Buzz Out Loud Podcast

AT&T had an outage yesterday morning in the bay area due to fiber-optical cables being cut. This didn't just affect landlines, but cell phones as well. Rafe describes the dangers hackers would face in trying to cut those cables. We also estimate the distance to New York as 12 worms, and give a plus-five Holy Avenger sword salute to Dave Arneson.

EPISODE 950

AT&T was vandalized in the Bay Area?
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26715

AT&T uses Twitter during service outage
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10216712-94.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10216939-94.html

Good Friday via Twitter
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10217075-36.html?tag=mncol;title

Yelp lets business owners respond now
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/technology/internet/10yelp.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10216382-2.html

Time Warner Cable lays out broadband capping plans, says $150 for “unlimited” use
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/10/time-warner-cable-lays-out-broadband-capping-plans-says-150-fo/

Amazon to sell Xbox Live games
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/08/amazon-now-selling-xbox-live-arcade-games/

Bluetooth 3.0 prepped for launch on April 21
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/04/bluetooth-30-prepped-for-launch-on-april-21.ars

Virgin $50 unlimited plan, and new plan for the laid off
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2344760,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

Cold, dead hand of Frank Herbert reaches up from grave, stabs Dune Second Life megafans in the back
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/09/cold-dead-hand-of-fr.html

Mixed answers to “Is it OK for a Library to lend a Kindle?”
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6649814.html&

Woman watches home burglarized on Netcam, vectors the cops in FTW!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30151019#30151019

Researchers build ‘flying’ micro-robot
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10216870-76.html

Researcher resurrects the first computer
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/10/1425220&from=rss

RIP Dave Arneson, 1947-2009
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/09/rip-dave-arneson-194.html

VOICEMAIL
Josh in Salt Lake City
Gigabit not Gigabyte

Bill
A question for the author’s guild

E-MAIL
Hello Buzzcrew +1,

I have a bit of a well actually for you. In episode 945 Rafe and Tom mentioned that monkeys and dogs can’t do calculus. Well actually, a math professor from a college near my hometown has published several papers about his corgi’s ability to perform calculus on the fly.

An article about the duo can be found here: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/7051/title/Calculating_Dogs

And if you really want details, one of the papers can be found here: http://www.maa.org/features/elvisdog.pdf

Love the show,
-Jake (the computer science student)

**********

http://www.snopes.com/science/lightbulb.asp

hi bol’rs - just wanted to pass this along for natalie - the oldest
working light bulb is in a firehouse in california and has been on
since 1901. - http://www.centennialbulb.org/index.htm

andy b
video geek & fountain of useless knowledge
http://www.rwvc.tv

**********

Tom, Natali, Jason and guest,

In episode 949 you read an email were the user said they would need to downgrade to Windows XP in order to run old programs. Windows Vista (and I expect Windows 7) support a compatibility mode for previous versions of Windows:

Right mouse click on the "exe" file for the program.

Select Properties.

Click on the "Compatibility" tab.

Check the box "Run this program in compatibility mode for:"

From the pull down menu select the Windows version you wish to run in. Options include:
Server 3003
XP
2000
NT 4.0
98/ME
Windows 95

Yes you can run in Windows Frakkin 95 mode. Does Apple offer this level of backwards compatibility, I doubt it. Byte me Apple.

Love the show,

RJ

**********

Hi BOL Crew(of the day),

I am happy to bring news of a game company that seems to finally have the right idea about DRM.

Stardock recently sent me an email/spam that was trying to sell me the stand alone expansion to Company of Heroes, called Tales of Valor.

They offer it through “Impulse” which is similar to “Steam” for downloading game titles instead of buying off of the shelf.

The BIG news is that they claim that their new technology will Only limit the game to the person and you can install it on any number of machines!
They call it Goo or Game Object Obfuscation technology. It will keep the game up to date and associates the game with the person rather than the machine!!!

Wow, if it actually works.. THEY GOT IT RIGHT!
I felt obligated to write this email to you because of the shared angst about game DRM that I share with you all.

Kudos To Stardock.

Love the Show.
Barry in Napa.

