Buzz Out Loud

Dear every company on earth who's apparently selling our data to anyone who will buy it and/or collecting it in fat, juicy databases that are like candy to hackers: can you just, like, try to be a tiny bit more careful? And maybe we will, too? Ok, thanks, great. Verizon's LTE service is creeping back after an unexplained outage, Barnes and Noble hits back at Microsoft, calling its patent infringement lawsuits little more than extortion, and an enterprising teen-ager honors our fallen soldiers with a digital record of all the graves at Arlington. Now that is a hero.

Sony comes clean about six days after its network "intrusion" and admits that its hack attack actually led to the reveal of tens of millions of usernames, addresses, dates of birth, and maybe even passwords, security questions, and credit card numbers. So, that's a pretty bad day over at Sony. Also, Apple "comes clean" on its location data tracking, claiming that it's not happening, and even if it is happening, it's not that accurate, and even if it is that accurate, it's just so they can serve you better iAds. Wait, what?

Facebook is unveiling, Youtube's going Hollywood, Nook Colors are Flashing, Netflix is growing, the White iPhone is coming, and Location Gate continues with Microsoft joining in the mix. All this while the USA tries to catch up with its superslow download speeds. I'd like a Tech Wrap Supreme please to help me digest all of this.

On today's show, the iPhone is apparently storing your location data even when you've turned off the location tracking services. And law enforcement agencies and a cottage industry of iOS forensics companies have been taking advantage of these logs for years. Nevertheless, Steve Jobs appears to insist in an email to a customer that Apple is not tracking anyone. Really. Hunch shows you why you love both hummus and Macs, even if you don't love Apple. Plus, Sony is rebuilding its PlayStation Network security after its now five-day outage, and an innocent man is accused of child pornography because it's still just too damn hard to put a password on a WiFi network. --Molly

On today's show, a brilliant solution to the problem of science education, and which tech companies have the best and worst green records (it is Earth Day, after all -- for real this time)! Also, Google and Apple are sending your location data back to the Mother Ship, Amazon is making everyone nervous about the cloud, and AT&T thinks wireless competition is "extraordinary." Uh huh. All that and the best Computer Love success story ever. --Molly

On today's show, prep is minimal, but the news is pretty interesting: Amazon's cloud service went down overnight, taking lots of sites with it -- including the Cydia jailbreak app delivery store. Apple blew it out with earnings, and so did Verizon -- and HTC Thunderbolt sales. We continue to debunk the iPhone tracking "discovery," but that doesn't mean we're not worried about the data. And Amazon's increasingly imminent tablet, too. --Molly

Skynet is self-aware and special guest Brian Cooley is flying to space to get off this rock. SPAM and an underground man cave seems like a better option for BT. We'll also talk about the revelation that Apple is tracking our location data, but not using it...yet. Kindle users will like going to the library if they even go at all, and we can now officially call the Sony PSPgo the "No Go".

Tong stood in line all night for Mortal Kombat, while Molly went to bed with her laptop and her brand new Keynote download. Impressive, right? In the actual news, Apple files a major set of patent and trademark lawsuits against manufacturing partner Samsung, Netflix is doing family plans, and what happened to all those 1-800 numbers. Dial carefully children. Dial carefully.

Can you tell Brian Tong is back on the show? Actually, we're legitimately wondering whether a home-brew electroshock like battery licking could produce video game skill improvements like DARPA is seeing with their electroshock research. No, really. Also, Google shuts down Google Video, President Obama wants a universal login that's not Facebook Connect, and Match.com just got a whole lot more trustworthy. --Molly