Friday 18 August 2017

Best UK (mostly) Tech Podcasts September 2017


Updated bits in blue

First of all thanks to all those creative people making the podcasts listed below.
However good or bad I claim the podcasts reviewed below to be, their creators are doing something I couldn't do; which is to make a podcast.

The 361 Degrees Podcast

http://feed.361podcast.com/361Degrees?format=xml

Ben Smith, Ewan MacLeod, Rafe Blandford

This podcast is having a short break, well a rather long short break, all right then a very long break. It used to be one of the best podcasts about tech and I realize now how I long for all those news flashes that it’s getting dark in Copenhagen.
Please come back. We didn’t mean it. Honestly.


All About Windows Phone

http://rss.allaboutwindowsphone.com/media-feed.xml 

Steve Litchfield and Rafe Blandford and others
Hats off to Steve Litchfield for his dogged defence of the indefensible (Microsoft). I admire his forbearance in treating Microsoft as if they cared tuppence about the Windows Phone platform and not like a company whose mobile phone policy has looked for years as if it was designed by its competitors. There are only ever scraps to talk about but Steve and his guests make the most of the tiny crumbs that can be found.

The Phones Show Chat

http://stevelitchfield.com/sshow/sshowchat.rss 

Steve Litchfield and Ted Salmon

Still going strong and deservedly so. Two good-natured and authoritative presenters with the occasional guest. Apple is given its just deserves with praise for the good things it does and disapproval for the bad things it does. Apple fanboys won’t enjoy this podcast much.  
CNET UK Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/CnetUkPodcastmp3?format=xml
On the up these days I think. A nice mixture of urbane and informed tech chat. There is the occasional welcome visit from the knowledgeable Katie Collins, a bonus for any podcast.

Tech Talk UK podcast

http://techtalkuk.com/ttukpodcast.rss 

Kevin Wright and others (sometimes)

Wow. By the time you read this what I am writing will be already out of date. I do not understand why I still listen to every podcast. But I do listen to every podcast. Steve Litchfield commented once that its chief and now sometimes only presenter has a good voice for radio and I couldn’t agree more. It’s a compelling listen which is all the stranger because I do not agree with most of what is said. Apple always seems to get a good press but Android phones or more particularly Samsung phones yo-yo in and out of favour at a truly bewildering rate and one can only admire the valiant attempt by the presenter to set a some kind of personal record for the number of phones he has bought and returned. This podcast died briefly then came back and remains a good listen. 

Wired.co.uk podcast

James Temperton and others

http://www.wired.co.uk/rss/podcast

Really, very good these days. Its themes are a little more varied than in days gone by so you can hear forecasts for inter alia the Premier League, er, bits about Game of Thrones and items about UK porn blocks and, well, all sorts really. The bubbly and brilliant Liat Clarke is sometimes a presenter, which is a real bonus.
Tech Tent

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01plr2p/episodes/downloads

Rory Cellan-Jones

I have tried and tried to listen to this. It remains the BBC’s idea of what a tech podcast should sound like and sad to say it feels like a tech podcast made by the team who made Blue Peter. Not for them the rumours about the new iPhone; at time of writing its depressingly ever-worthy main subject is “Diversity Row Hits Google”. 
Android Central Podcast
http://feeds.feedburner.com/AndroidCentralPodcast?format=xml
Yes, yes, I know it's Canadian?-American  (but it does have occasionally a knowledgeable Brit on) and the usual presenters have the extraordinary ability to talk engagingly for more than an hour about the tiniest, microscopic details of mobile phone technology. If you want to listen to people talking impossibly entertainingly about say a mobile phone button for 35 minutes at a time give it a whirl; it’s worth a listen.

The Tech Addicts Podcast

http://mobiletechaddicts.libsyn.com/rss

Gareth Myles, Jay Garrett, Gavin Fabiani-Laymond and Ricky West

Oh, I can’t listen to this anymore. The problem is not with its content which is variably good to very good but with the sound which fades out THEN COMES  BACK then fades out again THEN COMES  BACK then suddenly  it is as if someone appears to be wrapping the microphone in crinkly paper and... 
then I give up. 

If ever they sort this out I’ll be back.

They did sort the sound out this week and, it’s a very good listen. It can be a little more acerbic than some of the other podcasts here but it is an enjoyable listen now they’ve fixed the sound.

The PC Pro Podcast

Darien Graham-Smith, Tim Danton and Barry Collins 

https://soundcloud.com/pc-pro?feed=rss2

As you might expect from the name you hear a lot more about PCs and desktop stuff than on some of the other tech podcasts. The presenters should imho not take so much notice of the live commentary stuff, whatever it is, from listeners and go with their own opinions more. This is one of the podcasts that deserves a wider audience for its genial presenters alone. The Phone Show Chat, Tech Talk UK, All About Windows Phone, the TechBox are more interconnected and share guests from time to time but this stands apart. Perhaps it would benefit from the occasional guest? I don’t know. It would certainly benefit from having a better recording system. The recording is never as bad as that of The Tech Addicts Podcast but there are still ethereal squeaks and judders.

Tech's Message

http://rss.acast.com/techsmessage

Nate Lanxon, Ian Morris

Been on holiday since 3rd July.

The TechBox

https://www.thetechbox.net/podcasts?format=rss

David Rich, Richard Yates, James Honeyball and Andy Hagon.

The new kid on the block and it’s great. They are still finding their feet, so to speak, but this has an engaging panel of presenters and is good.

All About Android (MP3)

Jason Howell, Florence Ion, Ron Richards et al

I don’t know how I could have missed a tech podcast that is so LONG for so long but I managed it. It rambles here, it rambles there, but in a good way and inevitably so; the episode I caught came in at a whopping 1 hour 41 minutes. Loads of triviality but entertaining. Mostly Americans or Canadians but other accents are available.

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