Introduction
Welcome to another episode of DJ's Technology Tuesday. This time I want to show you how I stay up-to-date. The particular challenge I face in my field — as a Personal IT Coach for executives — is that I ideally need to always be one step ahead, acting as a sparring partner. I am, in a sense, the digital truffle pig: I spare my clients the search process by filtering through a vast and varied stream of information to extract what is truly relevant for them. You probably face the same challenge yourself — not only hundreds of thousands of emails, newsletters and who knows what else, but also thousands of additional pieces of information on top. The question is: how do I manage to keep on top of it all? I would simply like to share a few tips, using my own example to show you how I stay up-to-date. It starts in the morning — half-asleep, I reach for the first app after I bring my phone into the bedroom. When I am at home there is no phone in the bedroom overnight, but when I am travelling I naturally have it in the hotel room.
The applications that keep you up-to-date
So I open it up. And what do I open? The Deutschlandfunk app. I think Deutschlandfunk is excellent, and the great thing is that I can go straight into the radio section, navigate to the schedule, and listen time-shifted. Depending on when I get up, I can adjust the timing accordingly. But my typical starting point is either live or time-shifted: the 7 o'clock news, followed by the press review. These are always a great way to kick off the day, getting me up to speed right away. Since I am already on the subject of the iPhone — I am a big fan of podcasts. For podcasts I use an app called Overcast. I even use the free version, and I can highly recommend it. One thing I particularly like is the ability to adjust playback speed for podcasts. Just as I always set YouTube to at least double speed, I also speed up my podcasts a little. Overcast handles that very well.
I also find the interface very clear and well organised, and I already have the app open here. Let me close DLF for a moment. In Overcast I have all my subscribed podcasts neatly listed. I am also getting something ready on my other device in parallel, so I can show you something on the iPad in a moment. If I could only listen to one podcast this week, it would be "Lage der Nation". That is the one podcast I listen to without fail. Another one I can strongly recommend, if you have a little more time, is "Die Zeit. Alles gesagt". The format works like this: at the start, the guest gives a code word, and the episode keeps running until they say that word again. Very witty, very in-depth, with fascinating guests — Uli Wickert has been on, many politicians, Philipp Westermeyer just recently, Ferdinand von Schirach, great public figures. You really get a behind-the-scenes view. So looking at the list here, you have current politicians as well as classic personalities.
Der Tagesspiegel,
Absolutely compelling — I can highly recommend it. You can also see at the top the Pioneer Briefing and Table Media. Those are the ones I come back to again and again. And while I am not a great fan of Bild generally, I do occasionally enjoy Ronzheimer in this category. So podcasts cover one part of my routine. You can see a few of the ones I listen to regularly: the Handelsblatt KI-Briefing, for example, which I also strongly recommend, Heise's "KI verstehen" from Deutschlandfunk — excellent. I regularly listen to "Lanz und Brecht", especially on longer car journeys. Really very worthwhile. If you are interested, feel free to send me a private message — or leave a comment — and I will be happy to share my full podcast list. That covers the iPhone side of things pretty well. So what do I do on the iPad? On the iPad — and I think I may be one of the very few people in Germany who still reads a newspaper in the traditional sense. As an adopted Berliner, I read Der Tagesspiegel.
I can highly recommend it to anyone living in Berlin in any case, because the Berlin section is excellent. I find the paper is not quite as far right as the FAZ and not quite as far left as some others — it leans liberal. That is a matter of taste, of course. What I genuinely appreciate is the business section, which is now combined with the Handelsblatt. That combination gives you excellent quality and a level of economic expertise I honestly did not expect from the Tagesspiegel. Really very good. If you want to read even more magazines, there is also the digital equivalent of the public library — the Leihbibliothek app. Let me log in live right now to my city library account. The concept is simple: as a child I used to go to the public library in person. Today you can do the same thing digitally, and the great thing is there is both an iPhone and an iPad app for it. You can then find titles like Die Zeit, the Handelsblatt, or the Süddeutsche. If I go in here now and browse, I can select iMagazine, for example.
