RSS.com launches free transcripts for all customers

• Podcast host RSS.​com is the first podcast host to have released fully free automatic transcripts for all its customers. The transcripts appear on episode pages on the RSS website, and should also appear within supporting podcast apps (like Podverse, Podbean or PodcastAddict). Users can choose different qualities, depending how fast they want the transcripts adding, and can also edit them before publication. The tool was built in-house and has been under development for a year; initially transcripts are available in English, Spanish, Arabic, Catalan, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese and Turkish.

• At Podcast Movement this week, CoHost will unveil B2B Analytics, a feature designed to help B2B brands and agencies uncover which companies are listening to their podcast.

• Specialist audio agency Red Apple Creative, and audio post production house SNK Studios, have rebranded to Forever Audio.

• Hindenburg Pro 2 beta has added Mandarin, Swedish, Norwegian and Italian to its supported transcript languages.

• AdLarge has signed PANTS with Kate and Leisha to its network. It was with Acast.

• Hmm: Spreaker’s “free professional hosting”, promised in a press release that Podnews covered on Friday, appears to be just a small tweak to the company’s already existing free plan. After the press release’s title, “Spreaker goes free”, and the first paragraph, “Starting today, creators can use Spreaker’s professional podcast platform at zero cost,” we were misled into believing this was a new offer. Sorry.

• BetterHelp, a company said to be the US’s biggest podcast advertiser, has agreed to return $7.8mn to customers in an FTC settlement after it shared private health data with Facebook and Snapchat.

• Alternative history: Serial was apparently only a hit because it was the subject of a parody in once-funny TV show Saturday Night Live. Really?

The Tech Stuff - with RSS.com

• Synching podcast audio to your Apple Watch only works when the screen is on. Overcast has a crafty hack to get you to keep the screen on, by asking you to play a little game.

• Adam Curry and Dave Jones were interviewed for a French edition of Podcast Magazine. Here’s the article in English.

• A proposal has been made for the podcast namespace’s author tag to include machine-friendly grouping of podcasts by author organisation.

• The Conshax app has been given a new look and has gained a number of additional features.

Podcast News

Looking for a good show to enjoy on the plane ride to Podcast Movement? Freakonomics Radio is focusing on airline economics, with two shows already up, and another for your trip back again. The show speaks with CEOs from Delta to Air New Zealand, economists, workers from pilots to meteorologists to flight attendant trainers to aircraft load agents, and – of course – passengers.

The Media Podcast with Matt Deegan includes a recommended discussion on “the future of audio”, at a conference called The Future of Audio Europe.

From LiSTNR, Defending Democracy with Malcolm Turnbull features the former Australian Prime Minister asking whether we’re witnessing the decline of democracy. Expect guests including Australian MPs and a former British Prime Minister, Theresa May.

One of only two independent fiction podcasts in The Atlantic’s 50 Best Podcasts of the year, Folxlore returned for a new and final season yesterday. Folxlore has depicted, subverted, or in other ways dealt with queer fears from passing in public to parenthood, paranoia to private landlords, all with a recognisable Glasgow patter, and all with an innovative experimental approach to the audio medium.