With the 24-hour news cycle, shortened attention spans, and the overall fast pace of life, audio platform Hark wants to make it easier for people to digest hours-long podcasts on their favorite topics.
Editors compile moments from a slew of podcasts and organize them into playlists, which the company has dubbed as Harklists. Similar to an old-fashioned mixtape or sports highlights on TV, a smorgasbord of audio clips can exist in a single location, curated by experts.
Hark Audio founder and CEO Don Mackinnon told Cheddar that the company is looking to help listeners discover new content as well as support content creators in widening their audiences.
"What we're really trying to do with Hark is come up with a way to sort of reimagine what's possible with podcasts. There are 48 million podcast episodes out there, and it's incredibly overwhelming and hard to discover," he said. "So what we do with Hark is, Hark will play you the best moments from great podcasts organized around your interests."
Hark's editors also host the playlists and introduce each episode of clips in an effort to keep the listener informed about the actual podcast hosts, as well as the title of the shows. Though clips can range between two and four minutes, listeners still have the option to listen to complete podcast episodes by telling the app to play it in full.
Mackinnon says there is something for everyone on Hark as the lists are created around a person's interests. Among the most popular topics currently are NFTs and President Joe Biden's first 100 days.
"There's a bunch of different perspectives and viewpoints that you can get in 20 to 25 minutes, and I think that's both food from sort of the efficiency standpoint ... but even more importantly, I think we live in the world of bifurcated media, where we're all in our bubbles," he said. "So Harklists are this way of hearing beyond your bubble in a way that allows you to explore a topic with your ears in a kind of serendipitous new way," he said.
The company, so far, has collaborated with Bill Nye, who narrates his own Harklist and entrepreneur Reed Hoffman, who has at least six different Harklists with content focused on finances and business advancement.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
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