TV with DVR & Internet: $84.90/moBuzz Out Loud 1009: Pirate Bay or Cruiseship Bay?
As the new owners of the Pirate Bay take over they will have to eventually change things and sell out. So Rafe has dubbed them as Cruiseship Bay. We also discuss the pyrrhic victory of RIAA over Usenet.com and Rafe and Natali hate some more on Verizon.
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EPISODE 1009 |
RIAA triumphs in Usenet copyright case
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10276607-93.html
Cash for Pirate Bay file-sharers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8128551.stm
Twitter reworks following lists, adds functionality
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10276568-26.html
Obama adminisration lauches IT spending tracking site
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/technology/01dashboard.html?_r=1
Verizon says house shoppers crave high-fiber Internet diet
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/verizon-says-house-shoppers-crave-high-fiber-internet-diet.ars
New Click-Fraud Attack Is Stealthiest Yet
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/06/30/2237256/New-Click-Fraud-Attack-Is-Stealthiest-Yet
Frustratingly long secret code enables totally useful landscape email on Pre
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/01/frustratingly-long-secret-code-enables-totally-useful-landscape/
GDGT launch
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10276755-2.html
Chicago ‘burb ditches red light cameras, no safety advantage
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/chicago-burb-ditches-red-light-cameras-no-safety-advantage.ars
Most Complete Topographical Map of Earth Complete
http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/06/30/1650208/Most-Complete-Topographical-Map-of-Earth-Complete
VOICEMAIL
Nick wants to take over the world… or at least the Internet
EMAIL
in an effort to confirm Molly’s suspicion of AT&T as the worst 3G network, i present this link to PC World’s 3G test they ran in 13 U.S. cities
summary:
Verizon=fastest
Sprint=most reliable (by a small margin over verizon)
AT&T=blows (~20% less reliable than the other 2)
and a good note at the end that seems to be a recurring statement:
“Somewhat surprisingly, our testers also found that the “bars of service” readings on their phones were rarely an accurate predictor of the quality of the ensuing connection. In most places and with most wireless providers, the “bars” did little more than indicate whether the phone had access to some service or to no service.”
thanks for an entertaining show
corey
http://www.pcworld.com/article/167391/a_day_in_the_life_of_3g.html
**********
Hi Buzz crew,
Just a quick e-mail on the subject of the Amazon referral scheme and the
impact of local tax legislation here in Hawaii.
When the legislation went through state and house, very few locals
seemed aware of it, then all of a sudden one of the members of a major
local tech community site here, TechHui, caught wind of it and alerted
everyone:
http://www.techhui.com/profiles/blogs/urgent-help-stop-hb1405-the?id=1702911%3ABlogPost%3A44364
From there numerous letters and petitions to house representatives and
Governor Lingle went out explaining the significant financial impact it
was liable to have on local business and citizens, along with TV and
radio interviews; no doubt, though, a number of residents here not
members of techhui were surprised to receive e-mails telling them their
referal income was suddenly being stopped by numerous websites, not just
Amazon.
Today it was announced that Governor Lingle has decided to Veto the bill
(HB1405), amongst others:
http://www.hawaiisenatemajority.com/wp-content/upLoads/2009/06/govs-veto-list.pdf
That was one significant hurdle, now all that’s left is to persuade the
House not to override her veto. It’s an amazing tribute to what local
communities can do if they collaborate and put the pressure on.
Paul, the Brit in Hawaii.
**********
Two things..
I don't see any risk of microbes from earth infecting another local planet, since any microbes already on the planet are well adapted to local conditions and our microbes would be wimps in comparison.
Likewise microbes from space is not a real concern...do you have ANY idea about how many different microbes/viruses are already on this planet (check out Bergey's manual for a list of sorts..it is the bible of microbiology). The competition on this planet is extreme..
Have you not heard of Darwin?
From: Bob..Your tame microbiologist.
Your discussion about NASA was very interesting....it seems to support the concepts I've outlined at http://www.h2liftship.com , which has had no response to speak of since I put it up...such is the risk of being way forward thinking..
Thanks,
Bob Freeman
**********
Hey there buzz crew
This is Rohan from India.
It is my first time writing to you guys.
Regarding the whole debate over the caps lock key, how about adapting
the “double tap” of the shift key like the
iphone/ipod touch to
regular keyboards. I too accidentally hit the damned caps lock key on
my macbook and just wish that they would get rid of it.
On other topics (just to fuel your anger towards your telecom
companies), we Indians only have to pay 1 paisa (the “cent” of Rupees)
for sending an SMS, and nothing for receiving. If you take the current
exchange rates, that would be just 0.00021 U.S. cents. Enjoy!
Oh by the way, we converted to the Metric system in 1954 and just last
year have also planted our Flag on the moon. You can ask ISRO (Indian
Space Research Organization) to help you convert NASA’s Imperial
measurements.
love the show!
Rohan
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. 
I am not a tax expert, but here in Europe we have the VAT (Value Added Tax) system which was conceived just for the purpose of avoiding double taxation when selling goods across different tax territories. If you want to find out more : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_added_tax. Good old Wikipedia...
Love the show.
Marc
Far be it from me to lock horns with Bob the Tame Microbiologist...but, I will anyway.
I worked with NASA/JPL for 6 years after grad school, and there are two issues as you have pointed out:
1) taking steps to ensure microbes from beyond earth's biosphere do not survive within earth's biosphere.
2) taking steps to ensure microbes from earth's biosphere do not survive outside of earth's biosphere.
Let's take #2 first - the reason that NASA/JPL sterilizes all of their space probes prior to launch has nothing to do with any sort of universal altruism - it never even enters the conversations that we might be giving some green critter swine flu - but it has everything to do without messing up any experimentation. All of the Martian landers, for instance, were sterilized before launch to ensure that NASA/JPL didn't register a false positive on the soil detectors caused by some little earth bugger that stowed away prior to launch.
As to #1, two refutes: as Tom pointed out in BOL 1009, yeah panspermia is seriously considered in the halls of NASA & JPL. In the extreme unlikelihood that our current biochemistry is the direct result of material arriving on the 100's of tons of flotsam and jetsam that drifts down on our world every day, there is a very good chance that those similarities in material would allow an extraterrestrial organism to survive and thrive here.
And the second refute? Yeah, Bob, I've heard of Darwinism, have you? Think cane toads in Australia. Australia has an extremely competitive ecosystem of life - and the niche occupied by toads was full to the brim, thank you very much.... but the cane toads arrived in 1935 and took over. Why? No natural predators. Result? There's 200 million of them in Australia today. It's not about competition, its about a foreign microorganism having an advantage over the indigenous microorganisms. Let's say an extraterrestrial microorganism arrives which shares no common biochemistry with our own... so any tiny predators that might have kept those newcomers in check ignore them. Now lets say those newcomers have a tendency for, say, occupying sunny patches of ground cover to the extent that they keep moss from forming because they occupy every available inch of ground...and, no local natural predators to keep them in check... see the problem?
Better safe than sorry in both instances.
Love. The. Show.
- Rob the CTO
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by Lenny_Nero
July 2, 2009 12:42 PM PDT
- For the people with the Caps-Lock key problem (and Windows boxes) I have been using a wonderful program for quite a few years now. In fact its an important part of my setup images and often causes me problems when using other peoples computers that dont have it installed.
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Like this
Reply to this comment
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(3 Comments)You can turn off the Caps-Lock key and quite a few of the other problem keys, like the F1, Insert and Windows keys, as well as having many other options that are invaluable once you start using them. Like an amazing amount of mouse short cuts.
http://pitaschio.ara3.net/manual.htm