BOL 1065: HP is full of stupid
The new DreamScreen tablet from HP looks like what everyone wants from Apple at first glance. Until we dig deeper and find out it may be what nobody wants. The music publishers also seem like they're full of stupid too wanting to get a performance right for you watching a TV show alone in your room. And Cooley and I get in a knock-down over Kurt Cobain's proper presentation in Guitar Hero.
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EPISODE 1065
Music publishers want more $$ for downloads, movies, and song previews
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10355448-93.html
Skype founders file copyright suit against Skype
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10355258-2.html
Zune HD apps are here… complete with preroll ads
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/09/zune-hd-apps-are-here-complete-with-pre-roll-ads.ars
The long-awaited DreamScreen tablet computer comes from HP, not Apple
http://venturebeat.com/2009/09/16/the-long-awaited-dreamscreen-tablet-computer-comes-from-hp-not-apple/
Clearwire says it’s not married to WiMAX for 4G, would be easy to switch
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/clearwire-says-its-not-married-to-wimax-for-4g-would-be-easy-t/
Google lets you custom-print millions of public-domain books
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/09/google-books-publish-on-demand/
1 in 5 offices use Google Docs
http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/google-docs-widely-used-1-in-5-workplaces-132
Audiovox and FLO-TV formally launch in-car TV platform
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS97347+17-Sep-2009+PRN20090917
Hands-on: Haiku, the future of BeOS, is pure poetry
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/09/hands-on-with-haiku-back-to-the-future-of-beos.ars
Bon Jovi supports Cobain protest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8259846.stm
VOICE MAIL
Anonymous about the Android vs.
iPhone
Anonymous about Apple taking store down
Hey Buzzcrew,
Just listening to episode 1064 and had to comment on a quick way to handle turning off your check engine light, without having to even spend $20 on the device Rafe mentioned. Provided you've fixed the problem that caused the light to turn on, you can shut it off (in most cars I've worked on, can't speak for every model out there...) by simply unhooking the negative terminal of the car battery, letting it sit for about 20 minutes, then rehooking up the battery and starting the car. This basically resets the engine computer, and since the car will detect nothing wrong, as you've fixed the problem, the check engine light will stay off. The only downside is, you'll lose all your radio presets. Hope this helps someone out there.
Love the show!
Jeremy Hess
***********
Regarding the XP issue from episode 1064, here are some additional details from Microsoft available in entirety at http://www.microsoft.com/oem/english/content/software/XPEOL.mspx. I'm looking forward to Windows 7 also.
On June 30, 2008, Microsoft will stop distributing Windows XP as a standalone product that can be bought shrink-wrapped in retail stores. We'll also stop sending it to Dell, HP, Lenovo, and all the other major PC manufacturers to sell on their PCs. This is called ―End of Sale‖.
That said, Windows XP isn't going to disappear overnight.
You may still see copies of the software--or computers preloaded with it--for months as stores and PC makers work through their inventory. Also, system builders can continue to sell PCs with Windows XP until January 2009.
Finally, Microsoft recently announced that computers with limited hardware capabilities--devices sometimes called Netbooks or ultralow-cost PC s (ULCPC)--can carry Windows XP Home until June 2010. (Read about the ULCPC program on Microsoft PressPass.)
Have fun,
Darwin
***********
This is Dr George, the kidney doc and I was listening to podcast 1064
and thinking “finally, the topic of urine is a subject that I can sink
my teeth into”. Urine that is dumped in the sky can shine because of
crystals in the urine, such as calcium or urate crystals.
Maybe the astronauts had some kidney stones? Ouch!
Luckily urine is usually sterile, so no worries about it showering on
you, unless the urine housed a urinary tract infection. In any case
urine sometimes smells foul, especially if, as Molly suggested, it was
old stagnant urine left standing for months.
Enough about my life, and yes, this falls under the category of “Too
much info”!
Love the show!
Dr George
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. 
Unfortunately, in Guitar Hero, they do NOT spend a lot of time on the graphical/animation portion of the game, since the game revolves around the functionality and not the graphics. Graphics are always secondary, but especially in GH. This is unfortunate, because they could do so much more. They're just using general movements when they don't need to do so.
In conclusion the Chimp should be quiet rather then wield an old mans ignorant views of a medium he clearly isn't orientd in and knows NOTHING about.
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by backwerds
September 21, 2009 12:05 PM PDT
- While I agree with the notion that Cooley was completely off base on his ideas of how video games work; the protest of Guitar Hero with their portrayal of Kurt Cobain is without warrant. The estate of Cobain allowed the character to be licensed to the video game franchise without concern of how the character would be portrayed on screen.
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(3 Comments)To suggest that Cobain should only be unlocked to play Nirvana songs defeats the purpose of having him be a character within the game. That is closely along the lines of a former NFL player allowing their likeness being used then being upset that they are allowed to be on a different team or their character isn't as good as they desired. As far as programming him, perhaps they should have mapped movements for his character unique to his stage presence.
In all honesty, there is no real reason to improve the graphics for the Guitar Hero or Rockband enterprise. Better graphics require longer loads and more disk space; which is better spent on the two/three areas that these games should be focused on, music selection, load time, and sounds of each song for the audience.