Everyone likes lists of favorites, and geeks are no exceptions. So here are a few of TechMan's favorite things. No raindrops on roses or schnitzel with noodles (although TechMan is partial to schnitzel).

And don't try to infer anything about TechMan, since he is, after all, a fictional character. But maybe you'll find a few things you didn't know about. In fact, maybe readers could send in their own favorites to techman@post-gazette.com and I could share them in the column or on the blog or the podcast.

Favorite tech podcasts: Windows Weekly with Paul Thurrott, MacBreak Weekly, Munchcast, TechTalk on post-gazette.com (shameless self-promotion alert)

Favorite free antivirus: AVG (free.avg.com)

Favorite free anti-spyware program: Windows Defender www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx

Favorite notes software: Evernote.com

Favorite social media sites: Twitter.com, Facebook.com

Favorite social media organization programs: FriendFeed.com, TweetDeck.com

Favorite browser: Google Chrome

Favorite search sites: Google.com, WolframAlpha.com, Clusty.com, Bing.com

Favorite eReader: Amazon Kindle No. 2

Favorite geeky song: "Space Oddity" (Ground Control to Major Tom) by David Bowie

Favorite geeky current TV shows: "Fringe," Fox; "Numb3rs," CBS; "CSI," CBS

Favorite geeky past TV shows: "The Avengers," "The Prisoner"

Favorite geeky movies: "Star Wars Episode IV" (The first one), "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "2001 A Space Odyssey," "Blade Runner"

Favorite geeky movie scenes: Dave disables Hal's memory as the computer sings "Daisy" more and more haltingly and lower-pitched in "2001"; the alien mother ship plays back the musical tones, shattering all the glass at the landing site in "Close Encounters"; the alien bursts out of John Hurt's chest in "Alien."

Favorite geeky movie food scene: Mashed potato mountain in "Close Encounters"

Favorite good guy robot: R2D2 from "Star Wars," Bender from "Futurama," Robby the Robot from 1956 film "Forbidden Planet"

Favorite bad guy robot: GORT from 1951 movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still," Martian ships from 1953 version of "The War of the Worlds"

Favorite geeky mystery characters: Lincoln Rhyme in Jeffery Deaver novels, Kidd in John Sandford's series of Kidd novels

Favorite classic science fiction books: "Mysterious Island" by Jules Verne, "I Robot" by Isaac Asimov, "Neuromancer" by William Gibson

Favorite recent science fiction book: "Daemon" by Daniel Suarez

Favorite dead geeky writers: Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, George Alec Effinger

Favorite living geeky writers: William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, John Twelve Hawks