Buzz Out Loud Podcast

Yes, Nokia launched a new Netbook, and yes, Twitter fought the law and won. But it wasn't until the end of today's show that we finally get to the bottom of a long-running controversy: MP3s don't do what they promise. Jason and Brian explain why.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Nokia launches a Netbook
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10373747-1.html

Power of Twitter overturns court injunction
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8304908.stm

Latest on Sidekick outage — will some data actually return?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10373500-56.html

T-Mobile Danger data loss follow up…sabotage?
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/10/12/microsofts_sidekick_pink_problems_blamed_on_dogfooding_and_sabotage.html

Apple acknowledges Snow Leopard data loss issue
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10373064-260.html

First GSM Palm Pre now on sale in Germany, with new Euro-specific apps in tow
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/first-gsm-palm-pre-now-on-sale-in-germany-with-new-euro-specifi/

Firefox 3.6 will work with accelerometers
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-10373677-264.html

Control your car with your iPhone, leave the keyfob at home
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-10373014-248.html

Sir Tim Berners-Lee looks back: the “//” in Web addresses was unnecessary
http://www.beet.tv/2009/10/webs-inventor-sir-tim-bernerslee-double-backslashes-were-unnecessary.html

Electroscalpel detects and removes cancer
http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=23655

VOICE MAIL
Anonymous on good news from yesterday
http://www.crn.com/mobile/220600287;jsessionid=FSBZCA2NWGLAHQE1GHOSKHWATMY32JVN

E-MAIL
Just listened to 1082 and wanted to comment on the lack of love for the Sony PSP. Don’t get me wrong, Sony has made some crucial errors in the PSP department, but getting rid of the UMD I don’t think is one of them. My albums won’t play in my CD player, so I had to re-buy lots of them, and Apple has thrown out its optical drive every chance it gets. Plus Sony didn’t stop selling the 3000, so if you want a PSP with the UMD you can still purchase one.

Love the show,
Gavin – the TV tech from West Chester PA

P.S. I listen to BOL on my Blackberry 8330 because I can download it OTA at anytime while I check email, surf the web, check facebook, and tweet… All at the same time. So glad my phone can multi-task

**********

Hey Buzz Crew!

I thought you might find it intresting that U2.com is selling both Mp3 and FLAC versions of U2 albums, the only problem is that the FLAC versions are $11.99 for an album while the MP3 version is $9.99.

Just thoguht you might find that cool a mainstream artist is selling their stuff in lossless download form.

The show is pretty cool, and I guess I kind of love it.

-Jack in TN

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.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

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

Yes. Snow Leopard reviews are out, and I have my favorite. But the more interesting story is Mozilla finding out that people didn't want to upgrade because they're afraid of the awesome bar exposing their porn. So they introduced private browsing mode fast. We also welcome Jon Strickland from HowStuffWorks to the show and he helps us understand how we can turn any story into an Apple story.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Best OS X Snow Leopard review I saw
http://twitter.com/rstevens/status/3582198132

Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard
http://reviews.cnet.com/macintosh-os/apple-mac-os-x/4505-3673_7-33676737.html
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/08/27/snow-leopard-the-reviews-are-in/

Snow Leopard could level security playing field
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10318943-245.html

Google now offers over a million free e-books in EPUB format
http://mashable.com/2009/08/27/google-million-free-ebooks/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10318843-265.html

…and is on fire
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/6100080/Google-fire-in-London-Jokes-erupt-as-the-flames-die-down.html

New attack cracks common Wi-Fi encryption in a minute
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20090827/tc_pcworld/newattackcrackscommonwifiencryptioninaminute

Porn collection put people off upgrading to Firefox 3
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2009/08/26/porn-collection-put-people-off-upgrading-to-firefox-3/

Microsoft finally catches up with rumor, drops Xbox price (yawn)
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-console-price-wars-microsoft-drops-xbox-elite-down-to-299/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10318991-17.html

Linux-based OS drives new Nokia N900
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10319133-94.html

Global gaming's Pirate Bay deal approved by shareholders
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-global-gamings-pirate-bay-deal-approved-by-shareholders/

…don’t believe it
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10319152-93.html

Unchain the office computers!
http://slate.com/id/2226279

Astrophysicists find “impossible” planet
http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/08/27/1237251/Astrophysicists-Find-Impossible-Planet

TechStuff
http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/category/techstuff/

Voice mail
Ashwin from Redondo Beach has theory on Google Voice app

E-mail
2^32 = 4,294,967,296 (4 GB)

That means, a 32 bit system (application or OS) can address a maximum of 4 GB. To alleviate this limitation, Intel designed PAE (Physical Address Extension). Thus, this change alters the hardware addressing from 32 bit to 36 bit.

