Buzz Out Loud Podcast

So the European Union and Microsoft have finally settled their differences and will begin the browser ballot with no less than 12 browsers to choose from. Is this a good thing? Also, Intel is now under the gun from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. What did it do this time? Listen to find out. And Cherrypal is selling a $99 laptop it bills as slow and sufficient. Nice.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

FTC formally charges Intel with anti-competitive behavior
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704541004574599791659334798.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/12/intel.shtm

Microsoft resolves E.U. IE case
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10416402-75.html
http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/12/microsoft-settles-with-eubrowser-balloting-arrives-in-march.ars
http://money.ca.msn.com/investing/news/business-news/article.aspx?cp-documentid=23035069

Steve Jobs’ dupes blogosphere with AT&T protest hoax
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/16/operation_chokehold/

AT&T: Net neutrality OK if we can cut priority access deals
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/12/att-offers-net-neutrality-compromise.ars

New report offers grim assessment of plug-in hybrids
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/12/new-report-offers-grim-assessment-of-plugin-hybrids.ars

Facebook testing tool to push updates onto Twitter
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9142324/Facebook_testing_tool_to_push_updates_onto_Twitter

McDonald’s to offer free Wi-Fi Internet access
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/184807/mcdonalds_to_offer_free_wifi_internet_access.html

Fidelity fires four employees for playing fantasy football
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/12/16/fidelity-fires-four-employees-for-playing-fantasy-football/

Cherrypal's $99 Laptop: Small! Slow! Sufficient!
http://technologizer.com/2009/12/15/cherrypals-99-laptop-small-slow-sufficient/

LED traffic lights are great — except they’ll kill you
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/12/15/national/a133205S26.DTL&tsp=1

Best of 2009 clips show
This year’s Best of 2009 episode is going to be entirely listener submitted. To be a part of this listener-created experience just clip out your favorite moments from any episode published in 2009. Export your clip as an MP3 of at least 128kbp. E-mail the clip to buzz@cnet.com. Subject: Best of 2009 – Episode ####. Deadline for submissions is Friday, Dec. 18, 2009. Please hurry! And with enough people pitching in two-to-three clips, we should end up with an awesome clips show.

VOICE MAIL
Dylan has a question about Paramount Clips

E-MAIL
Hey BuzzCrew-

So a fun story is making waves in Britain:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8415750.stm

Basically the internet masses are “Raging against the Machine” known as X-Factor and trying to get a 1992 single from Rage Agaunst the machine as #1 christmas song over the new release from the XFactor champion.

Here’s the kicker…it’s working!

Helping it, is that you can get the single for 29 pence! (~ 47¢).
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001I4NZP4?ie=UTF8&ref_=sr_1_1&qid=1260881836&sr=1-1&linkCode=shr&camp=3194&creative=21330&tag=tomdavsblo-21

There’s even a facebook group with over 800K members:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2228594104

Gotta love the ‘X’-mas spirit!

Cheers & Ho! Ho! Ho! from Oxford!
Tom Merritt the Doppelganger

**********

Hello Buzz Crew,

I have just listened to a recent episode in which you talked about the
proposed Internet censorship in Australia and I have to say the proposal
is far worse than what is commonly reported in the media. Wikileaks
disclosed the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s blacklist
of prohibited websites a few months ago. It turns out that the list
contains perfectly legal websites including that of a political group
http://www.somebodythinkofthechildren.com/acma-blacklist-leaked-contains-legal-websites/

Despite this controversy I am shamed to say that my Government went
ahead with it’s planned trial of Internet filtering. However after the
trial ended Stephen Conroy refused to release the official report. We
can only speculate as to why, but he did however provide information and
consultation to just one political party, The Australian Christian Lobby
which has been lobbying very hard in support of the censorship proposal.
No doubt they have allot of agendas they would like to see filled by the
new regime. As a strong supporter of free-speech I find this deeply
worrying. Once a filter is in place every morally bankrupt organization
and individual will be able to apply pressure to have anything they
personally don’t like, blocked.
http://greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/conroy-must-explain-why-christian-lobby-gets-net-filtering-trial-update-greens

Thanks & keep up the good work.
~Dan
Perth, Australia

**********

Jason H., Jason H., and Jason H.,

In episode 1126 you talked about Chrome versus Firefox. I have to stay that I would completely switch over to Chrome, it loads faster, is a smoother GUI, and loads pages faster, except that Firefox dowloads things faster. Out here we have a bandwidth shortage, and I end up surfing with Chrome and then copying the URL to Firefox to download things. It’s frustrating. If Chrome/Google get better download performance then I’ll be won over.
Nathaniel Miller on deployment in Afghanistan. Love the show.
V/R

**********

Hey Buzz Crew,

I don't know if any of you have been paying attention, but with all of the discussion of Verizon and AT&T's 3G coverage, it seems that T-Mobile's progress has been overlooked. T-Mobile is currently adding 3G coverage at a rate of one new city every 1.5 days, with a goal of having 3G available to two-thirds of the US population by the end of 2009. They are also deploying everywhere at 7.2 Mbps, putting them at the top in terms of 3G speed. They also plan to have broad access to HSPA+ (21 Mbps) by mid-2010.

