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NOTE: There is no video for today's episode due to a technical error. That's right, you can go ahead and blame Jason for this one. Sorry. --Jason
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EPISODE 1045
Apple lead barely shrinks in customer-satisfaction survey
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2009/08/apple_lead_barely_shrinks_in_c.html?hpid=sec-tech
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10311373-92.html
Microsoft to adopt dual-platform strategy to compete with Android and iPhone, say handset makers
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090819PD210.html
Shocker: Windows 7 to sell in UK for half the US price!
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/0,39029471,49303374,00.htm
New Dell-ARM combo poised to take on Wintel Netbooks?
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/08/new-dell-arm-combo-poised-to-take-on-wintel-netbooks.ars
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10251841-64.html
New alliance aims to unite malware fight
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10313027-83.html
Study touts Internet Explorer 8 as world's most secure browser
http://www.pcworld.com/article/170316/study_touts_internet_explorer_8_as_worlds_most_secure_browser.html
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/08/microsoft-sponsors-two-nss-reports-ie8-is-the-most-secure.ars
I4i says OpenOffice does not infringe like MS Word
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/18/190227/i4i-Says-OpenOffice-Does-Not-Infringe-Like-MS-Word
Microsoft asks for stay of Word injunction
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10311065-56.html
URL Shortener tr.im To Go Community-Owned, Open Source
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/08/19/120206/URL-Shortener-trim-To-Go-Community-Owned-Open-Source
How the short URL game is rigged
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10311749-250.html
Vote for Buzz Out Loud at SXSW 2010
http://www.cnet.com/8301-19709_1-10311505-10.html
E-MAIL
The Southeastern Conference has revised and cleared up its fan policy.
http://mashable.com/2009/08/18/sec-social-media-policy/
In this interview, Charles Bloom, the SEC Associate Commissioner of Media Relations clears up what the new policy means. Basically, they dont want anyone live streaming the games from their phones, but almost everything else is ok.
http://buzzmanagerblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/official-interview-sec-hears-fans.html
GEAUX TIGERS!
John in Louisiana
**********
Hey BuzzCrew-
Rare and elusive as it is for BOL to breach my field, I do love it. In Episode 1044 you discussed fake DNA for crime scenes etc. Now you were worried that this could be 1) Easily done 2) not discovered.
Well worry not, it was slightly explained in the NY Times article and a little was scene in the original paper’s abstract. The simplistic explanation is that natural DNA is methylated, a chemical process done by the cell to prevent certain genes from activated when not needed. But any DNA created by scientists isn’t methylated. There are quick and easy tests that can be done to prove whether DNA is methylated or not. As for how “simple” this process is to replicate DNA and fake it, well--in my world, relatively, I could probably do this in a few tries and be a pro by next month. As for your common murderer/thief– not likely to have the equipment or more importantly the MONEY to do so.
This would have to be a grand conspiracy and well thought-out.
Sadly we as tax payers will now have to fork over even more for our justice system/labs to add this extra experiment onto the forensics process.
And let me also say, most genetics folks always knew this was possible- just it has now been peer reviewed & published.
Cheers from Oxford
Tom Merritt the Doppelganger, PhD (Okay I never add this, but figured it works this time)
**********
Hey BOL, it’s Oliver in Portland, Oregon.
In yesterday’s episode 1044 an emailer said he was surprised you hadn’t tested the voicemail-bypass tip. I’m writing to say I’m even more baffled that you never hit up Google for a solution. Here’s a link to a Lifehacker article from a few weeks ago. By pressing one-star-pound you guarantee instant access to the beep, regardless of the carrier. Points to you though for the conclusion that Verizon only sometimes works when pressing “one” – the article confirms this!
Sorry to drag this story into a third show, but I think your listeners would appreciate a more solid conclusion. Love listening to you guy!
Cheers.
Oliver
http://lifehacker.com/5326511/bypass-cellphone-voicemail-instructions-with-one-star-pound
**********
Hey guys,
Just wanted to let you know that in Louisiana Tyson Foods is building a bio-diesel Plant that
turns chicken fat into high quality bio-diesel and jet fuel. So Molly is right when she said “we grow a lot of chickens, maybe we should start shoving them into gas tanks”.
http://domesticfuel.com/2009/05/04/louisiana-chicken-fat-biodiesel-plant-nears-completion/
Also, on the topic of the SECs ban on the use of Twitter and other social media during games. Les Miles, the head coach of LSU, which is an SEC school, said he will
be twittering before, during and after games. I guess the rule passed by the SEC was meant to discourage coaches and players as well as fans.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2009-04-28-twitter-cover_N.htm
Thanks for the time.
