TWiT – This week in tech

Top of the pile by a mile is The TWiT network. TWiT is a collection of over a dozen tech related podcasts; from the daddy of tech podcasting: Leo Laporte.

Leo is probably the most respected (and copied) podcaster / broadcaster in the business and has won every award worth winning.  His wide range of tech knowledge and his broadcasting style are, in my opinion, unsurpassed anywhere.

Leo’s podcasts (which he often refers to as netcasts) pull in huge international audiences and because of his reputation, Leo attracts top people from the world of technology and tech news on his shows.  Regulars on his shows include; Patrick Norton, John C Dvorak, Jason Calacanis, Steve Gibson, Paul Thurrott, Roger Chang, Molly Wood and Tom Merritt – Plus many, many more.

The TWiT network is easily the best collection of tech related podcasts available anywhere and I can’t recommend it highly enough.  By the way, you can also watch Leo’s shows being streamed live, which is always well worth watching if you get the chance!

Side note: Leo Laporte is also one of the inspirations behind me starting this tech blog (Thanks Leo.)

Crave

Crave is cnet.com’s UK gadget blog and the quality of writing there is consistently excellent. Written in a slightly different style to cnet.com, Crave offers news and reviews of the latest gadgets and also gives expert opinion on tech related news.

Bloggers include Nate Laxnon (their senior editor), Rory Reid, Rich Trenholm, Flora Graham and Ian Morris.

I highly recommend you subscribe to the cnet.uk podcast – especially if you already love Buzz Out Loud from Cnet.com.

The BBC website technology pages

The technology section of the bbc.co.uk website is essential tech reading for one extremely good reason: It’s fully independent!

Respected worldwide for its journalistic independence, this is perhaps the best place to find out what’s going on – without wondering if what you are reading is being written or altered, to keep a sponsor happy.  For those who don’t know, the site carries no sponsorships or advertising, so is free to say what it believes, without having to spin anything out.

Whilst I would like to see it updated more regularly, the quality of the writing makes up for the lack of content.

There’s also a tech news blog called dot.life, which is worth checking out.  My favourite writer there’s Rory Cellen-Jones.

I hope you find these recommendations useful.  If you do, please share them!

Image credits: Leo Laporte, CNET & The BBC

I wrote recently about how the sale of Friendfeed to Facebook, has caused people to reconsider where to put their online content.  A number of Friendfeed users are concerned because of Facebook’s reputation for privacy and their angst was widely reported across the ‘net. Users of other sites are now wondering how to secure their online content; if their current providers either go broke or get swallowed up by a company they don’t want to be involved with.

On This Week In Tech (TWiT) respected industry commentators, John C Dvorak, Om Malik and Leo Laporte recently said that the obvious solution to this problem, is a self-hosted blog.  I agree. However, whilst blogs make it easy to share content, they lack the power of Twitter or Facebook, when it comes to communicating/messaging people.  That’s because blog comments lack the fluidity required for conversation.

NOTE: I’m currently researching some open source options, which ‘could’ make it possible for you to not only share your content via your own blog, but to message in real-time with your online network. I will be telling you more about this soon.

The comment gathering trend

In an effort to make their blogs a more central part of their online presence, many bloggers have started to use comment gathering plugins.  Services like the excellent Disqus and Echo are proving to be extremely popular, because of their ability to gather content from various social networking sites, and deliver them to the user’s own blog.

Whilst these plugins offer a useful step in the right direction, the obvious problem, is that once these plugins have been uninstalled, the content they had pulled into your blog will disappear. You only keep the comments actually left on your blog.  In other words you become dependant on them and are kind of ‘locked in’ to using them.

If the content could be pulled in an then permanently stored on the blog, it would be an additional step in the right direction.  By the way, if you know a way of doing this, please let me know.

Your feedback please

I would like to know what you think, about sharing and storing your content with 3rd party providers.  Also, what solutions do you have for people, who want to safeguard their network of followers on services like Twitter / Facebook / Friendfeed. Let me know!

I subscribe to a few of Leo’s podcasts and am a regular reader of ReadWriteWeb, so it was extra cool to referenced by them.

Thanks guys!

I recently posted about how the pro Apple bloggers / podcatsers / journalists would have a challenge in 2009; dissing Windows 7 – when the general geek population seems (mainly) to think that even the beta version is actually pretty good.

