Buzz Out Loud 999: Gosh darnit to heck, AT&T!

Natali got a little flustered when we learned that AT&T is changing the subsidy so that folks who thought they would have to pay more might not have to. But it's OK: if you preordered, the company will refund the difference. So she calmed down eventually. We also discuss China backpedaling on the filter software, and the need to encrypt.

EPISODE 999

iPhone OS 3.0 wide release coming Wednesday
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10265918-37.html
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/17/stop-hitting-f5-iphone-os-3-0-release-still-hours-away/

June 17 Announcement: iPhone 3G S upgrade eligibility update
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=1574

Apple/iTunes doesn’t like supporting the Pre
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/16/apple-says-itunes-syncing-only-for-apple-devices-looks-sternly/

China backpedals on filtering software
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-06-16-china-web-filtering_N.htm?csp=34

Windows 7 downgrade to XP limited to 6 months
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10265750-56.html

Firefox 3.5 ‘Web upgrade’ planned for end of June
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10265652-2.html

AT&T and Verizon deny price fixing SMS
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2348890,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

Gmail may HTTPS encrypt everything all the time
http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/06/https-security-for-web-applications.html

NSA e-mail surveillance pervasive and ongoing
http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/06/17/1323207/NSA-Email-Surveillance-Pervasive-and-Ongoing

Disney Asus Netpal Netbook…get ‘em young!
http://blogs.usatoday.com/technologylive/2009/06/disney-asus-team-up-on-netbook.html
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/16/disney-and-asus-announce-netpal-netbook-for-kids/

VOICEMAIL
Remy – very excited about Apple 3GS

Anonymous – Google Voice frustration

Christy L – HD Makeup

E-MAIL
Buzz crew,

You have mentioned this story previously – thank you for that as I
have been the person publicizing it – but the telephone incumbent TDS
just lost its last opportunity to appeal at the Supreme Court. A full
2 days before the city would have lost the investor money (they had
one year from the lawsuit start), the Supreme Court declined to review
the Appeals Court judgment. The City is now moving forward with its
all fiber network.

I have put the details up at muninetworks.org

Thank you for mentioning this story, over the past year, folks in
Monticello took great heart that people were watching from across the
country, indeed planet when one counts your listeners.

Christopher Mitchell
Director, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
http://www.newrules.org/information/
http://www.muninetworks.org

**********

Hey guys, just thought I’d make you aware of plans in the uk to pay
for faster broadband in the long run by charging 50p per month ontop
of our landline bills. Currently in Britain the majority of people
have a landline with a line rental payable to ‘British Telecoms’ even
if you have another provider, so a £10 per month phone package starts
to cost £20. And with the prices of mobile Internet, mobile calls and
voip services (especially being free on mobile carrier ‘Three’)
becoming more popular and cheaper it is conceivable that the only
people paying for this upgrade are going to be the ones that aren’t
actually going to require it, namely the older technophobics who will
never ditch their landline and never been online. Anyway just though
I’d let you know what was going on this side of the Atlantic. Have a
great 1000th.

Si from Sheffield, England.

**********

here is a quick video showing the augmented reality possibilities that the compass in the new iPhone will unlock. This is already on G1. As you can see, this seemingly pointless feature can have some pretty remarkable affects on the apps created for the iPhone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b64_16K2e08

Donald S. Clark
University of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign

**********

Hi Buzz Crew,

Let me cut to the chase. I heard on last Friday’s episode that this 1,000th Buzz Out Loud Podcast is going to be “longer.” How much longer will it be?

As much as I enjoy listening to the daily audio podcast, a longer one is not going to work for me. If the 1,000 episode was two months ago I would have jumped for joy (I “used to” listen at work). Recently, I’ve made a deal with myself (and my wife-to-be) that leading up to our wedding, I would go to the gym in an effort to be healthier (not as fat). I begin and end my routine with Buzz Out Loud. I press “play” on my 2nd gen ipod (I know I’m behind the times) to begin my work out, and I and end it the second the closing music finishes. If I’m in the middle of a set, it doesn’t matter, I stop and I leave. You see, I HATE the BORING gym. It’s the bane of my existence.

So that said, you will KILL ME if I have to work out for an hour and a half, or god forbid, two hours. I promise I will curse your names down to the last email, caller, or heaven help us, horrible Opera reference…

Speaking of Opera, Can someone please tell me why our country is so ridiculous that a company, such as Microsoft, can’t include or make their software the “default” browser within…well…. their software? What happened to a little elbow grease? If you have a browser “Opera” and you think you should have the right to be on someone’s machine, do what every company on the planet has done to gain market-share. “Do a little advertising. Make a better product. Creatively distribute it.” Perhaps that will help you get your product to the masses & gain some name recognition. I don’t recall firefox ever having a pity-party. I don’t hear them running to big brother, crying “It’s not fair! It’s too hard for me to get into the game.” Grow up, learn to hit, and then maybe you’ll get to play. Why does everyone think they deserve a trophy?

Thanks for listening. Thanks for sometimes having unusually short podcasts. Finally, Thanks for being my daily hub into the tech world. Congratulations on 1,000!

Sincerely,
Joe Pifher (Pie-fur).

**********

The 1000th episode is tomorrow! There will be no pre-show, here will be a live audience it will be streamed live on cnet.com/live. There will be audio and video on demand afterwards in the normal podcast feeds.

1000th episode meetup in San Francisco: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113374732587

Send us buzz at buzz@cnet.com or call us at 1-800-616-CNET (2638)