Have you ever felt that technology is moving so fast in so many different directions that it is impossible for one human brain to keep up?
That’s what podcasts are for.
Whether you work in technology, run a startup, or just enjoy learning about new technology and gadgets, podcasts can be a great way to stay on top of important trends in the tech space. We’ve compiled 15 of our favorite podcasts that are not only entertaining, but can also help advance your knowledge of a sometimes complicated industry. Some of these podcasts cover the general industry news of the day, while others immerse you in special areas like crypto or electric vehicles. Some are short and only hit the highs, while others are longer and dive deep. But all these great podcasts give you the chance to gain useful knowledge in a relatively short time, even if your hands are busy with something else.
Best Tech News Podcasts
Techmeme driving home
Tech meme has carefully collected and curated some of the best (and fastest) coverage of the most important news in the tech industry every day for years. Techmeme driving home gives you much of the news on the website, but in audio form, making it even easier to digest, especially if you’re multitasking. The podcast is hosted by Brian McCullough, who enthusiastically provides key facts from the tech stories du jour, with a dash of commentary. The podcasts go out daily at 5pm and are usually quite short, about 15 minutes long.
The Hustle Daily Show
This podcast is another short, daily affair (many episodes are under 10 minutes) that gives you a solid summary of what’s going on in tech news, plus some clever and often funny commentary. The Hustle Daily Show is hosted by The Hustle newsletter writers Zachary Crockett, Juliet Bennett Rylah, Jacob Cohen, and Rob Litterst.
Best Gadget Podcast
waveform
Software may have eaten the world, but hardware and gadgets are still hugely important, and that’s the niche the waveform podcast fills. It stars Marques Brownlee, who rose to fame among tech influencers for his YouTube reviews of everything from smartphones to electric cars. Each week, Brownlee and co-host Andrew Manganelli check out all sorts of new gadgets, including gaming gear and virtual reality headsets, electric vehicles, foldable phones, and pretty much anything consumer tech companies release. These guys take a critical look at products, but they clearly love gadgets, which makes the YouTube cast fun to watch.
Best Apple Podcasts
Mac Power Users
Many of us love our Macs, but also suspect that we could get more productivity out of them if we had just a little expert advice. That is broadly what the weekly Mac Power Users podcast is all about. Led by hosts David Sparks and Stephen Hackett, and with insightful guests from a wide variety of professions and backgrounds, the show teaches listeners new workflows for their Macs, as well as news and commentary on Apple’s latest hardware, apps, and operating systems. The show has been running since 2009 and has just published its 649th episode. The episodes are quite long, but they are rich in tips, and Sparks and Hackett create a calm atmosphere that is pleasant to listen to.
Connected
Connected is a deep dive into Apple World, with weekly commentary on the company’s latest devices, apps, features, operating systems and services — and how it all works together in the ecosystem. The podcast features MacStories editor-in-chief Federico Viticci and Relay FM co-founders Myke Hurley and Stephen Hackett (also of Mac Power Users); and the three have a comfortable and polished story together, complete with long-running jokes and references. All three have been Apple watchers/influencers for a long time and intelligently speculate about what Apple might release next.
Best tech and pop culture podcast
The content mines
The content mines covers the social content side of the tech world, including things like the latest TikTok trend, crypto scams, popular tweets, Instagram influencer trends, and pretty much any kind of creative output that appears on social media sites. The podcast is a weekly rap session with (londonbusinessblog.com employee) Ryan Broderick, who also writes the newsletter garbage day; and Luke Bailey, who manages digital for inews.co.uk. What makes the show click is the hosts’ funny back and forth and their clear knowledge of the daily trending topics online.
