The Podcast Review

this is a podcast that is pure talk.  Your host is Marilyn Braun and she has an ongoing obsession with the British Royal Family.  She follows their comings and goings, alliances and marriages, gossips and gawkings.  Honestly I just don’t know!  The name Kate Middleton seems to appear an unheathily number of times, and the names of these younger royals are unfamiliar to me.  I grew up in a time in Australia when the Queen and her entourage were major news events; that is, before the advent of True Celebrity – when the movie stars and models took over the Ultimate Spotlight.  So it is implanted in my infant memory the nature of awe and respect that these individuals commanded.  Such programming is hard to shake off.

in all seriousness, there was a time in our history when the Commanding Class demanded awe and a bended knee or bow.  Most of us have shaken this off, yet we continue to idolise.  Why can’t we accept our own self-sovereignty, and not hand over power to another being?

the podcast is a regular weekly production, and comes in under half an hour.  It is a self produced obsession and perhaps is fandom gone mad.

humorous, quirky, musative and an interesting sociological study.  The Royal Report is an intriguing experience.

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how a country views it’s neighbours gives great insight into that country itself.  This podcast, produced by ABC Radio National, looks at the Asian countries that border Australia.  It gives news, analysis, and interviews from Indonesia, China, and Japan, plus all the other asian nations in the region.  The stuff is timely, well produced, and a daily 30 minute fix.

unlikely to interest those outside Australia, Asia Pacific is quality information for an open mind.

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all radio national podcasts (a rich vein to explore)

this is another in a long line of gadget podcasts, but this one does the job with a minimum of fuss.  Released weekly, and an outgrowth of the main blog site – CrunchGear – it is a thirty minute summary of the latest shiny toys.  It has a minimum of personal chatter, but rather the panel of hosts focuses laser-like on the stories as they progress in a conveyor-belt-like fashion.

sometimes podcasts get a little too personal, a little too ego-centric; this one concentrates on the information and the commentary, and is an awesome digest and catchup for a runaway world.

Gadgets and associated devices define the modern world.  Stay in touch.

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sometimes it’s hard to stay in touch, despite the myriad of information sources we have around us.  Under a swamp of incoming sources, how best to distinguish the signals from the mere noise?  Finding our own information filters is a necessary part of adapting to the digital / internet lifestyle.  It’s the only way we can stay sane.

WYNC is a New York based radio station that has been in operation since 1922.  One of its flagship programs is the morning news show called ‘The Takeaway”.  The full four hour broadcast is available in the itunes store (link here) but most people aren’t going to plough through that.  A nice way to get a slice of it is through their “Story of the Day” cut, served up in podcast format

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the cuts themselves are a handy 10 minutes in length; enough to get into an issue and ask a few questions.  Expert opinions are sought, and the host juggles the various viewpoints with ease.  Topics are, quite understandably, often hot button political issues of the day; for eg, healthcare reform, and Obama’s seemingly omnipresent media whoring.  But societal issues feature too: with stories around digital distraction, and race amnesia having made an appearance.  All in all, it’s a wide ranging diet, and a nice little complement to your daily media intake.

well presented and well argued – well done.

Geek News Central is the podcast masterminded by Todd Cochrane; a keen advocate of podcasting and someone who works professionally in the field.  This podcast is a twice weekly look at the world of tech, with some searing personal analysis and insight.  Todd is the geek ne plus ultra, and is rather unusual in that he is based in Hawaii Honolulu, rather than in the two main tech hubs of California or New York.   The podcast runs for an hour, and is just one man talking; it takes some skill to carry this solo project off.

It is quite admirable what this one guys does; a testament to willpower and committed passion.  There are many tech podcasts out there, but few that are so infused with personal experience and truth.  This isn’t punditry – it is honest perception.  Well done Todd.

