2021 when its registration was revoked after failing to file; and RadioPublic's new owner, Acast, has no such legal status. Acast used the RadioPublic user database in February this year to send unsolicited commercial emails.
March 11, 2022:
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RadioPublic, which was also sending out Acast promotional spam, has had its privacy page quietly restored again, after we reported it was missing. However, it dates from 2016, is authored by Jake Shapiro (who left RadioPublic to join Apple two years ago), and claims "If we merge with another company such that your information will become subject to a different privacy policy, we’ll notify you before the transfer. You can opt out of the new policy by deleting your account during the notice period". The last email from RadioPublic to its users was a full year before Acast bought RadioPublic's assets a year ago; we've asked Acast for details about how the promised notification happened.
March 4, 2022:
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Acast is to hold a number of events for International Womens Day. It is also to close its podcast app, claiming that the app does not "support the company's vision of a completely open podcast ecosystem". The company also admits that few people used it, saying: "the shutdown of the app will not have any noticeable effect on Acast's revenue or the number of listens." They'll continue operating the RadioPublic app, however, which - on iOS - last got an update in September 2019.
February 28, 2022:
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Disappointingly, Acast is now using user data acquired when it bought RadioPublic to spam podcasters to get them to switch to its hosting platform. There isn't a way to close your account with RadioPublic (which the GDPR requires), and tellingly, RadioPublic's privacy policy doesn't exist.
November 24, 2021:
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The Verge reports that RadioPublic, which was purchased by Acast in February, is broken for many users, and has been for months. We reported in early October that it wasn't updating some shows.
October 11, 2021:
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The expiration of an old root certificate for Let's Encrypt continues to cause problems with some podcast platforms. NPR, RadioPublic and TuneIn are no longer updating any RSS feeds from Anchor or Feedpress, and others secured with Let's Encrypt. NPR, RadioPublic and TuneIn need to fix their servers to remove the old Let's Encrypt root cert: this fix helped us last week when we had a similar issue.
October 4, 2021:
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RadioPublic, the Podbean app, and TuneIn are among those that have not updated any shows hosted on Anchor since Sep 30. We suspect this is related to the expiration of an old root certificate for Let's Encrypt. Podnews's webserver also failed to connect to Anchor RSS feeds from Oct 1 (or our own internal tools which also use Let's Encrypt); we had to patch our server. The fix is for RadioPublic, Podbean and TuneIn to implement, not Anchor.
February 19, 2021:
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First look: Acast has bought RadioPublic, acquiring tools and services for podcasters everywhere. The acquisition also sees RadioPublic co-founders Chris Quamme Rhoden (CTO) and Matt MacDonald (Chief Product Officer) join the Acast team. Jake Shapiro left in September to join Apple.
November 18, 2020:
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Podfund, an investment fund for podcasting creators formerly run by RadioPublic, is now to be managed by an investment firm, TechNexus.
September 16, 2020:
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RadioPublic's Jake Shapiro joins Apple Podcasts as Head of Creator Partnerships, in a significant hire for the company. Shapiro co-founded PRX in 2002. New leadership for both RadioPublic and Podfund will be "announced shortly".
August 31, 2020:
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The next version of Overcast, the world's third biggest podcast app, will remove one way for podcasters to earn revenue, and highlight another as a concern. A new "privacy screen" in the app's latest beta release adds a brightly-coloured warning alert for any podcast that may earn revenue from dynamic advertising and geolocation. And for smaller podcasters, the "donate" button, launched in August 2018 by the app's developer, Marco Arment, will be removed "because nobody used it and it’s not worth today’s app-review risk", he writes - referring to Apple's notoriously strict app approval process. The donate button is also in apps from Breaker, RadioPublic, PodcastAddict, Castro, and our own podcast pages. (From Sounds Profitable, here's more about how geolocation works in podcasting).
March 23, 2020:
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Developers: The open list of podcast useragents on Github now has The Economist's podcast app, Podimo's user-agent details, and RadioPublic's new user-agent. Visible here, it's used in production by a number of podcast hosts.