Right now they certainly don't have the largest 3G network, but they sure are bringing their own online very quickly.

List of Cities added recently:
http://forums.t-mobile.com/t5/Coverage/3G-Launches/td-p/236602

Network Expansion Information:
http://forums.t-mobile.com/t5/Coverage/3G-Expansion-amp-HSPA/td-p/254526

-Doug the Software Developer

Microsoft cancels its family licensing program and Molly decides it needs a lesson in economics. Stop focusing on dimes, Microsoft! We also plea for some common sense in the case of the woman jailed for recording some of the new "Twilight" movie at a birthday party.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Apple buys Lala service
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/12/apple-buys-music-streamer-lala-but-whats-it-getting.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10410206-261.html
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/12/07/apples_lala_purchase_could_bring_browser_access_to_itunes_content.html

"New Moon" taping may put woman in prison
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/04/new.moon.arrest/

“So, Verizon, about those doubled early termination fees…”
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/12/so-verizon-about-those-doubled-early-termination-fees.ars

New Senate bill targets unfair early termination fees
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/12/new-senate-bill-targets-unfair-early-termination-fees.ars

Amazon in secret plan to open high street shops
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article6945922.ece

Zappos.com offers an actual world catalog
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/business/media/07zappos.html

Microsoft kills Windows family pack discount just before the holidays
http://www.dailytech.com/Microsoft+Kills+Windows+Family+Pack+Discount+Just+Before+the+Holidays/article17043.htm

Intel: Initial Larrabee graphics chip canceled
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10409715-64.html
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/blogs/bizfeed/183810/larrabee_project_a_casualty_of_intels_legal_battles.html?tk=rss_news

US agency’s balloon hunt tests Internet accuracy
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8397649.stm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34303629/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/

MIT team wins DARPA network challenge
http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/info-management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222000809

Hackers vs. phishers
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/12/07/1318225/Hackers-vs-Phishers

VOICE MAIL
Anonymous on why facebook.com shows up in search

E-MAIL
Buzz Crew:

Thank you.

I began listening to the Buzz Out Loud podcast after losing my job
in March of this year. The topics and discussions, though not directly
related to my career up to that point, were interesting and engaging.

Over the following 7 months, I faithfully listened to the podcast.

I realized early on in my search for new employment that the field
of industry with which I was familiar would not offer any meaningful
opportunites. Though my resume provided no technical experience
basis for doing so, I expanded my search to include many high-tech
companies unrelated to my area of expertise.

During a recent interview with one of these companies, I found
myself responding fluidly and confidently to technical questions that
the experience on my resume indicated I should not necessarily have
known the answers to.

Introspection after that interview brought me to the conclusion that,
by virtue of my daily dosages of Buzz, I had at my disposal a new set
of knowledge tools with which to rebuild my stalled career.

That interview, by the way, led to the position I currently enjoy with
a great company.

Thank you for the education. May the universe grant me some day
the opportunity to repay you all for the parts you played in helping
me get back on my professional feet.

Gratefully,

Jim in San Jose

**********

I have to be say I don’t understand google’s problem with printer drivers. Linux has CUPS (the Common Unix Printing System) which has support for tons of printers. No drivers to install or anything. I believe it is based off of and/or the same as the printer set up in Mac OS X. I use linux almost exclusively (except for gaming) and setting up my network HP printer is amazingly easy. Why wouldn’t google use this open source tool? It’s like saying we are making a linux distro without access to the file system or you know custom skinning…. Oh wait they’re doing that too.
Love the show
Sam in Seattle

**********

Hi, Buzz folks,

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, in the midst of the Browser Wars between Microsoft and Netscape, the people of the planet Netscape offered a reward to online companies, like hosting and web design companies who provided a link to the Netscape browser downoad (which carried a service fee of a few dollars.

It was Netscapes policy to pay thos referral commissions, no matter how small, even when the postage on the check exceeded the amount of the payment. See the attached.
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/3041/netscape1.jpg
Tim T.

Turns out Dell says it never deleted complaints from its forums about throttled processors, and it is working hard to fix the issues with updated BIOS. Donald suggests that the folks who claimed they were deleted by Dell probably lost a lot of street cred. We also speculate on the meaning of the Comcast acquisition of NBC Universal. Will "Heroes" become more Comcastic?

