Suspenseful and intriguing spy novels by Robert Ludlum.

Overlooked reasons why you may not be losing the weight that you want to lose.

Boxing is a sport that with proper precautions, preparation will help build stamina, strength, agility.

Popular winter sport of snowboarding can be enjoyed by people of all age levels is an ideal outdoor physical exercise activity.

Here is what you should know beforehand about taking the keto diet.

The potential cognitive function, health and wellness benefits of nootropic mushrooms and highlighting the top nootropic mushroom strains that you should consider.

Ayurveda is rich in self-care practices and medicinal rituals and Abhyanga massage is one of those modalities gaining popularity. Learn what it is here.

Science behind NMN, nicotinamide mononucleotide supplements - possible better aging and longer longevity health benefits and points to consider for those who want to include it in their health and wellness program.

Cryptomundo spotlights The Shy Creatures, Dexter, costumes, NYCC photo, Mid-Ohio-Con & more

Kabuki: Circle of Blood and Coffin HCs debut tomorrow, MTV live art show auction, David Mack and Kabuki mentioned in interview & more

Stores selling Kabuki: Vol. 1 and Coffin hardcovers, revised Dream Logic #3, Kabuki: Circle of Blood signed edition HC not released & more

David Mack attending Mid-Ohio-Con, stores accepting Kabuki 1/4 scale statue pre-orders, David Mack on Boston Comic Con guest list & more

The Making of Dexter: Dark Echo video, Kabuki: Volume 1 - Circle of Blood HC LE is available, Siamese fan artwork & more

Two Mid-Ohio-Con 2010 photos, Iron Man II sketch card photo, Daredevil: End of Days production update & more

Kabuki toys and collections on sale at Big Bad Toy Store, reading books, untranslatable words & more

Stores selling Kabuki: Circle of Blood HC, comic shops, painting covers & more

Photos of Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School sketches, Daredevil: End of Days, time travel & more

JLA #51 & Dapper Men HC Debut Wednesday, solicitation for Justice League of America #54 & more

Stores selling Justice League of America #51 variant, Mid-Ohio-Con 2010 Kabuki con sketch, birthday, Dapper Men reviews & more

Return of the Dapper Men hardcover sells out, David Mack attending two Wizard conventions, JLA #51 contest, envelope photo & more

Black Nazarene EP available on iTunes, Se7en BD and Electric Ant HC debut this week, painting Marvel covers, Kabuki fan art & more

Stores selling Philip K. Dick's Electric Ant hardcover, Incredible Hulk convention sketch, possible Electric Ant trade paperback release date & more

David Mack attending Atlanta Comic Con this weekend, save 30% on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, save 25% at Deep Discount & more

Vidvox le créateur de VDMX, des shaders ISF et du codec HAP annonce la sortie du VDMX6 qui intègre de …

Vidvox annonce la sortie de VDMX6 et VDMX6 Plus est un billet de LeCollagiste VJ.
LeCollagiste VJ - Mag du LeCollagiste, actu sur la culture VJING, Vidéo Mapping, info video et high tech.

Computer Ergonomics information. Learn how to prevent serious health risks from Repetitive Stress Injury.

Explore latest digital camera technology for better results.

Technology news. Get important information including security issues and find out about the latest technology trend.

Cheap Computers Guide - A Laptop/Notebook or a Desktop - Which one is right for you?

(Birmingham, AL) The most recent fallout from the mortgage crisis that began last summer is now rearing it's ugly head in the form of Fannie Mae approved loans that cannot get insured by Mortgage Insurance companies.

Mortgage insurance companies, spurred on by recent recommendations in congress, are tightening their credit standards for providing insurance. Without mortgage insurance, borrowers are forced to provide a down payment equal to 20% of the purchase price of a home - something very few home buyers can afford to do. Just this past week, mortgage insurance companies raised their credit score requirement to 620, effectively cutting out 50% of home buyers from the home buying market. The move came unnanounced and without any notice to lenders or to Fannie Mae.

In fact, lenders are still approving loans that meet Fannie Mae guidelines for purchase in the secondary market, but then find, just before closing, that there is no mortgage insurance available to insure the loan. Without insurance on money loaned that is over 80% of the value of the property, the loan is declined. Buyers that have a "loan approval" from a lender should immediately ask their lender if the lender can get their loan insured. Otherwise, homebuyers could spend hundreds and even thousands in the days leading up to the closing only to find, at the last minute, that loan insurance is not available to them.

This move by the Mortgage Insurance companies will only add fuel to the fire that is the current US Housing market. By effectively eliminating more home buyers from the market, at a time when the housing market needs more buyers, not fewer, the mortgage insurance companies have put another nail in the coffin of the housing market. The resulting effect on the market will be an even bigger drop in home prices. The immediate impact of this new policy will be felt quickly in the market, not over time as has been the case with loan defaults, adjusting loan interest rates, and foreclosures.

Be forewarned: if you are a seller, drop your price now before the market itself forces an even larger price reduction. If you are a home buyer, your credit score must be above 620 or you cannot get a loan.

