Okay, so tech moves ridiculously fast. You look away for one weekend and somebody is talking about a new AI model, a phone feature, or a company you thought was just a website buying another company.
That’s why podcasts help. You can get the useful version while walking the dog, doing dishes, or pretending to understand what is happening in a meeting.
These are the top 10 tech podcasts I’d point people toward based on what they actually want from a listen. No need to play every episode of every show. Pick a lane, hit follow, and see what sticks.
How I picked these shows
“Tech podcast” is a huge bucket. A show about startup founders feels very different from one about consumer gadgets, and both are different from a show asking whether the industry is making society better or worse.
So this list covers a few jobs: keeping up with headlines, understanding AI, learning how major companies grew, and hearing arguments that don’t treat every new app like magic.
Some shows are chatty. Some get deep in the weeds. That just means they’re better for different moods.
1. The Vergecast
Best for: weekly gadget and Big Tech catch-up.
The Vergecast is hosted by Nilay Patel and David Pierce. It mixes consumer technology, product news, and the bigger questions around how technology affects everyday life.
New episodes arrive on Wednesdays and Fridays. The midweek show leans into analysis, while Friday episodes focus on the latest major tech news. That schedule makes it a nice starting point if you want one show that can cover phones, platforms, AI, and the weird stuff companies decide to ship.
It’s probably the easiest pick here if you want a familiar “friends explaining the news” kind of format. Handy too if your gadget rabbit hole leads from a new phone to powerbanks that are actually worth the price.
2. Acquired
Best for: huge stories about how companies got huge.
Acquired, from Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, takes a long look at the playbooks behind major businesses. Think less “here is what happened this morning” and more “how did this company become what it is?”
These are not quick little news bites. They’re for the days when you want a proper deep dive and have time for it. If company strategy sounds a bit dry, fair, but Acquired usually makes it feel more like the behind-the-scenes commentary on a very expensive sports team.
3. The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis
Best for: people trying to follow AI without opening 40 tabs.
Nathaniel Whittemore, also known as NLW, hosts The AI Daily Brief. As the name says, it’s a daily analysis show focused on artificial intelligence.
AI news can get messy fast because there are models, labs, policy fights, business claims, and a whole lot of people yelling on social media. A daily format is useful here. You can hear a focused rundown rather than trying to reconstruct the story from half a dozen posts.
If AI is the main tech topic you care about, this is a pretty straightforward place to begin.
4. Big Technology Podcast
Best for: interviews with people close to the industry.
Silicon Valley journalist Alex Kantrowitz hosts the Big Technology Podcast. The show features interviews with insiders and critics who have a close view of the tech business.
This one works well when you want more than a headline recap. Interviews can get at the “why does this company think this is a good idea?” part, which is usually the bit that gets lost in quick news coverage.
Also, hearing someone push back on an industry talking point is healthy. Tech can get very excited about its own homework.
5. All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Best for: big opinions about technology, business, and markets.
All-In brings together Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg. Its conversations move between technology, business, investing, and broader public issues.
This is an opinion-heavy show, so it’s best treated like a smart, lively roundtable rather than a final answer machine. That’s not a knock. Sometimes hearing a strong argument helps you figure out what you think, even if you disagree with half of it.
Bring your own skepticism. Honestly, that’s good advice for any tech show.
6. Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast
Best for: consumer tech and the stuff people actually use.
Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast is a natural fit for listeners interested in phones, gadgets, apps, and the practical side of personal technology. It appears among the leading technology shows on Apple Podcasts.
Start here if your tech questions are more like, “Is this feature useful?” or “Why does every company suddenly care about this?” than “What is the venture capital case for it?”
That distinction matters. Not everybody needs a lecture on quarterly earnings before buying headphones, ya know? The practical angle is also nice if you’re deciding between an upgrade and repairing or buying refurbished tech.
7. Tech Won’t Save Us
Best for: a more skeptical view of the industry.
Tech Won’t Save Us asks harder questions about the language and assumptions surrounding technology. It looks beyond whether a tool is impressive and asks what it means for society, work, politics, and power.
This is a useful counterweight to shows that mostly focus on product launches and company success stories. You don’t have to agree with every argument for it to be valuable. It can help you notice the parts of a tech story that shiny marketing slides tend to skip.
8. Technology Now
Best for: understanding the tech behind business headlines.
Technology Now is hosted by Michael Bird and Sam Jarrell. Each week, they take a headline-making story, explain the underlying technology, and look at why it matters to organizations.
The show is available in audio and video formats. That makes it handy if you prefer watching a conversation at your desk but still want the option to listen later.
This is a good pick for people who hear workplace tech terms flying around and just want someone to translate. No shame in that. Half the battle is figuring out what a phrase means before people move on to the next acronym.
9. TED Radio Hour
Best for: bigger ideas that touch technology but don’t stop there.
TED Radio Hour is an NPR show hosted by Manoush Zomorodi. It explores major questions through ideas from TED speakers, so the topics can stretch beyond technology into culture, science, behavior, and society.
It is not a dedicated gadget-news feed, and that’s exactly why it earns a spot. Tech does not live in a little sealed box. Questions about AI, attention, creativity, spyware phishing campaigns on WhatsApp, and work spill into regular life pretty quickly.
Pick this one when you want a breather from company names and product specs.
10. AI Business Daily
Best for: following AI as a business story.
AI Business Daily appears among the technology podcast choices highlighted on Apple Podcasts. Its name gives you the basic deal: AI news through a business-focused lens.
That focus can be useful if you’re less interested in model benchmarks and more interested in how companies are adopting AI, talking about it, or building plans around it. That includes stuff like SAP’s planned sustainability AI agents. The two subjects overlap, but they are not quite the same thing.
Think of it like this: a technical AI show explains the engine. A business-focused show talks more about who is putting the engine in a truck, what they hope it will do, and what could go wrong on the road.
An easy way to build your podcast queue
You absolutely do not need to subscribe to all 10. That sounds like homework, and nobody wants homework on a Tuesday night.
- For general tech news: Start with The Vergecast and Big Technology Podcast.
- For AI: Try The AI Daily Brief, then add AI Business Daily if the workplace and company angle is useful to you.
- For gadgets: Put Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast near the top of your list.
- For company stories: Save Acquired for a longer listen.
- For tougher questions: Pair Tech Won’t Save Us with TED Radio Hour.
- For business debates: Give All-In a try, but don’t feel bad if the format isn’t your thing.