I used to take Caltrain to work (Silicon Valley). It was always possible to get a seat, so my experience might not be useful to you, but here goes. Some things I did while commuting:

- Practice starting conversations with strangers. (I got a few dates from Caltrain, even.)

- Taught myself the basics of Scheme by doing a tutorial.

- Read the next book for my book club.

- Read and wrote personal email. There was no Internet connection. My outgoing messages would get queued up and sent later.

- Veged out. The value of vegging out is not to be discounted. Trying to fill every moment of life with something "productive" is mostly a way to make yourself a frazzled wreck.

> Practice starting conversations with strangers. (I got a few dates from Caltrain, even.)

I have tried talking to people, though not to get a date, as I'm happily married. In my experience so far, New Yorkers don't like to chat with strangers (note: This is obviously based on a small sample size).

Actually, I was usually following the strategy of "just start a conversation, and be open to the possibility of it leading to a date." I started conversations with men no less than women. The object was just to discover something interesting, something that I couldn't have found by forethought. For example, I once had an interesting conversation with a geologist about the difficulty of communicating with mathematicians, and once joined a couple frat boys as they walked down the train handing out cans of beer they had brought along.

I've heard that it's harder to start conversations with New Yorkers. Dunno. I've also heard that it's impossible to start a conversation with people on Caltrain, since everyone there is so "cold".

No, in New York conversation is DEFINITELY frowned upon on the subway. I take the subway every day, and only once has anyone talked to me. I was leaving on a ski trip carrying my snowboard and someone came up and tried having a normal conversation with me. I worked in a ski shop in high school, I can talk about skiing for hours and hours with random strangers, but this completely freaked me out.

My only exception is giving directions to tourists who are lost, I gladly offer help to them but thats about the limit to subway talking with strangers.

I got myself in a similar situation about three years ago, and since then moved and now need to use my car.

Magazines are easier to read because you can fold them and you need to turn the pages less often than books. Sadly, the ACM Queue magazine is no longer available in printed form. I also read research articles on the commute, pocket books only if I could sit down.

I initially tried and don't recommend the netbook as it is difficult to do anything meaningful in 20 to 25 minutes. And more importantly if you phase out and nearly miss your stop, they are hard to fold and put back in the bag in a hurry while you rush for the exit. I don't really know about using apps on an iPod touch or iPhone since I didn't have one back then. I found podcasts and audiobooks are the best. Some of them are hard to listen to at a safe volume in a busy and noisy place like a train or a bus. So look for good sound quality.

I change podcasts I listen to often but some I have enjoyed when commuting were things like (I may get the names wrong)

  - Big Ideas
  - Stanford Entrepreneurial thought leaders seminars
  - The project management podcast (mostly for its great sound quality)

I second audiobooks. I read mostly fiction in print form, but I find I have trouble getting through longer (400+ page) non-fiction books in traditional format. However these are perfect for audiobooks, as a good reader can really bring it to life.

I can usually get through a 10-hour non fiction book in 2-3 weeks with my 30 minute commute.

I usually enjoy a nice podcast at lunch, when I am looking for something more entertaining and less thought provoking.

Thanks for the thoughtful response. Yeah, I realize that 20-25 minutes with a netbook won't really net much code wise, but it may be enough time to read some mailing lists, send to outbox replies, or work on a few practice problems from a book. I will look into the two suggested podcasts though.

I pedal really hard followed by bouts of not pedaling at all.

Before the time when I biked to work and took either the bus or VTA light rail I did manage to read most of two of the intel architecture books plus some other books on my ebook reader whereas before I never would have done so.

Pedaling would be nice, but hot and humid days make the rest of the day at work less than fun. It's about 6 miles, with both kinds of hills.

I highly recommend Instapaper for offline reading on the iPhone. It also has an added benefit that I spend less time reading long articles while at work. Instead, I just click the Read Later bookmarklet, and the article is waiting for me on my phone in easy to read, text only format.

Oooooh, instapaper now works on the iPod touch too. Perfect. This may be worth upgrading from iPod Touch 1.2 to 3.0 for. Thanks for the pointer!

I normally rub my eyes, and maybe scratch my ass on the way from my bed to my office, which is right next to my bedroom.

Reading a bunch of these answers I think, "It must be nice to live in a place where you don't need a car to get anywhere". In Texas (specifically DFW), commuting means sitting in traffic for 30 minutes to an hour.

I kept a voice recorder in my car. I could dictate to myself the rough draft of memos and letters. I would also ponder certain problems, and the vr would let me easily note thoughts or ideas I thought important along the way.

This worked well, but I found that I had to have an objective when I got into the car; that is, I had to plan it like my other work.

I still have a vr in my car, as a matter of fact, but I no longer commute so I use it far less. I can, however, take a phone call, and make notes to myself for follow-up actions.

Byline for the iPhone/iPod Touch does offline caching. It integrates with Google Reader to get the data.

Byline looks to be exactly what I need. Thanks.

I had to take the same exact commute (B or Q from south Brooklyn to DeKalb). I used to read mostly, and sometimes listen to music. I live in Maryland now and have a 5 minute drive to work (and anywhere else).

In terms of podcasts, I listen to "The Brain Science Podcast" and "Books and Ideas" from Dr. Ginger Campbell. I also listen to "Skeptic's Guide to the Universe". "Radiolab" is great. None of these are daily though.

