Get to know the Zune HD>>Natali says she giggles when she sees guys using the tiny little Eee PC. But she doesn't question their manliness. Engnr_Chik thinks Netbooks are for everyone. Plus we speculate on the rush to release a prebeta of Windows 7, demand Wal-Mart do something about their forlorn DRM music tracks, and I'm possibly moving to Japan. Or New York. Or space.
Listen now:
Download today's podcast
 |
EPISODE 819 |
Japan to get 1Gbps home fiber connections
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/27/1757211
SpaceX orbits success with Falcon 1
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10053326-76.html
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/space-x-did-it.html
Windows 7 to finally go public in late October
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080929-windows-7-to-finally-go-public-in-late-october.html
Wal-Mart shutting off DRM servers, turning over a new leaf
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/28/walmart-shutting-off-drm-servers-turning-over-a-new-leaf/
Alcatel’s $1.5 billion MP3 patent payout denied on appeal
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080928-court-denies-alcatels-appeal-to-reinstate-1-5-billion-judgment-against-microsoft.html
AT&T drops Dish for DirecTV
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10052944-94.html
TiVo's software launches on a PC
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-tivos-software-launches-on-a-pc/
New TiVo UI (thanks tales!!!)
http://www.slashgear.com/tivo-new-user-interface-in-testing-features-picture-in-guide-at-last-2917609/
Sprint goes live with XOHM WiMax service in downtown Baltimore
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/29/sprint-goes-live-with-xohm-wimax-service-in-downtown-baltimore/
New Zune music from Fania
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/sep08/09-29FaniaRecordsPR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases
War crimes video games
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7638581.stm
VOICE MAIL
Chris from Portland
What about Indies in the cloud?
Librarian Cat
Little Brother review
Hey Jamoto + 1,
I have to agree with RogueTess and Molly from Episode 818 - smallish Netbooks are great. I bought a 20GB 901 eee PC in July and I love it. It came with a Linux distribution, but I installed XP on it.
A big reason why I bought the Eee is its compact size. I just got back from 2 weeks on the island of Hawaii and I brought the Eee with me. Although we spent the first four nights in a little cottage in the middle of nowhere, the rest of the trip was spent in a B&B and a condo that both had Wi-Fi, so we were able to research our day excursions like horseback riding through the Waipio Valley (vy-pee-oh), find restaurant Web sites for phone numbers and menus, check e-mail confirmations, and most importantly keep on top of my NFL Pick-em group, which you can ask Jason about. Ask him who’s in first place, go ahead ask him.
Plus, even though it lacks a DVD drive, I was able to rent a couple of movies from Amazon to watch on the plane.
Also, the Netbook is not just for chicks. A dude I used to work with bought the 1000h Eee because he takes frequent trips on his motorcycle and it packs nicely in his road trip bags.
Love the show,
engnr_chik from the chat room.
I found the location of the Russian “happy face” on Google maps from
episode 817
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IeJHb-2CVGM/SNUFiyTlEHI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/shQMNh5h89o/s1600-h/smiley-1000.jpg
here it is on google maps
Note the Identical traffic around the square, parked cars and shadows etc.
I was very sad about discovering this, because:
1. I felt happy that hundreds of Russian folks had such a sense of
community that they could get together and build a happy face.
2. A kinder, gentler graffiti has not made it big on the interwebs
after all.
3. …and worst of all, this means there really was no Vodka garden.
Spasiba for nothing, slashdot.
Aaron, Chico, Calif.
Sorry, I got behind on my podcasts and just heard Jason volunteer to go up on the space elevator.
Not going to happen.
The elevator is for freight only. Humans will still go up in launch vehicles. The reason is that the trip up will take days and the radiation would kill anything alive. The point of the elevator is to take cargo up.
