Buzz Out Loud Podcast

EPISODE 730

Sony to distribute ‘live’ shows to theaters
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/ SB121142408161613141-lMyQjAxMDI4MTIxMjQyMjI0Wj.html

Twitter reportedly closes $15 million funding round
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9950170-36.html
http://blog.twitter.com/2008/05/ i-have-this-graph-up-on-my-screen-all.html

One guitar for Rock Band and Guitar Hero
http://gizmodo.com/392699/ ant-commandos-double-range-guitar-one-guitar-to-rule-them-all

PC World: 'GTA IV' earns $600M to voice actor’s $100K; time for a street fight?
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/007000.html
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/22/125233

Google Sites for everyone: GeoCities 2.0?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9950147-36.html
http://sites.google.com/site/subbrilliant-tv/Home

Musopen puts classical recordings, scores in public domain
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080521-musopen-puts-classical-recordings-scores-in-public-domain.html

Sites ready to sue Oregon for right to publish laws online
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080521-sites-sue-oregon-for-right-to-publish-its-laws-online.html

Genetic discrimination by insurers, employers becomes a crime
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/05/the-genetic-inf.html

Bacteria can be turned into living computers (Thanks royterp!)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml? view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/05/20/scibacteria120.xml

The secret history of 'Star Wars'
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/21/2250231

VOICE MAIL

The Baird
How Netflix works.

--Tom in Florida
Rebates from search engines.

--Ted Teacher in Marin, Calif.
New name for semantic Web.

E-MAIL

The iShoe

Thought you might like to know that on Ellen today (5/21 she made an iShoe joke. The premise was the same as a caller suggested a couple weeks ago. Supposedly an Apple promotion for the movie Get Smart. They had two models mocked-up, an iPhone attached to the bottom of a Chuck Taylor and a Nano attached to the bottom of a baby shoe.

Maybe Ellen has been listening to BOL for material.

--Nancy

P.S. I swear I never watch Ellen, but I just got home from vacation and had the TV while I was unpacking and there is nothing on at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday.

Ellen part 2

OK, I’ll admit it, I’m still watching Ellen.

But now I know why there is a Wii shortage. She just gave everyone in the audience a Wii and a Wii Fit.

Molly and Tom called it

ID-protection ads come back to bite pitchman

Todd Davis has dared criminals for two years to try stealing his identity: Ads for his fraud-prevention company, LifeLock, even offer his Social Security number next to his smiling mug.

Now, LifeLock customers in Maryland, New Jerse,y and West Virginia are suing Davis, claiming his service didn’t work as promised and he knew it wouldn’t, because the service had failed even him.

The story at : http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080522/ap_on_hi_te/ identity_fraud_flap

--John

You can buy albums on Napster

Hey guys,

I thought I’d respond to the e-mail from episode 729 stating that you can’t buy an album on Napster. This isn’t entirely true. Last night I took a look at Napster to see what was available. I used to use Napster before Amazon’s store came around, and I’m now thinking about repurchasing some WMA albums I bought through Napster in non-DRM MP3 form.

I noticed that one of the albums I had previously purchased as WMAs was not fully available as MP3s. The tracks from this album was ala cart; however, the other album I checked had all the tracks available as MP3s was purchasable as a full album. I’m certain of this because I did a price comparison between Napster and Amazon on this album. Amazon was cheaper by a few cents, by the way. Anyway, I definitely had the option to buy the full album.

So, it appears that if an album is not fully available in MP3, then you can’t buy the album. But, you can buy a full album (with the inherent discount) if all the tracks are available as MP3s. I’m hoping that this is one of those growing pains that always seems to happen when music services come online or make major changes.

Also, Napster’s new interface is kind of confusing, and it’s easy to miss the button to purchase the album as it’s this small button next to the album art that has “MP3″ on it in a small font. So, it’s also possible I just didn’t see the album purchase button on the album that didn’t have all tracks available.

--Stephen

Gully the caller!

Dear Tom, Molly, and Jason,

I am your puzzle from Liverpool, my accent does give a few people quite a number of problems so I'll translate.
I'm with an ISP in the U.K. who has a "fair usage policy" and I do a lot of downloading and have never run into problems, and its fast for only 10 pounds a month which is rather good. I did mess up half way through so the bleh helped me to recover.
I'm also not Golem, but Gully as my surname is Gulliver "as in travels."
I can't afford elocution lessons so I'm afraid I'm stuck with my accent.
Glad I could enlighten you to a strange yet still English way of talking.
It takes a lil getting used to.

