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June 6, 2008 12:11 PM PDT

Buzz Out Loud 740: iTunes bombing

by Molly Wood
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How to get to the top of the iTunes podcast list--we think. We'll let you know Monday. Also, breaking news! Amazon goes down midshow! Was it something we said? In other news, we attempt to solve issues of global hypercapitalism, the growth imperative, and their inevitable consumer-unfriendly consequences. Plus, we find out why you have to go through voicemail hell when you call customer support, and the answer makes us lose our ever-loving minds.
Listen now: Download today's podcast

Episode 740

ISP secretly added spy code To Web sessions, crashing browsers
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/isp-spying-made.html
http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/British_Telecom_Phorm_Page_Sense_External_Validation_report (Thanks Nate!)

Groups call for investigation of ISP ad targeting
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/146789/groups_call_for_investigation_of_isp_ad_targeting.html

Warner: OK, we admit, Pirate Bay cop was a little compromised
http://mashable.com/2008/06/05/warner-pirate-bay-cop-compromised/

Google to let users test new Gmail features
http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9961185-2.html

Prediction: Apple's 3G iPhone will include a price drop
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=728

Apple 2.0 Microsoft packs 36 iPhone digs into one 7-paragraph letter
http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/06/06/microsoft-packs-36-iphone-digs-into-one-7-paragraph-letter/

Is the Verizon-Alltel deal good for consumers?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9961488-7.html

How much do you hate that ad? Facebook wants to know
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9961195-36.html

Quantum computing advance--diamonds are a qubit's best friend
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080605-quantum-computing-advancediamonds-are-a-qubits-best-friend.html

Operation iScam
http://revision3.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19454

Rubik’s Cube algorithm cut again, down to 23 moves
http://science.slashdot.org/science/08/06/05/2054249.shtml

Voice mail

Anna
Here’s an old phrase.

Dr. Rob
Free medical advice for Molly.

E-mail

The original iPhone

So I was listening to Dialed In today and they were talking about the 3G
iPhone (no big surprise there), and they mentioned an article on Wired
that apparently talked about some of the expected specs of this new
incarnation of the Jesus phone. This piqued my interest, so I decided to
go look up the article. I went to wired.com and searched for iPhone (a
fairly reasonable search, I would assume), and the first result was an
unexpected article from 1995 talking about a new piece of software
called “Internet Phone” or “IPhone” for short, and how internet
telephony is the future and will kill the traditional phone system. The
thing that got me was on the first page talking about the “stringent
system requirements” which they list as ” a fast 486, 8 Mbytes of RAM, a
16-bit sound card, and a SLIP or PPP connection”. Below is a link to the
article. It is a bit long, but is an interesting read. With all of the
hype surrounding the 3G iPhone, I figured this would be a funny break
from the norm. Love the show!

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.10/iphone.html

-Ryan Rapp
Boise, Idaho

*****************

3g iPhone release date

I’ve just noticed that Apples WWDC(world wide developer conference)
should be starting exactly the time BOL is starting next Monday.
Perhaps you could put in some spare time for a live update every once in
a while. Possibly even think about starting BOL an hour or two late so
you can cover everything that happened, considering the anticipation for
the event (that will probably turn out to be nothing) is huge. Just an
idea.

Love the show,

Brandon

*****************

Our robot overlords will have us seated

Good Friday morning to you all. I just found this on one of the blogs I
read and thought you’d enjoy it too.
It’s a project of a designer that combines tech into a library. Very
interesting, lets just hope we don’t get carried away, literally!

http://momeld.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/take-a-seat/
Take a look at the video, it’s worth it.

Nuno from CT (nthsquare in the chat room and forums)

*****************

InstallShield

Hey Buzz Crew,
After listening to the story about Installshield including the Yahoo
toolbar in their software I wanted to point out that the article does
say that the application developers who use Installshield have the
option of whether or not they want to include the toolbar in their setup
program. I would hope that most companies would not want to bloat their
setup files and tick off their customers by including the Yahoo toolbar.
Unless Yahoo is giving them an incentive to bundle it, I’m not sure why
they would.

Oh, and about the exploding DVD’s. If they really did explode I WOULD
pay $5 for them. If the movie sucked you would at least get the
satisfaction of watching it blow up! Heck, I might not even watch the
movie. I’ll just wait 48 hours for the finale.

