Buzz Out Loud Blog

As AT&T tries to accuse Google of violating Net neutrality, Molly wonders if they really just want to be seen as a villain. Also while you should never call anything unhackable, the Netbooks being given to students in Australia are pretty tight. Physical-layer BIOS protection is unusual in an educational situation like that. And we also get a little frustrated at people who don't listen. So please. Listen. Thanks.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Orange U.K. gets iPhone 3GS, O2 loses exclusivity
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/09/28/orange.uk.to.carry.iphones.in.2009/

Apple's Apps flying off the virtual shelves: 6.6 million downloads per day
http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090928/apples-apps-flying-off-the-virtual-shelves-6-6-million-downloads-per-day/

Apple behind Intel’s USB competitor?
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/09/09/27/1427241/Apple-Behind-Intels-USB-Competitor

Critics: AT&T griping over Google Voice a “red herring”
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/google-critics-slam-att-on-google-voice.ars

Yahoo's new TV ad: Count the 'yous'
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-yahoos-new-tv-ad-count-the-yous/

Music player noise limit planned
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8279348.stm

A.U. government to build “unhackable” Netbooks
http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/09/27/0252235/AU-Government-To-Build-Unhackable-Netbooks

Ignoring RIAA lawsuits cheaper than going to trial
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/ignoring-riaa-lawsuits-cheaper-than-going-to-trial.ars

Porn row pizza workers strike
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/porn-row-pizza-workers-strike-14502739.html

Send in your questions for Steve Ballmer
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30966_3-10362159-262.html

VOICE MAIL
RogueTess
Extra security for PayPal

Jack
Stealing thunder from Microsoft

E-MAIL
BOL,

They should have either (1) an application/PDF document that you can
store on your mobile phone or (2) a URL printed inside the glove
compartment that you can enter on your phone to view the manual. The
latter would be better in general (because who remembers to download
the documentation *before* you have problems), but the former would be
better for areas with poor or no cell phone access, like the San
Francisco area.

Todd

**********

Props to Nick the biochem grad student for the helpful link regarding Windows 7 for students. I checked it out and all you need is a valid .edu address and $29.99. It’s pre-order right now and they’re allowing downloads on October 22. Now that some of my textbooks cost upwards of $160 (I’m a nursing student) saving $90 on an OS that’ll hopefully save me from the hell I’ve been living in called Vista is quite the boon. Thanks Nick and thanks Microsoft, though I doubt I’ll be having any kind of cuddle party there might be some kind of ritual involving lighter fluid and my Vista disc…

–
Derin from Scottsdale

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A few episodes ago, you guys talked about wanted AM radio on the Zune HD, and I would agree. I was looking at the teardown of the Zune HD on iFixit, and noticed something interesting. In Step 8, they reveal that the Zune HD has a SiPORT HD Radio chip which just so happens to support AM radio. All Microsoft has to do is turn it on.

Thanks for the great work.

Andrew
Bangor, ME
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft-Zune-HD/1170/1

**********

BOL

I have tried a few times now to locate the bonus material for the show, and have been totally unsuccessful. Could you please clarify where this is located, or put it in the iTunes feed?

aaren

Twitter trades hype for a huge cash infusion, Windows 7 attempts to create hype with a spectacularly awfsome video, and we cover all the hype falling out of the Demo conference. Speaking of falling, Honda's new Segway-style unicycle looks amazingly easy to fall off of.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Report: No Palm Pre for Verizon Wireless
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10361144-266.html

Twitter Appears Set to Raise $100 Million, Valuing It at $1 Billion
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/technology/internet/25twitter.html
http://blog.twitter.com/2009/09/new-twitter-funding.html

Microsoft plays the security card in response to Google’s Chrome Frame
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=4063
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/09/microsoft-google-chrome-frame-makes-ie-less-secure.ars

Windows 7 PCs to go on sale early
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/09/windows-7-pcs-to-go-on-sale-early.ars

New Phoenix BIOS Starts Windows 7 Boot In 1 Second
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/09/25/0247220/New-Phoenix-BIOS-Starts-Windows-7-Boot-In-1-Second