The Veterans Housing Act allows the Department of Veterans Affairs to guarantee a home or mobile home loan. While eligibility is still determined by VA, the benefits vary depending on when you served in the military and the type of service. While those currently or previously on active duty are allowed benefits after serving anywhere between 90 days to 24 months, depending on the year, reservist and national guard members never called to duty, will need to contact VA to determine eligibility.



While most consumers feel VA gives a borrower a loan, VA only guarantees loans in case of default. Loan approvals are made on their behalf by approved lenders. VA does require all homes be appraised by a VA roster appraiser and there are only special circumstances in which VA reviews a loan for credit determination.



VA Home financing allows 100% financing, 4% seller contribution, limits what a borrower can pay in the form of closing costs, provides excellent interest rates and does not require perfect credit. A VA loan will consider approval for a borrower with no credit. It is by far the best loan program available, and it is only for veterans.

Podcasting Insights estimates that there are currently 750,000 podcasts in existence, with a combined archive of over 30 million episodes. That begs the question: Does the world really need another podcast?

The answer: yes!

The audience for podcasts is insatiable, always hungry for new insights, new experiences and new voices. And for the people on the other end of the earbuds -- the creators -- podcasts offer a ton of rewards, including bolstering their credentials as an expert, creating new revenue streams, building brand awareness for their business and, honestly, podcasting is just really fun to do.

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Johanna Zorn is leaving the Third Coast Festival. The executive director and co-founder of the Chicago-based audio documentary conference will be departing in the fall, and the search for her replacement will kick off later this week. The move was announced Wednesday through a letter published on the Third Coast website.

Obviously, this is a major development for the beloved conference, which has become one of the most, if not the most important gatherings for radio and podcast producers since its founding almost two decades ago. Third Coast grew particularly quickly over the past few years — tracking the growth spurt in the audio world around it — the biggest expression of which was the decision to shift the festival towards an annualized schedule in 2016. (It was previously held every two years.)

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It seems like only yesterday that this water cooler cliche entered our lives. Twas a simpler time, when people would engage in long-winded conversations without feeling the need to freeze them in time and share them with the masses. But today, thanks to audio editing software and our social media culture, it seems everyone and their mom has taken to the format. Literally.

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Audiobooks and podcasts have been sky-rocketing in popularity over the past three or four years. In 2019, the number of Americans who had listened to an audiobook passed 50%, a first for the medium. Podcasts are also on the rise, with investments from companies like Spotify and Pandora further encouraging a virtious cycle of audience growth and a broadening pool of podcasters.

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Meanwhile, the biggest advantage management holds up for growing podcasts is improved engagement on the platform. But since Spotify doesn't disclose average time spent per user on its platform, investors may be left guessing how the company is doing. So, what is the best indication of whether or not the podcast investments are paying off?

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Think about it. When was the last time a new podcast came out that was a mass, mainstream hit? Something that was such a hit that it changed things: brought in masses of new listeners, garnered tons of press, or really altered the perception of what podcasting can be?

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Today, the board of the much-esteemed Pulitzer Prize announced that it’s adding Audio Reporting as a new category for its journalism prizes in the next cycle.

Podcasts Can Win Pulitzers Now

Podcasting has enormous potential for publishers, given the mobile portability of the format and the possibility of converting text content into a spoken-word format listeners can consume while doing other activities. The IAB estimated the podcasting advertising market in the United States may exceed $1 billion by next year, a tenfold increase since 2015.

That estimate is encouraging, but podcasting needs to catch up to the needs of sponsors to become more viable amid a crowded media marketplace.

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There are now more than one million podcast shows on Apple Podcasts, according to Apple.

Let me reiterate: we do not mean episodes. We’re talking more than one million individual podcast shows: As in the shows which then release their episodes. That’s a lot of podcasts.

Apple confirmed in an email to Mashable that Apple Podcasts hit more than one million podcasts and that this milestone was reached on Monday, April 20.

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With commuting on hold and everybody Zooming all the time, podcast consumption has taken a bit of a hit as listeners look for new ways to fit shows into their daily routines.

Last month, the analytics firm Chartable released research suggesting that podcast downloads were 10% lower on March 25 than they were on February 26.

Those numbers deserve to be taken with a grain of salt. Chartable, like Podtrac and other podcasting analytics services, is an opt-in analytics service, and many different podcast networks, ranging from Entercom to Vox Media, showed increased listening last month.

If the music industry is worried about podcasts eating into music’s share of the American audio diet, new survey data suggests that such worries are unfounded: Podcasts’ share increased at the expense of music a couple of years ago but has held steady ever since. Instead, the rising number of podcast listeners are coming from AM/FM radio. That’s what the numbers in new research from Edison Research, Triton Digital and National Public Radio show.

The Infinite Dial from Edison Research and Triton Digital is an annual survey that has been published for over 20 years. It originally covered listenership to digital radio such as Pandora and Sirius XM, but it has expanded to include other types of streaming music services, social media, podcasting and most recently esports; it has also tracked trends in consumer ownership of devices such as smartphones and smart speakers. The Infinite Dial is highly respected because of its methodological rigor and its year-to-year consistency over a long period of time. The 2020 edition of the Infinite Dial was released last week.

