A New Source of Education: Podcasts

I have had an iPod for years, but the exercise of updating it and carrying it around wasn't always the most convenient for me. The unit, an original 10GB, was a little too heavy for my shirt pockets and a little too large to comfortably carry in coat pockets. Then, my headphone cords didn't quite make it if I tried to carry it in my pants pocket. A belt-clip was possible, but I already had a phone there. So, it was relegated to recreational use a few times each month.

Recently, I passed the iPod on to one of the kids and treated myself to an iPod Nano. Now I had a truly portable unit that fit my lifestyle. This also caused me to spend a little more time on iTunes that I had been spending with the old iPod. When Apple updated the software to iTunes 5, Podcasts started to get my attention. Yes, they were there before but I just really didn't pay attention.

After finding several of the more popular ones to my liking, such as:

• This Week in Tech with Leo LaPorte, John Dvorak, and Patrick Norton, and
• Diggnation with Kevin Rose, I went exploring for others that would be of interest. By the way, you might have noted that most of these are from the original The Screen Savers TV show that used to be on TechTV before Comcast ruined it.

On my journeys, I managed to find a few targeted at managers and executives. I subscribed via iTunes and found them worthy of taking up the valuable space on my 4GB Nano. Here is a short list of the podcasts I listen to.

• Negotiation Tip Podcast http://www.negotiationtip.com/
• Manager Tools http://www.manager-tools.com
  
• CIO Executive http://www.cio.com/podcasts/coach_casting.html

Besides these business related podcasts, you can find some that will teach you to speak a foreign language, offer tips and tricks with technology tools and toys, and many special interest items. Most major news sources are now releasing podcasts of their news offerings too, so it might be a more convenient method of keeping up-todate on such matters.
I am still going through the myriad of podcasts currently out there, and there are new ones added all the time. As I find some I feel to be of use, I'll share them here.