Intel’s Moblin 2.1 to compete with Windows
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10361563-1.html

Google Ordered To Shut Down Gmail Account Of User Who Received Unsolicited Banking Info
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090924/1705386309.shtml

Demo’s best launches (compare to TechCrunch?)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10361288-250.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10361284-2.html

Experiences with Fitbit?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10037258-2.html

Robot fish swims by doing the wave
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10360819-1.html

Honda’s one-wheel Segway
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1215741/Honda-unveils-Segway-style-unicycle-travels-direction-want.html#ixzz0S2lY0hSd

E-MAIL
They have a video now, thought you would want to see how bad it is.

http://gizmodo.com/5366105/this-incredible-windows-7-launch-party-video-is-either-the-best-or-worst-microsoft-ad-this-year
Jeff Price

**********

Hi Buzz Crew,

I have a small annoyance about Amazon.com to share with you and your listeners. I went to Amazon.com today in an attempt to purchase High on Arrival, the memoir by Mackenzie Phillips. I was going to order the Kindle version, but I discovered that the Kindle version was the exact same price as the hardcover, $14.29.

When I saw that the price was the same, I was extremely annoyed. “Low Book Prices” is listed as a selling point on the Kindle home page, and yet, here is an example where it makes absolutely no sense to buy the e-book. Why would I buy the e-book for the exact same cost as the hardcover? I might as well just buy the hardcover and have the ability to loan it out or sell it later.

I guess the publishers still don’t get it.

Joe AKA dOgBOi

**********

I read over the article in your show notes, and that article (and each article I’ve read in addition) has said:

3,012 Netflix DVDs, worth about $36,471

http://www.switched.com/2009/09/23/former-postal-worker-admits-stealing-over-3-000-netflix-dvds/

No idea where the 30k number came from, and how it has endured, but might be worth a mention. So what’s that, 10 DVDs a day? Much more reasonable than 100 per day.

Ted the Engineer

**********

Dear Buzzards,

In episode 1069 you were talking about Picasa’s new facial recognition feature. After installing and scanning for 24 hours, it had gone through processing my photos for faces. How good is it? Pretty dang good.

My wife is an identical twin (yes, I can tell them apart). They have a lot of pictures of eachother. I tagged a couple of each of their faces, and it was 99% accurate for twin-recognition out of a about 200 photos (even when they have the same style glasses).

Insert obligatory “love the show”,

Josh
Des Moines, Iowa

Microsoft shows "Pink" (sort of), MMS disaster, er, feature about to launch on iPhone, Wii gets price cut, Archos new Win7 tablet looks great (too bad nobody will notice), and MIT has a synthetic eyeball on the way that amazes us. Oh yeah...and about that cuddle party...

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Microsoft’s “Pink” project emerges, sort of
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10360516-56.html

AppleInsider claims to have details on new iMacs
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/09/24/apple_ready_and_waiting_with_redesigned_imac_line.html

2009 PC sales way better than expected, thanks to notebooks, Netbooks
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10359945-260.html

Intel LightPeak tries to minimize — but not eliminate — computer cables
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-10360047-264.html

Intel shows Larabee graphics technology, putting it in direct competition with Nvidia and AMD
http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/processors/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220100672

Report: AT&T is girding for a rocky launch of iPhone MMS
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-Nervous-About-Smooth-iPhone-MMS-Launch-104606
http://www.facebook.com/ATT?v=feed&story_fbid=138625780868

PS3 Motion Controller details
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10360590-52.html

Wii price cut
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10360550-1.html

Microsoft not going to buy EA
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE58N1EK20090924

Twitter direct message bot
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10360158-245.html

Bank sues Google for its own stupidity
http://mashable.com/2009/09/24/bank-sues-google-identity/

Archos tablet due out Oct 22
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/09/24/archos-9-tablet-due-october-22-for-499/

MIT eyeball chip is way better than eye patch
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/09/mits-eyeball-ch.php

ie8 runs 10 times faster with Chrome plug-in
http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/ie8-runs-10-times-faster-google-plug-in-115

VOICEMAIL
Joe – panasonic licensed game machine dvd hybrid

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew,

I am frustrated! I was hearing all the reports of people getting their Windows 7 Launch Party approvals and I was waiting for mine.

