The top 40 tech podcasts

Category Podcast, internet | Permalink | 22. February 2007

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Are you still travelling the world without an MP3 player? Are you mad?

From the practical to the profane, the professional to the puerile, Gary Marshall reveals his top 40 geek-friendly podcasts, guaranteed to improve your in-fl ight entertainment.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could turn the tedium of travel into something more interesting? Thanks to podcasting, you can. The number 119 bus is no longer a dodgy diesel of alienation, despair and olfactory atrocities, but an aural adventure! The tube, no longer a sardine can of potential suicides - it’s now a comedy club! Cycle to work? Why not absorb some Photoshop as well as particulates?

Podcasts, then, are web pages for your ears - and in some cases, for your eyes. From expert analysis to practical PHP and surreal silliness, no matter what you’re into, there’s a podcast that’s perfect for you, and over the next few pages, we’ll share our top 40 favourites.

01 Boagworld.com
Paul Boag wants “to help you poor sods who have been lumbered with the job of managing the company’s website.” This means in-depth looks at ecommerce, getting better Google listings, the importance of web standards and the odd mention of Bagpuss.
02 PHP|architect’s Pro PHP Podcast
One of the great things about podcasting is that, no matter the niche, there’s bound to be a podcast catering for it. PHP development is no exception, and with the Pro PHP Podcast, Marcus Whitney caters specifically for PHP aficionados. 404 errors abound on the main site, but the RSS feed works fine.

03 @media Hot Topics
If you couldn’t make the recent @media Web Development conference, this is the next best thing: the final panel discussion where Eric Meyer, Molly Holzschlag, Jon Hicks and Tantek Çelik answer delegates’ burning questions and take it in turns to shout “bullshit!”

04 LearnFlash.com
Although the podcast’s main aim is to sell online training courses, each episode provides a simple, self-contained tutorial covering something useful in Fl ash, such as creating hover controls or pop-up movie windows.

05 Ruby On Rails Podcast
It’s hosted by Rubyonrails.org, so there’s the inevitable cheerleading. But if you’re interested in how Ruby developers built their site, what problems they overcame and what protocols they plumped for, this podcast (or its transcripts, which are available on the same site) will be an invaluable resource.

06 Photoshop TV
Photoshop TV is a slick affair that persuades guests such as Adobe to share their top tips. It’s available in two forms - online Fl ash video or iTunes download - and while it will play on an iPod, it’s best viewed on a decent screen so you can see what’s going on.

The programme itself is excellent, with clear screens and a yack track that’s friendly without being overly whacky. There’s a decent range of subjects, too, with recent episodes covering cutouts, Smart Objects, colour replacement and photography tips. It’s perhaps a little basic for real Photoshop pros, but there’s plenty here for beginner and intermediate user alike.

07 Photoshop Online
Jan Kabili writes books and delivers training courses on Photoshop, and her vidcast is a relatively recent move. So while it’s currently heavy on beginner-level techniques such as converting colour images to black and white or sepia, understanding sharpening and so on, it’s likely to become more heavyweight over time.

08 Adobe Creative Suite Video Podcast
Here’s one for the pros: Creative Suite expert Terry White provides advice on getting the best from Acrobat, Bridge, GoLive, Illustrator, InDesign and of course, Photoshop. If you’re looking for basic tips, this isn’t the podcast for you, but if you want to know the ins and outs of PDF prefl ighting, Acrobat forms workfl ow or GoLive CSS, there’s lots of useful advice and information right here.

09 The InDesigner
Michael Murphy is a veteran art director with an encyclopedic knowledge of Adobe’s InDesign, and his vidcasts are aimed at users who want to find easier, faster or more productive ways of getting the job done. The programmes come in two versions: one for desktop viewing and one for iPod owners “with really good eyes”.

10 Diggnation
Diggnation is a simple idea: two men, two laptops, plenty of beer and the most interesting stuff to appear on Digg. It’s essentially no-budget footage of a pair of geeks riffing about anything that comes into their head, and whether you love or loathe Diggnation will depend on whether you find Kevin Rose amusing or irritating. If you fall into the former camp, Diggnation is like a video call from some fairly demented friends, and if you fall into the latter, it’s a live-action Beavis and Butthead who wonder who would win in a fight between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates (the answer, apparently, is that Jobs would be winning until the CIA came along and killed him).

Original News and Read More :

http://www.netmag.co.uk/zine/discover-culture/the-top-40-tech-podcasts

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