January 30, 2008 11:40 AM PST
Buzz Out Loud 650: Calculus is bogus
Rounding down to zero? Don't be ridiculous. Forcing ISPs to monitor and filter Internet traffic in order to guarantee that music artists continue to make money, so that the ISPs feel some sort of moral obligation to keep U2 in fancy leather pants. It sounds illogical when you put it that way, right? We thought so.
--Molly
Listen now: Download today's podcast
--Molly
Listen now: Download today's podcast
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EPISODE 650 |
TODAY'S LINKS:
TODAY'S VOICE MAIL:
Mike from Jersey
Microsoft says they'll wait for quality this time.
Microsoft says they'll wait for quality this time.
Alex from Austin
What about eBay shipping fees?
What about eBay shipping fees?
George from Chicago
Off-site backup.
Off-site backup.
TODAY'S E-MAIL:
Ryan's ISP?
Peter from Melbourne Australia has got to have the most amazingly sexy voice ever! Thanks for playing his voice mail twice. Oh, and in case you are learning all the languages in reverse alphabetical order, the correct (Chinese) pronunciation of LiXindi is Lee Shin Dee. The last time I e-mailed, Molly pronounced it more like Lee Zindy, which, while incorrect, is tons better than the usual Lick Cindy that I get.
Hiding from the black holes,
LiXindi
Peter from Melbourne Australia has got to have the most amazingly sexy voice ever! Thanks for playing his voice mail twice. Oh, and in case you are learning all the languages in reverse alphabetical order, the correct (Chinese) pronunciation of LiXindi is Lee Shin Dee. The last time I e-mailed, Molly pronounced it more like Lee Zindy, which, while incorrect, is tons better than the usual Lick Cindy that I get.
Hiding from the black holes,
LiXindi
Amazon 404 huh?
Ahoy Buzzards,
I'll try to keep this e-mail under 30 seconds. (Just read it really fast.)
According to Slashdot, Jeff Bezos has been awarded a patent for Error Processing Methods for Providing Responsive Content to a User When a Page Load Error Occurs, including, apparently, 404 Not Found redirects. If this truly is the meat of this patent, I suspect prior art is to be found. I know I've been running a 404 redirect via .htaccess for longer than Amazon's been in business. I doubt this patent would hold up were it to be tested in court. I cry shenanigans!
Buzz on. I'm buzzing off,
Drew the Wi-Fi guy from Kentucky
Ahoy Buzzards,
I'll try to keep this e-mail under 30 seconds. (Just read it really fast.)
According to Slashdot, Jeff Bezos has been awarded a patent for Error Processing Methods for Providing Responsive Content to a User When a Page Load Error Occurs, including, apparently, 404 Not Found redirects. If this truly is the meat of this patent, I suspect prior art is to be found. I know I've been running a 404 redirect via .htaccess for longer than Amazon's been in business. I doubt this patent would hold up were it to be tested in court. I cry shenanigans!
Buzz on. I'm buzzing off,
Drew the Wi-Fi guy from Kentucky
Amazon baby registry
In regards to Episode 649, Absolon's (sp?) e-mail from Amazon Baby Registry. My wife received a similar message and we had an Amazon also had a wedding registry. We just assumed it was a phishing scam. If you don't follow the link and go directly to your Amazon Registries, there is no established baby registry.
Marc
In regards to Episode 649, Absolon's (sp?) e-mail from Amazon Baby Registry. My wife received a similar message and we had an Amazon also had a wedding registry. We just assumed it was a phishing scam. If you don't follow the link and go directly to your Amazon Registries, there is no established baby registry.
Marc
Large Hadron Collider...well, actually...
Dear Tom & Molly (Jason wasn't on the show that day, but hi anyway!),
Well you did it, you finally riled me enough to send in my first "well actually." In BOL episode 649, you guys went through a list of possible ways the world might end, one of which will supposedly be caused by the Large Hadron Collider. This is totally bogus, it is not as Tom put it, "a small probability thing" but in fact a zero probability thing. In case you guys don't believe me, you could checkout the Astronomy Cast podcast episode 69. At about 22:31, an actual astronomer (with a Ph.D!) addresses this very rumor! I hope you note this correction on the show because I would hate it if BOL contributed to the stereotype of scientists as lunatics who are out to destroy mankind.
Please excuse my terrible punctuation, Molly. Thanks guys, love the show!
Jerad
Dear Tom & Molly (Jason wasn't on the show that day, but hi anyway!),
Well you did it, you finally riled me enough to send in my first "well actually." In BOL episode 649, you guys went through a list of possible ways the world might end, one of which will supposedly be caused by the Large Hadron Collider. This is totally bogus, it is not as Tom put it, "a small probability thing" but in fact a zero probability thing. In case you guys don't believe me, you could checkout the Astronomy Cast podcast episode 69. At about 22:31, an actual astronomer (with a Ph.D!) addresses this very rumor! I hope you note this correction on the show because I would hate it if BOL contributed to the stereotype of scientists as lunatics who are out to destroy mankind.
