Buzz Out Loud Podcast

I bet you think this podcast is about you. Don't you? Don't you!? On today's show, we learn how easy it is to spot a narcissist on Facebook (stay away!), terrible ideas that will criminalize professional eBay sellers and kill eBay even faster than it's killing itself, and how video games might be the only thing that can survive a recession.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 816

Bill would give retailers power to halt online auctions
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080924-bill-would-give-retailers-power-to-halt-online-auctions.html

Users fail to spot fake pop-ups
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7633402.stm

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080923-study-confirms-users-are-idiots.html

T-Mobile soft capping 3G data at 1GB per month
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/23/t-mobile-soft-capping-3g-data-at-1gb-per-month/

Other G1 flaws
http://gizmodo.com/5053747/android-and-t+mobile-g1s-five-most-obnoxious-flaws

Games are recession-proof earners?
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/23/games-are-recessionp.html

China to run out of IPv4 addresses in 830 days
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/09/24/1254235.shtml

Narcissists easy to spot on Facebook--if you know how
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080923-narcissists-easy-to-spot-on-facebookif-you-know-how.html

Google gets political with quotation tool
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10049591-36.html

Two ways to get Comcast to increase the data cap
http://gigaom.com/2008/09/24/two-ways-to-get-comcast-to-ditch-the-data-cap/

LHC shut down until early spring
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10049188-76.html

Phone that works as car key
http://www.nttdocomo.com/pr/2008/001415.html

VOICE MAIL
Daniel: a phone is a phone

E-MAIL
After listening to Molly and Brian rant on about the SanDisk microSD thing, I started to think about the issues you all raised:

The cards are too small to see album art or album titles
The cards are easy to loose

And also the email that a listener sent in about storing his entire music collection in a Velvetta box when the LHC forces us all underground.

So I started to think...

Wouldn't it be cool if you had a case for all of your microSD albums (so it could hold a whole bunch of them), so you wouldn't lose them. And wouldn't it be cool if this case had a color screen on it, so you could cycle through all of your cards and see the album covers? And wouldn't it be cool if this case could also play the songs on your microSD albums?

Oh yeah, isn't that an iPOD? Store all of your albums in flash memory, be able to see album covers, and listen to your music.

LTS,

Jamie

Hi JaMoTo

Regarding Gregory’s comments (BOL #815) about MP3-CDs, it would seem the BBC have experimented with the format, although not with music. The soundtracks for ‘deleted’ Doctor Who episodes have been released on MP3-CD — for example you can get almost 5 hours worth of classic ‘Troughton’ on one disc (see below). Given that many CD players seem to recognise the format (at least here in Europe) I wonder why it isn’t used more widely? Possibly the licensing costs for a year’s worth of music would be a nightmare?!

Still, works great as an audio book format.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Abominable-Snowman-Audio/dp/0563494182/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1222267428&sr=8-2

LtS,
Simon

(PS. It just occurred to me: why is the snowman “abominable”? I mean what did he ever do to deserve such a title? He just keeps to himself, and never bothers anyone. Clearly he’s been the subject of some kind of slander. Should we start a campaign to clear his name?
I blame Bigfoot! Grrr!! )

Hey Buzzites,

i just heard the discussion about possibly selling MP3 cd’s and how the quality wouldn’t be as good as normal cd audio.

Even though i’m not one of the people that really notices the difference between lossless and high bit rate MP3’s, I agree with Brian C in that i’d rather have the full quality audio than not. But I couldn’t help but think your missing one real option.

Surely you could around get the same amount of lossless audio on a dvd as you could get compressed audio on a cd.

John B off of England.

I laughed when I read “funnerer”. It is a PERFECT way to ridicule Apple’s “Oh, we’re so smart that we can bend grammar rules and it makes us cooler because everyone knows that we are so smart).

It’s only derivative because Chunky chocolate bar pushed that it’s “thickerer” back in the 70’s.
Dana

Exchange on the android is going to take a while. Android may be open, but Exchange is not. Someone (T-Mobile, Google) will have to make a deal with Microsoft to get the specifications of Exchange, and implement it in a /Close sourced/ application. Alternatively, someone can reverse engineer the Exchange protocol, and implement it. There are actually already reverse engineered versions of the protocol out there, but none of them are complete. Enterprises would never release an application like this, so it would probably be a small 2-man shop, and no enterprise would accept an app from such a small shop.
Sargun

While the idea of another physical media for music might seem dumb in the US.. other countries, such as Canada where I live, don’t have access to a wide array of un-DRM online music stores (Amazon.ca sucks!). Canada and other countries probably have more restrictive distribution rules around media, or the online companies just might not have bothered yet (ahem.. Amazon?). So this might be a way to get digital music to those markets, rather than us being force to get it by other.. less legal means. Dumb yes. Completly pointless… maybe not.