Megaphone, a podcasting hosting and advertising technology provider, has signed a lease at Comstock’s Reston Station.

The company will take up roughly 10,000 square feet in the first office building at the mixed-use development, the tower designed by architect Helmut Jahn at 1900 Reston Metro Plaza.

With 165,000 square feet of leased space, Google is the anchor tenant of the building. Other tenants include Rolls-Royce North America (18,000 square feet) and infrastructure management firm Solar Winds (16,349 square feet) and digital identify firm Certipath (7,500 square feet).

Humanity has been telling stories since long before the written word. Not to mention, audio fiction is a great choice when you can’t look at a book, like during a commute, while doing chores, or working out. And audio fiction is on the rise.

In comparison to other media formats, podcasting is still under-monetized, according to Tech Crunch. Short fiction podcasts still need crowdfunding backers and paid subscribers. Deep-pocketed newcomers bankroll high production value, or already have name recognition. But podcasting continues to have a low cost of entry, and the prospects for earning a little revenue may be improving.

Podcast measurement company Podtrac has recorded mostly negative week-over-week download and unique audience growth since social distancing measures began. The declines were most severe in mid-March when major cities began shelter-in-place requirements and nonessential American workers began working from home. As of the week of April 27, however, weekly download and audience growth are slowly ticking back up.

But it is not all bad news: Podtrac found that for the shows it measures, year-to-date growth overall is still positive with major download growth in categories like news, comedy and business.

Over the last 18 months, Spotify has been pushing to expand its platform from a music-streaming service to all types of audio. Podcasting has been a major focus, and led CEO Daniel Ek to acquire companies like Gimlet, Anchor, Parcast, and The Ringer, as well as sign exclusive contracts with big names like the Obamas.

Spotifys latest deal could accelerate the growth of its podcast audience. The Joe Rogan Experience is coming to Spotify, and will be exclusive to the platform by the end of the year. That is a big blow to Apple, which sports the most popular podcast listening app.

After Spotifys recent string of podcasting deals, it is kind of weird to see a podcast acquisition where Spotify is not involved. E.W. Scripps has been shopping around its Stitcher podcast platform for a couple of weeks, and it looks like it found a buyer in SiriusXM.

Sirius will pay around $300 million for the unit. That is a hefty return for Scripps. It originally bought Stitcher in 2016 for $4.5 million, combining it with its $50 million Midroll Media acquisition from the year before.

Still, $300 million is a good deal for the premium podcast platform, a specialized podcast advertising network doing sales for over 300 podcasts, and the owner of two podcast content networks, Earwolf and Stitcher Podcasts.

That compares to Spotifys acquisition of The Ringer earlier this year, for which it reportedly paid between $141 million to $196 million.

In 2018, businesses spent $497 million on podcast advertising in 2018, and it’s estimated that by 2020, podcast ad spend will go up to a whopping $1 billion. So, podcasting is clearly big business.

How do you launch a business podcast?
So, there are a few steps when it comes to launching a podcast for your business – and it all starts with thinking about your aim.

What are you trying to achieve from your podcast? Is it to build trust with customers, or to drive more awareness with new prospects? In my case, I wanted to better position myself as a leader in the sales enablement space – so in addition to my blog over at Contemsa and posting on LinkedIn, I wanted to have a few different streams of content where my audience could gain insights about sales enablement.

With that aim in mind, it was important that my podcast was not about selling anything. Instead, it was about sharing insights and tips on B2B sales enablement topics such as How to Involve Sales Teams in Your Sales Playbook Process, for example. As you can see in this example episode, I am not selling anything: I am giving away useful tips and support for my customers and prospects.

Here are seven ways you can avoid common virtual sales meeting technology mistakes

1. Prepare meeting attendees in advance with clear instructions
2. Run a tech check
3. Increase your internet speed and bandwidth
4. Choose a reliable meeting platform
5. Invest in quality audio and video
6. Master your platform
7. Have a backup plan

The Recount is a new platform that mixes politics and culture. A deal between The Recount and iHeartRaio will result in the two companies producing a series of new podcasts ahead of the 2020 election.

The global pandemic has upended our entire nation. When we think of the aftermath since the coronavirus first struck the United States, it still leaves us with a great deal of uncertainty.

Everyone from healthcare workers to business leaders to tradesmen are watching as everything around them changes, and theres nothing they can do about it other than to roll with the punches. Nothing is the same, and it may never be the same again.

But when we look closer at certain sectors, not all of them have a negative story to tell. COVID-19s shock has actually jolted some industries alive. Far-reaching technological adoption, an increased consumer consumption, and a spike in advertiser’s reallocating their budgets to make the most impact during the pandemic, podcasting is having its moment. And it is a big one.

This is great news, of course, but how exactly is podcasting changing under COVID-19’s influence?