This week's installment is the Podcast Zeitgeist of second chances, and probably the last such post for a good long while. I'll continue to listen to a few favorites, but a hiatus is in order. This started as an effort to make some notes about what worked for me as a listener. But it became an exhausting and time-consuming exercise, particularly since I sampled many more hours than I ever wrote about. It was cutting into my Twittering time. At some point I may summarize what I have learned, or not.[See all lists.]
Podcast Zeitgeist, Jan. 19
Welcome to the Podcast Zeitgeist list: presented in apparently random order, at inconsistent intervals, its purpose obscure, its usefulness in doubt, its taste questionable, its methods and motives suspect. [See all lists.]
Podcast Zeitgeist, Jan. 10
The list this week is tech-heavy and later than usual, mainly because of the "last" MacWorld Expo. {See all lists].
- MacBreak Weekly 122: Macworld Expo Live from the floor at Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Leo Laporte gathered some of his stalwarts, following the last Apple keynote (the company is pulling out of the convention, a fact that seemed to hang over this event with sadness). The discussion focuses on the high points of the keynote presentation from Phil Schiller of Apple: improvements to iMovie editing; new iPhoto features like facial recognition, geo-tagging, and integration with Flickr; the new 17-inch MacBook Pro; and the end of DRM on iTunes. General agreement that Schiller is no Steve Jobs when it comes to giving a speech. Many of the panelists are camera geeks who don't use iPhoto, so they are hoping that some of the features will be ported to Aperture, Apple's high-end photo software. No real picks, though Boxee was plugged; some good show notes are here. I also watched a short 5-minute MacBreak video podcast featuring Merlin Mann pestering people on the convention floor. It was amusing with low information content. Length: 1 hour 9 minutes. Released: Jan. 6.
- Mac OS Ken: 01.07.2009, 01.08.2009, 01.08.2009 Ken Ray puts out brief roundups of Mac news six days a week. I used to listen to him every morning, but then it got to be just too much information. Still, he does a great job, so I checked back in for his MacWorld coverage. The first episode this week started out with listener predictions for keynote announcements and fan voicemails, then covered the basics from Phil Schiller's presentation of iPhoto, iMovie and so forth. He seems a tad disappointed at the shortage of new hardware this year from Apple. Thursday's episode featured a conversation with Glen Roberts, product manager for HP Media Smart Server, and about how the high-end product was getting by in a struggling economy. It uses Windows home server, so you need a network with both Macs and PCs, but it is Mac-friendly. Ken talks fast and transmits a lot of data, and he's promising more interviews from the show. He admits to be wiped out and jetlagged. Interestingly, he provides better insights and sounds more awake on the rival MacCast (see below). The final episode featured interviews with Microsoft's Mac Business Unit and the CEO of MarketCircle and listeners' voicemail reactions to the Schiller keynote. Many are not happy with Apple pulling the plug on its Expo participation. Length: Ranged from 10 to 20 minutes. Released: Jan. 7, 8, 9.
- The Mac Observer's Mac Geek Gab 185: Live From the Macworld Expo Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun thought Schiller did a good job with the keynote. They note the auditorium was not full, as it always was for Steve Jobs. An extensive discussion of the technical challenges of covering past keynotes, followed by extensive discussion of how they live-blogged this one. There are several technical interruptions. They get down to business chewing over the same few morsels as other podcasters. Some gripes about the new battery in the 17-inch MacBook, which is not replaceable. They point out that in introducing Tony Bennett, Schiller made a bit of a gaffe, calling the show the "last Macworld Expo." Of course while Apple won't be there next year, the hall is booked. This is a bit of a meandering show with a lot of geeky digressions, but that seems to be part of its charm, as well as the reason I am not a regular listener. Length: 53:38 minutes. Released: Jan 7.
- The MacCast: Macworld 2009 Keynote Wrapup Adam Christianson discusses his impressions from sitting in the audience at Schiller's keynote. He is joined by his fellow podcasters Victor Cajiao (Typical Mac User) and Ken Ray (Mac OS Ken). Ken points out that Schiller made a point that 3.4 million users per week visit Apple stores, which is 100 times the number of people that the company used to reach at MacWorld Expo. "It was kind of harsh... It wasn't even subtext. It was text: 'We don't need this.'" Victor: "It was hurtful." Adam hopes Macworld continues as a community event in future years. They still give his performance high marks. Face recognition in iPhoto "kind of creepy." Cool aspects of geocoding for sorting. This podcast also has the best explanation of the value of the 99-cent Keynote iphone app. Ken thinks the charge is weird. More complaints about the MacBook battery. Compared to the other Macworld podcasts, this was the clearest and most thorough, and also the calmest, perhaps because it was recorded in a quieter location. Length: 1:32:42 Released: Jan. 7.
- Typical Mac User Podcast: Macworld Expo Post Keynote Wrapup Victor Cajaio's podcast. I was dreading the thought of listening to another hour and a half discussion of Phil Schiller's presentation, so I was happy to discover that it was identical to the Maccast above. Length: 1:28:35. Released: Jan. 6.
- This Week in Tech 176: Fat in the MiddleLate in the week, I finally got around to this one, which was recorded before Macworld and the CES consumer technology show, which started on Thursday in Las Vegas, presenting technology fans with a choice. Leo Laporte is joined by John C. Dvorak, Robert Scoble, and the Houston Chronicle tech reporter Dwight Silverman (who said he was skipping Macworld for CES). Laporte blames Twitter and social media for celebrity nerd feuds. They give their predictions, which were mostly on the mark (17-inch MacBook and its non-replaceable battery had both leaked, but the iTunes DRM decision had not). They were rightly skeptical of iPhone Nano rumors. Some discussion of 3D TVs: still too blurry. The value of location-aware laptops.The new Palm Phone and the "fat middle." (Seems like a tough fight ahead for Palm.) On the PC side, discussion of the Windows 7 beta and dead Zune day. At the conferences: The weirdness of being covered by an audience of live-bloggers, heads down, clicking away. Why bother going? It's better to watch the game on TV. They end with an interesting and alarming discussion of remote law enforcement hacking of home computers in England, without a warrant. This somehow segues into Dvorak comparing treatment of Martha Stewart and Bernie Madoff. All entertaining. Length: A manageable 1 hour, 8 minutes. Released: Jan. 4.
