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What podcasts are worth listening too?

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The biggest problem with Twit is that a lot of their reoccurring guests are biased towards Apple and have not used anything besides Apple in 10 years so they are unable to really speak objectively about anything.
 
Wait Wait Don't Tell Me - NPR comedic current events show

the MOTH Story Hour - NPR show where people tell stories based upon a theme of the show. Rules are they can't recite with notes but have to recite on stage from memory. the MOTH is great - I went to a MOTH Grand Slam event (winners from smaller MOTH events) in Brooklyn and it was a fantastic night out
 
I listen to a lot; but these are the ones in my regular rotation (and which have not been mentioned yet). Most people here just listen to tech stuff, so thought I would throw out some more variety, for those interested:

Film Junk - Film reviews. Probably the first podcast I listened to and still my favourite.
Comedy Bang Bang - Comedy, generally with a guest and some characters.
Slate's Political Gabfest - Left leaning, but interesting and insightful
Whistle Stop - Short episodes, but cool election stories
Never Not Funny - Comedy with guests (no characters)
With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus - Improv show by the girl from Orange is the New Black and Jurassic World
A Cast of Kings - Games of Thrones pod. One reader, one non-reader. They don't spoil the books though except for a special season 1 re-watch/book read they did.
The Gist - Smart/funny guy talks about politics and everything else.
Get Up on This - Mainly pop culture stuff; they try to introduce you to things before they get big
WOMP It Up! - Spinoff of Comedy Bang Bang by one of Jessica St' Clair's character. Absurd, but it makes me laugh a lot.
Rock Solid - Spinoff from Never Not Funny. One host and 4 rotating co-hosts. Pick a topic, then play songs they like based on that topic.
The X-Files Files - Superfan Kumail Nanjiai from Silicon Valley goes through The X-Files from the beginning and discusses the episodes.
Doughboys - Two comedy guys and a guest review fast/chain restaurants. Combines two of my favourite things, comedy and food.

KT
 
I listen to a lot of the TWIT shows, The Clark Howard Show and occasionally the iMore Show. Just started listening to Serial.
 
ultimatebob said:
TWIT used to be great before the advent of Twitter. After that, it became more like "This Week In Social Media". That got annoying fast.
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I used to listen to TWIT, I was a fan of Leo's ever since I first saw the Screen Savers on ZDTV back in 1998 or so. Recently he's become more of a jerk and you can read about some of the stuff here: https://totaldrama.net/
 
Shlong said:
I used to listen to TWIT, I was a fan of Leo's ever since I first saw the Screen Savers on ZDTV back in 1998 or so. Recently he's become more of a jerk and you can read about some of the stuff here: https://totaldrama.net/
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In defense of Leo, Dvorak is kind of an asshole. He's basically making a living by rewording press releases into tech magazine "articles", and really doesn't seen to understand the technical details of the products he reviews. That didn't stop him from having a misguided opinion on everything, though. He should have retired about a decade ago, but he's still out there...
 
Shlong said:
I used to listen to TWIT, I was a fan of Leo's ever since I first saw the Screen Savers on ZDTV back in 1998 or so. Recently he's become more of a jerk and you can read about some of the stuff here: https://totaldrama.net/
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That website is disturbing. For someone who hates him so much, the author listens to TWIT all day every day just to write something negative about Leo. This guy needs to get laid. Probably hates that Leo is married to a nympho.
 
ultimatebob said:
Something a bit more "hard core"? How about a16z and Accidental Tech Podcast? You're starting to move away from general tech and more into the developer realm with those, though.
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Thanks for bumping this with your suggestions, I have a new phone with more storage (64GB).

I need to d/l some of these podcasts, about 30 minutes is ideal for my commute.
 
Crono said:
Here are the podcasts I listen to:

99% Invisible - covers a wide spectrum of interesting topics, mostly historical
All About Android - weekly Android news and app picks (TWiT network)
Android Central - weekly Android news and reviews
Android Police - weekly Android news and reviews (different people than above, slightly funnier group)
Car Talk - these are rebroadcasts of an old car call-in radio show on NPR, but still funny and interesting
Common Sense with Dan Carlin - Dan Carlin uses his knowledge of history and applies it to modern politics and other subjects
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History - in-depth examination of various historical subjects
Exponent - tech news analysis and discussion of the broader impacts of technology, featuring Ben Thompson (Stratechery) and James Allworth
The Fantasy Footballers - highly entertaining and informative fantasy football podcast
Fantasy Football Today - fantasy football news and advice
Food Programme - BBC podcast about food in the UK and throughout the world
Freakonomics Radio - NPR podcast on statistics/economics (in a very broad, non-technical sense) and how they apply to real life (looking at "unintended consequences" is probably the biggest theme of the show)
Fresh Air - one of the best interview shows, hosted by Terry Gross of NPR
Gastropod - the science and history of food
Hidden Brain - podcast exploring what I would call practical human pyschology (what motivates people, how we respond to various conditions and situations, etc).
How To Do Everything - two NPR podcasters tackle how to do random things that listeners ask for help with
Invisibilia - NPR podcast on a variety of interesting topics regarding human behavior
MacBreak Weekly - weekly Apple news (TWiT network)
Myths and Legends - topical podcast on various myths and legends from throughout the world and through history
No Agenda - deconstruction of news media with John C. Dvorak and Adam Curry
Planet Money - NPR podcast about the vagaries and hidden side of business and economics (usually high-level economics/macroeconomics, with more of a global focus but also national stories as well)
PC Perspective - computer hardware podcast hosted by Ryan Shrout with PCPer regular contributors... closest thing to AnandTech's
Radiolab - very broad and engaging NPR podcast that does a good job with sound production and weaving short interviews and narrative to draw you in
Science Friday - science news
Security Now - computer and tech security with Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte (TwiT network)
Stuff You Should Know - an "average Joe" look at and explanation of not just how things work, but broader topics as well (but usually framed as "How ____ Works" each episode)
Stuff You Missed in History Class - exploration of lesser known historical topics
The Cracked Podcast - if you are familiar with Cracked.com, it's hosted by a few of their writers, but they focus more on tropes of television and film (some of their episodes are repetitive, but they have some really good theories and deep dives into topics)
The Tech Guy - 2x weekend call-in show with Leo Laporte (TWiT network)
This American Life - another NPR thematic storytelling program done by a few journalists and hosted by Ira Glass
This Week in Google - podcast mainly about Google but also covering other online journalism and social media topics (TWiT network)
This Week in Law - podcast about the intersection of technology and law, hosted by lawyers... can be a little dry, sometimes (TWiT network)
This Week in Tech - weekly roundtable on tech news hosted by Leo Laporte with guest tech journalists (TWiT network)
Windows Weekly - Microsoft and Windows coverage, with Leo Laporte, Mary Jo Foley, and Paul Thurrott (TWiT network)
XDA Developer's Podcast - smartphone and mobile tech news and discussion (Android leaning obviously because it's XDA, but it's more general news than rooting and ROMing)
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Do you listen to History of Rome from Mike Duncan?
 
ultimatebob said:
Something a bit more "hard core"? How about a16z and Accidental Tech Podcast? You're starting to move away from general tech and more into the developer realm with those, though.
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a16z is good but you have to be able to stomach the extremely obnoxious partners.

Also, Exchanges at Goldman Sachs is a great all around financial/economic podcast that gets published once or twice a month. They talk a lot about technology too.

On a lighter note, Limetown and Night Vale are pretty good fictional podcasts, though I admit I lost interest in both.

Hardcore History is good, but sometimes I feel like Dan Carlin is a little bit loose with the actual history in order to weave an interesting story. Someone at SAForums said that the more familiar they are with the historical events he's talking about, the less they like the show. I've found that to be true too.

I hated Serial. I'm not going to pretend that I know Adnan Syed was guilty or innocent, but I didn't think that Sarah Koenig told a compelling story of injustice at all. I found her to be grating as fuck. If you want to see some real injustice shit, check these out. (I know, not podcasts, sorry.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Central_Park_Five
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-confessions

Great thread.
 
Blackjack200 said:
Hardcore History is good, but sometimes I feel like Dan Carlin is a little bit loose with the actual history in order to weave an interesting story. Someone at SAForums said that the more familiar they are with the historical events he's talking about, the less they like the show. I've found that to be true too.
.
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I've just finished up on Death Throes of the Republic , he a pretty good story teller and i like how he goes off on a tangent at times.
 
Almost all that I listen to has been listed already with the exception of In Our Time in which Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of ideas.

To give an idea the most recent topics were:
Zeno's paradoxes
The invention of photography
sovereignty
Bronze age collapse
penicillin

This is a BBC broadcast so I'm unsure if its available outside the UK!
 
Pretty much all of mine have been listed, so I won't go over them again. I really wish podcast apps would get together and create a rating system for individual episodes. I have so many podcasts to listen to that I think auto-cleanup kills off some gems that I should have listened to instead of stinkers. If I could glance and see what episodes were rated */10 and make my decisions that way...
 
ultimatebob said:
In defense of Leo, Dvorak is kind of an asshole. He's basically making a living by rewording press releases into tech magazine "articles", and really doesn't seen to understand the technical details of the products he reviews. That didn't stop him from having a misguided opinion on everything, though. He should have retired about a decade ago, but he's still out there...
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I remember Dvorak telling stories of being a hack journalist on TWiT, that is nothing new. Also I have listed to No Agenda and knowing Dvorak I don't think they believe what they preach, that link is right, Steve Gibson is in the same boat.
 
NeverNotFunny is a personal favorite. I trend to comedy to make my commutes tolerable.

There's a lot to love in podcasts these days.

Doughboys, Womp It Up, Hollywood Handbook all sit atop the rest.

The Daily for news.
 
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