Love the show

--Gully in Liverpool, U.K.

Scouse to English translation

Hello Buzz people,

Just listening to episode 729. The dialect of English spoken in Liverpool is called Scouse. Fortunately, I speak fluent Scouse and English, so here’s a transcript in English…

“Hello this is Scully(?) from Liverpool U.K. Erm, the Internet provider I’m with, talk about capping, says they have a fair u-usage poli–bluuur–, if I could actually spit that out, usage policy, but I’ve never run into it and I’ve got quite fast broadband for ten of our English pounds. Love the show, bye.”

FYI, the correct Scouse response to this would be “Tarr Larr”, which translates in English as “Why thank you, my good friend.”

--SEM
(Simon Morris)

Mac OS 10.5.2 a lemon for music

Let's see Apple get the same coverage that Microsoft does for it's flaws

MAC OS 10.5.2 a lemon for music
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=1781

Peter Chipman
P.S. If you ever want to see how electronics gets built, come and visit.

2008 EMS Week

Don’t forget to mention Happy 2008 EMS Week to all of the Emergency Services around the world (Fire, EMS, Rescue, Aeromedical, USAR, etc…..From 05-18-08 thur 05-24-08.

Here’s the link to the National ACEP page for more info
http://www.acep.org/practres.aspx?id=30212

Cheers!

--Fire Chief Kevin
Buzztown Fire Department

**Proudly responding to the Buzzards of Buzztown since Episode #242

Faceparty bans people older than 36 in shock ageist move

So in four years it will be assumed I am a pedophile?

“Minor social networking site Faceparty has deleted what it describes as “a huge number of accounts” of its users older than 36 in recent weeks, in a bid to cut down on sex offenders misusing the site.”

Faceparty bans over-36s in shock ageist move

--Jim Lunsford

Yet another milestone for BOL?

Hey Jamoto (BTW, I’ve always thought it was a shame, Jason, that your name wasn’t Jim, cause then your collective handle could be Mojito…
mmmm…. mojito….)

But, the real reason for this e-mail is to congratulate you all on two full years of the best podcast (bar none) on the interwebtubes. Yes, 730 episodes, that’s 365 x 2. And if you want to celebrate twice (with a mojito, perhaps?), then 731 also counts as two years, since this year was a leap year.

Friends, Buzz Out Loud is my desert island podcast. You guys rock.
KUTGW LTS.

--Peter from Montreal, Canada

EPISODE 721

House overwhelmingly passes controversial Pro-IP Act
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080508-house-overwhelmingly-passes-controversial-pro-ip-act.html

Infringement ‘detrimental to the public health, safety’
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/09/0029224

Windows XP SP3 sows havoc, users complain
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/ operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207600950

New bill ties net neutrality to antitrust law
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080508-new-bill-ties-net-neutrality-to-antitrust-law.html

Apple to provide refunds for power adapters
http://www.latimes.com/technology/ la-fi-apple9-2008may09,1,7640101.story

Nokia aiming to reinvent itself as an “Internet company”
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080509-nokia-aiming-to-reinvent-itself-as-an-internet-company.html

Interactive Liberty City map help guide
http://grandtheftauto.ign.com/articles/features/373/ Interactive-Liberty-City-Map-Help-Guide

R2D2 DVD projector
http://www.nikkor2d2.com/

Get out and play
http://www.get-out-and-play.com/index.php

Using a record-cutter to turn old CDs into 45rpm singles
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/09/using-a-recordcutter.html

This Week in Buzz Tech Out Loud Geek Brief - EP1
http://www.archive.org/details/ ThisWeekInBuzzTechOutLoudGeekBrief-Ep1

VOICE MAIL

Javier Puerto Rico
Some research into gaming data usage.

E-MAIL

The new SecuROM

My group of friends and I have an annual vacation / LAN party where we don’t have Internet access for the week. This trend of games developers assuming we all have Internet access at all times makes it even more unlikely we will be able play their games at our get together. First it was Steam and not being able to install new games when we got there from a boxed copy. Then it was not having matching versions and giving us no way to patch without connecting to some far off server (I’m looking at you, Team Fortress 2). Now with this new SecuROM idea, we will might be able to play for the first few days but then the game disables itself because it can’t call home? Madness! Can we please just go back to the days were we could install and play an offline game while being offline.

