One thing Droid users can lord over iPhone fanatics is the new porn app. Yes, with no Apple adult minding its app catalog, Android users can go adult. We also debate the reality of Cyber Monday and congratulate Twitter on being word of the year. Plus, we know you're all wishing for Macs for Christmas, but you're going to get a Netbook. Amazon doesn't lie.
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EPISODE 1115
Black Friday boasts $595 million in U.S. online holiday spending, up 11 percent vs. year ago
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/11/Black_Friday_Boasts_595_Million_in_U.S._Online_Holiday_Spending_Up_11_Percent_Versus_Year_Ago
Twitter’ top word of 2009
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10405994-2.html
Barnes & Noble delaying Nook shipments to stores
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2942046420091130
Kindle breaks record for sales in a single month during November
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Kindle-Breaks-Record-for-bw-1721662599.html?x=0&.v=1
Macs are Amazon’s most wished for, PC’s most given
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/11/29/macs-are-amazons-most-wished-for/
Leak: The Google Phone “is a certainty”
http://gizmodo.com/5415169/leak-the-google-phone-is-a-certainty
Wikipedia denies mass exodus of editors
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8382477.stm
French court slams eBay with 1.7M fine over LVMH product resale dispute
http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/11/30/french-court-slams-ebay-with-e1-7m-fine-over-lvmh-product-resale-dispute/
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/11/mininova-buries-pirate-booty-in-its-index-aims-to-go-legit.ars
Porn app store lands on Android phones
http://www.pcworld.com/article/183342/porn_app_store_lands_on_android_phones.html
Online “guilds” mirror real life gangs
http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/11/30/1358241/Online-Guilds-Mirror-Real-Life-Gangs
VOICE MAIL
Anonymous – how Bing is gaining share
E-MAIL
Look! In your hand, on your desk. It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Twitter!!!!!!
Hey all in Buzzington,
Yes, it’s me again. This time with some good news…I think. Just saw this post on TechCrunch and it reminded me of your carrier pigeon vs DSL episode. Only this time, it’s Twitter vs. the mainstream media, with Twitter coming out looking like The Flash. Seriously, the Tiger Woods accident was all over Twitter within minutes; ten minutes later Google was all over it. So in a matter of fifteen minutes everyone in on social networking knew all the details involving the Tiger Woods accident. It took CNN 45 minutes just to get the ‘breaking story’ that “according to officials, Tiger Woods had crashed.”
We are in a major transition here; the internet is taking over, like it or not.
JoshuaCaleb
**********
You remember the story about the “web loyalty” scam where company A gives company B your credit card number and you get a recurring monthly charge in exchange for nothing.
Well, I recently discovered a recurring charge on my wife’s credit card for “VPCLUBUS” for $14.95 a month (VP = Vista Print, one of the participants in this scam). I called the card company to complain, they said they could dispute this charge, or I could file a fraud report, and they’d dispute the whole chain of charges and give me a new card number, but they gave me the phone number for the company and suggested I try to work it out with them first.
So, I called the provided Vista Print 800 number (and recorded the conversation just in case), and was pleasantly surprised with how quickly I was able to get my money back. I got an automated system telling me to type in my rewards number or card number, so I key in the credit card number. The automated thing looked up my info and told me I signed up on Jan 20th, and told me to hit “1″ to cancel my subscription. So I hit “1″. It says its canceled and I get a refund on the last charge, and to hit “0″ if I want to talk to someone. So I hit “0″ and tell the lady that I never signed up and I want a refund for the whole string of charges. They transfer me to someone else who picks up and says: Sorry for any misunderstanding, we’ll refund everything. Expect to see it on your card in 3 days. Here’s my name and reference number for the transaction.
And that’s it. The whole call was 4 minutes and 14 seconds. They get so many of these that they’ve actually streamlined the refund process.
So, BOLers, if you see this kind of charge, call the credit card company, get the number for the loyalty program, and see if you can’t get the whole thing refunded. – Tyler
**********
Hi everybody,
I am split on the whole 3 strikes thing. On one hand, I do some questionable things online that whould probably violate this new law. But on the other hand, such a law is probably the only thing that will make me stop said questionable activities. So… why not?
Love the show – Chris
A new survey shows the messaging behavior of men and women on dating sites. And it leads Natali to the inevitable conclusion that you shouldn't date dorks. We also talk over the WikiLeaks pager data from the 9/11 events. And BlackBerry gets an eBay app. Why is this such big news?
