I love podcasts.

Gone are the days of standing in silence washing the dishes or hoovering the flat. Now, with the help of my bluetooth headphones, I can listen to a story, catch-up on the news or learn more about the techologies I work with each day.

Whilst everyone’s taste in podcasting will be different, I’m a big believer in sharing and promoting the content that you enjoy. As such, I’ve compiled a short-list of the podcasts that feature heavily in my weekly playlist:

99% Invisible

You don’t have to dig very deep into the world of podcasts to uncover this gem from Roman Mars.
Any self-respecting podcast fan subscribes to the 99pi RSS and with good reason; it’s rubby brilliant. The charm, I think, is in it’s simplicity - Let’s make a podcast about those things you encounter every day but probably never think twice about. I promise you, you’ll never look at a revolving door, a one-armed bandit or a pinball machine in the same way.

####The Moth

I love hearing people’s stories - It doesn’t matter if it’s an epic event or a mundane recollection, to the person telling the story, it’s real life. The Moth travels the US (and recently Europe) teaching and encouraging people to share their stories.
A new episode is released each week with content varying from a single story to an hour long compilation edited for radio. Either way, The Moth gives an insight into someone else’s world and subsequently, I find, gives perspective on my own.

Strangers

Remember Roman Mars, the guy from 99% Invisible above? Well, he and a whole lot of other talented producers have collaborated to product a suite of brilliant shows called Radiotopia.
One of my favourite shows from this collection is Lea Thau’s Strangers.
A bit like The Moth, Strangers is a show for sharing people’s stories with the world. What I really like about Lea, however, is her willingness to tell her own story. How many hosts would be willing to interview men from failed dating attempts in the hope of establishing exactly what kept going wrong? Lea even shares the out-takes from her recordings which, by the way, are captured from a cupboard under the stairs since that offers the best sound isolation.
How could you not love someone who wears their heart on their sleeve and produces such brilliant work on a shoe-string?

Security Now

By his own admission, Steve Gibson’s Security Now is a podcast for “propeller-head” security and tech enthusiasts. If you want to understand a technology from the ground-up, leaving no stone unturned, Steve Gibson is your explainer and chief.
I’ve learnt so much from these podcasts and as a software developer by day, I have a huge respect from Steve’s methodical and diligent approach to coding, as well as podcast creation.

TWiT

Security Now is produced as part of the TWiT podcast network.
Leo Laporte’s San Francisco enterprise churns out weekly podcasts covering all aspects of technology. There’s too many shows to mention but if you’re looking for a place to start, Triangulation and The Tech Guy are well worth a listen.