Great show,
--Jack
Toledo, Ohio

Well actually (ISP backups)

Tom, Molly and Jason,
I’m just listening to episode 720 here while selling drugs to people I don’t know and I could swear I just heard Tom say the “ISPs have better backup systems than you do….” (32:43) What??? Do I have to remind you that my current provider, Charter, accidentally deleted e-mail accounts of thousands of subscribers earlier this year and basically said, “Whoops, we don’t have a backup. Our subscribers should take responsibility for this.” This is just one reason they are on the way out the door as my provider.
Keep up the great work, you bring sunshine to my nights.
Love the show,

--Kyle, the night pharmacist in Minnesota

Best Buy employees are liars (or just uninformed!)

I recently sold my Wii and went to Best Buy to get grab a Xbox 360. I know all about the Red Ring of Death and how Microsoft extended their warranty to 3 years because of this problem. Not to mention since they got the new Falcon chipsets those problems have been reduced. So the Bust Buy employee tried to sell me the service plan, no problem. I said no thanks and he came back at me and said Microsoft only has a 1 year warranty and it does not cover the red ring of death. WTF???? Not the mention he told me that rock band has no warranty at all!!!!!! I have no problem with employees selling service plans but don’t lie. If it was some mom buying a 360 for their 12-year-old son I’m sure see would have bought it hook line and sinker.

http://www.xbox.com/en-us/support/systemsetup/xbox360/ resources/warrantyupdate.htm

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20273

--Andrew

A detail of the Eee PC story

In episode 720 you missed one detail about the Eee PC with Linux costing more than the Eee PC with Windows. The Linux version comes with 20GB of flash storage, while the Windows version only comes with 12GB. I looked into how this would effect the price difference between the Linux and Windows versions based on the price of USB flash drives. The conclusion that the Linux version costs too much is still true, however, it is worth noting that some of the price difference (around $50) can be accounted for by this difference.

I wrote out my conclusion and my explanation for how I got to that conclusion here if you are interested:

http://www.linuxloop.com/news/2008/05/08/ analyzing-the-eee-pc-windows-linux-price-issue/

Keep up the great work!
Thanks!
--Anonymous

Comcast 250GB limit

Say you try and replace Comcast TV with watching videos on XBox 360 or Apple TV. The average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes a day (2006). Assuming HD, at 6Mbps this uses 346GB in a 28 day month, more than the cap.

--GW

EPISODE 719

Comcast mulling metered access, 250GB monthly bandwidth caps
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080507-comcast-mulling-metered-access-250gb-monthly-bandwidth-caps.html

It’s official: Sprint, ClearWire merging WiMax operations
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080507-sprint-clearwire-wimax-venture-sees-daylight.html
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9937513-7.html

AT&T: No vacation around the iPhone anniversary
http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9937632-37.html

Malware outbreak blamed on file-swapped MP3s, MPEGs
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9937818-7.html

Archbishop Desmond Tutu a fan of free music
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9937566-7.html

Europe PS3 sales ‘overtake 360′
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7386879.stm

Grand Theft Auto IV makes a killing in first week
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9937851-7.html

EA launches Steven Spielberg’s Boom Blox
http://www.news.com/8301-13772_3-9937525-52.html

Microsoft’s in-car software now in Hyundai and Kia cars
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/006898.html

A yottabyte of storage per year by 2013
http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/08/05/07/1334246.shtml

VOICE MAIL

Anon:
You totally missed what’s going on with Apple.

Rory from Ohio
Microban on keyboards?

Forums:
Ellikelli:
http://www.bustedtees.com/Wikipedia

Every way to access us:
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6035_102-0.html? forumID=97&threadID=293909

E-MAIL

Move to the U.K.

If you want to move to the U.K., Molly, you already know all our swearwords

;o)

Keith

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

FreeSat

Free Sat
1. BBC channels are not ad supported. They are TV licence supported. This ‘tax’ will cost you £135 this year. Probably more next year. If you don’t catch up with you, the BBC will write to you twice monthly until you ‘buy’ their tax or swear to them you don’t have a television (even then they’ll come out and check).

2. All other channels will carry adds like they do on Freeview (over-the-air, low-def TV).

3. BSkyB, the only other sat broadcaster, has been offering the same service for over a year, and their Website says it costs less, too. Sky also allow you to upgrade to Sky’s paid for sat TV service.