1. For about $400/pound (instead of the $10,000/pound it costs on a rocket)
2. On a regularly scheduled basis (unlike rockets that get delayed almost every time
For more information...
http://www.liftport.com
Al
JaMoTong:
You guys got it a bit wrong about Windows 7’s decoupling from Movie Maker, and so on. The Windows Live versions of these apps are *not* run from the cloud: they are actual desktop applications that you can currently install from http://get.live.com. A lot of these replace existing Vista applications (photo gallery, mail, what have you) and are quite frankly a lot better. While they do have functionality that makes them play nicely with online services (like automatic settings for Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo when you’re setting up an account in the mail client), fear not: they still save stuff to your computer, and they do not require any kind of internet connection to be rad.
Except Live Writer, the blogging application. I guess that wouldn’t be very rad without an Internet connection. Unless you just liked to pretend you were blogging for real.
-Jeff from Seattle
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
EPISODE 801 |
Speed test: Google Chrome beats Firefox, IE, Safari
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10030888-92.html
Firefox counters Google’s browser-speed test
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10031278-92.html
Chrome suffers first security flaw
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10031250-83.html
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1843
P2P traffic drops as streaming video grows in popularity
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080902-p2p-traffic-drops-as-streaming-video-grows-in-popularity.html
DirecTV, TiVo Plan HD DVR
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2329340,00.asp
“Google satellite” to be launched this week
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/09/02/210233.shtml
Insert ‘Ghostbusters’ song reference here: PNY offers movie on USB
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10031329-1.html
Report: 58 percent of adults clueless about ‘social networking’
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/09/report-58-of-ad.html
Survey says: DVR could improve your relationships
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10030452-1.html
Service call gone awry leads to playwright’s arrest
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080901.whostage01/BNStory/Technology/
http://idle.slashdot.org/idle/08/09/02/1636205.shtml
VOICEMAIL
Mike Hoboken
What is JaMoTo?
Anonymous
Digital TV transition in Wilmington.
I had to laugh about Chrome’s new “Omni Bar” supposedly being a rip-
off of the Awesome Bar. Maybe Google is just giving props to OmniWeb , which has had this feature for years.
Jen
**********
Hey Buzzards,
Not sure if you guys have heard about this yet, but Google's nifty new browser has the EULA from hell. Basically, by installing Chrome, you give all-inclusive rights for Google to do whatever they wish, and with whomever they choose, with the data that was transmitted using Chrome. So, uploading a pic to Facebook or even browsing your company's internal content-management system gives Google a license to that content. Either Google is being run by Dr. Evil, or somebody just copied and pasted the EULA from Google Docs without paying attention to the details.
=== From the EULA ===
11. Content license from you
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.
11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.
11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.
11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above license.
James
**********
Hey Tom, Molly, and Jason,
So, I was trying out the new Google Chrome (what a lame name BTW) when I ended up at lifehacker and tried to watch a YouTube video that only played for two seconds. At first I thought maybe they didn't embed it correctly, so I went to YouTube and CNET TV to find that this so called "sophisticated technology" has the same stupid Flash bug that Firefox has. Come on, Google. You built your browser on AppleWebKit, not Gecko; how can you import a Firefox problem to your browser?! And, Tom, please don't give me that beta crap. I mean, it's just Flash--it isn't that hard; even Microsoft gets it right. Also, it really irked me that there's almost as much press coverage both on the Web and TV as the iPhone for this piece of junk. I don't understand how they just talk about Microsoft and Google . Did those stupid TV News reporters forget about Firefox, Opera, Seamonkey and the rest of, like, 60 Web browsers out there? Oh wait, they don't know bull about the Internet. And, how on earth can they recommend their viewers to download a browser that is in beta to the public to newbie internet users? Stupid Chrome, stupid reporters...glad I uninstalled it.
Love the show,
Leo S.
**********
I could just put my eyes out.
I worked at a structural engineering firm (which shall remain nameless) for 3 years and the bulk of my work was in retail projects. I’ve worked on about 25 Apple stores.
