Buzz Out Loud Podcast

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)

Tom couldn't decide whether to go with the "marginalized whackjob" wall paint, or just get a marginalized whackjob fringe. Vote? In other news of the day, the McCain campaign discovers that the DMCA can be ANNOYING! Maybe they'll do something about it once they're back in politics-land! Also, EA says no one cares about DRM except an organized online cabal. We know how well that attitude worked out for the music industry.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 831

McCain campaign complains about takedown notice procedure
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1795
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081014-mccainpalin-campaign-angry-over-bogus-dmca-takedowns.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10066510-38.html

YouTube says: no special treatment
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10066738-38.html

99.8% of gamers don’t care about DRM, says EA
http://games.slashdot.org/games/08/10/15/1525259.shtml

Worldwide PC market grew 15 percent in third quarter of 2008
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=777613

YouTube passes yahoo as #2 search engine
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/14/1645227

First look: Firefox 3.1 beta 1 officially released
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081014-first-look-firefox-3-1-beta-1-officially-released.html

Software blocks car phone users
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7669533.stm

SanDisk releases $20 slotMusic Player, dozens of SD card albums
http://gizmodo.com/5063564/sandisk-releases-20-slotmusic-player-dozens-of-sd-card-albums

Amazon, EA, Microsoft, others win ‘Popular Mechanics’ Breakthrough Awards
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10066453-52.html

Banjo used in rain surgery
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/14/1945249

VOICEMAIL
Anonymous: Why with the MacBook Pro!? Why!?

E-MAIL

I’m still a day behind, so I just finished episode 830. Molly, you keep griping about this flash bug; I used to get it too, but no more. The solution is simple: Flashblock (http://flashblock.mozdev.org/). Flash items are not loaded, and are replaced with a little play button, allowing you to load selectively, so you never have enough flash things open to cause them all to break. It also ends up speeding up page load time, and you never have to see that annoying dancing person on the “mortgage rates” ad ever again.

Love the show!

-Anthony
Dallas, TX

**********

Totally disagree w/ your assessment. We have one Blu-ray player and several DVD players. Providing a DVD copy for the minivan, either of the kids’ rooms, and any of our computers is brilliant. I don’t want the kids handling the BD Disk b/c I’ve seen what they do to the DVD’s. Also, it allows my sister-in-law to borrow a movie, which she can’t whenever we only have it in Blu-ray.

Joe in WI

**********

Hi all of you,

I was checking out the new MacBook Pro on the American page of Apple
to see the specs and everything. http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html
Then I went the the Swiss page to check the price and… boom 30 minutes of
the battery life of the Mac Book vanished, only 4.5 hours. Then I went
back to the American site: 5 hours.
All the other specs are the same and everything except for the battery
life… strange

Pierre from Switzerland (Yes, I live nearby the CERN.)

P.S. could you send me a MacBook Pro from the USA with the 5 hours battery
life?

**********

Hola Buzz Brigade,

You guys have probably read that Sony has pushed out it’s latest firmware for the PS3. Some of the features include additional support for trophies and the ability to set a sleeper shutdown for the controllers (which is so freakin’ BOSS!). But the other “coolerer” feature that they didn’t mention during their original announcement is that Flash 9 was also included. Which mean now I can watch Hulu directly from the PS3 browser without having to use a third party app to stream it to my PS3 via XNLA. This is a great bonus.

Amazon on Demand doesn’t appear to work but I’ll take one win where I can. Besides, the PSN video store is pretty freakin’ huge and keeps growing by hundreds of titles each week.

Just thought I’d let you know.

Love the show (except when Molly rants on the PS3–such a lame 360 fanboi )

Tim

**********

Hey guys,
Just a “well actually.” The DisplayPort is actually a new industry standard. It’s not created by Apple. Dell started using it before Apple did, in fact. It’s supposed to be better in performance than DVI, not to mention plug in better than DVI ports.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Displayport

OK, fine, so maybe the “Mini DisplayPort” is a proprietary version of the normal DisplayPort.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_DisplayPort

They like to “improve” existing technology.

Oh, and you’ll probably know this by now, but the 9400M and the 9600M are not options. They’re BOTH found in the MacBook Pro. You get to switch between them to decide between battery life and performance.

Daniel from Singapore.

