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It’s certainly not a directory, but here’s a list of what I consider to be good for keeping up with tech news and general geekiness and what’s been chopped from my iTunes because it went downhill…
What’s hot?
- The Archers – the only soap opera worth bothing with!
- Friday Night Comedy from the BBC. Taking over the Now Show’s feed, I get the News Quiz or the Now Show (whichever is in season), delivered to me automatically. Just a shame that licencing restrictions mean any commercial music is removed from the podcast version…
- Guardian Tech Weekly – as the title suggest, a weekly technology update from The Gruniad. Definitely worth a listen.
- Tekzilla. 1 minute daily tips with an end-of week tech magazine show.
- Wired UK Podcast – a bit geeky at times and a bit too consumer-focused, but I like it.
And what’s not?
The Anderson Tapes. Clive Anderson’s weekly podcast for the Telegraph.Only ran for one series and sometimes the humour was a little too predictable.The Digital Story. Derek Story has a lot of advice but I also have a stack of unlistened episodes…I never did manage to get into this one.FLOSS Weekly. Interesting interviews with pioneers and leaders from the world of open source software.Unfortunately Leo Laporte butts in a little too often.FT Digital Business podcast. This one’s a new one on me… could turn out to be an interesting insight into the world of business IT.Probably really interesting but I have too many podcasts to listen to and so little time.iLifeZone. Podcast about the iApps on the Mac.Too many of Scott Bourne’s Mac fanboy views. Too much Mac elitism.In Business. Interesting insight into global business issues.Interesting, but another podcast that I never found enough time to listen to regularly.Inside the Net. Amber MacArthur and Leo Laporte used to interview lots of interesting Web 2.0 people. Then it went over to a live format (Net at Night) and I stopped listening.MacBreak Tech. Sometimes interesting. Sometimes dull. Sometimes displaying complete ignorance for anything not developed in Cupertino and given a fancy UI.Changed names to Inside the Black Box and then stopped.MacBreak. Pretty cool video podcast with lots of tips and tricks.I prefer Tekzilla though…MacBreak Weekly. This one nearly got the chop for getting too long and being too fanboyish. Still there for the time being but on probation…Would be cool if it was just Merlin Mann, Alex Lindsay and Andy Ihnatko.MacFormat – This Week. A bi-weekly podcast with news, reviews and tech tips from the world of the Macintosh.Saved me from reading the print magazine, which is probably why they stopped producing it!MAKE Magazine podcast.Still waiting for me to find the time to watch some episodes…Pad Addicts. British iPad podcast. Terrible production and presenters lacked any kind of authority. Imagine Chris Moyles ranting on about the iPad, but worse.PixelPerfect.Still waiting for me to find the time to watch some episodes…Podgrunt. It promised to tell us how to create podcasts but sadly it never got past the first episode.Red Hat Magazine. A bi-monthly podcast that promised much from the world of open source but stopped being updated in November 2006.Security Now. Interesting reviews of security issues. Sometimes a bit ignorant to enterprise IT issues – but certainly worth a listen for Steve Gibson‘s view on security.Leo Laporte drove me mad – I had to stop listening to this.Slashdot Review. A roundup of the day’s news from Slashdotbut it sent me to sleep… (not good whilst driving!)Systm. A cool video podcast featuring loads of tech DIY projects. Originally started by Kevin Rose (of Digg fame), then off air for a while but came back to our screens in May 2007.Disappeared again.This Week In Photography. Great digital photography podcast with some interesting guests. Even Scott Bourne’s not too annoying on this one and lots of interesting videos in the feed between the weekly audio shows. Too bad they spend so much time bragging about top-end Nikon and Canon DSLRs that most of us can only dream about…The episodes started getting a little too long, Frederick Van Johnson seemed to always ask the same question of all the guests, and I tuned out…This Week In Tech. Started out as a great review of the week’s news. Then got too big for it’s boots – too much “personality” and not enough news. Culled from my iTunes after 3 years of listening…Videogrunt. Could have been so good but suddenly stopped broadcasting after just 5 episodes of (very high quality) content.Windows Weekly. Microsoft-focused Podcast with Paul Thurrott and Leo Laporte. Slightly too consumer-focused for my liking but that’s the way it is. Luckily they stopped doing phone-in episodes but I fear they may well start again now that the TWiT network is going “live”.This was the last of the TWiT podcasts to drop out of my list, but I couldn’t stand any more of Leo.You and Yours Environment. Topical “Green” consumer issues.The BBC changed the way they distribute this and I stopped listening.
[Last updated 3 June 2008]
[Updated 21 September 2008]
[Updated 17 January 2009]
[Updated 5 April 2011]
[Updated 7 October 2011: converted from page to post; no longer “sticky”]
Nice list Mark, thanks for sharing. You have some of my own tastes. Will try the Tekzilla one. If you like the Friday night Radio 4 pods, check out Clive Anderson’s Telegraph round-up for the week. Its quite funny. Also no Daily GizWiz ;-) ( In know, the twit network is sometimes a chore to keep up with.
hey mark.. thanks a lot for the list dude..
These will be very much helpful for me..
Thanks for sharing.. :)
Not really a ‘constructive’ suggestion, but if you’re in the mood to listen to some top-quality comedy then I strongly recommend listening to the Russell Brand podcast. It is probably the best podcast I have ever listened to, even better than the old Ricky Gervais ones.
You should also try Runas Radio: http://www.runasradio.com/about.aspx
Hi Luke – I’ll give that one a go! It sounds remarkably similar to what James and I are trying to do with Coalface Tech!
Mark, a quick question, did you ever work in NZ or come from NZ. Your name is familiar however there maybe 100000… Mark Wilsons so just finding you tonight while surfing is interesting.
Hi John,
Nope – I spent a while in Oz (including some time working) – and I visited NZ on my honeymoon. As you say, Mark Wilson is a pretty popular name!
Cheers, Mark
I like how you just put a cross over the ones you don’t listen to anymore instead of just deleting them.
-Kai
Thanks Mark, any U.K Enterprise IT technology podcasts that you can recommend – you listen to some of the same U.S ones that I do. What about Dvorak? His Tech5 isn’t bad although I dropped it because his bubbling cauldron background audio just annoys the hell out of me – his Cranky Geeks video podcast isn’t bad either if you’re a [former] TWIT listner.
I am a subscribe to Tekzilla and a few of your other podcasts you have listed here so I may check out other links;
Don’t know if you have checked out hak5 (also from revision 3) you may find it geeky enough.
@Winston – there seems to be a definite glut of enterprise-focused podcasts. Guardian TechWeekly gets close at times, but I think there is a niche waiting to be filled.
@Paul – I keep considering Hak5… just haven’t found the time. Most of my podcast listening is in-car so video podcasts tend to stack up unwatched for me!