My favorite part of BOL #800 was when everyone was saying “Why don’t they just build a store?”, and “Why can’t they just put a wall up?” You guys sounded like every design team meeting I had been to for Apple stores. The meetings that Apple wasn’t at, I mean. I can understand wanting to build a quality product--I try to do that in my work-- but it seemed to me that there would always have been a faster, cheaper, more efficient way of building those stores if Apple had only listened to and worked with their consultants.
And the second best part of the episode was learning about ifoapplestore.com. And, by second best part I mean the worst part. OMG. I could just put my own eyes out! I counted five of my former projects on the front page. Somebody does this in his/her free time? Really? Is it for funsies? Am I the only who thinks this is totally weird?
I’ve seen two Kindles and a Sony eReader in the wild, all on MUNI (maybe not important), and I love the show.
engnr_chik
**********
I have been watching the show for a few months now and I really enjoy
it on my drive to school. So, I just wanted to say thanks. Also you
could have a fourth person on BOL more often, like maybe once a week,
and it could be a different person each time. It would throw in
other perspectives and give us more rants.
-Mohammed Ilias
LOVE THE SHOW!!!
**********
One of Tom’s annual predictions is a major network Internet simulcast of
a regular show. (I recall sports didn’t count when NBC did the NHL All
Star game.) So, does precasting of regular, top-rated, serial-
television count?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10030797-93.html
PittCaleb
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
EPISODE 688 |
Netflix glitch to delay deliveries
http://www.news.com/newsblog/8301-10784_3-9902294-7.html
XM, Sirius move closer to improbable merger
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120638514923860085.html
http://www.imakenews.com/alirafat/
index000030699.cfm#entry_321330
Clear Channel wants the FCC to force XM-Sirius to obey indecency laws
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/25/
clear-channel-wants-the-fcc-to-force-xm-sirius-to-obey-indecen/
Citigroup says Microsoft likely to raise Yahoo offer
http://www.news.com/
Citigroup-says-Microsoft-likely-to-raise-Yahoo-offer/2100-1014_3-6235494.html
Sony BMG launching (DRM-free?) subscription music service this year
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/25/
sony-bmg-launching-drm-free-subscription-music-service-this-y/
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/
419-sonybmg-ceo-planning-a-subscription-music-service/
Elvis Costello skips the CD
http://www.cnet.com/8301-13526_1-9902587-27.html
Security lapse exposes Facebook photos
http://ap.google.com/article/
ALeqM5ijANq3fmx9AZNNrf7Q1PwCN1cKUAD8VK51UG1
Yahoo, Google, MySpace form non-profit OpenSocial Foundation
http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9902585-36.html
Windows Live teams up with social networks for contact portability
http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9902225-36.html
http://dev.live.com/blogs/devlive/archive/2008/03/25/237.aspx
Red Sox fans freak over DirecTV outage
http://www.news.com/newsblog/8301-10784_3-9902581-7.html
Google backs ‘white space’ Wi-Fi
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7312243.stm
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2159
Vista SP1 customers get free support
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/03/25/
microsoft_vista_sp1_free_support/
Business center: Forrester: AJAX-powered Web apps disappoint
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/143794/
forrester_ajaxpowered_web_apps_disappoint_.html
LiveBook: Book written by the Facebook, Bebo communities
http://www.thelivebook.com/
VOICE MAIL
Michael
A call about the FBI story.
Anonymous Boston
TiVo Hater.
JB Alabama
Hey I have an idea?
WiMax hope from Waco, Texas
Hey Buzz crew, while listening to show 687 I was shocked to hear that Garth Freeman said that he was giving up on WiMax. I have had Clearwire now for two year and it works great for me! When I was looking at houses last year I even drove around town using it to look up houses and directions and I have not experienced any real issues with my service. It has always worked for me so Tom don’t lose your hope quite yet.
Branden
Waco, TX
More from the Nielsen Guy
I’ve written and called a few times in the past, but I think they were nonNielsen items.
I don’t know anything about capturing viewing in Bars, but there is an extended household sample that keeps tracks of college students in dorms and the like.