LOVE THE SHOW
Paul from Baton Rogue, LA
--Molly
Listen now: Download today's podcast
 |
EPISODE 675 |
Apple SDK announcement
http://www.news.com/one-more-thing/
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/06/live-from-apples-iphone-press-conference/
The Vista Capable mess: Intel pushes, Microsoft bends
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/
20080305-the-vista-capable-debacle-intel-pushes-microsoft-bends.html
Internet Explorer 8: Crash, Restart, Crash
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Internet_Explorer_8_Crash_Restart_Crash_14848.html
Acid3 Test unleashed, murders every current browser
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10975
Whistle-blower: Feds Have a high-speed backdoor into wireless carrier
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/whistleblower-f.html
Piracy caused by poor choice
http://torrentfreak.com/piracy-is-caused-by-poor-choice-080305/
MIPI ISP filter conflict (Thanks Luke from Melbourne!)
http://steve.blogs.exetel.com.au/index.php?/archives/79-MIPI.html
What piracy crisis? MPAA touts record box office for 2007
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/
20080305-for-movie-biz-tales-of-piracy-and-record-profits.html
Circuit City trading in HD DVD for Blu-ray players
http://gizmodo.com/363974/
circuit-city-trading-in-hd-dvd-for-blu+ray-players-says-employee
Gates dethroned as world’s richest man
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9887197-7.html
Ask.com says they don’t want to become women’s site
http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-03-06-n40.html
Microsoft to switch Yahoo bid to all cash?
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9887527-7.html
Swiss bank in Wikileaks case abruptly abandons lawsuit
http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9886855-38.html
VOICE MAIL
Someone
Analogy for packet inspection.
A. J. Alameda
Do things just keep getting more ridiculous?
Robert Edinburgh
I got a letter from Paramount.
Dear Sir or Madam,
We have received a complaint regarding an allegation of Copyright Infringement.
We were supplied an IP address of the system that was sharing the alleged copyrighted material, which we traced to your PIPEX ADSL account.
As I am sure you are aware, this breaches our Acceptable Use Policy, (http://www.pipex.net/legal/aup/ ) and many copyright laws, namely the Berne Convention.
Please reply to this email within 7 days stating that your PIPEX account will not be used for copyright infringement or any breaches of the law or the PIPEX Acceptable Use Policy.
Failure to respond or further infringements will cause your account to be temporarily suspended,and could also result in your account being terminated.
We have included the original complaint for you to view
iPod related crimes
Hello BuzzTown,
This is Rodrigo from Brazil, now in Toronto!
So the number one video on YouTube is a videoclip from the Brazilian band Cansei de Ser Sexy, also known as CSS an indie eletronic/pop band a little bit popular outside of Brazil. Even though I like the band and Veronica also mentioned this band on BOL a while ago, they are NOT that famous to be number. They are not that famous outside of Brazil and they are even less famous inside of Brazil. I can assure you that the 89 million views that video got is indeed a hack!
And regarding the crimes related to iPod, I just want to share this “funny” story. I went back to Brazil last december and I brought an iPod Touch to a friend, two weeks ago he was stopped while walking to the bus stop. A guy pointed a gun to him and said “Give me your wallet and your iPod”. My friend was not showing the iPod but he was wearing the white earphones. He said to the thief that he didn’t have a wallet and took the iPod touch out of his pocket to give to the bad guy. Here comes the “funny” on all this. They criminal stares at the iPod Touch and said, “What’s that? Where’s the iPod?”, so my friend realizes that this guy doesn’t even know what is an iPod Touch so my friend tells him “I’m sorry this is all I have”… The guy got angry but went away and didn’t steal anything from my friend.
So yes, if you are facing a stupid south american criminal you might be safe caring an iPhone or iPod Touch.
Best
Rodrigo
Memory debate
Hey Buzz Crew,
You brought up the debate about whether Google and other resources are making us “dumber” because we no longer have to remember anything.
