In the July edition of Podtrac’s Podcast Industry Ranking Highlights, a ranking of podcast publishers, we see 21 podcast companies and their ranking by monthly audience, plays (downloads and streams), number of active shows, and the sales contact entity. (See the ranker below.) The chart is sorted by Podtrac’s...

July’s top podcast publishers (Podtrac) and RAIN Remix

West Virginia State

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Herbie J Pilato

Actor Bob Denver, who passed away in 2005, will forever be remembered for his leading role on the classic 1960s sitcom Gilligan’s Island. Denver also played another famous TV character: the beatnik-type Maynard G. Krebs on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

TV's 'Gilligan Island' Stars Dawn Wells and Bob Denver and Their Controversy Behind the Scenes

In the mid-1970s, Good Timesmade a star of actor/comedian Jimmy 'JJ'/'Dynomite' Walker. However, behind the scenes, the tension between the stars was relatively challenging. According to what Jimmie Walker once relayed, most of the show's cast rarely had any interaction behind the camera. Walker didn't recall having any conversations with actress Esther Rolle, who played his TV mother, Florida Evans, or actor John Amos, who played James Evans, his TV mother.

Actor/Comedian Jimmie "JJ" Walker Behind the Scenes of TV's 'Good Times' in the 1970s

Colorado State

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David Heitz

A bill quietly introduced this spring in the Colorado legislature to decriminalize the possession of drug paraphernalia obtained by harm reductionists has become law. As low-key as the legislation was introduced, the bill was signed into law without fanfare June 6. It garnered little to no media attention.

Colorado legalizes needles, pipes for meth and crack if obtained by harm reduction group

South Carolina State

Colleton County, SC

Explore Beaufort SC

Some beachgoers were in for a surprise this week when a bizarre looking prehistoric fish washed ashore in Colleton County along Edisto Beach at Edisto Beach State Park. It turned out to be an atlantic sturgeon.

Rare Atlantic sturgeon washes ashore on South Carolina beach

Google’s Meet app is getting a few more features designed for calls. Meet, the videocalling app Google rolled Duo into a couple of years ago, is designed to handle both meetings and personal video calls. The update, which will roll out over the coming months, focuses on the personal side. It offers an updated UI and features like in-call messaging — things that have only been available in meetings until now.

Google Meet’s latest update includes a new UI and in-call messaging

Ohio State

The Lantern

On Tuesday, licensed Ohio dispensaries began legally selling non-medical marijuana to consumers; however, the drug’s possession, growth and/or usage are still prohibited on Ohio State’s campus. Credit: Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times/TNS [Original caption: Four citizen-led petitions with proposals to update Dallas’ charter hit the 20,000 valid signature threshold to make it on the Nov. 5 election ballot, including one that would ban police officers from arresting or citing people carrying less than four ounces of marijuana.] As of Tuesday, students 21 and older can now legally purchase marijuana in Ohio.

Dispensary sales of recreational marijuana began Tuesday; possession and usage still prohibited on Ohio State’s campus

The US Sun

GOOGLE Maps help make directions to destinations much easier. However, if a user tries to view a home or property, they might be out of luck as some houses are blurred on the site. Why are some houses blurred out on Google Maps? Google Maps offers a number of options to make travel and navigation […]

Why are some houses blurred out on Google Maps?

TechRadar

Advertisements have become a thorn in the internet’s flesh. Many websites rely on ads to fund themselves, and ads don’t pay so much except for publishers with big numbers. This factor has led many publishers to focus too much on advertisements over content and inadvertently ruin users’ experience.Ask an internet user about their everyday problems, and you’ll likely hear about ads. Excessive ads have made many cherished websites challenging to use, angering users. Fortunately, there’s a proven solution to this problem: an ad blocker.Ad blockers detect and restrict ads from their source, allowing you to surf the web without encountering...

AdBlock Review

In Australia, Kyle and Jackie O’s simulcast into Melbourne has – so far – failed to take Melbourne by storm. Some in radio are keen to point out that syndicated shows don’t work in breakfast, where radio needs to be local. I’d disagree with that. Syndicated shows can, of course, work across any country. The fact that “this is coming from Sydney” is no reason why someone shouldn’t want to tune in, if the content is “real and relevant”: real human beings, talking about things that are relevant to the audience. You don’t have to be from the studio above the pizza shop in the high street to do that. (The show still contains local news and travel).

James Cridland’s International Radio Trends: Kyle and Jackie O – a damp squib? Or just poor-quality smut?

