Puppet is an automated administrative engine for systems, performs administrative tasks (such as adding users, installing packages, and updating server configurations) based on a centralized specification. Luke Kanies, who founded Reductive Labs, has been doing server automation for years, and Puppet is the result of his frustration with existing tools. He joins Phil, Scott, and Ben to discuss it.

If you're a software developer, you probably already know who Steve Yegge is. Developers all over the world spend a lot of their time reading or commenting on his blog when they're not writing code. A senior software engineer at Google, an ex-Amazon employee, one of the most widely read bloggers, an excellent hacker, and an outrageously funny chap, Steve talks about why branding is so important.

Dr. Stephen Omohundro tells what characteristics a self improving artificial intelligence will need and how we can shape it to include human values. The economic rational theory that has trouble explaining many human actions is the key theory that will guide the actions of a self improving AI. He explains the emergent attributes such an AI with preferences and beliefs will exhibit, and how to prevent the nightmare scenarios that movies and fiction writers have long feared.

Rick Falkvinge is a Swedish politician who recently founded a new party. Its values include freedom, upholding laws, and rights to privacy. These may sound like safe and just laws - things that are constant and don't need defending; so what's jeopardizing them? According to Falkvinge, that would be copyrights and patents.

Joel and Jeff discuss Macbook Air overheating and undervolting, constructive criticism, and engage in an extended discussion of Joel's management training program reading list. If you love classic books, this is the podcast you're looking for.

Sony's Blu-Ray defeats HD-DVD, but will downloadable movies make that victory moot? On this edition of IEEE Spectrum Radio, targeted trojan horse attacks are a growing security threat and have expanded the spyware vocabulary. Also, an interview with Ash Nehru of UnitedVisualArtists on their interactive light exhibits.

Cell phone handset manufacturers don't know what features future applications will use, and developers can't build those applications without having hardware support. In this talk from the Emerging Communications Conference, Michael Shiloh of OpenMoko tells how their open hardware platform solves this "chicken and egg" problem.

During the first stage of Linux, openness and a superior development methodology created a new technology product that changed the world. The next stage will be a battle between two platforms and ideologies, with Linux representing openness and Microsoft representing closedness. Jim Zemlin of the Linux Foundation tells how Ubuntu is leveraging the strengths of the Linux platform while buttressing its weaknesses.

With the web upending traditional distribution models, publishers need to understand how their content is valued by the audience. In this talk, Jeff Patterson, CEO of Safari Books Online, shares research on the information seeking habits of their client base of IT professionals. As users weigh the worth of information in exchange for their time, money and attention, publishers must grasp not just what is sold, but what is read, used and reused.

As macular degeneration erodes Susan Gerhart's vision, she's shifting into audio mode. On this edition of Interviews with Innovators, host Jon Udell asks about what she has learned about adaptive technologies, and ask her about her blog, As Your World Changes.

Attempting to predict how technology will impact business in the future, is a daunting task. However, with the Internet, many consider the rate of change too rapid to even accept the challenge. Still, there are precedents to understand hyper-change and guide our expectations. Controversial analysts Nicholas Carr and Christopher Meyer offer their theories on the implications for business after everything is connected.

Joel and Jeff try to avoid talking over each other while discussing data generation, full text searching, cross-site scripting, Markdown, Microsoft's Silverlight, and how to get a job at Fog Creek software.

In a recent Business Week article, writer Olga Kharif discussed the changes to the mobile phone industry that will take place because of the iPhone. Brian Fling of Fling Media clearly agrees with Kharif's premise. In a discussion with Phil and Scott, he talks about his recent Web 2.0 Expo presentation and how he believes the everyday mobile phone user will be impacted by the iPhone.

We live in a world of cognitive biases and polarized opinions. We consider ourselves to be largely rational, yet we are often prone to systematic errors such as overconfidence, wishful thinking, and the attraction of strong opinions. This means decisions are often driven more by personalities and passions rather than technical merits. Economic theorist Robin Hanson explores common errors, and points to innovative tools such as prediction markets which can help overcome bias and promote truth.

Jean-Claude Bradley, an associate professor of chemistry at Drexel University, is a pioneering practitioner of open notebook science. On this edition of Interviews with Innovators, Bradley explains to host Jon Udell that he believes scientific research happens better and faster when the entire process is transparently narrated online.

Joel and Jeff discuss the fine art of listening, source control, the risks of being an internal IT developer, and the state of current mobile platforms. Oh, and how to clean the toilet.

A high speed wireless network deployed throughout rural areas of San Diego county has changed both the quantity and quality of research done there. Most prominent is the repurposing of the Palomar telescope to rapidly respond to astronomical events. Following that is a review of some of the best tech toys of 2007.

In this talk at the Emerging Communications Conference, Rich Miner, manager of the Wireless Platforms group at Google discusses the ways that increasing openness will bring an explosion of innovation in the mobile industry. Carriers, manufacturers, and software companies are beginning to open up the networks, technology, and business models, all of which is opening up new opportunities for entrepreneurship and services for consumers.

As we anticipate the possibility of a coming singularity, we ask "What shall our investments bet on and how will the financial climate differ?" Peter Thiel, investor and cofounder of PayPal, however, has a different view. He argues that singularity-like behavior is already here - as seen in the recent and seemingly accelerating cycles of boom and bust. In this talk from the 2007 Singularity Summit, Thiel discusses this and some unique strategies to manage risk.

Mark Shuttleworth began Ubuntu in 2004 with a dedicated group of developers intent on creating a revolutionary new Linux desktop. Now, many in the Linux community are calling it the Linux desktop for real people. After three years of phenomenal growth, Shuttleworth sat down with Tim O'Reilly at the first ever O'Reilly Media sponsored Ubuntu Live Conference. During the interview, Tim asks Mark for insight into Ubuntu's meteoric rise and about key challenges for Ubuntu going forward.