I listen to a fair bit of podcasts, and a fair number of them are basically Western (Europe / USA) people talking about tech - specifically the Mac / iOS ecosystems. And honestly, a bunch of them are largely by the old 5by5 crew (Siracusa, Marco, Merlin, etc.)
Wondering if there are any other underrated, interesting podcasts with good insight that are a little more “diverse”. “Diverse” in this context could mean diversity in a racial sense, but it could also mean different thoughts, contrary points of view, etc.
Still looking for stuff in the Mac / iOS ecosystems, or of interest to a geek sort of person who exists in those ecosystems. Not looking for podcasts about Android or Windows for the sake of “platform diversity”.
Anybody have any “hidden gems”?
This one was recommended on the other thread - https://hemisphericviews.com/ - and I’m enjoying the first episode. Looking forward to more.
I haven’t listened to it in ages, but back in the days NosillaCast was definitely different. Not the usual suspects on mic. Different views on things And people from outside the USA (Bart Busschots is from Ireland).
I think the original diverse Mac podcast was the Mac ReviewCast, hosted by Tim Verpoorten, which had maybe a half dozen different contributors from around the world in each episode. That podcast ended with Tim’s death in 2013 and it’s where I first listened to ‘MacSparky’ - it was maybe the first regular podcasting he ever did. It also had contributors from around Europe, like Gazmaz, who now cohosts MyMac.com’s podcast.
Of course in the tech sphere ‘diverse’ opinionators generally means white men not all from the same country, which makes the (well-deserved) success of Marques Brownlee all the more amazing.
Marques Brownlee is incredible. The quality of his production is excellent, his music choices are great, and he has a beautiful voice. Hard to believe he started at such a young age!
I just discovered Bart Busschots recently via his Taming the Terminal podcast series, which is really excellent.
I am looking forward to hearing what others might offer here. I also listen to all the 5by5 alumni but it does start to feel a bit ‘cliquey’ sometimes.
Gender is another axis. So I would call out @RosemaryOrchard and Alex Cox as two to follow. (In both cases these are people I would’ve followed regardless of gender.)
(This isn’t about me but my own podcast is hosted 50% male, 50% female.)
The Vergecast, flagship podcast of The Verge, generally features a lot of different voices while covering tech. It’s still USA-centric but I just skip the episodes where that focus is uninteresting.
Greater Than Code is a diversity-first tech podcast, although they don’t really cover current events/products/whatever. I think of it as tech-adjacent.
Nested Folders is a fairly Getting Things Done-centric productivity/tech podcast hosted by Rosemary Orchard and Canadian Scotty Jackson.
a16z, the podcast of Andreesen Horowitz, features quite a few different voices and focuses on broader tech issues and implications. From their description: “The a16z Podcast discusses tech and culture trends, news, and the future – especially as ‘software eats the world’. It features industry experts, business leaders, and other interesting thinkers and voices from around the world.”
I’ve been meaning to try out Anil Dash’s Function for a while. I don’t have first-hand listening experience but it seems like it fits here.
We’re super-excited to have now officially launched. The first ‘proper’ episode has been released and we’re now scheduled for a regular bi-weekly schedule.
Absolutely. It was an outstanding achievement to gather so many contributors for each episode. You newer knew what to expect and almost everything was interesting. And even if not, each segment did not take too much time and then the next one started. It was so much fun to listen to this show. So many interesting apps, so many interesting developers. Good old times!
That is still how it is today. Allison Sheridan even has created several Spin offs like Chit Chat Across The Pond where she interviews persons in tech from all over the globe whom she finds interesting (one per episode). That show is very diverse. Sometimes, an episode might not be “for me”, but it is no problem to skip it then.
Scotty Jackson.