Well, I finally got my response on the morning of September 24. And you know what? They rejected me! They finally must have reached that mystery cap when they finally read my application.

Just thought you might like to know there is not an unlimited number of these party packs going around.

Chris

PS, if any of your listeners want to invite me and some friends to their launch party, let me know what is going on in north-central WV!

**********

Hey Buzzers,

I’m a long time listener to the show (since the 300s) and a professional web developer. On occasion, Internet Explorer-related stories come up and, from how you report them, it seems like you don’t quite understand how bad the Internet Explorer (IE) problem really is. Below I’ll provide some info on that and also how that has to do with Google Chrome Frame.

History of IE and why it’s crap:

On the web, primarily three programming languages are used to present sites: HTML for the content, CSS for the styles, and Javascript for interactivity.

HTML (until recently) has been fairly stagnant and is well supported -- even in IE. Javascript, though inconsistent across browsers and not particularly fast, isn’t all that relevant to web developers yet, since the vast majority of web pages only use of small amounts of it and because new libraries make writing cross-browser Javascript fairly easy. Although faster, better javascript will become much more important as the web shifts from web pages to web apps, it’s not a big issue right now.

The most important thing right now is good CSS support, as styles, unlike scripts, are essential to any website.

A good measure of this support is the Acid 2 test, a test put out by the Web Standards Project in 2005. Safari and Opera have passed the test since 2006 and, although Firefox didn’t pass until 2008, it was always pretty good. Chrome has passed since its release. Internet Explorer, however, did not pass until earlier this year with version 8, and versions 6 and 7 failed MISERABLY (see screenshot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid2#Non-compliant_applications).

This has been a huge source of developer outcry and a big pain because, not only are IE6 and 7 bugs so numerous, but they’re often totally random. A good (but incomplete) list is at: http://www.positioniseverything.net/explorer.html. Please take a quick look and you’ll see just how ridiculous some of the bugs are.

Even worse than how bad older versions of IE are, is the speed (or total lack thereof) of its upgrade cycle. This is largely due to corporate applications depending on IE6. Many of these apps were built when IE6 market share was at 90% and corporations figured that they could take advantage of rendering flaws in IE to speed development time and then simply mandate that employees use it. Therefore, even 8 years after IE6 was released, it is still one of the most popular browsers online, despite various campaigns to bring it down (http://www.bringdownie6.com/, http://www.ie6nomore.com/).

Since it has a 15-25% user base, developers are still frequently required to support IE6. In a recent project I worked on, a complex, flexible grid-based layout was required. Although I was able to create this in about 6 hours for Opera, Safari, Firefox, and Chrome, adding IE support took an additional 25!!

To Microsoft’s credit, they’ve improved IE dramatically in versions 7 and 8, largely due, I believe, to competition from Firefox. However, the slow upgrade cycle has largely nullified these changes from a developer point of view.

The bottom line:

IE6 is total crap, version 7 is better but not good, and version 8 is solid, but all of them are way behind browsers like Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Chrome. However, due to the slow upgrade cycle and dependent corporate applications, developers must continue to support even IE6, the lowest common denominator.

Google Chrome Frame, unlike how you guys described it, doesn’t make IE into Chrome under the hood. Rather, it installs the Chrome rendering engines along side IE’s. Developers can then specify, through a tag in their site, whether to use the Chrome engine, but all sites will render with IE’s engine by default (this is how the backwards compatibility is maintained). This is a fantastic solution since most users on IE either can’t switch or like the IE interface, but many of them would be willing to install a plugin, especially if the site won’t work without it (comparable to Flash).

Even if Chrome Frame doesn’t solve the problem all together, it creates one more case in which web developers don’t have to worry about IE (6 in particular) and hopefully makes convincing clients to ditch it a bit easier.

Keep on Buzzing,

Ethan Resnick

P.S. The Acid 3 test is out now, and it tests a wider array of features. Chrome, Safari (Desktop and Mobile) and Opera get a 100%; Firefox gets a 94%; and Internet Explorer 8 gets a 20%. Unfortunately for Natali, the “huevos” browser only gets a 1%, while the Android browser gets a 93%.