LTS

Jamie

The introduction of the G1 phone (the HTC Dream) is very nearly overshadowed by the marketing decision to destroy perfect innocent words in the commercials for it. But we do eventually get around to discussing the features, the delay of Windows Mobile 7, electric cars from Chrysler (for real!), and SanDisk takes a beating.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 815

Live blog: First Google Android phone is unveiled
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10048519-94.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10048538-94.html
http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/20080923/googles-g1-first-impressions/
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/23/t-mobile-g1-site-goes-live-for-real-first-ad-appears/

Each Android phone will include Amazon’s MP3 store
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10048726-17.html

Windows Mobile 7 release delayed
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10048061-56.html

E-mail, photo programs stripped from Windows 7
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10048142-56.html

Chrysler Bombshell: Electric Cars by 2010
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10048704-54.html

eBay to ban checks and money orders in U.S.
http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/09/22/2115217.shtml

Renegade iPhone ‘Podcaster’ developer neutered by Apple, headed to Google’s Android
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/9/renegade-iphone-podcaster-developer-neutered-by-apple-headed-to-google-s-android

Extinct Galapagos tortoise may be resurrected with genetics
http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2008/09/23/extinct-galapagos-tortoise-may-be-resurrected-with-genetics

Netflix signs deals with CBS and Disney
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122213209024665825.html

VOICE MAIL
Paul from Verizon: people are ditching their iPods!

E-MAIL

What’s most funny/tragic about SanDisk’s slotMusic fiasco is that the company tried this almost exactly three years ago. Remember “gruvi?” That was music on flash memory, but it was even worse… the music used a proprietary DRM format and cost $40 per card! I’m wondering if it’s less the labels trying to resurrect physical music sales and more SanDisk desperate to foist its memory on us whichever way it can.
These are the folks who sell a whole range of music players with microSD slots, after all.

Much love,

Jon
Ottawa, Canada

JaMo_ _ (Input todays guest host), In reference to episode 814, concerning the new music format you trashed, I hope that I am not the only one defending it, but I feel I need to supply a view for those of us who would support it.

Much like the connection to a Land Line that you were talking about recently, I like the dependability of a physical copy. I like the idea that I paid for this, and even if my hard drive crashes, I still have my music. If I make the mistake of ripping all my music in WMA format, and switch to a Mac, I can put that CD in my MacBook and save it as MP3 (still working on finishing that project). If the computers take over the planet and I have to live in the sub-terrain to avoid the Matrix, I can slap something physical into a music player and listen to it without connecting to ‘the cloud’.

I like the idea of the cloud for many things, but the thought of the time needed to backup all my music makes me shutter, and brings me back to the hard drive crashing idea again. I’ll agree with you that the storage method is a question (I won’t keep them in my pocket), and a Micro SD is too small. I think a standard SD would be perfect. Still very small, but large enough for some album artwork, or artist and title. One CD case could house what, 40-50 SD Cards. But it seems Micro SD’s are more prevalent in Phones now and that may be their reasoning.

I just look forward to the day when we don’t have 100 pounds of CD’s and I can physically store all of my future music in something the size of a Velveeta box. But, let’s be honest, this will disappear faster than Sarah Palin’s Yahoo account.

Go Bobcats!

Jeff
Cleveland

I want the music companies to start making MP3 CDs. I would love to be able to buy the top 100 songs for the year on one CD. It would be totally awesome. I would love to get the CD case with the CD art and maybe a special collector magazine or book to go along with the CD. I do not understand why the music companies have not tried MP3 CDs.

Oh yeah they are scared would drag-and-drop the files onto your computer. Which is totally different than ripping a CD and turning it into MP3 files.

If the morons at the record companies would make MP3 CDs they could fit all of an artists’ greatest hits onto one CD. If they would make a MP3 DVD, they could fit a decade of music onto one disc. Most DVD players also play MP3s, and most people have their DVD player hooked up to surround sound.

The record companies are freakin’ morons.

Gregory

While my wife was on the (shared) laptop this weekend I noticed that she was browsing through my Facebook page! I mean come on! Granted, it’s my fault for saving my password… although it’s probably all Chrome’s fault for displaying my recently viewed pages and tempting her into clicking on Facebook… but anyhow… although there is nothing that I would not want her to see on my Facebook page… she did not seem to understand that it’s just RUDE! I told her to get her own Facebook page and I would think about letting her be my friend… but why would she do that when she can just look at mine.

