Buzz Out Loud Podcast

Blasted XP didn't warn me that my hard drive was full! Therefore, half of the podcast didn't record. Thankfully, I was able to salvage yesterday's episode from the Ustream recording, so here it is! Special guests include ZDNet's Andrew Mager, SXSW Event Director Hugh Forrest, and Blogger's Rick Klau.

EPISODE 930

Happy Pi Day!
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/03/13/happy-pi-day.html

Facebook: It’s party time for the social Web…on the iPhone
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10196472-2.html

Facebook Adobe AIR application
http://www.facebook.com/pages/edit/?id=23723376453#/apps/application.php?id=23723376453

A touch-screen Bold?
http://i.gizmodo.com/5170004/touchscreen-trackball+less-blackberry-bold-leaked

Apple adds still more DRM to iPod Shuffle
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/apple-adds-still-more-drm-ipod-shuffle

Amazon invokes DMCA defense against non-Kindle books
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10196424-38.html

Report: Wii may stream movies
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10196100-93.html

MSNBC launches interactive-theater game
http://blogs.zdnet.com/weblife/?p=342

At SXSW, attendees confront Twitter saturation
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10196526-2.html

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube come to FiOS
http://newteevee.com/2009/03/14/twitter-facebook-youtube-coming-to-fios-tv/

Google Reader side bar
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10196233-2.html

Rocket scientists shoot mosquitoes with laser beams
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123680870885500701.html

Chat with Mager about SXSW
http://blogs.zdnet.com/weblife/

E-MAIL
Hi JaNaTo,

Blimps are back in style!

“Pentagon to Build $400 Million Spy Blimp”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/4989425/Pentagon-to-build-400-million-spy-blimp.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/13/usa-air-force-airship

The thing will fly at 65,000 feet, so it will be out of the range of most fighter planes and missiles. Plus it will recharge hydrogen fuel cells using solar panels. Now if only I could get my car to do that! I mean the whole recharging thing…not the flying 12 miles in the air…although that would be cool too…and scary…

- lucky, from the watchBOL chatrooms

**********

This is how the theaters I patronized in Taiwan worked. You got an assigned seat, but there was no tiered pricing. Also, not really any way to tell them where you want to sit (or maybe that was just the result of my pitiful Mandarin). At least you don't have to stand in line for two hours and then rush the auditorium, diving with coats and various other artifacts to save seats for all your friends in the concession line.

One other curious thing about the Taiwanese movie theater: no candy at the concession stand. You can get a hot dog (on an oversized sub bun) and popcorn, but the only sweet option is, of all things, a CHURRO. Really. Go figure.

Love the show,

Jomichael

**********

The current space shuttles were put into service in 1984-1992, making them at most 25 years old. However, all of the shuttles were built to the original design. Construction of the original Enterprise test orbiter began in 1974, making the shuttle design more than 35 years old. Using the car analogy, the shuttles were from the 1977 model year, but build in the 1980s.

dfilpus

**********

Buzz Crew: The Neilsen report that says online networking is more popular than e-mail is only referring to web-based email (gmail, hotmail, yahoo etc.), not POP email sent through ISPs.

This was confirmed by several news sites investigating the report. Check out these links:

http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=3&action=blog&subaction=viewPost&post_id=9671&blog_id=81

http://www.cbc.ca/news/blogwatch/2009/03/social_networks_blogs_bigger_t.html

I think a lot of reports missed this and made it sound like it was referring to all email. Nope.

bahead

EPISODE 860

Cooley debriefs:
- Just drove in in the new 370Z with SynchroMatch transmission.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10102550-48.html

- From iPhone to Bold: how it's going, why I did it.

- Promo: EOH today discussing car tech seen at the L.A. Auto Show (open now)

Amazon Kindle 2 Slated For "Early Q1″
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/25/amazon-kindle-2-slated-for-early-q1/

Flurry of online video stuff:
- Blockbuster launches a box
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10107437-1.html

- YouTube goes wide screen
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10107536-93.html

- TiVo goes mobile for everyone
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10107464-1.html

The Guild Coming to Xbox Live Marketplace
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/11/the-guild-comin.html

Teacher in porn pop-up case dodges jail but loses creds
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081124-teacher-in-porn-popup-case-dodges-jail-loses-creds.html

Senate: When analog TV goes dark, leave a light on
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081124-senate-when-analog-tv-goes-dark-leave-a-light-on.html