We're not real sure about the iRex reader, Microsoft's Courier is a lot of smoke, Palm gets told to sit down and be quiet about iTunes syncing, and a PlayStation 2 for you car. And finally, Brian imparts a valuable life lesson for everyone listening.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

New iRex reader
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/09/new_ebook_reader_getting_push.php

Verizon and Best Buy both make moves into e-readers
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/technology/internet/23ebooks.html

Microsoft Courier “booklet” computer still just a concept, in spite of “event” in NYC
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10359367-56.html
http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet

USB gods tell Palm it has little claim to sync with iTunes
http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20090922/usb-if-slaps-palm/

In prep for MMS on the iPhone, AT&T has turned off ALL texted picture service.
http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2009/09/22/atandt-deactivating-view-my-message-service-for-iphone-users-ahead-of-mms-launch/

New Picasa 3.5 has facial recognition
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-10358662-248.html

Google plug-in turns IE into Chrome
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/22/google-turns-internet-explorer-into-chrome-yes-seriously/

Google SideWiki
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10359112-265.html
http://www.buzzmachine.com/2009/09/23/google-sidewiki-danger/

PS2 for the car offered by Audiovox
http://telematicsnews.info/2009/09/22/audiovox-launches-rse-system-with-playstation2/

A few DEMO faves:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/gelato_the_friendfeed_of_dating.php
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/micello_google_maps_for_the_indoors.php

Ray Kurzweil says immortality is just 20 years away
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6217676/Immortality-only-20-years-away-says-scientist.html

VOICE MAIL
Shaun from Boulder: AT&T’s 3G extender vs 4G rollout

E-MAIL
Hi guys,

Did I miss something? Or did Google just roll out push e-mail on the iPhone?
http://www.google.com/mobile/products/sync.html#p=apple
I’ve had push google calendar and contacts on my iPhone for some time, but have been wistfully waiting for my gmail to catch up.
Sure enough if you go into settings –> Mail –> Google contacts & calendar, there’s a slider there that enables… Mail!
I deleted my gmail iMap account on the iPhone, and now I have push e-mail…
Awesome! Instantaeous gmail on my iPhone – my life is complete(how sad)! I assume that it now looks like a full blown exchange server to the iPhone.
(One issue I see now is that the spinning beachball thingy (next to the WiFi symbol) is constantly spinning – not sure how my battery will fair)

Love the show, etc.

Alan

**********

Every story I’ve read says he stole the 30,000 dvds in a year.. Jan 2007-Feb 2008.

Doing the math…

Speculating the postal worker stole exactly 30,000 dvds and worked 13 months… which would be about 56 weeks… he would have stolen about 535 dvds per week. If he worked 5 days a week that is 107 dvds per day. That is a little more than 13 dvds per hour. (8 hour shift) If he worked 6 days a week, that would be 89 dvds per day with about 13 dvds per hour (6 2/3 hr shift).

Now if the postal worker actually stole the 30,000 dvds in 2 years, which would be about 25 months, which would be roughly 108 weeks, he would have had about 25 months to pull off his heist. He would have stolen about 277 dvds per week. If he worked 5 days a week, that would be 55 dvds per day. That would then be about 7 dvds per hour. If he worked 6 days a week, that would be 46 dvds per day with about 7 dvds per hour (40 hour work week considered).

Netflix shipped approxmiately 638,400,000 dvds in the 13 months.

ccarline

**********

Massive shake-up to net tax in UK

I actually defended this proposition to begin with (and I think even on BOL last time), but now it's closer to reality, and my over-taxed face feels slapped, pointed and laughed at. It's not good news for anyone in the UK, except for the people who can't afford computers, who can now be sold super-fast Internet.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/sep/23/broadband-tax-election

(he later emailed) Although this 'broadband tax' would bring broadband to poorer areas, the real goal is to offer 90% of the UK population broadband speeds of at least 2Mbps - that includes the poorer areas, but as well as the rural areas currently restricted to expensive satellite Internet packages which are priced out of their reach. To do this government plans to tax every single household which has a phone line.