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Australia is notoriously renowned for being behind in tech.  We get things later, we pay more for them (just check out the apple store for aussie prices) and we are, quite frankly, sitting at the arse end of the world.  This disadvantage also extends beyond tech: because of the smaller market and distance, being served by amazon is a costly affair; therefore books are pricey, and although things have improved via the exchange rate recently, shipping from overseas is a killer.  So most Australians live in envy of other places.

and maybe we have our well-funded healthcare system, but I wonder if there are any benefits of living in such a place.  But enough of the dissing – onto the podcast.  Digital Life is a weekly talking show that looks at tech as perceived by Australians.  It has been running for about a year now, and the format has shifted in that time; it used to be much more structured with various news segments, but is now rather freeform – and I’m not sure it’s been a positive change.

The show runs for about half an hour, and there is a lot of object envy; talk of the latest camera releases. console developments, and mobile phone news.  And although there are other sources out there that will give you better indepth and current analysis, for an Australian audience, this podcast is a nice lifeline into what is *really* out there as valid options for this country.

and you know, thinking on it, there are times when I really wish I could live somewhere else

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this is a twice weekly podcast from two internet legends: John C. Dvorak, long time columnist for PC Magazine and host of the Cranky Geeks Show, and Adam Curry; former MTV host, and a proponent of podcasting from the early days.  Both are formidable personalities, and have strong and articulate opinions.  Both are also well versed in the arts of media manipulation, and can deconstruct what is going on in the world around us.  Shows are 90 minutes long and are totally donation supported.

The podcast began as an informal chat between two friends, and has evolved into a smorgasbord of  analysis and tangential segways.  Conspiracy Theory seems to feature highly in their “No Agenda” agenda, and it is quite astonishing to see this field given some serious consideration.  I was certainly not expecting the subject of orgone and Wilhelm Reich to come up!

a constant theme of the show is how conditioned modern human beings are.  We live in a constant matrix of information that is controlled from on-high.  Just exposing this simple fact is a service enough.  But the other insights that John (the Buzzkill) and Adam (the Crackpot) bring to the table are pure gold.  We are talking about years of profound experience.

there are lots of funny clips in this show, and lots of laughs to be had beside the serious material.

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mainstream media has seen a hit ever since the arrival of the internet – even back in the days of dialup and AOL.  The potential for an independent, distributed information source – this struck at the heart of established, institutionalised media.  The first to feel the punch was the media form closest to the web page – that of the daily newspaper run.  The instant, changeable, nature of the web seemed like a perfect replacement for the daily printing press.  And as internet speeds ramped up, and computers powered up, audio, then video, felt the all pervading crunch of the web.  The old grey men trembled.

And so those working in these old bastion media outlets have been witnessing the all consuming cancer of Free Information chewing their insides and revenue.  They lament the change.  They weep for the fall in standards.  They fear for their own now redundant positions.  They cry out.  But no-one is listening.  This new world of uninhibited, enfranchised data – this is bliss for minds starved of media freedom.

This podcast, from the Media Bistro group, tracks the daily decline of the media biz.  It has an especial focus on print; for this is where the layoffs are greatest and the greatest moves are being made.  Who knows, we may see one of the leading print dailies abandon their printing presses over the Christmas break.  Such a move would send repercussions around the globe.  Who would it be?  the Boston Globe?  the LA Times?  the Toronto Star?  We await.

the podcast is a daily 15 minute hit.  It serves up news, a focused interview, and personal reflections.  It is a daily reminder of how quickly things are changing.  With every minute we spend on facebook, twitter, and blogging, we move yet another keystroke away from print, from broadcast tv, from fm radio.  We are slowly merging with the cybernetic mind.  And in such a world, institutionalised monopolistic media entities are no longer required.  In fact, they are positively redundant and shunned.  Amen to that.

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this is a video podcast; it alternates between a tea and chat with prominent figures (economists, scientists, prime ministers), short news clips from the scene (highlighting certain issues such as jazz diplomacy and border policing) and narrated video ‘postcards’; when video is too bulky and difficult to do (such as when heading into deepest Afghanistan to investigate child brides, or covering scenes in India).

Now, the Economist is a fine print magazine, and is supplemented beautifully by its website.  This video feed just completes the package.  Video episodes are posted two or three times a week, and are well produced.  They are also the perfect length; running from 5 to 10 minutes each.  An easily digestible piece of world happenings.

staying informed has never been easier than with this elegant podcast.

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