A few of my Favorites

Software, Podcasts, and other Favorites

Radiolab - sciencey, wacky, well-produced, thought-provoking candy for the ears & brain. "radio show and podcast weaving stories and science into sound and music-rich documentaries"

Science Friday - classic, comfort food. "A weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, we focus on science topics that are in the news and try to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join Science Friday's host, Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science - and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program."

StarTalk - astronomy radio show presented by Neil deGrasse Tyson. A bit hyper at times, dosed with fascinating facts about our universe. Smart and hilarious guests.

TED Talks - inspiring presentations from all sort of folks. Videos worth watching! "TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader."

This Week in Google - Leo Laporte, Gina Trapani, Jeff Jarvis and guests banter about the latest Google news. Leo's great voice alone makes the show worth listening to (or watching).

This Week in Tech

Software I use & like

Chrome - Google's web browser. Get it.

DoggCatcher - podcast player for Android devices. Not the sexiest user interface, but does the job.
Miro - Miro plays almost any video or music format and downloads from YouTube, podcasts, Amazon, and bittorrent. Nice substitute for iTunes!

Feedly- my new favorite feeds/RSS reader app for mobile, tablet, web. Syncs with Google Reader.

Google Reader - a well-designed, simple but terribly useful web-based aggregator for feeds (Atom and RSS). Most of the decent mobile news/feed apps will sync with your personal Google Reader settings.

jEdit - an open-source programmer's editor, written in Java, runs on all platforms. Been using it for 10+ years. It may look a bit clunky, but you can customize it to death. For example, you can reprogram all the keyboard shortcuts and write all sorts of fine macros for this puppy. Love it!

Opera Mobile - great, efficient browser that beats the default Android mobile browser.

Stitcher - for streaming podcasts and other audio on mobile or tabletly devices.

Bicycles

I'm fascinated by new approaches to improving the old standard bicycle design. For example, things like chainless drives and internal hubs (not new tech, but it's coming back in improved reincarnations) in place of Derailleur gears.

Chainless bikes

Introducing Stringbike: the bike with no chain:
Hungarian bicycle designers have unveiled their new Stringbike in Padova, Italy. The design replaces the traditional chain with a symmetrical rope and pulley system, which they say is more efficient, makes for a more comfortable ride, and provides improved maneuverability around winding streets.
Checkout the Stringbike:

Internal Hubs

As of recently, I've become addicted to the Shimano 8 speed internal hub for urban riding purposes. Why? A couple of reasons: it's quiet (even when coasting, it's silent and stealthy!); far less exposed metal bits that can bend, rust, and break; and, one of my favorites: you can shift from any gear to any other gear, even when sitting at a dead stop! This is wonderful for stop-and-do riding, which is common in cities, and any other time you don't want to deal with gnashing, clunky gears that sometimes "slip" when shifting. With the internal hub, you click into any gear, and you're there - there's no need to "work your way" through the intermediate gears. A pure joy to experience.