Since when does memory equal intelligence? I could memorize every US President and recite it back to someone, and most likely that person would later say, “boy, he was really smart.” Yet, I might only know their names, which does not really make me smart, just good at memorization. A piece of paper could do this, and with more reliable accuracy. On the other hand, if I could put that information in context to tell you interesting facts about certain presidents, or make connections between presidents that others haven’t before, that would be something worthwhile.
There is a famous quote by Einstein, “Never memorize what you can look up in books.”
Apparently, the story behind this is that someone asked Einstein to recite some “well-known” scientific formula, and he couldn’t do it, and people were shocked. He explained that he saw no reason to clutter up his brain with a fact like that, when he knew exactly where to look it up when he needed it. He wanted to spend his time on more important things than memorizing facts that are easily found on paper, rather than memorizing things just to make himself seem “smart”.
Freeing up the brain from memorization creates room for creativity and other useful tasks.
I don’t think the real question is whether removing the need to memorize makes us dumber. The real question is, if we stopped forcing children to do useless memorization in school that they will never actually use, what would be left? Especially in college, we’re forced to memorize books and books worth of facts that we won’t remember even months later, only so that we can do well on tests.
Just some food for thought.
Love the show,
Steve from Nashville
Denver airport’s free Wi-Fi
Hey Tom, Molly, and Jason
I just have a quick comment on episode 674 concerning censorship in Denver Airport's free Wi-Fi.
First of all if a service is provided for free, consumers should not have the right to complain about blocking certain content. This is the same reason why ABC, CBS, Fox, and other free over-the-air channels must comply with FCC censorship laws. Paid content like HBO, Cinemax, and satellite radio are not govern by the censorship law because they are paid content. So if you wanted to have unrestricted access to the internet you should pay for it.
Second of all if you want unrestricted internet access in any free Wi-Fi hot spot, all you have to do is use VPN for which the content filter software cannot determine what to block. The only thing I see is that they can block VPN traffic entirely but I doubt that is being done.
Love the show and keep up the good work.
Maynard
from New Jersey
Analogy dispute!
Hey TMJ,
As a law student currently writing a paper on online privacy, I have to take issue with Shobee’s(sp?) analogy correction.
We protect phone communications because of the privacy interest that exists in not having our communications intercepted, not because it isn’t where crime is happening.
If we are ok with saying that piracy is happening online and monitoring is the best way to stop it, then we may have to say that it’s ok to have police walk through our homes whenever they like, cause that’s where lots of crime is happening. Or perhaps since cars are used for smuggling, the police need to randomly stop our cars and search them. Not every person is going to be committing crimes in their homes or cars but, in Showbee’s words, if you want to catch who you need to catch, this is where you are going to find them.
The internet today handles so much private activity that any suggestion of tapping our connections must be taken very seriously. Piracy, in my opinion, simply isn’t a strong enough reason to head down the very slippery slope of internet monitoring.
love the podcast,
The Anonymous Canadian Law Student.
Illegal downloads in Iceland
Howdy Buzz Folks,
Thought you might find this interesting.
Hmmm, I guess I’ll be
Nine convicted for Illegal Downloads in Iceland
http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/
?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=302026
“Alexa” in the Azores…. (formerly in Iceland)
--Tom
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
EPISODE 673 |
Sanity prevails: IE8 will default to standard-compliant mode
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/
20080303-sanity-prevails-ie8-will-default-to-standard-compliant-mode.html
http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9884688-56.html
Survey: Warnings from ISPs could slash file-swapping by 70 percent
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/
20080303-survey-warnings-from-isps-could-slash-file-swapping-by-70.html
Nokia to bring Microsoft Silverlight-powered experiences to millions of mobile users
http://www.nokia.com/A4136001?newsid=1197788
Official Google Mobile Blog: Shifting Google Gears to mobile
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2008/03/shifting-google-gears-to-mobile.html
What price, Scrabulous? Mergers, acquisitions, venture capital, hedge funds http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/ scrabulous-founders-look-to-score-big-report-says/?hp
Microsoft offers $100K to testers of Office Live workspace
http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_002570DE00740E1800257402000312F0.html
Ranking corporate America on identity theft
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/ranking-corporate-america-on-identity-theft/
Movie studios could be behind missing iTunes rentals
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/03/04/
movie-studios-could-be-behind-missing-itunes-rentals
Daylight Saving wastes energy, study says
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/
SB120406767043794825-UOLcfJA8×9Gw9ozbCz77MiLmtaE_20080327.html
Do coat hangers sound as good as Monster cables?
