March 21, 2008

Battle Of The Podcasting Geek Chicks

Duncan Riley

111 comments »

A long weekend usually means less news, but for those looking for a new and quite often attractive take on news, the ongoing battle for geek chick supremacy offers a bountiful choice.

Webb Alert

Michael discribed Morgan Webb’s daily tech show as “a winner” and even stays up till 2am to catch new episodes. Occasional mens mag model Morgan Webb delivers tech related news from across the world. Our August 2007 review here.

GeekBrief.TV

The favorite podcast of the occasionally drunk, and mostly single team at CrunchGear, Cali Lewis delivers a daily dose of tech news, with a stronger focus on gadgets and geeky stories.

Mahalo Daily

Not content with simply taking on Google, Jason Calacanis hired Veronica Belmont for a daily show about pretty much anything and everything. Pure, blissful, fluff.

Loaded

Former TechCrunch writer Natali Del Conti talks tech news for CNet. Strangely CNet doesnt support embedding so you’ll need to click here to view the show. See our February 2007 review here.

Pop17

New York’s Sarah Meyers interviews interesting people and provides commentary on society as a whole.

MobLogic.TV

Former WallStrip host and CBS new media star Lindsay Campbell hosts this new show billed as “a running conversation about the news that affects you and a reality check on mainstream media.”

Update: due to strong commenter support:

Mobuzz.TV

Update 2: Michelle from 1938Media should have been included

  • Sphere It

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Comments

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  1. Ryan Merket

    I’ve actually been getting into http://www.moblogic.tv/. The shows are entertaining, and well written.

  2. Robert Lancer

    Christopher Masiello at VitaminCM did a great in depth review of this topic http://www.vitamincm.com/2007/.....tech-sexy/

  3. JosefVirek

    There’s also a site called NakedNews.com where, you guess it, the anchors strip while delivering the news…when are bloggers going to do that??? (and no, Scoble’s stunt doesn’t count)

  4. Duncan Riley

    Ryan
    added, always liked Campbell, she’s great in front of a camera.

  5. Jim Perrine

    Morgan Webb looks like a man.

  6. JosefVirek

    Techcrunch should hire an attractive lady blogger…it’s like a sausagefest in here!

  7. Knowledge is power

    Wow, these were all terrible! The girls are attractive but none of them should be reading the news in front of a camera.

  8. D

    @JosefVirek “Sausagefest” ?

    Yuck.

  9. Howard Owens

    Cali Lewis, Geekbrief.tv

  10. lawrence

    They’re all ditzes;

    Sarah Lacy eats up all these so-called journalists.

  11. Matthew

    Natali FTW.

  12. EH

    …or GTFO!

  13. Solacetech

    @lawrence : Does Lacy have a podcast? Come on ask me a question…

  14. Peter C.

    This show sucks big time. Mike should raise his bar a little, although he probably gets a kickback for mentioning it.

  15. Duncan Riley

    Peter C
    which one? kickback for what???

  16. Frank Sinton

    Great start on this list. No Mobuzz? Rocketboom? Boing Boing TV? I do think that WebbAlert is my favorite. Maybe RB and BB TV aren’t 100% focused on tech news, but still cover tech a lot.

    Find more here:

    http://www.mefeedia.com/channels/technology-news/

  17. Duncan Riley

    Frank
    I didn’t think BBTV counted as it’s not always Xeni, but reasonable point. Not aware of Mobuzz. Is Rocketboom still going?

  18. Mark Lancaster

    Anything for a pretty face huh?

    It doesn’t really take a genius to work out that putting a good looking girl in front of a camera and get her talking about tech related stuff will make geeks weak at the knees.

    I’m just surprised it hasn’t been happening a lot sooner.

  19. Jesus H Christ

    I also think Morgan Webb looks like a man. Surprised not many people see it.

  20. Evan

    Revision3 has a new one also…

    http://revision3.com/popsiren/

  21. An-Ray

    It’s a bit of a misnomer to call Morgan Webb “looking like a man”. Clearly not. She has lovely cheekbones, a taut speaking voice and a wonderful sleepy-eyes look (the Arrington connect?).

