Notices by John Spurlock (js@podcastindex.social)

@evan @seanbala @318133

fwding to @dave who does the ap bridge thing

@evan @dave

Happy to hear that Evan, that's why it exists!

@evan

hmm, that underlying url is timing out

heads up @dave

interesting - latest VS Code now applies a two-hour delay before automatically updating extensions

except from "trusted publishers such as Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI"

https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_123#_delayed-extension-autoupdates

New data: Top CDNs used by the 1.9 million new podcast episodes found in April 2026

https://livewire.io/podcast-cdns-by-episode-share/

Buzzsprout published their public podcast stats for April 2026, so I just updated my post tracking them over time

- surge in reported browser downloads (they probably need to investigate, often spoofed from servers)

- Vietnam! (should filter those too)

https://livewire.io/buzzsprout-stats-visualized/

‘Many listeners say they love podcasts because they help fill the in-between moments of life, such as exercising, driving or grocery-shopping. Having to watch kind of defeats the purpose.’

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/podcasts-video-armchair-expert-killer-stories-kristen-bell-0e07d0be?st=Lsxuik&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

‘It’s a tale as old as time: Are you a corporate titan, unhappy with how you or your company are portrayed in the realm of popular opinion? Good news: You can buy the media.’

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/billionares-buying-media-deals-openai-tbpn-larry-ellison-1236554833/

just realized every single podcaster is going to make some sort of "we're for sale at the right price" joke in their next episode

get ready folks

@tchambers I believe there is a community-maintained one here:

https://podcastindex.org/apps

‘Every podcast host was built for humans uploading files through a dashboard. PodClaw is built for agents — one REST call to publish and distribute.’

🦞 🦞 🦞

https://podclaw.io/

RE: https://podcastindex.social/@js/116296287122335618

...and just like that - @transistor wins this one 🏆

All of the HLS episodes sent to Apple Podcasts are _also_ in the corresponding RSS feeds using podcast:alternateEnclosure for both of these @stephenrobles shows

https://feeds.transistor.fm/primary-technology
https://feeds.transistor.fm/mots

Now that iOS 26.4 is official, and Apple Podcasts supports HLS video, I've updated my analysis with more data:
- updated show/episode counts
- added an Omny analysis
- added an Audiomeans analysis
- removed Simplecast placeholder, limiting to found publishers only

https://livewire.io/hls-video-in-podcasts/

@jeff @tchambers

they absolutely do not provide API access to their generated transcripts

in podcasting, the publisher is the source of truth, and the apps can pick up metadata from the open feed.

Apple supports publisher-provided transcripts in rss feeds using the new-ish podcast:transcript tag

(asterisk the podcaster has to log into their show's portal and allow it)

(asterisk and only if the publisher transcript is Close Enough™️ to Apple's generated one)

ok there are far more HLS video shows in Apple Podcasts at launch than I expected

nice work

with today's public release of HLS video in Apple Podcasts, I am now seeing 48 shows that support it

breakdown by hosting company:
- acast: 31
- art19: 10
- omny: 2
- transistor: 2
- podigee: 2
- audiomeans: 1

(also 2 shows that _were_ doing HLS during the beta and went back to audio only)

not to be outdone, the Apple Podcasts web team updated the web app today to support the new hls video stuff

very similar to the native app, including the special video icon

still the only way to watch these on a laptop, as the Apple Podcast app for macOS does not support them (not on tvOS either)

‘We knew bots were part of the landscape, but we didn't appreciate the scale, sophistication, or speed at which they'd find us. We banned tens of thousands of accounts. We deployed internal tooling and industry-standard external vendors. None of it was enough.’

https://digg.com/

‘As the older generations die, they take with them their knowledge of what was lost when the new technology arrived. Only the sense of what was gained remains. It’s in this way that progress covers its tracks, perpetually refreshing the illusion that where we are is where we were meant to be.’

https://www.newcartographies.com/p/flame-and-filament

Seeing "ingest" used in some of the analysis around the upcoming Apple HLS video podcast feature.

This is wrong.

One of the coolest parts of the new feature is that Apple is _not_ "ingesting" (nom, nom) anything.

It merely has a url pointer to the video hosted _elsewhere_ - exactly like podcasting has always been.

No ingestion!