Podcast Recommendations

Thought I might throw together a few recommendations…I often send these or discuss these with people, but having something on the web is easier to manage.

First off, let me recommend that you start with a good podcast app on a tablet or phone. I used to listen via the web, but after I started listening to more than 2 or 3 podcasts it became kind of difficult to manage and deal with new episodes. I personally use Overcast, which is for iOS only, but Pocket Casts is fantastic and available on other platforms. I marked podcasts that I listen to in the car without worrying about what my kids hear in the show as kid friendly, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be interested.

In alphabetical order…

  • 99% Invisible (Kid Friendly)
    About design in every day life, much of which goes unnoticed. Good starting points might be Awareness or Mojave Phone Booth. Roman Mars also did a great Ted Talk on flag design.
  • Accidental Tech Podcast (Kid Friendly)
    The first podcast that got its hooks into me. It’s a weekly tech news show with an Apple focus. The hosts have an excellent dynamic. This show is for Apple geeks though, so skip it if that doesn’t fit. Since it is a weekly show, just start at the newest episode.
  • Cortex (Kid Friendly)
    @CGPGrey and @iMyke discuss the way they work. It’s nerdy, Apple nerdy in particular. CGPGrey is a very strange person who creates educational videos on YouTube and the show is an interesting look into his process. Would recommend listening to Episode 23.
  • Hello Internet (Kid Friendly)
    @CGPGrey makes his second appearance, this time with a new host, Brady Haran. They are both YouTubers but make very different videos and have very different personalities and styles. Its like a chat between friends more than anything. Episode 56 could be a good starting point.
  • Judge John Hodgman (Kid Friendly)
    John Hodgman of PC and the Daily Show fame adjudicates disputes. There are a ton of episodes that could be recommended, but the quality is generally really high so start with one that sounds interesting to you. Episode 256 is a recent one I have enjoyed.
  • Reconcilable Differences (Kid Friendly)
    I’m not sure how to describe this one, but it is the closest podcast to my internal dialog. You should listen to every episode, but Episode 9 is one that resonated with me.
  • Rocket
    Weekly tech podcast, much like ATP, but hosted by three women which provides a unique take on the issues. They also talk more about gaming and one of the hosts has had a Law & Order episode based on her experience with Gamer Gate. It’s weekly, so you should just check out the most recent episode.
  • Roderick on the Line
    This is not going to be for everyone, but if you can get into this you can be my friend. You could start at SuperTrain, which is a recurring topic. Everything about the show is weird, but give it a fair shot.
  • The Flop House
    I’ve heard this described as the closes thing to being inside a comedy writer’s room. Its a bad movie podcast on the face, but its really just a comedy podcast. Episode 200 is a little abnormal because it has a guest, but was a great episode.
  • The Pen Addict (Kid Friendly)
    It’s a weekly hour long show about pens. It helped me to become a pen/paper nerd. If you can’t believe this is a thing, give it a shot. Episode 200 might be a good place to start.
  • Throwing Shade
    I’ll just use their description…”Hosts Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi take a weekly look at all the issues important to ladies and gays… and treat them with much less respect than they deserve. Can you handle it?”. Great show, funny and the most political of the shows on this list. Episode 221 was really good, but you can jump in at any time, with the current election every episode promises to be a gem.