Buzz Out Loud Podcast

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)

NASA may have found the lost moon tapes and our best hope is for some kind of remix. Also, Molly tells us all to beware the sticky death roller if we use the dead-fly-powered alarm clock. We also still don't have a sponsor. In case you were curious.

EPISODE 1007

Steve Jobs returns to work as Apple CEO after medical leave (thanks, Nate Lanxon on Twitter!)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSy0WezEGvvY

Sony considers adding phone to PSP
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10274415-1.html?

Sony begins shipping PCs with Green Dam software installed
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218101773

Google mistook Jackson searches for Net attack
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06/29/003214/Google-Mistook-Jackson-Searches-For-Net-Attack

Amazon cuts off North Carolina affiliates
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06/26/172248/Amazon-Cuts-Off-North-Carolina-Affiliates

Keeping news of kidnapping off Wikipedia
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/technology/internet/29wiki.html

Reading machine to snoop on Web
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10274435-42.html

Universal phone charger deal done in Europe
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_8124000/8124293.stm

Lenovo expanding Del and Esc keys, nuking Caps Lock
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/28/lenovo-expanding-del.html

Has NASA Found the Lost Moon Tapes?
http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/06/28/186245/Has-NASA-Found-the-Lost-Moon-Tapes

VOICEMAIL
Dance in Boulder on Windows 7

E-MAIL
Dear Buzz Crew:

This is Siavash, alive and yet fighting.
You think airing trilogy of Lord of the Rings is a big thing? The channel 3 is going to AIR the whole Prison Break series, ha? What you have to say about that? I've heard it is 3 episode a day.
This is really stupid, let me tell you something, in Iran we have 7 channels over the air, analog and digital with standard definition, in Tehran less that 50% of people watch the Iranian TV and they mostly watch satellite TV. And most of the people have watched these movies and series on DVD, so who cares that they are aired on TV?
And there are some people like me that never watch Iranian TV. I don't have a antenna for Iran's TV , and I only watch satellite TV.( who chooses watching Mullahs instead of watching MTV?)
My source of movies and series are satellite TV and torrent download (sorry, but no copyright law here and I really love to watch the latest series and movies).
Series like Prison break, Lost, Heroes, Office, Friends, CSI , 90210 , 24 and etc are big hits and everyone watches them in DVD or downloaded Divx.

So, all I'm trying to say is that it does not matter if they air Lord of the Rings or Prison Break, because at least in Tehran no one cares and more than 60% percent or more don't watch any Iranian TV. We can buy a copied DVD for 2$ or an original one for 15$, now I buy BlueRay disks for 30$, why should we care what is one the TV when we can watch it with better quality and no censor?
They are doing anything they can to keep people off the streets but they can't, even one day marathon of Angelina Jolie movies can't do it.

Best Regards

Siavash

**********

It’s not enough that humans gave robots a place to congregate to plan our demise, now we’ve adapted them with the ability to extract fuel from the very nectar of life. All that innocent experimentation with fuel cells that run on blood has led to this, a flesh-eating clock. This prototype time-piece from UK-based designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau traps insects on flypaper stretched across its roller system before depositing them into a vat of bacteria. The ensuing chemical reaction, or “digestion,” is transformed into power that keeps the rollers rollin’ and the LCD clock ablaze. The pair offers an alternative design fueled by mice, another contraption whose robotic arm plucks insect-fuel from spider webs with the help of a video camera, and a lamp powered by insects lured to their deaths with ultraviolet LEDs. Man, this is so wrong it has to be right.

Michael

**********

The crew at BOL:

You had a round of derision for english units on the replacement for the
space shuttle. I’m glad to hear that you will be reporting the weight
of netbooks in grams, not pounds. The screen sizes will no longer be in
inches. Your CD’s and DVD’s will no longer be 5 1/2 inches. You won’t
be reporting how many pounds you lost on your last diet, and you will
report that the iPhone masses 0.135 kg instead of weighing 4.8 ounces.

