PodcastsOfInterest
Here is a rundown of the podcasts I'm listening to as of December 2009, with some notes and reviews. If you have exactly the same tastes as I do then you will probably love all of these.
I highly recommend PodTrapper for listening to podcasts on a Blackberry. That's what I use every day and it is well worth the $9.99.
Now on to the podcasts...
Stack Overflow
Joel Spolsky and Jeff Atwood discuss programming and system administration topics. For serious computer geeks / programmers only. Can be a bit amateurish and uneven but also completely full of interesting insight.
Cranky Geeks
John C. Dvorak leads a panel of tech journalists in a half-hour news review and commentary every week. Caveat: this is really a panel-based video show, but the audio-only stream works fairly well. My main criticism is there is too much advertising, but the quality of the discussion makes up for that.
Jordan, Jesse GO!
Jordan Morris and Jesse Thorn run this loose commentary and interview show. Covers topics of interest to twenty-somethings and also thirty-somethings desperately trying to hold on to their last shred of hipness. Oh wait, that's me.
MacBreak Weekly
This podcast is yet another part of the Leo Laporte podcasting empire. This long-form roundtable podcast covers all things tech-related as they relate to the Mac world. Serious mac geeks only. One thing I really like about all the Laporte podcasts is that the advertising is well-targeted and not annoying.
The Sound of Young America
Jesse Thorn and Jordan Morris started this podcast as a weekly radio show on the UC Santa Cruz radio station KZSC back around 2000. After college Jordan left (but later came back for Jordan Jesse GO!, see above) and Jesse spun TSOYA off into a one-man interview show. Later it was picked up by Public Radio International and once again became a radio show.
The current TSOYA consists mainly of Thorn doing short-form interviews of comedians, musicians, and authors. I find many of the books I read by listening to this podcast. Highly recommended.
ps - note that you call it TSOYA if you are cool.
Scientific American Science Talk Podcast
Scientific American magazine, in podcast format. For reasons I can't put my fingers on this podcast is starting to bore me. I think my annoyance has to do with the cutesy way the podcast is run. I'm probably going to drop it from my list in the near future.
this WEEK in TECH
Leo Laporte's flagship technology review show. If you liked Leo on The Screensavers or on the radio, this is the show for you. A rotating panel of journalists and tech enthusiasts covers the week's tech news. My one complaint about this show is it tends to focus too much on the hot topic of the week, with the result that it covers twitter far too much.
Uhh Yeah Dude
America Through the Eyes of Two American Americans. Jonathan Laroquette (John Laroquette's son) and Seth Romatelli discuss news of the world and make fun of idiocy. If you are disaffected and in your thirties this podcast will speak to you. My top podcast of the moment, as I belong to both demographics.
WTF with Marc Maron
Marc Maron takes his former leftist liberal radio talk show and moves it to the web (since apparently left-wing talk radio can't survive - why is that?). Interviews and stream-of-consciousness monologues, TSOYA crossed with UYD.
This is where 'the new sincerity' crosses over into a-hole territory. Snark to the nth degree. Merlin Mann, Scott Simpson, and Adam Lisagor concoct elaborate and completely unusable business plans. John Hodgman is the narrator so you know it's legit.
So...
I'm Phil and I have a podcast problem.
