Buzz Out Loud 819: Laptop size doesn't matter

Natali says she giggles when she sees guys using the tiny little Eee PC. But she doesn't question their manliness. Engnr_Chik thinks Netbooks are for everyone. Plus we speculate on the rush to release a prebeta of Windows 7, demand Wal-Mart do something about their forlorn DRM music tracks, and I'm possibly moving to Japan. Or New York. Or space.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 819

Japan to get 1Gbps home fiber connections
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/27/1757211

SpaceX orbits success with Falcon 1
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10053326-76.html

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/space-x-did-it.html

Windows 7 to finally go public in late October
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080929-windows-7-to-finally-go-public-in-late-october.html

Wal-Mart shutting off DRM servers, turning over a new leaf
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/28/walmart-shutting-off-drm-servers-turning-over-a-new-leaf/

Alcatel’s $1.5 billion MP3 patent payout denied on appeal
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080928-court-denies-alcatels-appeal-to-reinstate-1-5-billion-judgment-against-microsoft.html

AT&T drops Dish for DirecTV
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10052944-94.html

TiVo's software launches on a PC
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-tivos-software-launches-on-a-pc/

New TiVo UI (thanks tales!!!)
http://www.slashgear.com/tivo-new-user-interface-in-testing-features-picture-in-guide-at-last-2917609/

Sprint goes live with XOHM WiMax service in downtown Baltimore
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/29/sprint-goes-live-with-xohm-wimax-service-in-downtown-baltimore/

New Zune music from Fania
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/sep08/09-29FaniaRecordsPR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases

War crimes video games
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7638581.stm

VOICE MAIL

Chris from Portland
What about Indies in the cloud?

Librarian Cat
Little Brother review

E-MAIL

Hey Jamoto + 1,

I have to agree with RogueTess and Molly from Episode 818 - smallish Netbooks are great. I bought a 20GB 901 eee PC in July and I love it. It came with a Linux distribution, but I installed XP on it.

A big reason why I bought the Eee is its compact size. I just got back from 2 weeks on the island of Hawaii and I brought the Eee with me. Although we spent the first four nights in a little cottage in the middle of nowhere, the rest of the trip was spent in a B&B and a condo that both had Wi-Fi, so we were able to research our day excursions like horseback riding through the Waipio Valley (vy-pee-oh), find restaurant Web sites for phone numbers and menus, check e-mail confirmations, and most importantly keep on top of my NFL Pick-em group, which you can ask Jason about. Ask him who’s in first place, go ahead ask him.

Plus, even though it lacks a DVD drive, I was able to rent a couple of movies from Amazon to watch on the plane.

Also, the Netbook is not just for chicks. A dude I used to work with bought the 1000h Eee because he takes frequent trips on his motorcycle and it packs nicely in his road trip bags.

Love the show,
engnr_chik from the chat room.

I found the location of the Russian “happy face” on Google maps from
episode 817

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IeJHb-2CVGM/SNUFiyTlEHI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/shQMNh5h89o/s1600-h/smiley-1000.jpg

here it is on google maps

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=russland%2C%20Oblast%20Tscheljabinsk%20Tscheljabinsk&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Note the Identical traffic around the square, parked cars and shadows etc.
I was very sad about discovering this, because:

1. I felt happy that hundreds of Russian folks had such a sense of
community that they could get together and build a happy face.

2. A kinder, gentler graffiti has not made it big on the interwebs
after all.

3. …and worst of all, this means there really was no Vodka garden.

Spasiba for nothing, slashdot.

Aaron, Chico, Calif.

Sorry, I got behind on my podcasts and just heard Jason volunteer to go up on the space elevator.

Not going to happen.

The elevator is for freight only. Humans will still go up in launch vehicles. The reason is that the trip up will take days and the radiation would kill anything alive. The point of the elevator is to take cargo up.

1. For about $400/pound (instead of the $10,000/pound it costs on a rocket)

2. On a regularly scheduled basis (unlike rockets that get delayed almost every time

For more information...
http://www.liftport.com
Al

JaMoTong:

You guys got it a bit wrong about Windows 7’s decoupling from Movie Maker, and so on. The Windows Live versions of these apps are *not* run from the cloud: they are actual desktop applications that you can currently install from http://get.live.com. A lot of these replace existing Vista applications (photo gallery, mail, what have you) and are quite frankly a lot better. While they do have functionality that makes them play nicely with online services (like automatic settings for Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo when you’re setting up an account in the mail client), fear not: they still save stuff to your computer, and they do not require any kind of internet connection to be rad.

Except Live Writer, the blogging application. I guess that wouldn’t be very rad without an Internet connection. Unless you just liked to pretend you were blogging for real.

-Jeff from Seattle