As a practicing engineer (29 years), I have an intuitive understanding
of my designs in inches. I can convert to metric easily when needed,
but I have a storehouse of experience in English units. Unfortunately,
I’m passing that on to newly minted engineers, as well.

Charlie

Yes, as a matter of fact, it IS rocket science.

**********

I know one can’t predict the exact date of any given episode due to holidays, special episodes and what have you, but based on the average number of podcasts per month over year in the 2006 – 2008 period, I believe I can make at least a rough projection. I am greatly anticipating Buzz Out Loud’s Millionth Episode in October of 6120, give or take a decade.

Love the show.
-Mark, the person.

Chinese filtering software has been criticized for having holes. The solution? Fix it. How communist. We also give you a hack for getting free tethering on the iPhone and we bemoan the fate of MySpace.

EPISODE 998

Opera Unite aims to reinvent the Web
http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2009/06/hi-my-name-is-opera-and-ill-be-your-server-today.html

http://mashable.com/2009/06/16/opera-unite/

AT&T won’t charge extra for MMS on iPhone
http://www.applethoughts.com/news/show/94126/at-t-not-planning-on-charging-for-mms.html

…And here’s how to get free tethering
http://9to5mac.com/9to5mac-tether-iPhone-hack

Hackers find remote iPhone crack
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/06/16/0017221/Hackers-Find-Remote-iPhone-Crack

Facebook finally catches up to MySpace in the U.S.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/15/facebook-finally-catches-up-to-myspace-in-the-us/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10265163-2.html

MySpace slashes head count by 30 percent
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10265566-36.html

Twitter downtime gets delayed for Iranian election news
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10265213-2.html

Chinese filtering software ordered to be cleaned up
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/business/global/16censor.html

Blackberry Tour for international Sprint and Verizon customers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67187&full_skip=1

Mercedes demos a car with airbags *everywhere*
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10263120-48.html

Cars driving in the parking lot generate electricity to power a U.K. supermarket
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1193070/Shoppers-cars-soon-able-power-supermarkets.html

Science Academies: Renewable power tech ready for big growth
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/06/science-academies-renewable-power-tech-ready-for-big-growth.ars

VOICEMAIL
Shalin – Ranger Panda for Mascot

Aaron – Another way to call out from Google Voice

E-MAIL
Dear Buzz Crew:

One again this is Siavash, from Tehran/Iran. As you may know from the news there a revolution going on in Iran, after the changes in votes by Iran's government, people are on the street every day and night.
We have no access to technology at all, all the mobile services and SMS,MMS and EDGE services are down, Facebook, YouTube and many other sites have been filtered, most of the time there is no internet connection with ADSL lines and a very powerful noise in satellite services, because of these problems I was not able to send you the videos I made for 1000 episode of BOL, know I'm using a 2way satellite service which has a very low bandwidth because of the noise, and I'm not able to download or stream BOL anymore.

Just wanted to say congratulations to all you guys for making this 1000 episode happen, I've enjoyed every minute of the show since the episode 50 or 60 that I started listening, and I have to say you guys are the best in tech field.

I hope there will be a day that we could have proper internet access and I could join you guys again.
Here is a link to my Facebook album and some pictures of what is going on in Tehran : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24107&id=1081415824&l=c9e2b20028

I Love the Show, YOU ARE THE BEST

Best Regards

Siavash

***********

Hey BOL,

Just wanted to pass on an idea on getting subsidized iphone upgrades annually, instead of every 2 years. My friend does this and it’s so simple. I can’t believe no one else has sent this in. All he did was add a second line to his account for 9.99 per month. The second line shares minutes, has no extras, no texting, nothing. Just the cheapest 2nd line plan you can get. Now he can upgrade either line and have the AT&T store switch phone numbers on each line everytime he upgrades. If you want to get the new iphone each year, it might be work 120 bucks per year to have the luxury of upgrading yearly at the subsidized price.