- Net@Night: Fly the Friendly Skies Yes, more from Laporte. He's the undisputed tech-podcast king. This one is a sometimes overlooked gem, featuring Laporte and Amber MacArthur talking about cool sites, viral media and online happenings. A previous episode's interview with Mr. Tweet inspired me to ramp up my twittering (both reading and posting). Robert Scoble was on last week talking about microblogging and the real-time Web. This week, Laporte talks briefly about his Macworld presentation about the crumbling mass media monopoly (not available online). Other topics included layoffs at Livejournal, Facebook Connect, the simple hack and security flaw that upended Twitter on Monday (compromising the accounts of Laporte, Barack Obama, Fox News and others). Tip: Don't use dictionary words for passwords, especially if you're an administrator on a network. The hour also features good discussions and explanations of Blip.FM, a sort of social networking music playlist service, and the indie-music sharing service Amaze.Fm. A brief chat with MrCalzone, developer of the Google slapper gog.is (just type http://gog.is/KEYWORD.KEYWORD where each KEYWORD separated by points represents the search terms the person asking you for information should have Googled). Leo notes that he Friend-ed too many people on Facebook and has no room for his actual friends and family members now joining. (Leo, you can drop me.) The viral video of the week is the Onion's overexposed and only kind of funny spoof video (The MacBook Wheel) and an interview with Micah Mazier, host of the podcast of the week, Lucas County Choppers, featuring four air traffic controllers and their motorcycles. Length: 1 hour, 1 minute. Released: Jan 7.
- This Week in Media 120: Cotton, Salt and a Bubble Machine and 121: The Good, the Ad and the Ugly More enjoyable new media discussions from a panel led by Daisy Whitney. I'm catching up here. The first of these episodes included a discussion of the Kindle and e-books, YouTube battles and Hulu, and the greatest nude scenes in movies, and it felt a bit like holiday filler. This week's episode is more informative, with a discussion of some recent smart moves by Netflix, part of a trend that ought to worry cable companies. Semantic distinctions matter: Netflix uses the term viewers understand -- "movie rental" -- instead of "pay per view." The Time Warner-Viacom battle. A discussion of iPhone applications, including the translator that was co-host Alex Lindsay's pick last week on MacBreak Weekly. The panel also discusses what works best for a podcast: a strict format or a loose conversation. Consensus: It depends on the target audience, and the host. Does it make sense for a small business like a dry cleaner to have a podcast? Some on the panel think it could work, with the right creative concept. Lindsay: "If it is not seen as something that is impartial, or somewhat impartial, no one will listen..." He's right. Lengths: 56 minutes; and 1 hour, 4 minutes. Released: Dec. 30 and Jan. 6.
- Uhh Yeah Dude, Episode 148 After all that tech talk, I needed a break. In their explicit comedy podcast, Jonathan Larroquette and Seth Romatelli riff this week on dumb laws, cocaine-loving bees, the hazards of third-hand smoke. idiots who shoot guns in the air on New Year's Eve, the world's stupidest bank robber, the Jan. 16 opening of the Notorious B.I.G. biopic and the movie "Mall Cop,," a drunk woman who hit on Jonathan on Christmas Eve, truck antlers, and the oldest person in the world, Gertrude Baines, 114, who lives around the corner. Way back in Episode 112 in April 2008, they described a visit to her at a nearby nursing home, when she was merely the third-oldest person in the world. She outlasted the competition. Seth: "We totally like lamped at her place... and we have pictures to prove this." Length: 1 hour, 15 minutes. Released: Jan. 6.
Podcast Zeitgeist, Jan. 1
There has been a lot of chatter about the podcasting business model, and whether it has been a failure. That talk intensified when a major commercial podcaster, Podango, warned recently that its death seemed to be near. None of this is of concern to me: I leave business models to the money people. My interest is content.I had more free time than usual this week, so the list is longer than usual (in the order I listened). [See all lists.]
Podcast Zeitgeist, Dec. 26
The mix this week is more culture than tech. Most of the podcasts I sample were off for the holidays, or they had recorded episodes in advance, so I went a little farther afield. [See all lists.]
- The Dinner Party Download, Episode 12 "The show that helps you win your next dinner party." A breezy podcast from Brendan Newnam and Rico Gagliano of 89.33 KPC public radio in Los Angeles. It starts with an icebreaker joke: "A penguin walks into a bar..." On to small talk, based on news tips from American Public Media reporters: How big of a wallet would you need to carry all the cash from the Madoff scheme? This big. Then it's on to a history lesson and related cocktail. The lesson: Why General Grant was bad for the Jews. The drink: an ounce of bourbon, an ounce of apple brandy, sugar or honey topped with hot water, a mix of North and South. An interview with David Fincher, director of "Benjamin Button." A food segment about mozzarella, including mozzarella restaurants and bars like Obikà in New York. A 30-second music clip (Low's "Just Like Christmas,"). Time to party. Get the cheat sheet. Fun concept. Length: 13:51 minutes. Released: Dec. 19.
- "Books on the Nightstand #20: Sci-Fi for the Rest of Us" Do you read the book, or the e-book? Like the hosts, I do both. They're using Sony Readers, and I use a Kindle, but the advantage of e-books for travel is clear in either case. In fact, I plan to be reading my Kindle for a couple of hours today on a flight out west. (I don't care for extended reading on my iPhone, though there are several e-book apps.) I used to strain my back lugging books on trips so I wouldn't be caught without something. Another segment focused on science fiction picks for people who don't like SF, including "Stranger in a Strange Land," by Robert A. Heinlein. I grok the choice, though it's not for everyone and I don't think the pitch here -- "fish out of water story" -- does it justice. Other picks in the podcast included "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell, "Life Class" by Pat Barker, and "Firmin" by Sam Savage. As podcasts, and book discussions, go, this did not strike me as particularly deep or compelling, but I may give it another chance later. Length: 18:18. Released: Dec. 17.