Web and mobile increasing TV viewership
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Research_25/TV_s_new_best_friends_Web_and_mobile.asp

New study crowns Google’s Chrome king of speed
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10107591-16.html

Nanotech clothing fabric ‘never gets wet’
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16126-nanotech-clothing-fabric-never-gets-wet.html

Voice mail
“Hey:” Star Trek reminiscences

Bob the patent lawyer: “close enough for nuclear war”

EMAIL

Jamoto,

On Buzz-Out-Loud #859 Daniel in Hell e-mailed about the EULA for the iPhone which restricted the use of the phone for, “the development design manufacture or production of various kinds of weapons”. I believe that this is due to the fact that it contains a GPS unit, which could at least theoretically be used for a targeting or timing system. I would guess that this would be a standard EULA feature of other GPS devices, but maybe just the iPhone since it can run apps and would be easier to configure for the task. I guess the option of using the phone to record and replay a Molly rant is still an unrestricted pleasure. Love the show, keep up the good work.

Thomas the Professional Nuclear Engineer
“It ain’t rocket science - its Nuclear Engineering”

**********

Orbital Speed and Buzz Out Loud
http://blog.dotphys.net/2008/11/orbital-speed-and-buzz-out-loud/

Rhett Allain

**********

Emmanuel

What’s Up Buzz Crew!

Who better to help with Obama with his FCC Transition than a Level 70 Shaman! Last week President Elect Obama appointed Kevin Werbach as a Co-Chair to the transition team. Level 70 ain’t nothing to sneeze at. I’m also sure this is why Obama wants a laptop in the Oval… I mean with all that down time, I’m sure Werbach will have Obama hooked on World of Warcrack in no time!

http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/11/20/obamas-fcc-transition-co-chair-is-a-wow-player/

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/gigaom/big-tech/2008_11_18_obamas_fcc_transition_team_co_chair_a_wow_player.html

**********

What’s this I hear? You need another host for Friday? I’m not doing anything over Thanksgiving - flights home from Vegas to Portland for both Thanksgiving are too expensive, (in these troubled times,
*drink*) but I can fly to SFO for cheap! $150 on Virgin America round-trip! You can pay me back later.

I’ve even written the intro in advance:

(Camera 1) Merritt: “Coming up on CNET Live: it’s that time of year again, time for 10 STRAIGHT hours of CNET Live’s Holiday Help Desk, when we ease the pains of your holiday tech shopping. Lots of reviews, lots of questions, lots of answers!”

(Camera 2) Cooley: “Plus, I’ll teach you how to roast a turkey with the Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries from a new Ford Escape hybrid! And Cars! Cars! CARS!”

(Camera 3) Me: “And I made a cape from my CNET sweatshirt! CNET Live starts now! EXCELSIOR!”

(I unfurl my cape and fly stage-left Al Gore-style. Animated exclamation points dancing on screen. Play intro sequence.)

Perfect opportunity for my Al Gore impression. You can have that for free. Unfortunately I’m not very patient with verbose callers, comfortable in front of cameras, or altogether functional before noon, but that also means I’m totally nerdcore, so feel free to give me a call. Like Cooley said, nobody’s gonna be watching this anyway, right? (Just let me know before Wednesday, because the price doubles on Thursday.)

LTS,

-Andrew

Hey, here's a thought: a free, open-source video codec that could be universally portable and playable. I'd vote for that, wouldn't you? In other news of the day, Dash stops making hardware to focus on software, Apple brings in an IBM guy to run the iPod division (other than Steve Jobs), and BlackBerry sneaks the Bold into stores today. Yeah, today. There's got to be something wrong with that thing.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 845

Apple’s iPod chief to step down
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10082065-37.html

Dash Navigation pulls the plug on hardware. Whoops.
http://venturebeat.com/2008/11/03/dash-navigation-layoffs-innovation-loses-commodity-gps-wins/

AT&T will gamble with monthly bandwidth caps in Nevada
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081103-att-will-gamble-with-monthly-bandwidth-caps-in-nevada.html

Comcastic P4P trial shows 80 percent speed boost for P2P downloads
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081103-comcastic-p4p-trial-shows-80-speed-boost-for-p2p-downloads.html

Could Theora solve the video codec confusion?
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/04/136220

This holiday season good time to cut a deal on an HDTV?
http://www.displaysearch.com/cps/rde/xchg/displaysearch/hs.xsl/Sneak_Preview_of_Holiday_Shopping_Season_200810.asp

How to watch Election Day live online
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/11/how-to-watch-election-day-live-online
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10081981-38.html
http://www.mahalo.com/Election_Exit_Polls_2008

Update: E-voting problems reported early in battleground states
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9118983

FCC Election Day vote could revolutionize wireless
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10081864-94.html

BlackBerry Bold on sale in U.S. today
http://www.betanews.com/article/BlackBerry_Bold_on_sale_in_US_today/1225810411

VOICE MAIL
Jason in Cincinnati: the joke’s on you (?)

