I recently discovered podcasts. I feel like I am way too far behind on this. Podcasts were a thing in the 2000s, no we have the tenners and they are halfway over. I don’t even have an iPod.
But still, I looked for something to entertain me during the long hours at the clean bench and when Doro is using her spotify, blocking me in the process from leaching of her account.
The first trouble was finding a decent app for android. While there are plenty of good apps on iOS, there is not so much on Android. I found pocket casts to work best for me. Good interface, great value for money, ad free, reliable.
I then quickly filled the phone with podcasts. Here is a selection of podcasts I enjoy a lot and can recommend.
First some english podcasts:
The best one, without any doubt, is This American Life. A weekly podcast from Chicago public radio. Ira „Hourglass“ Glass hosts the show and presents a selection of different stories fitting the week’s topic. The stories are about poultry farmers, British comedians and their childhood traumas or how stressful the life of an used car salesman can be. Not a single episode was bad so far. I love this podcast.
A bit more specific but nonetheless very interesting is 99.9 % invisible. This design focused podcast tells stories from the world of designers but relevant to many more people. In the latest episode they talked about audio design, audio branding and the story of the Apple startup sound.
If you are looking for a laugh and have a weakness for random facts, have a look at „no such thing as a fish„. In this show, hosted by the QI elves, the unused facts of the TV show are used as a starting point for more (ir)relevant facts and many laughs.
Unfortunately the next tip is discontinued, but the 17 great episodes are still online. Slate’s working podcast spends 20 to 30 minutes per episode to talk to everyday people about the work they do. The first one was Steven Colbert giving a detailed insight into his work, and the show continued with jobs like a google coder, a lexicographer or a school principal.
A similar approach is taken by „Here’s the thing“ with Alex Baldwin. Baldwin interviews a selection of celebrities from the US. The atmosphere is relaxed and gives an interesting new view on celebrities and their personality.
You can find a list with all my German and English podcast subscriptions under this opml-file (right click and save as is your friend).
And now the German podcasts (described in German):
Zu Beginn meine absoluten Lieblinge: Die Mikrodilettanten. Drei sympathisch verstrahlte erzählen so dies und das, und mit ein bisschen Glück erfährt man sogar, wie Phil eines Tages Heinz Schenk traf. Ganz großes Tennis.
Tim Pritlove macht so in etwa 1,4 Millionen verschiedene Podcasts, und die meisten davon schätze ich sehr. In der Freakshow redet er mit vier anderen Kollegen vom CCC über Apple, Technologie und seit neuestem auch Kochequipment. Im eingestellten CRE werden Konzepte und Technologien ausführlich vorgestellt, die Folge „Das Ohr“ sei jedem wärmstens empfohlen.
Ein wenig weniger crazy als die Mikrodilettanten ist die Sprechkabine, in der Phillip Seidel und Timo Hetzel über vieles, aber vor allem Eichhörnchen reden. Sehr entspannt und humorvoll.