Debug

Guy English and Rene Ritchie have long conversations with developers, ex-Apple employees, and other folks from the community. Includes lots of trivia from Apple’s history that are not widely known.

Favorite episode: Debug 11: Don Melton and Safari.

The Internet History Podcast

Netscape was founded 20 years ago, and the web was a very different place at that time. Brian McCullough recounts the story with a great mix of narrative episodes and interviews. I’m just old enough to know many of the tales, but certainly not in this detail. Crazy times.

Favorite episode: Chapter 1, Part 2: The Creation of Netscape

Hardcore History

Dan Carlin shows that history doesn’t have to be boring at all. With his very colorful narrative style, he manages to bring history to life better than most of my teachers ever did. His current series about the First World War, titled Blueprint for Armageddon, is very long (more than 14 hours over four episodes to date) but definitely worth it. Note that most of the back catalog is not available for free.

Germany: Memories of a Nation

Starting to see a pattern here? Yes, I like history. This show, published by the BBC and narrated by director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor, is the by-product of a current exhibition on German history since the Middle Ages at the museum. There will be 30 short episodes (15–20 minutes each) in total. If you’re at all interested in European history in general, my guess is you’ll like it even if you have no special attachment to Germany.

Favorite episode: Divided Heaven

Radio Spätkauf

An English-language show about life in Berlin, hosted by expats Joel, Maisie, and Andrew. This is probably only interesting to you if you actually live here. It’s a nice way to stay up to date about what’s going on in the city, especially if you don’t follow the local news.