I listen to a lot of podcasts.
At most times, you will find my iPhone and a pair of bluetooth headphones (I have an like Jaybird’s Sportsband and Freedom headphones) either on my person or near me.
I also listen to most podcasts at double-speed. On average, I listen about three hours a day, consuming roughly six hours of podcast a day.
Most of the content that I listen to would fit in the Technical and Scientific genres, which suits my profession and curiosity of how things work. Here are the top podcasts that I enjoyed in 2011 and why. I listen to about 20 podcasts, but these nine are far superior than the rest of the pack.
The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe
By far, this is my favorite podcast. It’s a weekly one-hour science podcast that helps me sharpen my critical thinking, reason, and public understanding of science. The five hosts are fun, intelligent, and have a way of making science and critical thinking entertaining. I’ve listed, learned, and laughed through all 336 episodes over the course of six years.
Security Now
Hackers spend their time finding ways to compromise our computers and websites. Steve Gibson, the host of this podcasts, discusses their methods and latest exploits each week. Although it has focus on consumer technology (I wish he covered more enterprise solutions), it’s packed full of information. I’ve listed to more than 300 episodes.
Tech News Today
A daily podcast converting the latest consumer and (some) enterprise technology news. When I don’t have time to keep up with my Google Reader RSS feed, TNT gives me my fix.
Online VMware Training by Eric Sloof
I am a VMware vSphere, View, and ThinApp engineer; so much of my time is spent using VMware solutions. Eric is a VMware instructor who creates some excellent video tutorials for free.
Windows Weekly
I also use a lot of Microsoft solutions. Windows Weekly focuses mostly on consumer Microsoft solutions, but is still provides me a helpful pulse on all things Windows.
Freakonomics
I discovered this only a few months ago, but it contains interesting insights and stories. My favorite mix of entertaining education.
RadioLab
No one tells stories that are scientific and philosophical nature better than RadioLab.
This American Life
This podcasts features essays, memoirs, field recordings, short fiction, and found footage. If I wasn’t in IT, I’d want to be a TAL reporter.
The Moth
Real people telling real stories in front of a life audience. Most of them are good for a laugh, some are inspirational, and a few make your heart sink.
My favourite padcast is the Long Now lecture series (like TED, but more in-depth).
The Long Now Foundation is an initiative of Brian Eno & Steward Brand, it promotes long-term responsibility. https://longnow.org/seminars/
For instance, this lecture was a good one: “How Language Shapes Thought” https://longnow.org/seminars/02010/oct/26/how-language-shapes-thought/
The Q&A at the end is always interesting.