Buzz Out Loud Podcast

So we talked about a lot of serious news today including the Justin.tv suicide, the new Google wiki search, and the unauthorized access of Barack Obama's Verizon calling records. But really, Rafe's description of Net-connected Deer is what I'll remember about this episode. How about you?

EPISODE 858

19-year-old Commits Suicide on Justin.tv
http://newteevee.com/2008/11/20/19-year-old-commits-suicide-on-justintv/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10104716-93.html

SearchWiki: Make search your own
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/searchwiki-make-search-your-own.html
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_to_turn_search_into_wik.php
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081120-roll-your-own-search-results-with-googles-new-searchwiki.html

Report: Obama’s cell records improperly accessed
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10104997-83.html

Apple releases the iPhone 2.2 update. It's a big one
http://venturebeat.com/2008/11/20/apple-releases-iphone-22-update-its-a-big-one/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10105145-37.html

Astronauts ‘drop’ space tool bag
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7737250.stm

Water ice glaciers spotted on Mars
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10104926-76.html

New Internet goes to space, comes back to Earth
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10102081-2.html

DVD sales down; Blu-ray's missing its mark: What's Hollywood to do?
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-dvd-sales-down-blu-rays-missing-its-mark-whats-hollywood-to-do/

Economy takes bite out of CES
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10104399-1.html

Online quiz tests phishing knowledge
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10105144-83.html

YouTube tests out high quality, stereo surround videos
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/11/youtube-tests-o.html
How to do it:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10104549-2.html?tag=mncol

Guitar Hero fake awesome video
http://kotaku.com/5095091/yes-bike-hero-was-viral-marketing

VOICE MAIL

Chace from Maryland - On the suicide story.

Steve from Cupertino - GSM BlackBerry

E-MAIL

Loved the Star Trek TNG / Data references in yesterday’s podcast. I just had to tell you, since you seem to enjoy about your listeners jobs so much, that I am a Data Production Specialist, which means my boss calls me Dr. Soongh.

(Actually, the company I work for does some pretty cool stuff with robotics, but not quite to the android level yet–check out the website.)

Love the show,

Renee

I reply about you commenting on MMS yesterday. I am getting an iPhone around Christmas this year and I did know about the lack of MMS but you just reminded me. Many of my friends are on a no data, or pre-paid plan for their phone. Now if I have an iPhone and want to send a picture to them they are kinda stuck! How can they check e-mail from their phone to see my picture? Is there some kind of redirecting service maybe? So it is pretty bad both ways. If someone sends me an MMS I have to go to weird page thing. And if I send them a picture over e-mail they have to find an internet connection somewhere.

Also, just to let you know that I created some icons for CNET and BOL users (like me) that I have uploaded here:
http://tinyurl.com/6b4ubd

Love the show.

Jono from Australia
(or skitterrusty in the forums)

I think you may have talked about this in the past. Baen books has several complete books available on-line for free at http://www.baen.com/library/. You can read them on line, or download a copy or load it on an e-book reader. The idea here is that you can read a book by an author you do not know, and will then be happy to pay for more books by This is the same benefit game companies get from used games. I think the software companies should learn from this and stop worrying about used games. Used book stores have not put book publishers out of business, and they have been around a lot longer then video games.

LTS
Darren
Columbus Oh

Hey jamoto + probably cooley,

I am in Nashville for a company annual meeting and, while chatting at
the hotel bar, I glanced over to a very professional looking gentleman
sitting and surfing on a Netbook. I’m not completely knowledgeable on
models, but it looked like dell’s new 11 inch model.

I guess they are emerging after all!

Love the show,

Damon the radiotherapy service engineer

Rick the Tennessee country lawyer here. Regarding the 2rd life divorce on 854. Internet marital misbehavior has become an all too common ground for divorce these days so the story is not surprising.

I have to say the Microsoft financing story made me think that Microsoft will have an “associate” named Gudio who will spend his time repoing software over the Internet . “first we will start with Power Point.”"Ya don’t pay then we will take your Exchange mailboxes”" One by one.”
Love the show.

We try to get all sentimental about the demise of the Mars Phoenix lander, but Brian Cooley ruins it with his outlandish assertions about the uselessness of space. Plus, he loses his mind about the crappiness of the BlackBerry Curve. In sum, a good time is had by all.

