Buzz Out Loud Podcast

We're not sure that Barney Frank gambles in his pajamas, but he's fighting for your right to do so in the United States. Also, Verizon gets a little slutty, looking for an iPhone...and an Android phone...and pretty much anything else. And Blu-ray is on the rise, but so are digital downloads.

EPISODE 963

Pre release date: June 7?
http://www.precentral.net/pre-release-date-june-7th
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/29/palm-pre-138-to-build-according-to-isuppli/

Report: Verizon thinks Pink--as in Microsoft iPhone rival
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/04/verizon-courting-microsoft-for-iphone-competitor-pink.ars

Motorola’s first Android phone Calgary looks impressive enough that I actually care
http://gizmodo.com/5232562/motorolas-first-android-phone-calgary-looks-impressive-enough-i-actually-care

Sales of Blu-Ray, digital downloads up big in first quarter
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-blu-ray-sales-digital-movie-sales-up-big-in-first-quarter-2009/

Cablevision power play: 101Mbps Internet, no caps, $99
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/cablevision-power-play-101mbps-internet-no-caps-99.ars

Barney Frank to reintroduce legalization of online gambling
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346112,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

Warner Music claims Lessig is a pirate, has his presentation taken off YouTube
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/29/warner-music-claims.html

Is RealDVD dispute really about a DVD jukebox?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10229768-93.html

Zimbra 1.0 desktop client
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10229060-12.html

Google Search graphs public data
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Google-Search-Graphs-Public-Data-849892/
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/adding-search-power-to-public-data.html

"Swine Flu Hemagglutinin": Amino acid sequence as ambient music
http://stephan-zielinski.com/dwa/2009/04/28/swine-flu-ha-as-ambient-music/

Spanish Flu of 1918: How bad was it?
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/29/spanish-flu-of-1918.html

Webby’s voting closes on Thursday! HELP US WIN!! CNET TV - under Online Film & Video: Technology
http://pv.webbyawards.com

Webware 100 voting also closes on Thursday! Vote!
http://www.webware.com/100

VOICE MAIL
Dwight Key Grip
Time Warner digital TV shenanigans

E-MAIL
I think you guys should back just a tad off of AT&T (did I really say
that) anyway I use both a nokia and an iphone on AT&T. Although I
have not seen the types of missed calls you are describing I have
seen some on my iPhone especially in this one corner of my house where
the bars will literally go down to nothing. On my nokia however I
don’t have such a problem, but in the section of my house where the
iphone goes down to nothing the nokia goes down to 2 bars. Just wanted
to remind you there are two veriables to this reception situation;
carrier and phone.

Mark

**********

I support a server environment with Windows, Linux, Solaris and AIX systems, and I use Linux and Windows desktop systems every day. My experience tells me that stability is a factor of what applications and features you run, rather that the OS.

Windows will run for years without rebooting if you run a specific set of “uncomplicated” applications. E.g., no legacy apps, no beta apps, etc.

Linux (and other UNIXish systems) will run solidly as well. Especialy if configured to run one specific app with no other overhead. When you add a GUI, 3D acceleration, beta applications, and other fun stuff, you’ll find that those application crash as often on Linux as on Windows.

Linux is configured to be stable more often than Windows, but the increasing popularity of Linux desktops is slowly changing that ratio.

Any modern OS can be solid. Any can be flakey. None are bulletproof.

-Ben,
the OS agnostic sysadmin in Minneapolis

P.S.: Do not answer Security Questions. Pick a Question, and answer it with a secure password, preferably random. Record it in a pasword vault, or in another secure location. It should be nothing more than a backup password.

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

We tried to give NBC the benefit of the doubt when it comes to Olympic streaming, but then we tried it. And it's ridiculous. Also, we wonder if the iPhone makes you fat, even as it fattens Steve Jobs' wallet. We also discuss the technicalities of invisibility cloaks, and opt-out of Obama's aggressively hip Internet outreach campaign.

EPISODE 785

Defcon ends with researchers muzzled, viruses written
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10013156-83.html

Judge orders halt to Defcon speech on subway card hacking
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10012612-83.html

Apple hits 3 million iPhone’s sold in its debut month
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/08/technology/iphone-3m.fortune/

iPhone software sales take off: Apple’s jobs
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121842341491928977.html

Beijing Olympic 2008 opening ceremony giant firework footprints ‘faked’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/2534499/Beijing-Olympic-2008-opening-ceremony-giant-firework-footprints-faked.html

NBCU-Olympics: Cablevision subs, those who don't pay to watch TV shut out of live streaming
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-nbcu-olympics-cablevision-subs-those-who-dont-pay-to-watch-tv-shut-out-/

NBC’s Olympic ratings get a Web-based boost
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121841383938428459.html

The Olympics watch: Not that much
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=9627

Metamaterials hold promise for invisibility cloaks
http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/peripherals/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210001982
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7553061.stm

Psst! Barack Obama will text you his veep details
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10013126-36.html
http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/firsttoknow

VOICE MAIL

Mark from Florida
Question about the durka durka noise.