**********

FROM THE FORUMS — TOLLIE:
Here’s what I was hoping you’d amend/correct from your reporting yesterday: DisplayPort--not proprietary, VESA standard, will be Apple-wide, also backed by Dell, HP, Intel, et al… and Aluminum MacBooks have no firewire--Apple is bumping Firewire off the consumer line… Trackpad takes away a button, but you can now define TWO button regions (i.e. a right-click area). Hopefully not as dumb as the Mighty Mouse.

**********

Hey BOL crew, you said you wanted to try talking to the robots pretending to be humans online. Well actually, you can. http://elbot.com (press the red button)

I’m not sure if it’s exactly the same Elbot as in the test, because this has been on the Internet for quite a while.

Thanks for the great podcast ,
Keelin

EPISODE 749

Netflix To Eliminate Profiles Feature
http://www.netflix.com/Help?p_faqid=3962&nlid=20427.1001179.0.1.0.0&eid=T1dbO9MEwQ0c
http://blog.netflix.com/2008/06/profiles-feature-going-away.html
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/06/19/0337233.shtml
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/19/0337233

Microsoft does 180, will continue to support MSN Music DRM
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080618-microsoft-does-180-will-continue-to-support-msn-music-drm.html

Free music service Qtrax is back with… wait, no it isn’t
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080619-free-music-service-qtrax-is-back-with-wait-no-it-isnt.html

Mozilla Firefox 3 vulnerability
http://dvlabs.tippingpoint.com/blog/2008/06/18/vulnerability-in-mozilla-firefox-30

Yahoo Mail hopes to lure users with ‘ymail.com’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9972349-7.html

Court limits employer access to worker messages
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/E/ELECTRONIC_PRIVACY?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-06-19-08-12-28

Swedish parliament approves bugging bill, after delay
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/061808-swedish-parliament-approves-bugging-bill.html

Teens use technology to party in strangers’ pools
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/06/18/tech_aids_pool_crashing/

VOICE MAIL

Robert
About upgrading to new Firefox.

Doug
More T-Mobile iPhone rumors.

Tracy Atlanta
OR it could be this.

E-MAIL

Hi Tom, Molly, and Jason–

Sources of the 911 calls? We can attribute most of our emergency calls (Fire/EMS) via cell phone. And yes in our area, E911 does work.
(Background info: Our response district is a primarily a “economically challenged” area.)

*Regular 911 in a city goes to the respective city’s “dispatch center”. Not necessarily the exact city you are in. When they call, the number does not provide additional info like “big dog that bites” on the CAD system. This system is relatively out of date.

*Enhanced 911 is a regional type dispatch center (I think proper term is PSAP or Public Safety Access Point).
Most of the calls get automatically routed to the respective dispatch center-from the info attached to the E911 call.
Additionally, E911 does provide info to our responders like “big dog that bites”. Emergency Responders like this kind of report because it gives us more info and we can get to you faster without your dog biting us.
Note: E911 only works with systems that already have 911.

Regional centers with delay of calls? There are metropolitian areas in the US that have regional call centers (usually county run)--Assigned from Federal Governmnet funding (”Regionalization”). The delay is usually 30 seconds for them to manually route the call.
Again-most of the calls get automatically routed to the respective dispatch center-from the information attached to the E911 call.

Your major worries? In vehicle systems such as OnStar do delay the process because they ask questions like “Are you OK? We show an airbag deployment-Shall I call 911 for you?” Freaking idiots at Onstar. Just call 911 regardless. Obviously, OnStar folks have NEVER seen an airbag deployed…ever. (Note: Just my opinion).

Tom: Last figures I got? 911 service is available to 94% of the US.
But because of the publication of the “911″ emergency number, most of the country ASSUMES that 911 works everywhere.

If anyone has further questions on these issues, I suggest you call your local area Fire Department and they will be happy to help you out.

--Fire Chief Kevin
Buzztown Fire Department

P.S. I believe, since all residents of Buzztown are technologically sound, that we have an E911 or A911 service (Awesome 911)….

Hi JaMoTo. I’m a regular BOL listener and UserFriendly.org fan. I’ve heard you mention their Link of the Day before and wanted to let you know that my site made the cut today. Thought you might like to know one of your audience members got the call.

--Dan
The Pompous Ass Words Site
http://www.pompousasswords.com

The cake is a lie: IE team bakes a treat for Mozilla
via Digg / Technology on 6/18/08

In honor of today’s Firefox 3 release, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team gave a cake to Mozilla. The tasty treat, which prominently displays IE’s blue “e” icon, just arrived here at Mozilla headquarters in Mountain View.

