I’ve always been into technology, it’s always fascinated me and though I don’t get into it as much as I’d like, I try to keep up with the latest things. Because I have a really long commute I listen to a lot of podcasts, so that is primarily how I keep up with the technology news. Here are my top 10 sources of technology related news and information, roughly ordered by how much I personally value them.
1. Bwana McCall – number one on my list is Bwana who does technology and gaming news and reviews, he has both an audio podcast at http://radio.bwana.org/ and a video podcast as well as live streaming at http://www.bwana.tv/. He’s a very engaging personality and entertains at the same time as he informs. If I could only listen to one tech podcast, this would probably be it.
2. DL.TV – a video tech show with Robert Heron of PCMag.com, this is another extremely entertaining and informative show on technology and gaming news and reviews. Currently on hiatus according to the web site, I really hope this show comes back soon and continues with it’s great content. You can find past shows at http://dl.tv/
3. ExtremeTech – Extreme tech is just that, extreme, this website/podcast gets into the nitty gritty details of technology. If you really want to learn about technology, this is one you’ve got to listen to. And perhaps surprisingly, I find it entertaining as well. You can find it at http://www.extremetech.com/, and the direct RSS feed for the podcast is http://feeds.ziffdavis.com/ziffdavis/extremetech
4. CrankyGeeks – John C. Dvorak has been a figure in the technology world for as long as I can remember, he was doing articles for PC Magazine when I became interested in computer technology back in the 80’s. CrankyGeeks is an irreverent commentary on things going on in the world of technology. Find it at http://www.crankygeeks.com/ and Dvorak’s personal blog is at http://www.dvorak.org/blog/.
5. Hanselminutes – Scott Hanselman is a web developer, technologist and evangelist for Microsoft with a very good podcast on development that leans primarily toward the Microsoft technologies, notably .Net. If you’re a programmer this is well worth your while to listen to, even if you’re not developing in .Net, you can find it at http://hanselminutes.com/. Also check out his blog at http://www.hanselman.com/blog/
6. DotNet Rocks – The premier podcast for .Net programmers, this show is another one that’s worth while to listen to, even if you not involved in .Net development. Anyone who developed in Visual Basic back in the old days should know the host Carl Franklin, the Carl from the Carl and Gary’s website which was *the* website back in the day for VB programmers. With co-host Richard Campbell, they put out shows twice a week that cover a variety of development topics. You can find them at http://dotnetrocks.com/, and also checkout http://dnrtv.com/ for video tutorials that cover .Net technologies.
7. Podnutz – a podcast about computer repair done by Steve Cherubino, this podcast goes over basic computer repairs from the viewpoint of an independent computer repair shop. There is a “daily” show that comes out a couple times a week where Steve goes over the repair issues encountered in the shop that week, and a monthly show that covers a specific computer repair topic, usually with a guest. A good show if you are in the computer repair business or just want to pick up a few tips, he can be a bit disorganized at times on the daily show but all in all a good and informative show. You can find these and some other podcasts that Steve participates in at http://podnutz.com/.
8. Chris Pirillo aka the Lockergnome – I first became aware of Chris Pirillo many, many years ago when he started Lockergnome and started sending out tips by e-mail. Those e-mails contained a wealth of useful things and to this day I think I still have some in my e-mail archives. These days Chris as built up a big web presence in the technology arena with http://chris.pirillo.com/ and http://www.lockergnome.com/. Streaming live video 24/7/365 at http://chris.pirillo.com/live/, he’s there most of the time recording videos and interacting with the chat room. He generates a prodigious number of short videos, answering questions he gets about a variety of technology related topics. He does an annual conference called Gnomdex that you can get more information about at http://www.gnomedex.com/ and his latest endeavor is http://geeks.pirillo.com/ an online community for geeks. If I have one thing I don’t like about Chris these days it’s that he seems to be more focused on building and monetizing his web presence than the technology itself, at least that’s the impression comes through to me. I have to admit he does a good job of it and if that’s what you want to learn, he’s a good one to look to for tips. Still, he’s one of the better resources on the web for tech information in an entertaining format.
9. TWiT – Leo Laporte is probably the most prolific tech guys out there, he’s got numerous tech related shows and a large following. Found at http://twit.tv/, the main show I listen to is this WEEK in TECH which is a bit of a long listen at 1 1/2 hours but is an entertaining tech roundtable discussion with various guests. It’s a good one to listen to while driving, but still being something you can skip if you don’t have the time.
10. Make Magazine – Finally, we have the Make Magazine video podcasts. If you are a tinkerer and like to take things apart and use the bits to make things, this is the magazine and podcast for you. The magazine is a bit pricy, but is very high quality. The podcast is free, however, and covers articles that are in the magazine. You can find it at http://blog.makezine.com/podcast/
Those are my current top 10 podcasts/blogs/sources for technology news, reviews and commentary.
What are your favorites?
