#atpfm

[atonaldenim]

@marco is back on Tumblr!

[djs1911]

Podcasts

Been working on my brand new webpage now for 6 hours or so, so I need to take a break. So let's write a post here!

Let's talk about podcasts.

My History With Podcasts

Prior to summer 2014 I didn't give two shits about podcasts. Then I got a pretty boring, brain dead, job during that summer so I needed something to listen to. I could just have listened to music but at the time I couldn't think of any good music and most music is bad, there's only a couple of songs that I like which I would quickly exhaust.

So I gave this podcast thing a try. I went to the App Store on my iPhone and downloaded Apples official Podcast app. I think the first podcast I subscribed to was WTF! with that Mark guy, just because it was most popular. I also subscribed to 99% Invisible and Stuff You Should Know. So the very first episode I listened to was the WTF! with the comedian Fluffy, which can be found here (it was posted 7th July 2014 so it fits in my description.)

Anyway, I remember not liking this show. To date, this is the only WTF! episode I have listened to. I remember thinking some parts of it was interesting but for the most part I didn't like it. But as I liked some parts of it, I then listened to 99% Invisible. I think the first episode I listened to there was about barcodes. This show was a little better. It stil felt quite slow for my liking, but I ended up listening to some more of them.

Then I tried the third podcast I had subscribed to, Stuff You Should Know, and I believe the first episode I listened to was about sushi, and I fell in love. These guys are so interesting to listen to. I can listen to infinite amounts of episodes in a row without getting bored of them (mind you, I'm doing brain dead and monotonous work while doing so) and they keep me company and entertained.

Evolving

Now that I had ~~seen~~ heard that a podcast could be entertaining, I started looking into more. I found iDownloadBlog's Let's Talk iOS and Let's Talk Jailbreak. I found those interesting and entertaining, especially around the time the iPhone 6 came out as I wanted to hear their opinions.

Somewhere around here, I got the podcasting app Overcast for iOS. I paid to get the full version of it ($6 or something), but I haven't regretted that one bit. I love this podcast player. It's UI is simple and gets to the point, and it has unique features like Smart Speed and Voice EQ Boost. I have both of those enabled (Smart Speed removes silences which is pretty neat to save time.) It's made by Marco Arment, an independent developer, and I love supporting those guys.

Anyway, with Overcast I found alot more podcasts that I wanted to listen to, thanks to it great "Discovery" section. I'm currently subscribed to a ton, of podcasts and I will cover my favorites at the end of this post.

Having Time For Podcasts

The downside of podcasts, is that you can't really listen to them whenever you want. Well, I guess you could, but I can't recommend it. For example, if I'm writing something (like this) or if I did something in school I couldn't listen to them. Not even on the bus ride I took to school back and forth was a suitable place for them, as I couldn't turn off my ears and fall asleep (with Music this is alot easier, you don't pay as much attention to music). The only place podcasts really fit into my life, is during monotonous workdays or when I'm out walking the dog. Because of that, between October 2014 and June 2015 I had a long hiatus of podcasts. I listened to some occasionally (if I was out walking dog for example), but it wasn't often. I listened to maybe 3 episodes during this whole period.

Now, with a monotonous summer job I have all the time in the world for them, so all is good.

My favorites

So now I'm gonna list my favorite podcasts, and describe them a bit. Keep in mind, I am into Apple (the company) so quite a few of them usually have something to do with Apple, whether its Apple News or Apple Development.

Stuff You Should Know - this is my favorite podcast, and is one I can recommend to anyone who can listen to English. Each episode they cover a different subject or object. Some of them might seem boring, like How Tupperware Works but that actually turned out to be one of my favorite episodes, because they tell you facts you didn't know and can crack a good laugh here and there. If you want to try podcasts, I recommend trying these guys first, Josh and Chuck are a great duo.

Serial - I binge listened to all of these episodes in one weekend. It's a bit of a weird podcast, because it comes out in seasons. One story per season as I understand it. The first season was about the Murder of Hae Min Lee, which I had never heard of, but turned to be extremely interesting. If you like crime and detective work, this is a very good thing to listen to. The second season is coming late 2015.