--Daniel

EPISODE 748

Flickr co-founders depart Yahoo
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9971209-7.html

Statistics show Firefox 3 spreading fast
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9971672-7.html
http://mashable.com/2008/06/18/firefox-record/

Firefox 3: Power User’s Guide to Firefox 3 (Thanks royterp!)
http://lifehacker.com/396312/power-users-guide-to-firefox-3

Conde Nast’s Reddit goes open source
http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9971150-2.html

VoIP providers to get full 911 access with bill’s passage
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080618-voip-providers-to-get-full-911-access-with-bills-passage.html

All your coffee are belong to us
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/17/1941200

Can Web predict economic gloom?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7459055.stm

An Apple exodus due to low salaries?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-9971571-16.html

Like gadgets? You're probably an arrogant
http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/06/18/like-gadgets-youre-probably-an-arrogant-prick/

‘Red Paperclip’ guy ready to trade his house
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/red-paperclip-g.html

VOICE MAIL

Mike
T-Mobile told me not to get a new phone yet.

E-MAIL

Mail Order Monsters was AWESOME! Only Archon and M.U.L.E. come close to the fun quotient offered by MOM. I may actually get Spore just because of this. I need to check out the video, but Jason, that is a tremendous geek culture callback. Anyone know of a Windows or Mac emulator for any of those games?

Favorably disposed toward the show,

--Jomichael

Following up on Doug’s voice mail yesterday, the HUGE problem right now is that the Liberals (the opposition and equivalent to the Democrats in Canada ) don’t want to force an election. And if they openly oppose the bill, they could force an election and then lose. So unless something miraculous happens, Canada appears headed into the copyright dark ages.
--Nathaniel
Nova Scotia,
Canada

Hello BOL, I finally got around to installing Firefox 3. I actually installed it on an old laptop that I have laying around that I am having to use. Even though it only has 128MB of RAM while running XP, Firefox 3 is fast! Gmail is responsive: it doesn’t freeze up like Firefox 3 Beta.

Oh yeah, and CNET TV loads without crashing the browser, it displays properly, and the videos play with only a few audio hiccups (probably because of the weird peak in CPU usage). And the amazing part? It does all of this (including rendering flash-heavy CNET TV) with just over 48MB of RAM!

--Tony

It is just after midnight and I am driving south on I-75 from Atlanta. I loaded up the iPod with podcasts for the trip, including the two most recent BOLs. After listening to No. 747 my mind started wandering a bit and I drove on in silence,. Then about 7 minutes later, the sound of the theme music startled me so badly I nearly drove off the road.

On the positive side, I am awake now. This adrenaline rush should last until Tifton or Valdosta.

Love the show,
--The Anonymous Musician.

EPISODE 747

Firefox Download Day To Start At 10 a.m. PT
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/06/17/1250229.shtml
http://www.cnet.com/firefox-3/

Survey: Young people happy to pay for music--on their terms
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080616-survey-young-adults-willing-to-pay-for-musicon-their-terms.html

Associated Press expects you to pay to license 5-word quotations (and reserves the right to terminate your license)
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/17/associated-press-exp.html

Ineligible AT&T customers need to pay full price for iPhone 3G
http://gizmodo.com/5016912/ineligible-att-customers-need-to-pay-full-price-for-iphone-3g

Apple settles suit over iPhone visual voice mail
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9969909-37.html

Cease-and-desist notices sent to Internet DNA testing centers
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9970396-7.html

Support grows for universal power adapter (Thanks royterp!)
http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/08/06/16/Support_grows_for_universal_power_adapter_1.html
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/147086/support_grows_for_universal_power_adapter.html

Spore Creature Creator goes live
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2320409,00.asp

Road rage linked to automobile bumper stickers
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/17/0148238

VOICE MAIL

Doug DMCA Canada
About the DMCA…. In Canada.

Jeremy
Flash problems… Solution?

E-MAIL

Hey JaMoTo,

Simon Phipps, Sun Microsystems open-source guy, took a picture of the Sydney Opera House. He then tried to enter his photo into his portfolio at istockphoto.com. However, his photo was rejected as the opera house claims all copyrights on all images of the building.