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EPISODE 1114
Wikileaks offering 9/11 pager intercepts
http://911.wikileaks.org
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/25/taking_liberties/entry5770280.shtml
Blackberry finally gets official, free eBay app
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10404316-12.html
Your Xbox and Wii could be used as an emergency broadcast system
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/state-emergency-alert-system-now-includes-xbox-and-wii/
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/11/25/xbox_ebs/
Kindle gets better battery life, native PDF support
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10404507-1.html
Comments on Net neutrality irk AT& T
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/24/AR2009112404175.html
Two US senators demand publication of ACTA
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/24/two-us-senators-dema.html
Iraqi government launches YouTube channel
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/iraqi-government-on-youtube.html
First Else plans to make every smartphone obsolete
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/emblazes-first-else-unveiled-in-london-promises-to-be-a-game-c
Online matchmaking site analyzes attractiveness vs. message traffic
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/24/online-matchmaking-s.html
CNET get’s to play with a Nissan Leaf EV today
http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/tour.jsp
VOICEMAIL
Chris the DJ
http://technoblog.com/bol/bol_appl_smoker_vm.mp3
E-MAIL
CNET and Roku — Hey guys. While it is not the cleanest solution, you can get all the CNET video and audio content using the mediafly channel. You can even link your mediafly and roku box to browse only shows you watch.
Andrew Baisden
**********
AT&T points out that with Verizon you can’t talk and use data while on
their 3G. But with the iPhone you can’t talk and use data while on
Edge or GPRS. So that map that Verizon showed is the only time you can
do this on AT&T.
As far as the iPhone and SSH. Just because an iPhone is jail broken,
doesn’t mean SSH is installed.
Love the show.
Bob
The European Commission has decided that every citizen has a right to the Internet, but still made it fairly easy for the media industry to cut the Internet off. We also see that Intel is in hot water again. And we ask that perennial question, "Why can't I own a Canadian?" And Google answers.
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EPISODE 1100
Intel in threats and bribery suit
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8343179.stm
Google Dashboard lifts curtain on stored privacy data
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10390941-265.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/transparency-choice-and-control-now.html
EU Breaks deadlock in debate over right to Internet access
http://www.pcworld.com/article/181472/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8344174.stm
Tell the FCC to say no to Hollywood’s insane “Selectable Output Control” kill-switch
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/04/tell-the-fcc-to-say.html
Congress may require ISPs to block certain fraud sites
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10390779-38.html
Verizon offers prepaid, no-contract 3G data bundled with a USB airstick
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10391153-94.html
Man-In-the-Middle Vulnerability For SSL and TLS
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/11/05/144252/Man-In-the-Middle-Vulnerability-For-SSL-and-TLS
eBay launches online fashion magazine
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/ebay-comes-out-of-the-attic-and-starts-a-fashion-magazine/
WoW may be banned in China
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE5A32GE20091104
What does Google Suggest suggest about the state of humanity?
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/0,39029471,49304156,00.htm
VOICE MAIL
Brent from Lake Elsinore on Paypal
E-MAIL
Hello Buzztronauts
The NASA Space Elevator 2010 competition is currently ongoing at
Edwards airforce base in California. There are now only 3 teams
competing and well my university is one of those teams. There’s some
really cool tech involved with records being broken for the most power
wirelessly beamed over a distance and also just some really cool stuff
to see a robot climb 1 km vertically while being powered by a giant
laser.
The USST (University of Saskatchewan Space design Team) will get their
first run tomorrow morning at 7 AM and the competition can be viewed
at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/space-elevator
News of today’s happenings can be found here. http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/11/04/2117873.aspx
Love the Show
Scott “The Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering Student” Theede
**********
Hi Buzz Crew,
Listening to the commentary on episode 1099 about the ACTA treaty and the possible resulting three-strikes law, it occurred to me that perhaps what we need is a co-ordinated campaign against the lawmakers. In each country where these laws are enacted, people could make claims of copyright infringement against the legislators at both home and work. After receiving three such complaints the ISPs would have no choice but to cut off their internet connections. It would be interesting to see how quickly the laws would be repealed when those that made them became personally affected by the severe defects and opportunity for abuse in the legislation.
Love the show,
Doug
**********
You guys had a pretty good go at Apple on Monday for getting rid of
Atom compatibility. Was that really warranted given that it was a
private beta release given to select developers? Anyway, now they’ve
put it back in.
I’m about 99% sure they put it back because they heard Molly’s rant.
