iOS: Swell plays informative and entertaining stories from sources like NPR, ABC, the BBC, TED Talks, stand-up comedy routines, and more, streamed to your iPhone.  The app even learns as you listen, skip, and select new things to listen to, and every time a story finishes, a new one you'll love plays right behind it. 

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Swell is brand new, and it's no coincidence that it reminds us of Pandora.  The app learns from your usage habits—if you skip all the news but listen to all the comedy, it'll bring you more comedy.  If you listen through the TED Talks, it'll play more of them.  If you hear something you like but can't listen to it right away, you can bookmark it and return to it later when you're free.  You don't have to thumb-up or down specific stories—Swell learns from your behavior, and even lets you know when it's learned something new. 

The video above does a great job of showing you how Swell works, and while the use case there is a stuck-in-traffic commute, the app is just as useful if you're sitting at home or at the office looking for something to listen to while you work.  The best thing about Swell is that it sources stories that are actually interesting and entertaining, without forcing you to make a playlist of your favorite podcasts or filter out only the good episodes.  Even if you're a podcast junkie, it's worth checking out.  Hit the link below to grab it. 

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Update: Oops!  Looks like we liked this one enough we already covered it!  Sorry for the duplicate post, folks.