January 16, 2020:
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Filter Stories, a coffee documentary podcast, is being promoted by RadioPublic today: their website was the first PodSite from the company. (Soundcloud)
January 8, 2020:
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We don't use the censored titles in Podnews, so you can compare this Anchor podcast on Apple with our naughtier listing of it; or this Podbean title on Apple with our listing. In both cases, the artwork contains the potty-mouthed word, though. The naughty words are not censored in Castbox, Overcast, Luminary, Podchaser, RadioPublic and Spotify; and this one isn't censored in Google Podcasts either.
December 11, 2019:
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RadioPublic is launching RadioPublic PRO today. It's a new embeddable podcast player with subscribe buttons and email capture built-in. It works with any podcast host. (The page we're linking to contains a money off code, too). The company has also added new features to its Podsites website platform.
December 3, 2019:
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RadioPublic has ended their paid listens program. Launched in Feb 2018, the product offered $20 CPM for listens on the RadioPublic app. By Feb 2019 the company announced it had paid out "thousands of dollars" to podcasters. The company plans to focus on podcaster tools.
September 18, 2019:
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If you missed out on our early-access code for Podchaser's new 'social feed', they've just given us 50 more. Use the code 'podnews' over here if you want in, and follow Podnews here. (Oh, and Podchaser ratings are now in RadioPublic too).
September 13, 2019:
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Weird Work, a podcast about people who do strange things for a living, has taken a break from interviewing international pizza consultants and obituary writers to interview Ma'ayan Plaut, the podcast librarian from RadioPublic. (Hubspot / Libsyn)
August 14, 2019:
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RadioPublic have added "tipping on the web", a new tool for users of their Podsite podcast website product. RadioPublic don't take a cut of your donations.
August 12, 2019:
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RadioPublic has unveiled a proposal for a new technical protocol called PodPass. The "simple protocol" could enable, for example, access to subscription podcasts, or bonus content, in your favourite podcast app. (So perhaps you'd subscribe to Fiasco, a premium podcast on Luminary, be a supporter of Alba Salix Royal Physician and get bonus content, and also get a podcast as part of your subscription to the Economist ... but get all this content in Pocket Casts.)
July 30, 2019:
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RadioPublic's Podsite product, which gives any podcast a website, has received a number of updates.
July 26, 2019:
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In Portuguese, Agencia de Podcast posts What data is relevant in a podcast?. Other hints and tips (in English) include: the importance of getting your feature episode right (RadioPublic); Apple Podcast Provider Pages are a built-in cross-promo opportunity (Pacific Content); and how to find podcast sound effects (ThePodcastHost).
July 19, 2019:
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RadioPublic interview Kate Krosschell about Lantigua Williams & Co's 70 Million, and learns about the benefit of transcripts.
July 12, 2019:
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Podcast hosting company Spreaker has made significant improvements to its web player, including customisation. Meanwhile Robert Kingett, a blind podcast listener, has noticed that RadioPublic's embedded player has been made more accessible.
June 20, 2019:
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RadioPublic are working to expand Latin American podcasting, partnering with a podcast platform in Chile, Súbela Radio.
May 29, 2019:
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Advice: how to create and maintain a newsletter for your podcast (Ma'ayan Plaut, RadioPublic)
May 8, 2019:
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The industry’s "first dedicated source of funding for podcasters" has been announced. "Podfund is founded in partnership with and operated by RadioPublic, but it is also an independent company at the start of its own contribution to the field." Podfund has achieved a $2.3m funding round. Applications are now open.
April 12, 2019:
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A Boston TV station has featured RadioPublic in a segment called How to gain podcast listeners in any niche.
April 4, 2019:
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Podchaser has announced 21 data partnerships of podcast websites and apps using Podchaser creator data. Services include RadioPublic, Player FM, and Podnews. "Podnews links to Podchaser from our podcast pages whenever we mention a podcast in our free daily newsletter," says our Editor, James Cridland.
March 26, 2019:
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Pinstripes and Bright Lights launches today: hosted by veteran broadcaster and voice of the New York Yankees, John Sterling. In each episode John reads a heartfelt letter from a fan and then shares sports stories he's collected over the course of his career. Of note: the website is one of those RadioPublic PodSites websites, which we noted in Feb.
