Where your host talks a bit about his goals for the New Year, chats about the newly announced Apple Mini and iPod Shuffle, rambles (probably incoherently) about the perceived gap between men and women in technical fields, and finishes with a mellow track from online record label Magnatune.

Some links:

• Do you really need a link to Apple?
• I build (or more accurately, used to build) telescopes. I hope to finish (nay, plan to finish) my 12.5″ Newtonian in 2005.
• I’ve started actually running. According to some, I’m probably pushing myself too hard, but I’d like to run a 10k in 2005.
• Getting Things Done by David Allen has some interesting tips on trying to get organized. The geek in me immediately wants to find some electronic organizer thing to make it all easy. Lazy.
• 43 Folders turned me on to Allen’s book. Kudos to them.
• Amy Gahran has been trying to find women’s voices in podcasting, and they seem to be few and far between. Her January 11th podcast is a plea for more women in podcasting.

  Frankly, I haven’t a clue why more women aren’t involved in podcasting. I suspect that it is merely a reflection of the relatively small proportion of individuals who (say) go into graduate school in computer science. Why that occurs is also a bit of a mystery to me. Lack of mentors? Discouragement from parents and teachers? Desire to begin families? None of these answers seem entirely adequate. If there is a “podcast gap”, is there something we should (or even can) do about it?

• The closing track is from Falling You’s Touch, and is titled something about eve. Very relaxing.

Things to look forward to next time: a report on Wil Wheaton’s book signing in SF and a movie review of Electra… Stay tuned!