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Comcast gets NBC from G.E. in deal that reshapes TV
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/business/media/04nbc.html
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/12/how-the-fcc-might-stop-the-comcastnbc-merger.ars

Google and Twitter hook up on nine million sites
http://mashable.com/2009/12/02/google-friend-connect-twitter/

Microsoft launches Streetside Maps on Bing
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/microsoft_news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222000449

Intel shows off 48-core chip
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8392392.stm
http://news.cnet.com/2300-1001_3-10001951.html
http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/02/intel-crams-48-cores-onto-stamp-sized-processor-wants-to-do-wha/

Intel sees rush to Netbook app store
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10407840-64.html

FCC preparing transition to VoIP telephone network
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/12/03/1318218/FCC-Preparing-Transition-To-VoIP-Telephone-Network
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/12/fcc-plans-for-death-of-circuit-switched-phone-networks.ars

Texting and Twitter make kids BETTER writers, not worse
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8392653.stm

Dell on laptops and throttling
http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/direct2dell/archive/2009/12/02/dell-on-laptops-and-throttling.aspx

FCC approves radar that sees through walls
http://www.commlawblog.com/2009/12/articles/unlicensed-operations-and-emer/fcc-lets-radar-company-see-through-walls/index.html
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/12/03/0247228/FCC-Lets-Radar-Company-See-Through-Walls

Man controls cybernetic hand with thoughts
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10408139-1.html

VOICE MAIL
Shalin on journalism

iYaz on Psystar

E-MAIL
According to this article , Verizon’s map of AT&T coverage is not actually correct; The real map is -smaller-! Seems verizon’s actually showing a bigger map than AT&T actually cover because it included their 3rd party towers, that AT&T don’t own, just pay to use as and when they need it.

So what, you might well ask; phone still works there – funny, but not that big a deal.

Well it appears (See same article) AT&T may decide to cut off your service if you use too much data in those areas, as these third party towers cost them more. So the map of coverage is realy a map of ‘mostly coverage, unless you’re in specific, unmentioned areas where the coverage is limited.

Makes me feel happy to be in the UK where the iPhone is available via O2, Orange and soon (6 months I think) Vodafone will also offer it.

Who hot elves? (it’s an anagram )

- Hennell

**********

Hey Buzz crew –
I was reading about Talkback – the open source text-to-speech screen reader designed for the droid. As I’m sure you’re aware the iPhone 3G S has voiceover capabilities hence making it mostly accessible to visually impaired/blind users but I can’t find a damn thing on Talkback! With all the talk of Droid becoming a stronghold (?) in the smart phone market and Jason’s undying love of his own bot I wondered if anyone had gotten better news than this link on its accessibility features.
Also as a side note I had to respond to the Kindle talk recently regarding it taking over the world and being accessible by design. Note that even though it may provide some text-to-speech capabilities most books (and publishers) have disabled this feature out of fear of audiobooks loosing sales *and* the menus and toolbars do not have speech output making them inaccessible to navigate for those with print/visual disabilities.
Love you though, love the show!
JB

**********

Hey Buzz crew, I was listening to episode #1117 and your discussion
about non-standard printer drivers and I think the reason why they are
universally terrible is that HP, Canon etc. want to be able to sell
you more ink cartridges. Normally when the proprietary software says
the ink has run out, there is still actually plenty of ink left. They
just want to be able to continue to sell as many ink cartridges as
possible. I think this is why Microsoft never was able to get them to
adopt a universal standard and Google is going to have a very
difficult time trying to do the same.

Love the show,
Pete in San Jose

New Netbook chips promise to increase battery life, which sends Molly into a tizzy about battery life. But battery life does not keep pace with chip law, as Rafe states so well. Also the phone ad wars heat...er...lukewarm up, with some arguably limp responses from Apple. And Opera cooperates with China, sort of.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

New Apple ads to Verizon: Can Droid do this?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10403954-94.html

Google pacts with TiVo for TV ad data
http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSTRE5AN2C020091124

Major Intel chip upgrade coming to new Netbooks
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10403768-64.html

Google places ad explaining offensive image
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10403931-265.html

Opera ‘censors’ Chinese content
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8376555.stm

More Android users get Google Maps navigation
http://www.pcworld.com/article/182941/more_android_users_get_google_maps_navigation.html

Recession pushes more workers to steal data
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/11/23/1927248/Recession-Pushes-More-Workers-To-Steal-Data

Wikipedia volunteers jumping ship
http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2009/11/24/wikipedia-volunteers-jumping-ship/

Cern’s Large Hadron Collider makes first collisions
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8375486.stm

Intelsat launches hardware for Internet routing from space
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/11/24/1334203/Intelsat-Launches-Hardware-For-Internet-Routing-From-Space

VOICE MAIL
Nick from Anchorage on why cutting off the Net might violate 1st Amendment

E-MAIL
After listening to your rant about aol. fail, I thought to myself that they just got it backwards. Maybe the ad agency just didn’t understand when they told them to put the . infront of the a and instead “edited/corrected” it to put it at the end.