Jason Marietta
Cell phone coincidence?

E-MAIL

Hi Buzz Crew,

This is about the comments on Blu-ray in episode 784. While there definitely is a noticeable difference, I agree the picture quality of Blu-ray is not the quantum leap that DVD was over VHS. What everyone seems to be missing is the fact that the audio quality is that quantum leap.

The difference between Dolby Digital 5.1 & Dolby True HD or DTS HD Master audio is amazing but it’s rarely talked about even by the studios. The new lossless audio just blows away the old lossy compressed formats & you don’t need a high end system to hear the difference.

The problem is there are probably fewer people with AV receivers with HDMI inputs (which are required to get the new lossless audio) than there are people with a HDTV & people are only able to listen to the lossy formats over the TosLink (fiber optic) connections because they don’t have the bandwidth to carry the new formats.

Personally I haven’t bought a DVD since November of 2006, I have over 120 Blu-ray Discs & won’t buy anymore DVD’s.

Currently, I’m just buying new releases at full price, I replace my favorite DVD’s when they are on sale but yes, the prices on the movies are too high still!

For me the combination of Blu-Ray + HDTV + HDMI 1.3 receiver = an amazing home theater experience!

[robot voice] Love The Show[/robot voice]
Dave, the firefighter in Oklahoma

Dear Buzz Crew

Look what the quick thinking Irish decided to do with cellphones on planes. - http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0807/1218047756406.html

Love the show

From Kieran in Ireland

I was wondering if you’ve seen the Calvin and Jobs comic strips from Mad magazine’s Jacob Lambert and Gary Hallgreen. It’s pretty amusing! They’ve replaced the Hobbes stuffed tiger character with a Steve Jobs doll. You should see it. I posted it in my blog (http://theuntechieblog.wordpress.com) but found it on Gizmodo.

The art isn’t as close to the Bill Watterson work as I had hoped, but still I’m sure your listeners would find it amusing as well.

http://gizmodo.com/5033627/calvin-and-jobs-kick-steves-nuts

Untechie
aka greyweed from the Philippines

I just wanted to let you guys know that I have finished version 1 of a native podcast client for the iPhone and iPod Touch and you should be seeing it in the App Store in the next few weeks. You can check out details and a video at http://tinyurl.com/podcaster. Thanks for a great podcast. Wanting to listen to BOL prompted me to create this application.

Alex S.
New Jersey

EPISODE 781

Episode 781

Cablevision wins DVR appeal
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10006580-93.html

Apple’s Jobs says oops on MobileMe launch
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10006873-93.html?tag=newsLatestHeadlinesArea.0
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/08/04/steve-jobs-mobileme-not-up-to-apples-standards

Google backs ISP-guaranteed minimum data rates
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080804-google-backs-isp-guaranteed-minimum-data-rates.html

YouTube strikes online olympics deal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121785204839309715.html?mod=2_1571_topbox

Apple bails on Black Hat talk
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9111398&source=rss_topic17

FISA and border searches of laptops
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/05/0040200&from=rss

Hi-tech criminals target Twitter
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7543014.stm

Friendster gets $20 million, ex-Googler as CEO
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10006743-36.html

MIT team working on a $12 Apple (II) desktop
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/05/1335200&from=rss

Craigslist prankster sued, argues DMCA abuse
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/08/05/1351217.shtml

VOICEMAIL

Grahame NY
Follow up on gift card situation.

Shane Las Vegas
Iphone Bricking.

E-MAIL

Hello TMJ,
I heard with great delight (ep 780) that Intel will be manufacturing
discrete graphics chips.

To the mainstream world this isn’t big news, but for us Linux geeks
it’s a breakthrough.

Nvidia and ATI both refuse to open the code to their graphics drivers
(apparently there are trade secrets in the code that would give
competitive advantage). Drivers can’t legally be shipped with most
Linux distributions, and the free versions are poor. This is a big
barrier, because most people want to use graphics on their computers.

Intel has always been a favorite because they are completely open with
respect to their video chips. The chips aren’t great, but at least you
can get free drivers. Being able to get Intel video cards is a huge
win for the Linux community.

Hope this helps explain the whole situation.

LOVE THE SHOWWW!!!!!!!

Jeff Ratliff

—

Hiya Molly, Tom, and Jason,

Just to clarify, the majority of us Aussie's do get sick leave, however many companies do require a doctor's certificate in order to be able to claim a day off as sick leave instead of taking a day out of our usual annual leave (holiday leave). The company I work for requires a medical certificate for two or more consecutive days of sick leave, but not for a single day, unless that day is a Friday or a Monday, no chuckin a sickie for a long weekend.

And...Google Streetview launched here in Australia today(or at least recently, I think), and so far I have heard the following comments;
* I can't believe they drove into the driveway of my son's school and took photos. There's the gate of the school, these pictures were taken from inside the school!

* That's definitely Pat (my colleague's wife) trimming the hedge...I'd know that bum anywhere.

* I CAN SEE MY HOUSE FROM HERE.

