Leo Laporte’s TWiT: How a True Geek is Creating the CNN of Technology News

Leo Laporte on Streaming the (Tech) Revolution.

You’ll hear him talk about tech in podcasts like This Week in Tech, Tech News Today, iPad Today, The Social Hour and All About Android. Leo Laporte is probably the most well-known podcaster and one of the most respectable tech pundits in the world. He founded TWiT.tv, his podcast (sorry Leo, netcast!) network in 2005. when starting the now well known This Week in Tech podcast that features panelists such as John C. Dvorak, LeWeb founder Loic LeMeur and Lifehacker founder Gina Trapani as well as hosts such as Sarah Land and Tom Merrit.

I had the chance to meet Leo at last year’s LeWeb conference and I know a lot of you are fans and listeners. Podcasts, for those who aren’t, are audio or video programs on the web which you can stream or download. Podcasts got their name from iPods: pod-cast, right? That’s the reason you can find almost any podcast on iTunes as well as download them on the official TWiT website.

TWiT's podcasts.

Leo has stated time and time again that his plan is to create a 24 hour technology news network, the CNN of tech. With 17 employees and revenues of 3 million dollars in 2010., seems that Leo is on good track. TWiT has invested 1.2 million dollars in a new studio thanks not only to their advertisers such as Ford but also to the “brick fund”, the revenue from the memorative bricks that their fans and listeners bought. You can still order your own brick engraved with a message or logo.

Stream the (Tech) Revolution

I had the chance to interview Leo at LeWeb in Paris, the biggest web technology conference in Europe that Netokracija was an official blog of:

The lights were a bit off so we made the interview black-and-white: I do hope Leo doesn’t mind. Next time we can shoot in TWiT’s new studio.

Why Listen to TWiT

To be honest, TWiT’s podcasts are not only one of the things that inspired me to write about web startups and technology in Southeastern Europe, but a valuable source of information. While they might not be as fast as Techcrunch, TWiT’s panelists always offer great insight info the latest technology news. They give context, something we have always tried to a Netokracija and now Netocratic.

Myself and Leo at LeWeb (Photo by Marina Filipovic Marinshe)

Leo Laporte is (although he might just say he’s a pundit) one of the true technology journalists, someone who understands that his listeners come first. Like your readers or users should. So take note of how Leo’s going about turning TWiT into the CNN of tech, because if you haven’t already noticed: it’s completely bootstrapped.