Apple Podcasts brings back the 'refresh' button

• Apple Podcasts has brought back the 'refresh feed’ button. While Apple seem confident that new episodes, and other changes in your podcast feed are now seen within 'a few hours’ - an update to this page - they’ve also restored the ability to refresh a feed faster within Apple Podcasts Connect. The feature was removed earlier this year.

  • On Friday, the Apple Podcasts Connect system was checking Podnews’s RSS feed every eight minutes.

• “Did the feed change yet? Did the feed change yet?” What’s the alternative to refresh buttons and repeated checks for updates? Podping - decentralised push notifications for podcasting, means that new episodes can appear in podcast apps within just 45 seconds. Part of Podcasting 2.0, Podping has been running for the past six months for more than 200,000 podcasts and claims to fix a lot of practical issues with WebSub, a similar service. Dave Jones writes about Podping, and how podcast hosting companies can support it with one line of code.

  • Google Podcasts uses WebSub; but users of Podping can also get automatic backwards-compatibility with WebSub, thanks to John Spurlock.

• The pre-installed podcast player Samsung Free, on all Samsung Galaxy smartphones, is to be launched in Europe. Acast is a launch partner.

• PodFest China was held recently, and we’ve a full report, and pictures from the day in Shanghai. It was announced that NPR’s Podcast Start Up Guide will be published in a Chinese version, and podcast host and app Ximalaya revealed that it hosts 23,300 podcasts, with more than 5,000 added so far this year.

• Magellan AI has announced a free way to get podcasts in front of ad buyers with Magellan AI Verified Downloads, so that shows are searchable by Magellan AI’s clients. You can add your show now.

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• PodLP, a podcast app for the KaiOS operating system, has released v2.1 with a sleep timer and rewritten download system.

• Trinity Audio has launched what it calls “the first ever full native audio advertising experience”. “Readers no longer have the luxury of sitting and reading a full article,” the company says: it’s an artificial voice that reads articles and advertisements.

Moves and hires - with Pod People

• Palak Forbes has been hired as Senior Vice President, Digital Business Operations at Audacy. She was with the New York Times.

This link is no longer available, as at Sep 8 2023
• Molly Wood is to leave APM’s Marketplace Tech. She’s to become an investor and podcaster at LAUNCH with Jason Calcanis. From 2005-2012, she was a host of Buzz Out Loud, CNET’s podcast of indeterminate length.

Sep 8 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

Tips and tricks

• Resonate Recordings give 18 tips to be a great podcast host. Preparation is a good thing, they say.

Podcast News - with AdLarge Media

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Black Box is a new sci-fi fiction podcast that launches today, with a powerhouse cast including Joe McHale and Kelsey Grammer. Produced by REVERB, we’re told the podcast “brings high-octane storytelling and blockbuster energy to the audio space.”

Apple Podcasts is promoting The Stoop from Radiotopia as their spotlight show this month. The podcast brings race, identity, journalism, and creativity together in one place.