Love the show,
scottjackson
**********
Hey Buzz Crew,
After watching the podcast last night I went to Google Maps and looked
up this mythic town of Argleton. I was poking around the area and
noticed something else. Just to the south of the supposed site of
Argleton is a train station. The name of this train station is the
Maghull Rail Station. It made me laugh because it reminded me of what
Natalie said about not being able to see it because we are “Muggles”.
I got a kick out of it anyway.
LOVE LOVE LOVE the show,
Aaron (Graphic artist from Garland, TX)
Or perhaps we should call it OLPC. One laptop per criminal. The idea of letting prisoners use computers is good, but fraught with peril. Also, we start a new PSA campaign where Billy learns that e-mail can be dangerous. And that's one to grow on.
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EPISODE 1075
PSP Go arrives, Sony launches 100 games
http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=105D7C9D-1A64-67EA-E402F9BD3FAEBCDC
Google Wave First Look
http://lifehacker.com/5370738/google-wave-first-look
Google Wave invites for sale on eBay
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/10/01/google-wave-invites-for-sale-on-ebay/
Nvidia’s Fermi takes direct aim at supercomputing, Intel
http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/10/nvidia-takes-direct-aim-at-intel-supercomputing-with-fermi.ars
OTOY’s Jules Urbach: Cloud computing ‘threatens’ game consoles, Blu-ray, PCs
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=3368
Google releases Android 1.6; Palm unleashes WebOS 1.2
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/10/google-releases-android-16-palm-releases-webos-12.ars
Apple and Google breaking up over iPhone maps?
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/172951/apple_and_google_breaking_up_over_iphone_maps.html
http://blogs.computerworld.com/14835/apple_purchased_mapping_company_in_july_to_replace_google
Twitter to launch user-created Follow Lists
http://mashable.com/2009/09/30/twitter-lists/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10364831-26.html
U.S. urges ‘cyber hygiene’ effort
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8279867.stm
Wireless network modded to see through walls
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/10/01/1321212/Wireless-Network-Modded-To-See-Through-Walls
Convicted hacker left in charge of prison computer system
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/09/27/conputer-meltdown-115875-21703149/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/29/inmate_hacker/
VOICE MAIL
Ian about Onlive on Uverse
Keith in Georgia wonders how ATT has enough bandwidth to make us of OnLive
E-MAIL
Hey BOL,
In episode 1072 you played RougeTess’s voicemail regarding PayPal security
using the keychain security key. I jumped on the bandwagon early, and have
had one since they were introduced.
I hate to say it, but this cool little gizmo does not provide as much
security as it seems at first glance. Sometime between when I got mine
almost two years ago and now, PayPal totally neutered the functionality by
providing a “I don’t have it with me” bypass link, where you can supply
your credit card number, checking account number, or *gasp*, answer a
traditional pre-defined security question.
Yes, it’s better than username/password alone, but it’s not as good as it
used to be or could be. And it’s definitely not true second-factor
authentication.
–Brad in Victorville
**********
Hey BOLers, James the field engineer from Michigan. In episode 1074
you mentioned seeing modern day tech in the new Star Trek movie. Well
I embarrassed my wife and impressed my twelve year old when I saw two
of the above Symbol M2004 hand scanners on the bridge of the
Enterprise! My son was even more impressed when I showed him one I
keep as a spare in my service truck. Now we just use them to ring up
customers at our chain of gas stations but I guess in the “future”
you’ll be able to fly a starship with them, my son can’t wait. Love
the show. James
**********
Hey Buzz Out Loud Crew,
I just wanted to send you a short message. I am a Palm Pre user, and I first started listening to your show when I downloaded a Homebrew app called drPodder. It monitors the RSS feeds for lots of podcasts and can be set to auto-download and queue up podcasts for later listening. One of the default podcasts for this application happens to be your show. This is what got me hooked on your show, and probably did the same to a number of other Palm Pre users.
Thanks for carrying news regarding the Palm Pre, I love hearing the occasional blurb about technology I use. Love the show, please keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Darin Boots
AT&T lets you pay for its network holes, Chrysler puts auto manuals on DVD (and how are you supposed to use that in the car?), MySpace says its video portal is here now, USB 3.0 is here, Europe gives Google a green light to sell ads to the black marketers, and when you're dead on the Web, you're dead.
