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Anchor's iPad app is an all-in-one podcast studio
Back in February, the audio social network Anchor relaunched as a one-stop podcast-making shop. Now it's introducing an iPad app that's designed for the larger device's touch interface. Best of all, it includes editing tools, enabling users to trim, cut and drop in segments and effects at their whim. Get it now for free in the App Store.
Anchor's new Cohost feature matches podcasters with similar interests
Less than two months after the the DIY podcasting app Anchor underwent a major revision, the service is ready to announce another notable new feature: Cohosts. As the name implies, Cohosts lets Anchor users quickly match up with others who want to talk about similar topics -- ideally, this will help facilitate group discussions, rather than forcing a podcaster to forge ahead on their own. Anchor was originally built as a community of users sharing audio, so letting those users get together to host a show fits with the app's social audio roots.
Anchor turns itself into a one-stop podcast creation app
Anchor started off as a social network for audio -- the app let users make quick, impromptu broadcasts to their followers straight from their phone. But the company started seeing more and more people using it to make full-on podcasts, so it added features to push Anchor recordings to Apple Podcasts and Google Play last summer. That turned the app into a one-stop shop for amateur podcasting. The success of that feature has led Anchor to fully re-do its app and mission. Its goal now is to remove all the pain points and costs of making a podcast, from start to finish.
Anchor's app turns your podcasts into social videos
Podcasts might be enjoying a resurgence, but they're not exactly designed for social networks. Are your friends really going to notice the link to your latest episode when there's a cute cat video beckoning? Anchor might have a way to capture their attention. It's updating its Android and iOS podcasting apps with an option that turns your recordings into easily shared videos. The software automatically transcribes your dialog (you can fix any hiccups, of course) and exports it a slick-looking clip that fits the format of your choice. If you want to get the word out through Instagram, you can have a square-shaped video ready within moments.
Anchor lets you record and publish podcasts from your phone
If you haven't heard of Anchor yet, it's an app that lets you record little bits of audio and broadcast them to your followers with minimal fuss. In a lot of ways, it's like Instagram or Snapchat stories, but focused purely on audio recordings -- you can find friends, publications, internet stars and so forth when you sign up on the app and then listen in to whatever they decide to broadcast. These segments can be as brief or as complex as the person recording them wants, but they'll disappear after one day. Given the recent podcasting boom, it's not surprising that Anchor itself has been getting more attention over the last six months or so. In February, the company released a big update that added a "call-in" feature where your listeners could chat with you live, the ability to publish full-length Spotify or Apple Music tracks and the ability to record an interview over the phone and publish it straight to Anchor. But today's update marks perhaps the most significant change yet: Anchor users now will have the option to push their recordings out to the world as podcasts and have them live forever.
The Soapbox: Commitment issues
I have friends who have a hard time settling down into just one game. This is not inherently a problem; if you want to jump into many games a month at a time, more power to you. But that's not the case with these folks. They want to be in one place, to stick to just one or two games. These friends look to me, not because my friends assume I am a font of all wisdom as it pertains to MMOs but because I'm pretty stable in games. Barring my participation in things like Choose My Adventure, the games I play are staples. I've been playing Final Fantasy XIV and Star Wars: The Old Republic since launch, the only thing that stopped me from playing City of Heroes was a shutdown, and even my briefer incursions last four months or more. So how do I do it? The answer is the same as the answer to how you make a long-term relationship work: You commit.