EPISODE 796

Apple event for September 9
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/08/25/rumor-apple-event-for-september-9th

Network notary system thwarts man-in-the-middle attacks
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080826-network-notary-system-thwarts-man-in-the-middle-attacks.html
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/New-Firefox-Extension-Thwarts-MITM-Attacks-97239

Drawings of Android phone revealed
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10025919-94.html
http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/26/htcs-dream-a-super-skinny-qwerty/

Google drops Bluetooth API from Android 1.0
http://mobile.slashdot.org/mobile/08/08/26/168251.shtml

No foreign URLs? Top domain registrar blocked in China.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13908_3-10025595-59.html

Bank customer data sold on eBay
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7581540.stm

Amazon to acquire book-networking site
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10025741-93.html

Apple shuts OpenClip: No more copy-and-paste.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10025034-16.html

Fuel-Cell car-racing series aims to spur green motoring
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/26/1232206

Japanese with common last name Yoda denied Facebook account
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/08/26/japanese-with-last-n.html

VOICEMAIL

Robert in Edinburgh
On the 3G Apple reception tests.

Fordo
On Schneider and iPhone

Chris
I have a question.

FORUMS

HELP FIND TRIP!!!
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6035_102-0.html?forumID=97&threadID=306047

E-MAIL

Regarding episode #795, the development of artificial cat brains is hardly an accomplishment. As a cat owner of many years, what you call a cat brain, I call “any inanimate object in my house.” A book comes when it’s called just as much as any cat and cares just as much about your existence. Even sea monkeys can interact with you more than a cat and sea monkey brains are probably easier to make. Since all cats are a whisker away from feral anyway, I suppose this is a good way to hasten artificial intelligence so we can be the discardable playthings of our robotic overlords all the sooner.

Sea monkeys love the show. Cats do not.

Daniel

Any members of the Cult of the Cat who can’t stand maligned felines should e-mail the show.

**********

Jamoto

I know, I know…this should be going to CNET feedback, but much like the automated customer-service numbers, I decided to just hit zero and go straight to the operator. I am liking the organization of the new CNET with one aesthetic, yet significant exception. Where did the yellow go? It's part of your brand. A black header? You are not the New York Times…you are better than that; you are CNET. It's like IBM deciding it will now be Big Orange. It doesn't make any sense. There is still time…bring your sexy back.

-Dominic
Austin, TX

**********

Yo ho, Buzz maties!

Arrggh, ehhem uhm… I too hate the new CNET page for
various reasons, not in terms of the design theme of the
logo and color scheme, but because there is no BOL on the
front page! What’s up with that? I already complained
to the feedback page but I thought I should let some
other Buzz Listeners who haven’t gotten a look at the
new CNET know.

Love the Show (On the Front Page)

Andrew Knight

**********

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/08/nextworth-will.html

Glad I waited to buy the first iPhone.

Now glad I’m waiting to buy the second one.

Frank

**********

I was actually just required to buy an e-book for one of my classes. The price for the actual book: $104.00; and the e-book was actually cheaper (amazing, right?). Well, it actually cost: $94.75. Yeah, so they spend $10 on manufacturing and distribution and the rest is still needed for whatever they need money for? I don’t think so. RIP OFF.

Jared the Web developer

Episode 756

Save Windows XP
http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/archives/2008/06/editors_blog_sa.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/30/BUDG11GE33.DTL

Google taps ‘Family Guy’ guy for Web series
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9980226-7.html

A movie on your TV at home, before you can rent it
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/technology/30sony.html

GoDaddy VP caught bidding against customers
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/29/0625249

Tech giants form group to buy patents
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9980343-7.html

Get a ticket, get a free gadget
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9979488-7.html

'Unprecedented pent-up demand' for Apple iPhone 3G, RBC says
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/6/unprecedented-demand-for-apple-iphone-3g

Princeton University to publish Kindle textbooks
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9979179-7.html

Your online profile actually tells a lot about you
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/30/0043232

Type in a song and make a free music link to share music with friends (Thanks Josh Lowehnson of CBS Interactive's Webware.com)
http://tinysong.com/

Voice Mail

Oscar
Tactic for the radio stations.

Bert
If you want to fix the .ocm issue now, here ya go.

E-mail

Dear Buzzards,

Just listening to Episode 755 was intrigued by the the Dual-display e-
book concept. I think in order to make it a more realistic reading
experience, a finger swipe should only flip the page 50 percent of the
time unless you make use of a moisture sensor which you can activate
by licking your finger prior to swiping. Just trying to add to the
reading experience….infatuated with the show.

Andy the Microbiologist

**********

Hi

In Norway there is no such thing as “Unlimited calls” or “Unlimited
bandwith” unless actually unlimited.