March 12, 2019:
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RadioPublic have highlighted their recent new features in a blog post, including PodSites, a website generator for podcasters; a marketing attribution service called Sonar, and a new thing: HearMarks, a way of keeping (and sharing) parts of a podcast you're listening to.
February 25, 2019:
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NPR's RAD podcast analytics specification was launched on 12 December; but our RAD tracking server remains unbothered by any actual listens to track. This might soon change: NPR drops heavy hints to Current that Apple are quite keen on it; and RadioPublic are the first non-NPR app to publicly commit to integrating the tracking "as an opt-in feature that listeners can enable or decline for each podcast".
February 15, 2019:
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Alan Tépper has looked into RadioPublic's new Podsites product, and says it's a good automated option for some.
February 14, 2019:
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RadioPublic's Paid Listens program has now been around for a whole year. The company has posted a review of the first twelve months. They say they've paid out "thousands of dollars" to podcasters.
January 24, 2019:
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How can you get funding to do your podcast? Juleyka Lantigua Williams spoke at the Werk It conference about how to find grants to support your work, and how to apply for them.
December 19, 2018:
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Podcasting is media's slow food movement, says RadioPublic's Jake Shapiro in a prediction piece for 2019.
December 12, 2018:
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Podtrac has announced support for RAD, and their own RAD beta is open for signup. Other companies who've said they'll support it are Acast, AdsWizz, ART19, Awesound, Blubrry Podcasting, Panoply, Omny Studio, Podtrac, PRX, RadioPublic, Triton Digital, and WideOrbit.
December 5, 2018:
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RadioPublic's "Paid Listens" feature is paying out at double rates in December. The loyal listener bonus is now at US$2 per listener who hears more than three episodes.
October 12, 2018:
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Podcasts hosted by Latinas (RadioPublic)
October 8, 2018:
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RadioPublic has launched tipping. "Now, fans can tip you for any amount up to $100, right in the app, and it goes directly into your bank account."
September 24, 2018:
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RadioPublic is reminding podcasters to claim their podcast on the RadioPublic platform.
September 11, 2018:
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Your guests are an opportunity for your podcast's growth, say RadioPublic, in a two part series.
August 22, 2018:
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Wordpress are the latest investor in RadioPublic, through Wordpress's parent company, Automattic.
August 20, 2018:
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Following announcements last week from Overcast and Anchor about donate links - RadioPublic is also supporting calls to action.
August 17, 2018:
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Anchor's Listener Support (Aug 10) is now natively supported in podcast apps, the company has just announced. "Support on Anchor" buttons are now visible in versions of Breaker and RadioPublic, with support from Castro and Podcast Addict promised shortly. Podnews also already supports Anchor's Listener Support links - here's an example. Anchor is also marking up these links using the
rel="payment" pattern so they'll be visible in a future release of Overcast.
July 11, 2018:
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RadioPublic has launched Android Auto support. The company's equity crowdfunding campaign that we reported June 22 is currently 307% funded.
June 22, 2018:
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RadioPublic is running an equity crowdfunding campaign. The pitch contains some good data about RadioPublic use. In an email to Podnews, CEO Jake Shapiro says this is "something I've been looking for a long while and super excited about. Ever since our first Kickstarter in 2014 for Radiotopia I've wanted to find new ways to channel that democratized marketing/engagement/community energy into each level up in our enterprise."
June 8, 2018:
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Spreaker launch embeddable players for Medium, Patreon and more platforms. If you don't host with Spreaker, a similar service is available with RadioPublic for any podcast.
May 21, 2018:
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RadioPublic launch "stations" in their iOS app - a hand-selected service designed to surface more new podcasts for people. Android users? Nah, not yet.
April 26, 2018:
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Listicle: Podcasts about masculinity (RadioPublic)
March 26, 2018:
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In New York, RAIN's Podcast Business Summit managed to survive a "blizzarding storm" and enjoyed a packed schedule of over 320 attendees and 22 speakers. RAIN covered the event with a full writeup, and RadioPublic's Ma'ayan Plaut did a fun job with a set of sketchnotes.
