Buzz Out Loud 947: Walk this Wii

The DS has a new add-on that includes a pedometer to help you measure your walking. We don't know if it will slim down the Mii that got fat ignoring Wii Fit. Australia is going on an all-fiber diet for their Internet needs, and the AP wants everyone to stop linking to them. OK! Careful what you wish for?

Episode 947

Healthcare records: Google gets pharmacies, MS hospitals
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10213205-92.html
http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/04/healthcare-records-google-gets-pharmacies-ms-hospitals.ars

Australia to build a fiber network for all
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/technology/internet/08broadband.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

AP launches campaign against Internet “misappropriation”
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/ap-launches-campaign-against-internet-misappropriation.ars
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/07/newspapers-are-dumb.html

Google to publishers: We’re not evil or illegal
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10213903-2.html

XP reprieve, downgrade may continue after Win7
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/06/232225

Yahoo launches open music pages
http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=375712
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE53562820090406?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

Amazon may be gaining traction in the MP3 market
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-music-industry-amazon-itunes-npd-stats/

iTunes Store now infected with variable pricing, Amazon still $0.99
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/07/itunes-store-now-infected-with-variable-pricing-amazon-still-0/

Google tweaks local searching, guesses where you are
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/google-becomes-more-local.html

GM, Segway partner on two-wheel city vehicle
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10213863-54.html

Nintendo DSi pedometer
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/06/personal-trainer-walking-bringing-pedometers-to-nintendo-dsi/

Solar airplane
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/04/solar-plane-to.html

Voice mail
Anonymous Canadian
At least you’re not in Canada

Hemond from Ohio
Calling about TWiT

E-mail
Regarding MLB.com. I dare say, the video quality and user experience is worse than last year.

Nexdef is worse than last year's Silverlight. You CAN’T RESIZE THE VIDEO. You can’t watch full screen on one monitor and use your computer, it kicks the browser (all browsers) out of full screen.

And, I am appalled that they are calling this year's highest quality stream “HD”. The video resolution for HD starts at 720p (correct?). It’s nowhere near that. By my quick guess, I would say, it’s still in standard def and just a higher bitrate. When you put the video in full screen (when I say full screen, I mean a 19″ LCD, NOT big), it is still pixelated like CRAZY.

Do I have grounds for a class-action lawsuit claiming false advertising? For $109.99 a year, it’s kind of a rip-off….

And by the way, the Nexdef plugin is a CPU HOG. It consumes half the CPU power of my 2.4 GHZ 4GB RAM Macbook Pro. That’s faaaaaaar to much for a stupid web video.

****sigh****

My hopes were so high, and they let me down again.

/rant

Grant from Nashville

PS
Rafe,
You said something in effect of “you can watch all the games, not just the ones in your local area.” Correction…..you are blacked out of ALL games in your local area. The service is only available for out-of-market games.

*************

Hi Buzz Crew,

Yesterday you talked about a story involving mlb.com and the streaming service that they offer. But you missed a huge nugget of information in the article. Third question from the bottom asks about streaming MLB games on the iPhone. The response given says that Apple is working on a technology that will allow for streaming the games. They go onto say that the service will come with the iPhone 3.0 software. Could this mean Flash may come to the iPhone in 3.0?

Link: http://www.businessinsider.com/baseball-crushing-everyone-at-web-video-2009-4

Love the show,
Brad in Ohio

*************

While I´m browsing open-source news, I thought I’d send in something else that I saw on that blog. Qimo is a Linux distribution for kids ages 3 and up. Excellent if you want to get a really low-powered cheap machine for the kids to play with. I have a nephew that’s about 3 years old and I might suggest Qimo to his parents so he can learn how to do things on his own.

http://www.qimo4kids.com/post/Qimo-in-the-News.aspx

Kinda wish this was around when I was a kid. When I was an itty-bitty, our family had good old Windows 3.1, and my dad eventually got a coloring game especially for me, since I wanted a program to use myself (before that I had made lots and lots of kiddie art on MS Paint, stored on 3×5 floppy disks). Anyway, it looks interesting.

GAC in West Virginia