Love the show,
Ragan

***********

Hey Guys,
By now, I’m sure someone has mentioned this already, but thought I’d pass it along.

In epised 994 you discussed maps for the iPhone and the possibility of TomTom using Open Street Maps. TomTom bought TeleAtlas a year or two ago, so it’s doughtful they can lower their cost with open source maps.

Love the show, keep rockin’ Molly,

Mike

***********

I think it is great that Microsoft is donating to the poor for everyone who downloads IE8. Now can we get them to donate $6 for each person who downloaded IE6 and put this in a fund for the mental health care of all the web professionals who had to support that piece of #$%&^*?

Chris the podcaster

L.T.S.

***********

The 1000th episode is Thursday June 18th. There will be no pre-show, here will be a live audience it will be streamed live on cnet.com/live. There will be audio and video on demand afterwards in the normal podcast feeds.

1000th episode meetup in San Francisco: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113374732587

Send us buzz at buzz@cnet.com or call us at 1-800-616-CNET (2638)

We discuss a computer algorithm that can determine if photos are pretty or not. I guess hot or not is going out of business. We also look at the causes of the Google error and speculate on how Wolfram Alpha will be used.

EPISODE 975

Networking error caused Google outage
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10241126-93.html

International Energy Agency says CE is gobbling up energy faster than green measures can save it
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54C4K420090514?sp=true
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/05/power-hungry-gadgets-endanger-energy-efficiency-gains.ars
http://www.pge.com/mybusiness/energysavingsrebates/buyersguide/bce/index.shtml

Wolfram Alpha goes public today
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/05/wolfram-alpha-set-for-launch-first-look-unveiled.ars

Nintendo DSi drives April gaming sales
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/05/nintendo-dsi-drives-april-gaming-sales.ars

eBikes come to Best Buy
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2347082,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

MLB scores patent to black out streamed games
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10241356-93.html

N.Y. Tax on Games, DVDs, and junk food
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/14/1739258
http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/05/14/new-york-bill-would-add-fat-tax-video-games-dvds-junk-food

Exclusive: First Look at the BlackBerry Storm 2!!
http://crackberry.com/exclusive-first-look-blackberry-storm-2

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/05/14/exclusive-blackberry-storm-2-shots/

Computers with opinions on visual aesthetics
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/15/0613204

1000th Episode June 18th!
Send email to buzz@cnet.com with the subject line 1000th Episode Invite, if you are serious about wanting to attend the recording at 10:30 AM Thursday June 18th. We have a limited amount of seats.

VOICEMAIL
Ben
Kids don’t use Twitter

E-MAIL
One note about Shop Safe … don’t use it when you have to show the card to pick up the item you purchased. This mostly applies to show/concert tickets, but it would be a bummer to have a lot of hassle in real life because you were being safe online.

Also, MBNA used to allow limits, almost like an allowance. I used to give myself a limit and an expiration date of a couple months for iTunes purchases. A little hassle, but it kept me on a budget.

Love the show!

Jason in Boston

**********

Hey BuzzCrew-

As usual I seem to be a day late and a dollar short (’a pound short’ doesn’t sound nearly as nice, need that alliteration) on the podcast. But it was mentioned about having a keyboard on the credit card to make it more secure. Well Europe again is ahead of the US on security. So all cards over here have a chip in them- Most stores make you insert your card to a machine and you have to type in your pin to use it as a credit card/debit card (Know as chip & pin service). And most banks over here (Barclay’s for one) have a small device (looks like a calculator) to allow you to check your account online, where you have to insert your card into the device type in your pin and it gives you a 8 digit number that has to be typed in with a few minutes of trying to log on to view ANY of your account info. Separately if you choose to purchase online from many stores, Visa for example, send you to another page to verify your info by asking for random characters from your specialized password just for online for purchases.

Moving here it was a major change to get use to all of that, but now I quite prefer it. Only frustration is if you are on the go and forget to bring your card reader you can’t access your bank account anywhere but Holes in the Wall (ATMs) or in your own bank.