Nate Lanxon (CNET UK)

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Hey Folks,
Thought you might be interested to know that a mobile phone running a GPS app is now considered illegal in my home state of Victoria in Australia. So it seems that the government is either in bed with GPS manufacturers or they consider this as bad a texting while driving. Stand alone devices in cars which are only your GPS unit with no mobile phone attached are still fine. Whats next? Our mobile phones have to be left at home because we cannot have them in the car at all??? I believe this will also apply to the Tom Tom app even when it is in the cradle when they release it would still be illegal.

http://www.smartcompany.com.au/media/20090922-navigation-apps-made-illegal-in-victoria.html

Im a guy, I don’t ask for directions I use my GPS so I can avoid those arguments and get where im going quickly(sometimes too quickly), now it seems they want my girlfriend and I to argue all the time. Thanks government!

Thanks Ladies and Gents

Kelly (Im a dude, just thought I would point that out again as with a name like Kelly I have a phobia of being referred to as a woman, although I guess I can thank my parents for that one.

AT&T lets you pay for its network holes, Chrysler puts auto manuals on DVD (and how are you supposed to use that in the car?), MySpace says its video portal is here now, USB 3.0 is here, Europe gives Google a green light to sell ads to the black marketers, and when you're dead on the Web, you're dead.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

AT&T breaks out its new 3G Microcell
http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-10358045-85.html

3G MicroCells: Carriers want you to pay extra to fix their own failures
http://gizmodo.com/5364161/3g-microcells-att-wants-you-to-pay-extra-to-fix-their-own-failures

Ford CEO Alan Mullalley to deliver 'opening keynote' at CES
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10357687-92.html

Pioneer iPhone app links to car head units for easier destination entry
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS84227+21-Sep-2009+BW20090921

Chrysler ditching paper manuals, going digital
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10357937-48.html

EU backs Google over Louis Vuitton
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2353142,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

Facebook/Nielsen partnership
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10358057-36.html

MySpace unleashes two-way syncing with Twitter
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10357501-2.html

Hulu/MySpace video thing
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10358200-93.html

First USB 3.0 product certified
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/21/first-usb-3-0-product-gets-certified-floodgates-get-closer-to-b/

Netflix awards $1 million prize, announces another one
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10357807-26.html

Why Netflix can’t wait to go all online
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/22/national/a070027D58.DTL&tsp=1

VOICEMAIL
Mike: on iPhone battery logging

EMAIL
Re: Apple battery life
Quick notes.

1. Apple was contacting customers about iPhone 3.1, not the iPhone 3GS specifically. The gorilla and the iPhone 3G would be covered by this, too.
2. And no, it’s not “a lot of work”. You click a flippin’ link in Mail, tap an Install button, and move on with your life.

Sean

**********

Hey Buzz crew, it's Kevin from Philadelphia and guess who’s a Windows 7 launch party host? Luckily I”m planning my birthday party that weekend, but YES Windows swaggg. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll win the $750 PC. Just between us, the fastest computer I own is half the processor speed necessary for Windows 7. Shhh don’t tell Microsoft I want the Windows-branded napkins!

Kevin

**********

Dear Buzz crew,

I think it is a bit sad that when Gmail removed the “beta” tag from the logo it was big news, a trending topic on Twitter, and mentioned on the show, but when Yahoo Mail makes some legitimate enhancements...no one really notices.

Just a few days ago Yahoo Mail got a face-lift and added application support, but it wasn’t even mentioned on the show. I know you guys simply cover what people are interested in and NO ONE seems interested in what’s going on at Yahoo Mail anymore. As someone who has been using the same Yahoo Mail account for over a decade I find it sad that Yahoo has lost the mind share and, largely due to its lack of innovation in the past, gets no notice for innovating now.

Just thought I’d share my thoughts with you guys and encourage you to at least check out the updates at Yahoo Mail. There are still a few of us who like the service…

Thanks for the great show!

Clayton from Oklahoma.