The brilliant move would have been to make it .aol and then file for a new TLD (top level domain) which I believe will be coming online in 2010.

That would have been a home run, everything aol could have been .aol, so it could be engadget.aol, images.aol, email.aol etc.

So I’m just going to chock it up to advertising ignorance.

TechRavingMad

**********

You mean to tell me getting hype on unreleased demos is hurting “aol.”? Not only are there people talking about it and trying to understand it; but aol is getting free beta testing for a new logo. Success! I look forward to typing in random crap after aol. to get a crazy page, like how users type in messages to google’s search to pull up funny search phrases or use mystery google for fun. I only hope for aol.dinosaur.com to pull up some sort of epic dinosaur themed aol page.

Plus, AOL is so easier to say than America Online. (think syllables out of your mouth then think of the major leaders for tech {Google, Apple, Sony, Microsoft}) – ccarline

**********

BOL & Co,

Thank the heavens for the institutional memory that is the internet. As soon as you y’all (in ep 1112) started bringing up Vlingo, I sez to myself:

“Hey, I downloaded Vlingo way back when and I swear I heard about it on…BOL.”

And, my self sez, “yep”:

http://buzzoutloud.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_864

Craemmir
Washington DC

**********

I was hoping you could give a shout out to a webathon for the child's play charity. Its a comedy group out of Vancouver playing Desert Bus the most boring game ever made. They have a website at http://desertbus.org they’ve been going for 3 days as of my writing that gives them a total of 9 points in the game. (it takes at least 8 hours for 1 point.) The more money they raise the longer they will play (currently 121 hours) It’s for a good cause and with your help we can keep them playing even longer.

I'm very pleased that LegalTorrents.com has come along to prove that I'm not crazy when I say there are plenty of legal reasons to use torrents. And they even have a torrent of Bible 2.0. Probably with new commandments from the MPAA. We also chat about AMD and Intel making nice, and how long that might last. And Microsoft tries to patent sudo. Yes, they said, "Sudo grant me a patent," I'm sure.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

AMD and Intel settle on antitrust and IP disputes
http://channel.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=21135

HP acquires 3com
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2009/091111xa.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10395645-260.html

Microsoft exec: Mac OS inspired Windows 7
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10395980-71.html

How we really designed the look and feel of Windows 7
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/11/11/how-we-really-designed-the-look-and-feel-of-windows-7.aspx

MPAA shuts down entire town’s muni WiFi over a single download
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/12/mpaa-shuts-down-enti.html

Microsoft Patents Sudo’s Behavior
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/11/11/2055226

Xbox console ban is ‘permanent’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8356621.stm

Twitter issues mulligan on new ‘retweet’ feature
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10395812-2.html

Google SafeSearch now lets parents lock settings
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10395112-238.html

LegalTorrents Launches Copyright-Compliant Tracker
http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/11/11/2026244/LegalTorrents-Launches-Copyright-Compliant-Tracker

Facebook status update saves man from jail
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10395597-71.html

VOICEMAIL
Casey in LA has a abet for us on Project Natal

Skyler in Bakersfield on SIP

EMAIL
But here it goes: I told you so!

http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.hacknroll.com%2F2009%2F11%2F12%2Fa-verdade-sobre-o-apagao%2F&sl=pt&tl=en&history_state0=

The link is a translation of an article written by a brazilian guy who managed to hack into the ONS (national electric system operator) by spying on their robots.txt file and using SQL injection technique. He claims it wasn’t him who took down the power grid.

Now, excuse me, I gotta go find what I need to do in order to immigrate to Canada.

Love the show – Rafa

**********

Hi buzz-crew.

Regarding the EU cookie law. How do Local Shared Objects
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Shared_Object) fit in to the
equation?
Will LSOs have to be approved by the user as well? If not, then all
sites will just store all data in LSOs instead and those are even
harder to get rid of.

To delete LSOs you have to go to the right folder on your computer and
delete the files manually or you have to go to Adobe’s control
panel-site and delete them there. On the control panel-site you can
also choose if sites should be able to store data on your computer or
not, BUT if you block storage some sites will not work (ustream is one
example).

If you’re using Firefox there is an extension called BetterPrivacy
which gives you better control over LSOs.

Lllloooooooooove the show.

Mauritz, a concerned EU-citizen.

**********

Buzz Crew,

Isn't anyone a little worried about what Google is doing with all this information they are collecting? Maybe they are developing all these free products just to gather as much information as they can?

Example:

I am at work, get a Gmail from my boss saying I need to finish a report (and we use Google Docs of course because it's free). My wife calls my Google Voice number and says we need toothpaste. I leave work to go to the gym, and decide to watch a popular YouTube video while on the bike. A 15 second Crest commercial happens to pop up, but I skip it. I usually take the long way back to work (of course Latitude knows this).

