Back in December, The ACHR NEWS toured the Big Ass Fans facility in Lexington, Kentucky. While we were there we had the opportunity to tour the company’s facility and with its research and development center, and chat with general manager of industrial business lines, Andrew Koukis for the latest episode of the NEWSMakers podcast.

Meet a few of the podcasters who have taken the HVAC world by storm. 

In the latest episode of The NEWSMakers podcast, Kyle Gargaro, editorial director for The ACHR NEWS, talks to Michael Kane, president of UEi Test Instruments.

The ACHR NEWS sat down with ACCA CEO Bart James and ACCA Vice President of Membership, Advocacy, and Events Sean Robertson at the recent ACCA conference. The trio discussed issues that are affecting HVACR contractors including regulations, legislation, and business management.

In the latest episode of The NEWSMakers podcast, Kyle Gargaro, editorial director for The ACHR NEWS, talks to WaterFurnace CEO John Thomas.

Kyle Gargaro, editorial director, The ACHR NEWS, traveled to Oklahoma City to talk with Climate Control Group COO Kevin McNamara about the state of the geothermal industry.

Frank Bacchetta of Total Comfort Group talks about how his company uses data to improve the customer experience.

Though getting enough people to work in the HVAC industry has been an issue for quite a while, women have been greatly underrepresented. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 2% of the HVAC workforce is women. Amy O’Grady from Women in HVACR talks about what needs to happen for more women to get into the HVAC industry.

The software developer Niko Abeler has crawled 51,165 podcast feeds to study what RSS elements they contain. His comprehensive Podcast Feed Standard report looks at the usage of core RSS elements and namespace elements from Apple iTunes, Atom, Content, Podcast 2.0 and Simple Chapters. He writes:

In the world of podcasting, there is a great deal of freedom when it comes to the format and content of a podcast. Creators are free to choose their own audio format and feed content, giving them the flexibility to create something truly unique. However, when it comes to distributing a podcast, certain standards must be followed in order to be added to an aggregator such as Apple Podcasts. Additionally, the podcasting community has come to agree upon certain conventions that can be used to add additional features to a podcast, such as chapters, enhanced audio, and more. These conventions allow for a more immersive and engaging listening experience for the audience.

This website is dedicated to providing guidance and information on the conventions and standards used in podcasting.

There's a lot of interesting data in the RSS 2.0 report, which finds that these are the six least popular elements in an RSS feed's channel:

Over 99 percent of feeds contain the optional channel element language and the optional item elements enclosure, guid, pubDate and title. Only 0.2% of feeds contain a source element in an item.

The iTunes namespace report shows a lot of variation in support. The required element itunes:explicit is only present in 18 percent of feeds and four optional elements have less than 20 percent: itunes:new-feed-url, itunes:block, itunes:complete and itunes:title. One namespace in the report, Podcast 2.0, has been proposed by Podcastindex "to provide a solution for problems which previously have been solved by multiple competing standards" and is still under development.

The report also analyzes the audio files enclosed in the podcast feeds to determine their format, bitrate, channel and loudness. The report finds that 95.6 percent use MP3 and 4.4 percent AAC/M4A. People who like an alternative open source format will be oggravated that its sliver of the pie graph is so small it can't be seen.

If Abeler isn't tired of crunching numbers, one thing that would be useful for the RSS Advisory Board to learn is how many of the feeds contain more than one enclosure element within a single item.

Today’s PCC Podcast features a review of yesterday’s PA House Committee meeting on the bill to prevent biological males from participating as females in sports across our state. We also have the first two installments of “Capitol Insight. “ https://fb.watch/7b_n1kgQBS/  

Technology is playing an increasingly important role in improving the quality of care for the elderly, be it enhancing aged care patient experience, developing home-care for an ageing population, or automating clinical processes. Associate Professor Tan Hwee Pink from SMU’s School of Information Systems, together with his team, have extensive ground experience in developing and deploying senior-centric technologies, from previous research projects at SMU. They are now collaborating with NTUC Healthcare Co-operative Ltd, a key provider of community programmes for seniors in Singapore, to use smart technology to enhance the operational efficiency and productivity of NTUC Healthcare’s centres. In this podcast, he discusses the type of technologies deployed in the project with NTUC Healthcare, the preliminary results achieved, and the challenges faced.

