It just became a lot easier to read along with a podcast, or pull an interesting quote out of one. The Apple Podcasts app now automatically generates transcripts for series and episodes.
Here’s how to find and read these transcripts in the iPhone Podcasts app.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Since Apple and the rest of the civilized world is taking a holiday break, we’re spending the majority of the show on our final picks for the best and worst of 2023.
Also on The CultCast:
The U.S. ban on the import and sales of Apple Watch takes another weird twist.
Former Apple design chief Jony Ive lures another former colleague away from Cupertino. This time, the goal is to build AI hardware for OpenAI.
Amazon Prime Video’s plan to add commercials is a major bummer.
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
Apple honored Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus with the Apple Podcasts Award, given each year to honor a show that demonstrates quality and innovation in podcasting.
In the series, the actress and comedian interviews older women about their lives.
One of the best ways to discover new podcasts is by finding out what other people are listening to. Apple made that easy Tuesday by tabulating the most popular podcasts of 2023.
These hit podcasts are available in localized versions for listeners in nearly 100 countries and regions.
If you feel lost in a sea of podcasts without a paddle, Apple offered some new rowing implements Tuesday. After all, navigating podcasts can feel as hopeless as floundering among streaming TV shows and movies.
The company said Apple Podcasts will elevate nine “new and noteworthy” subcategories for browsing, plus related popularity charts and the new Podcasts by Language browsing tool.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: iOS 17 might turn your iPhone into a dashboard for your smart home. Plus, Apple’s new journaling app seems like it will arrive soon as well. With WWDC23 just weeks away, we don’t have long to wait.
Also on The CultCast:
Three Apple TV+ hits conquer the streaming charts.
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is a moving and surprisingly inspirational documentary about the actor’s life (and his heroic battle with Parkinson’s disease).
MoviePass is back from the dead — and one option actually sounds enticing!
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Well-placed sources say Apple’s AR/VR headset blew them away. Even the guy who dreamed up the Oculus Rift says it’s great.
The more we hear about the device nobody seems to need, the more intrigued we become. And with WWDC23 just weeks away, we don’t have long to wait for answers to our questions. In the meantime, we can imagine the possibilities …
Also on The CultCast:
How Apple’s M3 chip will stack up against its predecessors.
Five hidden features in iMessage that you should try ASAP.
Erfon finally gives us an update on his beloved, but beleaguered, original HomePod.
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
Our sponsor: ExpressVPN
Protect your online activity today with the VPN rated No. 1 by Business Insider. Visit ExpressVPN.com/cultcast to get an extra three months free on a one-year package.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The latest iPhone 15 rumors provide a fuller picture of what to expect this year. Sounds like big changes are coming in iOS 17. But a last-minute reversal means a hardware feature we were counting on probably won’t happen.
Also on The CultCast:
Whatever you do, don’t get “juice jacked” this summer. We offer easy ways to avoid this menace.
How much would it take to get you to give up your iPhone forever?
The morons running General Motors ditched CarPlay. Get ready for sales to crash!
A new edition of What We’re Into dishes up pasta, podcasts and a sci-fi show.
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
Our sponsors: Lectric eBikes and Squarespace
Lectric eBikes: With top-tier build quality, a range of up to 42 miles and speeds up to 28 mph, the Lectric XP 3.0 is one of the best values in e-bikes. Check out the XP 3.0 and Lectric’s other great bikes at lectricebikes.com.
Squarespace: Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.
If you’re looking for a new podcast to addict yourself to, you’re in luck. Apple Podcasts unveiled the podcasts, episodes and channels its listeners paid the most attention to in 2022 (and in the case of subscriber shows and channels, paid the most money to, apparently).
Check out how Apple Podcasts sliced and diced its most popular content in the lists below. You might find a great new way to spend off-time during the holidays.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs passed away more than 11 years ago, but that didn’t prevent him from giving a new interview with superstar podcaster Joe Rogan. In it, the co-creator of the Mac talks about the importance of Eastern mysticism, his thoughts on LSD, Google, innovation and more.
There’s just one tiny wrinkle: The entire podcast is generated by artificial intelligence. That includes Jobs’ and Rogan’s voices and their responses.
Apple said Tuesday it’s rolling out a Podcasts update for creators, offering follower metrics and other features. That should help those who produce podcasts to monetize them, in part by tracking their audience through a variety of metrics.
Apple is making a number of nice design improvements to its Podcasts app in iOS 15.4. The biggest is the ability to filter podcast episodes by season.