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/03/do-coat-hangers-soun.html
MySpace gets its own MTV show, but only in the U.K.
http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9884700-36.html
Cyber-goggles: Record and identify every object you see
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/03/2117250
VOICE MAIL
Alex Columbus
Why nobody’s got paid from Napster settlement.
Jared Omaha
How come I can’t record?
Alex? iPhone
Price cut.
Where’s Stage 6?
Hey Buzz team,
I had to catch up on the episodes from Tuesday of last week up until Monday...of today. And was extremely sad that there was absolutely no mention on the shut down of the highly beloved Stage 6. It was really a boundary pushing Web site, which actually offered hi-def uploading, free of cost when no one else did. It was awesome, and the DivX player is the best video watchy thing, hands down.
I understand, that if with the death of Netscape and HD-DVD, maybe it was just too morbid to talk about it.
Ajay from Ontario.
Mind you, I might have just missed it, and sorry if I did.
*****************************
Vista cracked by Iraqis
Hey Buzz crew
On Episode 672 of Buzz Out Loud you were talking about the “new way” of activating Windows Vista. Just to make things clear, I did pay for my copy of Windows.
I’m around a lot of Iraqi Interpreters that the Marine Corps hires to work for us, and sometimes they ask me to fix their computers. One Iraqi I met showed me how he had activated and fully updated the copy of Vista on his computer, using the same method described by the Pantheon group.
I don’t know if they managed to get an early crack from them, or somehow they have set up their own “Crack Group” out here in the Middle East. But the computer I saw was cracked about a month before the Pantheon release.
I just wanted to ask what your thoughts are on this.
Thanks for the podcast
Dusty (Cpl Parra, Manuel) in Ramadi, Iraq
*********************************
Bootable flash key makes disk encryption attacks super-simple
Hey guys, this is Adam the Grad Student from Miami. Thought this was in interesting article about encryption, easier than air canisters. (Yay, first mail sent!)
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/04/ bootable-flash-key-makes-disk-encryption-attacks-super-simple/
Adam the Grad Student
**********************************
Another U.S. government effort to unregister a domain name
Thought you might be interested in this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/us/04bar.html?hp
“Steve Marshall is an English travel agent. He lives in Spain, and he sells trips to Europeans who want to go to sunny places, including Cuba. In October, about 80 of his Web sites stopped working, thanks to the United States government.”
Now the U.S. federal government is unregistering domain names — without a judicial say so. I’m outraged. But someone else’s feeling might depend on how they feel about the embargo.
thanks,
New England Kent
**********************************
OMG I’m using WiMAX!!
Hey JAMOTO
Longtime listener first time writer
I just moved to Denmark for work and my company was very nice to rent me an apartment. I get settled in and find a regular box with an Ethernet cable coming out of it. So i plug my PC and voila, I'm on the Web. However I realize there is no other cables plugged to the box! (Except for power.) I went online and looked for the ISP that provides the box.
So the box transforms the WiMAX signal to regular old Ethernet.
I feel sooo avant-garde
Buzz out loud j’ adore
Love
Jean-Philippe
PS
The name of the company?
clearwire
http://www.clearwire.com or .dk for denmark
--Molly
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
EPISODE 669 |
Comcast hits the snooze button
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9879848-7.html
FCC may do-over Comcast Net Neutrality hearing due to presence of paid Comcastards
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/02/27/fcc-may-doover-comca.html
EU slaps Microsoft with $1.35 billion fine
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9880256-7.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7266629.stm
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080226-heavy-fine-looms-in-ongoing-microsofteu-tussle.html
Wikileaks gets legal help after domain name deletion
http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9880958-38.html
Google disaster: Comscore reports awful January
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/2/2008/2/google_disaster__comscore_reports_awful_january
Apple planning iPhone SDK event March 6
http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9880410-37.html
Cell phone directory rings alarm bells
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22902400/
Robot as good as real dog at easing lonely hours
http://www.news.com/Robot-as-good-as-real-dog-at-easing-lonely-hours/2100-1041_3-6232297.html
Wagering on when iTunes will top Wal-Mart in music sales
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9880655-7.html
If intellectual property is actual property, why isn’t it covered by a property tax? (Thanks Jonny!)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-weaver20feb20,0,1675278.story
First look at vast ‘book of life’ (Thanks Tango_fox1!)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7263134.stm
VOICE MAIL
Michael in St. Louis
Some more info on the IE8.