I would use the time to simply reflect & muse on the (work or home life) issues of the day (daydream, even), something which is apparently quite important for any serious progress on any intellectual project.

(See recent HN articles on same, e.g., http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=605379 .)

I read the New Yorker on my Kindle.

It's very well written, and covers topics I wouldn't normally read up on. Well-researched, and thorough. Only risk is that sometimes I get too into the articles and miss my stop, but that's a reasonable trade off :)

I can usually finish an issue before the week's up, so I keep a bunch of other books on there as well that I'll pick at as well.

I've tried writing / sketching before, but it's difficult given the shakes and turns of the subway (a little easier if you can get a seat, but that can be tough as well).

I've also tried podcasts / audiobooks, but the subway is a noisy place (announcements, train sounds) and it can be hard to catch all the words. Rewinding to catch things I missed is just too annoying.

I highly recommend bicycling, even when it's hot and humid and hilly. I do it, and it's an awesome start and end to the day. Also, for that distance I'd bet your commute would be negligibly longer--for me it's about 10 minutes difference for about the same distance and I'd bet you'd be even faster in NYC.

You get your exercise in, and you can't back out of the afternoon workout. You feel great, and you can ditch the gym membership. You generally have to shower in the AM anyway, so you're not wasting any time if you do it at work vice home.

If you remain unconvinced, listen to software development podcasts; I've been following the Stanford iPhone development class.

I've had some time to perfect the art of commuting, London style. My first comment is that your 20-25 commute sounds quite pleasant, I'm lucky to make it in 45 (although this is, of course, a function of where I chose to live).

Commuting essentials for me are the iPhone, usually with some TV episodes on, and obviously a bit of music. I have found a good book to be the most engaging activity...newspapers or articles can be a bit too flitty; you need to be properly engaged for the "gloss over" the commute.

Having tried the RSS catch-up idea, I would advise against it, as you arrive at work/home and all those items you've trawled through are still marked as unread.

Buy a motorcycle. You won't get any more reading done, but you'll have much more fun.

Not much fun in NYC during rush hour.

I read incessantly back when I was commuting, until I was given a smartphone (older blackberry) for work, with a rudimentary web browser. I still read incessantly, but on a screen instead of on dead trees.

Today, with a modern smartphone and decent web browser, it's hard to imagine not being able to get something useful done during travel downtime; my iPhone and my wife's G1 are fantastic portable desktops if, like us, most of your interesting bits are online already anyway.

My drive to/from work is about 30-45 minutes of almost zero traffic most of the way, so it's very low stress. I listen to various podcasts. Mostly stuff from IT Conversations or VentureVoice. Otherwise it's Public Radio or the local jazz station.

When I used to commute by train, I read a lot. Mostly fiction (discovered there was going to be a Jurassic Park movie when someone next to me noticed I was reading the book!). Still haven't finished Njal's Saga...

I commute about an hour (40 minutes on the subway) Brooklyn<->Manhattan. I live at the end of the line, so I get a seat in the morning _every_ time. I always take the local train, and get a seat almost every time in the evening, perhaps once a month I end up standing.

I play music to drown out the nasty noise, and usually read, sometimes play Nintendo DS. Plus the occasional nap.

The subways are different from other types of commuting. On the train I use my netbook but once I transfer to the subway I'm either reading a newspaper or listening to my iPod. Audiobooks are hard to follow in that short of a stretch + the interruptions of noise on the subway, so I go with podcasts.

For me espn.com has a lot - especially Bill Simmons, if you are into sports.

Social Skydiving (thankfully I'm almost done!)

A while back I had a long, 1 hour train journey underground. In the mornings when I had a Palm Vx, then later one of those generic HTC phones I used this: http://www.plkr.org/ and synced up all the news sources I read (bbc, guardian etc) - even with dialup it didn't take that long.

Audiobooks too.

Everyday I take a 15 minute bus to a 15 minute train. On the bus I'll either veg out or listen to short podcasts.

Short Podcasts I recommend: -stuff you missed in history class -moth podcast -BBC global news

On the train, I'll read books off my hacker reading list (c programming, programming pearls, design patterns, etc)

I listen to podcasts, Humanities courses found in TunesU, or French lessons also via podcast, depending on my mood. Search for older threads here, theres great recommendations there; A couple from my ipod: Hardcore History, The History of Rome, Philosophy Bites, French Cafe.

I grab my laptop, ruby my eyes then walk to the next room, place my laptop on the desk and sit down.

I scour HN shortly before I leave for my 45-minute commute on a bunch of buses. I'll Instapaper any pages I find interesting and read them on my iPod touch.

I don't do this when I get back home though. I use that time to think up ideas for my projects.

I used to ride my bicyle but now I drive really really fast on my motorcyle for 5 mins. all the while singing "Breakin the law" by acdc as loud as I can.

I flip open yet another Moleskine and brainstorm it full of ideas. That's 1.5 hours per day that I otherwise wouldn't have completely to myself.

Learn a foreign language, e.g., japanesepod101.com.

Nothing, since my 'work" is 3 feet away.

I'd suggest "reading" audiobooks. Or if you don't get motion sick, reading actual books.

I read Real World Haskell on my kindle.

Try Byline, it syncs with Google Reader, and caches feed items, and the pages they link to.

used to be I'd listen to language tapes while driving.

Hopefully do a Rin/Robert Bernocco - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/asia/20japan.html