Google Podcasts failed to load for some users last week, according to Android Police. The company issued a fix on Thursday. These things happen, I suppose, whether you want to call it growing or roll-out pains. Still, it always makes me uneasy to think of the direct and indirect ramifications that occur when a company that big, powerful, and totalizing runs into a bug.
Don’t miss Noreen Malone’s profile on Red Scare, a leftist podcast “in the key of Chapo Trap House” led by three Brooklyn women, over at The Cut. Come for the examination of the podcast’s relationship with feminism, leftist politics, and the so-called “dirtbag left,” stay for a tight snapshot of Patreon-funded podcast economics.
Quick and Dirty Tips is getting ready to launch a special series: “The Faces of Farming,” which will come out of the decade-old Nutrition Diva podcast. I’m told it has hit 35 million lifetime downloads, and will publish its 500th episode this week. (Congrats!) The five-part miniseries will “feature voices of American farmers, highlighting the role not only food but farmers play in our everyday lives.”
The CBC launched its own daily news podcast yesterday. It’s called Front Burner, and it’s hosted by former Toronto Star investigative journalist Jayme Poisson.
Waze, the GPS navigation app, adds a built-in audio player to its experience. The player supports eight content streaming services: Stitcher, NPR One, Pandora, Spotify, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, Deezer, and Scribd, according to Engadget.
Vice News is rolling out its first narrative podcast on Thursday. Called Chapo: On Trial, the eight-part series is pitched as “a journey across Mexico and the U.S. to meet people affected by El Chapo and the drug war.” It’s pegged to Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s trial in Brooklyn, which begins on November 5, and the podcast will be released in both English and Spanish. The English version is produced by freelancer Kate Osborn, and the Spanish version is handled by Adonde Media’s Martina Castro.
Twitter-spotting. Think maybe they talked about the charts?
Jon Ronson’s latest Audible Original is apparently due out next January, according to a report by the New Zealand Herald. It’s a follow-up to The Butterfly Effect, and it’ll stay within the milieu of the porn industry. As a reminder, Audible switched up its originals strategy — and restructured the relevant team — this past summer. Ronson’s project came from the earlier era, and it remains to be seen whether he will continue making stuff like this after the follow-up comes out.
This is fascinating: A massive Facebook group — made up almost entirely of women — is helping to solve a case gripping Australia, reports Nieman Lab.
This week for Vulture: I wrote up Articles of Interest, which I loved!
The BBC will publicly launch its Sounds app this week. It’s meant to target the youths! Because we like apps! Caroline wrote about it for last Friday’s Insider.
Fun Fact: Today marks the 80th anniversary of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds radio broadcast. I’d reference something about fake news at this point, but that would be too obvious, true, and depressing. Fun fact, indeed.