The project Molly was thinking of was the Portable People Meter, which was a joint venture with Arbitron. Participants carried a pager sized meter that picked up on a coded audio signal in TV and Radio broadcasts. There may have been a GPS element as well but I can’t remember. As far as I know the test project ended a few months back, and I am not sure if there will be any other work with that tech. That isn’t my department. There is an iPod meter being tested somewhere, but again I don’t deal with that aspect of the biz.
Dave the Nielsen guy
--Molly
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
EPISODE 680 |
AOL buys social network Bebo for $850 million
http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9893014-36.html
MPAA boss: Net neutrality would cramp our P2P snooping plans
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/
20080313-mpaa-boss-net-neutrality-would-cramp-our-p2p-snooping-plans.html
http://opinion.latimes.com/bitplayer/
2008/03/mpaa-clarifies.html
Report: Microsoft says no Blu-ray for Xbox 360
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9893090-7.html
Blu-ray players: Mighty pricey
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9893149-7.html
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/03/12/
lack-of-competition-sends-blu-ray-player-prices-upward/
David in Vegas: Sony (and Movie Theater owners who charge me $6 for rubbery popcorn in a theater where you can’t (send in an usher to) keep people off their cell phones), go take a long walk off a short pier (because this is a family friendly podcast).
Disney: $123 million From iTunes Since 2006
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/3/
disney_123_million_from_itunes_since_2006
EA’s Take-Two offer turns hostile
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6187712.html
Gibson: Activision’s ‘Guitar Hero’ violates patent
http://www.news.com/
Gibson-Activisions-Guitar-Hero-violates-patent/2100-1043_3-6234177.html
DirecTV takes on video-on-demand
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9893052-7.html
Microsoft finally confirms Windows 7 for 2010 launch
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/13/microsoft-finally-confirms-windows-7-for-2010-launch/
VOICE MAIL
Jason in Cincinnati
Dude, CNET hires awesome people!
Anish
Help?
Cold weather iPod issue
Finally, we who reside in the chillier climes can control our iPod without having to take off our gloves or use our nose:
http://www.dotsgloves.com/
Keith Allison
HDD versus SSD
Hey Buzzards,
You guys were wondering about some of the differences between SSD and HDD, one of my PC Hardware professors was mentioning that although SSD are more durable, when/if they fail their data is permanently lost. With HDD, when the drive fails, if the data is important enough, the platters can be removed and placed in a functional HDD case.
Also, up/downside, once data has been written over on an SSD, it is permanently lost.No amount of forensics technology will be able to recover it. Many would be happy about this, police forces will certainly not be.
Thought I’d give my .1? 
Elam Noor
Arden Hills, (St. Paul), MN
Brain hacks, SSD and Hulu
Hey Jamoto,
…Hulu is great but they make some weird decisions on content. So a few months ago, I wanted to check out "Chuck." They had the pilot and episodes 9-13. Well I didn't want to get hooked and be left hanging so I didn't watch. Then when Hulu moved out of beta this week I went back to see if they had updated their content. They had but not in a good way. Gone were the previous episodes. Currently you can only find episodes 3-6. Come on, if you want my eyeballs Hulu, then put up the content and quit playing musical chairs with it.
Sorry, I think I just channeled Molly on that last point. Have a great day and keep up the good work.
Scott Gottreu
Fort Worth, TX
API
You’ve probably already heard this from other listeners, but API is not “Application Platform Interface” - it’s “Application PROGRAMMING Interface”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API
— Swashbuckler
Bebo and AOL
Hi Buzz Crew,
Just some random thoughts on the Bebo/AOL deal. AOL apparently has big plans. Integration of AIM with Bebo will make for a very enticing social networking platform. What better way to leverage that then to use Yahoo’s search, Buzz, and advertising to support the new AOL Bebo. Yahoo provides a way to monetize the newly combined service, plus it would add Yahoo Messenger and Yahoo Mail to the mix.
