Buzz Out Loud 791: And the horse he rode in on

We're joined today by special guest Wil Harris from ChannelFlip.com, in what he chooses to call "British Invasion" and we choose to call "extremely welcome third voice." In the news today, MobileMe accounts are extended again, free beta style (hint hint), Muxtape bites the dust (temporarily?), and Bigfoot turns out to be a rubber costume. Astonishing.

EPISODE 791

Episode 791

Apple extends MobileMe accounts--again
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10019909-37.html
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=9715

Google tops among search sites for customer satisfaction
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10019621-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Apple customer satisfaction scores gain
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cnet/20080819/tc_cnet/83011357931001971137

Vendors add features to Windows that Microsoft should have thought of
http://www.pcworld.com/article/149896/vendors_rally_while_windows_sleeps.html

One third of new PCs downgraded to XP?
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/08/18/2016228.shtml

Muxtape shut down by RIAA?
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/8/muxtape-shut-down-by-riaa

FCC commissioners will hit the road to tout DTV transition
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080818-fcc-will-go-on-the-road-with-dtv-transition.html

Apple releases iPhone firmware update, 3G fix?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10019471-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Entire Olympics built of Lego
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1046255/On-marks-set-Lego-Welcome-Olympics-everyones-quick-blocks.html

Bigfoot body revealed to be Halloween costume
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,406101,00.html

E-MAIL

Hey Buzz Crew,

This is Sperling, the digital cinema product manager. On episode 789 you mentioned that the release date of the next Harry Potter film, due out November 21, had been pushed back into next year. In the story, Warner Bros. seemed to be faulting the recent writer’s strike as having altered the competitive release date landscape and the reason for the date change. While this is no doubt true, it is more likely issues with their own releases that caused the date change.

Scheduled for release around the original date are big name titles such as Australia, Benjamin Button, Madagascar 2 and the next Bond film, Quantum of Solace. But let’s face it, Harry Potter has such a large built-in audience that it can guarantee a healthy opening in which the film tops the box office for at least the first week, if not two. What is more likely the issue is that Warner Bros., having folded New Line Cinema and Warner Independent Pictures into the main studio, simply has too many films to release between now and the holiday season. Los Angeles Times columnist Patrick Goldstein recently covered this in one of his columns:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2008/08/warners-films-m.html

Of course, there is always the absurd theory Roger Friedman has pegged as the reason for the delay--that Daniel Radcliff, the actor playing Harry Potter, will be in the midst of starring a in a highly publicized Broadway play in November, Equus. Radcliffe will appear naked in the play and have simulated sex on stage, and Friedman’s theory is this is not the image Warner Bros. wants associated with Harry Potter:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,404681,00.html

As always, love the show.

Regards,
J. Sperling Reich

—

Hello JaMoTo,

Yes, I just told you about my netflix experience. However, I just saw
an article that claims that the outage shows why disks deserve to die.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/08/netflix-outage.html

I think the only thing the outage showed was how vulnerable computers
still are. And if anything, streaming service computers are MORE
vulnerable to outages. Besides, at the moment, I still like the disks.
While I have 8Mbs download, streaming services don’t always work well on
it. I think the Net, as a whole, needs to improve, possibly by moving to
IPv6, before we can have EVERYONE streaming movies rather than just a few.

—

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold the phone…

You guys reported on episode 790 that Toshiba is going to be selling “upconverting” DVD players. That’s great, I guess. But I was just wondering, are those really upscaling DVD players, or just the leftover, repackaged stock of HD-DVD players with a firmware update? If I remember correctly, the HD-DVD players did the upconverting thing already.

Hey, I’m not complaining; in fact I applaud their ingenuity. Why waste the millions you’ve already spent by throwing away manufactured goods when you can update the product’s software, slap a new label on it, and sell it at a slightly higher cost than when it became obsolete? And you get to do it all whilst undermining the competition’s entire advertising campaign (or lack thereof)! If nothing else, it’s environmentally friendly.

Love the show!
J-2 in Maryland

—

I’m a week behind but had to e-mail you about your text-messaging air
traffic controller.
I have been a controller 20 years in the U.S. Sorry we can’t
duplicate this task, you are on your own.
Two years ago the FAA imposed what they call a contract (we call it
imposed work rules) and it forbid electronic devices in control rooms
and towers. This includes cell phones.
This despite the fact that controllers facing communication failures
in the past have used personal cell phones to contact adjacent
facilities.

Mike in New Hampshire,
Sent from my iPhone