He is trying to bring attention to this issue by entering his photo into a contest. Go to his Flickr page for details, and a link to the contest if you want to vote.

Flickr Page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/webmink/480398424

Twitter Page:
http://twitter.com/webmink

–kevin

Hi Buzzers. I just listened to the joint rant on Ep. 746 about whether AT&T’s iPhone plans are unlimited, although they charge different rates for personal and business accounts. First, let me point out that they’ve done this with other smartphone users for some time. I don’t get my corporate e-mail on my personal BlackBerry because it’s not worth the extra $10 to me. Also, the entire crux of your objections is based on speculation that a personal user would be limited or forced into a business plan based on the amount of data that they use. Can you cite any document that AT&T plans to do this or point to any customers who have been forced to a business plan based on their data usage? The only “limit” that I’ve seen with these plans is not based on data usage but rather on using a specific application, Exchange. There is no evidence that the amount of data a personal user can consume is any more limited than a business user. Couldn’t part of that $10 difference be a licensing fee to Microsoft for providing Exchange connectivity or the cost of any additional infrastructure needed to support Exchange? Until someone can provide evidence that a personal plan user is allowed to consume less data than a business plan user, it is perfectly reasonable for both plans to be called “unlimited.” iPhone users, welcome to the world of us “average” smartphone users.

--Jeff, The Supercomputer Guy

Just threw together two quick Unmnemonic devices for the “new” plant list. Hope you like them. DOWN WITH PLUTOIDS!!!

#1)
Molly
Very
Excitedly
Mauled
Jason to
Steal the
Unused
Nokia N95

#2)
Microsoft
Vista
Executed
Malicous
Java
So
Um
Noooooooooooooooooooooooo

--Matt S
Baltimore, Md.

P.S. - [monotone voice] Love the show. [/monotone voice]

Hi Guys,

The U.K. military satellites known as Skynet that you discussed on ep. 745 is actually the fifth version of Skynet used by the U.K. military. The original Skynet was deployed in 1969, long before the Terminator. Maybe the guys who wrote the Terminator stole the name from the U.K. military and not the other way around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_(satellites)

Kind regards,

--Andrew.

You have talked about the upcoming Firefox 3 download event in a couple of previous episodes. But so far I haven’t heard anyone remind you that Microsoft came up with this idea years ago. I still have the T-shirt from Midnight Madness, August 13, 1996, when we waited by our computers until 12 a.m. to download Internet Explorer (some 1,000,000 downloads if I remember correctly). Now that makes me “really” old!
--Pauline
Phoenix, Ariz.

Firefox 3 comes out June 17, and that's all we have to say, except we hope it fixes Molly's Flash problems so she doesn't have to get a Mac--or Opera. In other news of the day, you can now find out once and for all whether your car mechanic is giving you a good deal. Hint: No.

EPISODE 744

Buzz Out Loud San Francisco Meetup! TONIGHT!
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/780695

Firefox 3 to release 17 June
http://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2008/06/11/coming-tuesday-june-17th-firefox-3/
http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200824/1225/Mozilla-Corp-confirms-Firefox-3-launch-for-July-17
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10789_3-9966839-57.html

U.S. congressmen accuse china of hacking their computers
http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_852573C40069388048257466000851ED.html

Google: We don’t know how to make money from YouTube
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4120860.ece

RepairPal: Yes, your mechanic is ripping you off
http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9966636-2.html

iPhone 3G: iPhone 3G’s true price compared
http://gizmodo.com/5015540/iphone-3gs-true-price-compared

Unsubsidized iPhone 3G priced at $499/$569 in Europe
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/12/unsubsidized-iphone-3g-priced-at-499-569-in-europe/

NXP unveils world’s fastest cellular modem with multimode GSM support
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/12/nxp-unveils-worlds-fastest-cellular-modem-with-multi-mode-gsm-s/

Microsoft Surface surfaces in Las Vegas (Thanks cbpatte1!)
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/007096.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9965825-7.html

VOICE MAIL

Lucas
An accessory for iPhone 3G

Brian Nashville
Inside info about text message plan for iPhone

David the Video Editor
Excited about Snow Leopard

E-MAIL

Hey guys, just listening to you talk about Disney's sluggish nature in moving to online distribution/streaming. As someone who is somewhat "in the know," one primary driver for not moving to online distribution is the insane margin Disney earns on each DVD sold. For example, if after stamping 20 million DVDs for the latest blockbuster movie lets say the cost per disk comes out to be $1 per disk. When being sold at the local Walmart for $15, that is a profit margin of $14 per disk. Multiplied out by those 20 million DVDs and we are getting into some fuzzy math that I'm sure Molly can walk us through. Although the costs for providing 20 million downloads will decrease, Disney won't be able to sell an online download for $15 bucks, and the costs won't be able to decrease enough to compete against margin Disney is currently enjoying.