And here I can see, for example, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, which I enjoy reading occasionally. I also read the Süddeutsche from time to time. You can read Die Zeit here in full, along with many other magazines. In Berlin, for example, this costs a one-off fee of 50 euros and then 20 euros per year for renewal. If you want access to even more magazines, I am a great fan of Readly. Readly is an app where — similar to Spotify or Apple Music — you pay a flat monthly rate, I believe around 11 or 12 euros, and you can then download magazines. Unlike the library app, you can keep them offline for longer. With the library app there is always a loan period, and once that expires, if you have not had the magazine open, you need to download it again. That is exactly why I like Readly for holidays — I can simply download the magazines I want and have them with me.
And what I have come to appreciate enormously is the range of titles: there is c't, for instance, special editions of c't, T3N, and nowadays a really solid selection of quality magazines you can download for offline reading. But my absolute highlight — the best always comes last — is the Reader app. Reader is an RSS reader. And what is the idea behind RSS feeds? You probably know that you can subscribe to many newsletters. In many cases it is also possible to pull those same newsletter contents via so-called RSS feeds — meaning that website operators provide a way for you to subscribe to their updates programmatically. You can do this in Outlook, or you can use a dedicated RSS reader app. For that purpose an iPad is perfectly suited. I now have my large iPad on screen for you, but what I actually love using for this is my iPad mini. When I am on holiday, for example, I only take my iPad mini with me, or when I am on a plane reading something. The charm of that setup is that I have the Tagesspiegel on it, Readly on it,
E-Books
and I will say something about e-books in a moment — I have those on there too. Reader, then, is — let me open it — an app where you can add feeds. If I tap "Add Feed" here, I can add multiple types of content. I find this very exciting. You can add a classic feed. Let me just show you what that looks like in practice. You can sort by topic or by feed. A classic feed entry might be, say, Doppelgänger Update — I can highly recommend that one, by Philipp Klöckner by the way. So here is the thing: Doppelgänger has both a newsletter and a podcast. I could subscribe to the newsletter and receive an email in my inbox every week — or I have it right here in this feed and can read it whenever I have time. I can tap in, read through it at my leisure. They also have a podcast.
So I can also go into the Podcasts section rather than Feeds, and there I have them subscribed as well. What is particularly nice here is that you immediately see the show notes for each podcast. You see them in Overcast too, of course — I mentioned earlier that on the iPhone in Overcast I can see the show notes for my podcasts. And here too, if I look at "Lage der Nation" for example, they have an extensive show notes section with chapter markers and all the relevant links. I find it a bit more comfortable to read on a larger screen, and you can copy things out more easily. For that reason I find the Reader on the iPad that bit more suitable. Here I have, for instance, the Deutschlandfunk daily digest — also very informative. Tapping into it, I can see at a glance what the most important topics are for today.
Handelsblatt KI-Briefing
I have the Doppelgänger feed in there, the Handelsblatt KI-Briefing, where again I see the key highlights and can tap through to the background articles whenever I want. I have Heise's KI-Update in there, "Lage der Nation", and the Pioneer Briefing, where I have the most important show notes right at my fingertips. What is also interesting: I can subscribe to YouTube channels here and watch their content. And the great thing about YouTube in this app is that — even if you do not have YouTube Premium — you can watch videos ad-free. So I have podcasts, YouTube channels, the important ones, and classic web feeds — all aggregated in one place. And when you have this on multiple devices it is beautifully synchronised: the reading position is always exactly the same on every device. I have also organised everything thematically in my Reader.
So I have a folder for AI — everything on the topic of artificial intelligence; a folder for Apple; a folder for Digitisation. You can then drill into a single feed and say: now I want to see everything from the c't team — or you say: show me everything on Digitisation, and you get all of it together. Or everything on News, everything on YouTube, and you can jump back up to Home to see everything across all channels in a single app, always current. For me this is genuinely an absolute productivity machine. If I do not get around to reading a newspaper, this is always where I turn for the latest updates. And the brilliant part: I can bookmark items. There is a bookmark function built in, so I can flag things I want to remember. Or at any point I can send something directly to OneNote. Those who know me know I am a big fan of OneNote — I have a fully synchronised notebook where everything I need is stored.
Summary
Those are the most important highlights for me. Next week — since we are already at the fifteen-minute mark — I will also show you how I handle e-books. Until then, I wish you a productive week.
Your T. J. — Technology Tuesday, Personal IT Coach for Executives, Thorsten Jekel.