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EPISODE 1068
AT&T breaks out its new 3G Microcell
http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-10358045-85.html
3G MicroCells: Carriers want you to pay extra to fix their own failures
http://gizmodo.com/5364161/3g-microcells-att-wants-you-to-pay-extra-to-fix-their-own-failures
Ford CEO Alan Mullalley to deliver 'opening keynote' at CES
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10357687-92.html
Pioneer iPhone app links to car head units for easier destination entry
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS84227+21-Sep-2009+BW20090921
Chrysler ditching paper manuals, going digital
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10357937-48.html
EU backs Google over Louis Vuitton
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2353142,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121
Facebook/Nielsen partnership
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10358057-36.html
MySpace unleashes two-way syncing with Twitter
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10357501-2.html
Hulu/MySpace video thing
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10358200-93.html
First USB 3.0 product certified
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/21/first-usb-3-0-product-gets-certified-floodgates-get-closer-to-b/
Netflix awards $1 million prize, announces another one
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10357807-26.html
Why Netflix can’t wait to go all online
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/22/national/a070027D58.DTL&tsp=1
VOICEMAIL
Mike: on iPhone battery logging
EMAIL
Re: Apple battery life
Quick notes.
1. Apple was contacting customers about iPhone 3.1, not the iPhone 3GS specifically. The gorilla and the iPhone 3G would be covered by this, too.
2. And no, it’s not “a lot of work”. You click a flippin’ link in Mail, tap an Install button, and move on with your life.
Sean
**********
Hey Buzz crew, it's Kevin from Philadelphia and guess who’s a Windows 7 launch party host? Luckily I”m planning my birthday party that weekend, but YES Windows swaggg. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll win the $750 PC. Just between us, the fastest computer I own is half the processor speed necessary for Windows 7. Shhh don’t tell Microsoft I want the Windows-branded napkins!
Kevin
**********
Dear Buzz crew,
I think it is a bit sad that when Gmail removed the “beta” tag from the logo it was big news, a trending topic on Twitter, and mentioned on the show, but when Yahoo Mail makes some legitimate enhancements...no one really notices.
Just a few days ago Yahoo Mail got a face-lift and added application support, but it wasn’t even mentioned on the show. I know you guys simply cover what people are interested in and NO ONE seems interested in what’s going on at Yahoo Mail anymore. As someone who has been using the same Yahoo Mail account for over a decade I find it sad that Yahoo has lost the mind share and, largely due to its lack of innovation in the past, gets no notice for innovating now.
Just thought I’d share my thoughts with you guys and encourage you to at least check out the updates at Yahoo Mail. There are still a few of us who like the service…
Thanks for the great show!
Clayton from Oklahoma.
A judge has determined that violating terms of service is bad, but it's not tantamount to unauthorized access of a computer system. Good news for jailbreakers and hackintosh perpetrators. Also Opera 10 is out. I know. I know. But some of you really do care.
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EPISODE 1054
Confirmed: eBay has a deal to sell Skype
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10322833-94.html
http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2009/09/a_new_chapter.html
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090901005931&newsLang=en
TOS violations not a crime in teen suicide case
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/08/judge-says-tos-violations-arent-a-crime-acquits-lori-drew.ars
Opera 10 faster with new features
http://arstechnica.com/software/reviews/2009/09/first-look-opera-10-faster-with-new-features.ars
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10320478-12.html
Sony to ship Vaios with Chrome installed
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10013661o-2000331777b,00.htm
IE tumbles, Firefox regains market share mojo
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137358/IE_tumbles_Firefox_regains_market_share_mojo
Windows phones are coming on October 6
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsphone/archive/2009/09/01/windows-phones-are-coming-on-october-6th.aspx
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10322007-56.html
Qualcomm forbidden to use “smartbook” by order of German court
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/01/qualcomm-forbidden-to-use-smartbook-by-order-of-german-court/
TomTom’s new direction takes shape: Deal with Fiat
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS90227+31-Aug-2009+BW20090831
Internet’s first domain name registered sold
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/08/31/2233246/Internets-First-Registered-Domain-Name-Sold
Woman fired for using uppercase in e-mail
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/31/1515239/Woman-Fired-For-Using-Uppercase-In-Email
VOICE MAIL
James the field engineer on how cops can check texting
Jesse from San Francisco on a better way to protect iPhone
E-MAIL
A friend whose spouse works warranty repairs for a large electronics retail outlet, some say the BEST retail electronics outlet, that does warranty repairs for Apple products reports the receipt of a repair manual for an Apple tablet! The look is similar to the one on Gizmodo
http://gizmodo.com/326468/apple-touchscreen-tablet-contest-winner-and-gallery
The spouse reports it is 10 inches and runs OS X with a Cocoa layer on top like the iPod. Check your own sources at your local BIG retail store to confirm this.