- Coffeegeek Podcast 64: Carl Sara Rocks This podcast is infrequently updated but my quest for the perfect espresso shot seemed to require more research, so I grabbed the most recent episode, from August. Intro/outro is Sinatra singing the jaunty "Coffee Song." The host, Mark Prince, founder of the excellent Coffeegeek.com, started by apologizing for a two-month delay pledged to get on a weekly schedule. Didn't happen. Oh, well. (The other day, I sent an e-mail asking what was up, but did not get a reply yet.) This episode is notable for Prince's grievance, discussed at length, about a "backlash to the pursuit of culinary coffee" that he sees in the mainstream media. He blames the bad economy. He says the U.S. coffee market breaks down this way: 80 percent of the people are "the untouchables... They are satisfied with Folgers and the junk around the office." He wants to reach the other 20 percent, including 1 to 2 percent who are culinary coffee experts, 6 to 8 percent who understand and love it but "they're not quite convinced the effort is worth it"; and 10 percent who may have had a cup or two and are open to it but they think it means Starbucks. "They don't know what culinary coffee is yet. They know it exists." He goes on a digression about iced espresso (the gist: to avoid a sour taste, brew the espresso into a cold cup, not directly into the ice). Back to the backlash. He blames a Burger King mentality in the U.S. "In a lot of cases the customer is always right," he explains. "But when it comes to the delivery of a culinary product, and you have a reputation you want to protect as a business for delivering a culinary product, I'm sorry, there are certain lines that a customer can't cross, and they can't ask you to do things in a certain way if you believe it is detrimental to the quality of the beverage. And I do blame Burger King for that for their 'have it your way' campaign." Of course, he says, "commodity or utility coffee" at Starbucks or McDonald's is O.K. in a pinch, but don't drink the stuff in the hotel room. At 38:15 minutes, a list of "awesome" coffee beans, followed by a recorded interview with Carl Sara, a New Zealand coffee champion, which takes up the rest of the podcast. Then Sinatra takes us out. Length: 1 hour, 27 minutes. Released: Aug. 9, 2008.
- Stuff You Should Know This is a great find from the How Stuff Works folks, with a place on the iTunes "Best Podcasts of 2008" list. The hosts Josh and Chuck take apart a topic scientifically in about 17 minutes per show. On this one, we learn that flirting is a form of language important to our survival as a species, with a discussion of the ambiguous protean gestures preferred by women in flirting. I also listened to the previous two episodes about the safest parts of your body to take a bullet (answer: hands or feet), and eco-friendly ways to get rid of a body. All were entertaining and informative. Length: 17:29 minutes. Released: Dec. 23.
- New York Review of Books Podcast Compared to some of the stuff I have reviewed, this is laid-back, ruminative stuff from the bastion of New York liberal intellectualism. First I listened to this 17-minute interview with the veteran Washington correspondent Elizabeth Drew about the Obama transition, cabinet picks and other issues, based on her N.Y.R.B. article "The Truth About the Election." My takeaway is that she thinks Obama was different from other Democratic candidates in that he had been working on his message, plan and staffing long before the election itself, making his transition rather smooth. We'll see. The more recent 50-minute podcast is a recording of the 2008 Robert B. Silvers lecture by the novelist Zadie Smith, delivered at the New York Public Library on Dec. 5. Silvers is the editor of the review and delivers introductory remarks. It was framed as a lecture about lecturing. The description: "Drawing on literary and historical examples from Elizabeth I to Eliza Doolittle to Barack Obama, Zadie Smith explores race, writing, and what it means when we speak in different ways to different people." There's a lot more Obama than this description suggests, and a bit more about mixed race and the duality of language. She has a take on Obama -- "the man from Dream City" -- that is far more poetic than Drew's nuts-and-bolts assessment. In that respect, the two podcast episodes complement one another neatly. Length: 17:27 minutes and 59:05 minutes. Released: Dec. 15 and 19.
- The Futile Podcast: M.A.D. Men The action movie podcast. This episode was billed as a discussion of "preachy movies that are remakes of movies that were preachy about avoiding nuclear annihilation, or what was known ... as M.A.D., or mutually assured destruction." But it's mostly about the recent remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still," with Keanu Reeves and the guy from "Mad Men." Overall review: "This movie sucks, but it doesn't." Beware of spoilers, if that matters to you. In the case of htis movie, maybe not. A couple of days after I listened to this, another podcast dropped, about the original "Lethal Weapon," but I haven't listened to that yet. Length: 23:15 minutes. Released: Dec. 20.
- Uhh Yeah Dude, Episode 146 Great episode. Topics include 50 Cent's fight with Floyd Mayweather, cameras hidden in the baby Jesus, cellphones for the dead, the new Burger King fragrance, adult video awards, the Michael Phelps video game, and Z-mailing, similar to sleep-eating, in which people send inappropriate e-mail while asleep. Jonathan: "Can't we just get back to sleep-dreaming?" Seth: "I was listening to U.Y.D. and the two hosts of the show have trained themselves to sleep-dream, where they fall asleep, they create almost movies in their head, I guess is how they would describe it. Literally, they'll think about people in their lives, not in their lives, who have been in their lives, in situations where they'll be in a house, but it's not really their house, it's their childhood home. They call it sleep-dreaming." Hey, that's happened to me. I dreamed podcasters were watching me in my sleep. Length: 1 hour, 7 Minutes. Released: Dec. 22.
- This Week in Tech 174: 10-Ferret Night Leo Laporte dispenses with tech for another appearance (recorded earlier this month) by John Hodgman, who is still on his book tour. Leo interviewed Hodgman the week of Nov. 2. This time they are joined by his friend Jonathan Coulton, a Brooklyn singer-songwriter beloved by nerds and geeks. There's no point in summarizing the discussion, which is entertaining and well worth a listen if you are a fan of their work, as I am. A few topics: Hodgman's career as a literary agent, the throwing of shoes at the president, the availability of Crystal Head Vodka, quahogs, and two things Laporte learned from his father: "Rummies have no wind, so you can outrun them. And never catch the eye of a hobo." There's more, plus Coulton music. Length: 1 hour, 20 minutes. Released: Dec. 21.
