Enterprise Nation

Podcasts can make us smarter, San Sharma says. That's why he spends his Sundays listening to them, waiting for the effect to kick in. Subscribe to his favourites and enjoy a Sunday lunch of food for thought, from your home office.

I love Sundays. The weather's terrible, I'm stuck indoors and there's nothing on the TV. It's the perfect time to pop on a podcast.

Podcasts are like radio shows that you subscribe to over the Internet. They differ in that they are downloaded automatically and can be played at your leisure.

And whatever your 'leisure' is, there'll be a podcast to suit. In fact, there are thousands. Browse the directory, subscribe to the podcasts that interest you and build a programming schedule that is yours alone.

Not only are they free, the breadth of available information means you can find podcasts for you, your family and your business, that are entertaining, enlightening and that actually make you smarter.

Here are highlights from the Radio Times' weekly 'Good Podcast Guide' to get you started (with an addition from ourselves!):

Shrink Rap Radio

If you are interested in psychology or are just a loony, then this is the podcast for you. Internet head shrinker David "Dr Dave" Van Nuys leaves his day job as Professor of Psychology at Sonoma State University to make this beard-stroking podcast for people who don't know what the bleep is going on.

Recent eps include Jungian geek Gibbs Williams on synchronicity; monk, author and chi-gung expert Brother/Doctor Bernard Seif on Chinese medicine; and patent loonball Dr Dawson Church on what he dubs "soul medicine". Warning: may contain nuts.

• http://www.shrinkrapradio.com/
• Subscribe via iTunes

Blue Peter CBBC Podcast

As you mature two things are certain: you moan about the good old days, and both policemen and Blue Peter presenters look too young to be out on their own. But BP is still all-good wholesome family entertainment, despite the children who seem to be running things.

In each episode they show collections of fun video reports from recent BPs, all covered in sticky-backed plastic, shoved into a toilet roll and wedged into a Fairy Liquid bottle ready for you to download onto your iPod.

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/
• Subscribe via iTunes

Stuff.tv videocast

Stuff is one of the country's leading boys toys magazines; gadgets and gizmos to the gentry. In this, its podcast, yoof presenters Tom Dunmore and Adam Vaughan review the week's hot tech goodies in a jokey blokey style.

This is huge fun. The banter between the two guys is easy and not clichéd or forced. They don't patronise or dumb down, and the gear they look at is bang up to date and very much on everybody's wish list. And they don't forget to say dude, dude.

• http://stuff.tv/podcasts/
• Subscribe via iTunes

The Show with Ze Frank

Ze Frank is a total loonball so you don't have to be. The nutjob has a trademarked zany delivery: talking to camera as if explaining the world to an alien tourist. His unique take on all the latest US news and life in general is always funny.

Recent videos include how giant bunnies are helping North Korea to broker a deal with the US over nuclear weapons, and how to annoy art students by buying them a muffin and telling them it's there to be looked at and not eaten.

• http://www.zefrank.com/
• Subscribe via iTunes

Ask a Ninja

Ask a Ninja is one of those pub ideas that actually got made. "Wouldn't it be funny to get a brilliant improv actor to answer questions dressed as a Ninja?" you say, then you laugh and forget about it. Fortunately if the idea is good enough you actually make it and it's brilliant. In the current episodes, our Ninja talks about the Ninja version of the Oscars, called "The Bloodys".

In something as young as podcasting there are few instant classics, but this is one of the very best.

• http://askaninja.com/
• Subscribe via iTunes

The Penguin Podcast

Literary podcasts are so refined, they make you feel intellectual without really trying. Take the fortnightly Penguin one, for example. It's a compendium of book clips, author interviews etc from those high foreheads over at Penguin Books.

Recent episodes have featured exclusive interviews: with polymath Steven Johnson, author of hip history book, The Ghost Map; with the band, Gorillaz, on their Rise of the Ogre audiobook, broken up with an exclusive excerpt from Patrick Süskind's international bestseller Perfume, now a major movie. Oh, and yeeeeesss, you also have Jeremy Paxman reading his own book, On Royalty. Who needs to read stuff?

• http://thepenguinpodcast.blogs.com/podcast/
• Subscribe via iTunes

Brain Food with Kyle Butler

Nutty professor Kyle Butler is a computer engineer with a gift for explaining stuff. Every week he packs his podcast with science for dummies, like what actually IS the AIDS virus anyway, what is meant by "terminal velocity", and how does a boomerang come back...

Plus, you get cool science news and interesting facts; like the QE2 gets only six inches per gallon and dirty snow melts faster than white snow because it's darker so absorbs more light. Pure pub quiz gold.

• http://www.brainfoodpodcast.com/
• Subscribe via iTunes

Coffee Break Spanish

Broadcasting from Scotland, the home of all things Spanish, this is a delicious nip of language learning to go with your latte with an extra shot and hazelnut syrup. The 20-minute weekly lessons take a real teacher and student through a new piece of Spanish vocabulary or grammar.

Language tape companies obviously see this as a marketing tool for more advanced courses, but it remains to be seen if free lessons are the best way to fish people in. From an audience point of view, at least for now it's a free lunch. Och aye, amigos!

• http://www.radiolingua.com/cbs/home.html
• Subscribe via iTunes

SmallBizPod

Do you want an unfair advantage over your competitors? You steely eyed entrepreneur, you.

In the current SmallBizPod, the small business podcast no less, there's a ball-busting interview with the Canadian writer and marketing expert George Torok. George is one of those rich successful guys who chooses to share his success rather than rub it in your face.

He gives away trade secrets and tells you how to make yourself into a brand you can sell. This podcast may sound boring, but the info is pure marketing gold dust. It will make you want to run out immediately and close a deal. Of some sort.

• http://smallbizpod.co.uk/
• Subscribe via iTunes

And, of course...

Enterprise Nation, the homeworking podcast

Emma Jones presents information and inspiration for homeworkers everywhere, including features, top stories and how to... guides, with sponsorship from Brother and Orange.

• http://www.enterprisenation.com/content/home/Podcast.aspx
• Subscribe via iTunes

San Sharma