2^36 = 68,719,476,736 (64 GB)

Linux was the first to adopt PAE, as far as I knew. Then Windows added support for PAE, but only in Server versions of Windows. Home system versions are not supposed to support it even within the Vista line. As of SP1, though, Microsoft may have inadvertantly rolled out PAE into Vista allowing for addressing of up to 64GB of RAM.

Note, however, that even though Windows may support 64GB of RAM, the 32 bit applications themselves are limited to 4GB of operating space. So, for bigger games and memory intensive applications, PAE doesn’t address this 4GB application limit. So, even though the hardware can use 64GB of RAM and the operating system sees it, applications (including operating system apps) are limited to a maximum of 4GB per application in 32 bit version of an operating system.

I do not know of MacOS X 32 bit supports PAE.

Thanks.

–
Brian Wright

**********

Hi Buzz Crew,

Just thought I would share… Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is using Facebook, Twitter and is planning to use YouTube to communicate with the troops and the public, with a virtual town hall. As a military member I think it is good that he is trying to communicate with the junior officers and enlisted. I just wonder if he knows that YouTube is blocked on all Department of Defense computer networks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vN-S89bAlo
http://www.facebook.com/admiralmikemullen
http://twitter.com/thejointstaff

Trevor

PS His staff does know that YouTube is blocked and Military members can e-mail their video to have it added to the town hall.

**********

Hey Tom,

In episode 1049 you talked about Microsoft Oneapp for dumb phones which will be available worldwide in 2010 (when these phones may not exist any more).

There is an application named SNAPTU that provide access to Facebook, twitter, flickr, picasa albums, RSS feeds, Weather, live scores, Google calender and some other stuff too and its cool.

its only like 500KB and it runs on mobile phones supporting Java (J2ME).

and yeah it have a Sudoku too.

Thank you and a nice show.

Mohammed Ibrahim
Pakistan

Apple's letter to the FCC makes some pretty incredible claims about what Google Voice does to the iPhone's phone functionality. TechCrunch calls the claims misleading when they're being nice. To us, they sound like lies. We're also kinda taken with the Nokia laptop. Yes, Nokia is making a laptop. And, of course, the week of stars kicks off with guest host Patrick Beja.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Apple answers the FCC's questions
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/apple-answers-fcc-questions/
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/21/the-simple-truth-whats-really-going-on-with-apple-google-att-and-the-fcc/
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/08/critics-call-shenanigans-in-wake-of-apple-att-fcc-replies.ars

Apple to ship Mac OS X Snow Leopard August 28
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10315866-37.html

Nokia enters Netbook fray with booklet 3G
http://www.pcworld.com/article/170657/
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/24/nokia-introduces-booklet-3g-mini-laptop/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10315916-1.html

Cable versus wireless: Guess which is growing faster?
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2009/08/21/cable-vs-wireless-guess-which-is-growing-faster/

Rumor: Walmart catalog lists $100 price cut for Xbox 360 Elite
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/22/rumor-wal-mart-catalog-lists-100-price-cut-for-xbox-360-elite/

Looking at the positive in WoW’s BlizzCon announcements
http://www.examiner.com/x-5942-Oklahoma-City-MMORPG-Examiner~y2009m8d23-Looking-at-the-positive-in-WoWs-BlizzCon-announcements
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8218521.stm

Skank’ blogger talks, sues Google for $15m
http://government.zdnet.com/?p=5283

Criminals prefer Firefox, Opera web browsers
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/08/21/2119253/Criminals-Prefer-Firefox-Opera-Web-Browsers

AT&T to require smartphone data plans
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10315678-94.html

Wal-Mart recalls fiery DVD players
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10315452-1.html

Vote for Buzz Out Loud at SXSW 2010
http://www.cnet.com/8301-19709_1-10311505-10.html

VOICE MAIL
Jose is going to sue Apple

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew,

Of the airplanes that have their own Weather Radar; it is usually
located in the nose of the aircraft and only covers about 160 degrees of
what is in front of them. They are completely blind about what is
behind them. So while you taxi to the runway and wait in line if you
are not pointed in your departure direction you are out of luck.