Then my Droid tells me, "You better pick up some Crest on the way back to work and take the shorter route since you will pass a drugstore. And you better hurry since you are only half done with the report!"

And of course due to some error all this ends up searchable on Google.

Love the show,

Heath
Honolulu, HI

**********

Hi BOL folks,
The reference to the 5gb limit on data is in the fine print from the PDA/Smartphone email plan (which I have for my Droid).
It says:

The Data Plans and Features MAY NOT be used for any other purpose. Examples of prohibited uses include, without limitation, the following: (i) continuous uploading, downloading or streaming of audio or video programming or games; (ii) server devices or host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing; or (iii) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections. This means, by way of example only, that checking email, surfing the Internet, downloading legally acquired songs, and/or visiting corporate intranets is permitted, but downloading movies using P2P file sharing services and/or redirecting television signals for viewing on laptops is prohibited. A person engaged in prohibited uses, continuously for one hour, could typically use 100 to 200 MBs, or, if engaged in prohibited uses for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, could use more than 5 GBs in a month.

For individual use only and not for resale. We reserve the right to protect our network from harm, which may impact legitimate data flows. We reserve the right to limit throughput or amount of data transferred, and to deny or terminate service, without notice, to anyone we believe is using an Data Plan or Feature in any manner prohibited above or whose usage adversely impacts our network or service levels. Anyone using more than 5 GB per line in a given month is presumed to be using the service in a manner prohibited above, and we reserve the right to immediately terminate the service of any such person without notice. We also reserve the right to terminate service upon expiration of Customer Agreement term.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=planFirst&action=viewPlanList&sortOption=priceSort&typeId=3&subTypeId=49&catId=448

Hope this helps.

Lee B
Droid owner in Atlanta

A new law in Europe protects all citizens from the evils of cookies. Instead of relying on people to operate their own browsers, Europe now requires all Web sites to notify users that they will set cookies. That certainly sounds annoying. Come on over to our freedom-loving U.S. sites, y'all! We also check in on Motorola Droid sales and find out that the Milestone kicks the Droid in the butt. And Google has a holiday present for you. And it's free!

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Motorola probably sold 100,000 Droids in first days
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a4IZD2kI6dh8

Smartphones beat recession, Nokia still on top
http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/11/smartphones-beat-recession-nokia-still-on-top.ars

Microsoft pulls Windows 7 download tool
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10394191-56.html

Google to acquire Gizmo5, swing at Skype with VoIP-enabled Google Voice?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/09/google-to-acquire-gizmo5-swing-at-skype-with-voip-enabled-googl/

Google to offer free Wi-fi in approximately 50 airports for holiday season only
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/20091110_free_airport_wifi_holiday.html

Yahoo to put Wi-Fi in Times Square
http://www.appscout.com/2009/11/yahoo_brings_free_wi-fi_to_tim.php

Intel introduces a digital book reader that reads aloud to the blind
http://venturebeat.com/2009/11/09/intel-introduces-a-digital-book-reader-for-the-blind/

Hundreds of Facebook groups hacked
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10394058-2.html

Consent will be required for cookies in Europe
http://www.out-law.com/default.aspx?page=10510

Mac OS X 10.6.2 delivers more than three dozen fixes, but crashes Atom-based Netbooks
http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=221601027

Blockbuster to rent movies on SD cards, but why?
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/chris-dannen/techwatch/blockbuster-rent-movies-sd-cards-why

VOICE MAIL
Rafa from Brazil on blackouts in Brazil
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/brazil_blackout/

Thomas in Ohio about selling free software

E-MAIL
Long time first time. I started listening when Molly was out having her baby, and I haven’t missed one episode since.

I moved back to China three months ago, and at least in Beijing, the podcast is not blocked right now. When I visited home in 2008, all cnet podcasts were blocked, but it’s no longer the case this year.

I try to get around the great firewall very sparingly, only when it’s absolutely necessary, so I know pretty well among the podcasts I subscribe to, which are blocked and which are not. As mentioned on the show, Radio Lab is blocked. So is This American Life. So is Savage Lovecast by Dan Savage. But sorry guys, BOL is not, not even after the WOW incidence.

LOVE THE SHOW

alex
(no, my name is not alex)

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Hey BOLers..

This is Vijay from India.. Long time BOL listener.. you guys rock..