MC Fisticuffs Boston
Doctorates in Buzzology.
Alex in Romania
Some solutions for podcast listening.
Sorry…
Hi again, Dion the Buzz stalker. I just realized after sending my last e-mail complimenting to Jason about the show notes / iPod thing, I can sync my podcasts to the Touch before work. Idiot. ROFLOI, which looks ridiculous BTW. This whole freakin' issue of not being able to listen to Buzz at work has stressed me out more than my actual job and it was a total nonissue.
Dion the Buzz stalker
**************************
Yahoo Live
OMG you guys…SHUT UP! This is so cool! I just got the link to your Yahoo Live feed from the forums and I am looking at you guys right now! Of course, the show is delayed today so I will need to check back in a few hours but--oh man--this is kind of exciting! And it also reminds me of a question that I have wanted to ask you which is--what is the “E! Behind the Scenes” BOL story? Meaning, what does your day look like at CNET and how does the BOL podcast fit in? You guys usually record at 10 a.m. PST, right? So, are you in the office by 8, you all check the Web for the latest tech stories, then do you meet up and discuss them for a half hour or so before the show--while also viewing e-mails and listing to vm’s together as well to determine what would be most interesting and relevant to listeners? Do you have a bulleted list of things that you want to mention? Do you decide--oh Tom can lead with this, Molly can talk about that etc? Is it this formal and organized or is it more casual than that? How does it all work?
Thanks!
Fordo
**************************
Map of social popularity around the world
Hi Buzz Out Loud crew,
I found this interesting image comparing the distribution of popularity of social networks around the world:
http://digg.com/tech_news/Map_of_Social_Popularity_Around_the_World
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/infog/0,47-0@2-651865,54-999097@51-999297,0.html
Thought you might find interesting.
Love the show,
Cleber Mori
****************************
Leveraging the intelligence of the community
I thought Zack’s e-mail about gathering information from the community for the digital TV migration was great. It was an inspiration to me to leverage the intelligence of Buzz Town for such a project. As it turns out, I am also working on a new project. My project is seeking total world domination and have had a difficult time choosing among the very many options available. For instance, zombies or no zombies?
I have also setup an e-mail address too collect people’s ideas on what has and has not worked for them. Could you ask the community to send their ideas to EvilGeniusPlans@gmail.com.
Thanks for your help. It would probably be better if you did not share my name.
Chris the podcaster
*****************************
JaMoTo tweets!
Hey Buzz Crew,
I’ve been thinking about doing something like this for a while, but I’d like to thank Buzz listener 2klbofun for a small kick in the pants. They commented (http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-11455_7-9875295-10.html#comments) that JaMoTo needed a Twitter feed, so I have set it up.
http://twitter.com/JaMoTo
JaMoTo will send you an update once a day and let you know where she is. Should be considered a beta service for now. I’ll tweak it as needed.
Anyone interested in higher bandwidth updates can subscribe to receive daily project e-mail updates:
http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?form=1&project_id=270
Love the JaMoTo wikia entry!
http://buzzoutloud.wikia.com/wiki/JaMoTo
And will indignities never end!? Jamoto.com is a freakin’ link farm!
cheers,
Michael
--Molly
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
EPISODE 667 |
Hungry for burgers.
What's with the huh?
Hey, just finished your last podcast about will iTunes refund those session pass.
I don't have the same experience; but I did get a refund from Apple after NBC pulled their stuff off iTunes. I also got 2 free episodes as extra. All these are unexpected to me; since I did not ask for question them on this at all. Here is the e- mail I got.