pilot of an airplane with weather radar,

chris

**********

Hi,

I am a day behind so I just listened to the 1046 episode. You received an e-mail that says that the IEEE membership is $15 I guess USD. As a former IEEE member I know you may be charged from $138 USD to $175 USD as a full member depending on the region of the world you live. As a student you get charged from $27 to $32 for one year and half of that for half a year. Also I searched the IEEE site and the only information I could find was that you can get MS software if you are a student member of the IEEE Computer Society.

http://www.ieee.org/web/membership/Cost/dues.html

From the IEEE Site:

IEEE Student membership is open to undergraduate and graduate students who are enrolled in at least 50% of a normal, full-time course of study in an IEEE designated field.

That is why I didn’t renew my membership, I could afford to spend the $138 USD for the 2009 year. Maybe in 2010.

Love the show.

Eduardo Torres

**********

Slmgr.vbs -rearm is typically used when building machines in a lab
environment. Typically you use it when you rebuild the machines in your
lab.

Also, if you use volume licensing (ie Microsoft KMS and your KMS server
isn’t updated to support Windows 7 yet) you might need to extend your
expiration date until your KMS admin updates the KMS server’s Volume
Licensing Key.

–
Michael G

On today's show, we discover that Microsoft is a fine American company that thinks nothing of shafting its highest-paying users or subjecting the entire Internet to multiple episodes of projectile vomiting. And Apple shouldn't be forced by some pissy little upstart to change its perfectly legitimate EULA. And don't even get Cooley STARTED on sending self-replicating nanobots to Mars. Good times all around. Plus: Metrologists!

EPISODE 1010

Microsoft to offer Family Pack for Windows 7 Home Premium
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1145

Some Vista users say they’re getting the Ultimate shaft
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10277506-56.html

Psystar out of chapter 11 with new Xeon-based models
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/02/psystar-bounces-back-from-chapter-11-intros-new-high-end-hardwa/

Bing expands its piece of the search market pie in June
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/07/bing-grabs-a-larger-piece-of-the-search-market-pie-in-june.ars

Microsoft chucks vomit ad
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10278063-71.html

Traffic rockets to Twitter site
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_8129000/8129340.stm

Can Twitter trademark “tweet”?
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/07/will-trademarkhungry-twitter-beat-tweet-to-genericide.html

Firefox 3.5 downloaded 5 million times in first 24 hours
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/07/firefox-35-downloaded-5-million-times-in-first-24-hours.ars

And it’s the third-fastest browser in the world.
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/0,39029471,49302846,00.htm

But Chrome is getting extensions
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10277385-2.html

NASA Suggests Nano Robots To Explore Mars
http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/02/138237/NASA-Suggests-Nano-Robots-To-Explore-Mars

VOICEMAIL
Jason in Marietta on Natali’s tax idea.

Poor Anthony

EMAIL
Tom
Hi Buzz Crew,

I smiled as I listened to your discussion on measurements in episode
1008.

Being a metrologist [met-rol-o-gist] or measurement scientist (not
meteorologist, that is weather) it always amazes me that most people
take the measurements that support every facet of their lives for
granted.

Without all the metrologists that go about their jobs each day,
measuring and calibrating everything in the background, in mostly
unseen laboratories, you wouldn’t even be able to get out of bed in
the morning.

Who has the time standards used to set your alarm clock, metrologists.
Who calibrates the scales that were used to make and package your
food, metrologists.
Who calibrates the measurement systems used to generate and monitor
your electric power, metrologists.
Who calibrates the temperature systems for your weather reports,
metrologists.
Who calibrates the liquid flow systems used to measure the gas
(petrol), diesel etc. into your car, Cooley?, metrologists do.
Who calibrates the measurement systems used to make medicines,
metrologists.

I could go on but I think you will see what I am getting at.

While it may sound like a boring job and definitely not a high profile
glamourous job like a podcast host, it is one of those things that
goes on in the background helping to make your day go smoother.

I love my job and while metrologists are only a small group of people
in the scheme of things, I find it tremendously satisfying to know
that what my colleagues and I do, ensures that we all live better lives.

Love the show.

Mark (the metrologist)

PS: See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrology if you want to know
more about metrology.

China has delayed required installation of Green Dam Youth Escort, but we find out it does a better job blocking pork than porn. Whew. Protect those kids from the piggies! Also a big win for remote cable DVRs! And the Pirate Bay got sold. You can sell it?

