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Interesting Tech-Related Online Talk Radio?
kabrakan writes "Finding myself in an extremely boring tech job, I find the best way to pass the time is to listen to someone speak, specifically an interesting conversation about science, or a comedian. After exhausting NPR's database, could anyone recommend any online repositories of spoken word entertainment, especially talk in the technology world?"
A lot of it ends up being pseudo-science at best (but still somewhat interesting), but Coast To Coast AM (Art Bell, George Noory) does In fact have some real scientists on. They have a 3+ month archive of their old shows in, get this, MP3 format. It does have a $6.99 monthly fee. Obviously a lot of it is annoying rubish, but some is actually pretty good. I enjoy the show, but I've really only bought into one of the conspiracy theory/UFO/ghost topics.
Somewhat real scientists that have been on the show (And are In the current archive):
Paul Davies - Understanding the Universe
Brian Greene - Physics of the Universe
Kevin Mitnick - Hacking A To Z
Robert Hogg - JPL robotics engineer - The State of Robotics
And others...
The MP3s are great for listening to at work and have most/all of the commercials removed.
And then of course, you get all of the great tinfoil hat callers. It's also good for falling asleep to at night.
Casual Games/Downloads
the friggin Martians invaded. That was it for me.
If you're in to talk radio, and inclined to listen to a liberal slant, try Air America Radio. It's not tech oriented (unless you count electronic voting controversy), but it's a refreshing change from the right-wing dominated talk-radio airways.
No....perhaps we should start one. Slashdot.radio?
try 2600. They keep archives of their show "Off the Hook."
NJOY
Yeah, check out www.geekradio.com. We're about technology.
Another collection for you to exhaust:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/
The next question from you will be:
Dear slashdot, I got outsourced to India because I listened to the radio and didnt do any work. What should I do with all my free time?
Love,
Your favorite turd burglar?
I use this to record several talk radio shows
during the day/night then timeshift them the next day. Skipping all of the commercials and newsbreaks cuts the total time down by 1/2rd
http://radiorecord.sourceforge.net/
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/
-- "Most people prefer a popular myth to an unpopular truth"
Other than NPR, which is great, you can find some interesting talk at Rant Radio, which is occasionally even tech-oriented. And if you're a politics geek you can listen to anything C-SPAN covers online.
If you're a Macintosh user, you might want to check out "Your Mac Life". It is informative and provides news about Apple and other companies.
Your Mac Life link
Yes! I listen to NYC Speedcore and do math at 3AM. I suggest you try it too.
Your Mac Life is a weekly, three-hour long radio program on all things Apple. I listen every once in a while, most often following big announcements. For example, the WWDC wrap-up show will probably be interesting. It's not rigorously technical, but the questioner might like it.
There's Engines of Our Ingenuity, unless that's the "NPR database" you're referring to. (And as you can see from my URL, I am shilling somewhat. :)
Also check out their video archive containing (Moving Images: Prelinger Archives | Computer Chronicles | SIGGRAPH | Net Café | Open Source Movies | MSRI Lectures | Independent News | Feature Films | Election 2004 | Open Mind | Machinima | Youth Media | Brick Films | Shaping San Francisco | Speed Runs).
Archive.org rocks.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
If slashdotters knew where to find interesting tech news, they wouldn't be slashdotters.
I kid, I kid..... mostly
Click here for a free picture of an iPod!
It's more science than tecnology perse but a great show and they even have stuff in Ogg.
2) Point it here
3) Sit back and enjoy.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
You can typically buy them at most bookstores, or find them at your public library. Surprisingly, many libraries have very good resources for spoken word tapes and CDs... I think maybe this was once related to having books for people with poorer eyesight. Good luck!
Leo Laporte has a question and answer call-in show that he archives at the blog for the radio show. The downloads can be found at the bottom of the show notes.
http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
And how could I ever forget Geeks in Space. No new content in a long time, but some classics in there. Hey Slashdot guys, when are you going to bring us a new episode?
If you want something to make you laugh try LugRadio.
There's also The Linux Link Tech Show.
The Linux Link Tech Show
LUGRadio - from the Wolverhamptojn LUG - loads of interesting stuff
And finally SLUGRadio - Linux guys based in Scotland getting together, drinking and talking about mainly Linux.
Old Time Radio Has a very comprehensive collection of old radio shows. Not tech, but there is some sci-fi. There is a paid membership required but it seems to be reasonable.
KHaHa. It's hit and miss (though since what's funny varies from person to person, there's no reason it wouldn't be) but they have a lot of entertaining content.
Despite being heavily focused on Microsoft technologies (.NET in particular), DotNetRocks is an excellent radio talk show about everything from software development methodology, to Linux, to the general state of the industry. All shows are available for download as MP3's and you can call in live on Thursday nights.
You can get physics lectures on tape to listen to. I once borrowed lectures by Stephen Hawking, and Richard Fineman from a friend. The Fineman ones were great, but I can't find a link. The Hawking ones were good too, if you could stand the computer voice for hours on end.