Key Takeaways
- Thorsten Jekel starts his day with the Deutschlandfunk app: he listens to the 7 o'clock news and the press review, live or time-shifted.
- For podcasts he uses the Overcast app (free version) and sets playback to an increased speed.
- Especially recommended podcasts: "Lage der Nation", "Die Zeit. Alles gesagt", the Pioneer Briefing, the Handelsblatt KI-Briefing, and "Lanz und Brecht".
- On the iPad he reads Der Tagesspiegel daily as a digital newspaper and values its combined business section with the Handelsblatt.
- The digital public library (Leihbibliothek app) is a cost-effective way to read magazines such as Die Zeit, Handelsblatt and Süddeutsche.
- Readly offers a flat-rate subscription (approx. 11–12 euros/month) with access to many magazines available offline — ideal for travelling.
- The absolute highlight is the RSS reader "Reader": it aggregates feeds, podcasts and YouTube channels in one app with thematic folders.
- Content can be bookmarked in Reader and exported directly to OneNote to save important information.
- Reader synchronises the reading position across all devices and enables ad-free viewing of YouTube channels without a Premium subscription.
- A follow-up episode will cover e-books in depth; those interested can request the personal podcast list by leaving a comment or sending a message.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Thorsten Jekel start his morning to stay informed?
Thorsten Jekel begins his day with the Deutschlandfunk app on his smartphone. He listens to the 7 o'clock news and the press review either live or time-shifted, depending on when he gets up.
Which podcast app does Thorsten Jekel recommend and why?
He recommends the Overcast app, which he uses in its free version. He particularly values the ability to increase playback speed individually, allowing him to consume content more efficiently.
Which podcasts does Thorsten Jekel listen to regularly?
His regular listening includes "Lage der Nation", "Die Zeit. Alles gesagt", the Pioneer Briefing, the Handelsblatt KI-Briefing, "Heise KI-Update", and "Lanz und Brecht". He also regularly listens to the Doppelgänger podcast by Philipp Klöckner.
Which newspaper does Thorsten Jekel read digitally on his iPad?
As an adopted Berliner he reads Der Tagesspiegel on his iPad. He particularly highlights its business section, which in combination with the Handelsblatt delivers high quality coverage.
How does the digital public library work as a magazine solution?
The digital public library offers an app for iPhone and iPad through which you can borrow magazines such as Die Zeit, Handelsblatt or the Süddeutsche. In Berlin, membership costs a one-off 50 euros and then 20 euros per year thereafter.
What is the difference between Readly and the digital public library?
With Readly you pay a monthly flat rate (approx. 11–12 euros) and can store magazines offline for longer — ideal for holidays. With the library app there are loan periods: once they expire, content that is not currently open must be downloaded again.
What is the "Reader" RSS app and how does Thorsten Jekel use it?
Reader is an RSS reader app that bundles website feeds, newsletter content, podcasts and YouTube channels in a single application. Thorsten Jekel has organised his sources thematically into folders such as "AI", "Apple" and "Digitisation", and the reading position synchronises across all his devices.
Can you watch YouTube content ad-free in Reader without YouTube Premium?
Yes, in the Reader app you can subscribe to YouTube channels and watch the videos ad-free, even without a YouTube Premium subscription. This is a particular advantage of the app over opening YouTube directly.
How do you export interesting articles from Reader to OneNote?
Reader has a built-in export function that lets you send articles directly to OneNote. You can also use the bookmark function within the app to flag content for later reading.
Which device is the Reader workflow best suited to?
Thorsten Jekel particularly loves using Reader on his iPad mini, which he takes with him on holidays or on flights. The larger screen format makes reading show notes and articles considerably more comfortable than on an iPhone.
Tools & Resources Mentioned
- Deutschlandfunk App – listen to news and the press review live or time-shifted
- Overcast – podcast app for iPhone (free version recommended) with speed control
- Readly – magazine flat-rate app (approx. 11–12 euros/month) with offline functionality
- Digital Public Library (Leihbibliothek app) – cost-effective digital magazines for library members
- Reader (RSS reader app) – aggregates feeds, podcasts and YouTube channels by topic
- AI topics on digital4productivity.de – further information on artificial intelligence
- iPad topics on digital4productivity.de – further information on using the iPad
