Podcasts are the new …
Podcasts are definitely not new, but they’re certainly picking up steam as a viable way to deliver information to lots of eyes and ears. Do you listen to podcasts? I subscribe and listen to lots of them. It’s probably my primary news source outside of the interwebs. I listen to more hours of podcasts per week than I watch television. I rarely listen to local or satellite radio in my car any more, instead plugging in my iPhone. I get talk radio without a lot of commercials on topics that interest me. I have enough variety synced that there’s always something new available that fits my drive.
Here are some of my favorites, probably nothing too shocking here since most are among the more popular on iTunes. I’ve added iTunes links at the end of each of these but you don’t need iTunes or even an iPod to listen. Click the site link and add the feed to Google Reader (getting started). Now you’ve got an embedded player inside a web app that lets you listen just using your browser and lets you know new episodes are available.
Entertainment
- This American Life – Probably my favorite, the stories are always gripping and the educational episodes are excellent. (iTunes)
- SModcast – Kevin Smith is funny, that’s all you need to know. Oh, and this one can be a little NSFW. (iTunes)
- The Instance – A World of Warcraft podcast. If you play WoW you’ve probably heard of it, if not then you why would you listen anyway? The only WoW podcast I’ve found that I could listen to regularly, they stay on topic and keep it interesting with weekly episodes. Same guy, Scott Johnson, does AppSlappy which is also a favorite of mine. (iTunes)
- Disney Dudes – A favorite of my wife’s, done by a couple guys we’ve become friends with thanks to Shelley’s local NFFC group. I’m not a Disney fanatic but these guys are usually pretty damned funny. Even though Disney is the topic don’t assume it’s always going to be family friendly. (iTunes)
Technology
- GeekBrief.TV – Daily video podcast from everyone’s favorite geek girl, Cali Lewis. Covers computers, phones, hardware, software, and everything in between. Excellent production and stays on top of the latest news since it’s daily. Not to be missed. (iTunes)
- This Week in Tech – By Leo Laporte, John C. Dvorak, and different group of guests each week. The talk show for geeks, covers all the happenings in tech, gadgets, software, etc. Not too in-depth for the casual technologist and usually pretty funny too. (iTunes)
- MacBreak Weekly – Another tech podcast by Leo Laporte, this one adds another 3-4 regulars for all the latest Apple news. Great weekly picks of software, gadgets, etc. (iTunes)
- Windows Weekly – Yet another Leo Laporte podcast, this one weekly with Paul Thurrott. For those of you not into the Cult of Apple, this is the podcast for you. Great news and picks for Window’s enthusiast. With Windows 7 coming soon a great source of up-to-date information. Paul usually gets the latest news direct from sources at Microsoft. (iTunes)
- AppSlappy – A weekly dose of app store goodness. Reviews and picks of games and everything else the app store has to offer. If you’re an app store addict like myself check it out. (iTunes)
- Buzz Out Loud – Daily tech podcast from CNET with Tom Merritt and friends. Hit or miss, but if you’re really into tech news they cover it all on BOL. Geeks need only apply. (iTunes)
Money
- APM: Marketplace – NOT TO BE MISSED if you want to keep up with what’s happening with the national and world economy. Daily, in-depth news, excellent stories & opinion from people in the know about all things money. You don’t have to be an economist to understand what they’re talking about. If you like this one also check out Marketplace Money and Marketplace Whiteboard which are weekly shows done by the same folks. (iTunes)
- NPR: Planet Money – Covers all things money, also easily understandable like Marketplace. Great coverage of our current economic crisis; how we got here and what our government is trying to do to get us out of it. (iTunes)
I’d love to see some suggestions in the comments, what podcasts do you listen too?
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:48 pm
I wish I had more time to really listen to my podcasts. I download and listen to them, but I'll be reading other news or email or working on other stuff at the same time, so I don't really get the full effect of listening to them. And listening to them in the car is a non-starter for a few reasons: my commute isn't long enough to listen to any podcast (~20mins), I don't have a way to hook up my iPod to my car, and I find it too distracting to try to drive and listen to podcasts at the same time.
Here's a list of what I listen to, in its entirety. It is rather long, but I do manage to listen to/watch it all in a week. I'm not including links since I don't know what Disqus would do with a post so full of links. You should be able to find any of these easily with Google.
Podcasts:
* Buzz Out Loud (daily): Pretty much what you said, though I'd argue with the “hit-and-miss” argument.
* FLOSS Weekly (weely): Hosted by Randal Schwartz and Leo Laporte (w/ occasional co-hosting by Johno Bacon). Covers the world of free, open source (libre) software by interviewing leads and key contributors of open source projects, like DHH (Rails), Guido (Python), etc.
* Hanselminutes (weekly): Scott Hanselman, currently of Microsoft, talks about programming and .NET
* Security Now! (weekly): Hosted by Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte. Review of current security news and other pertinent topics, such as encryption and algorithms.
* StackOverflow Podcast (weekly): Hosted by Joel Spolsky and Jeff Atwood, creators of the Stack Overflow Trilogy and Stack Exchange. Topics include Stack Overflow and other random tech chatter.
* this WEEK in TECH (weekly): Great podcast of tech news, even if it does tend to wander and talk about Twitter a lot.
* Windows Weekly (weekly): Hosted by Paul Thurrott and Leo Laporte. Windows and Microsoft news, with a little Apple thrown in for good measure.
Vidcasts:
* Ask A Ninja (sporadic): I watch this one mainly for the humor, though I don't think it's as good as it used to be.
* Film Riot (weekly): A fun look at the world of creating special effects. Very entertaining skits.
* Hak.5 (weekly): Hardware and software hacking and security in a very light-hearted setting.
* HD Nation (weekly): Hosted by Patrick Norton and Robert Herron. All you want to know about HD TVs, high def DVD players, and recent Blu-Ray releases.
* Onion News Network (~semiweekly): Funny faux-news produced by The Onion.
* System (on hiatus): Hosted by Patrick Norton and various co-hosts. Very builder-centric, with episodes including building your own battlebot, keg bot, and anti-gravity (magnetic) shoes.
* Tekzilla (weekly): Hosted by Patrick Norton and Veronica Belmont. Tech news/user questions.
* Tiki Bar TV (sporadic): Comedy in a tiki bar
August 2nd, 2009 at 10:05 pm
I have a similar problem: Really short commute, inability to listen during the day (meetings & the act of putting earphones on apparently summons folks to my desk), stuff to do at night, weekends that slip away too quickly.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:53 am
I've listened to Hanselminutes and it's pretty good, but lots of the time I have no clue what they're talking about. I need to check out StackOverflow again, tried it way back when the site was first announced but haven't since it went live.
HD Nation sounds good too, I do TekZilla now with Patrick Norton.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:55 am
I work by myself at home. Like frohman said, sometimes I'm half paying attention but I listen anyway. We live 30 minutes from anything in Dallas that we do and 15 minutes from Waxahachie so I get those times to listen. I've probably got 5 BOLs on my phone that are partially listened too.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:16 am
I have never bought an I-pod so I never got into the podcast thing. If I tried to listen to it at work I'd just screw up what I was working on while no getting much benefit from the podcast. My commute is usually around 20-30 minutes so that would be about the only time I could listen to them. Funny how you can miss out on a whole area of technology or culture just by simple decisions.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:42 am
I'm right with you on This American Life and Smodcast. Those are probably the only two that I make the time to listen through semi-regularly. I'm amazed that Kevin Smith really talks like the dialogue from his movies. Funny stuff.
August 7th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Thank you very much for the kind words about The Instance!
August 20th, 2009 at 3:12 am
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