We have been talking about Motorola DROID for long now.. but not much about its GSM/UMTS brother the MILESTONE. Now that MILESTONE has been announced in some European countries, I was waiting for it to launch in India too. I guess it will be coming soon. Initially, I was thinking that only the Radio is different from the DROID. But apparently not… Here are some of the differences

The following features are available in Milestone and not in Droid

MultiTouch in Gallery and Browser (Droid only has double tap)
Geotaging in the Gallery photos.
MotoNav (Offline turn by turn navigation maps) This does not require internet connection (say if you are in some rural areas or in San Fransisco if you are on AT&T 3G ) where as Google Navigation requires connection to internet. Google Nav is also available on the Milestone.. best of both worlds !!
Phone Portal – Very cool thing where a webserver runs on the phone !!! The phone can be accessed just like a website from any desktop browser for the gallery, bookmarks etc just like accessing any cloud service.. pretty cool
MTP Sync Media Transport Protocol sync for easy syncing of media along with meta data etc.
Mysign – Gesture based short cuts where certain functions (say calling a specific contact, or turning on wifi etc) can be made into shortcuts based on certain gestures..

I did not get a link with these differences but basically got this information from the motodev podcast.. at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/motodev/2009/11/04/Developing-Android-Applications-for-DROID-and-Mile

LOVE THE SHOW..

Vijay

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Hi Buzz Crew,

It’s not a given that Murdoch has to loose against Google, because it’s
not a given everybody would use Google to search for news. Imagine most of
the news coporations would opt out of Googles Index and would be searchable
on Bing, because Bing would share their revenue. People would move to Bing
- at least for search for news. Newspapers would get more revenues.
Everybody would be happy, except for Google, which would at some point be
forced to pay newspapers to add them to its index.

Otherwise, love the show!

Regards,
Matthias from Germany

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Tom Richmond, the star caricaturist of MAD Magazine’s new generation had a project he worked on rejected by Apple. It was an app that had caricatures of all the members of Congress with their contact information. It was rejected because in ” in Apple's reasonable judgement may be found objectionable, for example, materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic, or defamatory."
I got the information from Mark Evanier’s site http://www.newsfromme.com (http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_11_09.html#018025)

Here’s the direct link to the story: http://www.tomrichmond.com/blog/2009/11/09/apple-rejects-my-caricature-app/

Love the show!
PS to Molly ~ Go Cats on 11/21!

Jay Huber
Bozeman, MT

The European Commission has decided that every citizen has a right to the Internet, but still made it fairly easy for the media industry to cut the Internet off. We also see that Intel is in hot water again. And we ask that perennial question, "Why can't I own a Canadian?" And Google answers.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Intel in threats and bribery suit
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8343179.stm

Google Dashboard lifts curtain on stored privacy data
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10390941-265.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/transparency-choice-and-control-now.html

EU Breaks deadlock in debate over right to Internet access
http://www.pcworld.com/article/181472/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8344174.stm

Tell the FCC to say no to Hollywood’s insane “Selectable Output Control” kill-switch
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/04/tell-the-fcc-to-say.html

Congress may require ISPs to block certain fraud sites
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10390779-38.html

Verizon offers prepaid, no-contract 3G data bundled with a USB airstick
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10391153-94.html

Man-In-the-Middle Vulnerability For SSL and TLS
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/11/05/144252/Man-In-the-Middle-Vulnerability-For-SSL-and-TLS

eBay launches online fashion magazine
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/ebay-comes-out-of-the-attic-and-starts-a-fashion-magazine/

WoW may be banned in China
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE5A32GE20091104

What does Google Suggest suggest about the state of humanity?
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/0,39029471,49304156,00.htm

VOICE MAIL
Brent from Lake Elsinore on Paypal

E-MAIL
Hello Buzztronauts

The NASA Space Elevator 2010 competition is currently ongoing at
Edwards airforce base in California. There are now only 3 teams
competing and well my university is one of those teams. There’s some
really cool tech involved with records being broken for the most power
wirelessly beamed over a distance and also just some really cool stuff
to see a robot climb 1 km vertically while being powered by a giant
laser.

The USST (University of Saskatchewan Space design Team) will get their
first run tomorrow morning at 7 AM and the competition can be viewed
at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/space-elevator

News of today’s happenings can be found here. http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/11/04/2117873.aspx

Love the Show

Scott “The Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering Student” Theede

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Hi Buzz Crew,

Listening to the commentary on episode 1099 about the ACTA treaty and the possible resulting three-strikes law, it occurred to me that perhaps what we need is a co-ordinated campaign against the lawmakers. In each country where these laws are enacted, people could make claims of copyright infringement against the legislators at both home and work. After receiving three such complaints the ISPs would have no choice but to cut off their internet connections. It would be interesting to see how quickly the laws would be repealed when those that made them became personally affected by the severe defects and opportunity for abuse in the legislation.

Love the show,
Doug

**********

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/04/latest_snow_leopard_build_resurrects_atom_compatibility.html

You guys had a pretty good go at Apple on Monday for getting rid of
Atom compatibility. Was that really warranted given that it was a
private beta release given to select developers? Anyway, now they’ve
put it back in.

I’m about 99% sure they put it back because they heard Molly’s rant.