The closest thing is a company called “TalkMore” with the slogan “Call
basically as much as you want”--not exactly how an American company
would have put it--And in plain text it says below “Limited upwards
to 3,000 minutes per month”

Using the name “Unlimited bandwith” the way American companies do, is
actually illegal in Norway and looked upon as false marketing. I agree
with Molly on this; the States has some work to do on this.

Sincerely
Christian Knappskog

**********

Hey, Buzz Crew,

On Episode 754, you covered the story about British Telecom (BT)
threatening to cut off customers accused of sharing copyrighted material
in a cooperative agreement with BPI.

Just wondering if anyone else found it ironic that you followed this
story with one about Bruce Schnier who (according to his personal blog
at http://www.schneier.com/ ) is the Chief Security Technology Officer
at British Telecom (BT).

I just found it interesting.

Love the show.

Thanks,

Keith Albright
Quakertown, PA

Episode 671

Episode 671

Microsoft cuts Vista price
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/29/vista_price_cut/
http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9882510-56.html

iPhone/iPod SDK: Apple to approve, distribute apps, limit add-ons
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/ iphone-ipod-sdk-apple-to-approve-distribute-apps-limit-add-ons/13537
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/29/ iphone-software-development-to-be-locked-down-by-apple/

Bluetooth not working after iPhone 1.1.4?
Simple fix: http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2008/02/28/ bluetooth-not-working-after-iphone-114-simple-fix/

Mac OS X secretly cripples non-Apple software
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/28/2339246

Wii outsells the PS3 4-to-1 in Japan, Sony execs “not psyched”
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/29/ wii-outsells-the-ps3-4-to-1-in-japan-sony-execs-not-psyched/

Artists to music labels: Where’s our Napster money?
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9882624-7.html

Google expands free phone number and voice mail project
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9882460-7.html

Steve Chen: YouTube to add live video
http://newteevee.com/2008/02/28/steve-chen-youtube-to-add-live-video/

BBC broadcasting Rugby Six Nations match in 3D
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/28/ bbc-broadcasting-rugby-six-nations-match-in-3d/

U.S. Air Force shoots down blogs, airmen frustrated
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080229-us-air-force-shoots-down-blogs-airmen-frustrated.html

Robin Williams saves the day at TED when tech fails
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/02/robin-williams.html

Final goodbye for early Web icon
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7270583.stm

Voice mail

MC Fisticuffs
I’m studying for my doctorate.

Tracy from Atlanta
So wait, I have an iPhone question.

Jeremy from Delaware
Save Palm!

E-mail

Copyright tax thoughts

Hi Gang,

Sorry I’m late to the game on this but I’ve been a bit busy lately. I did have some thoughts on the Copyright tax which I like the idea of, but I think it might prove to be a bit untenable.

First-You could tax this property if you wanted to. (Just thinking (Buzz) out loud now-no real research done on any of this.) The Government’s right to grant Copyright protection comes directly from the Constitution, and presumably this question of taxation would only come up as an issue of Interstate Commerce-which The Federal Government can collect on. So we wouldn’t have to worry about which state the work is in, or if it crosses state lines because it would be a Federal, not State, issue (for those two reasons). States pretty much don’t protect copyright because the ‘76 Act grants protection at the moment of fixation. You just get it from the Federal Government straight away-so state protection is (pretty much) moot.

With regards to IP existing in someone’s head a la the Coke Formula-that’s not a problem here. Again, protection is extended (as the Magician pointed out) when it is fixed (again for Copyright only now). The protection is for the content of things, but only after it has been fixed. So there would have to be tangible thing somewhere-even if the thoughts and expressions can be retained intangibly.

The real problem I think is deciding who to tax: We all have copyrights on things we have written, but should we all be taxed based on that? Should my blog (which I do have protection for) be taxed simply because its protected? If everyone starts going to http://www.thesoftlounge.com/blog because of the insightful reviews of Lost, or the stellar coverage of the Buffalo Bills in the off-season, or just for the charming wit of the author and I can start selling ad space is that enough for the tax to kick in? If that happened, I presumably would be paying taxes already on the revenue I generate-should I be doubly taxed then? Or I if I’m not making any money, but I just don’t want people to pass of my work as their own should I have to pay for that right? Remember-even a Creative Commons License only works because the copyright is already in place, so even giving permissions and limitations to people with such a license doesn’t get around the notion that you are using the copyright protection.

Further, if you file at the Copyright Office to retain a record of the ownership of your work (which grants you a few extra perks such as the right to sue in Federal Court) you have to pay a fee-should there be a tax on top of that as well?