Great is not good enough for Leo Laporte

I love Leo Laporte’s work – he’s one of the people that inspired me to blog about tech!  However, he freely admits to being an Apple guy.  This is why I found his recent post about Windows 7 so interesting.

On his blog today, Leo says that even though Windows 7 is a great operating system, the best Windows OS since Windows 2000 – There were some problems. One  gripe was that he couldn’t get Google Chrome to work.  However, the second gripe was plain silly and makes the point I blogged about; when I asked how the Pro Apple guys would treat such a popular Windows OS.

Leo said that the Windows 7 default UAC setting was too low.  Now,  when Windows Vista was released, Leo complained that Vista’s default UAC setting was set too high!

I’m getting the feeling that no matter how good Windows 7 turns out to be, it’s still going to get a lot of sniping. It’s going to be interesting, watching how others in the Apple camp comment on Windows 7.

UPDATE:
Paul Thurrott has just posted a reply from Microsoft, regarding the UAC issue.  You can read it here.

How do you dump on something that the public ALREADY likes and even competitors say is great?

Windows 7 & Win7Love

There’s no doubt – the general feeling ‘out there’ is that Windows 7 is going to be a good OS.  We even have a new word for it; “Win7Love.”  This makes Windows 7 a LOT harder to dump on, than the big, easy target that is Vista.  But that’s NOT stopping CNET from trying!

I think that when Windows Blogger Paul Thurrott told me on twitter, that there was; “an unofficial editorial policy at CNET to criticize Microsoft,” he was only partly exaggerating!

Even Mark Shuttleworth likes Windows 7

How can the anti Microsoft blogs and podcasts seriously slam Windows 7, when even the competition likes it?  I’m writing this post on a PC running Ubuntu linux, so I have a huge respect for Mark Shuttleworth; CEO of Canonical and founder of Ubuntu.

This is an excerpt from a recent interview, which Shuttleworth gave to The Register;

“Speaking with The Reg, the founder of popular Linux distro Ubuntu and chief executive of Canonical called Windows 7 a great operating system. Great? Doesn’t Shuttleworth work for the competition? Shouldn’t he be building up Windows 7′s hidden weaknesses?  Apparently not. “I’m not going to ‘diss it”, he said categorically. So there.“

If this wave of ‘Win7Love’ lasts until the product hits the shelves, it’s going to make for a VERY interesting year. However, with Microsoft’s track record for screwing up launches and PR disasters, one thing is certain.  It’s going to be a very interesting 6/8 months!

Are TWiT’s numbers cause for concern?

Leo Laporte has been showing up as a guest all over the place recently, plugging the excellent twit.tv network.  Leo suggested at the end of his slot on Buzz Out Loud, that listeners / viewers were leaving TWiT, accusing him of  ‘jumping the shark’.  So, I took a look at the traffic numbers for twit.tv and it seems he might not have been joking!

According to compete.com, traffic numbers to twit.tv have dropped steadily since last October.  Alexa.com also shows traffic down.  Whilst neither compete or alexa can provide exact data, they both show a negative trend in Leo’s figures.  This, after he’s invested massively in new broadcast equipment and lost Visa as a sponsor.

Less advertising & broadband caps – Ouch!

Internet TV needs advertisers / sponsors in order to survive, however, companies are cutting back on their advertising budgets as the economy struggles.  These shows also need viewers too – Many of whom are now on capped broadband packages from their ISP’s.  This might mean some people are having to think, before ‘investing’ in watching that full screen video stream, from TWiT every day. In my opinion, if you are keeping an eye on your download quote – TWiT is NOT the thing to drop – Leo ROCKS!

Could this explain the drop in figures – what do you think?

OVERVIEW

Windows Weekly is a podcast (or netcast) show on Leo Laporte’s TWiT Network, where Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott discuss ‘all things Microsoft’ (not Windows).  Subjects covered range from Xbox and the Zune to Microsoft Office, Mesh and (of course) Windows.  The shows can range in length from 35/40 minutes to just under 2 hours!

Windows Weekly – Background

Leo Laporte

To fully enjoy the show, you need to know a little about the background of the guys behind it.  Leo Laporte is a BIG Apple fan and Paul Thurrott is a leading Windows / Microsoft ‘insider.’  Paul knows the top people at Microsoft and is as pro Microsoft as Leo is pro Apple.

Sadly, for whatever reason, although Leo regularly slams all things Microsoft in his other shows and in interviews, he pretends to be neutral during the Windows Weekly show – which is a real pity, because he’s so bad at it. Every word of praise is followed with a negative quip – which Paul Thurrott either doesn’t get or ignores (I think the latter!)