February 27, 2018:
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RadioPublic has a new investor: Bose.
February 21, 2018:
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A piece from a Boston MA, USA innovation blog about RadioPublic, and how they are "helping define the future of podcasting". They're also covered in the latest episode of Early Stage. The company has also added a payment calculator to work out how much you could earn from their Paid Listens program.
February 13, 2018:
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VOX Media is to launch a new daily podcast called Today, Explained. Hosted by Sean Rameswaram, there's a trailer up now with a song. It starts February 19th and is aimed at your afternoon commute.
February 12, 2018:
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UK digital radio station Fun Kids launches Story Quest, story podcasts for kids aged 7+. They're starting with Bryony Brownwell's Mystery Project. On iTunes etc.
February 7, 2018:
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RadioPublic have launched something called "paid listens": they're paying a guaranteed US$20 CPM rate to put ads at the top and end of your podcast, as long as your listeners use the RadioPublic app. The program is open to all podcasters with no minimum traffic requirement. (Here's a Reddit Q&A, and the terms).
February 6, 2018:
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Launching a podcast soon, or a new season of an existing one? Let RadioPublic know so they can tell people.
February 5, 2018:
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This Week In Bitcoin is a new, ten-to-fifteen minute summary of news about the cryptocurrency. Hosted by a Brit in Columbia, on Libsyn.
February 1, 2018:
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Macaulay Culkin has a podcast called Bunny Ears; and he went onto Reddit to do an AMA about it.
January 30, 2018:
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RadioPublic has a new version out for iOS, with a strangely fishy set of release notes.
January 29, 2018:
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The Earshot podcast highlights A Million Ads, technology that makes personalised ads for every different person who listens. It's very clever.
January 25, 2018:
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Midroll announce four new big-name podcasts - Rise and Grind with Daymond John, interviews with people who share their secrets of success; Big Questions with Cal Fussman, Akimbo: A Podcast from Seth Godin, and Breached, the story about the Yahoo hack.
January 24, 2018:
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CNBC Africa covers the launch of a new technology podcast in Kenya. The podcast is called 24Bit and has five hosts, all technology bloggers.
January 23, 2018:
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Talking of the BBC, they have a new programme - broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra and available as a podcast - called Podcast Radio Hour. Presented by Amanda Litherland, "presenters recommend their favourite podcasts, and speak to the people that make them". Episode 1: Deborah Frances-White.
January 22, 2018:
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Helen Zaltzman, who produces The Allusionist and Answer Me This, is interviewed in Discoverpods - some good thoughts about the state of podcasting and representation.
January 18, 2018:
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How to celebrate ten-years of podcasting episodes? For Too Beautiful To Live, the answer is a 24-hour live-streamed podcast episode from a party bus, driving all round Washington state, USA.
December 18, 2017:
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A nice idea for the holidays from RadioPublic: a 'podcard' for you to send podcast suggestions to family members.
December 13, 2017:
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RadioPublic post "17 podcasts that started in 2017 that I can't imagine a world without". The first one? A Piece of Work, a podcast about modern art.
November 30, 2017:
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Podcast app and service RadioPublic announces a new group of investors and advisors, led by Boston MA, US broadcaster WGBH. The seed round is USD$1.2m, and Bostinno covers the likely reasons for the investment: fundraising opportunities and to be closer to the podcasting industry. (As subscribers, congratulations RadioPublic!
October 23, 2017:
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Spreaker updates their embedded player, including a new white-label feature. (If you're not with Spreaker, RadioPublic offers a free, embedded player for you, too.)
October 3, 2017:
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In case you missed it: RadioPublic asks Want to grow your podcast audience?
August 18, 2017:
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Testing RadioPublic's new embed code - this podcast, just four minutes long, looks at the trick one of the UK's best-known radio presenters employs to get closer to his audience.
August 17, 2017:
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You can now embed any podcast into Wordpress, thanks to some work with RadioPublic. It's a quick and simple way to embed any podcast - you can either embed a specific episode, or you can also embed the podcast itself (which'll embed the latest show). Earlier this year, RadioPublic released oEmbed code for websites like Medium, too. It's nicely done with some nifty features.