Food for thought, what if it only costs Disney 25 cents per DVD, or 10 cents per DVD... How about them margins?

--Nicholas

Dear Buzz Crew,

With all the talk in yesterday’s show (#743) about pigeons, I'm surprised that no one mentioned the infamous RFC 1149, a proposal actually brought forth by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force — the guys that standardize the various protocols used on the Internet) describing a “Standard for the transmission of IP datagrams on avian carriers.” Lest you think that this is some gigantic hoax or hogwash, this protocol was actually implemented by the Bergen Linux Users Group, who published their results online.

More information:

http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1149.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers
http://www.blug.linux.no/rfc1149/

LOVE THE SHOW

--Donald

Regarding a story you covered some months back regarding the promo CDs that the industry sends out. Main points are bolded.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/28713
—
In a major pushback against music industry efforts to expand copyright control at the expense of consumers, a California judge has ruled that recipients of promotional CDs are free to do with them as they please. In other words, what would seem obvious to the layman, in this case also happens to be the law.

However, during a long-running legal battle that shut down an eBay seller, Universal Music Group had argued that it retained licensing rights and could prohibit such resale despite the fact that its promo CDs are distributed willy-nilly to thousands of music industry insiders who neither ask for them nor are not expected to return them.

Tuesday’s ruling by U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero is meaningful not merely because it protects an income stream for CD resellers, says the Electronic Frontier Foundation, but primarily because it affirms the so-called “first sale” doctrine. From the EFF’s press release :

“This is a very important ruling for consumers, and not just those who buy or sell used CDs,” said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. “The right of first sale also protects libraries, used bookstores, and businesses that rent movies and videogames. This ruling affirms and protects the traditional balance between the rights of copyright owners and the rights of the public.”

“It was clear to the court that these CDs were the property of (the eBay merchant), and therefore he had the right to resell them,” said Joseph C. Gratz, attorney with Keker & Van Nest. “Copyright holders can’t strip consumers of their first sale rights just by sticking a ‘Not for Sale’ label on a CD.”

The bottom line from the judge:

“The promo CDs are unordered merchandise,” Otero writes in his order (PDF). ” … By sending the promo CDs to music industry insiders, UMG transferred title to those insiders and the promo CDs are subject to the First Sale Doctrine.”
—

--Ethan
Minneapolis, Minn.

Pluto not a planet, but now a “plutoid”…

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080611-plutoid-planets.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080611094136.htm

excerpt:
Plutoids are celestial bodies in orbit around the Sun at a distance greater than that of Neptune that have sufficient mass for their self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that they assume a hydrostatic equilibrium (near-spherical) shape, and that have not cleared the neighbourhood around their orbit. The two known and named plutoids are Pluto and Eris. It is expected that more plutoids will be named as science progresses and new discoveries are made.

huh!? hhhmmmmm…so is this a good judgement, fig leave, or olive branch from International Astronomical Union?

Best,
--Shalin

Rumor has it that there will be code details about OS X 10.6 at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference next week. Bold prediction, considering it's a developer's conference. Geniuses. Now, what cat to name it after? Also, Bill Gates gives his last speech on the road to his nearly-full-time-job-retirement; Oklahoma City has a sweet Wi-Fi mesh network that you can't use (unless the password is "password"); and you can now get your Outlook e-mail on an LG enV(2).

Episode 738

Mac OS 10.6 debuting next week?
http://gizmodo.com/5012955/mac-os-106-debuting-next-week

Full-featured IE 8 coming in August
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0337111520080603

Microsoft reports security problem with Apple’s Safari
http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_reports_security_problem_with_Apples_Safari/1212510348

Firefox 3 is still a memory hog
http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/firefox-3-is-still-a-memory-hog/

Bill Gates’s last speech
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/03/2038259

Verizon Wireless lets you get corporate e-mail without a smartphone
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9959167-1.html

Oklahoma City claims world’s largest municipal Wi-Fi mesh network, leaves public out
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/04/oklahoma-city-claims-worlds-largest-municipal-wifi-mesh-network/

‘Call of Duty 4′ hits 10 million units sold
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-9959146-52.html

Flip Video’s mighty Mino
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9958989-7.html

NASA toilet might force emergency evacuation
http://gizmodo.com/5012730/nasa-toilet-might-force-emergency-evacuation

Voice mail

John the Bomb Maker
Here's what I'll do with metered bandwidth.

