Buzz Out Loud 847: Don't stand behind the hologram
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EPISODE 847 |
Hey Microsoft, Yahoo’s for sale--for real this time
http://www.crn.com/software/212000962
Obama, McCain campaigns both hacked, files compromised (thanks rpcaldiera)
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/05/221222
An Obama presidency: Good, bad news for technology
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10082672-38.html
Apple activates podcast downloads in 2.2 firmware
http://www.macrumors.com/2008/11/06/apple-activates-podcast-downloads-in-2-2-firmware/
Feature films coming to YouTube
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10083481-93.html
Video: Windows 7 promises faster boots and up to 15% better battery life
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/06/video-windows-7-promises-faster-boots-and-up-to-15-better-batt/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10083242-56.html
http://cnettv.cnet.com/2001-1_53-50004352.html
Warner Bros. to fight China movie piracy with 60? downloads
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081105-warner-bros-to-fight-china-movie-piracy-with-60-downloads.html
WPA cracked in 15 minutes or less, or your next router’s free
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/06/wpa-cracked-in-15-minutes-or-less-or-your-next-routers-free/
Intel names ‘Nehalem’ launch date
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/11/06/core_i7_launch_date_named/
Cancer genetic blueprint revealed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7706487.stm
U.S. Army to push X-files tech development, invade 'World of Warcraft'
http://gizmodo.com/5077240/us-army-to-push-x+files-tech-development-invade-world-of-warcraft
Voice mail
Anthony from Louisiana: Kindle in the Wild
I was listening to episode 846 where you mentioned about EA’s hilarious work around for the CD key and I am sad to say that I was one of the those who received only 19 of the 20 digits. I thought about calling EA to find out how to resolved this but I figured that it would take to long and opt to simply guess the last digit. They allowed 3 tries before requiring you to re-enter all the digits again. I believe you can eliminate zero and O just because they look too similar reducing the number of possibilites to 34. I finially found the last digit on my 33th tried when I skipped Y and typed in Z. Safe to say EA has been nothing but trouble. Just wanted to get my story out on EA’s key cracking idea.
Also on another topic, I have seen two Sony E-Readers in the wild within the period of two month on the NYC train system. I thought seeing one was rare but two is really something. Funny thing is that I bought my girlfriend a Kindle for Christmas a months ago so by the time Christmas comes along there will be another Kindle in the wild.
Love the show,
– Johnnie
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Just be glad EA isn’t in Eastern Nigeria!
Hi BOL,
You guys were speaking of EA issueing a “workaround” for the missing CD key and noting that since they were alpha numeric keys, there were 36 options. I just thought you guys might like to know that in the Igbo language (Eastern Nigeria) there are actually 36 letters in the alphabet.
A B CH D E F G GB GH GW H I I J K KP KW L M N N NW NY O O P R S SH T U U V W Y Z
When a vowel appears twice, the second one has a dot on the bottom showing a longer sound and the second N has a not at the top for a different sound
Little International fact for you guys
Love the show,
Chuma
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The Soviets are killing us in the race to populate space with junk. Probably slowed downed recently though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race#Number_of_satellites_launched.2C_by_nation
Jim from Seattle
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Ref episode 844 and previous discussions about Google Chrome
advertising.
I just returned from a trip to Taipei; and Google is most definitely
promoting Chrome over there.
Walking along one of the main streets, I happened upon a wall-sized
billboard looking like a giant browser window, complete with embedded
“flash video” player. see picture here -> http://flickr.com/photos/monody/3008198330/
I guess Google is not a dominant player in Taiwan, or indeed much of
Asia. So it only makes sense to employ different advertising tactics.
LTS,
Vidar
from Norway
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. 
In show 844 you said you'd really like to know how all the digital-to-analog converter box manufacturers decided that they should setup the boxes to shutoff automatically after 4 hours. Well, they didn't! The National Telecommunications and Information Administration decided for them.
In order to qualify for the government's Converter Coupon Program, manufacturers have to meet the specifications listed in this Technical Appendix 1 of the "Final Rule, §301.5":
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/DTVmanufacturers.pdf
Specifically, section 20, "Energy Standards":
"...Eligible equipment shall provide the capability to automatically switch from the On state to the Sleep state after a period of time without user input. This capability shall be enabled at the factory as the default setting for the device. The default period of inactivity before the equipment automatically switches to the Sleep state shall be four hours..."
Now you know!
Keep up the great show,
Jeremy from Brooklyn
Please scale down the financial commentary on the show.
Molly thinks Jerry Yang made a mistake, and we get a weekly Molly Rant (tm) mocking his decision at the time and how bad it looks now looking back: What were the respective stock prices at the time, what offer did company A extend to company B when, how have the stock prices behaved since, what is it now, who are the big investors in company B and what do they think about the decision, etc. etc. etc.
I don't care about Yahoo!'s stock price now, last year, or next year. If I did care, I would look it up, I would read carefully crafted finance articles from financial analysts talking about price-to-earnings ratios, revenue per employee, performance comparisons with other tech companies, etc. etc.
When technology companies merge, there are usually consequences for the technologies and the people, and I'd love to hear about that (technology and people) on Buzz Out Loud.
You guys do a great job separating topics when it comes to US politics. The topic interests you and many of your listeners, but it's not a tech topic, and you've done some good coverage of its technology aspects: Ted Stevens regulating something he doesn't know anything about (you didn't talk about his corruption trial), Biden having industry-specified opinions about copyright (you don't talk about his other political views), political campaigns running into DMCA problems (you didn't gossip about "Palin's going rogue"), etc. Bravo! Please treat financial news in the same way.
Love the show, etc.
Jan Karlsbjerg from Vancouver, BC