Buzz Out Loud 963: Gambling in your jammies

We're not sure that Barney Frank gambles in his pajamas, but he's fighting for your right to do so in the United States. Also, Verizon gets a little slutty, looking for an iPhone...and an Android phone...and pretty much anything else. And Blu-ray is on the rise, but so are digital downloads.

EPISODE 963

Pre release date: June 7?
http://www.precentral.net/pre-release-date-june-7th
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/29/palm-pre-138-to-build-according-to-isuppli/

Report: Verizon thinks Pink--as in Microsoft iPhone rival
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/04/verizon-courting-microsoft-for-iphone-competitor-pink.ars

Motorola’s first Android phone Calgary looks impressive enough that I actually care
http://gizmodo.com/5232562/motorolas-first-android-phone-calgary-looks-impressive-enough-i-actually-care

Sales of Blu-Ray, digital downloads up big in first quarter
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-blu-ray-sales-digital-movie-sales-up-big-in-first-quarter-2009/

Cablevision power play: 101Mbps Internet, no caps, $99
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/cablevision-power-play-101mbps-internet-no-caps-99.ars

Barney Frank to reintroduce legalization of online gambling
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346112,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

Warner Music claims Lessig is a pirate, has his presentation taken off YouTube
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/29/warner-music-claims.html

Is RealDVD dispute really about a DVD jukebox?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10229768-93.html

Zimbra 1.0 desktop client
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10229060-12.html

Google Search graphs public data
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Google-Search-Graphs-Public-Data-849892/
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/adding-search-power-to-public-data.html

"Swine Flu Hemagglutinin": Amino acid sequence as ambient music
http://stephan-zielinski.com/dwa/2009/04/28/swine-flu-ha-as-ambient-music/

Spanish Flu of 1918: How bad was it?
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/29/spanish-flu-of-1918.html

Webby’s voting closes on Thursday! HELP US WIN!! CNET TV - under Online Film & Video: Technology
http://pv.webbyawards.com

Webware 100 voting also closes on Thursday! Vote!
http://www.webware.com/100

VOICE MAIL
Dwight Key Grip
Time Warner digital TV shenanigans

E-MAIL
I think you guys should back just a tad off of AT&T (did I really say
that) anyway I use both a nokia and an iphone on AT&T. Although I
have not seen the types of missed calls you are describing I have
seen some on my iPhone especially in this one corner of my house where
the bars will literally go down to nothing. On my nokia however I
don’t have such a problem, but in the section of my house where the
iphone goes down to nothing the nokia goes down to 2 bars. Just wanted
to remind you there are two veriables to this reception situation;
carrier and phone.

Mark

**********

I support a server environment with Windows, Linux, Solaris and AIX systems, and I use Linux and Windows desktop systems every day. My experience tells me that stability is a factor of what applications and features you run, rather that the OS.

Windows will run for years without rebooting if you run a specific set of “uncomplicated” applications. E.g., no legacy apps, no beta apps, etc.

Linux (and other UNIXish systems) will run solidly as well. Especialy if configured to run one specific app with no other overhead. When you add a GUI, 3D acceleration, beta applications, and other fun stuff, you’ll find that those application crash as often on Linux as on Windows.

Linux is configured to be stable more often than Windows, but the increasing popularity of Linux desktops is slowly changing that ratio.

Any modern OS can be solid. Any can be flakey. None are bulletproof.

-Ben,
the OS agnostic sysadmin in Minneapolis

P.S.: Do not answer Security Questions. Pick a Question, and answer it with a secure password, preferably random. Record it in a pasword vault, or in another secure location. It should be nothing more than a backup password.