A listener reports that NFL.com subjected him to a 75-second pre-roll ad. Not funny, NFL. In the news today, the FCC proposes codifying Net neutrality rules, and much as we'd love to leave it to the market and the telcos, well, we just don't trust the telcos. Rules, FTW! Unless it's rules on selling energy-hog TVs. Those aren't cool.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

FCC chief proposes new Net Neutrality rules
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10357411-266.html
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/172316/fcc_net_neutrality_rules_are_a_win_consumers.html
http://www.glgroup.com/News/Net-Neutrality-And-The-Tragedy-Of-The-Commons-43453.html

Facebook Beacon has poked its last
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10357107-36.html

Apple digging into iPhone 3GS battery issues, users say
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10357371-37.html

Sony Ericsson motion-controlled headset probably not “changing music forever”
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/21/sony-ericssons-motion-activated-mh907-headset-could-change-thin/

Zune HD sales seemingly high
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/09/19/zune.hd.sales.very.high/

Amazon Starts Own Brand Sales With AmazonBasics Name
http://www.pcworld.com/article/172297/amazon_starts_own_brand_sales_with_amazonbasics_name.html

California to set TV energy efficiency standards
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10357390-54.html

Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60: AT&T Price Confirmed
http://www.i4u.com/article27053.html

Study: Microbloggers are really boring (well, the Jaiku ones, anyway)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10357359-2.html

Computers are killing cursive writing: do we care?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090919/ap_on_re_us/us_cursive_angst

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew!

I was very interested in your discussion about libraries on Friday’s podcast. As a current library employee and student of Library Science, I feel that public libraries need to change their image in order to remain open or get increased funding. There are some great examples of this around the world such as in Singapore wherein the entire physical library structure and image were given a completely modern overhaul. They have gone from a simple book repository to a learning center in order to attract more patronage. Similarly in Fresno County, California the public library has merged with the public schools in order to pool resources and coordinate learning initiatives. Mind you I could talk about this topic forever, but I thought it important to share these examples with you!

Sincerely,

Don, Maryland

**********

Hey Buzz Crew,

If you thought the pre-roll ads on the new Zune apps are bad, you should check out NFL.com. I went to watch some video highlights and was greeted with a 75 second, yes 7-5, pre-roll ad. I’m not sure if you will be able to duplicate it, but here’s the link.

Love the show.

-Will Pridemore

**********

Hey Buzz Crew,

I just listened to episode 1066 and heard Natali mention a new internet addiction rehab. facility in the northwest. Being the addict that I am, I had to instantly do a search and find out more about this. I found their website (www.netaddictionrecovery.com) and was shocked!

First of all, if you can afford it, it looks like a beautiful little vacation spot, but I have one big concern. Does it strike you as odd that they have, on their front page, links to their own social network and links so that you can follow them on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube? Oh, and don’t forget to check out their blog and leave a comment! Sounds a lot like kicking your drug habit with the help of your dealer.

Love the show!

Addicted to the cure,
Richard in ID

We finally get to the bottom of why Apple rejected the Google Voice app, how not to get caught for being a thief over Facebook, and we have plenty of sympathy for Palm. Also, Rafe hates libraries and culture.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Google Voice rejection came from the top at Apple
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/fcc-releases-confidential-details-of-google-voice-app-rejection.ars
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10356432-265.html

Facebook break leads to burglary suspect
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10356117-71.html

Swedish group calls gaming addiction a ‘pandemic’ threat
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10356098-62.html

Test-drive: Office Web Apps technical preview
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10355890-250.html

Palm losses mount despite the Pre
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10356044-266.html

Palm abandons Windows Mobile
http://www.precentral.net/palm-abandons-windows-mobile

PSP minis lack network features for fast approval time
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/17/psp-minis-lack-network-features-for-fast-approval-time/

New Digsby comes clean
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10356011-12.html

Verizon boss hangs up on landline phone business
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/verizon-boss-hangs-up-on-landline-phone-business/

iPhone case that reduces radiation
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/09/17/new-60-iphone-case-apparently-reduces-radiation-by-60/

Google patented reading lists
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_invented_reading_lists.php
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7,590,691.PN.&OS=PN/7,590,691&RS=PN/7,590,691