It’s an enticing idea. AOL would be a competitor again. So would Yahoo. Whether AOL would outright acquire Yahoo or do the sort of half merger that Yahoo was discussing with News Corp. is unclear. I would expect though, that AOL would acquire Yahoo simply because they’d want control over the e-mail and IM services.
The combined AOL/Yahoo would of course, be no match for Google in search advertising, especially with the approval of the Google/Doubleclick deal. But, with Bebo in the mix, it would certainly give Facebook and Myspace a run for their money (take that News Corp.)
Joe
Free Vista
Hi JaMoTo,
Remember when Microsoft was giving out free Windows Vista? Well, I suckered up to it and installed the spyware. Well, it was exactly three months from the day yesterday. Still nothing from Microsoft. Not an e-mail or a package in the mail. Just thought I’d give you guys a heads up on that. I will let you guys know if they ever do give me any information. I wonder if they were hoping I’d forget I installed it.
Love the show!!!
Chuma from San Jose
Hack Gmail - BEWARE!!!
Hey Buzz-tastics,
A friend passed this story on to me about a program available for download called G-Archiver, which apparently allows the user to input their Gmail credentials and then the program automatically downloads all their e-mails.
Per the story at the URL below, the software was programmed in such a way that each time someone downloaded their gmails, the user’s Gmail username and password was e-mailed to the software developer. Scary!
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001072.html
Thanks for the great show,
Dave in Detroit, MI
--Molly
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
EPISODE 666 |
Digital TV transition.
What I want from Google health info.
Zune games!
BOL,
While listening to the podcast in front of my computer the other day I heard a caller speak of going to the Apple store and asking for Steve Jobs' shoe. I was kind of surprised the employee did not point the caller to The Nike+iPod system. On a lark I googled Steve Jobs' shoe and found this story, which speak of Nike's upgrade of the product no longer needing the iPod and speculates that maybe Apple will create a replacement for the Nike+ part, AKA, Steve Jobs' shoe. You guys may be better at predicting the future better then you even realize.
Love the show!
Mike from Albany, New York
The glowing red eyes are a clear indication of evil (and hatred for all cables).
Abraham
Hey Tom,
Don't throw out that Xbox 360 HD DVD player! It's not *quite* useless just yet. Team Xbox provides some valuable insight into ways to extend its life.
It makes a great cup holder! Or a bookend! Anyway, keep up the good work!
~Chris, the engineer from Virginia
Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening Buzz-out-louders, Buzz-on- the-insiders, Tom, Molly, and...ummm...oh yeah, Jason:
Just wanted to give some quick input on an e-mail that was sent in a couple of episodes ago (663 maybe?) regarding cell phone phishing. T- mobile customers should use the STOP message in response to SMS/MMS messages that you are receiving only when there is a recurring subscription that is being charged to your cell phone bill, such as a ringtone or game download subscription. For spam and phishing, filters can be set up on the My.T-mobile.com Web site to block unwanted/unsolicted cell numbers and short codes for your phone. In addition, true phishing messages can be reported to customer care and added to a blacklist so that you never receive over-air messages from those numbers in the future.
Hope this is helpful for folks who might be confused on what to do when they are receiving spam/phishing messages on their cell phones.
Love the show, listen in the car every day on the way to and/or from work.
Take care,
Lorenzo
Hey guys,
Just wondering how anyone would know that hydrazine has an ammonia-like odor, because apparently by the time you smell it, it's too late. Possibly the last words uttered by the only known death were "it smells like ammonia...(dies)." It could smell like that sweet 'new' smell from brand new items. Anyway.
Regards,
Lachlan
The engineer from Australia
Interesting story, especially Google's involvement. Balloon tech seems a bit unreliable for paid Wi-Fi access. Also, this was forwarded by a sea turtle friend of mine because of the dangers discarded balloons pose to sea turtles and other wildlife. I wonder if Space Data Corp retrieves the balloons or just the equipment? Could be killing animals that ingest the leftover bits mistaken as food, not to mention littering.