Best Tech Startup Podcasts
acquired
acquired tells the stories of great tech companies, including the hard lessons they learned growing up. The podcast is co-hosted by San Francisco-based angel investor David Rosenthal and Ben Gilbert, co-founder and director of Seattle-based Pioneer Square Labs and venture capital fund PSL Ventures. Rosenthal and Gilbert understand startups, and they regularly have successful founders (like Zoom CEO Eric Yuan) and investors (like Katherine Boyle of a16z) to talk about the strategies that help great startups become great companies.
cartoon avatars
Logan Bartlett considers podcasting a regular part of his job as a VC, and he does it well. Bartlett, a partner at Redpoint Ventures, is a good interviewer and has keen insights into start-up companies. cartoon avatars covers everything from current tech news and trends to memes and Twitter steaks. Bartlett interviews the founders of major emerging companies, some from the crypto world. Both the show and the frequent guest host Zach Weinberg, co-founder of health tech company Flatiron Health – is skeptical of blockchain companies and Web3, leading to some interesting exchanges. Bartlett often chats with other VCs, including such notables as former a16z partner Benedict Evans, now an independent analyst.
Best Ecommerce Podcast
The Jason & Scot Show
The e-commerce industry is a world unto itself and deserves its own weekly podcast. Two industry veterans listed in the need are springing into action: Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at Publicis Communications; and Scot Wingo, co-founder and CEO of Spiffy, and former CEO of ChannelAdvisor. The Jason & Scot Show hosts a variety of guests, often founders of companies in the e-commerce ecosystem, who discuss virtually every aspect of e-commerce, including supply chains, websites, delivery networks and, of course, Amazon. Not the most entertaining podcast you’ll ever hear, but if you distribute products on the web, it can be invaluable.
Best crypto and web3 podcasts
Stacks
If you are crypto invested or crypto curious, Stacks, hosted by Luke Martin, seeks to immerse you in the latest crypto trends, blockchain projects, altcoins, NFTs and more. The best part of the show, however, are the guests Martin brings along, who are normally institutional investors, hedge fund managers and others who have gone deep into crypto trading.
No investment advice
If you’re looking for a relaxing podcast, this one probably isn’t for you. No investment advice is an energetic rap session between influencers Jack Butcher, Bilal Zaidi and Trung Phan about the connection between finance and internet culture. This covers a wide range of topics including tech and media company news, acquisitions, investments, Web3 and much talk about crypto and NFTs. The podcast works because of the interaction between the cohosts, who make it seem like they have a blast every episode. Sometimes there are famous guests: in early July, the show welcomed crypto true believer Michael Saylorwhose company MicroStrategy owns 129,699 Bitcoin (currently worth about $2.9 billion).
Overpriced JPEGs
Overpriced JPEGs, hosted by Carly Reilly, former financial director of Andrew Yang, reliably covers the latest NFT projects, awards and communities related to Web3 and the metaverse. The central question of this podcast is whether NFTs contain real value or are really just “too expensive JPEGs.” Many other interesting topics arise from that question, including what creates the perception of value among the various communities of NFT holders and buyers.
Best car tech podcast
Autonocast
“The zero BS podcast on autonomous cars, automated driving and the future of mobility”, that’s Autonocast—a weekly podcast covering all aspects of mobility, autonomous vehicles and electric vehicles with cohosts Alex Roy, director of special operations at Argo AI; Edward Niedermeyer, author of Ridiculous: the unvarnished story of Tesla Motors; and Kirsten Korosec, Techcrunch senior transportation reporter and editor. The show showcases technology company founders contributing to the emerging ecosystems of autonomous and electric mobility; and experts discussing a wide range of aspects of future mobility, from regulation and security to AI challenges and infrastructure.
Honorable Mention
Proof
Tech VC Kevin Rose, who lists Bloomberg as a “top 25 Angel Investor” is the host of Proof, which, similar to Overpriced JPEGs, focuses on the strange world of NFTs. Rose interviews several NFT artists, both well-known and newcomers. He and his guests also discuss NFT gaming and the metaverse, as well as people building new tools for NFT creators and collectors.
Only up
Only up is a crypto podcast hosted by two guys known only as Ledger and Cobie – both well-known influencers within the crypto community, each with hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers. (In fact, it was a tweet from Cobie that one of the CoinBase employees recently posted in the The Justice Department’s Very First Tip on Bitcoin Insider Trading.) The two bring out the biggest news within the industry, involving lately blockchain and crypto startups that have failed during the current market downturn. Only up has had some big guests, including investor Mark Cuban, Bitcoin investor Michael Saylor, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The only reason this podcast is under honorable mention is because of its somewhat erratic publishing schedule.
Contents