Am I overreacting?

Love the show…

~ Frustrated Facebooker

Whether it's the BlackBerry, the Internet, CNET TV, or hilarious jokes about the Large Hadron Collider, it's a good bet that someone either on or in today's show invented it. Probably Molly. Also in the news today, Nintendo is super rich, the first Android phone is getting a Steve-note (sans Steve) on September 23, and some celebrity Internet gossip.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 811

I am a comic genius! Daily Show thinks so, too!
http://themolly.com/blog/?p=86

Official: First Android phone on September 23
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/09/official-first.html
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2899

John McCain helped to create the BlackBerry? Really?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10043126-38.html

Pew survey suggests gaming improves 'Civic and Political Life'
http://blogs.pcworld.com/gameon/archives/007755.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10043945-62.html

Nintendo’s ‘profits per employee’ are higher than Goldman Sachs
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/16/nintendos-profits-per-employee-are-higher-than-goldman-sachs/

Brad Pitt named as top malware lure
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/09/17/Brad_Pitt_named_as_top_malware_lure_1.html

Casting call for YouTubers: $25K for green ideas
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10038664-76.html

Asus ships cracking software on recovery DVD
http://it.slashdot.org/it/08/09/17/1320239.shtml
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/224892/asus-ships-software-cracker-on-recovery-dvd.html

Citizens demand to see secret ACTA treaty
http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/09/17/022221.shtml

BLOG COMMENT
Almerica: Creator of Podcast app responds!
http://www.cnet.com/8601-11455_1-10042959.html?communityId=2014&targetCommunityId=2014&blogId=10&tag=mncol;tback#5000769

VOICE MAIL
Chris: Metallica?

E-MAIL
So, Google patented a system of floating a datacenter out at sea. Stated in the patent were the following two benefits: (A) the sea provides power (in the form of waves), and (B) the sea provides cooling (in the form of… well, the sea is cold).

In BOL you reported that added possibility of putting the whole mess in International Waters, and skirting all federal and state laws.

At the risk of deflating your hopes for a sinister conspiracy, let me point out the sad fact that when a company owns some equipment outside the US border, it doesn’t actually relive them of their duty to respect the laws of the land. No matte where they put their computers, Google’s still a US company.

Sorry Molly. I pretty sure we can make the next one stick.

Tyler

In Episode 810, you discussed the new peer-to-patent program and some of the flaws in the current patent system. I feel compelled to write because you (especially Leo) seemed dismissive of the work that patent examiners do. I am an examiner and, while I can understand and relate the frustration with some of the bad patents that have issued, I would like to point out a couple of factors that make the job sometimes difficult.

1- In order to reject an application, an examiner needs to find publicly available documentation (known as prior art) that the invention has already been invented. An examiner can’t just say “I’ve seen that”, stamp the application with a big “X”, and go grab some coffee. It is sometimes very difficult to find the relevant prior art, even when you know that is out there somewhere, and especially in rapidly developing technologies. This is why the peer-to-patent program could be a help to examiners.

2- Examiners have a very limited amount of time in which to find this prior art. In my technology area, examiners generally have only between 15-20 hours (depending on their experience) to work on an application.
That time includes reading the application to understand what the inventor is trying to patent, finding relevant prior art, and writing multiple formal correspondences to the applicant (or his lawyer). With only so little time available, it is inevitable that things slip by.

Again, while I understand that people are frustrated with the current patent system, please remember that the people doing the day-to-day work are public servants doing the best job they can with the time and resources they have. I don’t expect a parade for doing my job, but a little respect would be much appreciated after hearing our work so constantly maligned.

Sincerely
T the Patent Examiner

Hello Buzz-cast,

I’m a new listener from Houston, Texas
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we were recently hit with Hurricane Ike leaving us not only with out water but without electricity.
On the day after the hurricane I went to work at Target, the only major store open, and sure there were people rushing to buy inverters, car chargers, and even plugging their own cell phone chargers in our outlets but most of the people there were actually buying games and systems I sold a PS3, an Xbox360 Elite, A ton of Nintendo DS’, Some PSPs with of course games for each system Not to mention we sold out of Rock Band 2 for the 360, notice I’ve worked plenty of times in the Electronics department but never had it been busy as this just for games.

Earlier I heard in the news that more than 2 million Houston residents still didn’t have electricity
And after a day of working in electronics again I sold a couple games Some Wiis and Wii fits, too.

I guess we will end up being “Video blobs”
Thanks and keep up the amazing work,
Christian.