LTS

Tony
Melbourne, Australia

EPISODE 685

comScore releases February 2008 U.S. search engine rankings
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2119

Google queries decelerated in February–comScore--Silicon Alley Insider
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/3/ google_comscore_says_queries_decelerated_in_february

Google data watch: Enough with the overanalysis
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8272

Adobe realizes SDK not enough for Flash on iPhone
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9898166-1.html

Cablevision / Optimum coaxing CableCARD users back to HD set-top box (Thanks Dustin!)
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/03/19/ cablevision-optimum-coaxing-cablecard-users-back-to-hd-stb/

DRM-free BitTorrent video store from Sweden
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/19/ drmfree-bittorrent-v.html

“Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister” to be found on P2P
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080319-canadas-next-great-prime-minister-to-be-found-on-p2p.html

Android: HTC calls Android phone Dream, feels like one already
http://gizmodo.com/370098/ htc-calls-android-phone-dream-feels-like-one-already

E-voting vendor blocks security audit with legal threats
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080320-e-voting-blocks-e-voting-security-audit-with-legal-threat.html

XPERIA X1 white paper reveals yet more details
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/19/ xperia-x1-white-paper-reveals-yet-more-details/

Scientists create room temperature superconductor
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/19/229225

Cyborg insects survive to adulthood, ensure our doom
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/20/ cyborg-insects-survive-to-adulthood-ensure-our-doom/

VOICE MAIL

Kirk?
One man’s reaction to the outage.

IBCRandy
Microsoft’s gaming platform.

Fordo
Cut off.

E-MAIL

More to say!

Hey you guys -

Your mailbox is full so I got cut off after about 10 seconds into my second, yes second, message to you. I just wanted to say that meeting Molly tonight was seriously like meeting half of Brangelina to me. It would totally have been a full Brangelina if you had been there, Tom.
Swear. No lie. Not kidding. Did I already say that in my first message? I may have but, again…to review…the Fordo is somewhat hammered right now after the BOL meetup at Puck’s Fair so I’m not really sure what I said in that first message. So if I DID happen to mention that you and Molly have achieved Brangelina-like status in my mind, then great. But if I did not mention it, I would be remiss if I did not now mention it.

So...there ya go. I have mentioned it. My work here is done.

Carry on, my peeps. Carry on.

Fordo, Queen of Fordovia

New AJAX wiki inspired by BOL

Hey buzz out loud crew!

A few months back you announced that you had launched the Buzz Town wiki on Wikia. That was the first I heard of Wikia. But since you decided that a having a wiki was worthwhile, it inspired us to start thinking about a wiki.
If it was good enough for you, it was good enough for us!

So today we are launching our own wiki on AJAX and it would be great if you could give it a plug.

The wiki is targeted to Web application developers (and their bosses) who want to use AJAX to develop cool interactive Web sites (such as CNET.com, Hulu, Mint.com.) or full fledged Web applications (like call centers or financial trading sites).

The wiki at http://ajax.wikia.com identifies a list of UI components most commonly used in business software applications to develop a rich Internet application user experience. Developers and technology decision makers can use the wiki to benchmark which AJAX toolkits support the UI components that meet their specific requirements at the level of user experience.

A little technical sounding I know, but since you were the inspiration for the wiki, and I know a lot of your audience is Web developers searching for tech news, I thought it might be relevant.

Thanks and as always, keep up the great work.

FYI: My must download podcasts are NPR, Slate, NakedScientist, Cringley, and Buzz Out Loud! So in my book, I rate you up there with the best!

Tony DeYoung
Catalyst Resources

Numbering system

Hey Buzz crew,

This is regards to the number-base thoughts posed on episode 1E4. (http://www.convertit.com/Go/ConvertIt/Calculators/Math/Base_Converter.ASP
)
There was a civilization that had a base 20 system. It was the Maya who lived on Yucatán.
http://www.michielb.nl/maya/math.html

As to whether shoes or numbering systems came first, that is still unclear to me. This site shows Maya shoes, however you’ll notice that they are open-toed so would allow for the counting of toes for the base-20 system.
http://www.mayashoes.com/

Love the show!

Dave the prof

Electronics recycling

Hey Jomlly,

In episode 684 you guys were wondering why Clover would recycle old and broken electronics for free. The answer is simple, high commodity prices; sure it costs them money to properly dispose of the hazardous chemicals and materials contained in these electronics, but that is more than made up for by the precious materials also contained in those devices. They get to harvest the now very expensive gold and copper in exchange for doing the environment a little good.

Thanks,

Kevin from Ontario

On yesterday’s show Tom mentioned that he kept cable so his wife could see Lost the day it aired. I wondered what that actually meant he was paying per episode of Lost. Lost started (according to IMDB) on in Sept. of '04 so that is 43 months ago. I guess at $50 per month for cable (although that is probably low if you have HD stuff) which comes out to $2,150. They have had 76 episodes (according to the Lost wikipedia page.) When you do the math that means Tom is paying $28.29 per episode of Lost! I know Tom sleeps on a bed of money but that is one heck of a premium to pay to see a show the same day it airs!

Love the show.

Eric Higgins-Freese