Cheers from Oxford!
Tom Merritt the Doppelganger

I know you hate links but this is to info about Barclay’s PinSentry [the card reader]: http://www.barclays.co.uk/audiopinsentry/reader.html

**********

Hello BOL,

BOL had a call out for evidence of TimeWarner Cable leveraging the
analog TV broadcast shutdown to scare people to their service. I did
get a print version here in Southern California, but it’s on their web
site too. I’ve attached a screenshot of the image saying “Don’t Let
Your TV Go Dark”. It’s also on this link:

http://www.timewarnercable.com/SoCal/?divhome=1

if you click the “DTV Transition” right tab. I think the casual
reader could get caught in a misimpression.

Love the Show,
Dean
Huntington Beach, CA

Scientists have simulated a part of the brain, molecule by molecule, and may possibly be able to simulate an entire brain soon. This has Natali excited, because she anticipates being able to download martial arts into her brain. Jason just doesn't want to meet another one of himself. We also discuss the real cost of bandwidth for ISPs, and Immanuel Kant.

EPISODE 958

Bluetooth 3.0 has arrived
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10224658-1.html

Amazon Video-on-demand goes HD
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/04/amazon-video-on-demand-goes-high-definition.ars

Google profiles in people search
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/search-for-me-on-google.html

The Road To Terabit Ethernet
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/22/1211253

A Layman’s Guide To Bandwidth Pricing
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/21/1951212

Hotmail chat in mail client…yay. About 2 years too late
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10223894-2.html

iPhone may have voice command and faster speeds
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10223915-233.html
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66097

Facebook for BlackBerry
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10224470-94.html

Leaked AT&T doc slams the Palm Pre
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/04/22/leaked-atandt-doc-slams-the-palm-pre/

Botnet expert wants ‘Special Ops’ security teams
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/22/0153242

Simulated brain closer to thought
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8012496.stm

World’s first X-Ray laser goes live
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/21/2317203

Vote for CNET TV on the Webby People's Voice Award!
http://pv.webbyawards.com/

Green show!
http://cnettv.cnet.com/2001-1_53-50005864.html

VOICEMAIL
Mark from Florida
Leave Ashton alone!

Dr. Rob
Not novacaine

Drew from Phoenix
Take on MYSQL and Oracle

E-MAIL
What you guys were saying about giving away MP3s, and selling the music in
other forms, is actually happening a lot in the Indie/Hardcore music scene.
Record labels are selling vinyl with download codes so you can get the MP3s
off the internet. It’s getting pretty big now.

–
Regards,

Nick Mango

**********

Did you get that Android chaser jingle done? According to The Inquirer (which I hope is reliable as I’ve never heard of it) a Chinese company called SkyTone has released the first netbook powered by Android. It has a 7 inch swivelling touchscreen with gamepad controls on the sides, wifi, 3G(!), SD card reader, a webcam and 2 USB ports as well as 128mb of RAM and a 533MHZ ARM processor. And what’s especially good in these troubled times (drink) is it’s price: $100. To me that speaks volumes for the quality of the components but its low enough to be in the impulse-buy realm so I’d certainly fork out for one!

Love the show, hate twitter,
Alex from the UK

**********

Hi Buzzers or buzzcrew or the slightly forgotten Jatona

Tomorrow it is the time for a new OS to hit the “shelves” - Ubuntu 9.04. Probably you got more than me reminding you of this - but since there is certainly strength in numbers, I will not hesitate to point you towards this, rather important, news.

A story from my world. I am CEO of a global company with offices in Denmark, Vietnam and Egypt. I have quite a number of staff doing production of elearning for us - and I am now moving them all to Ubuntu. No more licences, old copies and so on. Simply Open Source through and through (with the only possible exception being video-editing, since that is truly the world of proprietary formats). In my view we are ready now. With the combination of using Google Apps for Business for our email, systems like Dropbox and Google Docs for sharing and Ubuntu as OS we can actually run global corporations on open platforms and free services. Yes - we have to be aware of the dangers. Google could go chapter 11(!?!) - Google could turn evil(?) - Dropbox could close (ok that is possible). But as long as you are prepared for this - and take precautions for the risks, I do not really see why there is a need for corporate infrastructures when talking sub-100 people companies.

