Podcasts
I've been "enjoying" commutes of up to 60min for a while, either going to spend the day at Max Gaming or going to teach my classes at the community college. Plus I've been walking for exercise. All of which are good times to listen to podcasts.The normal podcast format is really just a bunch of people sitting around a table and talking for 30-90 minutes. There are other formats, but my favorites all fall into that category.
No surprise; I listen to gaming and tech podcasts. Here's a list of my current favorites.
1) TWIT
This week in tech, hosted by Leo Laporte, is weekly tech news. Leo has lots of silicon valley bigwigs and smart people on, plus (usually) his grumpy-old-man sidekick John Dvorak. Lots of talk about cellphones and websites. Plus, Leo's website streams live to the iPhone!
http://twit.tv/
2) The Instance
Each week, Scott and Randy talk about World of Warcraft. I'm only occasionally interested in WoW, but these guys are slick and well-organized, their show runs smoothly and is always enjoyable to listen to.
http://theinstance.net/
3) Idle Thumbs
Chris Remo and two friends talk about videogames. They are like many other three-young-men-talk-about-FPS-games-on-a-podcast, but the show is higher-quality than most. They spend more time talking about PC games, and talking about games of different genres.
http://www.idlethumbs.net/
4) Retronauts
Jeremy Parish leads a group in discussions about games of old. The casters often have loads of experience with the Japanese market and its history. Plus, I was one of those PC gamers who completely skipped the 8-bit and 16-bit game console generations (the first console I ever owned was the PS1), so they have lots to teach me about those games.
http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3156908
5) Active Time Babble
Jeremy Parish ALSO leads a group in discussions about RPG games. Once again, the participants have great and interesting knowledge of the Japanese market (most of them have lived in Japan). This podcast tends to be a bit unfocused and long, but still enjoyable.
http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3176689
6) Evil Avater's Shotgun
Remember I just talked about three-young-men-talk-about-FPS-games-on-a-podcast? Well, this is the cream of that crop, which is not actually leaping a high bar. However, as a previous guest of the show (IIRC), I can't talk smack about them. Unfocused, but worth a listen.
http://evavhost.com/podcast/
7) Webcomics Weekly
This show hasn't been weekly for some time, but it's really fun to listen to. Four hard-working independent artist/entrepreneurs talk about doing what they do. Man, are they funny! Plus, they have loads of advice and experience for independent artist/entrepreneurs of any medium.
http://www.webcomics.com/