Building on research conducted in 2018 on the clear and positive link between high levels of psychological safety and a strong teamwork culture, Richard Smith, Professor of Strategic Management and Deputy Dean (Programmes) at the SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business, has now dug deeper by focusing on diversity. How does closing the gender gap within organisations in Asian countries impact overall company performance? Are employees more productive, or less, with a sense of belonging to the workplace? In this podcast, Professor Smith discusses the key findings of his research conducted in collaboration with consultancy group Great Place to Work Institute Singapore. The rigorous study, one of the largest in Asia to highlight gender differences, surveyed over 400,000 employees from more than 800 organisations located across eight countries in the Asia Pacific.

In this episode the topic is 3D printed blister tool prototyping and how it can be used to improve cannabis packaging.

Amcor’s new AmSky blister packaging uses HDPE throughout for curbside recycling.

In this interview, Keith Smith, CEO of Vonco Products, talks about how makers of medical packaging are borrowing a page or two from the consumer sector when it comes to developing innovative and sustainable packaging solutions.

In this episode, we talk with Ron Basak-Smith, Co-Founder & CEO, and James Eichner, Co-Founder & CSO, of Sana Packaging — a sustainable packaging brand that designs and develops differentiated, sustainable and compliant cannabis packaging solutions for a circular economy by using 100% plant-based hemp plastic, 100% reclaimed ocean plastic and other sustainable materials.

In this episode with Lee Coffey of Rockwell Automation, we delve into the results of a recent survey conducted by Rockwell regarding smart manufacturing in CPG.

In this podcast, we talk about secondary packaging solutions for the food industry, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and the personal care and beauty industry.

Packaging Strategies recently sat down with Natalie Kaczorowski and Todd Meussling of Fresh-Lock® to discuss the company’s development of the award-winning Costco Kirkland Signature® Ultra Clean Premium Laundry Detergent Pacs.

In this episode, our special guest is PMMI President and CEO, Jim Pittas. We discuss PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2021 including how many attendees and exhibitors he expects, the new exhibits, and how the pandemic changed tradeshows and the industry.

In this interview, two experts at Sun Chemical discuss the evolution and commercial breakthroughs of inks, coatings and adhesives and how they are helping the flexible packaging sector achieve sustainability.

In this episode with Sherry Washburn, Business Unit Manager at Videojet, we discuss how a company’s choice of inks and printing technologies can play a big role in achieving sustainability goals. We also discuss ways for companies to ensure compliance with existing and new environmental regulations. 

In this episode with Chirag Sheth, Global Business Unit Manager at Videojet, we discuss coding and marking options for cannabis packaging.

David Randall of Sun Chemical explains how innovations are transforming inks for two-piece cans and resulting in an industry that is more efficient and eco-friendly.

Sun Chemical is thinking about sustainability and circularity in all of its product development activities, including in its solutions for the narrow web, tag and label market.

In this interview, Marian Leitner-Waldman of Archer Roose explains the many advantages of canned packaging for wine.

We recently sat down with Jay Parks of R.R. Donnelley to discuss why more and more retailers are requiring vendors to employ RFID labels.

In this interview, Palouse Fiber Packaging CEO Kyler Lovgren explains how molded fiber could help businesses remain compliant as a patchwork of state-level packaging regulations crop up.

In this episode with Sarah Webber, Sustainable Packaging Engineer at Plastic Ingenuity, we discuss ways to support sustainability in snack food packaging.

