Podcast Picks of the Day - Futures in Biotech and The Story

Futures in Biotech
Futures in Biotech 21: Science versus Cancer
Run Time: 1:06:11

Hosted by Marc Pelletier, Futures in Biotech is a podcast focusing on the latest breakthroughs in biotechnology. This episode featured Dr. Evangelos Michelakis, a doctor at the University of Alberta, and his discovery of how the cheap, common drug DCA could potentially destroy cancer cells. DCA acts to switch the unique metabolism of cancer cells back to normal, which in turn triggers programmed cell death (apoptosis). There are multiple disclaimers at the end of the episode regarding DCA and its testing. Dr. Evangelos’ provided excellent insight on how cancer cells metabolize differently from normal cells.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.



The Story
Listening for Amelia
Run Time: 51:38

Hosted by Dick Gordon, The Story is a daily weekday podcast featuring engaging stories from all walks of life. Amelia Earhart lost communication during her flight around the world on July 2, 1937. On the same day, Betty Klenck Brown was a 15-year-old Californian girl listening to her short wave radio for songs, which she planned to transcribe so she could sing the lyrics without having to purchase the sheet music. After turning the dial, a voice came over the speaker “This is Amelia Earhart. This is Amelia Earhart.” Betty transcribed every word that came through the radio. The transcription became a three-hour, harrowing, one-way distress communication from Amelia and her navigator.

Despite efforts by her father for government involvement, Betty’s journal of the incident stayed dormant for decades until a member of TIGHAR (The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery) came across her journal after hearing a story from Betty’s neighbor. Ric, a disbeliever in the Betty’s story at first, now believes Betty’s radio did pick up the Earhart distress call from the crash site as shown in clues in the transcription, communication snippets that could only have come from Earhart.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Podcast Pick of the Day - This Week in Tech

This Week in Tech
TWiT 107: We’re Going to Need a Bigger Flywheel
Run Time: 1:31:32

Hosted by Leo Laporte, This Week in Tech is a weekly podcast focusing on all things tech. This episode consisted of a sizeable cast: John C. Dvorak (Dvorak.org/blog), Patrick Norton, Robert Herron, Steve Gibson and Molly Wood. Amongst other topics, the large gang pontificated on Google bidding for the 700MHz spectrum, Dvorak’s insight into a possible Sprint-Google deal, the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray war, hybrid hard drives, Congressmen and tech, intern loses 800,000 Ohio social security numbers, Apple and Microsoft quarterly profits, smog testing and HDMI cable reviews.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Podcast Pick of the Day - This American Life

This American Life
#337: Man vs. History
Run Time: 59:36

Hosted by Ira Glass, This American Life features intriguing stories from all walks of American life. Act One of the episode featured Dal LaMagna, an entrepeneur who made some of his small fortune selling high quality tweezers. During retirment, Dal set a new lofty goal for himself: end the violence in Iraq. Armed with some lobbying and Washington D.C.experience, Dal traveled to the Middle East and hooked up with an Iraqi Parliamentary member, Mohammed Al-Dynee, to broker a peace between warring factions and the U.S. troops. Dal recored his meetings and journeys, some 25 hours of audio. The podcast provides great insight into the behind scenes in Baghdad, including a meeting with the British high commander.

Act two featured espionage in the Czech Republic at the end of the Cold War. Spies playing one another, and emotional attachments that interfere with Operation: Brief Encounter.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Podcast Pick of the Day - Diggnation

Diggnation
Diggnation – May 31, 2007 (the 100th episode)
RunTime: 1:02:35


Hosted by Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, Diggnation is a weekly podcast covering some of the more popular stories featured on digg.com. This episode was the 100tth in the series and Kevin and Alex pontificated on the 100th episode cake, the new version of iTunes (7.2), Microsoft Surface, which yielded probably the best discussion/argument in diggnation history, Google Maps’ new feature Street View, the latest AACS key crack, CBS purchases LAST.FM for $280 million, a discussion of MySpace and Facebook, and highlights from the best moments of the previous 99 diggnations. Truly a classic episode. Enjoy.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Podcast Pick of the Day - Windows Weekly

Windows Weekly
Episode 24: And Hilarity Ensued
Run Time: 48:11

Hosted by Paul Thurrott and Leo Laporte, Windows Weekly is a weekly podcast focusing on Microsoft and the latest in technology. This episode featured HD-DVD woes, HD-DVD software, Dell and Ubuntu, Microsoft’s earnings, Vista Anytime upgrades, Paul’s CHK DISC anecdote, Silverlight 1.1 is a self-contained version of .NET and IE8.

