Some thoughts I’ve had on MacBreak Weekly and TWIT (This Week in Tech) lately, which are still somewhat disorganized, so please bear with me.
Firstly, its amazing how Leo LaPorte can get nearly everything right. I’ve been watching him since the early days of ZDTV and he really has incredible screen and radio presence, and a curiosity teamed with a keen interest in tech and computers that is really singular. I listen regularly to This Week in Tech and MacBreak Weekly, and save up episodes of FLOSS to listen to in big chunks. I was reminded of how amazing it was to come across The Screen Savers by hearing John Hodgman’s story of how he discovered Leo all those years ago (on Twit #167, published November 2, 2008).
Anyway, I want to get two, or maybe three annoyances out of the way that happen at the beginning of every podcast. “Netcasts you love from people you trust.” These are the words that I think Amber MacArthur speaks at the beginning of every TWIT-affiliated podcast, of which there are apparently 15. I have three problems with this, and these are the words “netcast”, “trust”, and “love.”
There was a bit of a … disturbance in the force a couple years ago, when Apple sued some entity for the use of the word “podcast”. If memory serves me correctly, this was around the height of Apple’s litigiousness, causing a lot of criticism from bloggers. This all blew over, but Leo was scared and tried for a brief time to call his podcasts “netcasts”, and this is when the opening dates from. I haven’t heard him use the word “netcast” in a podcast in, I think, at least two years. Given that Microsoft calls them “podcasts”, too, I don’t think we have to worry about Apple taking our word away anymore, so I think we should let “netcast” die a little death and move on.
My next complaints I’ve had since the first use of the current intro, and my points are that the words “trust” and “love” are a little bit too strong for what you want out of a podcast. These are podasts I like from people I like. Do I trust Leo? Probably, although I’ve never met him, and that might be a dangerous thing to want to exploit.
Do I trust Andy Ihnatko? Certainly not, particularly if there is a Boston Cream Pie or cheesecake in the vicinity. Or a Windows Mobile-powered smartphone that lets him edit Word documents and spreadsheets!
Anyway, I hope that Leo makes a slight correction to this intro, and I can have one less annoyance keeping me up at night. Oh, and more Merlin Mann!
Addendum:
Found an insightful post from Geek News Central that fills in the details I was missing earlier today, and takes the position (in 2006) that the train had already left the station.