Podcasts I’m Listening To: Spring 2019

3 May 2019 Revision History

Here’s the list of podcasts I’m listening to in spring of 2019.

In comparison to last year’s list, I’ve broken this year down into ‘Currently Subscribed’ and ‘Previously Subscribed’ sections.¹ Podcasts that are new to the list are in bold.

Happy listening!

Currently Subscribed

Accidental Tech Podcast: Probably the largest Apple-related podcast out there, hosted by Marco Arment, Casey Liss and John Siracusa. I’ve found Arment frustrating to listen to in the past but his willingness to call a spade a spade when it comes to Apple (and the Mac in particular) coupled with Siracusa being one of the most insightful Apple pundits brought me in as a listener.
Against the Rules: Hosted by Michael Lewis (the author of Moneyball, the Big Short, etc), this is a great new podcast about the declining role of referees in contemporary society.
All the President’s Lawyers: This is one of those current affairs programmes that consistently leaves you better informed after listening to it than you were previously. Hosts Josh Barro and Ken White are a great tandem.
Analog(ue): A podcast about issues that crop up in the lives of Casey Liss (see Accidental Tech Podcast mentioned above) and Myke Hurley (see Upgrade mentioned below). I’ve only recently added this to my rotation and am not completely sure it’ll stay. The draw for me has been listening to Liss and Hurley, who both play a role similar to a talk radio producer on their respective shows, be the ‘stars’ on this one.
The Bike Shed: Thoughtbot is a software consulting group, mostly known for their work with Ruby and Ruby on Rails. In this podcast, one of their developers, Chris Toomey, interviews employees of the group about the projects and technologies they’re working on. Toomey is an engaging host and the nature of consulting work means every episode always has something new to discuss. I’m a little behind and so haven’t listened to her appearances yet but Steph Viccari has recently joined the show as a co-host.
Core Intuition: Each week, the hosts Daniel Jalkut and Manton Reece discuss the same news as other Apple-related shows but their backgrounds as working programmers give the show a fresh perspective. It was getting a little repetitive listening to Jalkut’s struggles with Red Sweater, his Mac software company, but a new job with Mixed in Key has changed things up and added a new dimension to the conversation.
Exponent: A tech podcast, but from a business angle. I’ve been listening to this since it first started and, while there are times I’ll skip episodes I feel like I’ve heard before, I still find most discussions between hosts Ben Thompson and James Allworth a rewarding listen.
Functional Design in Clojure: I’ve recently become enamoured with the Clojure programming language and in this show, Christoph Neumann and Nate Jones discuss programming problems and how to solve them in Clojure. For someone coming from more of an object-oriented programming background, I find Neumann and Jones’ conversations helpful guide in learning how to think about things from a functional perspective.
Open Floor: This is a show I stopped listening to last year but found myself drawn back to while watching the current NBA season. The reason? It’s simply the most consistently good basketball podcast out there. The hosts, Andrew Sharp and Ben Golliver, have terrific chemistry and different enough points of view to keep things engaging.
On Margins: In On Margins, Craig Mod explores the changing nature of book production with a variety of guests. While I devour Mod’s writing, I confess I’ve found this a tough listen of late. I enjoy Mod’s voice as much as I did when he started the podcast; I’m just not that interested in the subject matter. It might be a show I drop before I write the next one of these.
The REPL: This is another Clojure-related podcast, this time involving host Daniel Compton talking to people within the Clojure community. Compton does a great job letting his subjects speak and so far I’ve enjoyed every episode.
Revisionist History: As I said last time, if Malcolm Gladwell has a ‘thing’, it’s being counterintuitive and with this show he’s seemingly found nirvana. Even if you’re sceptical of the conclusions he wants you to draw, it’s difficult to deny he knows how to spin a good yarn.
Slow Burn: It seemed like Leon Neyfahk would have a hard time matching season 1 but, if anything, season 2 on the Clinton impeachment was even better. Season 3 won’t feature Neyfakh² and that’s got me a little worried.
TECHnical Foul: Ben Thompson from Exponent and Manton Reece from Core Intuition both like the NBA and both had the equipment so, since it’s the 2010s, they started a podcast. Unfortunately, no episodes this season and they’re probably done but I remain subscribed just in case.
Thinking Basketball: Behavioural scientist Ben Taylor offers analytical insights on the state of the game. Thinking Basketball is also the name of Taylor’s YouTube channel and I heartily recommend that as well.
Under the Radar: Marco Arment and Daniel Smith present a discussion on programming (primarily for the iOS platform). This avoids becoming yet another Apple news talkfest by sticking to a 30-minute time limit and coming out fortnightly.
Upgrade: I think I’d only just started listening to this when I wrote last year’s post and it’s now my favourite Apple-related technology podcast. As is something of a running theme, the hosts Jason Snell and Myke Hurley are an excellent duo. Snell’s weekly columns drive the show but Hurley is a terrific counterweight, both as a non-American and as someone less reflexively pro-Apple than Snell.
You Look Nice Today: Look, it might come back.

Previously Subscribed

Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick: As I thought might happen, I found this didn’t have the depth I was looking for (the niche has somewhat been filled by All the President’s Lawyers).
Off Message: As part of a broader retreat from the 24-hour news cycle, I pulled back from this one.
The Rewatchables: This became a bit repetitive in terms of the hosts.
The Talk Show: It felt momentous to unsubscribe from this one. A prior incarnation of The Talk Show was the first podcast I ever listened to and that was more than 10 years ago. Ultimately, though, it came down to the fact that I believe Gruber desperately needs a producer.³ Gruber’s guests all too frequently are an awkward fit in a show that’s really about him.⁴
We Heart Hartnett: This one has finished but the truth is I dropped out before the end. Hartnett has been in too many terrible movies no one has ever seen that I lost interest.
The Weeds: Stopped listening for largely the same reason that I stopped listening to Off Message.
The West Wing Weekly: I tend to pretend the show stopped after season 4 anyway so that seemed as good a time as any to unsubscribe.

Well, there you have it. Until (probably) next year! ✺

I’ve also dropped the Japanese podcasts I listen to for language practice. Truth be told, I’ve been on an extended break from Japanese study for a while now and have unsubscribed from the podcasts I mentioned last year. ↩
Neyfahk started a new show, Fiasco, with new spoken word aggregator Luminary. It has a terrific premise but is trapped inside the proprietary Luminary app. Fingers crossed they flame out quickly and the show comes to the open web. ↩
Someone similar to Myke Hurley on Upgrade. Long time fans of the show will recall that he did in fact use to have this. ↩
That said, if I could advise Gruber to drop anyone from his rotation it would be Rene Ritchie. The guy is a hack. ↩