EPISODE 850

Mars Phoenix Lander completes its mission
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10092897-52.html
http://www.urbanhonking.com/universe/2008/11/interview_marsphoenix.html
http://gizmodo.com/5082385/this-is-my-farewell-transmission-from-mars

Flat-panel TV shipments begin their decline
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10093153-1.html

FCC OKs digital workaround for DTV signal range problems
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081111-fcc-oks-digital-workaround-for-dtv-signal-range-problems.html

AVG virus scanner removes critical Windows file
http://securityandthe.net/2008/11/10/avg-virus-scanner-removes-critical-windows-file/

Cooley Rant: How did RIM fool so many for so long with BlackBerry? It’s CRAP. Gimme’ that GD iPhone!!!
http://www.pcworld.com/article/153666/apples_iphone_so_far_the_best_phone_ever.html

Mininuclear plant is safe, affordable, and purifies water (but doesn’t turn lead into gold)
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/11/mini-nuclear-plant-is-safe-affordable-and-purifies-water-but-d/

Best Buy’s holiday gift cards now double as speakers, still a lazy present
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/11/best-buys-holiday-gift-cards-now-double-as-speakers-still-a-la/

Largest Aussie ISP agrees to “ridiculous” Net-filter trial
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/11/1329222

Windows 7 benchmarks show little improvement on Vista
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/11/0110251

Texting bug hits the Google phone
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7722367.stm

VOICEMAIL
John the Bomb Builder: cheap Blu-Ray!

Anonymous Ad-hater

E-MAIL

Hey Buzz crew-

Did you know most states have a public utility service commission? A
friend of mine was told by Bellsouth that it was too expensive to fix
the phone lines to her house and she could live with bad service or
find someone else to help. She called the Georgia Public Service
Commission and filed a complaint. The GPSC called Bellsouth and said
you fix it or you get fined. So they fixed it within two weeks.
Buzz Brigade you are having problems with your utilities Google public
service commission in your state and get some help sticking up for
yourself. And yes there is one in Oregon, so yesterday’s DSL caller
should look into it!

Sheala, GA

Ps- if I pay $3400 for a graphics card, it better be showing me the
future or something!

**********

From the Consumerist.

http://consumerist.com/5082090/timeline-how-circuit-city-came-undone

According to the chart it all starts in 2007 when they fired all employee’s that knew anything so that they could replace them with a team of monkey’s at a lower cost.

In the comments it is traced further back to 2003 when they converted all commissioned sales persons to hourly to lower costs (and pay) and the “good” people left. Of and they fired 4100 people at that time.
http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/sales-selling/6363203-1.html

The best comment is “Maybe Circuit City should fire all of their executives and hire lower-paid replacements.”

LTS

Brent

**********

The average life cycle of a game console, not including the ones that were colossal failures (I’m looking at you N-Gage), is five to six years. It is way too early for any of the big three to be releasing a new console. Updated versions of the current machines not included (Wii-HD anyone?).

Love the show,

Jonah Gregory
(Certainly not e-mailing from work)

EPISODE 755

For Bill Gates, the next phase begins
http://news.cnet.com/For-Bill-Gates%2C-the-next-phase-begins/2009-1014_3-6242476.html

Sony yet to sign PSN movie download deals
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11133&Itemid=2

Survey: 8 in 10 businesses now using Macs
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/06/26/8_in_10_businesses_now_using_Macs_1.html

Google enters the PC to TV arena
http://www.last100.com/2008/06/27/google-enters-the-pc-to-tv-arena/

Microsoft to buy semantic search engine Powerset for $100M plus
http://venturebeat.com/2008/06/26/microsoft-to-buy-semantic-search-engine-powerset-for-100m-plus/

Facebook ‘gender policy’ has grammar in mind
http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9978875-2.html

WTF? North Carolina offers to replace 10,000 license plates
http://idle.slashdot.org/idle/08/06/26/1730242.shtml

Dual-display e-book concept mimics reading, makes complete sense
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/26/dual-display-e-book-concept-mimicks-reading-makes-complete-sens/

Martian soil ‘could support life’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7477310.stm

ConnectU founders score spots on U.S. Olympic rowing team
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9978934-36.html

Scientific American: 5 3D printers
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/26/scientific-american.html

VOICE MAIL

Gabriel
Take that radio.

Ben
Tip for the Awesome bar.

E-MAIL

Molly, Tom, and Jason,
OK, business uses kill switch and turns off my cousin’s phone and he misses the phone call that says they have a heart for him.

Love the show,
--Kimberly

Hiya Buzz Crew,

Maybe it’s just me, but I often end up typing .ocm rather than .com when entering URLs into my browser. I can’t wait until someone actually sets up the .ocm tld and typo-squats the entire .com domain at once. Thanks, ICANN!

