About Blokcast

Q: Who created Blokcast?
A: Blokcast was created by Stew Apelzin & Tom Stitt at Aperial. You can find out more about Aperial, Tom and Stew here: http://aperial.com

Q: Why did you create Blokcast?
A: We found most RSS feeds for authoritative (not advertising sponsored) healthcare information from respected providers like the Mayo Clinic hard to find and use using search. Since healthcare is one of the top reasons why people use search engines, we decided to make more authoritative healthcare information from respected sources easy to find.

Q: What make Blockcast tick?
A: Blokcast is built with Drupal, an open source content management system and runs "on the cloud" using Amazon Web Services. The web page and Drupal code is all open source. Aperial provides support, training, hosting and development services to Blokcast clients.

Blokcast FAQ

Q: How does Blokcast work?
A. Our clients provide RSS feeds (think of them like having television channels that are broadcasting web information all the time) from healthcare web pages, videos, podcasts or blogs they want people to find and use. Blokcast displays the headline for the category and the title from the most recent three to seven title updates. When you place a mouse cursor over a title, we display part of the story so that you can decide if you’d like to read it, look at it, listen to it, or watch it. To get to the content in a headline or title, click on the headline or title.

Q: How did you decide which headlines and titles to display? A. We didn't decide. Our clients made all of those decisions. Q: How often do you update the feeds? A. Approximately once an hour we check to see if our clients have updated their feeds. Clients control their updates.

Q: How do you decide which feeds, topics, titles, blogs, images, videos and podcasts to display?
A. We don't decide. Our clients decide. (Sense a recurring theme here?)

Q: How do you decide on the order?
A. We use a very complex process known in our offices by the acronym TCD. The Client Decides.

Q. I don't see the healthcare information I'm looking for on a page. What do I do?
A. Click on Contact the Content Provider link at the bottom of the page. You will be put in direct contact with the Content Provider (our client.)

Q. Why does the position on the page of headlines and titles change sometimes?
A. Clients may make positioning changes. Or if a feed isn't working, another feed may replace it.

Q. Couldn’t I build my own custom aggregation using a feed reader, customizable home pages, Netvibes, etc?
A. Absolutely yes and we'd be there cheering for you. However, our clients usually have other higher priorities and pressing resource demands so they use our service instead.

Q. How do I suggest an additional healthcare information provider?
A. Send us an email. newcustomer@blokcast.com.

Q. How can I advertise on a Blokcast page?
A. You can't. Clients choose what they want displayed in the header and the content "bricks."

Q. What’s your business model? Why doesn't the URL I see mention blokcast.
A. Clients pay us a monthly subscription/support fee. We try to deliver good value, great customer service and add features they think make sense for their content. The code we use is all open source and we use Drupal for content management. Sometimes our clients use their own URLs to present Blokcast pages. Sometimes they use our URL. TCD (see above for acronym explanation.)

BlokCast Blog

We blog about BlokCast at http://aperial.com

Contact Content Provider

To contact a Content Provider (our clients), go to this page: http://blokcast.com/contentprovider

Contact BlokCast

Click the Feedback tab on the left hand side of the BlokCast page. Or you can send us an email - contact@blokcast.com. Or you can tweet us on Twitter - @blokcast. Heck, you can even call us at +1.650.276.0460 (USA, California, Pacific time)

Legal & Privacy

Last updated: 16 Dec 2008

Acceptance of Terms for Use of blokcast.com

By using blokcast.com in any way you are agreeing to comply with all of the terms and conditions stated below, which we may update with or without notice. We encourage you to check here at any time. To use blokcast.com, you must be legally competent to enter a binding agreement.

Indemnity

You will indemnify Aperial Corp., and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, and employees against any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, related in any way to your use of or conduct on aperial.com.

Disclaimer / Limitation of Liability

WE MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS AS TO THE ACCURACY, QUALITY, TIMELINESS, AVAILABILITY, OR COMPLETENESS OF THE INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, OR OTHER MATERIALS AVAILABLE THROUGH BLOKCAST.COM, AND YOU SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THEM. WE PROVIDE THE ODP ON AN "AS IS, AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. YOU USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK, AND APERIAL CORP., ITS EMPLOYEES, DISTRIBUTORS, DIRECTORS, AND AGENTS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ITS CONTENT OR DELIVERY, OR FOR ANY FORM OF LOSS OR DAMAGE (INCLUDING ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, EVEN IF KNOWN TO US) THAT MAY RESULT FROM ITS USE. WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. NO WARRANTY NOT SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT WILL BE VALID. IF ANY OF THE ABOVE PROVISIONS ARE VOID UNDER GOVERNING LAW, OUR LIABILITY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

Claims of Copyright Infringement

If you believe that your work has been copied and is accessible on blokcast.com in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please contact us via copyright@aperial.com.

Security/ No Disruption You will not disrupt the functioning of blokcast.com or otherwise act in a way that interferes with other users' use of aperial.com.

Privacy Statement & Information about Privacy on Blokcast.com

Aperial Corp. (“Aperial”) is committed to protecting your privacy. You can visit most pages on our site without giving us any information about yourself. But sometimes we need information to provide services that you request, and this privacy statement explains data collection and use in those situations. Please read the complete Blokcast.com Privacy Statement.

