Reporters' Roundtable Podcast

Reporters' Roundtable: What the iPad means for Apple (podcast)

The iPad. Perhaps you've heard of it. Now there are hundreds, maybe thousands of posts and podcasts up about this product, and whether it's worth buying, and what's with the stupid name. But for this podcast I have two smart guests with me with whom I want to step a bit beyond these immediate concerns and talk about what the iPad means to Apple as a company, and the tech industry at large.

First, Peter Burrows, senior writer for BusinessWeek. He's covered Apple since 1995, starting with a cover story on the company's near-demise called "Fall of an American Icon" to a story earlier this month entitled "Google vs. Apple: Why They Can't Be Friends?" He also wrote "Backfire: Carly Fiorina's High-Stakes Battle for the Soul of Hewlett-Packard" in 2003. Peter, thanks for joining us. (See Peter's blog, Byte of the Apple)

Also in the studio with us, Donald Bell, CNET senior editor for MP3 and Digital Audio, author of MP3 Insider, and podcaster on our show of the same name.

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Reporters' Roundtable #18: What the iPad means to Apple more

Reporters' Roundtable: Charity 2.0 (podcast)

This week: charity in a connected world. The January 12 earthquake and humanitarian disaster in Haiti had an important technological component: Through the text message giving program, the Red Cross raised $26 million in funds in just nine days. That's not just a large amount of money to be raised in a short time, it's an unprecedented level of participation. Was this a one-time outpouring of goodwill, or the beginning of a trend in global humanitarianism made possible by technology?

To talk about this and related issues on the Roundtable, I'm joined by Caroline McCarthy from our New York office. Caroline has been covering the online giving program for CNET. And from the Red Cross itself, we have Jonathan Aiken, director of media relations. Before joining the Red Cross, Aiken was a Washington correspondent and an anchor for CNN.

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Reporters' Roundtable #17: Charity in a connected world more

Problems with CNET podcast feeds

First of all, I want to confirm that there are serious issues with most of CNET's audio podcast feeds currently. My apologies to those experiencing complications. Read on for more, and for news of fixes.

Reporters' Roundtable: 3D TV debunked (podcast)

CES overloaded the industry with 3D TV hype, and it's time to bust it. This week on the Roundtable, I interview CNET's own John Falcone and HDNation's Robert Heron on the practical realities, and likely future, of 3D TV.

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Reporters' Roundtable #16: 3D TV, debunked more

Reporters' Roundtable: Elements of tech design (podcast)

This week, the Roundtable is live from CES in Las Vegas. Topic: Design. My two guests, Gregor Berkowitz of MOTO Development (and author of the Design Review blog), and Max Burton of Frog Design, talk with me about design vs. engineering, why Apple's designs are so successful, and how companies balance designers' views with marketers'. We also take a trip into the future, looking at new kinds of user interfaces and advances in materials sciences and manufacturing.

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Reporters' Roundtable #15: Elements of design more

Reporters' Roundtable: Biggest tech stories of 2009 (podcast)

This week on the Roundtable: The biggest tech stories of 2009! With my boss, CNET Editor in Chief Scott Ard, and Buzz Out Loud host (and my co-conspirator on Real Deal) Tom Merritt.

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Reporters' Roundtable #14: Biggest tech stories of the year more

Reporters' Roundtable: Google Chrome OS (podcast)

What's behind the Google Chrome OS, technologically and from a business perspective? This week on the Roundtable, I discuss the pending operating system with CNET writers Stephen Shankland (Deep Tech) and Gordon Haff (Pervasive Data Center).

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Reporters' Roundtable #13: Google Chrome OS more

Reporters' Roundtable: Air travel tech (podcast)

This week on the Roundtable: air travel and technology. As we all get ready to spend lots of time in airplanes, and quite likely more time in airports waiting for airplanes, I thought it'd be appropriate to bring in experts on the topic of modern air travel. And we have two great guests for this show.

First, in the studio, Evan Konwiser of Flightcaster, a new service that will tell you if your flight is going to be delayed before the airline will tell you. I saw this product pitched at an Under the Radar start-up conference I moderated and it made me want to learn more about airline scheduling.

Second, via phone from Boston, we have Patrick Smith, author of one of my favorite lunchtime reads, the great Ask the Pilot column in Salon. Patrick has been a commercial pilot for nearly 20 years, and his column is a great read if you're at all curious about how the air transport industry works from the inside.

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Reporters' Roundtable #12: Air travel tech more

Reporters' Roundtable: Tech biz turkeys (podcast)

Why is it that as Thanksgiving approaches, when we should be focusing on the good things in our lives, journalists take the opportunity to talk about what's bad? I don't know, but I do know that I'm not immune to the trend.

This week on the Reporters' Roundtable: tech business turkeys! Unlike the Real Deal podcast Thursday in which Tom Merritt and Brian Tong tried to steer you away from turkey products, in this episode, we discuss the turkey business decisions and business models that we've seen in tech over the years.

My guests are both co-workers. First, in the studio, Charlie Cooper, executive editor at CBSNews.com and author of the column Coop's Corner. Before moving to his highfalutin' job at CBS News, Charlie worked in the CNET newsroom as an editor and columnist, and he ran a great daily video podcast called the Daily Debrief.

Dialing in from our Boston bureau is Jim Kerstetter, executive editor of CNET News. Jim is responsible for all the news coverage on CNET, and he covered tech prior to that at BusinessWeek. When I approached him about this roundtable topic, he said, "I think I covered all the bad businesses already."

By the way, right after we stopped recording, and my guests left, the live chatroom pointed out that we had neglected to mention perhaps the most heinously derelict tech business decision in the history of personal computing. They were right. I could tell you what it was--or leave it up for ongoing discussion in the comments, which is what I'm going to do.

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Reporters' Roundtable Podcast 11: Tech biz turkeys more

Reporters' Roundtable: Funny business (podcast)

Humor is serious business. This week, we have two entrepreneurs who prove it: Ben Huh, CEO of the Cheezburger Network, the company behind Failblog, ICanHazCheezburger, ThereIFixedIt, and other sites you've probably wasted your lunch hours on; and Ryan Dolan, previously in business development at The Onion, now making a go of it with his own business, 30Watt, which sells funny products like those at PrankPack.

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Reporters' Roundtable #10: Funny business more