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Narrative Podcasts Are Disappearing

2 months ago
The narrative podcast industry that exploded after Serial's 2014 debut has largely collapsed. Pineapple Street Studios shut down in June after producing hits like Missing Richard Simmons. Amazon dismantled Wondery in August, laying off 110 employees less than five years after acquiring the studio for $300 million. Spotify terminated Gimlet in 2023 despite paying $230 million for the company in 2019. Major outlets including Pushkin Industries and This American Life have conducted layoffs. Talk shows and celebrity podcasts continue growing while investigative audio series struggle to find funding. Edison Research reports 55% of Americans consumed podcasts last month, but advertising dollars are flowing to cheaper chat formats rather than resource-intensive narrative productions.

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Big clouds scramble as EU Data Act brings new data transfer rules

2 months ago
Arbitrarily inflated lock-in-tastic fees curbed as movement charges must be cost-linked

Updated  Most of the provisions of the EU Data Act will officially come into force from the end of this week, requiring cloud providers to make it easier for customers to move their data, but some of the big players are keener than others.…

Dan Robinson

NASA Says Mars Rover Discovered Potential Biosignature Last Year

2 months ago
NASA: After a year's worth of scientific scrutiny, the 'Sapphire Canyon' rock sample remains the mission's best candidate for containing signs of ancient microbial life processes. A sample collected by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover from an ancient dry riverbed in Jezero Crater could preserve evidence of ancient microbial life. Taken from a rock named "Cheyava Falls" last year, the sample, called "Sapphire Canyon," contains potential biosignatures, according to a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature. A potential biosignature is a substance or structure that might have a biological origin but requires more data or further study before a conclusion can be reached about the absence or presence of life. "This finding by Perseverance, launched under President Trump in his first term, is the closest we have ever come to discovering life on Mars. The identification of a potential biosignature on the Red Planet is a groundbreaking discovery, and one that will advance our understanding of Mars," said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. "NASA's commitment to conducting Gold Standard Science will continue as we pursue our goal of putting American boots on Mars' rocky soil."

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