Podcast Zeitgeist, Dec. 19
Here are more quick takes on podcasts that caught my attention this week, in the order I listened. [See previous lists.]
- Night of the Living Podcast 122. A cast of men and women discuss all things horror around a table in Cinncinnati. Not that you would know that is their focus for the first 15 minutes or so of the episodes I've heard. They tend to open with off-color, off-topic discussions. For example, this week featured recordings of farts, birthday messages to people you probably don't know and Andy Rooney impressions. Fifteen minutes in, the horror discussion started, with news about VH1's "Scream Queens" reality show, a riff on surviving zombie attacks, an extended negative review for the straight to video flick "Primal," about a killer sasquatch, then some reader voicemails. They crack themselves up a lot, and I'm sure someone finds it fascinating, but I'm not enough of a horror fan to stick with it. Length: 1 hour, 52 minutes. Released: Dec. 14.
- The Bob Thurman Podcast #66 The Tibetan scholar riffs in another dharma talk aimed straight for your hypothalamus, with some discussion about the Indian demon Mara, who is a tempter, the god of pleasure, "sort of a superdude cupid" as Thurman puts it, and how Mara is in some sense a Bodhisattva sent to test other Bodhisattvas. Thurman tells a story about an enlightened king giving away his eyes to be transplanted to a beggar -- it turns out to be a test, and he the king's sight is not lost. Thurman says his Sanskrit teacher couldn't stand Buddhists -- "they're a bunch of damn goody-goodies." He relates the Buddhist story of the king to the story of Abraham and Isaac in the Bible. Sacrificing the firstborn. One way to break the cycle of attachment, he says, is to be willing to give up what is most precious in your life. At the end of parables, even the Buddhist ones, all is saved when you pass the test with your willingness to forgo attachment -- "usually." Good advice for print journalists in hard times, perhaps. Length: 14:24 minutes. Released: Dec. 13.
- Uhh Yeah Dude, Episode 145 Intro: M83. A solid hour of riffing on weird news, like items from the world of horrifying science: Poor children's brain activity resembles that of stroke victims. Fat people eat more and get seconds at Chinese buffets. "Thanks, science." Top baby names of 2008. Gavin? Bryce? The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has banned smiling in driver's license photos. They urge listeners to watch the late-night TV shows, which have been particularly bad lately, and mock the latest laughable Burger King ad campaign: Whopper virgins. Getting plastic surgery to look good at your funeral. Fox apologizes for full-frontal NFL shot. Why is gasoline, which was $4 a gallon, now cheaper than orange juice? "It'd be like you went into Starbucks and you ordered your drink and they said that'll be 50 cents." Complaints about the post office. Jonathan is scammed by a credit agency collection guy. A discussion of H. Salt, a SoCal fish and chips place. Jonathan: "As a vegetarian, it is one of the few things I get a hankering for." That's why I went back to eating fish a few years ago. Sorry, fish. Outro: Peter Tosh. Length: 1 hour, 32minutes. Released: Dec. 13.
- This Week in Tech 173: Dvoracanis Leo Laporte plays host to Sarah Lane, John C. Dvorak and Jason Calacanis. Topics include: Zinc air batteries from Energizer and battery life in general, bad iPhone battery performance, chargers for the Tesla, Google's use of humans to improve search results, and the top tech stories of 2008. Blu-Ray fails to grab market share. Dvorak and Calacanis disagree about who works harder, Americans or Asians. The Nintendo Wii: a girlie console? Australia cracks down on the Internet, and The Simpsons. Spectrum auction leaves Google a happy loser. And a discussion of the resolution of the Google Books fight causes Calacanis to say: "Google is not evil but lacks empathy." Audible ad around the 1-hour mark kicks off 10 minutes of commercial promotions. But I'm in a forgiving mood for the holidays, and one of the promotions is for a free installment (on Dylan's "Highway 51 Revisited" ) from the Continuum Books 33⅓ pop music series I mentioned here. It is a good series, and nobody paid me to say that. Length: 1 hour, 34 minutes. Released: Dec. 14.
- The Futile Podcast: "Truck drivin' arm breakin' and arm wrestlin'" Is there such a thing as an action-movie nerd? Maybe the right word is geek. Description of podcast: "Deconstructing 80’s & 90’s action movies. Relating them to comics, TV, and cartoons from then and now." They get pretty quickly into the Sylvester Stallone arm-wrestling movie "Over the Top" (1987). The two guys say it feels like a made-for-TV movie, with the lesson, you have to take what you want in life. High point of film comes with interviews of actual professional arm wrestlers. It's an amusing enough discussion, but the main hosts seems to be eating and talking with his mouth full. "A really, really awful version of 'The Color of Money.' ... We did the poker movie, and we did the pool movie, what about arm wrestling?" I might listen to this show again, depending on the movie under discussion. It looks like some of the earlier podcasts have more participants, mostly but not exclusively men. On the blog, there's also this apology for excessive misogyny, a common feature of a lot of male-dominated podcasts, as I've mentioned before. On the plus side, it has some of the features of a good podcast: brevity with several engaging personalities talking with expertise about an obscure topic they love, in this case, action films. Length: 23:24 minutes. Released: Dec. 17.
- "60-Second Earth, Santa in Danger: Polar Meltdown" First, I will note again that this show, despite the name, is longer than a minute. Second, I will note that this particular episode is a rapid-acting depression pill from Scientific American. Except that it doesn't cure depression. It makes you feel worse. You see, the icecaps are melting, and there's not a damn thing Santa can do about it, "no matter how green his elves are," children. Aaagh. Sponsored by God. Length: 1 minute, 20 seconds. Released: Dec. 11.
- CommandN Episode 161 Unlike the audio podcasts above, this is video, which means you will hurt yourself or others if you try it while driving or walking to work. It is also Canadian, and the recent episode is inexplicably taped outside, so the hosts, Amber MacArthur and Jeff-somebody look cold. This is their gift guide. Canadians are a little behind the times in technology. They lust for iTunes and Kindles. The show is short, but it moves too fast to really focus on anything. Discussions tend to be superficial. I'd suggest skipping this altogether and listening to Amber's far superior audio podcast with Leo Laporte, Net@Night, which I haven't reviewed yet, though I like it, and nobody paid me to say that. Length: 8:12 minutes. Released: Dec. 6.