Joseph Zeppilli, Co-Founder of Bad Monkey Popcorn, talks about the company’s journey toward creating viable compostable packaging for one of the world’s most popular snack foods.

In this interview, Stout Collective’s Matt Tanaka explains the inspiration behind the BOPP Beer and Design Conference, now in its third year.

The aluminum coffee pod addresses the environmental crisis caused by the 40 million plastic coffee pods that end up in landfills and oceans every day, offering a more eco-friendly and high-quality alternative.

In this interview, Niels van den Boogert and Bobby Bauman of AMMEGA discuss CPG firms’ evolving conveyor needs as warehouses and distribution centers become increasingly automated.

Michael Kundinger of Kundinger Inc. elaborates on several of the technologies that the company showcased at its booth at the recent Converters Expo.

In this interview, Videojet’s Sherry Washburn discusses how recent improvements to soft-pigmented inks are facilitating coding and contrast printing for packaging.

Chris Marshall of BOBST – a leading supplier of substrate processing, printing and converting equipment and services for the label, flexible packaging, folding carton and corrugated board industries – talks about how the regulatory environment is coaxing some firms away from plastic and toward paper.

While paper packaging in many ways is more naturally eco-friendly than plastic packaging, Sun Chemical is busy developing inks and coatings solutions to ensure that true recyclability is achieved as the ‘paperization’ trend gains steam.

Jim Grisanzio talks with Oracle Sr. Product Manager Avi Miller on a variety of Open Source projects at the company, some history about Oracle's involvement in the Linux community, how people can contribute to FOSS projects generally -- and a bit of Legos development at the end. 

• Avi Miller (Twitter)
• Jim Grisanzio (Twitter)
• Video on YouTube
• Blog 1
• Blog 2 

Podcast Host: Jim Grisanzio, Oracle Developer Relations
https://twitter.com/jimgris
https://developer.oracle.com/team/ 

The Oracle Magazine Podcast is being retired and this feed will be deleted. Thank you to the listeners of the Oracle Magazine Podcast. You can find a list of the current Oracle podcasts at oracle.com/podcasts

Orlando Sentinel tourism reporters Katie Rice and Dewayne Bevil discuss the robot, modeled after the character Judy Hopps from Disney’s 2016 animated film “Zootopia,” and when it might show up at theme parks.

“It was equal parts travel logistics, physical endurance and Disney stuff,” says Nathan Firesheets about his Disney Global Ride Challenge.

Walt Disney World will start selling three levels of its annual passes to it theme parks again as of April 20.

The Theme Park Rangers say goodbye to Poseidon’s Fury at Universal’s Islands of Adventure and celebrate Animal Kingdom’s birthday.

On this episode of Theme Park Rangers, Orlando Sentinel tourism reporters Dewayne Bevil and Katie Rice discuss the fire that damaged the Maleficent dragon at Disneyland and its impact on Disney World shows.

During the latest Swamp Things, Mark and Edgar discuss the craziest few days during their more than two decades covering Florida athletics.

Will 3D Printing change the fashion industry? Listen to Bill & Josh talk about 3D Printing disrupting the entire fashion industry. The 3D Printing Podcast is the Official Podcast of the Association of 3D Printing.        

If we eliminate the obvious, the fact that the belts and motors can pinch a finger as well as a heater block operating at 200+c will definitely burn you, we are left with the one unknown. That is of any hazardous fumes and odors that may be emitted by heating

Listen to the experts at Autodesk discuss 3D printing, the direction they are heading and the unusual play in the market!

How to choose? How to 3D Print? Why would Xometry be able to help a firm by being an outsourced 3D Printing bureau? Are there advantages to using a service bureau in general? Speak directly to Greg Paulsen by finding him at www.Xometry.com

A great way for 3D Printing companies to gain markets is to build a network. Listen to Kari Gillenwater, of Gillenwater Consulting Group talk about why she thinks marketing networks are important.