Love the show!
Scott from Houston

*****************

Tracking study

I don’t have much of a problem with the tracking study; they were using
anonymized data and only had a resolution of 1 square mile which in any
urban or suburban area leaves a lot of leeway as to where you are. It
isn’t any more offensive to me than, say, Google releasing stats about
which web browsers and screen sizes from various countries. If either
the anonymization or the resolution of the project had changed I would
become concerned but in the way the study was conducted the method seems
innocent enough to me.

-Brian

*****************

Corporate voice mail button-pushing tooliness

You know when you get told “this call may be recorded for quality
purposes”? I’m the chick who listens to those calls and watches what’s
on the customer service rep’s screen. My work is hilarious.

Although it won’t decrease the method’s TQ (Tooliness Quotient), here’s
why you have to call that specific number even when it routes you to the
same call center as all the other numbers, and to the same irritating
prompts for button pushing: marketing. They want to know what you think
you’re calling for, where you got your information, general demographic
stuff, and if you get a human being s/he will answer the phone based on
not only which buttons you picked but which line you called in on.
Hence Douglas Adams’ opinion of marketing departments.

Show the love. I mean….. well, you know.

Karen
Scottsdale, AZ

*****************

jDome’s first public test!

Loved that you featured me on the show (#726) - to bad I only found out
about it just now.

Seemed I did a little too good a job on this looking like a big company
(except for my English that is). Basically I’m just one guy who has made
all that you see in my basement and a friend videotaped me.

Well a lot of things has happened after the promo was launched (which
I’d love to tell you about if you interviewed me on the show ;-)

For one, Swedish Game Awards asked me to show off the jDome at their
final day - and here are people’s reactions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvQfpsIQLuE

And next week I seem to be off for Dreamhack (world’s largest lan-party)
who also invited me after they’d seen the promo. And more…

Best Regards,
John Nilsson
http://www.jdome.com

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.
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by ALibertarian June 6, 2008 7:08 PM PDT
Reality check! OK Buzz crew, you frequently talk about flat panels TVs ("who doesn't have a flat screen"), downloading movies ("walmart trying to save blu-ray because everyone will be D/Ling no need for media"), etc., etc.

Wake up call. The vast majority of the country:
1. Doesn't have a flat panel
2. Doesn't have HD TV, hence blu-ray is a moot point
3. Couldn't D/L a SD movie in less than a day, let alone HD
4. Doesn't have a computer or connection that can even D/L your show in a reasonable amount of time.

So, when you are going on about what might die, like blu-ray, think again. It will be a long time before most of us will be able to afford your toys.

Still love to listen when I can but remember, you folks aren't on the leading edge, you're very near the bleeding edge.

A Libertarian, Atlanta
Reply to this comment
by Arthur Belle Dent June 6, 2008 8:44 PM PDT
I always knew Tom had the answers to Everything, I guess he also has the Answer to Life and the Universe.
Reply to this comment
by June 9, 2008 7:18 AM PDT
Molly,

What is it you hate about Windows Mobile? I have had the Palm OS, but gave it up for Windows Mobile and have not looked back. I love it. I am looking forward to the HTC Diamond Touch and don't even care to get an I-Phone. For me it is function over form, though form is coming along nicely. I know that is the opposite of most people. I sure would like to know why you hate the Windows Mobile platform so much (maybe I missed that episode).

I like the show and listen to it daily.

Thanks!
Reply to this comment
by pffft June 9, 2008 12:15 PM PDT
"Growth imperative" is not quite right. It's actually a "return" imperative. Corporations have a fiduciary responsibility to earn the best returns possible for their shareholders. That's not QUITE the same thing as GROWTH per se and it's a common misconception. Sometimes growth could actually REDUCE returns and you could, in theory, have a shareholder sue if a company irresponsibly grew (i.e. in an unwise acquisition...).

Of course, practically speaking, the return imperative is understood as an imperative to grow because revenue growth increases market capitalization which, in turn, can increase the stock price - realizing capital appreciation for investors.

But investors could also realize returns through dividends, which do not necessarily require a larger market cap.
Reply to this comment
by easy_name22 June 9, 2008 2:02 PM PDT
I miss Chad already.
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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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