    I appreciate the attention to the ADD crew of us out here listening in, but she REALLY needs to mix up the tone and speed of her enunciation a bit - it all becomes a bit wearisome after awhile, like a bang bang bang (anyone remember that little sticktoy funbot shalaylee?)

  22. Amit Agarwal

    Mobuzz TV ? Duncan, how can miss that show.

  23. Frank Sinton

    Will have to add Pop Siren.

    Duncan - but Xeni is so freakin’ good, BBTV is worth being on this list! It is usually her doing the show.

    “Is Rocketboom still going?” - come on now.

  24. John Boy

    Mobuzz Rocks! ;o)

  25. RBA

    Yup, you should check mobuzz.tv Duncan- and don’t miss their FR and ES chicks ;-)

  26. Duncan Riley

    OK, I’ll check out Mobuzz, presume they’re on iTunes so I can watch on my Apple TV., it’s how I’ve been watching most of these (indeed my down time now consists of watching YouTube vids and podcasts on my Apple TV..sad maybe, but I love it :-) ). And yes, BBTV is usually my first choice, love the show.

  27. Duncan Riley

    MoBuzz added, and thanks to those recommending it.

  28. D.L.

    Mobuzz is ok but was way better with Karina hosting.

  29. Ted Ferninke

    Let me guess, you guys just watch them for the articles, right?

    Throw a chick + tech together, and you’ve got an instant hit. What a bunch of nerds.

  30. EH

    If only they looked like geek chicks.

  31. Yakov

    I like Natali’s show most

  32. S

    where’s your post for the girls that read techcrunch? about hot guy geeks?

    you need to hire a lady blogger, stat.

  33. Harvey

    I really like Morgan Webb’s show. I guess I haven’t watched in a while though as Morgan seems to have put on a bit of weight (at least in the face). Del Conte and Lindsay are definitely not as good, but I would put Lindsay at no. 2.

  34. lemonobrien

    i want hotter chicks too.

  35. Harvey

    I watched all the videos and have decided that Morgan Webb is still no.1, but have moved the gal on Mobuzz to no. 2. Man, when she said “fill your cakehole” with that British accent, that was it for me. Lindsay sadly moves down to no. 3. I really liked her (Lindsay) when she was on Wallstrip, but her current work just doesn’t interest me as much.

  36. jon

    I’m convnced that like 80% of TC readers are a bunch of loveless, lonely, misogynists who feel the need to post harsh things about women out of their own sexual frustration. Take some of the crap in this thread and how Natali was treated for example

  37. Jazza

    How about Katharine from http://playdigital.tv she’s very cute

  38. John

    Sarah M really needs to quit, she just isn’t good at the video thing. Nice person, but no talent, so many tc links for a show that has been live 2 weeks.
    Pop17=sponsor tc (note?), mahalo=sponsor tc40 jason, webb=sponsor fm.

  39. Rui Pereira

    What about Amber Macarthur on commandM? Or Geek Entertainmennt TV?

  40. John

    #39 - Leaving off Amber is a big mistake - more talented and is actually into tech and not just a video reporter. see my comment above.

  41. hombrelobo

    You forgot Zadi Diaz from Epic Fu and Libe from LostinBilbao

  42. Mostly Lisa

    I love Veronica’s show. So quirky and fun, makes a nice change from the news casty ones. Also Sarah Meyers Pop17 has been a good mix of interesting and informative topics.

  43. Chris

    Morgan Webb could wrestle me down any day! I mean it.

  44. Chris

    Olivia Munn could wrestle me down too. Or they could tag team like in Jacuzzi. Then I’d really be in hot water. Morgan and Olivia beat the snot out of the rest of those casts.

  45. Alan Wilensky

    I’ll ya, Im not a politically correct person, but stating that you ’stopped watching’, because the female anchor ‘put on weight’, is like so blatantly shallow and insulting to any thinking person.

    Geez….edit yourself; just because something is in your head, doesn’t mean it has to come out of your mouth or keyboard.