Stephen B. Swan
Retired Guy
**********
Cameron from Buena Vista, Virginia
I was watching episode 1053 and when I saw the dancing iPod girl I
noticed that she was dangerously off balance. She wasn’t dancing, she
was falling! Then new ipod whatever must have some sort of life alert
built in to it. Apple is obviously trying to make in-roads into the
highly desirable geriatric market segment.
Anyways, just a thought 
The show is alright… Just kidding- LOVE… the… show…
Cameron Berry
**********
Yo Bolers,
I’m the kind of guy who gives credit where it’s due, and this time, I gotta give credit to Jason for his post-podcast reminder to visit CNET Live and see the web exclusive video. A) I really like the reminder part and B) that was buy far the funniest 6 minutes of my long BOL career. So thanks Jason, for making my day. Nay, my whole week.
Ben the Industrial Engineer Grad Student from Arkansas
p.s. Love the show
**********
Here is the Tweet from All Songs Considered re: Beatles: Starting my download of the Beatles Catalog. (protected site ) public release 9/9/09 – Vance
So at one time before February 2008, you could get a domain name for life if you signed up for Microsoft's Office Live. Today Microsoft says it's no longer free. Even though they said it was free for life. But they did acknowledge that "It's a change." You think? Also you can now deposit your checks via iPhone. Wow.
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EPISODE 1038
Microsoft backtracks on free Office Live domains
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10305510-56.html
GM, eBay to team up for online car sales
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2351367,00.asp
URL shortener Trim gets cut off
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10306202-36.html
Bit.ly Swoops in to Save Tr.im
http://mashable.com/2009/08/10/shorturl-savior/
USAA bank will let customers deposit checks via iPhone
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/technology/10check.html
Google Voice to be retooled as Web app for iPhone
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10305716-37.html
AT&T Makes Its Terms of Service Even Worse, To Discourage Lawsuits
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/08/09/2232233
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/08/10/get-angry-att-changes-contract-to-prevent-class-action-lawsuits/
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/08/10/att.bans.class.action/
Toshiba signs up for Blu-ray
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10306235-93.html
Blu-ray support coming with iTunes 9?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/08/blu-ray-support-coming-with-itunes-9/
Printable Batteries Should Arrive Next Year
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/08/09/0049214/Printable-Batteries-Should-Arrive-Next-Year
VOICEMAIL
Remy followup
EMAIL
Buzz crew,
Amongst all the haters, I just wanted to let you know that I love the
story choices you guys make. I realize that you have been getting some
haters recently, so I just wanted to chime in with the other side of
the story.
The number, amount, and kinds of stories you choose are thoughtful and
interesting. There’s a great balance between the stories everyone else
covers and stories you don’t really see anywhere else.
My only request is that others who think that the story choices are
excellent chime in as well. I’m sure we’re not the minority, and I
hate to see you all discouraged.
Meggie Gallina
Evanston, IL
**********
Now your time spent talking about whether or not you should be talking about Twitter, Apple and Google is taking up more time than you spent on those companies before. Now I propose a meta-topic where you talk about whether or not you should be talking about whether or not you should be talking about Twitter, Apple and Google. If you recurse enough times you should be able to fill the entire time that was formerly indeterminate.
Coyote Teacher
**********
Here’s the thing, (as far as covering the iPhone too much) I own a Nokia N810, and love it, but you don’t cover the apps for it, but covering a story about an iPhone app is going beyond the coverage needed (for general tech podcasts, if BOL were an iPhone podcast, that’d be different). Then… you mention in the VERY next story about having a GSM eBook reader? I have one (and will have one very soon, even better)! The Nokia N900 has been sent to the FCC for review. It will be GSM/UTMS and running Maemo, which supports FBReader (a fine open source ebook reader ) which I’m using on my Nokia N810 right now to listen to the BOL podcast, along with sending this email. I have it currently tethered to my NON-smart phone from AT&T (Yes you can) and am using an Apple bluetooth keyboard (which The iPhone cannot use) to write this fracking email!
Yes I’m biased but as far as tech goes, the iPhone sucks and the Nokia maemo platform kicks it’s butt! You’ll never see Nokia kick out an app from their “store” (APT-GET sources list), where ALL the apps are free, take that Apple fanboys! HA!