- Wired Gadget Lab 20: This Ain't Your Grandma's Motor Home Another video. A couple of 20somethings test-drive a high-tech modified Airstream RV. "Dude, let's take it to L.A." Oh, ha ha ha. Good thing gas prices are dropping. They make the trip, with footage from a pit stop at the world's weirdest urinal. Seriously? What does it have to do with this review? Nothing. They give the vehicle a 6 out of 10. Which is better than the podcast itself. I'm not really sure why I even watched this. Oh, it was short. And now I can put the whole series in the trash bin, because video eats up a lot of hard-drive space. Length: 7:10 minutes. Released: Dec. 5.
- "This Week in Media 119: Adverteasing" Back to audio. This proved to be the most though-provoking show of the week, with a disturbing view of podcast advertising practices. Daisy Whitney of TV Week leads a discussion with Alex Lindsay, Susan Bratton of Personal Life Media (35+ podcasts), plus two others with complicated names that nobody spelled out, a media ad buyer and an active podcast sponsor. It starts off with a focus on how so many podcast hosts personally pitch products, as in radio, a practice that advertisers like. Lindsay nods to the church/state wall between content and ads, saying he avoids getting involved in deals and that he only pitches products on his tech podcasts that he uses and likes. I guess we have to trust him on that. He says his advertisers pay on a CPM basis (cost per thousand views), not based on revenue sharing or for favorable content. He does disclose that Scott Bourne, his co-host on This Week in Photography, personally sells ads for that show. Around the 28-minute mark, Bratton reveals even more flexibility: "...We'll also do a program that includes the CPM audio ads, plus things like, we'll post on the blog, we'll Twitter this information, we'll do a review of your product, whatever it might be, and then we're compensated in some way, typically a flat fee" to cover the hourly work for that. So, here is the followup question, which was not asked: Are reviewers free to give the product a bad review? Has it ever happened? Podcasters and bloggers on the Laporte/Lindsay podcasts often talk about how objectivity and fairness are outmoded journalistic ideas, but these practices arose to avoid this kind of problem. How do ad-supported podcasts (and blogs) ensure editorial integrity? If a camera gets a good review on Bratton's Digital Photography Life, how do I know it's an honest review, if the camera is made by an advertiser? I don't. How do I know if I'm getting the real deal, if the content creator is a financial partner with the sponsor or is taking freebies? I don't. Length: 53 minutes. Release date: Dec. 16.
- Digital Photography Life, Episode 5 So, after that discussion on This Week in Media, I listened to one of Personal Life Media's podcasts, on photography, a topic that interests me a little. This episode opens with an ad for Smugmug, a photo-sharing site that the co-hosts Scott Sherman and Michael GW Stein "talk a lot about on the show," according to the ad. (Popularity isn't everything, but for reference, here's how SmugMug compares to competitor Flickr in terms of overall traffic.) Twelve minutes into the show, Scott and Michael were still talking about the podcast's photo contest, which entails e-mailing entries to the show's Smugmug album, where the entries will be displayed. Then they discussed the prizes -- bags donated by another sponsor. Then they asked listeners to leave five-star reviews of the podcast on iTunes. If you actually want to hear about photography, I recommend fast-forwarding to the 18th minute, for the start of a mildly interesting discussion of the new Nikon D3-X, audaciously priced at $8,000, followed by some good tips for taking holiday party pictures. This all seems to be aimed at beginners, with the Nikon discussed for the shock value. The hosts are amiable and sound like nice guys. But Smugmug is certainly getting its money's worth. The hosts slip in another ad toward at the end for a camera bag, then ask listeners to send holiday party shots to them via Smugmug (there's another ad for the site at the end of the show). Then listeners are again urged to write a five-star review on iTunes or to at least go there and rate the positive reviews as helpful. Scott: "Those reviews will move to the top of the list, so the negative reviews are not the first ones people see when they check out the show because that is just not helpful when it comes to building an audience." So I go to iTunes. The first review I see is for two stars: "Posted a lengthier review last week but for some reason it is not showing up here. To summarize, I used to be a huge fan of the old show but over time it became more boring... Shows are long usually due to senseless banter being included. The hosts wander off topic a lot and don't stay focused." Maybe he has an ax to grind. The average rating is 4.5 stars. Length: 59 minutes. Released: Dec. 8.
- Macbreak Weekly 119: MacBreak Mania Alex Lindsay filled in for the traveling Leo Laporte, with guests Andy Ihnatko, Frederick Johnson, Ron Brinkman and Paul Kent of the upcoming MacWorld Expo. Topics: animated "Get a Mac" holiday ads, more Apple netbook speculation, fate of Apple TV and Mac Mini, iTunes vs. Amazon music store, and granular information about the MacWorld Expo, including a discount code (first 100 got a free pass and the rest get $20 off: RIDP1641). Alex read the Audible and Drobo ads, but kept them mercifully short. In the picks segment, Inahtko, a free-lance tech writer for The Chicago Sun-Times, spoke favorably of Slingbox products, which let you play your media library (and DVR content) on any TV, even away from home. Works best with a hard-wired network. More MacBreak picks here. Length: 1 hour, 8 minutes. Released: Dec. 16.
Podcast Zeitgeist, Dec. 12
I'm mixing it up a little this week, adding some new podcasts from the iTunes Best of 2008 lists [iTunes Store Link], including a few with video under 10 minutes.
It was a busy week, so I missed a few favorites (in the case of This Week in Media, the Skype interference was so bad in some cases, I couldn't stand to listen. Reportedly, the problem has been fixed and the episode was reposted). [See earlier roundups.]
