Looking to make the most of your downtime during commutes? Podcasts are a great way to stay productive, entertained and informed about the ever evolving technology industry.
Make sure you regularly download the following podcasts to stay up-to-date on the latest news and trends in the tech space.
If you want to get better and better at retaining the information you hear, I highly recommend checking out this piece on productivity site 99u by Michael Simmons, a serial entrepreneur.
A podcast focused on interesting people and the innovative ways they achieve success.
Every Tuesday, HackToStart features a fascinating technology expert, like innovators, hackers and entrepreneurs. Some interesting people they’ve featured include John O’Nolan from Ghost and Steve Beauchesne from Beau’s Brewery.
HackToStart was the #1 on iTunes under “Business News” category.
Owen Smith, cofounder and CEO of ReClickd.com, says this is among his favorite podcasts because it helps inspire and motivate throughout his startup journey.
Ranked the #1 business podcast on iTunes, the Tim Ferriss Show covers a wide range of industries, from investing to sports to pinpoint tips that you listeners can actually use.
"All of the podcasts are just conversations with great probing questions to
get in the mind of these experts, and the insight really is second to none," says Jay clouse of Tixers, who is a big fan of the podcast.
Prior guests include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ed Catmull (President of Pixar), Tony Robbins, Peter Thiel (billionaire investor), Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park), Neil Strauss (7x NYT bestselling author), Josh Waitzkin (chess prodigy), and many, many more, according to Four Hour Work Week.
The TWIT team does a fantastic job of rounding up the most pertinent tech news of the moment and delving deep into tech companies’ impact, features and more. Their recent stories range from the basics, like What is Snapchat and How to Use it to a roundup of Andorid Snoring Apps.
TWIT is a favorite of Sammy Lau, a digital strategist professional.
This podcast is less about general tech news and more about programming. "Ruby and technologies like Rails are what we have in common, but the discussions cover parts of the Ruby ecosystem, gems (libraries) as well as programming practices, tools, and careers.
The "focus is on Ruby but they generally talk about more broad programming topics," says Ryan Argentieri, CMO of Peach who powwowed with his CTO about their favorite tech podcast.
This is a video podcast that offers content every single day on teh latest tech news. The team goes behind the scenes at tech hubs, like the Marvel Experience. There's some great timely info, like "The Super Bowl Goes LED" and "Share Geek Love with These Cool Valentine's Day Gifts."
Geek Beat is particularly a favorite of Tony Katsulos, president and founder of Jetstream Public Relations, who frequently works with high-tech industries.
The unique thing about this podcast is that it's concise, at only seven minutes of tech news every day. The radio segment and podcast is produced by Marketplace from American Public Media. It's a broad range of tech topics.
Marketplace Tech comes highly recommended by Alan Braverman of the Giant Pixel Corporation.
This podcast specifically zeroes in on developing software and services, especially for the iPhone, iPad, Mac and gaming. The format is very conversational and interview-style with experts in the field. This one comes recommended by Braverman as well.
Braverman says this podcast is the best for actual discussion about coding. It's a great way to stay up-to-date on programming skills with tutorials and more.
Jack Martin, CEO and founder of technologyjobs.nyc likes Tech Fan to keep up with the latest tech trends. Whether it's CES, the latest version of the iPhone, host Tim Robertson does a great job covering all things tech.
Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit, Hipmunk and Breadpig, hosts a series of interviews with people who have fascinating stories to share. Although it's not a tech news podcast, it offers a unique perspective from stories of struggle, ambition and creativity that are upvoted on Reddit.
There are three primary categories: Digital life, business and all tech considered. Martin enjoys keeping up with NPR Tech because it offers another perspective of tech news. For instance, a recent story was on how Facebook could cause depression, depending on how you use it.
This podcast focuses less on technology as an industry and more on the Internet. Of course, the two often mix. Josh Waldron, web designer and founder of SneakADeal.com says the short format (20 minutes or less) and unique topics makes this his favorite podcast.
"Recent episodes discussed the unintended consequences of Yik Yak and the Byzantine underworld of domain sales," he says. "Always informative, entertaining and bit thought-provoking."
Erick Davidson of
Listia syas that A16Z has the best commentary on tech out there. Hosted by Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz, A16Z is affiliated with Andreesen Horowitz is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in startups.