Love the show,
scottjackson

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Hey Buzz Crew,

After watching the podcast last night I went to Google Maps and looked
up this mythic town of Argleton. I was poking around the area and
noticed something else. Just to the south of the supposed site of
Argleton is a train station. The name of this train station is the
Maghull Rail Station. It made me laugh because it reminded me of what
Natalie said about not being able to see it because we are “Muggles”.
I got a kick out of it anyway.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the show,

Aaron (Graphic artist from Garland, TX)

Leaks from the secret negotiations of the ACTA treaty allege that ISPs worldwide would be required to lose safe-harbor protections, implement three-strike antipiracy policies, and worse. We think this is outrageous. AT&T thinks Verizon is outrageous because of its commercials and so is taking Verizon to court. Also, EMI finally got around to suing BlueBeat.com for selling Beatles tracks online. But you can buy a Beatles USB stick for $280. So, you've got that going for you.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

AT&T vs. Verizon: There’s a lawyer for that
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10389960-266.html

AT&T sues Verizon over ‘there’s a map for that’ ads
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/03/atandt-sues-verizon-over-theres-a-map-for-that-ads/

T-Mobile USA says it has fixed voice, data outages
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091104-710151.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10390097-56.html

Leaked ACTA Internet provisions: Three strikes and a global DMCA
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/11/leaked-acta-internet-provisions-three-strikes-and-
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/03/secret-copyright-tre.html

EMI sues Beatles-download Web site
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8342277.stm

The Beatles catalog being released on limited-edition USB stick
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/03/the-beatles-catalog-being-released-on-limited-edition-usb-stick/

Nvidia confirms Intel chipsets won’t support USB 3.0 until 2011
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/04/nvidia-confirms-intel-chipsets-wont-support-usb-3-0-until-2011/

…So, will Nvidia go rogue with its own x86 chipset?
http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/11/nvidia-x86-cpu-rumors-resurfaceis-it-a-plausible-scenario.ars

UPDATE: Personal Droid data will cost $30
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/11/personal_droid_data_will_cost.php

Verizon looking to bump early termination fee to $350 on ‘advanced’ devices
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/04/verizon-looking-to-bump-early-termination-fee-to-350-on-advanc/

Another Verizon Droid commercial, Stealth, and it's awesome
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/11/03/another-verizon-droid-commercial-stealth-and-its-awesome/

PayPal unveils plans to open payment service
http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=221600183

In test, Windows 7 vulnerable to 8 out of 10 viruses
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/11/03/2123258/In-Test-Windows-7-Vulnerable-To-8-Out-of-10-Viruses

E-MAIL
Hi BOL crew!
I love the show but it can be hard to sit and listen to somebody for 5 minutes going on about a software licensing system that should be put into place, when it’s been around for 15 years or so.
It’s called Microsoft Open Licensing with Software Assurance. http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/software-assurance/default.aspx
Small and large corporations can purchase from this programme to license their applications and OS from Microsoft. They can opt in for Software Assurance which means they get any and all paid upgrades at no extra charge during the license period (Usually 3 years)
They also get support and other benefits. Media is sent out when required.
Some versions of the MS OLP allow companies to pay annually over the 3 years rather than up front if that helps their books. It does give you predictable IT expenditures.

When it comes to home users, most IT experts will agree that it’s usually best to use the OS that came with your computer and ignore major OS updates. Wait until you buy a new computer that comes with the new OS. Small updates like Snow Leopard on new computers like my March 2009 iMac make sense, especially at $30!
However, I like Tom, do not want to pay monthly or annually for my software. If it was an option it might be ok, but not the only one I hope.

I repeat, LTS!
Cheers,

Jay Rymal
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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Re: Nook v. Alex. I am not sure what trade secrets were taken from
Spring Design. Judging from the documents filed, Spring Design didn’t
even have a working prototype in the Feb 09 meeting, so the only thing
they exchanged were probably concepts. If B&N did not have a dual
screen e-book reader in the final development phase already, i.e., they
came up with it only after seeing the drawings in Feb 2009, B&N must
have one crack hardware engineering team (or ODM)/Android programmers to
get to a final product in 9 months.

Also, what’s the big deal about dual screens–Nintendo DS (hence the
name) has been around for a long time with split screen functionality.
Expanding it to a tablet size seems like an obvious expansion. Nintendo
lawyers: start your engines.

Dickson

**********

Hey Buzz crew! Bryan the Insurance IT guy here in Springfield, Missouri. I've been listening to the show for several years without writing or calling in, but I was listening to the Verizon/Exchange discussion in episode 1098 on the way to work this morning and thought I'd finally chime in with a couple of tidbits!