Microsoft’s quarterly earnings perspective (from the podcast):
What these companies earn in a quarter, Microsoft earns the same amount in the following time periods:

• Red Hat – 10 hours
• Research and Motion (Blackberry creators) – 4 days
• Starbucks – 4 days
• McDonalds – 14 days
• Apple – 14 days
• Google – 18 days
• Coke – 23 days
• Walmart – 10 weeks
  

Microsoft profits 55 million dollars a day. I think articles declaring Microsoft’s death are greatly exaggerated.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Enjoy.

Podcast Pick of the Day - NPR: Story of the Day

NPR: Story of the Day
Weekend Edition for Saturday, May 5, 2007: Survival at a Price in an Iranian Prison
Run Time: 13:47

NPR Story of the Day features “the one story you won’t want to miss." Marina Nemat had her name written on her forehead before she was about to be shot. This and other harrowing scenes are featured in this episode and in her new new memoir detailing her life as a prisoner in Iran, where she endured interrogation, torture and a forced marriage that saved her life.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Podcast Pick of the Day - Cranky Geeks

Cranky Geeks
Episode 62
Run Time: 30:00

Hosted by head crank John C. Dvorak, Cranky Geeks is a weekly podcast “cranking” out about all things tech. This episode featured breaking news from Digg, where the encryption key for HD-DVD was posted. Digg originally removed the post, but after user pressure, Digg re-posted the encryption code. The code was previously available on the Internet, but now has been made more accessible through the Digg forums.

Other stories include: SONY’s God of War II party, which included a headless goat, a woman’s $26,000 bill for her stolen phone, the BBC launches free web based On-Demand video, Barbie mp3 player, and rabbit ears to get over-the-air HD signals.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Podcast Pick of the Day - This American Life

This American Life
331: Habeas Schmabeas 2007
Run Time: 1:03:37

Hosted by Ira Glass, This American Life features intriguing stories from all walks of American life. This episode focused on the right of habeas corpus. Habeas Corpus states the government has to explain why they're holding a person in custody. The episode focuses primarily on the detainees at Guantanamo and how most of their rights, including habeas corpus, have been stripped. The episode also explains the history of habeas corpus dating back to England in the 17th Century. It’s a fascinating examination of how the British Civil War of the mid 17th century produced it own version of Guantanamo, and the dangers that arose from suspending habeas corpus.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Podcast Pick of the Day - Security Now!

Security Now!
WEP Insecurity
Run Time: 45:54

Hosted by Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson, Security Now is a weekly podcast discussing the latest in computer security. This episode featured WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and how German researchers have been able to crack it. The researchers published a paper revealing how WEP can now be cracked in under a minute. What took 5 million packets before to crack, now only takes forty thousand (1,000 times faster). It’s almost faster now to crack a WEP key than it would be to type it. The code has been made available, and it probably won’t be long before it’s implemented in security cracking software.

Gibson quotes the following numbers:

• 25% of wireless networks have no protection
• 50% of wireless networks use WEP
• 25% of wireless networks use WPA (WiFi Protected Access)
  

Therefore, only 25% of wireless networks are “uncrackable” (only through a brute force attack).

Gibson delves into technology behind the WEP crack. It’s a fairly technical discussion, but it’s pretty amazing if you can follow how the researchers managed to crack the original WiFi security. Gibson gives alternative WiFi security measures, such as WPA, VPN and HTTPS.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Steve Gibson’s website for the latest in security and some free downloadable security programs.

Podcast Pick of the Day - NOVA | PBS

NOVA PBS
Newton's Alchemy
Run Time: 7:11

Sir Isaac Newton an alchemist? Apparently. Newton’s coded notebooks revealed his deep interest in alchemy and experiments he performed, including trying to produce a philosopher’s stone capable of both curing metals of their impurities and curing people of illness.

The podcast can be found on iTunes.