Sean
Better idea for the movie studios

Lun
About those MP3 kiosks

E-mail

Metered bandwidth

Hey BuzzCrew,

On Episode 737, you were talking about metered bandwidth and not knowing
how much bandwidth you use, and 40GB not being good/large enough.

Now Tom, you were talking about having a PS3 or whatever, and using up
all your bandwidth. Now, in my house, we have 3 laptops, a PS3, a Wii,
and I have about 15 podcasts that I listen to. And we only have a 12GB
limit, which we rarely go over, I think once. Ever. (with
1.5MBps/512Kbps). I honestly would not know what I would do with 40GB.
Admittedly, I’m not a torrent user, nor do I download or stream a lot of
video, but I still think 40GB is heaps! Our ISP (and every other one
that I know of in Australia) has a page you can log in to and check your
usage, over 24 hours, weekly, and the overall month. Another thing is
that most ISPs will send you an e-mail when you’re approaching your
limit, so you have some kind of warning that you’re getting close. I
have to say, I think you’re all making a big deal out of something that
won’t make much of a difference to the average user.

Love the show!

Dave,
Melbourne, Australia
aka DaveBinM

***************

5GB cap?

MoJaTo,

Can you imagine what would happen if you installed an SP1 version of
Windows XP?! You’d blow half of your cap just getting your updates! I
predict this trial in Texas will be a colossal failure (unless they’re
not testing the cap size itself, but the metering method they’re using).

Ethan
Minneapolis

*****************

Meter this!

Hey Tom, Molly, and YOU (Jason!),

This whole issue of metering my bandwidth really doesn’t scare me. My
neighbors haven’t secured their wifi connections yet, and it’s not that
difficult to circumvent WEP security so if I hit my wall, I’ll start
hittin’ someone elses! God Bless you Comcast, you hot sexy waste of
time! Have a good day.

Sincerely,
Justin
Washington, DC

***************

Whoops! Eff article I used

Sorry about that, It’s in my blog post but it didn’t copy over to the
email…

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/06/prince-issues-one-takedown-too-many

if you haven’t sent out the show notes yet, or can edit them, that was
the one I was talking about.

…or dont’ worry about it.

Frank J. M. Lattuca, Esq.

**************

Tully’s has free Wifi - you get 24 hours

Yo Buzz Peeps!
Looonng time listener. Big time fan.
So in listening to BOL737 you talked about Starbucks giving you 2 hrs of
free wifi. But you have to use it all at once. And you also have to
get their spam in order to use it. Yea…
Well, here in Seattle, the Tully’s coffee shops offer free wifi all day
(24rh limit) with no sign up, no spam, and you don’t have to use the
hours all at once. All you have to do is agree to their terms upon
logging on to their network (standard stuff).
Besides, their coffees and teas are far superior to Starbuck’s. Plus
they use more fair trade coffees.
Keep on Buzzin’

Peace,
Vic the Video Game Artist

***************

BOL in a Yahoo crossword?

I’m positive this is one of those things you’ll get a million emails
about (spam spam spam spam), but I was killing time before going into
work today and did a quick Yahoo crossword, and number 10 Down was “Buzz
Out Loud podcast producer”! Let’s see…four letters…MOL-E? TOM-M?
JY-SN? JMTO? No! CNET! Have you finally arrived in the mainstream of
social consciousness if you find yourself in a crossword?