Future episodes of "Psych" will not be available on the iTunes Store. We realize that you purchased a season pass and regret that we will not be able to deliver these episodes to you. I have issued a pro-rated refund in the amount of $13.12 for the remaining episodes. You will see this credit in three to five business days. If Store Credit was used for this purchase, you should see the credit applied to your balance immediately.Take care,
I have also granted two free video credits to your account which you can use to purchase of any two TV episodes, music videos, or short films on the iTunes Store.
Your credit balance should display in the upper-right corner of iTunes next to your account name. If it does not, please sign out and sign back in to refresh. The sign out/sign in functions are found under the Store menu of iTunes. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you for being an iTunes customer.
Sincerely,
Ray from Alameda
Hey Buzz crew,
This Roque (aka Rocky) from Guadalajara, Mexico, I have been planning in writing to you guys for some time, but finally got some time while I'm at school, in my boring class (Electronic design with integrated circuits, is not as cool as it sounds, and yeah I'm taking my degree as an Communications and electronics engineer) but anyways going to the point of the mail, I was listening to show 663 I think about the cable companies forcing customers to switch to digital, and well I can give you some information about Comcast, because I work as a Comcast account executive (yes that's right we are in Mexico) and don't hate us too much, we are not that evil, well at least in Comcast in the California market, you don't need to worry if you have Comcast, it won't make any change in the basic and standard analogue services, they will keep working at least for the next 5 years, but as you said in episode 664 there will be change, is obvious if over the air TV (free TV) is going digital why not cable?, satellite is digital, over the air TV is digital, only cable is missing... and well everything is going digital, as they tell us at school, all what we are learning will be old when I finish!
And now going to the other reason to my mail, I know you have lots of complains about Apple, but I can't help myself, let me tell you I'm in my second iPod, and yes is an iPod touch, and you know it works fine, love to have Wi-Fi in it that way I don't need to carry my laptop that much, but you know I bought I think 1 week before the damn iPod update in January, after sometime I decide OK I'll pay for the updates (I want the e-mail one) and guess what I can't! What's wrong with Apple why so much punish to people!, the truth I wanted to buy a zune, but well you know they don't sell them outside the states. so sad, and the last thing that is missing is able to download podcasts to the touch, most of the time I don't have a chance to plug it to my PC till late in the night so I'm always 1 show behind, if I could download the show while I'm school, I will be able to listen it on the way to work.
But anyways should go back to pay attention to my class or I'll be working for Comcast for a long time!
Great show keep the good work!
Rocky your Comcast account executive for today!
Tom, Molly, and Jason,
I am an intern at a senator's office and after receiving a lot of calls about the digital television transition. When these calls came in they were directed to me since I understood what I was talking about. My boss overheard me and called me into her office and after 30 min of one on one time she assigned me a project of putting together something for the senator to help his constituents with the switch. On previous shows there were a lot of calls about possible fraud from cable companies and electronics retailers, I would like to include these in my report. If you would be willing to put out the call it would be greatly appreciated, I have created a gmail account for this project but it forwards to my main account so fell free to give it out on the air. It would be a great help if you could help me out with this project, and keep up the good work because there are geeks getting into the government and we will fix the problems that need fixing but you need to keep us informed and united.
Thank you,
Zack
Hey Molly, Tom, and Jason,
I happened to be out this weekend with a few buddies who work over in Redmond. After a few (OK, a lot) of drinks I asked them how they felt about the death of HD DVD and the 360 add-on drive.
Don't worry, they all said, the Blu-ray add on will be available by June-ish. It's fully designed and ready to begin manufacture, as soon as a marketing plan is ready. According to my sources it will run somewhere in the range of $199 to $250, and will work and look exactly like the HD add-on. Probably to save costs since I'm sure they have tons of unused HD DVD shells laying around. From what I've learned in the from these guys in the past, and the quantities of booze in them, I'd give this a 80 percent chance of being accurate. Keep up the awesome work!
D in Seattle
Hey Buzz crew,
Love the show. I started a Facebook group to promote the usage of LOI over LOL. It's called "The LOI Movement". Mention it on the show. Hey, if we can buy Revver, we can destroy LOL.
P.S. Love the mullet, LOI.
Also feel free to mention my full name, just don't give out my any of my personal information listed in the signature below.