So - Go Ubuntu! I have been running 9.04 since beta - and has produces several projects for clients on the platform. It crashes a lot less than my Vista, which it dual-boots with. My main reasons for still having Windows is videoediting - and iTunes, so I can sync my iPhone and listen to Buzz Out Loud on my daily 1 hour commute.

Love the show

Adam the CEO, Denmark

**********

Luv the show and keep up the work. I'm a Systems Engineer and I work at Lockheed Martin. I worked on the JSF program many years ago when the program was in its infancy.
As you all may know... there are different tiers of security classification with respective networks. My speculation is that data siphoned off were DRs (Design Reviews) Presentations, SRR (System Requirement Reviews) and other set of data used to present & discuss planning and design with the stakeholders (i.e. Pentagon). These presentations talk about design, but at a high level, which in my opinion, any smart person can figure out just by using the internet. For example, you can find a high level design of the aircraft on wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F35#Design )
I'm guessing that NIPRNet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NIPRNet) was compromised over the durations of the attacks, while the more sensitive network, SIPRNet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIPRNET ) remained secure.
It's not impossible, but I can't even imagine detailed drawings and assembly instructions to reside on any Pentagon server or pc. That design detailed is so low level, that it would probably annoy anyone who doesn't directly work on the aircraft. Usually that stuff is stored on the contractors (The Lockheeds & Boeings) secured network on some obscure and super secured server.
I would like to also add the F35 will be sold to other nations, which tells me that there are design specs that are traded with minimal sensitivity, i.e. if the data is compromised, there would be little or no repercussions. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F35#International_participation )
In summary, I'm not too concerned with data that was compromised at the Pentagon, because a lot of design is already available on the internet

Jazzman

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

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 811

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VOICE MAIL
Chris: Metallica?

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

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

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

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

Tyler

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

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

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

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

Sincerely
T the Patent Examiner

Hello Buzz-cast,

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

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

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

Current TV to broadcast ‘tweets’ during debates

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

Joe AKA dOgBOi

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

Ronald

EPISODE 695

Apple passes Wal-Mart, now No. 1 music retailer in U.S.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080402-apple-passes-wal-mart-now-1-music-retailer-in-us.html

As expected, MySpace unveils new music service
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9910344-7.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/ technology/03cnd-myspace.html
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-live-myspace-music-call/

Comcast launches 50Mbps broadband--for $150 per month
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080402-comcast-launches-50mbps-broadband-for-150-per-month.html

Trademark dispute pits Apple vs. the Big Apple
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/news/2008/04/apple_vs_apple

AT&T Mobility CEO: All smartphones to be 3G within “months”--including iPhone and Centro?
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/03/ atandt-mobility-ceo-all-smartphones-to-be-3g-within-months-i/

Best and worst cell phone markets
http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/top-10-us-cities-for-wireless/

Game on all-time high: 72 percent of U.S. population plays video games
http://blogs.pcworld.com/gameon/archives/006748.html

Microsoft hoses down latest Xbox 360 Blu-ray rumor
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/02/ microsoft-hoses-down-latest-xbox-360-blu-ray-rumor/

IBM and Linden partner on Enterprise-class Second Life
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Greenfield/?p=213

Daily caffeine ‘protects brain’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7326839.stm

VOICE MAIL

Rafa
Don’t worry Molly, no people on Amazon text shopping!

Mike from Newport News
Google with Skype would be great!

Anonymous Darwinist
Google conspiracy theory regarding Skype.

E-MAIL

What Google will do with Skype?

I can’t believe you didn’t put the two and two together.

