Every so often, I see a podcast recommendation thread on HN / Reddit / elsewhere. Rather than repeat myself, here's an annotated list of podcasts I listen to. If you're needing a great podcast Android player, I recommend AntennaPod, which has a thriving open source community behind it. On to the list!

Open Source

• Request for Commits RSS A good series focused on open source sustainability.
• The Changelog RSS Somewhat JS oriented show featuring interviews with open source movers and shakers.

Technology

• Codebreaker RSS Explores the intersection technology and society in a way accessible to the public.
• Google Tech Talks RSS Occassional academic presentations; probably part of hiring PhD's at Google?
• ArrestedDevops RSS Good cast for keeping up on of new DevOps tech, tricks, and tools (and fads).
• Food Fight RSS DevOps podcast focused on Chef.

Science

• Engines of our Enginuity RSS Quick vignettes about the history of science and engineering.
• Academic Minute RSS Short summaries of recent peer reviewed publications.
• 60 Second Science RSS More short summeries of recent peer reviewed publication, focused on science.

Business / Finanace

• Manager Tools RSS / Career Tools RSS A pair of podcasts focused on workplace behavior and basics. No platitudes, and a great resource for first managers. Career Tools may be useful for novice employees?
• Marketplace Weekend RSS / Marketplace RSS
• EconTalk RSS Hour long interviews on economics. Interviewer is heavily libertarian, so bring salt.
• FT Alphachat RSS Good series on worldwide finance and topics.
• Planet Money RSS A combo of timeless and timely shows make economics accessible to the public.
• HBR Ideacast RSS Interviews with authors, usually publishing in the Harvard Business Review.
• Entrepeneurial Thought Leaders RSS Entrepeneurs give invited talks to stanford MBAs.
• Stanford Innovation Lab RSS A remix podcast creating a dialog of sorts between two business leaders.
• The Economist Radio RSS The Economist magazine's podcast.

Entertainment

• Ask Me Another RSS NPR trivia show featuring music by JoCo.
• Intelligence Squared US RSS Oxford style debates on political topics of the day.
• NPR Sunday Puzzle RSS Quick puzzle show followed by a weekly challenge puzzle.
• TED Talks RSS Well rehearsed presentations, somewhat cliched these days.
• The Bugle RSS Political satire, former hosts include John Oliver (Daily Show, now on HBO).

Coda: What makes a great podcast?

Perhaps this is influenced by my short commute time, but I prefer single topic podcasts of 20 minutes or less. Long enough to cover a subject in greater detail than you get on the 3 minute news segment shows, but not so long as to fatigue the listener. We know that long lectures do poorly on online learning platforms, but the lesson is not to never cover things in depth, but to break deep topics into smaller segments.

Audio quality is really important; doing a podcast via cell phone as a repeat occurance is a good way to earn my unsubscription. Editing out most of the speech disfluencies is a good idea, not only out of respect for the listener's time, but for the speaker's own self-image. On a similar note, pets / screaming children distract from the message of professionalism the typical podcast wishes to communicate.