That particular change undoubtedly will prove handy as users navigate their way through long-running shows. But it’s not the only new option for podcast filtering in Apple’s latest beta.
Apple on Tuesday published its showcase of this year’s best and most popular podcasts in the United States. It also called 2021 a year for “shows that moved us in ways unlike ever before.”
A Slight Change of Plans with Maya Shankar has been named the Best Show of the Year, while Anything for Selena with Maria Garcia is Apple’s Newcomer of the Year.
Earlier this week, Apple opened up its Podcasts service to subscriptions, calling it a “global marketplace for listeners to discover premium subscriptions offered by their favorite creators.” Now, The Wall Street Journal reports that Spotify is set to jump in with a rival premium podcast feature.
However, unlike Apple, Spotify supposedly won’t take a cut of podcasters’ subscription revenues.
“Pretty sure Apple is prepping its own podcast plan – a paid subscription service – on Tuesday,” Kafka tweeted Sunday.
No additional details are known about the possible podcast initiative, which presumably would join paid subscription services Apple News+, Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple Fitness+. The possibility of a paid podcasting service from Apple was rumored earlier this year.
Between work and keeping up with the latest news, it can feel like there’s too much information to consume. Luckily, there’s a way to multitask and make the most out of the hours in your day — and tackle your reading list at the same time.
The Elocance Audio Reading App is highly rated, receiving 4.4 out of 5 stars on the App Store for its ability to convert all written content into audio that you can listen to while multitasking or on the go. And you can get a lifetime subscription on the cheap!
Apple TV+ is launching a podcast dedicated to For All Mankind, the streaming service’s alternate-history show about the space race. The podcast will serve as a platform for real astronauts and scientists to discuss space travel with the series’ cast and creators.
The first episode of the podcast debuts Friday, the same day season two of the sci-fi series arrives.
Apple is reportedly considering a for-pay podcast subscription service. It would join other Apple services offering premium content, like Apple TV+ and News+.
The news sent shares of rival Spotify down over 7% on Friday.
This week on The CultCast: Get your wallets ready, Apple reportedly has a mysterious hardware release planned for December 8! We discuss. Plus: The M1 Mac mini is an unstoppable monster, and we’ve got more insane benchmarks to drool over. Seriously, do not waste your money on anything but an M1 Mac.
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.
With the year winding down, Apple picked its favorite podcasts, books and audiobooks of 2020. The offerings “kept us entertained, made us think, provided a much-needed escape, or filled our hearts up,“ noted Apple.
All the recommendations are, of course, available through Apple Podcasts or Apple Books.
Apple quietly snapped up podcasting app Scout FM, which tries to make podcasting sound more like tuning into radio stations, for an undisclosed amount earlier this year.
Scout FM worked by letting users choose particular topics, then automatically customizing a radio station-like podcasting listening experience for them. It was intended as a way to cut through the findability clutter of hundreds of thousands of available podcasts.
This week on The CultCast: The brand-new iMac may look the same, but it’s so powerful that video editors are gleefully buying two or three at a time — we’ll tell you everything that’s new.
But look, forget buying the shiny new iMac, and put your money in Apple stock instead! I’m going all in on AAPL. Find out why I’m about to dump a huge cash stockpile into Apple stock, and the cash value of my current investments. We’re talking real numbers here, people.
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.
For most podcast listeners, there comes a time when you have way too many unplayed shows, taking up way too much space on your iPhone or iPad. Fortunately, this is a problem with an easy fix.
Take back precious storage space by deleting episodes you don’t need to have saved locally, and prevent the Podcasts app from hoarding content in the future. We’ll show you how.
Apple News Today, the breezy new podcast showcasing the day’s top news stories, sounds perfectly peppy and polished. Maybe too perfectly polished, in fact — you won’t find a single rough edge on this slickly produced daily news report, which Apple unleashed last week with iOS 13.6. You will endure no energized, partisan rants, either. These straight-down-the-middle reports won’t get your blood boiling while you make your morning coffee or tea. If you’re tired of partisanship, this is the antidote.
What you will find in the weekday audio show is steady promotion of the Apple News app, and of Apple News+, the company’s reportedly struggling subscription news service. This upbeat and earnest free daily news briefing basically functions as a Trojan horse for getting in the ears of potential Apple News+ subscribers.
If you’re starting a new podcast that you want to listen to from the very beginning, you’ll need to change some settings to ensure that the Podcasts app doesn’t automatically play the latest episode first.
It’s a simple tweak that takes just a minute, and we’ll walk you through it in this step-by-step guide.