Google will release an Android (build by a manufacture, not by Google) phone that will use 700Mhz band (the Internet band bought by Verison) and will use Skype for voice calls (even this Skype OUT allow you to call any phone number in the world.

Skype already has a Linux application how, how hard you think will be to integrate it into Android?

Allex from Romania

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The last Rickroll

Dear Tom and Molly,
I listened to your request about The Last Rickroll and I have made a rickroll to meet your need. It has Fonzie jumping the shark and then guess what?!?!? I will be uploading it to Youtube soon.

MRT3CH
P.S. Just keep searching for The Last Rickroll. And read this on your podcast so I get lots of views.

UPDATE: I have uploaded the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5EhwZH-gGI

Sheldon

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

I hate Apple Safari

After first time when I’ve seen Apple Safari in iTunes updates I’ve selected Safari and I’ve entered into Tools > Ignore selected updates.

Today, after I’ve selected that i want to update iTunes I’ve seen again Safari in the iTunes Update.

I think Safari contains a Trojan design to track your every (that uses windows) move on the Internet because I doesn’t know anyone instead of hackers that they want to push their junk on your computer.

Don’t trust Apple people!

Alexandra

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Wimax in Iran--from 3 years ago!

Hey Jason - Tom - Molly:

As you have been talking about WiMax in U.S. and the stories about that all I was thinking about was, what the hell are they talking about? We have WiMax in Iran-Tehran about 3 years now.
A company called http://www22.laser.ir/ in Iran has been providing WiMax service, but because the service price is so high, not many people are using the service.
The price for the WiMax modem is $400, and the cheapest plan is 128Kbps bandwidth with $99 per month.
Of course other companies are trying to reach lower prices and provide better service, Anyway, we have WiMax in Iran. So we are not that much of third-world country, are we? ( Just kidding )

Love the show.

Best regards

Siavash Ghahremany

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Pwning

Hi guys,

Tom, I might be giving away a lucrative link farm idea, but with all the coverage you guys have had about Pwn to Own the last few days I can’t help but think that maybe it’s time for you to compete with Molly’s non-CNET blog with your own… I think http://www.cultureofpwnership.com is open — or it was until you just read this on-air.

You could use it to espouse your views about the hacker ethos. Post ideas…
“Does pwning really mean owning?”
“How to beat pwn trolls!”
“Pwning zombies and other lifesaving pwnage”
“Can you pwn your cake and eat it too?”

Cheers,
Ernie from the East Bay

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So Say We All address

Hey guys, I have the address set up. I’m not sure if you got my e-mail I sent from my regular account, but I’m sending you one from the “official” BOL So Say We All Gmail address (for the day or two it is good for). Let me know how to spread the word (or on the podcast). I unfortunately have to work on Friday morning, so in order to make sure that everyone who sends them in gets on I would ask that they have it sent by 7:30 AM EST on Friday so I can add the last people and still get to work on time. Thanks again!

bolsosayweall@gmail.com

Kevin from Michigan

So Say We All - CNET Buzz Out Loud Lounge Forums
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10152_102-0.html? forumID=97&threadID=290133&messageID=2743544

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The Ford Maverick was a fine car, Tom

Tom, in a world with Yugos, Gremlins, Pacers, Cimarrons, Vegas, Festivas, and other poorly made cars, you trash the Maverick. My family owned a 6-cylinder two-door Maverick in Grabber Blue, yes I know the color name was awful, but the car was solid. It was not going win a drag race or out-handle a Porsche, but our Maverick have over 120,000 miles on the original engine and transmission when we sold it. The ride was nice, and it had no major repairs done to it. For their time, the Maverick was a good car. The only issue was the marketing guy who came with the name Grabber Blue.

So once again, proof there is a defender for everything.

Well, I wonder if anyone would truly defend the epic Sci-fi blunder Battlefield Earth. Maybe you guys can put that one to the test.

Keep up the great work. Just quit picking on the Maverick.

Cheers,

Kev T
SF Bay Area