I’m with you guys, I want there to be some way that major copyright holders who exploit the long protection period for financial gain at the cost of the public domain to either be paying a bit more for that privilege, or to be forced into letting the work go-but I think the collateral damage to smaller publishers could be huge and, at first glance anyway, there doesn’t seem to be an easy workaround.

Frank L.

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

Magicians’ intellectual property

Dear Buzz crew,

Here’s a good Economist article on how IP is regulated in the magicians’ world:

http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9825182

Just a soundbite:

The traditional view is that IP can be protected only by the long arm of the law. But magicians rarely rely on the law, as the very act of describing what they want protected would reveal their secrets.

{}s,
Fabio
Sao Paulo, Brazil

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

Comcast

Hi guys, thanks for the podcast. I thought you might be interested in my experience with Comcast.

I called Comcast’s 1-888 number to ask about a rumor that TV guide channel was being removed from the analog cable, I never got an answer to that. I had two different people tell me that _by law_ they will need to be discontinuing analog service as of next February. Even after I talked about that only being for over the air and mentioning dtv.gov, they stuck by their guns. The second lady even argued that they had training and this is what they were taught… she knows better than little old silly me.

I called the state, who told me to call the county who told me that they did not have control over what Comcast said (and thought they were right) but would send my concerns to Comcast. A lady from Comcast called me and said that of course I was correct in what I was saying. She seemed quite concerned that Comcast employees were saying differently and wanted information about who I had spoken.

While I had her on the line, I told her that if Comcast forced me to get a box on every TV, I would be leaving Comcast. Honestly, the lack of a set-top box is the only thing keeping me from Dish or FIOS.

Amy from Maryland

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

Peter Jackson can’t save New Line

Hey Buzz crew,

It’s Sperling, the digital cinema product manager from Los Angeles. A few weeks back I wrote in after you reported the story about the Tolkien estate suing New Line Cinema for not receiving any of the profits from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. At the time, I mentioned the eyebrow raising which occurred throughout the industry when just a month before New Line released their turkey, The Golden Compass, they miraculously came to an agreement with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson on The Hobbit.

It turns out that all those industry insiders that had speculated the studio might be in financial trouble when they conceded to the Jackson deal weren’t far from wrong. No doubt you know by now, not even pinning their financial hopes to the famed director and his Rings prequel could save the studio, as Time Warner is shuttering the New Line so that it can be absorbed by Warner Bros. Pictures. I guess sometimes Hollywood rumors really are true.

However, given your report on the Tolkien estate law suit, the whole affair really brings out the conspiracy theorist in me. Could Time Warner be folding New Line simply to avoid paying the Tolkien’s their piece of the $1 billion gross Rings raked in? Probably not, as Time Warner would still be liable, but even so . . . [in Molly’s voice] I’m just saying!

Of course, love the show.

Regards,
Sperling

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

Buzz town mottos for Wiki

Hey Tom, Molly, and Jason

Myself and a few other buzzers (Trojanbee and Tales) have been working on some mottos in the watchbol.com chat (live chat) for the Buzz Town wiki and we need your help. So far we have these 12:

1: "The content may be inspired by them, but the work was us." (Trojanbee)
2:”When the robots, zombies, Mac Users, and RIAA come knocking on your door, you know where to find us.” (Trojanbee)
3:”You know, we were just kidding about making this for you? Its all about us- us, us, us!” (Trojanbee)
4:”Watch BOL, Now with extra buttons” (Tales)
5:”‘Plain and simple’!?!- Your in the wrong place” (Trojanbee)
6:”Well, actually, we don’t care for this whole ‘Web 2.0′ experience.”(Trojanbee)
7:I’m to editorializing for this sort of “emotional” stuff(Trojanbee)
8:”We want to be helpful. Just keep Molly away from the code.”(Trojanbee)
9:”If we build this for them, do you think they’ll release on time?”(Trojanbee)
10:”Soon, all are plans will be complete(d) (and Buzz Town will fill the world with nerditude)!!!”(Trojanbee)
11:”Might I recommend the Linux Chaser with your Cake?”(Trojanbee)
12: “If I listen to all of the podcasts, do I get a cookie?”(Trojanbee)

Do you have any ideas for the Buzz Town wiki motto? Can you create lucky No.13?

Love the podcast,

Jacob the student from Australia - Wiki (Thanks to Trojanbee for helping me edit it)

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

Cultureofownership.com?

Molly, I just went to http://cultureofownership.com and it just forwarded to .org, and it sure looks like your blog.

Miles