--Dan
Houston, Texas

The debate between us (the users) and institutions such as the RIAA, cell phone providers, software makers (ah, might as well add government surveillance to that list) is the struggle between freedom and control. They want us to behave a certain way--but we don't. So instead of listening and adapting their product or service to how we want to use it and what value place on something, they enact rules and barriers.

The dispute between users and such institutions on the use of technology is our generation's battlefield. Technology has exposed the fundamental differences in how we choose to live our lives, what ideas are supreme, and the tyranny we must fight. Throughout history, societies based on control do not survive. The restrictions on our freedom for a hypothetical good have put the U.S. on the path of becoming Rome.

Thank you for speaking out with outrage. Please urge your listeners to act.

--Kim
Annapolis, Md.

EPISODE 736

Mars lander’s robotic arm makes contact
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9956964-7.html

U.S. town tells Street View to push off
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/02/north_oaks_street_view/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9956753-7.html

Motley Crue single does better on Rock Band
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/30/184204

Radiohead to Prince: Put “Creep” back on YouTube
http://www.musicradar.com/news/ guitars/radiohead-to-prince-put-creep-back-on-youtube-157573
http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/blog- radiohead-vs-prince-157937

Gartner’s Top 10 technologies list
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-9956573-16.html

Self-destructing DVDs make a comeback
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/007040.html

Canadian group charges that Facebook violates privacy laws
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/ id;1185625472;fp;16;fpid;1

Best Buy offers up free electronics reycling in 117 stores
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/02/best-buy-offers-up-free-electronics-reycling-in-117-stores/

Adobe Acrobat takes big online leap
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9956334-7.html
http://mashable.com/2008/06/01/adobe-acrobat/
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/adobe_launches_online_office_suite.php

I like Plurk better than Twitter, but should I even bother?
http://mashable.com/2008/06/02/plurk-better-than-twitter/

VOICE MAIL

Shalin
Intriguing new idea for cable charging.

Jeff from Jacksonville
Why are they called …

Wayne from Michigan
It’s obvious why Apple stopped selling old iPhones.

E-MAIL

BOL at WWDC?

Is BOL planning a WWDC-related event next week? As a dedicated BOL listener, I’m flying into SF to attend WWDC and hoped to participate in a BOL meet-up.

Thanks and love the show,
Dean

**Yes! Thursday, June 12! Details to follow**

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

Mini laptops

Hi, I thought Molly might want to know that not all mini laptops have the small keyboard that the Asus EEE-PC has. The newly announced MSI Wind mini laptop actually has a full-size keyboard while maintaining a size that is only slightly larger than the EEE-PC.

I believe the HP/Compaq 2133 mini note also has a larger keyboard than the EEE, as well as the new Dell mini laptop.

As a side note, I think you guys are very wrong on the mini laptop craze that is going on. I really see small non-optical drive flash hard drive Linux OS machines as perfect for the “school” market. Have you ever tried to take notes on a desk in a typical college lecture hall?? The size is perfect, the flash hard drive gives them durability (something that’s important for college), and Linux gives them almost a free pass in the malware department. As companies experiment with designs, it looks like they are finding a happy medium on the keyboard size.

Matt from Maine

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

Firefox 3? Delicious!

Hey Tom, Jason, and Molly,
Kyle from Chicago here. On either your Thursday or Friday show, Molly was saying that she hasn’t upgraded to Firefox 3 rc1 because the Delicious add-on wasn’t made for it. Turns out, there is a beta that Yahoo has released for rc1. I’ve installed it on my machine, and it works exactly like the old one. (robot voice) Love the show.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ delicious-firefox-extension/message/2512

Kyle Crumrine

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

Twitter clone

I have been working on a Twitter clone since Molly issued her challenge last week. It’s nothing special, but if you want to check it out, http://www.ONE4T.com. (pronounced one-four-tee) It runs on PHP and PostgreSQL. While I don’t personally know how to scale the site, there are solutions out there, and I’m someone in Buzz Town would be willing to help scale to site if it outgrows its current incarnation. Again, it’s a work in progress and I’d love some feedback.