Gene Roddenberry’s Mac Plus is coming up for auction
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/09/09/18/0056220/Gene-Roddenberrys-Mac-Plus-Is-Coming-Up-For-Auction

Voice mail
Brian from Albany on Google making toys for geeks only

Mike from Irvine on Bing Bing Bing

E-mail
Hey Buzz Crew,

If anyone out there want to upgrade to Windows 7 and is a student (valid .edu address, but theoretically has to provide proof of enrollment on demand), you can get either Home Premium or Professional (upgrade versions) for just $30!

http://www.Win741.com

At first it may seem like only Home Premium is offered, but if you click "I need to join my network's domain" at the bottom of the page, you will be presented with Professional. Which is one of very few reasons anyone would need Professional anyway, though they could make it a bit more obvious.

Thought your listeners should hear about this!

LTS,
-Nick the Biochemistry Grad Student

**********

Honestly I don’t understand why people aren’t talking about this more.
Libraries are a community resource of technology and learning and easy to take for granted.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/09/sign-of-the-times-philadelphias-public-library-to-close.html

On the one hand it’s great to see up close what the Geekthelibrary.org (supported by the Gates Foundation) does to support public libraries.
On the other, it’s hard to believe that America’s first library, set up by Ben Franklin, can close with very little fanfare.

Maybe Buzztown can start a campaign or just shout from Twitter or Facebook or their blogs, so this tragedy can get a voice?

Thanks-
Sheala, GA

**********

I was listening to episode 1065 and you talked about Google putting out a printer for their online books.

I work in academia and I think this is bass-ackwards. It seems like they’re trying to make books more like PDFs (or whatever format) when what I want is for PDFs to be more like books. Writing in the margins and stuff like that is great, but I can’t keep 1000 books in my laptop case, or easily search them all for a word, or quickly sort them by publication date, etc.

Shouldn’t we work at bringing desired features to the new technology not adding features to the old technology? Let’s make PDFs have the features we love about books. Otherwise it feels like adding a hand crank starter to the engine on a Prius.

Just my thoughts.

RTJ

The new DreamScreen tablet from HP looks like what everyone wants from Apple at first glance. Until we dig deeper and find out it may be what nobody wants. The music publishers also seem like they're full of stupid too wanting to get a performance right for you watching a TV show alone in your room. And Cooley and I get in a knock-down over Kurt Cobain's proper presentation in Guitar Hero.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Music publishers want more $$ for downloads, movies, and song previews
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10355448-93.html

Skype founders file copyright suit against Skype
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10355258-2.html

Zune HD apps are here… complete with preroll ads
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/09/zune-hd-apps-are-here-complete-with-pre-roll-ads.ars

The long-awaited DreamScreen tablet computer comes from HP, not Apple
http://venturebeat.com/2009/09/16/the-long-awaited-dreamscreen-tablet-computer-comes-from-hp-not-apple/

Clearwire says it’s not married to WiMAX for 4G, would be easy to switch
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/clearwire-says-its-not-married-to-wimax-for-4g-would-be-easy-t/

Google lets you custom-print millions of public-domain books
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/09/google-books-publish-on-demand/

1 in 5 offices use Google Docs
http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/google-docs-widely-used-1-in-5-workplaces-132

Audiovox and FLO-TV formally launch in-car TV platform
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS97347+17-Sep-2009+PRN20090917

Hands-on: Haiku, the future of BeOS, is pure poetry
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/09/hands-on-with-haiku-back-to-the-future-of-beos.ars

Bon Jovi supports Cobain protest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8259846.stm

VOICE MAIL
Anonymous about the Android vs. iPhone

Anonymous about Apple taking store down

E-MAIL

Hey Buzzcrew,

Just listening to episode 1064 and had to comment on a quick way to handle turning off your check engine light, without having to even spend $20 on the device Rafe mentioned. Provided you've fixed the problem that caused the light to turn on, you can shut it off (in most cars I've worked on, can't speak for every model out there...) by simply unhooking the negative terminal of the car battery, letting it sit for about 20 minutes, then rehooking up the battery and starting the car. This basically resets the engine computer, and since the car will detect nothing wrong, as you've fixed the problem, the check engine light will stay off. The only downside is, you'll lose all your radio presets. Hope this helps someone out there.

