I just want to listen to Friday Night Comedy on Radio 4.

It used to be the case that this was safely subscribed in my podcast app (I use Podkicker Pro) and so each new episode would download to my feed when released.

The BBC has decided to fix the problem of me getting the program I want to listen to automatically and conveniently. If I want my comedy I have to install My Sounds. When Spotify tried this with Science Vs I just stopped listening. I have plenty of other science podcasts but The Now Show and the News Quiz are irreplaceable. So maybe I could cope with one walled garden.

My Sounds says it will notify you when new episodes are available. It does not.

My Sounds has a My Sounds tab which lists Latest programs. I'm writing this on April 2 and the most recent episode of Friday Night Comedy is from March 25.

Only if I go into Subscribed, and then the program page for Friday Night Comedy does it finally admit that there is an episode from April 1.

So I'm forced to install an app that not only fails to notify me of new episodes of subscribed programs but actively hides them in the basement behind a beware of the leopard sign. BBC, maybe get the app working before forcing me into it? I would rather pay to subscribe to an RSS feed than deal with My Sounds.

I'd take the time to leave a one star review, but in its infinite wisdom Google doesn't allow paying customers to leave app reviews.

Updated 2022-05-06 11:32:

Having been forced into the excreable BBC My Sounds at least it supports downloading an episode to listen to on the plane right?

Updated 2022-05-06 11:33:

Does it fuck. BBC, please fix this and then try asking nicely?

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(Published to the Fediverse as: BBC My Sounds, hiding podcasts behind a 'Beware of the Leopard' sign. #etc #bbc #radio4 #google #podcast BBC My Sounds fails to send notifications, fails to have new episodes on the Latest My Sounds Page and is therefore the worst podcasting app ever. Thanks for forcing us to use it BBC. )

I'm lucky enough to have the right sort of TPM so Windows 11 installed smoothly on my laptop through Windows Update. It's got some nice fit and finish improvements and round corners and generally seems well put together. Except for anything I actually use and care about on a regular basis.

It is still impossible to get rid of notifications with one click. This has actually regressed from Windows 10 as we're back to a little x to dismiss which actually sends the notification off to the action center for when you have some spare time to dismiss it a second time. Microsoft, spend less time on focus assist and more time on this!

The taskbar wants your icons in the center. If I wanted a Mac I would have bought one. Luckily there is a setting to move them back to the left. But one thing you can't do is have small taskbar icons. There is a registry hack, but it breaks the system icons so until that's fixed the main impact of Windows 11 for me is missing out on about one row of a spreadsheet. I would like those pixels back!

Maybe the start menu is better, but I stopped using that with Windows 10 and now just pin apps or search for them so I'd never know.

(Previously: I just want to get rid of Windows 10 Notifications with one click)

Updated 2021-12-04 10:35:

A few weeks into my Windows 11 adventure and I think they handed this one off to the designers and forgot the adult supervision.

Alt-Tab you have one job and it's switching between applications. Why then is the selection now indicated by a hair thin black border? It's pretty, but I now have to squint to figure out where I'm going.

Worse still you can no longer drag and drop to the taskbar. I don't do this every day, but it's a big time saver when I need it. Now I have to go through a re-org of windows to drag things between them.

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(Published to the Fediverse as: Windows 11 Broken Notifications #etc #windows #microsoft Windows 11 still won't let you dismiss notification with one click. It also gets rid of small taskbar icons. The windows have nice rounded corners though! )

I have been listening to podcasts for over 20 years.

That shouldn't be possible as the format only really started in 2003. In late 2000 I was commuting from San Francisco to Sunnyvale and wanted to listen to Radio 4 while driving. I cobbled together a solution that involved some dodgy software that saved a RealPlayer stream to MP3, one of the first (pre-iPod) hard drive MP3 players and a headphone jack to FM dongle. I'm pretty sure I was the only person listening to the Today Program on I280 back then.

These days it's Podkicker Pro and Bluetooth and my problem is too many podcasts. For some reason I can't sit down and listen to a podcast. I'll immediately start reading some news or doing something else. The only times I can listen are while I'm occupied with something else - cooking, walking, commuting (and I haven't been doing much commuting recently).

I can't be alone in this but for some reason most podcasts are monetizing with extra content. Pay $5/month on substack and get the extra subscriber episodes or extended interviews or something extra. What I actually want to pay for is less content. Give away the three hour meandering version and charge for a tightly edited hour. Please.

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(Published to the Fediverse as: New Podcast Business Model: Less Content #etc #podcasts Podcasts should monetize by giving away the longer version and charging for a well edited cut. )

Sometimes even Karla The Fog leaves her heart in (or near) San Francisco. Seen on the excellent fog.today.

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(Published to the Fediverse as: Fog Heart #etc #sanfrancisco #fog Capture of San Francisco's Karla The Fog leaving a heart near San Francisco. )