Skyler
Currently: Bakersfield,CA
Well, actually, people are made of black holes. But I couldn't do a Soylent Green reference if I wrote that. We also talk about Natali's Lady Things and the fact that we all wear makeup. Oh, and Sony is broke. And Jammie Thomas is going back to court. So it's not all good news.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
 |
EPISODE 974 |
Sony Records First Full-Year Loss In 14 Years
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-earnings-sony-records-first-full-year-loss-in-14-years/
eBay wins L’Oreal suit
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ebay-wins-french-court-ruling-in-loreal-case
Not-so-shocking: Jammie Thomas, RIAA unable to settle
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/05/not-so-shocking-jammie-thomas-riaa-unable-to-settle.ars
Pirated music dominated by pop hits
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8049495.stm
Three strikes proposal for print
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/14/three-strikes-propos.html
AirTran Wi-Fi for ALL flights
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-biz-air-tran-wireless-internet-may12,0,5545703.story
Mulligan! Twitter backtracks on unpopular change
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10240163-36.html
YouTube on Google News
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10240709-93.html
Import Contacts
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/import-your-mail-and-contacts-from.html
Street View in Japan must reshoot
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10240459-71.html
Google asks personal health questions
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10240076-2.html
Kindle owners start to lose text-to-speech on purchased books — how do DRM-free Kindle books work?
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/14/kindle-owners-start.html
Kindle for all bloggers
http://gizmodo.com/5253808/amazon-opens-kindle-to-all-bloggers
Illusion Cloak Makes One Object Look Like Another
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/13/2215220
Could all particles be miniblack holes?
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23530/
Holy Moly iPhone app rejected by Apple
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=7575266&page=1
VOICE MAIL
Kim
A podcast entirely about Twitter
Ton
Why would anyone want to see @replies
E-MAIL
Hi Buzz Crew,
In episode 973 you talked about a credit card that displays a unique code for online purchases. I don't think adding more complexity to a credit card is a good idea. I use a Bank of America credit card with "ShopSafe" for online purchases. When I'm ready to purchase online I simply logon to BOA (Bank of America) and use ShopSafe to generate a one use credit card number. You can set the expiration date and credit limit for the credit card number. The number can only be used by one vendor so it's of no value to anyone if they steal it.
Link to BOA ShopSafe Service info:
http://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/index.cfm?template=learn_about_shopsafe
Love the show,
RJ
Buzz crew,
I’m a few days behind, but I just listened to your bit about an iPhone or iPod Touch being required by a university. Here at the University of Minnesota (go Gophers!), the university will actually lend iPod Touch to students in some classes, particularly media classes. You keep the iPod Touch for the semester and turn it back in when your course is finished. It is a pretty good programme and seems quite fair.
Also, we use Moodle for our online classroom stuff. It’s an okay system, but I think the University likes it because its free and open source!
However, I also agree that requiring students to have some fancy tech gadget is ridiculous.
—–
Ethan Poole
Aloha Buzz crew,
http://www.pcper.com/#NewsID-7154
The first signs of Intel’s Larrabee processor has been spotted in the
wild at the opening ceremony for the Visual Computing Institute at
Saarland University in Germany. Larrabee is Intel’s attempt to break
into the (GP)GPU market, hoping to break Nvidia and AMD’s current
stranglehold. It’s a bit of an odd beast in comparison to the existing
offerings: Instead of creating a completely specialised chip they’re
using a chip that’s largely based on their existing speciality, the x86
CPU; though it means they’re paying AMD nice bits of licensing money per
GPU they crank out thanks to cross-licensing for stuff like the x86-64
support.
The guys at PC Perspective have taken a pretty close look at the picture
and seem to believe it contains 32 cores + 32 vector processing units,
which seems to validate more or less what a few sites were claiming all
the way back in June 2007.
Love the show,
Paul, the brit geek in Hawaii.
Hi Buzz Crew,
I just wanted to take a quick moment to respond to your comments in episode number 973 where you were wondering why cell phone salesmen always have the "inside scoop" on product releases.
Having worked for Verizon Wireless for about a year in college, I can tell you that these inside scoops are completely made up. You see, Tom, you were close when you mentioned that the salesmen are on commission and that should be a driving factor. It IS a driving factor because of how the commission works. The salesmen are paid commission for 3 things - new line, out of contract line, and accessory sales. Notice what is missing there? On contract sales! That's right; the representatives don't make a penny for replacing your broken, on contract phone. Actually, it hurts their numbers as the accessory sales ratio is tied to the number of handsets sold. At Verizon, we needed to sell 3 accessories for every handset that we sold. People who are replacing broken handsets never buy accessories because they already have them. To put it simply, the salesmen don't want to sell an on contract customer a handset because they get NO commission and it hurts their numbers.