Love the show!
Jeremy Hess

***********

Regarding the XP issue from episode 1064, here are some additional details from Microsoft available in entirety at http://www.microsoft.com/oem/english/content/software/XPEOL.mspx. I'm looking forward to Windows 7 also.

On June 30, 2008, Microsoft will stop distributing Windows XP as a standalone product that can be bought shrink-wrapped in retail stores. We'll also stop sending it to Dell, HP, Lenovo, and all the other major PC manufacturers to sell on their PCs. This is called ―End of Sale‖.

That said, Windows XP isn't going to disappear overnight.

You may still see copies of the software--or computers preloaded with it--for months as stores and PC makers work through their inventory. Also, system builders can continue to sell PCs with Windows XP until January 2009.

Finally, Microsoft recently announced that computers with limited hardware capabilities--devices sometimes called Netbooks or ultralow-cost PC s (ULCPC)--can carry Windows XP Home until June 2010. (Read about the ULCPC program on Microsoft PressPass.)

Have fun,
Darwin

***********

This is Dr George, the kidney doc and I was listening to podcast 1064
and thinking “finally, the topic of urine is a subject that I can sink
my teeth into”. Urine that is dumped in the sky can shine because of
crystals in the urine, such as calcium or urate crystals.
Maybe the astronauts had some kidney stones? Ouch!
Luckily urine is usually sterile, so no worries about it showering on
you, unless the urine housed a urinary tract infection. In any case
urine sometimes smells foul, especially if, as Molly suggested, it was
old stagnant urine left standing for months.

Enough about my life, and yes, this falls under the category of “Too
much info”!

Love the show!

Dr George

That beautiful silvery comet you saw in the sky recently was actually astronaut urine. No joke. We also avoid talking about pee for most of the show. Bing is still on the rise and Facebook is making money. Wow. Things are looking up all over. Just be careful when you look up. There's astronaut pee up there.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Facebook grows and makes money
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8258117.stm

Bing grabs 10 percent of search market
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10354394-75.html

France passes harsh anti-P2P three-strikes law (again)
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/france-passes-harsh-anti-p2p-three-strikes-law-again.ars

New Android SDK adds support for CDMA phones, text-to-speech
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10353867-265.html

Chrome 3 out, JavaScript performance increased 150 percent since v1
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/09/chrome-3-out-javascript-performance-increased-150-since-v1.ars

Kindle edition of Dan Brown’s new book outselling hardcover
http://thekindlenationblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/kindle-edition-of-lost-symbol.html

“Right To Repair” bill advances in Massachusetts
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/09/15/2236213/Right-To-Repair-Bill-Advances-In-Massachusetts

Are ESL bulbs better than CFL or LED?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10354160-1.html

Mystery explained: glow in night sky was astronaut urine
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090911-space-water-dump.html

First rocky exoplanet confirmed
http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/09/16/1327212/First-Rocky-Exoplanet-Confirmed

VOICE MAIL
Chris from Staples on Windows XP

James from Irvine on drinks in a podcast

E-MAIL
I’ll get it out of the way first, Love the show!!!
in episode 1063, a voice mailer lamented about Steve Dahl not being on ‘the air’ any more.
Here is a link to his daily podcast….
Thanks for a great indeterminate time each day! http://www.dahl.com/ – Tim

**********

Hey Buzzcrew,

I thought you might find this news from Canada interesting. Rogers, one of the biggest carriers in the country is upgrading their network to a 21 Mbps HSPA network. It went live in the major cities up here on the 14th.

http://www.androidincanada.ca/news/rogers-launches-21mbps-hspa-network/

Cheers,

Andrew (from Toronto)

**********

Hi Buzz crew,

Andrew from Australia here. I had an interesting conversation with my teenage daughter and her friend yesterday about the number of incidents where they walk into an object or pole while texting. It got me thinking – what if a phone had a proximity sensor similar to a rear parking sensor on your car? That way if you were texting and walking you could be warned by vibration or beeps if you are about to walk into something? What do you think – the next great thing or useless tech?

Regards
Andrew