EPISODE 1008

Swedish company to buy Pirate Bay
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10275759-83.html
http://thepiratebay.org/blog/164

China Delays Mandating Filtering Software
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124636491863372821.html

China also filters Jonny Depp, Garflield, and Paris Hilton
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE55T26Y20090630

Remote Cable DVRs are legal: Supreme Court denies appeal of Cablevision decision
http://www.betanews.com/article/Cable-DVRs-are-legal-Supreme-Court-denies-appeal-of-Cablevision-decision/1246290931
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/cablevision-remote-dvr-stays-legal-supremes-wont-hear-case.ars

Senators want to bar contracts to foreign companies selling IT to Iran
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090629_3881.php

With 3.5 launch, Firefox faces new challengers
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10275396-2.html

Amazon drops Rhode Island just like they dropped North Carolina
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124630810805070105.html

Toyota thinks up mind-reading wheelchair
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10275267-1.html

New HTC Hero ROM leaked, Flash 10 already chugging along on a few lucky G1s
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/30/new-htc-hero-rom-leaked-flash-10-already-chugging-along-on-a-fe/

First manned solar plane unveiled in Switzerland
http://green.venturebeat.com/2009/06/30/first-manned-solar-plane-unveiled-in-switzerland/

VOICEMAIL
Dan likes the new lineup

Bruce about CapsLock

EMAIL
Just passing along this story where they said apple’s solution to the universal charger is to include an adapter from dock conector to micro usb, so no new hardware on the horizon…

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/25149/next-iphone-charges-via-micro-usb.phtml

Love the show!
Javier Ardila

**********

The discussion of metric is interesting to me as we changed over here in Canada when I was in grade 4 or so. Now, what happened to those of us in this generation is that we know an odd mish mash of units. Temperatures outside, well that is in Celsius, but when I cook I use Imperial measures, including temperature. The temperature of my parents' pool, I still do that in F. Distances and speeds while driving, km and km/h are fine, distances to object, metres are great, but when I measure to say repair something in the house, I use inches. Oh and I am 6 foot 1 inch tall, and weigh about 175 lb, I have no idea what my height or weight is in metric. (I could convert of course, but I don't).

I am just confused.... My 15 year old daughter on the other hand, does everything in metric, no problem.

Dave (the psychologist)

The 3.0 version of the iPhone firmware is coming in the summer and will feature copy and paste, MMS, search, and more. All things a cheap Nokia phone can do now, but hey, the iPhone couldn't and now it can. So there. We also review the sleek new Dell Adamo and take Australia to task for a fine for hyperlinks.

EPISODE 932

Live blog: iPhone OS 3.0 preview
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10197216-37.html
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/03/16/the-iphone-os-30-announcement-scorecard/

Hands-on with the Dell Adamo
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10197525-1.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10197525-1.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4871279n

Banned hyperlinks could cost you $11,000 a day
http://www.smh.com.au/news/home/technology/banned-hyperlinks-could-cost-you-11000-a-day/2009/03/17/1237054787635.html

Comcast, Sony open retail store
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-10197316-7.html

Roku to add 10 more channels by year’s end
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10197802-1.html

Why total music purchases by Web users are still falling
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-online-music-buying-streaming-rise-but-total-music-purchases-by-web-use/

Layoffs at Nokia
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/03/17/nokia-cutting-1700-poor-souls/
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=65337&full_skip=1

Mozilla says next Firefox likely months away
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10197411-2.html

Opera Turbo
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10196982-2.html

Mental faculties decline at age 27???
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7945569.stm

Charity Smackdown
http://charitysmackdown.com/team_SU2C.html

VOICEMAIL
Dance? in Colorado
A little bit about cell towers

Josh in Denver
You don’t talk abotu Twitter too much.

E-MAIL
You talked about RIM coming out with a prepay phone and were wondering
why that might sell.

Foreign workers. One of the huge troubles in bringing in you Offshore
software guys for stints in the US is they can’t sign up for cell
phones. And a business doesn’t want unused loaner phones sitting
around. This would solve that.

Love. The. Show.
Isaac in minneapolis

**********

Ok, this makes the second time Natali has mentioned dropping Fios. However, what she has not mentioned is why she dropped it. As someone who is waiting for Fios to make it to my area (Internet only), I’m curious if Natali could provide me with a reason I should stick with Comcast.