Current TV to broadcast ‘tweets’ during debates

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_7734/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=2qEylcf8

Joe AKA dOgBOi

Hello buzz crew,
Molly you were outraged at having to have a CD inside the drive in order to play a game….but don’t you own an Xbox 360! Try playing Halo without a disk. Just a thought.
Love the show!

Ronald

If both of them get you free Wi-Fi, which one would you rather have? Also in the news today, Google's Street View team doesn't care for a little turnabout, the patent process gets smarter thanks to the Web, and IMDB is now delivering movies and TV. Yeah, really. Maybe we're the only ones who thought it was weird. With special guest, Leo Laporte!

EPISODE 810

IMDb now serves full-length videos
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10042280-26.html

Everyone but Apple joins new 'buy once, play anywhere' group
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080915-everyone-but-apple-joins-new-buy-once-play-anywhere-group.html

Google audio search graduates to lab project
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10042536-93.html

T-Mobile’s Google-based phone nears
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122150409898737579.html

Street View operatives object to being snapped
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/16/street_view_crew_privacy/

Zune 3.0 to debut with ‘extra value meal’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10042174-75.html

Program brings Web’s collective wisdom to patent process
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/09/15/crowdsourcing.patents.ap/index.html

Porn passed over as Web users become social: author
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080916/wr_nm/internet_book_life_dc

VOICE MAIL
Lorenzo
What about Best Buy Digital Download service?

Kyle
Trapped in Facebook hell!

E-MAIL

Wally: I had a thought about why Podcaster was not allowed on the app store. I think the reason Podcaster was denied is not for the reason we think it is. When Apple said it was because “it duplicates iTunes Functionality”, I think they meant in a literal sense. If you think about this, the majority of podcasts are delivered as MP3’s. What format have the majority of online music stores been offering their music.. MP3.. All these online music stores would need to do to bypass the mobile iTunes store is give you a free RSS feed and a Web interface (either within Podcaster or their own modified variant). That’s exactly how Podcaster would duplicate mobile iTunes functionality.

Hey guys, I head you talking about Podcaster on the last episode and realized this was an application that I had to have in my collection. I knew it was asking for donation and figured I'd give it a whirl, see how well it worked, and maybe throw them $5 or $10. I went through the process of getting in the “Ad Hoc” network of the application and after receiving confirmation I was told I had to “donate” $10 before I could even try the application. I refuse to support developers who force donations down your throat to access their apps. I have donated multiple times to developers who just ask for it, as well as tried to donate to the iPhone Dev Team. In my humblest of opinions, forcing a “donation” out of your users is just as bad if not as worse as Apples literally shady confirmation process. Anyway, keep up the show, and I love the more regular occurrence of guest hosts.

~Jacob “The Under Appreciated Nerd” Tapp Phoenix, Ariz.

Hi JaMoTo (and appropriate suffix for whomever your additional co-host is),

In regards to Google’s plans to sail away from international law, I can understand how the idea that Google being above the law would be quite scary. They already have unprecedented control over our private data and although they currently do not have a remit to utilize it, this could change in the future.

However, for me there is one plus side to their potential untouchability. Being based in international waters would mean that the U.S. government would not be able to demand that Google hand over my (and your) private information under any counter-terrorist (or other) guise.

Is it wrong to trust Google more than the U.S. government? At least Google doesn’t care what I “shop privately” for.

Transatlantic love for the show,

Andrew the Medical Student from London

Hey Buzz people that are in studio today,

I’m writing in reference to episode 809 when you were talking about AT&T U-verse. U-Verse uses what is referred to as FTTN or “Fiber to the Node” in which, fiber is run to a node, and then from the node, users are connected by traditional copper cabling, thus limiting the potential throughput. Specifically, U-Verse isn’t really true fiber, its VDSL which stands for Very High Bitrate DSL.

This is completely different from Fios which offers FTTP, or “Fiber to the Premises”, which is a direct fiber line to your home. This is typically much faster and more reliable of a connection, and its what we think about when we think about fiber connections. The difference is, of course, that Fios or Fiber to the Premises, in general is extremely expensive in the “last mile”, and fiber to the node is relatively cheap in comparison, because the last mile is solved by traditional cabling that probably already exists or is much cheaper to roll out overall.

Also, the last statement Verizon made is that they do not plan on throttling or limiting Fios, so we’ll see how that works out, I hope they don’t. They really have no reason to, at least for a while. Their last mile problem is basically solved.

