The beauty of podcasting is that anyone can do it. It’s a rare medium that’s nearly as easy to make as it is to consume. And as such, no two people do it exactly the same way. There are a wealth of hardware and software solutions open to potential podcasters, so setups run the gamut from NPR studios to USB Skype rigs (the latter of which became a kind of default during the pandemic).
This week, we spoke to Jody Avirgan, who co-hosts “Summer Album / Winter Album” with the frontman of the American indie rock band The Hold Steady, Craig Finn. Each episode finds Avirgan and Finn debating whether a classic record should be categorized as a “summer album” or “winter album.”
Avirgan – who previously hosted shows for Radiotopia, TED, FiveThirtyEight, and ESPN – told us about his podcasting set-up of choice. Here he is in his own words:
“Even when I worked at ESPN/FiveThirtyEight, I always had a home recording setup. Since leaving — which happened to coincide with the start of the pandemic — I’ve made my basement recording studio my main home. It’s actually the kitchen of a basement studio apartment, so just off-frame, behind some curtains, is a fridge (unplugged), sink, and lots of cabinets.
“But I’ve hung tons of curtains, scattered soft things around, and put some sound dampening panels up. I think it’s now both cozy and pretty warm-sounding. My mic is an Electro-Voice RE27N/D, a $500 studio mic.
“To be clear: I don’t make RE27 money. We bought this mic when I was hosting 30 for 30. I left ESPN three weeks before the pandemic hit, and somewhere in there I wrote them an email asking if they wanted me to return the mic. I never got a response, and I certainly didn’t write a follow-up. So I kept it. This is probably why Disney stock is down 20% over the last five years. It’s a very warm mic, but it’s a behemoth.
“When I’m on the road, I pack an AT2020-USB+, which plugs right into my computer and I can knock out tracking from wherever — usually under a blanket in a hotel closet, which is a podcaster’s natural habitat.
“I run my mic through the FocusRite Scarlett 2i2, a simple but mighty interface that lets me control my mic levels and route right into my computer, where I am often joining people over Zoom or Riverside. I always record a local backup file using Hindenburg, which I then save to Dropbox. All roads eventually lead to Dropbox.
“The one place I deviate from the typical Podcaster 101 kit is in my headphones. Everyone has the Sony MDR-7506, and I’ve run through my fair share of those, but I really like the Rode NTH-100 headphones. They are just a little more comfortable, look a little slicker, and so far the padding hasn’t broken down in the way that the padding on the Sony’s inevitably does, leading one to find little black flecks in their ears after taping.
“Like a lot of podcasters, I’ve been doing more and more video stuff lately. I’ve used Descript for years, but as the worlds of audio and video have merged, I do almost all my editing in it at this point. I make social videos of our conversations for “This Day” and “Summer Album / Winter Album,” but also original stuff I’ve been playing with on Instagram.
“I’m doing a series each week where I try to guess the title of that week’s New Yorker cover, and I record that right into Descript and turn it around in like 20 minutes using a template I built. Descript — I’m a big fan. It’s very versatile, and it’s nice to work with a program that seems to give a crap about what podcasters want, as opposed to ProTools.
“I suppose I’ve had to think about my visual setup a fair amount, too. I bought the webcam that the Wirecutter recommended, but honestly I prefer the look of the MacBook camera, so I usually just use that. In my background, I put some books to prove that I know how to read; a signed photo of George Mikan, about whom there was a running bit in “Death At The Wing” — and $28 worth of fake plants from Ikea.
“I block the view so I don’t think people can even see that the plants are there; but I like to know that they are there, and will always be there, because of forever plastics.”
We’ve previously asked others of our favorite podcast hosts and producers to highlight their workflows — the equipment and software they use to get the job done. The list so far includes:
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Apple has been steadily working to expand the world of the Apple TV+ series “Severance,” through online materials, e-books, podcasts, and other content – and so have its fans. Taking advantage of its platform power, the Cupertino tech giant has been able to easily distribute supplemental material that adds to the show’s storytelling abilities, offering viewers more clues about the mysterious employer at the heart of the series, Lumon Industries, and other characters.
And for fans of the production itself, a companion podcast with creator Ben Stiller and star Adam Scott delves into the nuts and bolts of how scenes were filmed and other behind-the-scenes content.
Currently the most popular Apple TV+ series ever, “Severance” has gained attention and awards for its cinematic techniques, direction, production design, and more, but is also resonating with viewers because it reflects a certain discontent with American society.
With its borderline absurdist takes on topics like the perils of capitalism, the lengths people will go to achieve work-life balance, corporate oppression, classism, and the evils of technology, “Severance” is reaching a broader group than those who normally watch sci-fi.
The marketing around the “puzzle box-style” TV series, where online content becomes a part of the show itself, is something that brings to mind the work that was done in previous years around the cult classic, “Lost,” where website tie-ins offered further clues about the show’s mysteries, like the Dharma Initiative.