E-MAIL

Hey Buzz crew:

http://news.opensuse.org/2008/11/03/development-release-opensuse-111-beta-4-now-available/

We’ve just released openSUSE 11.1 Beta 4, the newest prerelease version of what will become openSUSE 11.1 on it’s planned public release date of December 18, 2008.

Most of the things in this beta are simply bug fixes from the past beta. For more information on the release of openSUSE 11.1, keep in touch with that openSUSE News Web site above.

BTW, on the screenshots, the desktop wallpaper on the right is the actual wallpaper, the other wallpaper is an old testing wallpaper ;-).

Thanks and I love the show and hope to hear more desktop Linux coverage on BOL.

Kevin “Yeaux” Dupuy - openSUSE Member

Hey, Jimoto,
I have Verizon DSL at my home in Baltimore, and pay $44 month for there service. I just received an email (see below) informing me that I “will soon begin seeing advertisements in your Verizon Yahoo! Mail service. Advertising allows us to deliver new and innovative services and helps us keep prices competitive.” To make things clear, Verizon web mail interface is provided by yahoo.

I went to my (non-Verizon) yahoo account, and I do not pay for had no such message. So now I get to pay $44 for DSL and ads in my e-mail. Thankfully I use gmail as my main account, and my Verizon as my spam dump.

Love the show

Aaron R.
Baltimore, MD

I went to vote this morning and was shocked by how long the line was.
As I was walking to the back of the line I was saying hello to the
people I knew but was shocked and impressed that one of my fellow
voters was passing the time with a Kindle. It was smaller than I was
expecting. Of course with the big O’s endorcement of the Kindle I’m
tempted to get one for my wife for Christmas.

Love the Show.

Tim (from Detroit)

hello and happy voting day tmj + 1:

Responding to Tom’s skepticism about yesterday’s email. China doesn’t
purge everything that is banned. A censor’s zeal are on a par with
level of the threat. China won’t actively seek out torrents of New
York Times or The Daily Show. But they will religiously kill anything
about the Tibetan riot.

So Yes, packets are easy to kill. But the Internet and the billion
dollar piracy industry did alter the government’s attitude. As long
as people leave the communist party alone(and stay in power) they will
let you do almost anything.

love the show
J.Chen, the immigrant

Ok, guys. I have to call you to task on this one. Your reporting of the decision yesterday was patently (pun intended) erroneous. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) DID NOT get rid of patent protection for software, nor did it get rid of patent protection for business methods. Quoting, “:We further reject calls for categorical exclusions… We rejected those exclusions in State Street.” They reaffirmed their conclusion in State Street, the decision that emphatically said that business methods could be protected by a patent. What happened in Bilski, though nuanced legally, is basically the CAFC going back to an earlier standard for determining if you have patentable subject matter. The Court did not rule on whether Bilski was obvious (it is, in my opinion), they just ruled whether Bilski should pass the first test, is it patentable subject matter. The new tests are really a restatement of old tests from the Supreme Court, set down in the BFD triumvirate (yes, patent lawyers have a sense of humor).

In my personal professional opinion, this was a horrible decision and mucks about where Congress never intended the Courts to muck about. What the PTO should be doing is determining whether something is new and non-obvious, not trying to decipher whether Congress intended it to be patentable subject matter. we already have good exclusions regarding natural laws, algorithms per se and mental steps. What this decision just did was cost corporate America huge amounts of money to scramble to incorporate the language the CAFC said we should have. My personal prediction is that this will probably only knock out a small percentage of the patent portfolios. Computer software companies should be pretty ok. Business method companies are in a little more trouble, but not fatally so.

The decision was handed down on Thursday of last week, and I have yet to see a mainstream news site get it right. Perhaps because the decision is so nuanced when you really read it. Perhaps it is also because this will not be the final chapter. I believe that the Supreme Court should pick this up and again slap down the CAFC for writing bad law. Unfortunately, when the Supremes do that, they typically write equally bad law in its place.