Windows Weekly – Downsides

I personally feel the show would be better if Leo was just as anti-Microsoft during this show, as he is in all his other shows.  This way, the show would feel less ‘fake’ and it would be able to address some of the genuine issues people have regarding the “which is best – Apple or PC” debate.  In fact, why not get a Linux guy in and make it a real debate (I’m writing this post on a linux box).

I recommended the show to a friend recently, who commented that it was a little like listening to one of those; “I’m a Mac – I’m a PC” advertisements – (and that’s with Leo pushing himself to be less anti-Microsoft!!)

I also think the title of the show needs changing from Windows Weekly to Microsoft Weekly.  Windows is actually a minority part of the show – with the majority of the program based around other Microsoft products, like; Zune, MS Office, Mesh, Xbox and Xbox Live, MSN, Hotmail etc.  There is also a stack of time in almost every show dedicated to Apple and their products!

Windows Weekly – Upside

If you want to know what’s going on in the world of Microsoft, this show is for you.  Paul Thurrott REALLY knows his subject and often gives some extremely valuable advice and information for anyone running Microsoft products.  There is also a very good rapport between Leo and Paul, which makes the show even more enjoyable.

I use a Windows-based PC for some of my work and have been able to save both time and money as a direct result of listening to Windows Weekly!

I have been listening to Windows Weekly since the very first shows and I have always enjoyed them.  Leo Laporte is a superb broadcaster and provides podcasts (netcasts) that I believe set the standard for all Internet-based audio shows.

In my opinion, if Leo Laporte could just stop with the fake ‘Windows love,’ the show could be even better.

OK, that’s my opinion of this excellent show.  What do YOU think?

patrick norton

Today, thetechnewsblog wants to ‘show some love’ to Patrick Norton – one of the coolest and most professional people in the ‘Tech industry!

If you don’t already know who Patrick Norton is, you probably should not be reading a ‘tech news blog.  The rest of you will know Patrick Norton as one of the most recognizable faces (and voices) in Technology.

Moreover, Patrick Norton is known and respected in the ‘tech industry for TWO VERY GOOD reasons.

Firstly, Patrick Norton REALLY knows his subject!

Patrick has been involved in the tech industry for many years and his work stands up for itself; as a writer, reviewer, host and managing editor. Many people know Mr Norton from his work on the ground breaking Screensavers TV show and also for his work on DLTV.

Patrick is now fronting the massively popular ‘Tekzilla‘ show with Veronica Belmont and also ‘Systm‘ (Both on the Revision3 network.)  Patrick Norton is also a regular member of the outstanding TWiT netcast, with long-time friend and colleague, Leo Laporte.

Secondly, Patrick is respected industry-wide for his integrity!

This guy simply WILL NOT personally or professionally endorse ANYTHING unless he has used it and loved it – period! Now, that ‘might’ sound like no big-deal but it is – IT REALLY IS! In an age where some people will pimp ANYTHING for a price, Patrick Norton is priceless.

Patrick Norton

thetechnewsblog salutes you sir!  (Even when you have your kilt on!:) )

Twitter: Love it or hate it, everyone seems to be on Twitter right now.  One of the things people often come to this blog for, is to find the Twitter name of someone I mention in an article.  So, if you would like to follow Patrick Norton, Leo Laporte or Robert Scoble etc on Twitter, their Twitter names are listed below.

Here they are (in no particular order):

Om Malik – Twitter @Om
Garnett Lee – Twitter @garnettlee
Lance Ulanoff – Twitter @lanceulanoff
John C Dvorak – Twitter @therealdvorak
Loyd Case – Twitter @loydcase
Scott Asnault – Twitter @scottmode
Patrick Norton – Twitter @patricknorton
Jason Cross – Twitter @jasoncross00
Veronica Belmont – Twitter @veronica
Cali Lewis – Twitter @calilewis
Robert Scoble – Twitter @scobleizer
Leo Laporte – Twitter @leolaporte
And me – Twitter @thetechnewsblog

Hope that helps!

Yes, my Twitter pal Robert Scoble produces just as much (he says more) content than Leo Laporte, but Leo sticks to a regular schedule.  Leo also covers more formats and more subjects than just about anyone I can think of; and the production values are always superb.

Leo Laporte, thanks and keep up the good work!