Currently, I’m using Comcast for internet and uber basic cable. I would have gotten just internet, but the package with basic cable was cheaper. Go figure. Also, I’m using vonage for my phone service. And while I’m at it, after looking at Google Voice, I must say most, if not all those features are available through Vonage, and with that I get a quasi landline.

Troy
NH

Our resident nasal storage expert Rafe Needleman is on the show to explain some quantum physics to you. Rafe also schools me in why latency doesn't matter to bandwidth but he still won't admit that he need 60 Gbps. And we realize that the only way to save the world is by drinking more whiskey. Time to get to it.

EPISODE 901

Charter gets bragging rights with new 60Mbps broadband tier
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/01/charter-gets-bragging-rights-with-new-60mbps-broadband-tier.ars

iPod / iPhone CES pavilion sells out in record time, quadruples to include Mac products — goodbye, Macworld?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/29/ipod-iphone-ces-pavilion-sells-out-in-record-time-quadruples/

India’s $20 laptop coming February 3rd, take that Negroponte
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/30/indias-10-laptop-coming-february-3rd-take-that-negroponte/

More juicy details surface on Google’s alleged GDrive
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10153275-2.html

Stanford’s Quantum Hologram Sets Storage Record
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F30%2F0025240

Gears of War DRM screwup makes PC version unplayable
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/01/pc-gears-of-war-drm-causes-title-to-shut-down-starting-today.ars

Judge’s ruling that WoW bot violates DMCA is troubling
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/01/judges-ruling-that-wow-bot-violates-dmca-is-troubling.ars

Microsoft adds fancy search option for Firefox
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10153155-2.html

Robot reassembles itself after being kicked apart
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/29/robot-reassembles-it.html

Power In Scotland From Tides and Whiskey
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F30%2F0329218

VOICEMAIL

Jeremy from Denver
iPhones are not dual touch

Beast 33
You were surrounded by the 404

Alex from Buffalo Linux
Well actually

EMAIL
Heya Buzz Crew,

In Episode 898 there was some quick talk about using portable keyboards to take notes on PDA’s. I have taken notes on PDA’s in some form since the days of the Tandy Zoom and Apple Newton, through Palm and Windows CE, and up to a few different smartphones yet I have never made the jump to using a keyboard accessory. Celios has an Android proof-of-concept that might change that. Their REDFLY device (currently available for Windows-based smartphones) is described as “a smartphone terminal with a large screen (7 or 8 inches) and full keyboard with no OS, no CPU, and no storage that lets you use your smartphone like a laptop.” Though not a fan of the Windows Mobile offerings, Engadget says the Android concept is “exactly the sort of magic that could make this hardware lovable.”

While I love having a laptop, there are times when I wish I could leave it behind if only to reduce my sync’ing devices by one. I know I can get it now for a Windows Mobile device, but they have always felt underpowered. There is, however, great promise from the various Android hardware manufacturers not to mention the Android platform itself. Toss in a REDFLY and the upcoming massive SD storage and I think our portable future looks pretty bright.

Love the show.

Ryan from Castle Rock, CO

**********

Hey JaNaToX,

In episode 900 you guys were discussing pet cloning, and Tom made a
comment about cloning his dog Jango. Well, I just thought I’d remind
Tom of how slippery a slope that could be. Remember the last time a
Jango was cloned? A galaxy wide civil war ensued, and in the end the
clones turned evil and wiped out the entire Jedi order. So just be
careful with that, Tom; the balance of the Force is at stake.

Shawn,
Youngstown

**********

Hey Buzz Crew,
I just had a few comments about the “Google Drive”.
Microsoft actually does have a similar service called Skydrive.
Along with that, they have a desktop application called Live Mesh to automatically sync up folders to Skydrive, as well as allowing remote desktop from the web. However, from what I’ve seen it relies on ActiveX, meaning it only works on IE. Hopefully they’ll be able to fix that and expand to other browsers. Another drawback is that there’s only 5 GB of storage per user, but at least it’s free.
I look forward to seeing if Google can do any better in terms of storage space and interoperability.
Link to Live Mesh
http://www.mesh.com

Love the show,
Victor the PC gaming advocate.

**********

Hello Buzz’ers, greetings from Denmark.

As one of the hapless barracuda victims, I finally made it through to
Seagate support Wednesday and was told, like Derek of episode 897, that
the request needed to be escalated to a Seagate supervisor who would
consider the issue, but I fear holding my breath for the decision will
be unhealthy.