Podcast Zeitgeist, Dec. 5
There are 8 million podcasts on the naked Web. Each week, I listen to 10 or more of them and write some reviews. Here's the latest survey of independent audio featuring assorted nerds, geeks, freaks, mystics, fans and experts talking about the things they love. In the order I listened this week:
Podcast Zeitgeist, Nov. 28
Here's my weekly roundup of podcasts from selected geeks, nerds, kooks, freaks, comedians, self-styled tech gurus and other denizens of the audio Web, in the order I listened this week:
- "Extra Life Radio, #202, #203, and #204" "Geek tested, nerd approved!" A likable group of geeks and nerds, Scott Johnson and his friends are Web comics artists who talk about films, TV, gaming and comics, among other topics of a certain type. The first episode ("Vacillating Two Oh Two") encapsulated what I value in a podcast -- a deep and serious discussion that makes me care about a niche interest, in this case, Web comics. The next episode (#203 "Spinimal!") was a wide-ranging discussion of movies. The Thanksgiving episode (#204, "Choot the Turkey") was the least compelling, more movie talk and a long, easily skipped conversation about soccer parents (they often take a good 15 to 20 minutes to warm up). This podcast was the winner in the general category of the mostly meaningless 2008 Podcast Awards, sponsored by the marketing company Podcast Connect Inc. The contest bases the awards on how many fans repeatedly click on an unscientific online survey, as Mr. Johnson, to his credit, notes. He and his co-hosts also won for a "World of Warcraft" gaming podcast, The Instance. Length: Ranging from 1 hour, 7 minutes to 1 hour, 32 minutes. Released: Nov. 12, Nov. 17 and Nov. 25.
- "The Bugle: Episode 54, The Las Vegas Special" John Oliver, best known for his appearances on "The Daily Show," and Andy Zaltzman are responsible for this weekly comedy podcast from TimesOnline.co.UK. It is relatively clean and amusing, although sometimes difficult to follow, because the comics have similar voices and insist on speaking British. It may be the only place you'll ever hear a joke that compares Joe the Plumber to Gore Vidal. I usually don't subject my wife to podcasts, but Jane, a wannabe Anglophile, listened to this one and thought this line was hilarious: "The ultimate Scottish dream, Germany beating England in a World Cup football final." I'll take her word for it. The audio quality is a little muddy. Length: 35:11. Released: Nov. 23.
- "Diggnation, Episode 177: Multiview Diggnation Remix" Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht skipped the beer this time, because Kevin had a bad cold. That does not excuse the much-noted exchange that came next, starting around 3:29, a riff on domestic violence that eventually prompted a public apology from Rose, the millionaire founder of Digg: "There is only one time you can strike [a woman] -- if she kicks you in the balls, you have the ability and the right, to punch her in the teat ---it's just like that -- it's kinda like tit for tat. ... It hurts them, it does too - or take a scissors to the teat." On the video, he made a cutting action with his hand. Har har, boys. Perhaps they should go back to taping this videocast drunk. Or stick to the script. My morbid curiosity satisfied, I skipped the rest. (Diggnation was nominated but did not win in the video category of the mostly meaningless Podcast Awards). Length: 48:07 minutes. Released: Nov. 21.
- "You Look Nice Today: Faux Tog" Once again, the show has guests. Once again, they are John Hodgman and the Brooklyn singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton. Chess jokes. Discussion of a universal template of dreams from Merlin Mann: "You're naked, there's a test, there's ladies..." In New York, dreams are often about discovering extra secret rooms in your tiny apartment. A discussion of horrible jobs, including work at a Lego store at the Mall of America on Black Friday, a true story. This show was voted best comedy podcast by the largely meaningless Podcast Awards. Released: Nov 24. Length: Back to the usual 32:12 or so minutes.
- "Vomitus Prime 83: Make Chips!" I'm a longtime fan of sick humor. But it's possible to go over the edge, and this podcast crossed into misogyny with vulgar words for women this week and last. Their fans may argue that it's all an act, and that this kind of humor is guaranteed to misfire once in a while. Maybe I'm an old fogey for cringing at this stuff, but I just can't listen to it. I say that with some regret. These guys are likable and produce some promising satire -- chewable children's Vicodin? funny idea -- but they lost me with the trash-talking of women purely for shock value. Delete. Unsubscribe. Goodbye. Length: 1 hour, 13 minutes (didn't finish). Released: Nov. 23.
- "Uhh, Yeah Dude, Episode 142." This podcast shows how to be funny without being a jerk. Co-hosts Jonathan Larroquette and Seth Romatelli sometimes crack sexual and scatological jokes, but you never sense that they disrespect women, or anybody. Even when their humor is in poor taste, they are self-deprecating and never mean-spirited. Their stance is one of apology for male stupidity and mock-horror at tabloid America. (Here's an early profile of their show, now nearing the end of its third year). This week, they riff about Black Friday and again mock the horrifying "Brocabulary" (see related viral marketing). They goof on the immaturity of the NSFW Land O Lakes Indian Maiden trick; a terrible cameo by Jason Alexander (Seinfeld's George) as a serial killer on "Criminal Minds"; Florida write-in votes; pathetic cocaine addicts; the healthiest and least healthy cities, Burlington, Vt., and Huntington, West Va.; the newFinal Jeopardy music; a landlord who secretly taped 34 female tenants for 19 years; and toddler fights on YouTube, among other disturbing topics. Released: Nov. 25. Length: 1 hour, 27 seconds..
- "MacBreak Weekly 116: Compressed Bits of Cheese Leo Laporte starts: "We had a show lined up..." Uh-oh. A guest shortage. Leo is alone with Andy Ihnatko, the entertaining tech writer for The Chicago Sun-Times. It's an entertaining show, nonetheless. They discuss the absurd Typepad journalist bailout program publicity stunt and the troubles of print journalism. Snow Leopard operating system update: not a major release? The allure of iPhone games; Leo killed his virtual villagers. They are joined at 21:57 by Rich Siegel of Bare Bones Software, which makes Yojimbo and BBSEdit. Problems with iPhone pricing and app structure. Is Google Mobile app getting special treatment from Apple? The iPhone app approval and rejection process. Andy still has the long iPhone backup problem. Leo says uncheck "send diagnostics to Apple" (that worked for me, too -- here's the how-to.) Danger: Obscure bug. Don't run your MacBook without its battery. Twitter hires the developer behind I Want Sandy and Stikkit, free services that will now die. A mercifully brief Audible ad. The week's picks: Besides the new version of Andy's iPhone book (not out yet), Uli's Talking Moose (free, a weird bit of Apple history dating to 1986), and Screenium, Cyberclean (See the handy and awesome MBWPicks for details). Length: 1 hour, 32 minutes. Release date: Nov. 26.
