Podcasts – those amateur or professional audio or video programs delivered automatically to a subscriber’s computer or MP3 player – let consumers listen to their favorite shows whenever and wherever they want. But though the technology for podcast subscriptions has been around for several years, the mainstream has only recently caught on.
An explosion in podcasts’ popularity in the first half of this year, culminating in the launch of a podcast directory at Apple’s iTunes online music service, has providers scrambling to keep up with server demands and businesses looking for ways to turn a profit.
Several factors may have sparked podcasting’s new popularity: Broadband access and new applications and directories make acquiring podcasts painless, for example, and other programs make creating them a snap. Phenomenal sales of iPods and other portable digital music players, which let people take the show on the road, also likely have helped.
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Five poems about the mind
Work reinvented: Tech will drive the office evolution
As organizations navigate a new world of hybrid work, tech innovation will be crucial for employee connection and collaboration.
I taught myself to lucid dream. You can too.
We still don’t know much about the experience of being aware that you’re dreaming—but a few researchers think it could help us find out more about how the brain works.
Is everything in the world a little bit conscious?
The idea that consciousness is widespread is attractive to many for intellectual and, perhaps, also emotional
reasons. But can it be tested? Surprisingly, perhaps it can.
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