Shift Run Stop

Our guest this week is comedy writer and cartoonist Andy Riley, the twisted mind behind the Bunny Suicides books and the Observer's comic strip Roasted, as well as loads of great TV and radio comedy. While we were chatting, Andy drew some amazing cassette cards for us (watch a video of him drawing them and a [...]

Andy Riley is a comedy writer and comic artist, creator of the legendary Bunny Suicides series of books and Roasted, the geeky coffee shop comic that appeared in the Observer magazine until very recently. Often working with writing partner Kevin Cecil, Andy has written for numerous highly-acclaimed comedy shows and performers, including Armando Iannucci and [...]

We chatted with artist Sydney Padua this week. Sydney's animated creations appear in loads of blockbuster movies, but she's a star of the small screen too - you might have seen her extremely funny web comic Babbage and Lovelace doing the rounds lately. With Ada Lovelace Day coming up very soon, Sydney tells us about [...]

We meet animator Sydney Padua this week. If you don't know her, you probably know her art; she's worked on loads of high profile films, including The Golden Compass and the new Clash of the Titans. And now she's an internet celebrity, thanks to her very funny and smart internet comic about Babbage and Lovelace... [...]

You might recognise Zeb's voice from Radio 4 news, continuity announcements and the iconic Shipping Forecast. He's also very funny and, unexpectedly, looks like he should be in a boyband. We also hear about Roo's hobbity holiday in the New Forest and Leila's trip to Decode Lab at the V&A. Dave comes back from India loaded [...]

Does Zeb Soanes' voice sound familiar? He reads the legendary Shipping Forecast regularly on Radio 4, as well as the news bulletins. This clip also features Roo Reynolds, Leila Johnston and Dave Green and the full episode will go out on iTunes (and Shiftrunstop.co.uk) on March 4th. Check out Zeb's website and keep up with us [...]

Pepys blogger, Pretend Office worker and former Aardman animator Phil Gyford was kind enough to not only bring himself to Shift Run Stop towers, but also his Mega Drive. We natter with the Internet's Dave Green about the BAFTA Film Awards (which Roo also went to) and dorkbotlondon (which Leila also went to). Leila meets a previous [...]

Phil Gyford is the brains behind numerous fun things you've probably come across on the internet, including pepysdiary.com, the @samuelpepys Twitter feed and the brilliant pretendoffice.co.uk. We also like him because, as you'll see, he let us play on his Mega Drive. This episode will be available to download on the 25th of February! Be there [...]

What if you could play a game of Friends? Or The Wire? What would that be like? We saw Duncan at Playful 09 and were instantly hooked by his idea that dramatic storytelling and video games could merge in a new interactive concept called "Fictive Worlds". Duncan also shares his experience of developing the first [...]

Duncan was the architect of the first "Passively Multiplayer Online Game" - later called The Nethernet, and is now developing an intriguing idea for blending educational stories with gameplay, that he has dubbed "Fictive Worlds". This, plus an abandoned motorway sliproad, after-Valentine's bargains, internal fridge noises, news on that cassettes idea, and loads more in [...]

We love a bit of tech abuse on this podcast, so it's a real pleasure to bring you James Larsson, mad scientist extraordinaire. James hit the headlines on the BBC news site with his most recent project, Boot Fetish Pong, but old-skool listeners might remember seeing his prawn sandwich BBC micro clock back when Dave [...]

James Larsson is an inventor. He's a regular at geeky meet-up Dorkbot (London), and was a star turn at Notcon 04, where Leila saw him use a BBC Micro and a voltmeter to turn a decomposing prawn sandwich into a sort of weird, brilliant, clock. James hit the BBC News front page with his most recent [...]

This week we are lucky enough to be joined by technology broadcaster Aleks Krotoski, known for her work at the Guardian (particularly the Tech Weekly podcast) and most recently for her new four-part prime time BBC Two series, Virtual Revolution. Aleks tells us about some of the leading lights she spoke to on this innovative [...]

Journalist and academic Aleks Krotoski tells us about her new four-part prime time BBC Two series, Virtual Revolution. Aleks also heads up the Guardian's Tech Weekly podcast. She shot to geek megastardom in the late 90s, hosting TV shows like Bits and Thumb Bandits, and she maintains a loyal follower base from those days. Update: episode 12 [...]

In this week's fun-packed edition of Shift Run Stop we hear the sounds of ponies, meet real life author, Guardian columnist and dad Chris Cleave, learn about the San Francisco weather system from our foreign correspondent Anna Pickard, get a topical confectionery newsflash from our snacks expert Dave Green and more besides! Something for everyone, [...]