However, others may be interested in knowing that there are some
homebrew recipes on fixing the problem out on the net.

Be WARNED though, the procedure is intricate, involves construction of
electronics, opening the harddisk, will void any hopes of warranty and
may fry your data BEYOND SALVATION if you are not careful, so if the
harddisk contains the only proof of you winning the state lottery or
something else you really care about, heed the advice of getting some
data recovery professional to do it. Also, I haven’t tried it myself so
I have no idea if its works or not. Even if it looks convincing, I will
try my luck with Seagate first.

But for the really brave, really desperate or really foolish, the link I
have saved for myself is this:

http://forum.hddguru.com/tutorial-resolve-lba-seagate-7200-bios-don-recognize-t11040.html?hilit=7200

(If you are really foolish, you shouldn’t do this yourself, but
obviously you will not be listening anyway

Considering the cryptic commands I admire the perseverance of those who
figured out the solution.

Love the show; keep up the good work.

Christian

**********

Hi JaNaTo,

I’m a little behind, so it was only recently that I became aware of
the kufuffle surrounding Molly’s leaving as a regular co-host. So,
though I’m not a member of the Buzztown administration, I humbly
submit this citizen’s resolution to the Buzztown Council, which I hope
expresses what most of us have been feeling.

BUZZTOWN RESOLUTION OF 29 JANUARY 2009

WHEREAS Tom and Molly have been, without a doubt, the heart and soul
of Buzz Out Loud (but don’t ask me to say who’s which), and as such,
Molly will be sorely missed as a regular co-host;

CONSIDERING that we had our doubts when Veronica left the show but
Jason has proved his worthiness, and (gasp) the show got even better
post-Veronica;

RECOGNIZING that Natali has huge shoes to fill but also possesses
talent and savvy commensurate with said shoe size (along with amazing
hair, despite her frequent lamentations on the subject);

ACKNOWLEDGING that Buzz Out Loud has undergone many changes over the
years and managed to remain consistently more entertaining than TWiT
(sorry Leo, but it’s true);

WHEREAS we citizens of Buzztown, as purported early adopters, should
welcome change (just as we welcomed the new Facebook layout, right?);

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED BY THE CITIZENS OF BUZZTOWN that we be open to
the very likely possibility, nay near certainty, that Buzz Out Loud
will get even better with Natali as regular co-host if we just give
it half a chance.

BE IT FURTHERMORE RESOLVED that when she appears on Buzz Out Loud,
Molly do her utmost to rant as much as possible (recognizing, of
course, that a Mollyrant cannot be forced).

SO SAY WE ALL (right?)

Peter the translator from Montreal

What? What's wrong with you people? We're talking about Netbooks. Dell has a new "Mini" Note, but it's a 12-inch laptop. So, the question is: what is going on in the Netbook world these days? Also, the Internet makes you both smarter AND dumber, Google Earth shows up for iPhone, and Oprah gives out a Kindle discount. And Natali and Molly love Oprah. Deal with it.

EPISODE 839

Sling.com launch
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/26/slingcom-to-launch-on-november-10/

Google Earth for iPhone/Touch
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10075543-37.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10075860-37.html

iPhone most popular camera on Flickr
http://www.edibleapple.com/iphone-still-reigns-supreme-on-flickr/

Qik for BlackBerry
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/webware/~3/433186788/8301-17939_109-10075395-2.html

Dell Inspiron Mini 12-inch launch
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/pressoffice/en/2008/2008_10_26_rr_000?c=us&l=en&s=corp

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/10/dell-mini-inspi.html

Security flaw revealed in T-Mobile’s Google phone
http://news.cnet.com/Security-flaw-revealed-in-T-Mobiles-Google-phone/2100-1002_3-6247261.html

Netflix streams to Macs
http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/433102357/
http://www.macworld.com/article/136380/2008/10/netflix.html

The Internet makes you smarter but may give you ADD
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE49Q2YW20081027

Cable TV provider plans its own wireless network (thanks trails2hike!)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech/10/27/cox.wireless.ap/index.html

Want $50 off an Amazon Kindle? Thank Oprah
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2333338,00.asp

VOICEMAIL
Jason the Runner: get my wife off the Oprah

Michah: Can’t split the UVerse

E-MAIL
Thomas:

You mentioned on Friday about the Speed Date application taking over for Oregon Trail. That has already happened at least one time before. I had one of those "wall" programs e.g. Fun Wall, Wild Wall, whatever. The Wall program went away and I got an e-mail announcing it's now Speed Date. I didn't remove the application or anything but I would get these e-mails saying that I matched with someone and someone was wanting to contact me, etc. I clicked on one one day for the heck of it and it asked me to fill in my information like name, e-mail, etc. I am a married man so I decided not to do that! After getting a bunch of e-mails about people wanting to match, I uninstalled the application when I figured out how.

