This week's report card: ACast very bad, GoodPods bad, ActivityPub very good and Super Listener Wayne Cheong dies, very sad.

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GUEST:

• John Spurlock talking about implementing ActivityPub/Co-Comments  

LINKS: 

• https://podcastsocial.org
• https://minipub.dev/

NEWS: 

• Anyone can claim to be a creator of any podcast within the GoodPods app, without any proof or validation, we’ve discovered. 
  
  
• Acast has been been “spamming podcasters”, says competitor Buzzsprout, which has published an unsolicited email from Acast sent to many of Buzzsprout’s customers; we’re aware they’ve also been sent to Anchor users too. 
  
  
• “Email marketing is one part of our marketing strategy as we look to bring even more great creators to Acast, and we’re focused on providing the best possible tools and services to help them reach their potential.” — Ross Adams, CEO, Acast
  
  
• How should apps best verify ownership?  Fountain asks for the email held in the RSS file to claim podcast? 
  
  
• Proposed Solution by James Cridland.  Is there a better, easier way to help podcasters “claim” their podcast on different apps? Currently, that process is a clunky method of hoping someone has access to the email address in the RSS feed, and then sending them an email. We think there might be something rather easier. Here’s some proposed documentation of how it might work.
  
  
• WebFinger is a protocol specified by the Internet Engineering Task Force IETF that allows for the discovery of information about people and things identified by a URI. 
  
  
• Edison Research released their Super Listeners study, with Ad Results Media. “Super listeners” - US adults who listen to 5+ hours of podcasts a week.
  
  
• Responding to Spotify purchasing Podsights and Chartable, Bryan Barletta writes this week in Sounds Profitable that “Grading your own homework isn’t third-party measurement,” 
  
  
• Libsyn has launched Libsyn Studio Beta, 
  
  
• iHeartMedia has signed with Veritone to use synthetic voices to translate shows into different languages. 

SPECIAL MENTION: 

• Wayne Cheong, the founder of PodFest Asia, has died. He was 44. His memorial service will be held this weekend. He was a friend and fellow LFC Fan.  YNWA. 

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