Now you see why these salesmen know all of these magical release dates. It's to get the customer to go away and hurt someone else's numbers.
I'm not defending the salesmen as this is a terrible practice, but as long as phones are subsidized, the companies are not going to pay their employees for on contract sales, and the salesmen will keep coming up with dates.
In Japan, our phones are no longer subsidized, and the customer service has gotten so much better since they changed the practice. Also, our monthly bills have gone down (by almost 50%!!). On the flip side, I paid about $650 for my last phone. I don't think the USA is ready for that kind of sticker shock on phones, so I guess you will have to deal with the made up release dates and inflated charges for the time being.
Love the show!
Shawn
Don’t you think that Twitter is a bit pretentious? I mean you have
people that write usually one sentence about their everyday lives that
contains little or no valuable information. With the teenagers that
can’t spell, I’m surprised they don’t use all acronyms. This emphasis
on the self seems to be a theme with these websites (i.e. myspace,
ipod, youtube, justin.tv). Do people really think their lives are that
interesting that they need to be broadcast to the world? This is why I
recommend the book “The Dumbest Generation”. – Matt
In this case it refers to Jeff Bakalar's face, but it could also refer to Amazon, Steve Jobs, and Skype. Well at least in part. Find out all about all of these things in today's scary and caliente episode. --Tom
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
EPISODE_951 |
Episode 951
Amazon criticized for de-ranking ‘adult’ books
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10217715-93.html
… Amazon says it was a glitch…
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6651080.html
Amazon told gay writer it was due to “adult” material
http://markprobst.livejournal.com/15293.html
GOOD READ: Was #amazonfail just massive trolling?
http://tehdely.livejournal.com/88823.html
List of books stripped of Amazon ranking
http://jezebel.com/5209088/why-is-amazon-removing-the-sales-rankings-from-gay-lesbian-books
Sprint Memo Hints at Palm Pre Smartphone Release Date
http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/Sprint-Memo-Hints-at-Palm-Pre-Smartphone-Release-Date-118695/
Report: Jobs still in control at Apple
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10217641-37.html
Report: Skype co-founders may buy it back
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10217611-94.html
Time Warner tries again, fails to justify caps and charges
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/time-warner-cable-to-press-stop-questioning-our-caps.ars
Twitter hit by series of worm attacks
http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2009/04/13/daily3.html
Facebook messes up your GPA
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10217704-71.html
Zune HD photos may reveal Microsoft’s next move
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12519_7-10217589-49.html
Amazon Plans Big-Screen Kindle
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-amazon-plans-big-screen-kindle/
Steam powered USB charger keeps your iPod alive with Victorian sensibility
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/12/steam-powered-usb-charger-keeps-your-ipod-alive-with-victorian-s/
VOICEMAIL
Kevin in Reno
What is that face??
Hi guys!
Regarding your comments about the SF fiber cut on Friday’s show, I can perhaps add some information for you.
I was a cable splicer and a lineman for five years at a nameless communications company that starts with “Q.”
I can tell you that most all underground cables are indeed pressurized. In fact, when I started, there was an actual Air Pressure department (which was merged with the Cable Maintenance department after several rounds of layoffs). Their sole job was to maintain the fittings, air lines, and such. Even copper cables are pressurized. This is mainly to keep water out, but can also serve to alert technicians to accidental or deliberate damage. At each Central office, there is a room full of huge compressors and air dryers that feed into the cables down in the vault and can keep many miles of cable under pressure.
When we would go into a manhole to work on cables, we had to call our air pressure guy and let him know what cable we were working in so that he could ignore the alarms. We also had “dry air” connections in our trucks that we would hook up to fittings in the manhole we were in to lessen the load on the dryers at the CO. This was especially important when we were working a section of cable that was very far away. Believe it or not, these cables are under 10 to 12 PSI of pressure (your car tires are about 30 PSI).
Just though you’d be interested. Love the show.
Mike
P.S. None of this is confidential or “secret” information, just obscure.
Molly
*****
Hy Buzz Crew,
I’m actually kind of excited to do my first well actually but in episode 950, you talked about how Amazon has started to sell xbox live codes to redeem xbox games that are served over xbox Live. Tom had mentioned that this method seemed clunky since it would require you to enter the code into your xbox for every purchase, well actually you can redeem your market place code online via the xbox.com website and I think pushes the content to your xbox once it logs on to live. Granted I don’t think this is really that smooth of an implementation but at least you’ll have copy and paste at your finger tips (well maybe not on an iPhone :/ ). However, I still think this is a great way to promote xbox live game content since it basically gives this basically acts like an additional store front outside to the traditional marketplace interface. On that note I wonder if the code system will eventually break down, especially with all the news about the iTunes gift card codes being compromised. Just a thought, thanks for the great podcast. love the show.
