Podcast Zeitgeist: February 2013

February 18, 2013 by Patrick LaForge

I don't watch a lot of TV, but I do listen to about 10 to 15 hours of podcasts a week, while walking around, doing chores, working out or dozing off. I use the Downcast app on my iPhone now that Apple has crippled podcast functionality in iTunes and released a buggy app. Here are the latest ones holding my interest, in alphabetical order; it's heavy on Mac stuff and comedy. Downcast has a good search, auto downloads in background and a simple playlist function that can serve you up the latest episodes one after another.

Artisanal Coffee by Mail: An Unboxing

December 25, 2012 by Patrick LaForge

I heard about Tonx Coffee on John Gruber's "Talk Show" podcast and decided to give it a try. Every couple of weeks the company roasts a variety and mails it out in vacuum-sealed bags to customers from an address somewhere in Los Angeles.

First Week With the Apple iPad

April 11, 2010 by Patrick LaForge in iPhone Apps, Social Media

The world probably doesn't really need another iPad review, does it?

There's a glut out of them out there.

And I'm not a tech reviewer. I'm a gadget nut, so feel free to discount my enthusiasm by the appropriate percentage. After all, I did pre-order this thing sight unseen so it could be delivered on Day One.

So this post will be impressionistic, just some notes on my first week with the device.

Welcome, Twitter Users

May 31, 2009 by Patrick LaForge in Social Media

It is likely that you arrived at this welcome page by clicking the link on my Twitter profile. This post is my primitive method for tracking traffic from Twitter.

A Pound of Organic Espindola From Ecuador

March 15, 2009 by Patrick LaForge in Coffee!

I happened to find myself in a Whole Foods store a week ago and noticed the wide coffee selection. Not being able to help myself, I picked up some single-source beans from Ecuador. For much of the week, I have been drinking it, mostly as espresso, alternating with the pricier Kenyan beans from an indie shop that I wrote about last week as part ofmy ongoing coffee quest. This has kept me alert through a few hours of an extracurricular project, listening to the audiobook version of "Shantaram," by David Gregory McDonald, a potboiler set in India.

Analyzing an Experiment in Blogging

February 21, 2009 by Patrick LaForge in Blogging, Social Media

Since October I've been experimenting here with some personal blogging. Why, you might ask, when I already blog at my job? Isn't that a busman's holiday? Perhaps. But I had plunked down money for this domain, and I had some ideas and obsessions to explore that didn't fit in with my work. And I also wanted to conduct a few experiments. When a blog is housed within a major news site, the metrics get hard to sort out. With some great content and breaking news, and a huge built-in audience, it is a simple matter to draw millions of views. (Palafo.com has drawn under 5,000 views in its entire existence, with who knows how many hundreds of those clicks attributable to family and friends.)

Podcast Zeitgeist, Jan. 26

January 26, 2009 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

This week's installment is the Podcast Zeitgeist of second chances, and probably the last such post for a good long while. I'll continue to listen to a few favorites, but a hiatus is in order. This started as an effort to make some notes about what worked for me as a listener. But it became an exhausting and time-consuming exercise, particularly since I sampled many more hours than I ever wrote about. It was cutting into my Twittering time. At some point I may summarize what I have learned, or not.[See all lists.]

Podcast Zeitgeist, Jan. 19

January 19, 2009 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

Welcome to the Podcast Zeitgeist list: presented in apparently random order, at inconsistent intervals, its purpose obscure, its usefulness in doubt, its taste questionable, its methods and motives suspect. [See all lists.]

Podcast Zeitgeist, Jan. 10

January 10, 2009 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

The list this week is tech-heavy and later than usual, mainly because of the "last" MacWorld Expo. {See all lists].

Podcast Zeitgeist, Jan. 1

January 01, 2009 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

There has been a lot of chatter about the podcasting business model, and whether it has been a failure. That talk intensified when a major commercial podcaster, Podango, warned recently that its death seemed to be near. None of this is of concern to me: I leave business models to the money people. My interest is content.I had more free time than usual this week, so the list is longer than usual (in the order I listened). [See all lists.]

A Consumption Report From Virgin Airworld

December 27, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in iPhone Apps, Social Media

I'm in Los Angeles with the family this week, visiting the in-laws. I booked the flight kind of late and decided to try Virgin America, which had been getting a lot of hype for its geeky amenities and Jetblue-style business model. The only way I could get three seats together on Virgin was to pay extra for the roomier bulkhead seats, the so-called Main Cabin Select, which came with "unlimited" food and media, a sort of discount business class. The flight was pleasant and as enjoyable as JetBlue, but the geek reality has not yet caught up with the hype.

Podcast Zeitgeist, Dec. 26

December 26, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

The mix this week is more culture than tech. Most of the podcasts I sample were off for the holidays, or they had recorded episodes in advance, so I went a little farther afield. [See all lists.]

15 Blogs on My Current Reading List

December 20, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Blogging

I subscribe to the feeds of hundreds of blogs through Google Reader (see shared links to some of them at left), but the list of blogs I actually enjoy reading is short. I'm always looking for additions to that list, and here are some strong contenders, in alphabetical order:

The Great Nerd Book Remains Unwritten

December 14, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Paper & Ink

Supposedly, nerds are now cool. People compete to show their nerd cred. They are joining Facebook, taking nerd tests on the Web, and discussing the definitions of geek and nerd on their blogs. They watch TV shows like "Battlestar Galactica," "Heroes" and "The Big Bang Theory." They read adult comics and mammoth science fiction novels. Even Barack Obama is said to be a nerd. It was not always this way, a topic that Benjamin Nugent explores in "American Nerd: The Story of My People," published earlier this year. I ordered the book after listening to Nugent give an interview on The Sound of Young America podcast about what he called his childhood experiences as a self-loathing nerd. It was poignant (and familiar) to hear him describe dumping his nerdy Dungeons & Dragons friends in high school so he could pass for normal. Unfortunately, the book did not quite live up to that interview, either intellectually or emotionally.

Podcast Zeitgeist, Dec. 12

December 12, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

I'm mixing it up a little this week, adding some new podcasts from the iTunes Best of 2008 lists [iTunes Store Link], including a few with video under 10 minutes.

Podcast Zeitgeist, Nov. 20

November 20, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

In a continuation of my peculiar hobby, here they are, in the order I listened this week, reports on a few of the podcasts of the geeks, nerds, freaks and boy-men of the Interweb:

Podcast Zeitgeist, Nov. 6

November 06, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

Podcasts I got around to listening to this week, and what was on them, in the order I listened:

Podcast Zeitgeist, Oct. 19

October 20, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

Lately my music library has languished as I have loaded up my iPhone with podcasts of a certain type: Men (mostly) talking about gadgets, technology, movies, stuff on the Web, games, women, and news of the weird, among other topics. The list: