Voices That Matter to me.. On Tech News!

Dan O'Neill — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:56:44 +0000

I don’t know where people who are interested in technology get the time to keep abreast of all the developments that happen in this industry. Unfortunately for me, my interests cover a huge swath of categories so I’m constantly hearing about stuff about 2 weeks after it happens and by then its old news! Also since there is a huge number of people and websites aiming to keep me informed, its hard to know who to listen to for good quality stuff. So where do I get my news? And who from? Being a hilariously busy Sysadmin and with my long commute in and out of work it makes sense for me to use podcasts as my tech news medium of choice, especially here in Ireland where no radio channel would dare touch on a subject that didn’t involve mainstream music, and or celebrities news! I jest, but still there is no technology news on the radio in Ireland so I get it all pretty much from the US. So what podcasts do I listen to and who in particular do I pay attention to?

Leo Laporte

The undisputed but sadly uncrowned king of technology news and chat has to be the great Leo Laporte and his amazing setup that he has over at twit.tv. I know I’ve joked about paying for stuff before but this time I really mean it when I say it. I would pay to listen and or watch his shows. So much so that I actually kind of went through with it and have a monthly donation setup through PayPal! The shows/netcasts/podcasts that run over at twit.tv really are some of the best technology broadcasts out there. The tag line of twit.tv is “netcasts you love from people you trust” and its true! In fact if Leo came out and told me on a show that the sky was green and the grass was blue, I would have to check! Anyway, enough of my idol worshipping… Leo has introduced some amazing people to me through the podcasts over the time I’ve been listening and always enlightens me on any subject that the shows happen to be covering. My RSS feed is full of blogs and websites from people that Leo has introduced me to from John C. Dvorak, all the way over to Molly Wood and Wil Harris, to name but a very few! Every week has me waiting for the next instalment of “This week in Tech” or “Windows Weekly“. He also blogs semi-regularly over at leoville.com and is a regular twitter..er. If you head over to twit.tv there are are some really interesting podcasts but, in particular, check out how twit was founded! Although a regular listener, I haven’t yet made the leap over to watching the shows live, as my schedule doesn’t allow for it, or watching the video podcasts because the battery life on my iPod touch doesn’t really allow for it! On a final note – although I really know that he’s not the only person talking about tech and gathering great minds together, he is the best at it.

John C. Dvorak

Where would twit be without John C. Dvorak? Who knows but it wouldn’t be where it is today. A legend in his own right, I look forward to the shows that he participates in. Although at the start I didn’t like him at all! I found him rude, brash and patronising but I have grown to respect and enjoy what he has to say – because he’s normally right! As a regular on twit he really does bring his considerable insight to the tech news world and always has something to say so it shows his considerable knowledge on the world of technology. Apart from twit, John also has a number of other projects like cranky geeks, which is another show that I religiously download and enjoy every time I can. You can also check out his personal blog at http://www.dvorak.org/blog/ which covers a huge broad spectrum of subjects… check out http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=31819, http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=31765 for example!

Paul Thurotte

A legend that I really discovered through Leo’s netcasts, I catch all my MS news from this man. It can’t be easy being the sole pro-Microsoft person (or so its seems from time to time) in the tech news industry, but I believe he always explains his arguments well and always gets to the point. However he would also be the first screaming when Microsoft gets it wrong so you can be sure he is quite… well I wont say unbiased but pretty close all the same. Insightful and funny, he really does make the shows with Leo really interesting and I find him very easy to listen to. His very low tone of voice helps a lot too! Aside from the podcasts, Paul is the news editor at Windows ITPro magazine, and runs the supersite for Windows. As work get the former, I get a chance to read some of the stuff, and the latter has to be, in my opinion, the greatest windows resource out there – bar none(although I don’t like the site re-design…)! I have used it for many things from finding out the latest Windows Vista news to learning how to create a slipstreamed XP disk! Paul has an inside line to the good stuff at Microsoft so he’s really worth listening to if you want to keep up to date with all that’s going on at the minute over at Redmond.

Conclusion

So there you have it, not a complete list by any stretch of the imagination but hopefully enough to get anyone started. The above people really are who I go to first for all of my tech news and analysis as they’re trustworthy and intelligent, funny and witty, and always keep my morning commute entertained. My hat comes off to Leo Laporte especially for bringing all these great people together at Twit.tv.

A Night at the Opera…

Dan O'Neill — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:34:35 +0000

Last night was my first ever trip to the Opera! I went to see Opera Ireland’s production of Madama Butterfly with my girlfriend in the Gaiety Theatre(pictured on the right), Dublin. It was sung in Italian but on the right and left of the stage were hung boards that gave the English subtitles. The production was excellent and the singing was really good. The leading lady was especially good and we were able to appreciate some of the great things that opera singers are able to do with their voices. Puts x-factor to shame for sure . However while the show was excellent, the seats we had were pretty awful. I paid €60 each for a couple of box seats that I hoped would allow us to see everything that was going on. The fact that they were still available at an almost sold out performance should have told me something! They we terrible. We were aware that there were six seats in our box and that we would have to share, little did we know they were going to be so small that we felt uncomfortable sharing such a space with the family that happened to be in there with us!

Box Seats?

First off the seats were arranged incorrectly so that some of the tall seats were at the front and the small seats were at the back. As long as I sat up very straight, I could just about see over the child’s head in front of me. And we didn’t want to say anything because you don’t want to upset people that you have to spend two hours in a small room with… . It meant though that whenever the child moved or sat up I had to dodge around. I managed to see all of the first act… very little of the second, and by the time the third started – the child had fallen asleep, so that made it a lot easier! Luckily enough, my girlfriend was able to see everything on her tall chair as this would have completely ruined the night!

All in all, it was a good night though, but I’d advise anyone to avoid the box seats unless you know the people you’re sharing the room with very well!