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Favorite Video Podcasts July 11, 2013

Posted by shwaldman in Society, Technology.
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Video podcasts. It is a tough medium, I think. With audio, you can start with a TV show or you can just talk. But to make a good video podcast, it requires a lot more effort and editing. I think there are probably a lot of good ones out there, but here are a few of my favorites.

imgres-1The first and most obvious one has to be TED Talks. If you have already seen a few of these talked which I often repost here, you will know why. If you have never seen a TED Talk, you need to climb out from your rock and open your mind to the variety of 18 or less minutes speeches and presentations that are designed to entertain, enlighten and engage. You can find my favorite, reposted talks HERE. (Even though I may repost a higher percentage of them, not all the talks are about politics. They are often the most thought provoking in today’s divided world.)

imgresAnd on the other end of the spectrum, is a podcast called The Apple Byte with Brian Tong as the host. Primarily focused on the world of Apple products, the show covers what is going on in the consumer technology sector including rumors or even mistakes that Apple is dealing with. It has some good insights and the host is a pretty entertaining character. I also have to give props to Brian’s other show which should on this list too. Prizefight pits two of the top gadgets in different categories and they get reviewed side by side. This a good show to check out if you are looking to buy a new toy.

imgres-2Tekzilla has gone from a show to a franchise. There are various different shows under the Tekzilla and Revision 3 umbrella, but I seem to be stuck watching the main show. It offers great variety of coverage of news and questions from listeners. It discusses do it yourself projects, reviews and how to make the most of your technology. The three primary hosts include Veronica Belmont, Robert Heron and Patrick Norton. One challenge I have for you if you decide to watch this one is to try not counting the number of times Patrick says, “It is kinda funny (or interesting), right.” Good luck!

hsw_pos-257x45Are you a conspiracy theorist? I am not, but I often wonder if we are always getting all the information from our media sources. There is so much out there on the Internet. Many ideas and many crazy people. I don’t have time to research and look into every crazy idea out there, but the Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know is video podcast provides interesting insights and introductions into the conspiracy theories that are out there. They cover things like UFOs, the NSA, and The Free Masons.

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imgres-3And for my last recommendation, I have to give a tie, but not because these two are equally good. It is because they are the same. For anyone that remembers the Seinfeld episode where they were casting the stars for the show they were trying to pilot, you will get this “joke”. Originally, there was a site called Engadget run by three brilliant hip technologists. They had a some disagreements with their new parent company and decided to go out on their own and start a similar site called the Verge. They started their own tech journalism site along with a regular show called On The Verge. Well, The Engadget Show lives on but they had to cast copied, literally copied down the host with the same beard, the same team. The shows seem to be released on the same schedule and often cover similar topics, but in much different ways. Both are good and fun to watch and provide lots of good insight into the technology and gadget world.

The growth or end of democracy? July 3, 2013

Posted by shwaldman in Politics, Society.
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Watching what is going on around the world with the changing of political systems in other countries and the gridlock that has frozen much of the progress in the US, I have wondered what is next. You may have read my doubts in previous posts.
Our country is divided right now. There are those that seem to feel it should be every person for themselves and the other side that feels we should take care of each other and not let people fall through the cracks.
I am not sure this hypothesis is accurate but it is an interesting concept and possibility.

Every American Needs to Watch This… April 23, 2013

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The United States of America, USA, America. It is our home and our home is broken. Our people and our politicians are fighting. We are not moving this country forward. We need to demand progress. We need to demand change. No matter what side you take on the issues of the day, this is something we should all want.

What Motivates Us At Work? April 11, 2013

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The answer is simpler than you might think… acknowledgement!

Moving and Powerful Bullying March 29, 2013

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I don’t ever remember feeling the affects of bullying in my childhood. But sometimes I can really feel myself in the work of others. And this is one of the times. This is a powerful presentation!

TED Talk – Food waste October 11, 2012

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Over the last few years and especially since having kids I have become more and more aware and disturbed by the amount of food waste in our lives. Given our world’s growing population I think this is the largest problem we face. Energy is an issue, but the gap between hunger and food waste is a bigger problem we must address that no one is talking about. Until now…

TED Talk – Robots good or bad? October 11, 2012

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I saw this talk on my ipod this week and had a strong reaction. I am curious to hear how others feel about this talk.

I was in agreement with this talk right up until the very end. Technological improvements are coming and they are intended to improve our lives. What I disagree with is the notion that we will be able to utilize these improvements for everyone to free us up to enjoy our lives more and spend less time working. The world is not equal and because the people that have power can continue to grow their power and wealth, there will be no way to create fair balance. I wish it was different, but I am not sure how we can change human NATURE.

Today’s Inspiration from TED (part 1): Compassion April 7, 2011

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I was driving to run an errand this morning and this first TED Talk really hit home. I work for a publicly funded education organization. When I joined, I think I may have thought that the level of compassion in the organization was high because of that. After three and a half years, I think I have come to the realization that it is not what the organization does, but how they do their work that makes them compassionate.

I know there are a lot of mixed feelings about Google. I feel based on my experiences with their products is that they are growing and getting more complex and this causes some dilution of their intent to “do no harm.” But in general, I honestly feeling like they try to do the right thing regardless of costs. Pulling out of China was costly for them, but they did it because it was the right thing. I would like to think that we could all start to “do the right thing” instead of always being concerned about how it expensive it is to us. Because, in the end, the cost of us doing nothing or doing the wrong thing, is harming someone else and costing them even more.

Education in the 21st Century March 10, 2011

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I want to be this inspired, inspirational and simply brilliant!

You can find this FREE effort everywhere. Start with the website, but there also iOS and Android apps. This is crazy brilliant.

Johnny Lee demos Wii Remote hacks @TED in 2008 March 3, 2011

Posted by shwaldman in Family, Fitness, Politics, Society, Technology, Work.
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I really need to try this out! Too cool!

Technology has come a long way and even more in just the three years since this presentation. We are going from keyboards, to touch screens, to… it won’t be long before our kids wonder why we have to touch anything to use our computers and phones.