Podcast Update

Well, I guess if I don't run, then I listen to podcasts! Well, I have also traveled a bit lately which offers great opportunities for listening. Here's my latest listening log:

• Sigmund Solares, CEO of DirectNIC, is interview buy Doc Searls about keeping their operation running in New Orleans during Katrina. This is an extremely interesting story. Sigmund talks about how the internet and helpful technicians helped his team configure and manage software to help manage updates, changes, and such. He talks about what they had to go through to get fuel for their generator. This interview is just packed with interesting experiences and highlights how many aspects of today's openness enables technical operations despite adversity.
• I listened to a panel discussion (several times actually) while driving around in New Jersey and New York. The panel discussion was titled Distributed Business and was held at Supernova 2005. I highly recommend listening to this information packed podcast. My favorite part was Dick Hardt's discussion of Identity 2.0 and implications for today's identity management (1.0). Particularly, he describes today's notions as site based and more specifically based on what you have said and done on particular sites. In this context, you can't really take your identity with you.
• Jason Fried, founder of 37signals, talks about his teams creation of Basecamp. This very interesting project (and it sounds like most of 37signals' projects are interesting) brought fresh and insightful perspectives to project management. Some attributes are Extreme Programming like and others are not. I would have to admit that I share many of Jason's views about the false sense of control many traditional development methodology artifacts provide (especially to senior management). Today, agility and comfortably managing change are more important than proving conformance to dictates recorded on paper. Great presentation that I would recommend listening to. It would be interesting to hear Jason and Joel Spolsky discuss methodology.
• Getting through a bunch of Tech Nation with Dr. Moira Gunn too:
• Interview with Andrew Fraknoi, Chairman of the Astronomy Program at Foothill College talks with Dr. Gunn about planets. Particularly, he addresses why we are finding so many and the ambiguous label planet. The label is ambiguous now as astronomers are trying to distinguish between objects that may or may not be planets. For example, is a large object that is not round a planet? We have discovered that at least 14 stars have multiple planets! This is a very interesting podcast. He also noted the startling observations that objects in the universe are speeding up not slowing down as we have suspected for a long time.
  
• Dr. Gunn interviewed Robert Shelton, Managing Director for Innovation at Navigant Consulting. No surprise, the topic was innovation. He talks at length about 7 characteristics of innovation and it is well worth listening to.
• I also recommend these from Tech Nation:
• Doug Kaye interview. Doug Kaye is doing a great service to the IT and podcasting community via ITConversations and this interview is very good.
• Daniel Imhoff interview. Daniel talked with Dr. Gunn about how we should think about our current use of plastic for shopping bags and product packages. For those of us (includes me), that are and should be concerned about human impact on environment, this is an information packed podcast. Good job Daniel.
• More to come....