Hope that helps clear that up,

Love the show,

Max

In the news today, NBC fails to medal in its online streaming of the Olympics, but Google never fails to meddle (by driving up and down your private roads). OK, that was a Tom joke. Also, the Obama text dissected (but not in a political way), the Pentagon and its fake cat brains, and how to vote better.
Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 795

FCC outs HTC Dream’s dimensions: It’s smaller than the iPhone 3G
http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/25/fcc-outs-htc-dreams-dimensions-its-smaller-than-the-iphone-3g/

iPhone 3G reception just fine, say curious Swedes with engineering degrees
http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/25/iphone-3g-reception-just-fine-say-curious-swedes/
http://www.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=444&a=440573

Google finds no privacy on private roads
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10024294-93.html

No matter how NBC spins it, Olympics Web strategy comes up a loser
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/25/no-matter-how-nbc-spins-it-olympics-web-strategy-comes-up-a-loser/

The Obama SMS: (Un-)gratifying instantification
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13641_3-10024350-44.html

NZ judge bans online publishing of accuseds’ names
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/25/0424230

Amazon may enter college textbook market with new Kindle
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080825-amazon-may-enter-college-textbook-market-with-new-kindle.html

Scrabulous users: Stunned, bemused, baffled
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/08/scrabulous_users_stunned_bemus.html

Pentagon begins fake cat brain project
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/08/darpa-fake-brai.html

Most sung-about body part? The eyes have it
http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/08/most-sung-about.html

VOICEMAIL

Brent Ohio
Voting PSA for Ohioans and beyond.

Anonymous
Critique of new CNET design.

E-MAIL

Hey BoL,

I saw this on CNN last night and thought it was interesting. If you go to ObamaBiden.org you are sent directly to Ebay. That's a smart fella to get that domain. CNN also reported that the domain obamabiden2008.com was bought back in 2006. I think I’m going to have to do some political investigation for some 2012 names. Maybe a Merritt/Wood ticket, or Wood Merritt. Either way would be great. Hey, maybe even a Howell/Best Buy Guy ticket. Love the show.

Emmanuel from Madison, Wis.

**********

Hey Tom & Molly,

I’m catching up on episodes--in Episode 791, Mike in New Hampshire wrote in about the ban on cell phones for air traffic controllers in the U.S. The Federal Aviation Administration claims that this ban is a concern because of interference, but we never had any problems that I or my co-workers are aware of. Also, when dignitaries, visitors, or Secret Service agents are in the control room, they are not asked to check their phones at the door.

This was purely a smack-down move on the part of the FAA. I understand that we cannot be using our phones for personal calls while controlling aircraft, but I, too, have experienced situations where our personal cell phones have been instrumental in saving the day when FAA equipment failed.

I believe Tom mentioned the possibility of using Skype, but our computers are not considered secure until they are broken. I don’t mean the computers that are connected to the radar scopes, I mean just the Windows computers that have no tie-in to our operations. We can’t even download a PDF file or access a USB drive or a CD--Skype would be waaaayy beyond our realm of possibility.

On a side note, I have accidently taken my iPhone into the control room, and while I can hear the zzzt-zzzt sound from the GSM, the pilots don’t hear it (I asked a few).

As they say--love the show,
Molly in Albuquerque

**********

Hey Tom Molly and Jason,

It’s, oh, let’s say Chris former snowman hunter. Recently I got a bug up a certain bodily place to purchase the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers neo-Capraesque Hudsucker Proxy. Like a good Buzz listener, I checked out the DRM-free Amazon MP3 store first, but no joy. I checked iTunes to similar no joy results.

So I checked out Amazon CD sales. The price for said CD was $16.98. The price for the whole fracking movie on DVD, actors, story, music, and ALL was $9.99. Say what you want about the MPAA’s thug tactics recently, but they’ve got a ways to go before they’re fighting in the same weight class as the RIAA. How is the music for a movie on a CD more expensive the movie?! Under this logic, shouldn’t the RIAA be suing the MPAA for undercutting the market? I mean, every bar of the music on that CD is in the movie’s soundtrack.

I offer this to ask if there’s a clearer illustration of the hellish music scape the RIAA has cursed us to, I’d like to hear it.

Insert robotic LOVE THE SHOW here.

Chris

**********

Hey BOL Crew,

I was just listening to Episode 794 where you guys were talking about Verizon having to go back and inspect all its FIOS installations, and then comparing that to AT&T’s U-Verse and how that service has been blamed with starting a few fires, and I think this begs the questions: is this what these companies meant when they said we would get “Blazing” fast speeds? Should your fiber installation kit come with a fire warning? “Warning: blazing fast speeds may cause fire. Please surf responsibly”.

Love the show!

-Ryan from Boise, Idaho