4. This is bad. ITV (broadcaster and partner in FreeSat) will use FreeSat to push its free HD services. However, they will be locked to FreeSat so cable and/or PaySat (i.e. the people who pay monthly for TV via sat) will have to buy into the FreeSat system.

If you ever need to do any U.K. fact checking, feel free to drop me an e-mail. I even know about Scotland!

$11k HDD Crusher
1. You own a large company. You need to destroy HDDs a lot because you are a bad company and need to hide the bad stuff frequently because you never know when the Feds are coming to raid your stuff. As a bad company you look at costs, hire a person. Let’s say $20K?? Buy a crushing thing and do it self-service style = £11k. I know which I’d go for…

NASA Phone vulnerability No.4
Your cell phone can track your location. Ahhh! Scary!

SF Geek Tours:
I’ll sell you geekmaps.com? I guess I could lease you sf.geekmaps.com if you are feeling poor.

That is all.

Ross (cbrown)

**********

Fast download!

Hey,

I was pleasantly surprised today when BOL downloaded at 1.2MB/sec! Usually I download all my other podcasts for the day in about 5 seconds, and then I have to wait several minutes while BOL takes its sweet time.

Great job, guys! I hope this is a permanent change

Love the show.
David

Episode 712

GTA IV will release and Guiness World Records is watching
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=187846

Grand Theft Auto receives acclaim
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7370590.stm

Is the Microhoo wedding off or just postponed?
http://www.news.com/8301-13953_3-9929720-80.html
http://blog.pmarca.com/2008/04/if-microsoft-go.html

Dell, Lenovo to offer Windows XP beyond June 30 cutoff
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080428-dell-lenovo-to-offer-windows-xp-beyond-june-30-cutoff.html
http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9929405-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Metallica may follow in footsteps of Radiohead, NIN
http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/04/27/1458228.shtml

WIPO wishes you a Happy World IP Day 2008!
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080426-wipo-wishes-you-a-happy-world-ip-day-2008.html

Average Web page size triples since 2003
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/28/1248238&from=rss

All the rage in Europe: Firefox market share climbs higher
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080427-all-the-rage-in-europe-firefox-marketshare-climbs-higher.html

Science/Nature: Europe launches sat-nav tester
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7369460.stm

Geoengineered cooling of planet would have ‘perilous effects’
http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9928831-54.html

VOICE MAIL

Paula? Sacramento
I have a theory about the ‘press attache’

Sean Georgia - ATE

E-MAIL

Hey buzz crew, I’m sure this has been gone over many times, but I’m still stuck on the indeterminate length thing. I’ve been listening for a few hundred episodes, and I’ve been trying to figure out what “Cnet’s podcast of indeterminate length” is about. OK, I guess I know what it’s about, but the title doesn’t describe anything about it, just how long it may or may not be. Don’t get me wrong, I love the podcast, but don’t you think the title should have just a little description of the content? Like “CNETs tech news podcast of indeterminate length”? Just thought I’d float that idea, and I do love the podcast!!

--Fred.
Stillwater, Minn.

Why we don’t have cell phones on airplanes

I was just flying with my wife a couple days ago and was telling her about the kerfuffle over impending cell phone usage on airplanes when I realized a potential deal-breaker. Although I’m sure it’s about as shady as buying a pirate cable box, it looks like you can buy a pocket-sized cell phone jammer for about $200. Which means it only takes one guy on the airplane who really doesn’t want to hear people squawking to veto the whole concept. And nobody would know who that guy was. I would be silently cheering him on.

Just something to think about.

--Brian
San Diego, Calif.

(Oh, and I am not unfond of the show.)

Facebook chat

It seems that we just finished talking about installing programs against a persons consent when I logged into my Facebook account and was greeted with a bar on the bottom of the screen labeled "Facebook Chat." I never consented to have this put on my profile. I don't want it and I don't need it. Its just one more messenger service to watch, which I hardy use anyway. I understand that Facebook has every right to add features to profiles because it is a free service, but the part that annoys me is that when I went to look to get rid of it, it won't allow me. In the help section it says, "How do I remove Facebook Chat or appear offline," and then only tells you how to appear offline. You would think that companies would get a hint after what happened with Apple and Safari. Love the show.
--Chris
Lakewood, Colo.