**********

Dear Buzz Crew,

The name ‘Minefield’ is used during all betas. And it uses the Firefox logo without the fox. So basically a globe. With a wick on it. So it looks like a field mine. Think of the mines as bugs. To be exploded and thus removed before the final release.

That is all.

Thanks for reading,
Dylan from KC

**********

Hi Buzz Town,

This is in response to the e-mailer from episode 838 who tried to return his Rock Band 2 video game to Wal-Mart. I worked as a supervisor for a major competitor to Wal-Mart (starts with a “T”) for almost seven years, and was frequently the one behind the counter having to turn away such returns. This is a policy that every retailer I know of that sells unopened media has. Every store has their own policy about how long you have to make the return, assuming that the software/video game/CD/DVD is unopened, but once the product is opened, the ONLY action they can take is to exchange it for the same product. At the time that I was working in this position, we not only could only exchange it for the product, but we actually had to OPEN the product before the customer left the store (for the obvious reason). As a matter of fact, all of the media we sold was supposed to have a little white sticker adhered to it stating this very policy.

While I am not a lawyer, and my education in any kind of law doesn’t stem beyond Business Law 101, I, along with my co-workers, all knew that the reason for this policy was due to copyright, even though our corporate policies never directly stated this. Even in the days of Game Boys and N64’s, this policy applied, I guess because it was assumed that somebody, somewhere, had the equipment to make illegal copies of these console games that you could not even place into your CD drive. In all of the years that I worked in this position, I almost never had a customer give me a difficult time regarding this policy. They all seemed to understand, and even if they did challenge us, we would always offer the excuse the federal copyright law prohibits us from taking back these open products, and they were welcome to go to our competitor to try to return the item, but they would be met with the same frustration. That’s one of the reasons for used video games stores!

A hint for the e-mailer: assuming there are no markings on the copy that you bought online that would identify it as a product from a certain retailer, and the UPC is the same, you can always take THAT copy back to Wal-Mart (assuming it’s unopened).

Love the show…
Stephanie in Atlanta

**********

Hi there, BOL crew (greatest-podcast-in-the-cloud), I was listening to episode 838, and you had an e-mail from someone that wasn’t able to return his Rock Band game he bought from Walmart because of “Federal Copyright Law”, which Molly said she had never heard of and you generally all passed of as BS from a Wal-Mart customer service rep.

Well, I would have been in the same mind frame until yesterday. I work at Best Buy’s Geek Squad, where a customer approached me wanting to return a game she had purchased along with her new $1,200 laptop the day prior because no one told her that it wasn’t compatible with Vista. Despite the fact she came to the wrong counter, since I am not a customer service rep, I was more than willing to see what we could do for her, since I felt it was a simple oversight, and it was only a $10 game. When I asked a customer service supervisor if we would be able to exchange it for a different game for her, I was told that we couldn’t because of “Federal copyright law”! I know our policy is that we normally don’t return open software unless its defective, and even then we can only exchange it for the SAME software, but I figured we could make an exception. It took me by surprise, because I had never heard anything about this law before, and then you at the BOL podcast reiterated it. We made an exception in her case since we didn’t want to come off as total jerks (at least I didn’t). It makes sense, though, that we normally wouldn’t not return it, since we cannot resell open software once its open, the store pretty much has to eat the price of the software, which is not a good business model. Also, if we returned open soft, it would be quite possible for a customer to not only copy software, but copy down activation codes for products such as antivirus, or certain video games, and screw over the next customer who would want to purchase.

In short, this “Federal Copyright Law” in regards to software is not just a Wal-Mart reps attempt to blow off a customer, but actually a policy that carries over to legitimate establishments like Best Buy.

~Wez (The-geek-squad-agent-who-doesn’t-want-to-hear-the-same-best-buy-ads-in-BOL-anymore)

**********

I liked that BitTorrent is used as the distribution method for their content but there is a larger issue at hand: Wikipedia used as a reference source in schools. Isn’t Wikipedia banned as a reference source in many areas of academia?

Michael