Buzz Out Loud 646: Twitter Novel

Twitter Bacn: Twitter is not a "life aggregator"

Amazon ID3 tag debacle
Quoth the article:

"Now the mystery is solved!

It turns out that the user had a file-permissions problem with his Amazon MP3s-and that there's nothing proprietary on Amazon MP3s after all:

Thanks to some help from an Amazon employee in the Boing Boing comments, we figured the initial customer service rep who told me "it's proprietary" was misinformed. This led me back to poking around on my system, at which point I discovered the MP3 files only had read permissions for my user account, when I made them readable for other users, both mpd and mt-daapd were able to find them."

Rorik

CRIA does sue its fans
CRIA does sue its fans. Just not successfully. CRIA filed a lawsuit against 29 file sharers in 2004, but the case was dismissed by the Supreme Court of Canada. Ars Technica has updated its story to reflect this. The story now links to a post by Michael Geist about this.

Stephen

Unlimited SMS
I have unlimited SMS and data on Helio. --Sara from Los Angeles

I have a T-Mobile Sidekick and the $20/Month UNLIMITED data plan includes unlimited SMS/MMS/Email/Data! --Jason, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I have unlimited SMS with my family plan on AT&T. --Anna ( that's Aw-nuh by the way. A as in aardvark, not anteater)

Ian the college student here. Verizon does indeed offer an unlimited texting option.

Check out these awesome plans: http://www.mycricket.com/cricketplans/ and http://www.metropcs.com/ZipCode.aspx --Anish

Altell still offers unlimited text messaging plans but prefer to sell per message plans. --Jared

As a Sprint employee, I feel it is my duty to inform you that Sprint offers an unlimited SMS messaging plan for $10 a month. Please switch to Sprint, we're gettting better I swear. :-)--Logan

Update for Airport Extreme coming Friday
Hey guys -

It's me again. Fordo, from New York City. I just called and left you a message telling you that there would be a Mac upgrade this week for the Airport Extreme so that one can use a hard drive wirelessly with one's MacBook. Which is awesome. I, like so many of your listeners, had recently purchased an Airport Extreme so I was really bummed when the Jobster didn't mention an upgrade for it when he introduced Time Capsule at MacWorld last week. So anyway, here is the link to the article about that (and other) Mac upgrades coming soon. I am actually a couple of days behind on my BOL podcasts so if you already know this info--sorry!

Also, in addition to my really liking your new bangs, Molly, and really jonesing to see what you look like, Jason, (just in a curious way, not in a creepy stalker way), I also wanted to tell you people that one of the reasons that I always look fwd to listening to you on my walk and subway ride to work every day is because you guys are all so nice. I mean, if I didn't know better, I would swear you are all Canadian. Even Veronica. So so nice. All four of you. And Bonnie, and Brian, and all your other guests. It's awesome. I used to work at The Motley Fool, and I imagine CNET has a similar sort of corporate culture and attracts a similar sort of person to work there. Despite my having worked at The Fool, I am actually not that nice. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm nice. But I am also kinda prone to calling people morons or idiots or dumbasses a lot--at least in my head or behind their backs, if such name-calling is called for--and let's face it, it often is. It doesn't seem like you guys would do that. I'm sure you do sometimes, but in general, I think you lean way more toward the Canadian end of the scale than you do the, say, Larry David end of the scale. (Love LD, btw...but you know what I mean.)

Anyway, I have been listening for a couple of years now and I love when the little wheel turns around in my iTunes next to BOL bc that means I get a new podcast! It's the best. Love watching all the CNET videos on my TiVo and on my iPod and listening to BOL and other CNET podcasts. I am totally a huge fangirl. So thanks for being a part of my Monday thru Fridays!

Adios, amigos (and ga), Fordo

Comcast DVR
Hey Buzz,

Just wanted to let you know that a DVR on Comcast is $12.95 a month per DVR (which also includes the on-demand) and the TiVo is an additional $2.95 no matter how many boxes you have.

Mike
Gardner, Massachusetts

WiMax massive rollout throughout a country--in India in 2010
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/24/indian-telecom-company-to-rollout-massive-wimax-network/ Excerpt:

Even as Sprint tentatively rolls out the XOHM network here in the States, the largest Indian telecom company is planning to build a mobile WiMax network covering three states on the subcontinent capable of serving 250 million people.

A few thoughts on this:

1. I think this shows the strong interest of wireless over landlines due to less physical infrastructure of wireless in such a high population density country.
2. Imagine this: You're in the high hills in South India, surrounded tea fields producing a deep, green velvet blanketing the hills around for miles and miles and a pure blue sky above you. It's New Years Day and while you enjoy the scenery and fresh air, you catch up with your family in another continent via Webcam from your handheld Internet device while on a walk through the fields just next to your room at a cozy, (and usually affordable) hilltop hotel. Nice, huh! :)
3. You may sacrifice some western comforts...but if you like the varieties of Indian food, you'd probably eat well! ;)

Best,
Shalin