Unlike “Lost,” however, “Severance’s” creators have promised that they know where the series is going and how it will end – which makes it more fun to go down the rabbit hole chasing online clues.
Below are some of the supplemental materials that expand “Severance’s” universe and offer hints at what’s to come.
“Severance” Season 2 is on Apple TV+, which recently arrived on Android mobile devices too. Season 2 began airing on Jan. 17, 2025, and will include 10 episodes, ending on March 21, 2025.
Do you have a favorite Severance fan-made experience? Let me know: [email protected].
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Consumer-grade spyware apps that covertly and continually monitor your private messages, photos, phone calls, and real-time location are an ongoing problem for Android users.
This guide can help you identify and remove common surveillance apps from your Android phone, including TheTruthSpy, Cocospy and Spyic, among others.
Consumer-grade spyware apps are frequently sold under the guise of child monitoring or family-tracking software, but are referred to as “stalkerware” and “spouseware” for their ability to also track and monitor partners or spouses without their consent. These spyware apps are downloaded from outside of Google Play’s app store, planted on a phone without a person’s permission and often disappear from the home screen to avoid detection.
Stalkerware apps rely on abusing in-built Android features that are typically used by companies to remotely manage their employees’ work phones or use Android’s accessibility mode to snoop on someone’s device.
You may notice your phone acting unusually, running warmer or slower than usual, or using large amounts of network data, even when you are not actively using it.
Checking to see if your Android device is compromised can be done quickly and easily.
It’s important to have a safety plan in place and trusted support if you need it. Keep in mind that removing the spyware from your phone may alert the person who planted it, which could create an unsafe situation. The Coalition Against Stalkerware offers advice and guidance for victims and survivors of stalkerware.
Note that this guide only helps you to identify and remove spyware apps, it does not delete the data that was already collected and uploaded to its servers. Also, some versions of Android may have slightly different menu options. As is standard with any advice, you follow these steps at your own risk.
Google Play Protect is one of the best safeguards to protect against malicious Android apps by screening apps downloaded from Google’s app store and outside sources for signs of potentially malicious activity. Those protections stop working when Play Protect is switched off. It’s important to ensure that Play Protect is switched on to ensure that it’s working and scanning for malicious apps.
You can check that Play Protect is enabled through the Play Store app settings. You also can scan for harmful apps, if a scan hasn’t been done already.
Stalkerware relies on deep access to your device to access the data, and is known to abuse Android’s accessibility mode which, by design, requires broader access to the operating system and your data for screen readers and other accessibility features to work.
Android users who do not use accessibility apps or features should not see any apps in this section of Android’s settings.
If you do not recognize a downloaded service in the Accessibility options, you may want to switch it off in the settings and remove the app. Some stalkerware apps are disguised as ordinary looking apps and are often called “Accessibility,” “Device Health,” “System Service” or other innocuous-sounding names.
Much like the accessibility features, Android also allows third-party apps to access and read your incoming notifications, such as allowing smart speakers to read alerts out loud or your car to display notifications on its dashboard. Granting notification access to a stalkerware app allows for persistent surveillance of your notifications, which includes the contents of messages and other alerts.
You can check which apps have access to your notifications by checking your Android notification access settings under Special app access. Some of these apps you may recognize, like Android Auto. You can switch off notification access for any app that you do not recognize.
Other features commonly abused by stalkerware are Android’s device admin options, which have similar but even broader access to Android devices and users’ data.
Device admin options are usually used by companies to remotely manage their employees’ phones, such as wiping the phone in the event of device theft to prevent data loss. But these features also allow stalkerware apps to snoop on the Android display and the device’s data.
You can find the device admin app settings in Settings under Security.
Most people won’t have a device admin app on their personal phone, so be aware if you see an app that you don’t recognize, named something similarly obscure and vague like “System Service,” “Device Health” or “Device Admin.”
You may not see a home screen icon for any of these stalkerware apps, but they will still appear in your Android device’s app list.
You can view all of the installed apps in Android’s settings. Look for apps and icons that you don’t recognize. These apps may also show as having broad access to your calendar, call logs, camera, contacts and location data.
Force stopping and uninstalling a stalkerware app will likely alert the person who planted the stalkerware that the app no longer works.
If stalkerware was planted on your phone, there is a good chance that your phone was unlocked, unprotected or that your screen lock was guessed or learned. A stronger lock screen password can help to protect your phone from intruders. You should also protect email and other online accounts using two-factor authentication wherever possible.
If you or someone you know needs help, the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) provides 24/7 free, confidential support to victims of domestic abuse and violence. If you are in an emergency situation, call 911. The Coalition Against Stalkerware has resources if you think your phone has been compromised by spyware.
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