In recent years, the Apple corporation has effectively revolutionized the field of distraction; human beings are ignoring their obligations in ways that our ancestors never dreamed possible! There are actually exist iPhone applications that allow you to blow into the phone and play it like an ocarina – proving once and for all that the days of carrying our phones and ocarinas in separate pockets are over!
But of all the seemingly limitless distractions that are readily available to us as computer users, Podcasts are perhaps the most universally entertaining. The concept of podcasting is ingenious: sprawling libraries of digital content are available with the click of one button in the iTunes store, bringing constantly-updating music, information and video resources right to your computer, absolutely free! The question is, is any of this free content worth the time?
This American Life (Audio)
Brought to you by: NPR
Category: fascinating fluff pieces
The gist: Ira Glass, being perhaps America’s most recognizable voice behind that guy who narrates movie trailers, scours the nation with his crack team of journalists, looking for the little bits and pieces of human interest that keep America’s cogs turning. No subject is too obscure or insignificant to appear on the show, not even the man who wrote everything he’s ever done every day of his life in a color-coded journal; someday, your very beer can collection might make it onto a national broadcast!
Is it worth it: Absolutely. A new one-hour show is added every week, providing the perfect buffer of time that a listener may anxiously look forward to the next show, but not be so inundated with Ira Glass’ voice that an addiction results.
The Onion Radio News (Audio)
Brought to you by: The Onion
Category: Fake news
The gist: Doyle Redland reads some of the most pressing Onion headlines each day, delving into national affairs (“”Roiling mass of snakes to receive $160 billion in government stimulus””), international affairs (“”Norway returns to a pillage-based economy””) and even the occasional celebrity gossip (“”Muppeteer’s hand in critical condition following an assassination attempt on Elmo””). Needless to say, there’s nowhere else in the wide world of the media where you can find this kind of breaking news coverage.
Is it worth it: At first. You’ll love the madcap news updates as they begin to accrue on your iTunes menu, but as that number of casts starts creeping higher and higher, it just becomes too hard to care about fake news, hilarious as it is.
President Obama’s Weekly Address and Key Speeches (Video)
Brought to you by: The Government
Category: News/Propaganda
The gist: Since FDR’s historic fireside chats, pandering over the airwaves has been another of the president’s many weekly duties. Updated every Saturday, our very own President Obama delivers a weekly address discussing his priorities and actions throughout the week, and smiling brightly through the iTunes media player that every American of all walks of life may one day pretend to have a tiny version of the president living in their computer!
Is it worth it: Sure. Political rhetoric should always be taken with a grain of salt, but if you’re not gonna read the news this week, at least watch the president for a few minutes.