Someone who beta-tested Unix games while in grade school, *and* she's, well, female... and you have no interest?
Please don't take this the wrong way, but are you gay?
The Pacifica radio network (the older but less recognized brother of NPR) has a program focused on technology. The hosts of the program brought were responsible for some of the first DMCA criminal and civil cases to make it to court.
As is typical of Pacifica; the programming is legendary and edgy.
Check out:
http://www.2600.com/offthehook/
Have a look at audio books. There are some really good audio books available and while the better ones are usually fiction, there are some nice nonfiction ones too -- mostly history books. Try downloading some using amule to see if you like the style (oops, did I just suggest copyright infringment?) There are sites where you can buy the books for about $5 each.
This is hardly off-topic.
This is a reference to H.G. Wells's live radio broadcast of Wars of the Worlds in 1938.
As some of you know, some people missed the disclaimer before the show, stating that this is a story, and and thought that the reports of Martian Invasion everywhere were actually real.
It's actually a very interesting story....Read about it here: http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/
How could I say to men: "Speak louder, shout! For I am deaf!"? -Ludwig van Beethoven
If you want a comedian with a social bend to his wit, try out some Bill Hicks.
There's scads of free audio/video that you can stream from Sacred Cow.
He's a very mind-opening speaker and very funny as well. Some of his best on stage moments are when he lashes back at an unreceptive audience.
Phil Hendrie is a comedien who has all of his shows archived on MP3 for a small monthly fee.
For those of you who have never listened to him before, he is probably one of the most gifted, unscripted artists on the air. His hook is having a caller call in with some absurd topic, then stay on to take calls. People call up outraged at the topic, and argue with the original caller. The thing is, Phil plays both the host and the offensive caller simultaneously. He essentially performs multiple personality radio. It is amazing, hilarious radio.
Phil Hendrie Show
Warning: I had to open his site in Exploder; flash required.
Todd
Every now and then I tune into old episodes of Jim Cramer's financial news radio show at TheStreet.com in the upper right... he's also a commentator on CNBC, voice is a little harsh but given that he made his millions in funds (not communications), I'll listen. You'll have to fill out a registration, and then you can stream in a RealAudio feed of yesterday's ep anytime. I happen to like his witty style of digging into bad companies, and he relly seems more of a "watchdog" when it comes to tech stocks... plus it's better to learn how to invest your money (by someone on the radio) than being told where to invest.
Other than that, New York's WABC 770AM offers a free feed here. The afternoon crowd gets a bit too old school conservative for my liking, but Monica Crowley has her "get the government out" libertarian moments. Oh, they also carry the Drudge Report on Sunday Nights... always an interesting show.
Per the Science Friday Archive page, archived audio is available for shows broadcast after mid-1996. You can search by date & topic. The stream is Real Audio, but appears to sans-membership. You can search by date and topic.
cartalk.com
Informative AND funny - very entertaining even if you aren't a gearhead. They back up almost all their stuff with sound engineering and science.
KCRW is a public radio station here in Los Angeles with a great assortment of eclectic music, npr, and some great programs. Morning Becomes Eclectic every day from 9a-12p PST is daily fodder for me, and then I switch over to the KCRW Music stream when I get back from lunch, which rebroadcasts all the music programs from the previous evening, as the regular station goes to NPR from noon til 8p. The site also has archives of a lot of good programs they have run, including the Complete Hitchhiker's Guide BBC Radio Drama, which has gotten me through a couple of nothing-to-do days. Apple iTunes radio has them listed under public and eclectic I believe as well. I highly recommend this.
in bed.
Taco: "First-time caller, you're on the air--"
Caller: "Frist p0st!" *click*
Taco: "Okay, caller #2, you're on--"
Caller: "GNAA owns the radio waves--"
Taco: "Moving right along. Caller #3, you're on the air with Slashdot radio. What's on your mind?"
Caller: "I for one welcome our new GNAA overlords--"
Taco: "Fucking hell. Is there a single sane individual out there?"
After reading through the 1st 37 posts i am supprised to find no one recomending ken radio ***www.kenradio.com*** it's great and now about 45 minutes long. he has archives too. Technology Bytes @ ***www.technologybytes.com/index.php***. Their slogan is "We RTFM so you don't have to!" they also have archives. if you like cars try out ***www.cartalk.com***, but coming from NPR you may have already found them. ***cnet.com with techrepublic.com*** (the best technical reference i've found on the web) has audio and video web casts. techrepublic requires free registration, and for a subscription has accress to even better materials. Also consider a stream capture program that will let you record something that airs when you're not at you pc. I checked out all i could find, and settled on Replay Radio from ***www.replay-radio.com***
It might not be an option if you work in an office but I work at home and I like to listen to DVD commentaries.
Put on the commentary for a film you like, especially if you like the actor/director who is doing the commentary, and two hours are gone before you know it.