  46. Alper Celik

    I think Veronica’s show is great

  47. Fabio

    FYI: In Germany Ehrensenf ( http://www.ehrensenf.de ) is very popular.

  48. Ryan

    Sarah Meyers is the best hands down.

  49. ITrush

    They’re all hot.

    nhick
    http://www.itrush.com

  50. Illectro

    I prefer Morgan’s other show - X-Play which is easily the second best video games TV show ever (Video Gaiden rules supreme!)

  51. Minic

    I agree with Illectro– I would rather watch Morgan at X-Play. On a daily basis, I like Moblogic.tv. Second comes Mahalo.

  52. Bruce Pillersen

    The tighter the shirts get the more I forget that none of these are technical enough to have any value. Still waiting for Podshow to lower the bar and have a topless videocast.

  53. Gleb

    Thanks for the post.
    Subscribed to the WebbAlert podcast.
    Nice news-selection to listen on the go.

  54. Bob Zifftren

    congrats, dunc. great post. you’ve raised the level of click whore to a new height (or low?) and i’m sure that in short other the other lazy boyz - matty ingram, scoble and the usual cast of suck-ups will similarly post on your post which is a post on nothing. hey, do we have a new seinfeld show in the making? LOL

  55. not really that sexy

    could do better.

  56. Sarah Meyers

    I love http://www.ehrensenf.de

    It’s all the rage in Germany.

  57. gary mckenzie

    Guys, do you notice that Natalie’s right nipple is hard, when check out this then, http://www.cnettv.com/9742-1_53-50000034.html

  58. Andrew Baron

    Duncan, we are still here.

  59. Sarah Meyers

    …. and going strong!

  60. Michael

    lol, this is funny.

    also check out my blog for legit ways to make money online.
    http://mikesmoneyclub.blogspot.com/

  61. VitaiminCM

    What, no Amber MacArthur?
    She was number one on my Hottest Women in Tech roundup.
    Still this is a pretty good list.

  62. gilltots

    this medium sucks - way too inefficient. i can get all this same news in 30 seconds of reading a feed reader instead of having to watch 20 seconds of a graphical opener with no content whatsoever and then watch a talking head bobble all around for 7 minutes while slowly informing me on what’s new.

    waste of time.

  63. Michelle Greer

    Sad, look at your commenters, Duncan. They are almost entirely guys.

    I have worked in the IT industry for some time now. I have not had a female boss since I was 18 years old. I’ve literally had a manager tell me that I knew more about our software than he did so I trained his people, and yet, he made significantly more money than I did. I can work the cute girl card, but beauty and youth are fleeting. I’d like to depend on my brain so I can have some longevity in this industry and would like to see more women who feel the same way.

    Is this all women are doing online? I don’t really blame the vodcasters or their viewers, but cmon. Other than the frozen pea fund, TC never seems to cover anything that women are doing. This isn’t a very encouraging sign.

    Seriously guys, is IT just a man’s game? Are women doing so little progressively that this is the coverage we get? Which vodcaster is cutest?

  64. Caron Ellis

    Guys –

    If you’re wondering why there aren’t many women in IT you don’t have to look any further than these juvenile posts.

    It’s sad that nothing much has changed since the 1960s and ’70s when your mothers and grandmothers worked hard to raise awareness of the professional and economic inequity between men and women in this country.

    But American culture remains strongly misogynistic (guess who will be the Democratic candidate — at least Barack Obama is a man), and you guys continue to perpetuate that mindset.

    Rather than drooling over Internet babes consider treating your female colleagues, sisters, partners like intellectual equals. You’ll be surprised how truly geeky we can be. We’re just afraid to fly our geek flag because in your immature eyes it makes us seem like less of a woman.

  65. Paul

    Kara Tsuboi on Cnet deserves her own show

    http://www.cnet.com/4520-13403_1-6722502-2.html

    She is on a lot of the Quickcast videos

  66. Fred

    #64: Nothing has changed since the 60’s and 70’s? Nonsense. However, we’ll continue to drool over Internet babes until the Sun runs out of hydrogen and expands to a red giant that absorbs anyone who’s still alive. Get used to it.

