Podzilla!

I am not technically illiterate. In fact, despite my age, I consider myself fairly savvy when it comes to technology. I have always been an early adopter of technology - with the exception of that which has been pushed most evangelically by those Kool-Aid-drinking Steve Jobs acolytes. If I had to pick one thing that illustrates my laissez-faire attitude toward all things Apple, it's the new ad which pits the iPad against Microsoft's new Surface tablet.

Do you still think I'm pretty?

Apple's offerings in the iAge are inarguably attractive and despite Microsoft's assertion in the ad above, iProducts are pretty darn functional. Apple's iTunes store was a trendsetter, forging the path that Amazon, Google and others are following. However, just because you are the first to do something doesn't mean you are the best. Just ask IBM or Sony or Atari.

But this blog is not a critique of hardware platforms or their operating systems. Today, I've discovered podcasts. Thanks to my friend Adam, I've downloaded BeyondPod Podcast Manager from Google's Play store. It's not that I didn't know about podcasts; it's just that I never had time for them. In the same context with which I disdain the DVR I had abstained from falling down the podcast rabbit-hole.

Unlimited information...tiny little brain

I don't spend a lot of time outside my vehicle consuming personal information. Be it video or audio I have evolved into a real-time consumer of media. Back in the day it made sense to record things that you found incredibly interesting because there was every chance that if you missed it, you truly missed it. Today though, we are so inundated with media I feel like Neo in the Matrix. And however adept I am with technology, the real problem lies not with finding information but with the filtering of all the information you can find. When so much is available, how on Earth can I decide what content is deserving of the small amount of time I have available each day to consume it?

How do I pick out the important ones and zeroes?

In the few minutes I had to play around with my shiny new BeyondPod Podcast Manager app, I've created a new podcast category that fits the first four feeds I've signed up for and saved those feeds accordingly. It remains to be seen how much time I can carve out of my already-overtaxed day to kick back and listed to my chosen content. I believe the data streams I've selected are very important and chock full of high-quality, spiritually enhancing information. But like Neo, I have to learn my way around this new world and, hopefully someday, I'll be able to exert full control over it and bend the podcast matrix to my will.

Sooner or later I'm going to realize that there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. It's inevitable.

What do you think?

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