(Hear the MP3 version with additional commentary in beautiful monophonic audio.)

New Programs This Week

Listed in increasing order of listener rating.

• John Lupton (rated 3.2 by IT Conversations listeners) On last week’s Biotech Nation segment, Dr. Moira Gunn spoke with John Lupton, the CEO of MedCare Systems, Sydney, Australia, who tells us about technology which keep us healthier and out of the hospital.
• Scott Kriens – In Search of Intelligence (3.3) The Chairman and CEO of Juniper Networks talks about the challenges and opportunities surrounding networking today. How can we improve the user experience by optimizing the infrastructure between applications and users? Can we reduce the latency and increase the throughput of the network while ensuring high availability? Scott argues that the network should act as a resource and a source of intelligence to optimize the behavior and the performance of applications.
• Applications for a Mobile, Connected World (3.4) Everyday people are participating in media and it’s the Internet that has made it all happen. From the early days of amazon.com encouraging readers to post reviews to today’s world of podcasts and blogs, personal publishing has become mainstream. This panel discussion from Supernova 2005 features the folks behind the applications that let us all create our own media.
• Buzz Aldrin on Larry’s World (3.5) "I’m not interested in bungy jumping off a bridge," states one of the world’s greatest astronauts, Buzz Aldrin. At age 75, Buzz now runs a rocket design company, SCUBA dives the world’s oceans, skis, and shares his passion for space exploration, lecturing around the world. IOW, Buzz still lives life to the fullest. In this timely edition of Larry’s World, Buzz talks to host Larry Magid about everything from hearing aids to the latest technology in aeronautics.
• Adam Curry on Podcasting (3.7) He’s the Podfather: one of the creators and the leading evangelist of podcasting. Behind the scenes, he is now pulling together and commercializing many podcast-related services, websites, podcasts and directories. In this interview with host Rob Greenlee, Adam discusses his early days in radio and at MTV in the ’80s. He talks about leaving the broadcast world to pursue his true passions. Adam goes into detail about his early work with the websites webcasting, blogging and audioblogging.
• Anna Nagurney at MeshForum 2005 (3.7) What is common between web traffic and transportation? If a path always has heavy traffic, will building a bypass or an alternative path help, or will it worsen it? How do you use network theory to solve transportation and water supply problems? How is the study of networks helpful in solving complex problems in finance and economics? Anna Nagurney answers these questions in her presentation at MeshForum 2005.
• John Valliant (3.7) Dr. Moira Gunn spoke with John Valliant, a freelance writer and serial adventurer, who told her the tale of a single genetic exception: The Golden Spruce, and its encounter with man and technology.
• Susan Casey (3.8) Moira also speaks with Time editor Susan Casey about the Farallones, the islands barely visible from San Francisco, and the surprising science they’re now telling us about the great white shark. Susan is the author of "Devil’s Teeth — A True Story of Obsession and Survival among America’s Great White Sharks."
• Tim O’Reilly – MySQL Users Conference (3.9) We are moving into a new world where everything is interconnected, where the Internet is the platform and where software is a service. Welcome to the new paradigm that is Web 2.0. Tim O’Reilly uses the MySQL User Conference to present another verse of his popular O’Reilly’s Radar talk. Find out what the alpha geeks have been up to and why the future belongs to data.
• Andrew Morton – The Linux Kernel (3.9) Andrew Morton described the Linux kernel development process, how the Linux kernel actually comes to be, how features are chosen, and how the development, test and release cycle is managed. He explains how commercial Linux distributions such as Red Hat and SuSE fit into this process. Andrew also explains the motivations of kernel developers and why the Linux kernel development process (and open source development model in general) are better than most commercial software development processes.

The O’Reilly Pick of the Week:

This week’s IT Conversations/O’Reilly Pick of the Week is a terrific session from the SDForum’s Distinguished Speaker Series:

• Kent Beck – Developer Testing (3.8) Developer testing is rapidly catching on as an extremely effective way to improve software quality and productivity. Kent, the father of eXtreme Programming (XP) delivered this keynote presentation at the Developer Testing Forum.