Over the last week or so I’ve started listening to a podcast called the Gillmor Gang over on ITConversations. I’m getting a ton of value out of it and figured I would make a quick mention of it here.

The two episodes I’ve listened to so far are the January 21 episode, in which the Gang talks about RSS and blogging, and the February 4, 2005 episode on which Dan Bricklin is the guest and the gang talks about innovation.

Both podcasts were quite interesting and explain 4-5 very different views on the technology discussed. The really nice part about this podcast compared to other tech podcasts is the fact that each of the participants are long time members of the technical landscape, including Steve Gillmor, contributing editor at ZDNet, Doc Searls, senior editor at Linux Journal, Jon Udell, lead analyst, InfoWorld Test Center, and Dana Gardner, senior analyst at the Yankee Group.

The podcast format is these four guys (and one guest) on the phone just talking about the trends they see upcoming in the industry as related to the show topic.

This show is just one of many that I am finding valuable. I am more and more amazed with the concept of podcasting in general with each new show I find. Over the years, I have been extremely current on some technology while, since I work for a large corporation, I have not quite had the time to keep up on many of the trends going on. Mostly I rely on my people to give me a heads up to something (and to communicate it in such a way that I think it is important enough to spend time on). Consequently, there have been a lot of things I haven’t been able to keep up on in the last couple of years.

The quality of podcasts from an information standpoint that I have come across are outstanding. The time shifted nature of the medium allows me to listen to the content when I have time, during an hour+ commute to work. If a show is longer than my commute — no problem. I turn off the iPod and when I get back in the car and plug it in, its right where I left off in the show. If something is referred to in a previous episode — no problem. They are all available for me to go back and download. This is an area in which mass media radio just doesn’t give me the same value.

There are quite a few podcasts that I have been turned on to over the past few months that have given me much needed perspective shifts. One of them is the Gillmor Gang. For overviews of things going on in the news, I like GeekNewsCentral. For software development related information, I’m really enjoying the DrunkAndRetired podcast.

Each one of these I have had referred to me by someone in the blogosphere, by people I don’t even know. What a great world we live in nowadays!

When I first received this little white box for fathers day in June, my mind raced with the possibilities of not having a bazillion Cd’s in my car. I had no idea how much a little device could open up the world to information on my terms – when I had the time to listen. As it stands right now, I rarely listen to the music I spent a whole weekend ripping off of my CD collection.