Stewart
In North Hollywood

EPISODE 734

Inside the Attack that Crippled Revision3
http://revision3.com/blog/2008/05/29/ inside-the-attack-that-crippled-revision3

Mozilla "Download Day" - Are you in or out? Mozilla "Download Day" - Are you in or out?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1965
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/05/29/0312233.shtml

Exclusive: Dell Mini Inspiron, Their First Mini Laptop
http://gizmodo.com/393815/ exclusive-dell-mini-inspiron-their-first-mini-laptop
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7425099.stm

VIA Introduces the Nano Processor
http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/08/05/29/1427204.shtml

Intel and Micron produce first sub-40nm NAND device
http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/29/ intel-and-micron-produce-first-sub-40nm-nand-device/

Akamai State of the Internet
http://www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet/
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8946
http://www.centernetworks.com/akamai-state-internet

Bill Gates: Windows 95 Was ‘A High Point’
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/28/2214214

Private Donor Gives Fermilab $5 Million — Cho 2008
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/528/3

Main Page - Keep or Toss .org
http://www.keeportoss.org/

VOICE MAIL

Mike College Station
WiFi allergy solution.

Brian Albany, New York
Response to Tru2Way

E-MAIL

Lala clarification

Hey crew,

Just a clarification on how Lala track rental works.

From my ‘Michael’s Minute’ e-mail that I get from Michael Robertson now and then, here’s what I’ve gathered:

You can listen to any track once for free (registration required, of course). After that, you can only listen to a 30 second sample of the song unless you ‘Add’ it to your library. To add a song to your library costs you one credit (which cost $.10/each).

Once it’s in your library, you can listen as much as you want through the web player. But, you can only listen through the web player. You can’t shift this to anything portable, or hold it on your computer at all.

This is where the service fails. I don’t believe many people at all will consider a service like this if they can’t listen to their tracks on an iPod/Zune/etc.

Loving the show, and watching live, even when the UStream computer pukes.

Nathan

**********************

New Mexico group tries to ban Wi-Fi

Hiya,

While I have no specific knowledge about how radio waves do or don’t affect human physiology, I was disappointed that you dismissed the notion out-of-hand as “luddite” and crackpot-ish. You cited the fact that radio has been around “forever” with no ill effects reported to your knowledge. You seem to forget that the parties who would be least interested in exploring that possibility are the same ones who have owned the mass media for the past 80 years or so. In other words, if there were such a study, would we know? I humbly submit that the burden is upon the broadcast-microwave-transmitting-wifi-enabling folks to demonstrate that their practices are safe, especially in light of their media outlets’ conflict of interest.

Think of it this way: we know that radio waves are a physical phenomenon that interact with the surrounding environment in a physical way. Much like the the drug companies have to prove the safety of substances they want people to ingest, why is it such a stretch to say that introducing something with real physical properties so completely into our environment should be subject to some kind of safety test?

I think you have fallen into the “it’s invisible and I love the technology so it must be ok” trap.

Again, I’m not saying I have any proof one way or the other — just saying that your dismissal of the possibility is, IMHO, naive.

Love the Show!
Bingo the Chimp

***********************

Allergies to Wi-Fi

Hello Buzz Crew!

As a doctor (yes, a real one), I can categorically say that there is no such thing as an “allergy” to WiFi. Allergic reactions are caused by your immune system mistakenly reacting to something that is not harmful in and of itself. Pollen is not dangerous, but your body thinks it is. As you pointed out, we are bombarded by radio waves of many frequencies all of the time, and ridding the world of WiFi would do little to reduce that exposure.

Could this exposure cause harm? It is extremely difficult to prove, as adequate controls (people for whom all other factors are the same except for exposure to WiFi) are almost impossible to get. There have been numerous attempts to show that exposure to power lines, cell phones, and other electromagnetic fields causes harm, but there is little compelling evidence. For the originator of this silliness to suggest that this has all been covered-up since the 1920’s is a smoking gun for a conspiracy theorist of the highest order.

It is time to put on your tin-foil suits!

As an aside, my father was once riding in a train when the conductor told them they had entered New Mexico. The lady behind him happily commented: “New Mexico? I love pizza!” I suspect she is a member of this WiFi hating group.

LTS

LTL

Dr. Rob (still over 36 and nervous)

*********************

Cha cha

Hey guys!
Just wanted to report something funny that happened today when I tried cha cha out. I asked what buzz out loud is and the response I got was ” that is, sadly, the new name for the international space station, where astronauts have a real problem to contend with.”, then a link for more info. This person must have googled buzz out loud and found yesterdays episode. Cha cha needs to train there staff that NASA would not name a space station anything like buzz out loud, and to use a little common sense. Allthough I wouldn’t have a problem if a space station got named after bol. That’d be awsome.

Love the show,
Adam from PA