Cheers,
Michael (via mobile)
Hello Buzz crew,
It's an honor to have an episode named after me! (Thank God, it was not 665+1!) Maybe you should name one episode after yourselves, just to know how it feels. :D
If you are curious, I drew on a map the exact distance I ran today while listening to your podcast, and I have to apologize myself for being so slow. Maybe I should follow Molly's goals and run three miles in 30 minutes...
Thanks for your attention and keep up the good work.
Alexandre from Brazil
Hey Buzz crew (including Jason whom I forgot last time. BTW, great work on the CoverFlow Show Notes!),
Amazing!! This is the second time in so many days that I feel compelled to write in regarding the show. Once for an errant satellite and the trigger-happy Navy, and now this time for Google-themed balloons for world communication domination !!!! I promise not to make this a habit, seeing how Molly aptly pointed out that humans are an addictive bunch.
So there I was, kicking back enjoying the show, and I hear Molly (or was it Tom) mention Space Data Corp.! I couldn't believe my ears. First because of who you mentioned, and second because Google is interested in them!
My shock comes from the fact that I worked closely with the SDC guys at a military exercise two years ago called JEFX-06 (Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment) as part of a project called Combat SkySat.
- Combat SkySat: Cheap Near-Space Communications Relay at JEFX 06
- The idea was to use the technology SDC had matured in their commercial data network as a way to provide inexpensive & reliable over-the-horizon communications for the military. The project was a joint effort between SDC, the Air Force, and the Army to field test the capability as part of the JEFX experiments. With the balloon acting as a relay, drifting happily along at 80,000 ft, two guys with walkie talkie radios could reach out and talk while separated by over 600 miles! (see graphic)
The project has since turned into the very cool StarFighter product: http://www.spacedata.net/starfighter.html with obvious uses by both military and emergency responders alike.
Now Molly pointed out that since these are balloons, you'd think that they would tend to drift all over the place. That's kinda true between the surface and up to around 35,000 ft., but above that the winds become much more stable. In fact, with an ingenious system developed by SDC to control the balloon's altitude by venting gas or ballast, the operators can actually control the direction of the balloon by picking an altitude where the wind is going in the right direction. Want to move south? Release some gas in a series of "mouse farts" and drop down a few hundred feet to pick up the right wind. Drop some ballast to rise back up to catch a different wind direction. This "station-keeping" is what gives them the edge over just using something like a weather balloon that just heads up until it bursts. These things actually "hover".
Now, for your geek edification: here is some trivia worth spewing out (that amazed me when I learned it):
- At 85,000 ft., the biggest problem for a radio is not the cold (which you might expect), but rather the heat that the radio generates not being dispersed because there's very little air to move the heat away.
- During Hurricane Katrina, Space Data Corp supposedly flew a balloon over the hurricane in a pro-bono offer to provide emergency responders with a radio link that wasn't damaged by the storm. Like during days after 9/11, emergency responders had a nightmare communicating because the ground radio infrastructure was all but destroyed. Unfortunately it wasn't used because the folks on the ground had absolutely no idea what the SDC guys were talking about. Nobody had heard of the system and didn't think that something so simple could be so valuable. It wasn't until the military showed up with all their gear that radio communication got better.
- The average time-on-station for one balloon is about 12 hours. It's when you pass the day-night transition that your ballast-to-gas ratio gets all whacked. So you simply fly all day with one, and all night with another. Incidentally, the limiting factor for our flights at JEFX were battery life. We hammered so much data through the link that we cooked the batteries before even venting most of the lifting gas. Kinda like the MacBook Air--light as Helium, but with no user- serviceable battery. ;-)
As a future milestone, I'd love to hear a report on the first twitter message to be passed across these balloon-radios. ;-)
Love the show !!
Frank (again)
--Molly
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
EPISODE 643 |
Metered bandwidth is not so great here.
iPod Touch keeps bugging me to pay money.
Whoops. My mistake. I was on drugs (Sudafed).