Please excuse my terrible punctuation, Molly. Thanks guys, love the show!
Jerad
iPhones in Cabo confirmed!
I left my iPhone at home, but did see someone playing with an iPhone at this restaurant where you can do shots with tequila that has rattlesnakes soaking in it.
WTH? I love me some tequila but politely passed on this.
Tracy in Atlanta
I left my iPhone at home, but did see someone playing with an iPhone at this restaurant where you can do shots with tequila that has rattlesnakes soaking in it.
WTH? I love me some tequila but politely passed on this.
Tracy in Atlanta
First WiMax provider for Australia
Hi Tom, Molly, and Jason,
I was just on my ISP's Web site checking how much of my metered bandwidth I'd used for the month when I noticed they had a press release on their site saying they have started rolling out WiMax in rural Australia, and it's backed by the Federal government.
Between this and the new Prime Minister's election promise to have fiber to the node rolled out in all Australian cities, it looks like we really might be able to get 99 percent of Australia connected to broadband like the politicians are aiming for.
Nik
Hi Tom, Molly, and Jason,
I was just on my ISP's Web site checking how much of my metered bandwidth I'd used for the month when I noticed they had a press release on their site saying they have started rolling out WiMax in rural Australia, and it's backed by the Federal government.
Between this and the new Prime Minister's election promise to have fiber to the node rolled out in all Australian cities, it looks like we really might be able to get 99 percent of Australia connected to broadband like the politicians are aiming for.
Nik
iPhones in Estonia
Since everyone is talking about iPhones in their countries, I will, too. :p There are a lot of shops selling already unlocked iPhones here, for 9K to 11K EEK, that's about $900 to $1,100. Also, Estonia doesn't have phone + gsm plans for the most part, everyone just buys a sim-card seperately to their phone. I had no idea about these gsm+phone plans or whatever until I heard about the iPhone, actually.
Fred
Since everyone is talking about iPhones in their countries, I will, too. :p There are a lot of shops selling already unlocked iPhones here, for 9K to 11K EEK, that's about $900 to $1,100. Also, Estonia doesn't have phone + gsm plans for the most part, everyone just buys a sim-card seperately to their phone. I had no idea about these gsm+phone plans or whatever until I heard about the iPhone, actually.
Fred
Skylab
Hi Buzz crew,
This is Mike from Perth, Western Australia. I'm a day behind in listening to your episodes, so apologies if this has already been discussed. The parts of Skylab that survived re-entry mostly crashed near Esperance, WA on the 11th of July, 1979 (nine days before I was born!), and I've been to see the small museum there as some of my family lives nearby. There's something cool about looking at man-made things that've flown through space, hurtled back to earth and smashed into the ground at mach eleventythree. Or maybe that's just me.
Anyway, the Esperance local government issued the U.S. with a $400 fine for littering, which remains unpaid. I figure by now we can pick ourselves up a nice Nimitz-class aircraft carrier with the overdue fees.
Anyway, love the show, thanks for keeping us all entertained and informed.
-Mike
P.S. Fordo rocks :)
Hi Buzz crew,
This is Mike from Perth, Western Australia. I'm a day behind in listening to your episodes, so apologies if this has already been discussed. The parts of Skylab that survived re-entry mostly crashed near Esperance, WA on the 11th of July, 1979 (nine days before I was born!), and I've been to see the small museum there as some of my family lives nearby. There's something cool about looking at man-made things that've flown through space, hurtled back to earth and smashed into the ground at mach eleventythree. Or maybe that's just me.
Anyway, the Esperance local government issued the U.S. with a $400 fine for littering, which remains unpaid. I figure by now we can pick ourselves up a nice Nimitz-class aircraft carrier with the overdue fees.
Anyway, love the show, thanks for keeping us all entertained and informed.
-Mike
P.S. Fordo rocks :)
Saw the craziest thing today
So I'm on the city bus going to school, sitting in the very front like all nerds do. I take a quick look to the back of the bus, and I see a guy hold up his Zune to another passenger and asks if she has one. Surprisingly, she did! They began to talk and started sharing music between each other. It was a sight to see. Maybe there's something to this whole "the social" thing after all.
Jonny from Connecticut
So I'm on the city bus going to school, sitting in the very front like all nerds do. I take a quick look to the back of the bus, and I see a guy hold up his Zune to another passenger and asks if she has one. Surprisingly, she did! They began to talk and started sharing music between each other. It was a sight to see. Maybe there's something to this whole "the social" thing after all.
Jonny from Connecticut
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. 
are you sure Molly isn't from Greenville? Check out this mOllet!
http://www.korteco.com/ben/mollet.jpg
Ben from Highland (GO BULLDOGS!)
Jim
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by bknowledge
January 31, 2008 2:41 PM PST
- This may be crazy but did TMJ just hit on a possible new form of protection for the movie industry. What if movies only came on Blu-Ray disc while HD-DVD is used mainly as storage and for software distribution like Tom said. That would greatly limit the ?casual file copier? as most PCs would ship with only HD-DVD drives because that would suit the needs of most users.
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