For more on Newton and his dark secrets visit NOVA PBS

Podcast Picks of the Day - Windows Weekly and This Week in Tech

Windows Weekly
Silverlight
Run Time: 41:57

Hosted by Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott, Windows Weekly is a podcast focusing on Windows, Microsoft and some added discussion on Apple and Linux. This episode focused on Silverlight, which is Microsoft’s “Flash” killer. Silverlight will act like a flash player, capable of being embedded in web pages and playing multimedia. It looks to compete against Adobe and Quicktime. They also discussed Adobe’s new media player, Google buying double-click, Microsoft’s demise(?), Windows Live and Ubuntu Enjoy.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Silverlight


This Week in Tech
TWiT 95: NABbed Red-handed
Run Time: 59:16

Hosted by Leo Laporte, This Week in Tech is a weekly podcast delivering the most important stories from the week’s tech news. This episode focused on NAB, the National Association of Broadcasters convention held in Las Vegas. The panel of twits consisting of Alex Lindsay, Wil Harris, Doc Searls and the incomparable John C. Dvorak discussed, amongst other topics, the latest with the remarkable RED camera (the brainchild of the man behind Oakley), Final Cut Studio 2, Silverlight, AMD’s huge quarterly loss, the hacking of a MacBook at a security contest and Alec Baldwin and Will Ferrell in a shady multimedia spotlight. Enjoy.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Podcast Pick of the Day - The Story

The Story
Memory Tricks
Run Time: 51:35

Hosted by Dick Gordon, the Story is a daily podcast discussing interesting topics with people at their center. The first part of the episode focused on improving memory. Dick interviewed Paul Mellor, a master in memory. They discussed memory techniques, The USA Memory Championship and issued a speed cards challenge.

The second part of the episode focused on one woman’s cherished high school piccolo, and her search to recover it twenty years later.

This podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Podcast Pick of the Day - Net at Nite

Net at Nite
18: Bunny Ears
Run Time: 1:07:15

Hosted by Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur, Net at Nite is a weekly podcast hosted in front of a live audience on Talkshoe.com. This week’s topics included new websites, Jaiku, computer Easter eggs and an interview with Virb designer Tyson Rosage. Virb is a social networking site with a focus on multimedia... referred to as a myspace 2.0. Enjoy.

This podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Virb

Talkshoe

Jaiku

Podcast Pick of the Day - The Math Factor

The Math Factor
CG. Graham’s Number
Run Time: 11:25

Hosted by Kyle Kellams and Chaim Goodman-Strauss, The Math Factor is a weekly podcast delving into the world of mathematics and mathematical problems. This episode featured big numbers - really big numbers. Numbers like 7,625,597,484,987, which is 3 raised to third power three times (3^3^3^3). It could also be written as 3^^4. Seven trillion is a huge number, but not nearly as big as Graham’s number. Enjoy!

This podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Podcast Picks of the Day - Science Friday

Science Friday
Changing Blood Groups
Run Time: 7:18

Hosted by Ira Flatow, Science Friday is a weekly podcast featuring the latest from the science and technology. This episode featured a breakthrough for blood donations. In recent experiments, scientists were able to turn blood types A, B and AB into type O, the universal donor blood type, by exposing the blood to enzymes found in certain bacteria. These enzymes are able to remove sugar molecules from the blood cell; the sugar molecules give the blood its group characteristics. The scientist predicted it could be ready for human use in about five years.

This podcast can be found on iTunes and here.


Science Friday
New GM Volt Concept
Run Time: 9:35

This episode of Science Friday focused on a new concept car from GM called the GM Volt. It has some similar characteristics to its predecessor, the EV1. The Volt is a pure electric vehicle having an electric range of 40 miles. It has a small gas engine capable of using alternative fuels, which generate electricity to extend the 40-mile range off the pure electric charge. The GM Volt recharges via a standard 110-volt charge.

This podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

The EV1.