First, I administer Exchange and mobile devices for my office, and I can tell you there's no simple way for Verizon or any other carrier to detect and block Exchange ActiveSync traffic. ActiveSync encapsulates all device-server communications in HTTPS packets for security, so the only port that needs to be allowed for ActiveSync to work is port 443 - and you can bet all hell would break loose if any carrier tried to block port 443, as that's the port used for ALL SECURE WEBSITES! One thing they might try is to profile traffic patterns for ActiveSync and block based on that, but I'm guessing that's harder than it sounds and would get very messy, very quickly. Good luck to any carrier trying to pull THAT one off.

Second, I've now been involved in setting up half a dozen users with iPhones in my office, some on personal plans, and some on our recently-established corporate account. NONE OF US is paying the 45 bucks for "Enterprise" data service on the iPhone. For the users who set it up on their personal accounts, that didn't surprise me. I DID expect to get some pushback on the iPhone data plans for the corporate accounts, but in every case, we looked the AT&T rep in the eye and said, "Yes, it's a corporate account, but I'm only going to check personal email", and in every case, they didn't even blink. Maybe this attitude varies by region, but here in Southwest Missouri, at least, I've never heard of a case of AT&T forcing the $15 premium on iPhone users, even on business accounts. Incidentally, there's only one time we've been required to pony up the $45 for the enterprise data plan - AND IT WAS TO SUPPORT OUR LONE BLACKBERRY USER.

Maybe next time I'll call in, but I like to take serious relationships slowly. For now I'm still listening to other shows, but BOL holds a special place in my heart, and maybe one day I'll be able to commit.

Or perhaps we should call it OLPC. One laptop per criminal. The idea of letting prisoners use computers is good, but fraught with peril. Also, we start a new PSA campaign where Billy learns that e-mail can be dangerous. And that's one to grow on.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

PSP Go arrives, Sony launches 100 games
http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=105D7C9D-1A64-67EA-E402F9BD3FAEBCDC

Google Wave First Look
http://lifehacker.com/5370738/google-wave-first-look

Google Wave invites for sale on eBay
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/10/01/google-wave-invites-for-sale-on-ebay/

Nvidia’s Fermi takes direct aim at supercomputing, Intel
http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/10/nvidia-takes-direct-aim-at-intel-supercomputing-with-fermi.ars

OTOY’s Jules Urbach: Cloud computing ‘threatens’ game consoles, Blu-ray, PCs
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=3368

Google releases Android 1.6; Palm unleashes WebOS 1.2
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/10/google-releases-android-16-palm-releases-webos-12.ars

Apple and Google breaking up over iPhone maps?
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/172951/apple_and_google_breaking_up_over_iphone_maps.html
http://blogs.computerworld.com/14835/apple_purchased_mapping_company_in_july_to_replace_google

Twitter to launch user-created Follow Lists
http://mashable.com/2009/09/30/twitter-lists/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10364831-26.html

U.S. urges ‘cyber hygiene’ effort
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8279867.stm

Wireless network modded to see through walls
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/10/01/1321212/Wireless-Network-Modded-To-See-Through-Walls

Convicted hacker left in charge of prison computer system
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/09/27/conputer-meltdown-115875-21703149/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/29/inmate_hacker/

VOICE MAIL
Ian about Onlive on Uverse

Keith in Georgia wonders how ATT has enough bandwidth to make us of OnLive

E-MAIL
Hey BOL,

In episode 1072 you played RougeTess’s voicemail regarding PayPal security
using the keychain security key. I jumped on the bandwagon early, and have
had one since they were introduced.

I hate to say it, but this cool little gizmo does not provide as much
security as it seems at first glance. Sometime between when I got mine
almost two years ago and now, PayPal totally neutered the functionality by
providing a “I don’t have it with me” bypass link, where you can supply
your credit card number, checking account number, or *gasp*, answer a
traditional pre-defined security question.

Yes, it’s better than username/password alone, but it’s not as good as it
used to be or could be. And it’s definitely not true second-factor
authentication.

–Brad in Victorville

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Hey BOLers, James the field engineer from Michigan. In episode 1074
you mentioned seeing modern day tech in the new Star Trek movie. Well
I embarrassed my wife and impressed my twelve year old when I saw two
of the above Symbol M2004 hand scanners on the bridge of the
Enterprise! My son was even more impressed when I showed him one I
keep as a spare in my service truck. Now we just use them to ring up
customers at our chain of gas stations but I guess in the “future”
you’ll be able to fly a starship with them, my son can’t wait. Love
the show. James

**********

Hey Buzz Out Loud Crew,

I just wanted to send you a short message. I am a Palm Pre user, and I first started listening to your show when I downloaded a Homebrew app called drPodder. It monitors the RSS feeds for lots of podcasts and can be set to auto-download and queue up podcasts for later listening. One of the default podcasts for this application happens to be your show. This is what got me hooked on your show, and probably did the same to a number of other Palm Pre users.

Thanks for carrying news regarding the Palm Pre, I love hearing the occasional blurb about technology I use. Love the show, please keep up the good work!

Sincerely,
Darin Boots