Collection of your Personal Information

We will ask you when we need information that personally identifies you (personal information) or allows us to contact you. Generally, this information is requested when you are registering before commenting, completing a survey, requesting e-mail newsletters, signing up for an event or training, or when downloading, purchasing and/or registering Aperial products. Personal information collected by blokcast.com often is limited to name and e-mail address, language, country or location, but may include other information when needed to provide a product or service you requested. For example: If you choose a service or transaction that requires payment, such as making a purchase , we will request personal information necessary for billing and/or shipping, such as: name, address, telephone number, and credit card number. When you purchase or upgrade a product, we may ask you to confirm your purchase electronically.

We keep this registration information on file with any information you've already given us on previous visits to our Web site. Blokcast.com also collects certain information about your computer hardware and software. This information may include: your IP address, browser type, operating system, domain name, access times and referring Web site addresses. This information is used for the operation of the service, to maintain quality of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding use of Blokcast.com. Blokcast.com also collects information about which pages our customers visit within blokcast.com. This site visitation data is identified only by a unique ID number, and it is never linked with personal information unless a user consents as described below.

Use of your Personal Information

We use your personal information for the following purposes: To ensure our site is relevant to your needs. To deliver services, such as newsletters, events, training, reports or software that you request or purchase. To help us create and publish content most relevant to you. To alert you to product upgrades, offers, updated information and other new services from Aperial, if you so request. To allow you access to limited-entry areas of our site as appropriate. We will merge site-visitation data with anonymous demographic information for research purposes, and we may use this information in aggregate to provide more relevant content. In some limited-entry sections of blokcast.com, with your approval, we will combine site-visitation data with your personal information in order to provide you with personalized content. If you decline permission, we will not provide you the personalized service and won't merge your personal information with site-visitation data. Aperial may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on Aperial or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of Aperial and its web site properties, or (c) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of Aperial employees, users of Aperial products or services, or members of the public. Your information may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Aperial or its affiliates, subsidiaries or agents maintain facilities, and by using this site, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country. Aperial abides by the safe harbor framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of data from the European Union.

Control of your Personal Information

When you register, or otherwise give us personal information, Blokcast.com will not share that information with third parties without your permission, other than for the limited exceptions already listed. It will only be used for the purposes stated above. Registering also allows you to tell us how or whether you want Blokcast.com to communicate with you. You can tell us not to contact you by removing check marks from contact option boxes. If you download files or buy software through Blokcast.com, and do not want to receive such information, do not check the box on the checkout page (or on other pages where personal information is collected) which says: “Yes, I would like to receive other information through Blokcast.com.” Blokcast.com occasionally allows other companies to offer our registered users information about their products and services. If you do not want to receive these offers, you should uncheck the box in the checkout section. Blokcast.com may send out periodic e-mails informing you of technical service or security issues related to a product or service you requested, or confirming you requested a product or service.

Access to your Personal Information

We will provide you with the means to ensure that your personal information is correct and current. If you register at Blokcast.com or subscribe to a newsletter, you can review and edit your personal information in the user settings section. At the user settings section you can: View and edit personal information you have already given us at Blokcast.com. Tell us whether you want Blokcast.com to send you information. Choose whether you want third parties to send you their offers. Subscribe, or cancel subscriptions, to newsletters about our services and products. Some services offered on Blokcast.com may collect information that is not accessible via the user settings section. However, in such cases, you can access your personal information by contacting Aperial.com as described at the bottom of this statement.

Security of your Personal Information

Blokcast.com is committed to protecting the security of your personal information. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. For example, we store any personal information you provide in computer servers with limited access that are located in controlled facilities. When we transmit sensitive information over the internet, we protect it through the use of encryption such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

Protection of Children's Personal Information

Blokcast.com is a general audience site and does not knowingly collect any personal information from children.

Use of Cookies

When someone visits the site, a cookie may be placed on the customer's machine (if the customer accepts cookies) or is read if the customer has visited the site previously. One use of cookies is to assist in the collection of the site visitation statistics described above. We also use cookies to collect information on which search engine and other links are clicked by customers. This information is used to ensure we are sending information customers want to read. It is collected in aggregate form and never linked with your personal information. Web beacons, also known as clear gif technology or action tags, may be used to assist in delivering the cookie on our site. This technology tells us how many visitors clicked on key elements (such as links or graphics) on a Blokcast.com web page. We do not use this technology to access your personally identifiable information on Blokcast.com; it is a tool we use to compile aggregated statistics about Blokcast.com web site usage. We may share aggregated site statistics with partner companies but do not allow other companies to place clear gifs on our sites. If you choose to not have your browser accept cookies from the Blokcast.com Web site, you will be able to view the text on the screens, however you will not experience a personalized visit nor will you be able to subscribe to service offerings on the site.

Enforcement of this Privacy Statement

If you have questions regarding this statement, you should first contact Blokcast.com by sending email to info@aperial.com.

Changes to this Statement

Blokcast.com will occasionally update this privacy statement. When we do, we will also revise the "last updated" date at the top of the privacy statement. For material changes to this statement, Blokcast.com will notify you by placing prominent notice on the Web site.

Contact Information

Aperial welcomes your comments regarding this privacy statement. Please contact us by email at info@aperial.com