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October 24, 2007 11:21 AM PDT

Episode 589: The mother of all patents

by Molly Wood
OK, so, IBM files an application for the ultimate patent--the one that crushes all other patent wannabes, including trolls and, OK, anyone with a patentable idea. We feel a little dirty for wondering...would that be any worse than the current system? Guest host: Rafe Needleman.

--Molly


Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 589

TODAY'S LINKS:


TODAY'S VOICE MAIL:
Loon in SF
How to get to 10 million iPhone sales by 2008.

Adam the law student
Molly is RIGHT.

John from Reno
Apple needs to keep everyone locked down because AT&T is paying them part of the subscription.

Kevin from Ontario
Secret trove of unlocked iPhones.



TODAY'S E-MAIL:
iPhone cash in for Apple employees
I couldn't help but write in, but I think the serial numbers on the non-retail employees' free iPhones were restricted on redeeming the $100 credit, because, er, a bunch of us tried to do it "just to see." We got dialog boxes saying that the credit was nonredeemable on Apple-provided phones.

It looks like maybe there was an oversight on the retail guys' phones, perhaps because they could switch them out with the plentiful stock surrounding them.

Thanks for the podcast guys, love the show!!!

:)
_allie

Amazon awarded patent for URLs
Oh my God. What is the patent office thinking?

As a Web developer, I've been doing this for years.

Kind regards,

Andrew

UCLA sells out to the RIAA
Well that didn't take long. UCLA just sent out this e-mail to all its students shining a big spotlight on the recent $9,250/song RIAA court ruling, and advising them to visit campusdownloading.com for more info. Sounds suspicious...because it is! A whois lookup shows that it's registered to Widmeyer Communications, which as it turns out is a PR firm for--you guessed it--the RIAA! I can't say that I'm surprised.

Anonymous

Sprint and WiMax
In reference to your discussion on show 588 about Sprint possibly dumping WiMax:

I shouldn't be sending you this considering I work for Sprint, but I can tell you for a fact that Sprint is not abandoning WiMax. Yesterday, Oct 23, Sprint internally announced that the first successful data test was completed eariler this month in Illinois. Tranfer speeds were in excess of 3MBs.

Sprint tends to only offically announce positive news, so I am taking them at its word here.

Anonymous Sprint Employee

San Diego fires and Google Maps
Moratorium lifted

Intense Google map being updated regularly.

Here's another with more maps from Google, Berkeley, NASA, and others...

You guys stay safe.

Ethan

As host of the Buzz Report video series, Molly provides a fresh and funny perspective on the latest consumer electronic products to hit the market, as well as commentary on the stories and development that she thinks are truly buzz-worthy. She is also co-host of Buzz Out Loud, CNET's "podcast of indeterminate length," which entertains listeners with a funny and skeptical take on the day's technology news. Her other podcast, Gadgettes, is proof that girls can be geeks too.
Recent posts from Buzz Out Loud Blog
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Add a Comment (Log in or register)
Google IMAP
by saralsth October 24, 2007 10:30 PM PDT
Google enabling IMAP is great news... Its very annoying to delete and email twice, especially because I use both my PC and my iPhone to access Gmail.

At first when I enabled POP access to my iPhone and read some emails and deleted them, they were still there in my Inbox when I accessed my account my my computer! Strange, I thought, but now I know why that happened...

Gmail hasn't been kind enough to give me the privilage of IMAP yet, but it'll be on in one week's time. It'll be great!

Warm Greetings from the future...
Saral Shrestha,
Kathmandu, Nepal.

P.S. Its already 25th of October here in Nepal. Its funny that whenever I listen to your podcasts in the morning here in Kathmandu, I'm always a day ahead of you. Hehe.
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Buzz Out Loud features Tom Merritt, producer Jason Howell, and a rotating roundtable of CNET's top tech experts reviewing the day's tech news. Each episode, five times a week, the crew analyzes, interprets, and argues about what all this technology means and what it's doing to us. Fans can join in the show by calling 1-800-616-2638, e-mailing at buzz@cnet.com, or commenting on the blog.


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