- "This Week in Media 116: Dear Journalist" The host, Daisy Whitney, is joined by my colleague Brian Stelter of TV Decoder, Alex Lindsay of Pixelcorp, David Cohn, founder of spot.us, Patrick Thorton, of beatblogging.com. They go right to the heavy stuff: Will 2009 be the year of the great newspaper massacre? Are we no longer in a general interest media world? Will niche journalism dominate media in the future? Will citizen journalism supplant professional corporate journalism? What about hoaxes like the Steve Jobs heart attack rumor on CNN? The two types of online journalists, "thinkers and linkers." Some J-school-style debate about the "myth" of objectivity. Length: 55:33 minutes. Release date: Nov. 25.
- "TWIT 170: Mile High Wi-Fi" This Week in Tech won the technology/science category in the mostly meaningless 2008 Podcast Awards. The host, Leo Laporte, is joined in this episode by Tom Merritt, Ryan Block, and Alex Lindsay. The topics: smartphones, wireless access on Virgin America, SearchWiki from Google, and, of course, the death of print media, starting with the move of PC Magazine to an entirely digital product. Block: "People interested in technology are not buying print magazines." A discussion of what this means for other print products. They take a break for a 5-minute Audible.com ad and some more gadget talk, then return to the death of print, with references to many articles first printed by newspapers (whatever will they talk about if all the newspapers do die?) Obviously, this is Topic A in the tech expert echo chamber. Their endless fascination with this topic, combined with a boundless enthusiasm for the online future, has an undercurrent that's a tad ... bubbly. They seem to think that Web media businesses will be spared in a major crash. Not likely. Length: 1 hour, 16 minutes. Release date: Nov. 24.
Podcast Zeitgeist, Nov. 20
In a continuation of my peculiar hobby, here they are, in the order I listened this week, reports on a few of the podcasts of the geeks, nerds, freaks and boy-men of the Interweb:
- Never Not Funny: The Jimmy Pardo Podcast, Episode 407 The name is a misnomer. This podcast is often not funny. The comedian Jimmy Pardo (who?) and a group of friends manage to make the lives of Los Angeles comedians sound boring. Jokes about Woodstock and the Who ("You saw who?" Nyuk nyuk). Airport humor. Industry chatter. L.A. freeway jokes. They're having fun, though, and obviously enjoy each others' company. The free 30-minute show is available on iTunes; maybe the other 30 minutes in the $ premium podcast are the funny bits. I listened to a couple of episodes, and this was the funniest of the three. By which I mean, not very. Update: I may give it another chance; Episode 409 features the actually funny comic Jen Kirkman. Length: 30 minutes. Release date: Nov. 12.
- Vomitus Prime 82: Vombodies This effort at first reminded me of Five Tacos and a Taco, the podcast I had to obliterate from all devices last week. The first five minutes include explicit discussions of stomach flu symptoms. Not to everyone's taste. I would say not to anyone's taste, but they seem to have a following for their shockpod routine, a more explicit and meanspirited version of "Uhh, Yeah Dude" (below), only from the Midwest. The high point are the calls from apparently drunk listeners for what seem to be regular segments. There's a good riff on The Yellow Pages -- a humongous waste of paper that no one uses. This riffing is, unfortunately, marred by misogyny and explicit profanity deployed for the shock value. It's not just edgy; it falls off the edge. Just because you're not on terrestrial radio and can say whatever you want, doesn't mean you should. Length: 1 hour, 22 minutes. Released: Nov. 16.
- "Uhh, Yeah Dude, Episode 141." One thing I like about this podcast, which is still my reigning favorite, is that each episode features a fresh song at the start and the end, often a cut I would like to own. And while they do get scatological, famous son Jonathan Laroquette and bit-actor Seth Romatelli are not misognyist or angry. They seem like Oxford scholars compared to some of the other nitwits recording podcasts these days. This week, they are back on their game. They mock "Brocabulary: The Man-ifesto book on Dude-talk." Examples: Wintercourse, Testoster-zones, fellobrating, brocrastination, prebauchery, guybernate, broverdose etc. Ugh. Then they move on to the 10 most irritating expressions in the English language. At this moment in time. Another traffic altercation from Jonathan. Hating on racists. Secret Service code names for the Obama family. The "Quantam of Solace" catch-phrase: Fuggehdaboudit. Nebraska feral child total reaches 30. Police traffic stop of 55-year-old man in a 1994 Thunderbird yields 250,000 hits of Ecstasy. Same-sex Koala bear orgies in captivity upset Australia. Man sues classmates.com for false claim old friends were looking for him. Jonathan's crazy gun dude story: Live round in the chamber. Released: Nov. 14. Length: 1 hour, 4 minutes, with 10-minute supplement..
- "TWIT 169: The Donkey of the Week" After those three, it was refreshing to listen to some clean and useful from Leo Laporte's crew. This podcast is back on track after some meandering. After a two-year wait, Jason Calacanis finally gets his Tesla electric car and justifies its exorbitant cost because its a good example of green consumption. He also hints that he's working on a "big deal." Disclosure form will discourage tech-savvy applicants to Obama's White House. The president-elect's blackberry and email problems. What about Twitter? "Going into a meeting with Putin." Patrick Norton is back doesn't think Twitter is presidential. Calacanis says Obama should have a Facebook presence but not use the zombie app. He needs a social media secretary. The fellow endorse the idea of a massive Depression-style government project, a la rural electrification, to wire the country for broadband Internet with data speeds comparable to the rest of the world. A six-minute Audible ad; Calacanis picks a "Star Wars" novelization. Some extended chatter about weird stuff in Japan. An Argentine soccer star (Diego Maradona) sues to block Google searches on his name. The Classmates.com lawsuit again, more favorably received: They think the guy has a point about false advertising. Your old classmates are not looking for you. Layoff news from tech companies; an office killing spree. Will tech industry be spared? Consensus: No. Patrick Norton bails out without discussing his take on "Anathem," as promised (I'm in the 200s, and it's getting better). More from Calacanis about how the Tesla works. Lengthy economic discussion. No pity for bankers. An obsession with growth. Innovation is the cure. Productivity lost to video games. "Ender's Game" spoiler at the end; turn off the podcast if you haven't read the book. Length: 1 hour, 46 minutes. Released: Nov. 16.