–
Steve from FL
*****
$150 for TWC’s “unlimited” plan is NOT the answer.
You can upgrade to a business class connection (no caps) and pay a lot less. Only problem is then there is a contact (the benefit of that being that there is an SLA):
* Teleworker Plan
* 10mbps down, 1.5mbps up, $79.95/mo for 24-36mo, No installation fee, NO CAPS.
Thanks Buzz Crew,
Ben in Rochester, NY
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
Episode 866 |
Listener co-host details: E-mail buzz@cnet.com with your name, phone number, preferred time of day (with time zone). We are shooting for doing the interviews next Monday 3-4 p.m. PST and Wednesday 4-5 PST.
Facebook Connect opens up
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10113604-2.html
So does Google Friend Connect
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10113648-2.html
Koobface’ Virus Attacks Facebook
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/12/koobface-virus.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10113981-83.html
eBay holiday contest overrun by automated scripts, honest users disgruntled
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/04/ebay-holiday-contest-overrun-by-automated-scripts-honest-users-disgruntled/
First NFL game in 3-D fumbles, then recovers
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/N/NFL_3D?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-12-05-07-43-16
Some Xbox owners see poor-quality Netflix streams
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10113937-93.html
Online reporters now the journalists most often jailed
http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/12/05/0532240.shtml
Martini Life launches as hub for affluent individuals
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10113329-2.html
Obama sports white earbuds, doesn’t rock Zune
http://www.macworld.com/article/137347/obama_ipod.html
Voice Mail
Daniel: beaten to the Netbook girl
E-mail
Hi Buzz Crew:
In episode 863, Jason brought up the notion of having holographic passengers. (For the sake of discussion, let’s ignore the fact we don’t actually have a viable holographic system.) My engineering side kicked in, and I started thinking about the equipment that would have to be added: computers, projectors, power conversion (since there’s no way this thing’s running on 12 V), etc. In short, this is one option that’s not going to fit in a Prius. Maybe an Escalade assuming you were not planning on using the back for anything else. The cost of this thing would be enormous. That said, if one or two holographic passengers qualifies me for the HOV lanes, I’m in.
Craig (in VA just outside DC)
**********
Hey JaMoTo (+1)
With all the talk lately about who watchs ads on the TiVo, I was happy to find a new article circling around the net lately. There is an affliction that is now dubbed “TiVo Guilt”.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/12/02/tivo.guilt/?iref=hpmostpop
Also on the TiVo viewers and how many commercials they watch, I have noticed a strange pattern in my boyfriend’s TiVo habits: When we are watching something live, he gets very indignant that he can’t fastforward the commercials, but when watching something pre-recorded, he promptly forgets we have a TiVo. We’ll make it halfway through the break and he’ll suddenly go “Oh yeah, TiVo!” and begin fastforwarding then, having just watched half the ads. This process will repeat for subsequent breaks. It’s an odd little phenomenon, no?
Love the show!
Amy in cold London, Ontario, Canada
**********
What’s goin’ down, BOL crew?
I know you talked about this a few days ago, but today, my cousin’s macbook-pro collapsed horrendously the other day due to a virus. I didn’t believe it at first because I’ve had an ibook g4 for over three years and I have never had a problem with it. He took it to the local apple store. They said that he should purchase more than one type of virus software, but they didn’t sell any at the apple store.
My cousin had to go to CompUSA to buy clunky and terrible virus protection software that completely harshes the mellow of his computer, increasing its boot time by a considerable amount.
I thought you all might like to hear about this.
Love the show,
Ian the high school student from Milton, Georgia
**********
Who hates Apple and has the money to fund Psystar? The answer should be obvious:
The Beatles.
Think about it.
-Jon
(a.k.a. “TenaciousWii”)
**********
Hi guys,
Go to the kogan website and order the international one. It costs about ?500 ($600). I knew it sounded too good to be true.
Love the show,
Eoghan (Owen) in Ireland.
Tom Merritt appears on
CNET TV, specializing in help and how-to and the ever popular Top 5
lists. He also co-hosts CNET's The Real Deal podcast. 
Jason Howell can
often be found producing Buzz Out Loud from the audio studios at CNET,
updating XML feeds from the comfort of his cubicle, and saying "uh-oh"
from time to time. 
