Podcasts for 2020

Community
#1

Some of us shared some of our favorite podcasts ( only members of the consultant forum can see this link) last year but the podcasting world moves fast. What are people listening to? (Besides the Amp Hour and never the evil rival podcast Embedded.fm of course.)

I came across Hello Blink which was recently started by some consultants/hardware people: Shawn Hymel (formerly Sparkfun) and Harris Kenny.

I have also been listening to Akimbo which I talked a bit more about in my recent consultant life check-in (Editor’s note: only members of the consultant forum can see this link).

Edit, adding quote since thread is now public:

Links from the first thread from a year ago:

#2

I will have to check out Hello Blink and Akimbo. For anyone who hasn’t tried it out yet, the Hackaday Podcast is always a good listen. Short Wave from NPR is a quick ~10-12 minute daily show that I have picked up recently.

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#3

There’s a new podcast from Marki Microwave that’s not terrible, especially since it’s from a company (which usually means it’s a repackaging of webinars that were somehow conducted in a bathroom over a 1920s telephone). They cover a lot of weird topics specific to making microwave components. The first episode was very navel gaze-y (they just talk about the business itself) but the other stuff is interesting. I hope to have the Marki folks on The Amp Hour at some point.

Also I always recommend The Macrofab Engineering Podcast. This episode talking about sourcing issues from Coronavirus with Chris Church (Parker and Chris started Macrofab) is pretty good.

I’m a bit short on other technical podcasts. I did the trial of Audm, which reads you stories from the likes of The New Yorker and Rolling Stone long form articles, which I liked, but I balked at the price ($60/year). I had a thought about starting a service that somehow gives a synopsis of technical articles in audio format, because I really would like to learn while I’m on the go, even if only passively. If people know of a service like this, I’d love to hear about it. I rather enjoyed the “Great Courses” series on Audible, but again, there wasn’t a ton of technical content and it was hit or miss on the quality of the stuff there. I really really enjoyed the “energy lectures”, mentioned in a previous book review.

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#4

Just made this thread public in case the broader community is interested in the thread. Noted any links to consultant forum only links

#5

Not strictly technical I guess, but for anyone interested in information security, I highly recommend Risky Business: https://risky.biz/

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#6

Since we are in COVID lockdown, more time for podcasts. Keep them coming.

I’ve really been getting into Co-Recursive which features interesting programming and computer science related interviews.

I have also been enjoying my Audm trial and have thus consumed way more long-form articles than I would normally manage (thanks for the tip @ChrisGammell). It is really U.S.A centric though so I am not sure I will spring for the subscription either since I am in Europe (plus the content is super locked down into the app, would prefer if I could just add it as another podcast feed).

#7

Does anyone subscribe to the audio version of the Economist? I’m curious, I don’t have the stamina to read the magazine but I think I would be interested in the content.

#8

I used to split the subscription with my Dad, he would take the paper version, I would take the audio. It is a TON of content. All of it very good and read to you by a person with a very proper and pleasant British accent. My argument against it is much like @kaspar’s with the Audm stuff: It’s all captive in their app. But it’s quite good, and much more worldly than the Audm content. The technology section was lacking when I used to have it, but perhaps it has improved in the 4 years since I had the subscription.

#9

I sometimes did the £12 for 12 issues thing and also sometimes err… downloaded the audio version (ahrrg!). Mostly for the tech section.

I agree the Economists is often well written but in the past I was less aware of it’s inherent biases. Would suggest a dosage of the Citations Needed podcast, especialy Episode 98: "The Refined Sociopathy of The Economist" to go with it.

#10

I actually wrote a post about podcasts and courses to look at while trapped at home on the OnlineComponents blog

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#11

Since I am guessing the forum prevented you from posting the link, for everyone’s convenience: https://www.onlinecomponents.com/blogpost/226-podcasts-courses-for-engineering-people-staying-at-home

#12

Thanks Kaspar - new to the forum - will add it to my regular stops

#13

I really like Robinhood’s Snacks Daily podcast. It’s lighthearted business news that helps keep me sharp on business strategy and stock market news. Plus I think the guys who host it are pretty entertaining.

I also really like Getting Curious with Jonathan van Ness. Jonathan is a great interviewer. He likes to put out a pretty queeny vibe, but he asks a lot of really good and challenging questions to his guests. It’s a great way to get a good look at a field you wouldn’t normally know much about in an hour or so.

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#14

Discovered this today: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2020-06-10/introducing-foundering-podcast

Pretty good, I’m sure some of you are like me an enjoy a good startup post mortem

#15

I like a post mortem as much as the next person, but I don’t need a serialized podcast to explain to me what a doinkus Adam Neumann is. Ugh, WeWork! :slight_smile:

#16

Doinkus like a fox.

“In October 2019, Neumann received close to $1.7 billion from stakeholder SoftBank for stepping down from WeWork’s board and severing most of his ties to the company. He was retained as a consultant with an annual salary of $46 million.”

Nice work if you can get it!

#17

Yeah, only took him destroying about $44B in perceived value for them to pay him off to get the heck out of the way (though I saw an article that it might not happen now). I too hope to fail my way to riches someday.

#18

This all said, I guess I could see why it might make for an interesting podcast :smiley:

#19

If you do find disaster stories about startups and the personalities that cause them entertaining, but maybe with more of a comedic twist there’s also The Dollop and Behind The Bastards.

They don’t only cover startups and often what they cover is more historical but I know The Dollop did Uber and Behind The Bastards did Elon Musk recently.

#20

I’d missed this thread! I mainly listened to The Amp Hour, Embedded, Hackaday and MacroFab. I have a couple of suggestions which I haven’t seen mentioned:

  • 3D Printing Today - Podcast which covers both hobby and professional level printing, worth listening to if you do any 3D printing. I’ve got more and more into 3D printing boards for fit/feel testing in the last year!
  • OnTrack with Judy Warner - Altiums general PCB design podcast. They have some really interesting guests on and it has pointed me at a few interesting resources. Unfortunately they tend to tease a lot of talks at AltiumLive and skip the good stuff. Still worth checking out.

I’ve also listened to a few a Hello Blink shows and enjoyed them so far.

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