Let us preface this piece with the following: The word “podcast,” which was originally intended to refer to a series of content beamed out into the world via an open standard, now has no meaning. That said, SiriusXM — the satellite radio company that’s grown far beyond merely bouncing audio signals to space and back — has just announced SiriusXM Podcasts+.
The awkwardly named subscription service lives within Apple Podcasts and will be available starting August 5, for $6 a month or $45 a year. In exchange for that fee, you’ll get ad-free episodes of shows from the SmartLess Media library, the Freakonomics Radio Network, and select shows from the Last Podcast Network.
The shows — which in addition to the super-popular SmartLess, include the likes of 99% Invisible, Last Podcast on the Left, The Joel Osteen Podcast, Literally! With Rob Lowe, and Andy Cohen’s Daddy Diary Podcast — are, of course, also available anywhere else you can get a podcast. But in addition to not being served with advertising, the Podcasts+ subscription will also offer bonus content, and new episodes will be available early. (SiriusXM says a bunch of those benefits also will be available to SiriusXM subscribers in the SiriusXM app.) And because we’re talking about all this in the confines of Apple’s proprietary podcast app, you’ll also be able to get easy transcriptions of the shows.
“As the leading audio entertainment company in North America, we are excited to expand our audience reach with the launch of SiriusXM Podcasts+,” Scott Greenstein, president and chief content officer at SiriusXM, said in a press release. “This new offering gives podcast enthusiasts the chance to subscribe to premium content from some of the most popular podcasts on our network, right through Apple Podcasts. This allows us to reach new listeners, increases value for creators looking to engage fans, and facilitates our ability to add premium content to our flagship SiriusXM app and enhance the value of our core subscription.”
The Apple Podcasts app is available on Apple’s mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad, as well as on Macs and Apple TV 4K.
So, yeah. You’ll be able to get ad-free podcasts with bonus content and early drops, for a fee, within a specific app. That’s not exactly what the founding fathers of podcasting intended, even if it is the obvious and eventual progression.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.