IT Conversations has a bunch of interesting IT audio content. Well, interesting if you want to listen to people like Bruce Schneier, Tim O'Reilly, Joe Trippi, Philip Greenspun and Steve McConnell.
Chances are, your favorite OSS app, distro has a nice channel on some IRC network. Not only is there discussion now you too can take part in it! (Though I'm not gonna deny that there are lots of time-wasting IRC channels too, just avoid 'em).
Sunny Dubey
This is more toward the heavy science area but it demonstrates a genre I would like to find more of on the web, i.e. archived class lectures or conferences on science or tech subjects. This link takes you directly to audio/video media made at a conference on "planet creation" held at The Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, CA. I'm a believer that multimedia distance learning is a wonderful field to be in and many of these engineers and lab guys need a lot of help to creatively present their ideas on the web. If you know of some good sites with archived classes or lectures, please add them to the list.
The Linux Show! Live every Tuesday night, 20:00 Central Time (they're in Illinois, USA).
They also have archives (link on the front page), and an IRC channel.
--
Given enough personal experience, all stereotypes are shallow.
Also, The Linux Show: The original weekly Open Source/GNU/Linux webcast talk show.
Disclamer: David Mohring/NZheretic is soon going to be more closely connected to the Linux Show.
Actually, if you are looking for hard core science, you could check out the The KITP lecture archives. They are hard science lectures covering some really cutting edge stuff. Now while about 85% is well over my head, there are lots of "overview" lectures (and slides) in there that I found really interesting. A great little treasure trove of science.
Lots of good stuff there - interviews, speeches, conference presentations... good times.
The Army reading list
If you have not already seen it the archives are good for quite a few hours of tech related programming. American University's Kojo Nnamdi show: http://www.wamu.org/kojo/index.html
Antioch Radio. You get old radio serials from the 30s and 40s, including Sci Fi shows.
When they came for the communists, I said "He's next door. Take him away. Goddam commies."
There are a great number of interesting underground talk radio shows which have sprung up as of late, many of which deal with network security, computer programming, software piracy, individual privacy issues, etc.
I recommend the following shows:
The ARTS: Artscene Radio Talk Show - show archive
BinRev: Binary Revolution - show archive
RFA: Radio Freek America - show archive
and of course we can't forget Emmanuel Goldstein's Off the Hook which has shows dating back to 1988:
2600's Off the Hook - show archive
TEXTFILES.COM also stores a huge library of other radio shows and rants at its newly branded AUDIO.TEXTFILES.COM.
I might as well take the opportunity to pimp my own show, Uberleeto. Each week I take the current tech news and do a bit of ranting. Episodes are 15 minutes at the most, great for people with low attention spans.
I'm looking for as much feedback as possible. My email address is at the bottom of the page.
http://hackermedia.net/uberleeto
Hacker Media
How about listening to the best? Caltech's Streaming Theater.
Bring it back.
Pretty please?
I'll give you a chocolate chip cookie.
(Okay, it has one bite in it...)
I want my Cowboyneal
How about:
- panel discussions from the H2K2 conference.
- a college course on SF and Fantasy literature.
- the DV Guys focus on the art and tech of video production. (Terrible bumper music. Just suffer through it)
- The Teaching Company has some fantastic for-pay courses on CD and DVD.
- Lastly, I gotta mention The Infidel Guy. The focus is on atheism, so it's not for everyone, but there are some great interviews in the archives with people such as Massimo Pigliucci, Michael Shermer, Paul Kurtz, and Michio Kaku. Lots of contorversial and thought provoking talk on the subject of religion, philosophy, and science.
www.joefrank.com
Interviews, talk radio, and live streams and archive of major and regional events.
Did you know that most media in this country are controlled by about 7 companies??? This means it's pretty easy to control the content.
The media has one DEFINITE bias, they are biased towards making money. And they frequently express that bias whenever they can. But the bias means that media sources tend to cow-tow to people who have power and influence.
In case you haven't noticed, the people who run corporate America are largely influential Republicans. These are the people who EDIT the news sources. It doesn't matter who actually writes or reads the news. It has to get passed the people who CONTROL it!!!!!
But it's always easy to construct a straw man out of anybody or anything. You can take a single poll saying that more journalists voted for Clinton and a few incidents that you think are "biased" and make yourself a real good scarecrow man. And then you'll have the ultimate fun knocking your strawman down.
Swing over to www.democraticunderground.com and check out what LIVE liberals have to say. You've been dancing with your straw men for WAY too long.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
from http://www.npr.org/about/privatesupport.html:
In 2004, public radio stations and producers will receive $86 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is funded by Congress (that amounts to only 30 cents per American to support local public radio stations). The appropriation from Congress accounts for only about 14 percent of the cost of operating local public radio stations
between 1-2 percent of NPR's annual budget - comes from competitive grants sought by NPR from federally funded organizations, such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Here's the audio
Dan