Best of Youtube

This is a video podcast with close to daily updates.  The title says it all but mostly the focus is on either funny clips or something amazing.  I find that about half the time I am amazed by the stuff that´s being posted and this is a regular favorite to watch while I am travelling in trains and planes.  **** rating.  

Top Ten for February 2007

Answer Bitch
Diggnation
GeekBrief
Grammar Girl´s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better writing
Keith and the Girl
Mac OS Ken
Net@nite
Real Time With Bill Maher
Skeptoid: Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena
This Week in Tech
VH1 Best Week Ever

This list is in alphabetical order not by preference. I recommend the newcomers Keith and the Girl and Grammar Girl. Extremely funny and extremely informative respectively.

GizWiz show

I downloaded a new show from Leo Laporte, the hyper-busy podcaster, where the focus was on individual gadgets. A new gadget every day - that couldn´t be too bad.
In addition, the co-presenter is the Mad-magazine contributer Dick Debartolo so this promised to be funny and interesting. Funny gadget reviews simply cannot miss.

However.

The show is too light weight; the banter not so funny and the gadgets too frequently uninteresting. I noticed that I simply couldn´t be bothered to actually listen to the shows after they were downloaded. This is in sharp contrast to Leo's other shows which are genuinely interesting (TWIT and MacBreak).

I tried GizWiz for a week... and then let it go.

Top 10 for March (and Top 5)

You know the drill. A new month, a new top ten podcast list.
These are the shows I look forward to downloading and enjoying. To make the list more clear I decided to split it into the audio top ten and the video top 5.

Audio
1. Cinecast
2. Emaccast
3. KCRW Left, Right & Center
4. Point of Inquiry
5. Real Time with Bill Maher (He´s back)
6. Scientific American
7. Slate Magazine Podcast
8. NBC´s Meet the Press
9. Telegraph News
10. This Week in Tech

Answer bitch has finally dropped out of the top ten; she was just becoming annoying and grating.
Ricky Gervais show has started its second season and as it now costs 1.95USD per 30 minute show, it is simply not a feasible option.
Ebert and Roper are simply not entertaining enough to be in the top ten anymore, don´t know how to put a finger on it but they are just too "slick", too polished.
The newcomers are: Point of inquiry, a skeptical science show; NBC´s Meet the Press, a great hardtalk interview show; Real Time with Bill Maher, who graciously has returned from his vacation and finally, Telegraph news which is great in the mornings with your cup of coffee. The Telegraph provides you with a small package of news summaries, market news and then some interesting articles. In a way it is perfectly representative of a newspaper where you never know exactly what you will be reading in the morning.

Video Top 5
1. Diggnation
2. DL.TV
3. Xplay Video Podcast
4. MacBreak
5. VH1 Best Week ever

Diggnation is still great and quite a lot of fun. DL.TV is more informative and "grown up". There is nothing "grown up" abut Xplay´s Video Podcast and MacBreak is the latest Leo Laporte video show (the guy is the most energetic podcaster around). VH1´s Best week ever is derived from their TV show and and gives you a pop culture briefing every day (LOST was exciting last night, Dancing with the stars was not).

Point of Inquiry

I was thrilled when I saw this show available as a podcast. Point of Inquiry is a scientific show - focusing on the "alternative" thoughts out there and discusses whether or not these other approaches have any merits.

As an added bonus, they have extensive videos with big names in science and journalism, e.g. Richard Dawkins, Paul Kurtz, Joe Nickell and Marci Hamilton.

This is a high quality show on a very worthy subject. I recommend it to anybody who is interested in science.

Point of Inquiry is the Center for Inquiry’s radio show and podcast, drawing on CFI’s relationship with the leading minds of the day including Nobel Prize-winning scientists, public intellectuals, social critics and thinkers, and renowned entertainers. Each episode combines incisive interviews, features and commentary focusing on CFI’s issues: religion, human values and the borderlands of science. Point of Inquiry explores CFI’s three research areas:
1. Pseudoscience and the paranormal (bigfoot, UFOs, psychics, communication with the dead, cryptozoology, etc.)
2. Alternative medicine (faith healing, homeopathy, belief in “healing touch,” the efficacy of prayer, etc.)
3. Religion and secularism (church-state separation, the effects and proper role of religion in society, the future of secularism and nonbelief, etc.)

http://www.pointofinquiry.org

Scientific American Podcasts

Scientific American just recently decided to publish podcasts on iTunes and I´m rather happy about the result. I had tried listening to The Naked Scientist (longwinded and not that informative) and then to the Science Friday show (Informative but rather hit or miss).

Scientific American is more direct and seems to be much more relevant to the topics of today. The last shows have been about evolution, marijuana, avian flu and of course... curling. Each show has an interview with a leading scientist and/or journalist and the host tries his best to put a humorous twist to it. You just have to admire that kind of dedication.

Its an excellent show and really a must for any science geek (you know who you are).

http://www.sciam.com/podcast/

Ricky Gervais first season finished

Not sure how I feel about this.

Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant, along with their pet imbecile friend, Karl Pilkington, have now finished their first season of comedy podcasts. All in all they managed to give us 12 free half hour shows, mostly on Mr. Pilkingtons amazing thought processes. The shows were funny, peppered with Mr. Gervais's maniacal laughter and the nonplussed reactions of Mr. Pilkington. Steve Merchant acted as a kind of referee, poking fun but ensuring that the show actually progressed in some manner.

Now, however, after amassing a staggering 400.000 downloads, they have decided to return for another season but now for a fee. This is truly the end of an era. Podcasts will start charging for the content and the magic will either fade or... this will simply become another way for broadcasters to make money.

I´m not really sure how this will work - if they will charge a miniscule amount, say 1 pounds for 12 new shows.. I would agree with that. If they are going to charge a pound for each show - no way I will spend that kind of money on a comedy radio show.