    However, your point about American culture is well taken. I do think that a black presidential candidate is more acceptable to this culture than a female one. Neither should be problematic, but we do seem to have more problems with powerful women than with powerful men of any race.

  67. JosefVirek

    @64 Jesus you sound like my mother…

  68. dale

    thanks for the update on all the new show. I love the Sarah Meyers show it always something different.

  69. YouYap.com

    I still prefer reading my news. For some reason, i cannot watch video online for more than 30 min but I can watch regular TV for 30 hrs.
    YouYap.com

  70. Cyndy Aleo-Carreira

    Threads like this make my head hurt. If we are going to ramble on about hiring some eye candy for TechCrunch, why not start with the men? After all, there are a ton of them and I personally don’t want any of them starring in their own calendar any time soon.

  71. dale boyce

    another hot one is

    http://www.mostlylisa.com/

    She has kool skits. check it out since we are on this topic!

  72. Rajiv Singh

    I prefer muffs and tech separately.

  73. AnonTroll

    Who has the patience to watch anyone read technology news to them on video playing in a web browser? More often than not it is out of date by the time they get the video posted anyway.

  74. Sarah Meyers

    @ #71 Dale Boyce yes Mostly Lisa rocks! Everyone check her out…

  75. Joe

    The problem with these videos is they only offer headshots. We can’t see their legs and if they are wearing skirts.

  76. Miiko Mentz

    Duncan, I love it “battle for geek chick supremacy offers a bountiful choice.” Hey, who doesn’t love looking at an attractive face while hearing the news. There is a reason why most of the faces on TV are attractive. And why should it be any different on the Web or in tech. And frankly it’s not really new in tech. Remember the very cute Erica Hill who is now a CNN anchor and was once on TechTV. And how about Louderback’s Fresh Gear sidekick Sumi Das who is now a reporter for CNN. Face it, we love attractive women in tech! C’mon, isn’t it better than looking at Scoble’s mug (sorry Scoble, but even you would rather look at a pretty face).
    ;-)

    And I can’t help but give a shameless plug for Alison McNeill over at bub.blicio.us’ Tech Soup.

  77. whiskey

    Geekbrief TV FTW!
    Why? Cali does connect to her audience, by being herself.

    Natali del Conte seems a bit forced (like that cute chick you know that you have to laugh at her jokes or else she gets a mood).

    Love Veronica Belmont, but frankly she seems to deliver less tech than the others.

    Morgan Webb does seem to struggle a bit with reading her lines.

    Sarah looks strange to me… Just strange (hair too light maybe? i dunno), and not too geeky.

    The other two… i won’t comment since i haven’t tried to follow their shows.

    So, again, it’s Geekbrief what makes the first place to me. Cali is not only beautiful, it’s beautifully geeky.

  78. rijul

    moblogic and mobuzz seem to have the most talented hosts. i’m going to guess they have presentation/theatre training. a few of the others, you can see, have honed their videocasting skills to put information across pretty well too.

    the rest, i’m afraid, are all hiding behind affected smiles and make up. there’s no reason attractiveness should lower the bar for quality here. a valid question is: why aren’t there below-average-looking women in any of these podcasts?

  79. Trina

    Comments that are posted here are exactly why I run a non-video podcast. My podcast is about tech/gadgets/gaming and anime. It’s an audio podcast because it is about my words. It’s about my thoughts on what is going on in the Gaming Industry.

    I am horrible on camera. I’m not an actress, and don’t want to be forced to pretend that I am one.

    Geekbrief is one of the great video podcasts because it is actually about tech by someone that knows what she is talking about.

  80. kk

    web alert chick is high, trust me.

  81. kevn rae

    Moblogic is spectacular! The host and the reporting are ++++++++x100

  82. vance

    How about:

    Amber McArthur’s CommandN

  83. Caramelhoneys

    This is another example of the net melding with traditional tv…This is where bloggin is headed…which I dont know if its not a step-back…so a good part of your net experience will be very similar to watching tv, except its on a computer monitor…

  84. Trivia Mania

    How about actually showing an attractive woman rather than those same old look-alikes?

