Buzz Out Loud 814: BOL: now with actual knowledge
On today's show, we get schooled about how cell phone 911 works, we school the music industry on its consistently terrible ideas regarding physical formats (seriously? Albums on micro SD cards? Are you kidding us with this?), Obama cools his pro Net neutrality stance, and Japan gets to work on the space elevator. Jason already volunteered to go. He's so brave. We'll miss him.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
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EPISODE 814 |
SanDisk, record labels announce new music format
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10047311-93.html
http://www.crn.com/retail/210602962
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/22/music-on-microsd-i-cant-believe-the-labels-fell-for-this/
Obama significantly revises technology positions
http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/09/22/0526237.shtml
http://versionista.com/diff/JAS9LMr5qU7q8BSroV8KzQ/
Verizon offers no-contract cell service
http://sprintconnection.kansascity.com/?q=node/802
WordPress ransom?
http://theideasblog.com/2008/09/19/wordpress-ransom/
CERN: Damage to new collider forces 2-month halt
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10047185-76.html
Apple recalling
iPhone 3G power adapters
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10046749-37.html
Another useful tool banned from the iPhone App Store
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10047301-1.html
MIT wheelchair steers clear with Wi-Fi
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17912_3-10047399-72.html
Electric Mini spied in Munich
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/09/22/bmw_leccy_mini/
Japan hopes to turn sci-fi into reality with elevator to the stars
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4799369.ece
VOICEMAIL
RogueTess: The Goggle Rig
Hi Buzz Crew,
In Episode 813, Jason asked how you could punish pirates, instead of subjecting actual customers to a ridiculous DRM. Well, the answer come from the Super Nintendo of all places: HAL laboratories (the people who made the Super Smash Bros. games) and Nintendo-published Earthbound (Mother 2 in Japan). This game is a cult classic now, and the beginning days of emulation revealed their antipiracy methods. If they detected you were playing a pirated copy of the game, they would display screens telling you that piracy was a crime and cause random enemies to spawn more often. The coup de grace was that, halfway through the final boss fight, the game would freeze and erase all of your save data.
All the technical detail: http://www.starmen.net/mother2/gameinfo/antipiracy/
-Scotty
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I just wanted to let you know that I launched an eBay auction this morning and one of the options was to provide your Skype ID in addition to e-mail. I don’t know what they ever planned to do with StumbleUpon, but at least they’re doing something marginally useful with Skype.
Adam (Centreville, Va.)
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JAMOTONA (hopefully),
On Episode 813 you wondered aloud as to how 911 service works on cell phones. Well hopefully I can enlighten you since I work in the E911 department of a major cell phone provider. 911 calls are routed based on what SECTOR of a cell tower they are being made from. So any call made from a cell phone SHOULD be routed to the county that the cell sector they are on is covering. Not all providers manage their 911 as well as they should, however, so this doesn’t always work like it should. We have a staff of about 100 people that work on the 911 system and it’s not an easy thing to manage, but our company is much better than most of our competition, especially when it comes to locating the cell phone making the call using the phones GPS chip (my specialty).
In conclusion, land lines will always be better for calling 911 because they are associated to an address and they don’t move.
Hope I cleared things up.
Ldub
Tom Merritt appears on
CNET TV, specializing in help and how-to and the ever popular Top 5
lists. He also co-hosts CNET's The Real Deal podcast. 
Jason Howell can
often be found producing Buzz Out Loud from the audio studios at CNET,
updating XML feeds from the comfort of his cubicle, and saying "uh-oh"
from time to time. 
...and yes, it is safe to say I am "over-load" with Natali Del Conte!
P
P
Tired of Natali Del Conte? NEVER! Care to explain your idea of 2D vs 3D? :rolleyes:
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by borgward1
September 24, 2008 3:28 PM PDT
- Sorry to spoil all the ridicule you've been heaping on SanDisk's micro SD cards, but this idea may be bigger than you think. For one, at retail, they take up less space than standard CD;s which people do still buy. Why is that important? Well, Molly, when you walk in to Nordstrom's or Macy's, notice how the first thing you're greeted with are small items with high markups like cosmetics and sunglasses. The name of the game is maxing out dollars per square foot. Note how the luggage and the furniture are on the upper floors. Now stop for a minute and think of the layout of your local Best Buy. Same deal- CD's and phones up front, the big screen TV's are on the back wall.
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Reply to this comment
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(6 Comments)I can see these little disks used as stock stuffers, (stufferers?) party favors, kids can trade and swap them, and at 320 Kbps, they may even find a home in the audiophile community which despises compressed formats. Some wiseass on Motley Fool complained these would not replace the IPod. The don't have to - they just have to make money. And by the way: SanDisk has 10% of the MP3 Player market. Microsoft only has 3%. Contrary to the commentary on the show, I don't think Mr, Harari is a self delusional CEO.