-- Thank you for your time,
Ron Landreth
First--I am a 53-year-old grandmother who has listened to your podcast for about a year. I teach language arts and have used computer and Internet technology in my classroom for years. http://www.mrswieseman.org I just wanted you to know that just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm not interested in new technology. I do love my toys:) LOI
Secondly--I purchased a song on iTunes plus just yesterday, and there was a notice that for only $2.70 I could upgrade some already purchased songs. How did Jeff get the freebies?
Lastly--love the show, keep up the good work keeping semitech savvy old- timers like me informed.
Grandma Mary
Hi Buzz crew,
So the Zune offers gaming now? Is that a firmware upgrade? If so, where is the $20 charge for it? Shouldn't Microsoft and Apple have the same accounting rules? Or is Apple just making this up to get even more money from you? Just a thought.
Oliver
Hey Buzz crew,
JaMoTo nested again on the night of the 22nd (Friday). It is the very tail end of the leatherback sea turtle nesting season in Gabon and I expected that she would leave the area after nesting again, but it appears she is still lingering. This means she will probably nest again in another 9 or 10 days. She must be a very fertile turtle!
Bonus video! I have posted some video I took of JaMoTo on the beach and a couple of previously unposted photos on my blog to share with Buzztown.
Cheers,
Michael
Just to let you know. Google already launched balloons over Sao Paulo. They said it was a advertising for Google maps (a red balloon, like their red pin point in Google maps--got it?) but I thought it was bizarre. Sine when Google needs to advertise anything on the real world?
Or they were testing their new balloon Wi-Fi technology.
Some photos on an advertising blog here (Portuguese only, sorry). And here.
Alex, from Rio.
No, not the other Alex from Rio that runs while listening to BOL. But I can try to do mountain climbing listening to BOL, does that counts?
Molly, Jason, and Thomas,
It's Rick, the "balloon scientist" and amateur radio operator from Colorado.
:-) Hey everyone as to be the xyz occupation from somewhere right?
Allow me to drop a "well actually" or two on you folks. And in no way would I expect you to know any of this stuff without doing a fair amount of research so this isn't a rag on you guys just a friendly "well actually."
Balloons. Hmmm, at last something I know something about. This just goes to show, your audience can probably address just about any issue under the sun with some level of expertise, assuming they are sufficiently interested to respond. And, this time out apparently I was motivated to do so.
This e-mail is in response to the very brief mention you made in episode 665 where at the end you discuss Google's possible acquisition of Space Data's balloon borne cell system technology. Your discussion of this issue is probably dwarfed by my wordy response. But, I'm sure you say things like smurf and get 100 page diatribes all the time. It's the nature of a large audience right? Some of us have no common sense or word governors.
I tend to write voluminous tombs about inconsequential stuff so, here is the short version:
---------------------short---------------------
I know what I'm talking about (more or less).
$50 bucks for a balloon to fly these airborne cell towers...no way! The balloon has to be around $100 and the helium to fly it around the same.
Tom's idea that we should bomb the countryside with high velocity projectiles from the sky, well...possible but not a good idea and not necessary. The parachute will solve this problem.
Molly's worry about balloons going off on their own and disobeying the laws of atmospheric physics, I don't think so. But again, it is possible under some circumstances that generally won't crop up except infrequently.
Molly's concern about the polluting nature of balloon debris all over the place. Well again, as is true of much in life, yes and no. Yes, in the short term it can be a problem for wildlife. No, in the long term, latex balloons degrade to nothing and actually are eaten by the bacteria in soil. So, we're helping the little guys and should be applauded for our supporting the underdogs.
Jason's brief thoughts about tethering balloons, no way! But, Jason pretty much gave up on that idea almost before he finished the sentence he suggested it in. Never the less, I address it below.
Now, on to the ridiculously long version. I'm a lot less snotty and there are some good links that show neat photos, videos, and interesting information so if you have a few minutes ...
Rick von Glahn
Parker, Colorado
PS. If you ever have questions in this area (like that's ever going to happen), feel free to drop me a line.
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Tom Merritt appears on
CNET TV, specializing in help and how-to and the ever popular Top 5
lists. He also co-hosts CNET's The Real Deal podcast. 
Jason Howell can
often be found producing Buzz Out Loud from the audio studios at CNET,
updating XML feeds from the comfort of his cubicle, and saying "uh-oh"
from time to time. 