  85. Alex C.

    Where is Amber Mac??? Whoever made this list must be new to the internets. She is one of the most talented journalists out there and actually has an intellect. She hosts a show called commandN, it’s been around for a bit, kind of pioneered web video… Just a suggestion as you learn the ropes of the web world Mr. Listmaker…

    Amber is the only one that can do a show without a teleprompter… Beat that girls… stop showing off that you can read and just do a show that’s interesting.

  86. Alex C.

    oh in case you can’t use google Mr. Listmaker you can find her here

    http://www.commandn.tv

  87. Dan Hugo

    As an experiment, I’ve joined forces with a friend of mine to try going closer to “the line” than usual… the interesting part of the exercise has been watching her move head-first into complete nerdiness.

    I think more content is better (I sort of have to think that), and there are those who like to watch a pretty face (or whatever) and hear what she (or he) has to say about any topic. The gadgets+hotties convergence is an obvious one. Too obvious… boothbabes wouldn’t be as popular as they are if it weren’t so obvious.

  88. Jim Kukral

    I wish I had boobs. Video below, click, laugh. It’s true.

    http://www.jimkukral.com/i-wish-i-had-boobs/

  89. Are Tee

    WebbAlert’s very solid. Perfect round-up of what’s afoot when I don’t have an hour++ to read all the blogs & whatnot. And the girl’s always on FHM’s “sexiest women in the world” list - not bad for tech. Cali on GBrief is so chipper it makes me nauseous. She remind me of the chick on the Wheat Thins commercials in the 70’s. What was her name? Sandy Duncan or something? ((shudder!!))

  90. Livia Iacolare

    Lindsay and Veronica are the best.

  91. vance

    Same Question I asked Above wheres Amber McArthur…

    I guess this isn’t really a complete list just some of what Techcrunch team like to watch.

  92. Who is Billy Bragg?

    I remember when Natali Del Conti was writing for TechCrunch. My god there was a new post by her like every 5 minutes it seemed. Quite the prolific blogger during her 15 minutes on TechCrunch :P

  93. bb

    Marta Costello from the gnooze should be on here. She never gets any respect from the blogs.

  94. sarah lacy

    awww thanks lawrence! solacetech: i have a show called techticker on yahoo finance. http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker — but it’s more mainstream business and finance coverage of tech news. probably why i’m not considered a “podcasting geek chick”

  95. Sarah Meyers

    @bb I love Martha Costello!

    @Sarah Lacy, you are a podcasting geek chick.

  96. bobjangles

    What, no love for Miss Irina Slutsky over at Geek Entertainment TV? She’d been laying down the geek chic rap since 2005 yo.

    http://www.geekentertainment.tv/

  97. Wiremold

    #63 Michelle Greer I am convinced your gay and #38 John you suck.
    Sarah M’s podcast was interesting and funny.

  98. Ashley Norris

    What about Susi, Kat and Zara from Shiny Media. We have been vidcasting for over two years now (unlike a lot of these Jessica come latelys) and last time I looked were the third most watched UK based YouTube channel after the BBC and ITN. The vids are here http://uk.youtube.com/profile_.....shinymedia

  99. Sarah Meyers

    Kat and Shiny Media are “da bomb!” I read Shiny Media every day and watch all of their videos. I got to meet Kat in Vegas at CES and have to say she is even more beautiful in real life. Shiny Media videos are often embedded on the blog Gizmodo.com and get a lot of traffic because everyone wants to see these lovely ladies.

  100. Kat Hannaford

    Hahah, aww shucks Sarah, you’re making me blush! :o

  101. Dave M

    Again… Where is AMBER MAC??????

    CommandN was one of the first wasn’t it?

  102. Martin Sargeant

    Besides Amber, numerous shows are left off. And, no offense, but Sarah Meyers is really bad.

  103. RaiderJ

    Martin you are really bad!