- "MacBreak Weekly 115: MacBroke Apparently, not much Mac news this week. "This is our license to do a shorter show." "No, we'll just talk longer about less." Playing around with the voice function on Google Mobile App for iPhone. Force an update through iTunes if you already have the app. Jerry Yang steps down @Yahoo. "This is not really a Mac story, but we use Yahoo." "Do you?" "No." MacBook Air updated. Rare negative notes: Why doesn't Mac ship all the cables you need? Why are their products so expensive? A lost Beatles track. Whatever happened to getting the Beatles on iTunes? Personally, I no longer care. Various software updates discussed. Audible ad, just over 4 minutes: "Team of Rivals" is book pick. MacBook Pro battery bloat. "Copy protection's a bag of hurt." The picks: new iPhone games (Touch Physics, JellyCar), Adobe Photoshop CS4. Scott Bourne's new blog: consumervideotips.com. Length: A delightfully short 57:06 minutes. Released: Nov. 18.
Podcast Zeitgesit, Nov. 13
What I got out of this week's podcasts for nerds and geeks:
Podcast Zeitgeist, Nov. 6
Podcasts I got around to listening to this week, and what was on them, in the order I listened:
Podcast Zeitgeist, Oct. 29
Here are some impressions of the latest episodes from my current list of active podcasts. Topics covered included the election, the financial crisis, new Macs, Frank TV, your "Desert Island Sedaris," Santa vs. Odin and a squid with a dog's head that eats penguins at the South Pole. In the order I listened this week:
Release dates are when episodes were available on iTunes. Alternative download sites are in the links. I didn't have time for the video podcasts Diggnation and The Totally Rad Show this week.
Podcast Zeitgeist, Oct. 19
Lately my music library has languished as I have loaded up my iPhone with podcasts of a certain type: Men (mostly) talking about gadgets, technology, movies, stuff on the Web, games, women, and news of the weird, among other topics. The list:
- "Diggnation" Perhaps the most well-known podcast on the list. In various video and audio formats. Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht drink beer and sit on a couch, going down the list of the top stories at Digg.com. Frequency: Weekly. Duration: 45 minutes or so, video.
- "Smodcast" The director Kevin Smith and producer Scott Mosier shoot the breeze about making and watching movies, comics, growing up in New Jersey, porn and other topics. Weekly. An hour or more, audio only.
- "The Totally Rad Show" Alex Albrecht is joined by Dan Trachtenberg and Jeff Cannata, for reviews of movies, TV shows, comics and video games. Weekly. About an hour, video.
- "This Week in Tech" and "MacBreak Weekly" Two podcasts from Leo Laporte's Twit.tv empire that bill themselves as reviews of the week's technology and Apple news, with John C. Dvorak, Merlin Mann, Alex Lindsay, Scott Bourne and other regulars. But it's really a bunch of geeks and nerds shooting the breeze. Weekly. Each is about an hour and a half, or 50 minutes if you fast-forward through the improvised ads, which can get tedious. Another way to watch: Live on video, with a rolling peanut gallery chat room under the screen, and the talking goes into overtime.
- "Uhh, Yeah Dude" Description: "A weekly roundup of America by two American Americans," Seth Romatelli and Jonathan Larroquette. Energy drinks. The week in Florida. Readings from Craigslist. Prescription drug side effects. Hip hop vs. country. Men behaving badly. Why Robin Williams is not funny. Encounters with borderline celebrities in Los Angeles. Sobriety. Veganism. The Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, and more. Frequency: Weekly. Run time: About an hour.
- "You Look Nice Today," which is billed as "A Journal of Emotional Hygiene." A dadaist conversation between lonelysandwich (Adam Lisager), hotdogsladies (a k a Merlin Mann of 43 Folders), and scottsimpson (Scott Simpson). With voice chapter headings by the guy who plays the PC in Mac ads. Frequency: Fortnightly or so. Length: 30 minutes.
What they have in common: Guys who genuinely like each other talking about topics they love, with echoes of long ago bull sessions and late nights in bars. The best of them -- "U.Y.D.," "Smodcast" and "You Look Nice Today" -- have been known to provoke chuckles and guffaws. Maybe even some chortling. Update: On Oct. 29, I started posting some impressions of the latest episodes of these and other podcasts that have interested me for a while.
About the Name @Palafo
Updated Sept. 16, 2012.
When I started working on the metropolitan desk of The New York Times in 1997, the newsroom was using a publishing system known as Atex for text editing. Usernames were six characters long. The naming convention at the time was to take the first two letters of the staffer's given name and the first four letters of the surname. Patrick+LaForge=Palafo.
Not every Atex username had a mellifluous combination of consonants and vowels, but mine did. On a whim, I used it as a username on various sites in the early years of the Web and as an e-mail address with a succession of Internet service providers. The vaguely Italian-sounding but non-existent name was usually available, while my actual name was already being snapped up by my French-Canadian-Irish doppelgängers.
The Atex naming convention used by The Times was abandoned (along with Atex), but a few of us still use the naming convention in e-mail addresses.
I have been a computer nerd and geek since a time before there was a Web, and I was a bit of an early Web pioneer, but I did not use the name for a blog until I started the earliest version of this one in 2008. Here's hoping I don't besmirch it in the permanent record for all time.
Regarding the pronunciation: Some people have been known to say PAL-ah-foe, but I prefer to stress the syllable that is also the first syllable of my surname: puh-LAAF-oh. Sort of like palazzo.