Bob, “The Patent Lawyer”

P.S. Weather here is beautiful. Love my iPhone. Love the show. Miss Molly.

Hey buzz Crew -

I was just listening to episode 844 and heard your comment about 256 cores and laughing about a supercomputer, but the truth of it is, if Windows 7 does include GPU acceleration (http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/27/windows-7-to-feature-gpu-acceleration-just-like-os-x-snow-leopar/) then its very plausible that 256 cores may not even be enough. Think about nVidia’s GTX 280 that has 240 processing cores and ATI’s 4870X2 that has 1600 processing cores.

Just saying, if Windows 7 could use graphics card processing for everyday tasks, it could be a leap that would make Nehalem/Core i7 look like a joke.

Mike from Georgia Tech, member of Buzz Mafia

On today's show, it appears that the person who caused Apple's stock to drop like a stone on reports of a Steve Jobs heart attack was just "doing it for the lulz." So, he didn't even short-sell the stock? Wow. Stupid trolls. Also, Oprah declares the Amazon Kindle her most favoritest gadget of all time. Wow. Kindle for President?

EPISODE 838

Report: Teen planted fake story about Steve Jobs
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10074401-37.html

Will the Kindle Get an Oprah Bump?
http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2008/10/24/24gigaom-will-the-kindle-get-an-oprah-bump-26376.html

Gmail adds emoticons, canned responses & updates mobile client
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10074527-2.html

BlackBerry Bold set for election day launch (thanks C McLeod!)
http://keith.jaseblog.com/BlogPostComments.asp?ditsop=1309

Dell PCs get preloaded with DRM-free UMG music
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10074001-1.html

Sprint releases availability dates for HTC Touch Pro
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10074602-1.html

BMW seeking partners for open-source car-software platform
http://www.motorauthority.com/bmw-seeking-partners-for-open-source-car-software-platform.html

ESA confirms new E3 dates, growth
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10072879-52.html

Cablevision’s high-tech way to avoid disgruntled pottymouths
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/10/cablevision-s-high-tech-way-to-ignore-disgruntled-customers-cvc-

Wikipedia DVD released on BitTorrent (Thanks, Nate!)
http://torrentfreak.com/wikipedia-dvd-released-on-bittorrent-081024/

Woman in jail over virtual murder (Thanks, Chase!)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7688091.stm

Oregon Trail Facebook app to be replaced with dating service
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10074004-2.html

VOICEMAIL
Tom in England: currency gloating

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew,
I often hear you (especially Tom and Molly) discussing, as a group, households that have a second TV that is antenna-only. I’ve always wondered, but never bothered to ask--why? No, not why wouldn’t they subscribe to cable--I didn’t for the first 22 years of my life--but why, if you subscribe to cable, would you hook it up to one TV and not the other? I mean seriously, who doesn’t know how to use a splitter in 2008? I’m somewhat confused by the idea of a “back-room” TV in the first place, but if you have one, why not just use a splitter and run cable to both? I have a 13-inch TV purchased in 1992 in my bedroom, and without cable hooked up to it, the picture is completely unclear and not worth watching. I guess that’s my version of a “back-room” TV, but with cable I can clearly pick up about 90 percent of the cable channels to which I subscribe. Realizing that perhaps some people are afraid to deal with wires, I should note that my cable provider, which is absolutely awful, was willing to perform this service for me if I did not know how to do it myself! Therefore, I am confused. Why have cable on one TV and not on the other? Do any of you actually do this, or are you just assuming that people do this? Please let me know. Great show. Thanks.
-Mark

**********

Hey buzz brigade,

It's Scott, a listener from way back in the 790s. Just thought I would let you know about an experience I had today with Wal-Mart and the copyright laws we all know and love so very much.

I bought Rock Band 2 for the Playstation 3 from Wal-Mart on Tuesday. I then saw it for a lower price online, so, being the cheapskate I am, I ordered it online then tried to return the copy I got at Wal-Mart. I proceeded to find, when I went to return it, that because of “Federal Copyright law” they could not allow me to return it and get my money back. I could, however, exchange it for another copy or so that’s what the lady in “Customer Service” said. So, I just took the game back home with me and I’m thinking of an Ebay auction or stopping by Ebgames to see if I can get anything for it. I know Molly will say “Just cancel the online order!” Well, it's already shipped and unless I want to pay 15 percent restocking fee and return shipping cost I end up with two copies.

