Hands-On Tech (Audio)

Leo Laporte and his team provides excellent, consistent programming every week. I’ve been following Leo’s programming and content since the late ‘90s when he was a host on Tech TV, and I’m grateful that he’s continued creating tech-related content for so many years. The Tech Guys, in general, is my favorite weekly podcast and keeps me informed about what’s happening in the world of tech.

Great show with great cohosts and guests. The show is even better since his jump away from terrestrial radio. To those going on and on about the political stuff…. you’re just salty over #45 and it shows. Leo doesn’t even bother to waste his breath on that loser, which means you’re not listening. Anyway, great tech show providing a nice a balance between geeky stuff, techy stuff, and entertainment.

I’ve been listening to Leo for several years now and his content is extremely informative and helpful. With so much tech out there he does a great job of breaking things down to help most non-tech folks. The addition of the hilarious Mikah has added the cherry on top. For the best help on the internet you should listen to these boys.

One of the longest running podcasts of all time and still the best. The monologue at the beginning is always informative. Callers of all levels of expertise, yet the show is always consumer focused and never pretentious. Never miss it. I especially love the photography segment on Sundays.

This used to be my go-to podcast for weekly tech news - it had a good mix of news, “live” troubleshooting, and interesting tech topics. New format is too troubleshooting focused. I used to be excited about what I would discover in the next episode…now, I look at the show notes before I play it. I have skipped a lot of these episodes in the recent months.

Leo, most of the time, interrupts callers and guests when they are talking and he always gets himself taking about his travels, cars, etc. It's really annoying. I completely understand about the need of sponsors for the show, however it's foolhardy of him to advertise a product just because he's being paid for, and not because it's a good product, which respects, for instance, the privacy and security of users, especially when you have a show that talks to people who are not always technical or familiar with technology. I recently listened to an episode where he (and his wife, he told) claimed to use LastPass (a really bad password manager for various reasons), however, now that he's been sponsored by Bitwarden (a great foss password manager btw), he talks about it as he was a long time user. In other words, whether he recommends a product, always do your own research and don't take his word for it. The show is only about making money from sponsors, whichever they are. That's why he's very cautious when talking about any company - even if the company is bad. You never know if they're willing to sponsor the show. And finally, as already mentioned in another review, the show is too long and kind of repetitive. Leo repeats frequently the same answer to the listener over and over. Sometimes it's not even a helpful answer technically speaking, but his political and commercial point of view. Please, don't take my opinion as intolerant. As rough as it sounds, I've tried to make a constructive criticism. The show might be great for some folks, it's just not for me.