Completely Unnecessary Podcast - hosted by Pat Contri (Pat the NES Punk) and Ian Ferguson (dude who runs a game store and has very interesting opinions for the most part) talk about new & old video games, video game collecting, gaming announcements and other stuff too. I recommend checking out some of their YouTube-clips first, and if you like those go listen to the full episodes.

Accidental Tech Podcast - hosted by Marco Arment (the developer of Overcast as I said above), John Siracusa and Casey Liss. These 3 gentlemen have conversations about all things Apple and it's really interesting if you are into Apple stuff. They also talk about various other random subjects, which are fun to hear about too. I don't care much for the ending jingle though.

Connected - hosted by Myke Hurley, Stephen Hackett, and Federico Viticci. These guys talk about Apple and how technology has impacted our life. Personally I mostly listen to it because im a big fan of Viticci and him using his iPad as his main computer which I always like hearing new stories about.

Looking forward to Monday, so I can get to work and listen to more podcasts.

[caseyliss]

>I don't feel that I am someone who is a push-over and know when to stand up for myself and when to boast. In general though, I do feel that I may be, not more humble, but more quiet about myself. The issue with this is that sometimes by not speaking up, you can sometimes convince yourself that sometimes you don't have as much to boast about. I couldn't have said so better myself. When I was a young kid, I was a braggart. I was constantly informing everyone about how awesome I am, and how I have these cool toys, and so on. At some point, my Dad came down on me hard and said–in so many words–that if I continued down that path I will end up very lonely. As I often tend to do, I swung completely in the other direction. I tried (and still try) to be extremely humble, shrugging off praise as undeserved. I'm just me; I'm nothing special. This makes for some interesting dances, at times like Nahir mentions, when it's good to be a little forthcoming. Come annual review time at work, for example. I am of the opinion that my work should speak for itself, and that nothing good that I've ever done hasn't been without the help of my coworkers. However, am I selling myself short? If I treat myself that way *internally*, am I starting to believe it? A silly example of this is when I refer to [my podcast with friends](http://atp.fm/) to people that I don't know. It's not "my podcast". It's "my podcast with friends". [John](http://hypercritical.co/) and [Marco](http://www.marco.org/) are two thirds of the show and deserve credit, right? You can hear an example of this on [my recent interview on CMD+Space](http://5by5.tv/cmdspace/61), 33 seconds in. I've gotten a fair bit of deserved criticism from both listeners and family about my insistence to hedge. "Why not just make a statement?" "Why do you have to leave room for error?" "Why can't you be more assertive and confident?" I have no good answers for any of these questions, other than that I strive at all costs not to be cocky. I have worked with and been friends with cocky people in the past. It's not fun, for anyone. Probably not for them either. > Recently for me was when I was talking with some of my co-workers and I mentioned that I often feel like the dumbest guy in the room and that one day someone will find out. He responded, in a half joking manner, "I've been here a long time, that feeling never goes away." First of all, it was nice to hear that other people get that feeling. Secondly, it made me sit down and try to think of all that I had learned and what I've done in my life until that point. I won't repeat it all here, but it was a nice reminder that I have accomplished things to be proud of. I'm pretty good at what I do. I'm not the best, but I'm considerably above average. That said, a large part of the reason I left my prior job was because I *wasn't learning*. I was, if I may be so bold, the king fish, and that's not a good place to be. It encourages complacency, and it encourages cockiness. At my current job, I feel like I can barely keep up. While *extremely* humbling, and a bit of a confidence killer, it's where I do best. I'm forced to strive to keep up; I'm forced to get better every single day. I have been trying very hard to be more assertive on ATP. To be more direct, hedge less, and share my opinions loud and proud. But every time I do, I can't help but wonder... am I turning into "that guy"? The truth, I imagine, is that there's far more grey space between the black and the white than I realize.