The Lens

This year’s area of low oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico is larger than average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Thursday. The “dead zone” is approximately 6,705 square miles , as measured last week. Within NOAA’s 38 years of measuring the dead zone, this year’s assessment marks the 12th-largest area of low to no oxygen, which can kill fish and marine life.

Gulf ‘dead zone’ larger than average, larger than expected for 2024, scientists announce

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J. Souza

According to cruise industry reports, the world's largest cruise ship is sailing well above 100% capacity, thanks to more beds being filled on recent sailings. Royal Caribbean’s newest flagship, the Icon of the Seas, is proving to be an unprecedented success, with occupancy rates far exceeding expectations.

The Largest Cruise Ship in the World is Sailing at 132% Capacity: How This is Even Possible

Florida State

Uncovering Florida

In a divided vote on Senate Bill 1084, which would make a variety of regulatory changes including putting a ban on lab grown meat state-wide, Florida’s Senate and House ultimately decided to pass it, sending it on to Governor DeSantis for approval. DeSantis officially approved it on May 1, 2024, and the law came into effect on July 1, 2024.

DeSantis Signed New Florida Law: Selling Lab Grown Meat Is Now A Second Degree Misdemeanor

Your data is important—to you but also to corporations. Apps may sell your data and build profiles about you. How do you fight back and reclaim your privacy? You need to delete apps that vacuum up your personal information. That includes getting rid of your accounts completely and requesting they delete your private data. Here’s where to start.

Give Your Privacy a Quick Boost by Deleting These 10 Data-Hungry Apps

Denver, CO

No, pallet shelters for people experiencing homelessness don’t fold into caskets. It’s a question a reader posed one of the first times I wrote about pallet shelters. I find the pallet shelters to be more palatable than ice fishing tents. The Colorado Village Collaborative operates both micro-communities and the so-called Safe Outdoor Spaces with the tents. We all learned the tents are not safe when a fire roared through a CVC Safe Outdoor Space, destroying the compound quickly. Officials never disclosed a cause of the fire.

Opinion: No, pallet shelters for homeless in Denver, Aurora don’t fold into caskets

Steve Pratt, co-founder of DifferentiAgent, has published an amusing piece in his ongoing The Creativity Business column. “Become the George Castanza of Marketing and Content” is a smart riff on the Seinfeld episode in which George Constanza goes on an “opposite” binge — acting against all his natural instincts, to immediate personal success. Applied to marketing, Steve itemizes common marketing behaviors that fail (e.g. “Spray-and-pray” reach campaigns, over-focus on short-term ROI, and others.) The opposites? Reach the right people; and making short-term ROI your long-term ROI. The major takeaway? “Interruption becomes earning attention.” Read it HERE.

RAIN Notes: August 12

The Motley Fool

Do you like sharing your opinions with others? You can get paid to do it by completing user tests. Find out which companies will pay you to give feedback.

4 Legit Companies That Will Pay You to Give Feedback on Websites and Apps

Alphabet's Google unveiled its Pixel 9 lineup and showcased how it's integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its devices with Gemini at its Made By Google event Tuesday. Jefferies analysts called Alphabet a "top pick" for consumer AI following the event, saying Gemini integration gives the company a chance to grow its share of the smartphone market.

Made By Google Event Leads Jefferies To Call Alphabet 'Top Pick' for Consumer AI

Google is tidying up how photos, albums, and tools are organized and presented in the Google Photos app. Collections view is a new tab in the Photos app that keeps your albums in one place. The layout changes are meant to help you find your photos and albums faster. Before...

Google Photos Speeds Up Organization With ‘Collections'

Apache Junction, AZ

Suzy Jacobson Cherry

When I studied Anthropology in college, I learned that teeth have been indicators of economic status just about forever. Archaeologists look at the teeth in ancient skeletons and know who the rich were based on their tooth decay. During the Renaissance period, it became fashionable for women to blacken their teeth to look like they were better off than they were, because the royals and aristocrats, who could afford sugar and sweets, had more rotten and missing teeth than the poor.

Opinion: Stop Stereotyping Bad Teeth as a Sign of Drug Addiction

NewsBreak

Edison releases Top 50 Podcasts, distinguished by survey method

Edison Research has released its Top 50 Podcasts in the U.S. for Q2 2024. (HERE.) You’ll never guess which is #1. (It’s The Joe Rogan Experience,...

Edison releases Top 50 Podcasts, distinguished by survey method

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