What's up with Christina Del Ponte?
My elderly aunt, who understands little else from the podcast (or the rest of life these days), loves it too. She perks up every time she hears the jingle. Though I'm pretty sure it's because she thinks it's a liquor ad since she starts yammering on about booze-filled reminiscences.
But it makes her happy ! And I think a Linux story--it's the perfect antidote to all that crApple.
Great show, love Molly's rants, Tom's libertarian angle, and Jason's (niiice) voice. :-)
Thx,
Solunas
Buzz crew,
I have been listening to your podcast for awhile now and wanted to comment on the metered bandwidth issue. I live in Lawrence, Kansas, (home of the KU Jayhawks), and our Internet provider has had limits on bandwidth for as long as I have their service. I paid $28 additional dollars last month in overages for using 14 addition GB of bandwidth on top of the allowed 10. Usually I do not exceed this amount, but with my increasing list of podcast subscriptions and now iTunes movie rentals, I might have to upgrade to the Gold package which allows 40GB and has faster service.
I believe the package pricing is not too unreasonable, especially since the lowest package is only $15/month with 1GB of bandwidth. Someone who is a light Internet user would benefit from broadband at a low price.
I have included a link to my provider.
Thanks and great show.
Phil
P.S. Natali, I miss watching Textra, but I wish you the best in New York.
Hi Tom, Molly, and Jason!
I'm a long-time listener and love the show but I completely disagree on your views of Usage-Based Broadband from Time Warner. How could anyone possible want this? In the age of HD video streaming/downloading and interactive content I certainly don't want to worry about "going over my gigabytes." For goodness sake, people already have to deal with that with their cell phone minutes. What's stopping the companies from charging usage-based cable TV? It makes just as much sense! Now people will have to be more aware to turn off their Internet when they're not using it. This is not the same thing as "turn off the faucet" or "turn off the lights." I shouldn't have to turn off my Internet so I don't use excess bandwidth. Are we back in the dial-up era again? I keep track of my bandwidth usage and each month I use about 100-200GB of bandwidth each month. This includes gaming, video streaming, downloading, etc. I don't want ISPs to throttle traffic but I would rather them do that the switch to usage-based plans!
Thanks guys! Love the show!
-Martin
Tom, Molly, and Jason,
You recently talked about watermarking video/audio files and ISP scanning for the watermarks. You said you didn't see a problem with ISPs doing this. I would have a problem with ISP's scanning for watermarks since I backup my files to Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Solution) my ISP would try to block me backing up these files to the cloud. Fortunately my backups are sent encrypted so they wouldn't be able to read the watermarks. Any file-sharing software would only need to transfer files using SSL to prevent ISP's from reading the watermarks.
Love the show,
RJ
Hello, this is Sean from Pittsburgh and I just wanted to say three things...
- I was thrilled when you mentioned Sidney Crosby on the show a few weeks ago, he is great.
- Regarding the reinstall of OS X on your MacBook Air, that will never crash...during the keynote, Steve specifically mentioned that the remote disc feature will indeed work if you need to reinstall the OS or upgrade to 10.6.
- The Apple TV was also using a subscription revenue model that iPhone is using, hence the free update...I remember reading that somewhere last year at least.
Hope that clears those issues up, love the show!
Thanks,
Sean
Hey, guys.
During Steve Jobs' keynote, a rep from 20th Century Fox said that a digital file copy would be included on the Family Guy Blue Harvest DVD. I assume one could download this copy to his or her hard drive and watch it as many times as they wanted. This is a great idea, but considering services such as Netflix, wouldn't movie studios be inadvertantly distributing these digital copies to many people who didn't buy the DVD? And what would stop people from sharing these digital copies via bittorrent? I can't imagine there'd be DRM on it, or there would be no point in offering it on their DVDs to begin with.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Michael Tolosa
--Molly
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Tom Merritt appears on
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Jason Howell can
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updating XML feeds from the comfort of his cubicle, and saying "uh-oh"
from time to time. 