Now for a small rant. I can see this law affecting returns on PC games, but consoles? I mean, come on! Sure, you could rip a PC game with ease or at least install it, find a no CD crack. But a console?! Especially the PS3! I mean, there is no way I’m spending 300-plus dollars for a Blu-Ray drive, and even then there is no way (that I know of) for running it the copy or even an ISO off the hard drive!! GAH!! OK, that should be enough

Love the show. Keep it up.

By the way, Rock Band 2 is awesome.

Nothing found in the wild……….yet!

**********

Hey Sports Fans!
I don’t really like sports...but that is beyond the point!
I just watched a “sneak peak” of the entire first episode of season 3 of 30 Rock!
It doesn’t air on TV until the 30th. Does this happen often!?
Love you guys
Elam

**********

Hey Buzz Town,

I saw a story on news.com that was interesting to me. Mozilla has a new browser, called Minefield, which is really fast. It is not a final release product, but it is still pretty and seems to work well. Most of the add-ons that I have installed work well, but I have run into a few bugs. Still it is well worth the speed.

The Mozilla page is here: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/minefield

The news.com article http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10073252-16.html

Love the show,
Brad in Ohio

Episode 753

Internet provider halts plan to track, sell users’ surfing data
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062401033.html

RIAA declares that AM-FM radio is a ‘kind of piracy’ (thanks Mark!)
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/recording-indus.html

American Airlines’ Wi-Fi debuts tomorrow; Glenn Fleishman’s analysis
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/24/american-airlines-wi.html

BlackBerry Bold delayed on AT&T until at least mid-August!
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/06/25/blackberry-bold-delayed-on-att-until-at-least-mid-august/

Hackers crack London Tube’s ticketing system
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/06/hackers-crack-l.html

Two trojans For Mac OS X
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/25/0032226

Real-world Firefox 3 memory usage leads the field
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/24/2012204

No XP reprieve; Windows 7 release set
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/24/2358210

Clueless video game bill nears passage in New York
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080624-game-law.html

Twitter officially announces its funding; Jeff Bezos participates
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-twitter-officially-announces-its-funding-jeff-bezos-participates/

Vint Cerf: Video streaming to give way to downloading
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13953_3-9976895-80.html

Voice mail

Tom Cincy
Our pain makes him feel better

Joe Westside
Maybe we should just forget keyboards on smart phones
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/06/hackers-crack-l.html

E-mail

Hey Buzz Out Loud

In episode 752 I was a bit surprised by the mention regarding the
Lounge Forum discussion on Microsoft not fighting back against
Apple’s ads. It is a great discussion, but Microsoft is definitely
coming back at them with a vengeance, albeit very late in the game.
Check out the cover of Fast Company June 2008. They hired ad firm
Crispin Porter+Bogusky. For those that arent wise to the marketing
world, this is the agency responsible for the Subservient Chicken
site among other very notable campaigns. According to the article we
will start to see Microsofts response in July.

An interesting nugget from the article is that Crispin is outspoken
in not forcing the firm to convert to Windows. They will continue to
use Mac computers. From a marketing perspective, I would love to use
that in the next Apple commercial.

Lastly, show mercy. I have only been listening for about a month, but
Ive become quickly obsessed. What is the “pigeons” all about? Im clueless.

Dominic Pannone
Austin, TX

**********

Hey BOL crew I came across this link while browsing the web and thought you might get a kick out of it. The title really says it all, what if people bought cars like they did computers?

http://www.unixgirl.com/humor/cars.html

Thanks love the show,

Mark

**********

Hi JaMoTo. Speaking as a geeky blind guy, the only 2 platforms that
have speech software on phones that I know of are symbian and windows
mobile and I ask you, which would you rather run on? Nokia have stepped
up and handed us a goldmine of possability for adaptive tech on mobile
phones. The only suitable comment can be,
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooo Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
recurring! I’m slapping a wicked air bass solo to selibrate. Oops,
don’t want to spill the coffee on the laptop. Be still my beeting heart.

This almost takes away the feer that one day soon, all phones and
tablets will have vertual keyboards making them as expensive plastic
bricks to the blind. At least Until decent voice recognission finally
comes along that is which will probably be round the same time as the
singularity going on current vox functionality trends.

Danny the madly dancing down under blind bass teacher

Ps, sorry for the spelling. Thunderbird rocks but I can’t get the spell
check to work even though I need it like ISP’s need a kick in the but.

PPS,

love - the - show