Podcast Pick of the Day - NOVA PBS

NOVA PBS
Reprogramming Genes
Run Time: 3:51

NOVA PBS brings the latest from the world of science. This episode focused on epigenetics, which is the study of small chemical tags that attach themselves to genes. The genes are then turned on or off based on the nature of the tag. The pattern of tags, the epigenome, changes as we age. It’s thought lifestyle habits affect our epigenome, both good and bad. Recent breakthroughs in understanding epigenetics have come from treating patients with a specific type of leukemia. Half of those treated experienced complete remission of the disease, and twenty-five percent show improvement. Scientists warn this isn’t a “magic bullet” cure.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Podcast Pick of the Day - Barnes & Noble Meet The Writers

Barnes & Noble Meet The Writers
Anne Rice
Run Time: 13:43

Hosted by Steve Bertrand, Barnes and Noble Meet the Writers is a podcast featuring interviews of best selling authors. This episode featured Anne Rice, author of the well-known novel Interview With the Vampire. She discusses character creation, her re-establishment with church teachings, her long-time despair and how she overcame it, her decision to write about Christ rather than vampires, tourists stopping to see her outside her home in New Orleans, her decision to leave New Orleans after the death of her husband, her thoughts on Katrina’s aftermath, her son’s flourishing writing career and gay activism. Enjoy.

Bertrand is a highly effective interviewer. He asks poignant questions, and is excellent at following up an author’s answer with a related question. He keeps the interview moving, and always sounds comfortable during the interview. Next to Ira Glass, he's one of the best interviewers doing podcasts.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

For a complete list of Barnes & Noble Meet The Writers interviews, go here.

Podcast Pick of the Day - This Week in Law

This Week in Law
TWiL 5: Blog Storm
Run Time: 1:05:24

Hosted by Denise Howell, This Week in Law discuses current legal issues in technology. Following up on yesterday’s podcast pick, this episode discussed the legal issues regarding the blog threats against Kathy Sierra, group blogging, trolling on the web, legislative internet regulation, trusted computing and April Fool's jokes in technology. Enjoy.

Special guest is novelist Cory Doctorow. He’s currently teaching at USC and is working on a novel regarding copyright law.

This episode can be found on iTunes and here.

Podcast Pick of the Day - Cranky Geeks

Cranky Geeks
Episode 58
Run Time: 30:38

Hosted by Marketwatch and PC Magazine columnist John C. Dvorak, Cranky Geeks is a weekly podcast discussing the latest tech news. In addition to the head crank, editorial director of PCMagCast.com Sebastian Rupley, the rectangular table includes Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia and Mark Ranalli, CEO of Helium.com. The discussion touches on SONY BMG making it a employee requirement to blog, death threats against a female U.K. blogger, models of user generated content and what can and cannot be trusted, the demise of print media, and different competing versions of Wikipedia.

In addition, Mark describes how Helium offers the chance of an author’s work being read based on the quality of the work. Authors compete by writing essays on the same topic, and the best essays share a portion of the revenue. The three factors going into the revenue stream are: the quality of the article, the sum of interest of the subject and the value to the sponsor.

Wales provides excellent insight into Wikipedia, which now boasts 1.75 million articles in English, and has articles in 125 languages. He admits one of the biggest problems facing Wikipedia is the live editing of articles.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Additonal Links.
Wikipedia.com

Helium.com

Podcast Picks of the Day - NPR: Story of the Day and NPR: World Story of the Day

NPR: Story of the Day
War on Drugs Hasn't Stemmed Flow Into U.S.
Run Time: 13:16

NPR: Story of the day delivers “the one thing NPR editors think you won’t want to miss.” NPR has embarked on a series of podcasts focusing on the U.S. war on drugs, the “Forgotten War” as they refer to it, and what accomplishments have been made since President Nixon declared dangerous drugs as public enemy number one. In 2004, thirty-one thousand people died of drug abuse. The NPR reporters follow federal drug enforcement agents surveying the Caribbean from a E3 turbo prop, talk to the former head of the DEA about drug trafficking, how killing drug cartel heads has made little difference, and how drugs are still relatively cheap now. Many interviews are conducted with drug experts, and many sides of how to win the war are presented.

This podcast can be found on iTunes.


NPR: World Story of the Day
Deep in the Columbian Jungle, Coca Still Thrives
Run Time: 8:36

NPR World Story of the day delivers intriguing stories from around the world. This week they’re focusing on the U.S. war on drugs. This podcast focused on the U.S. led funded involving crop dusters spraying a defoliant on the coca plants. The program is in its seventh year and has cost 5.4 billion. The major industrial sized coca fields have been destroyed, but smaller farms have formed, thus spreading the problem to other regions. Juan Forero reports from a small Columbian town at the epicenter of coca production.

This podcast can be found on iTunes and here.