Dan the computer forensic technologist

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

Indiana Jones sound blockouts

Hey, it's Brad, and I just had to say two things about that Indiana Jones and The Crystal Skull movie and how Paramount is taking out random bits of sound. First, when I went to see it and noticed the random sound cuts, I asked for my money back and got it (in the theatres defense, it was the midnight premiere on Wednesday the 21, so they might have not been informed about this sound policy). What I find funny about this is that they are trying to eliminate piracy, yet me and my four friends saw it for free. Secondly, If a person recording the film (pirate) sees the movie twice, couldn’t they edit the film so the sound that is missing from one can be made up from the other. Since they said that each film will have a different segment of sound cut out, if the pirates sees it twice, they could just edit in the second of sound they're missing, and no one would know where it was pirated. Just had to ridicule this retarded policy. I —- the podcast (fill in the blank with your preference of word choice). Bye

Bradley

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

Idea for anti-copy movies

Hey guys, I’m not a inventor or light specialist, but I was staring at my paycheck today and thought about the "void if copied" idea in movies. Why not infuse all screens in movie theaters with little infra-LEDs inside the screen. They are invisible to the eye but cameras pick them up, ruining the movie. I’m sure special cameras or special filters would block it out, but “hopefully” it will stop most of the copiers and they will stop messing with our movies! Love da show!

Micheal

EPISODE 732

Why Friday audio sucked

What we just learned about Windows 7
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-9952067-56.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-9951638-56.html

First pictures from Mars Phoenix lander
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/26/1231236

YouTube law fight ‘threatens net’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7420955.stm

Facebook heading for the open (source) road?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9952311-36.html

Borders opens online store; won't 'out-Amazon' former partner
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/ 419-borders-opens-online-store-admits-it-wont-out-amazon-former-partner/

Amusement park bans PDAs and smartphones
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/25/1726257
http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/BAaf/~3/299169317/ 20080527-theme-park-pda-ban-says-time-and-a-place-for-everything.html

Ready-made Apple TV hack should help non-geeks play DivX (Thanks, boxtech)
http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/05/27/ ready-made-apple-tv-hack-should-help-non-geeks-play-divx/

Brazilian beetles hold key to faster computers (Thanks, rafacst)
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/05/ photonic_beetle

VOICE MAIL

Good use for geolocation

Paul from Denver
Why the Orange Box might not sell in stores.

E-MAIL

Royalties for games

Hey Buzzcrew,

I’m an actor and have actor friends that get royalties. ( I’m graduating from RADA this July.) They receive money for DVDs sold, broadcasts, and bits of their work used for promotion out of contract.

Is this a precedent? I think so, because games companies can record exactly how many units are sold (as with DVD), and so would be able to pay him 5 cents per copy (or something).

Paris Arrowsmith the actor
London, U.K.

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

GTA voice royalties

Dear Buzz crew,
Just in regards to episode 730 where you talked about the main voice actor for GTA 4 not getting royalties per unit sold, I don’t see where he is entitled to any of the 600 million dollars made from game sales. It is not like TV writers or music artists. They write the script or the song. They don’t get paid $20 an hour while they write. It is their intellectual property, the lyrics, the script, they receive royalties for, not their voice.

The actor was paid approx. $100,000 for the hours' work he did, and now is no longer working so gets paid nothing more. Tough, find another job and work for the money.

Love the show,
Dane Lewis

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

ChaCha (Thanks, Molly)

Hi all,
I want to thank Molly for getting me my summer job. You mentioned ChaCha human powered search on the show a few weks ago. I thought i would check it out for some extra summer cash. It only pays 20 cents an answer, but I was just going to sit in front of my computer anyway. Might as well make some money.

I got to tell you, its odd, though. Most of the questions are just random. Like “what should I do tonight?” or “should i marry mr.X?” Literally, just random questions that I can answer with my own opinion. Maybe 25 percent are normal/fact-based questions like “why is the sky blue?” or “what's the current score of a game?” or “what are the movie times for movie x at my local theater?”

So not to advertise, but listeners, you have to try it. Ask anything and we will come up with some kind of answer. Or join us as a guide for a cool, very easy summer job.

Love the show,

Thurman Jamison
Brooklyn, New York

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

Hell, Michigan

Hello Tom, Molly, and Jason,

I was listening to Episode 731 today as I was driving between Dexter, Michigan and Pinckney, Michigan, when Tom mentioned casually that “there is a Hell, Michigan.” I was only about two miles from Hell, so I took a little detour over to Hell and snapped a few pictures for Buzztown.

You can see the pictures on my Web gallery at

http://gallery.mac.com/mwaldyke#100034

As you can see, it’s basically a little tourist trap, though a good dinner can be had at the Dam Site Inn. It’s also a good place to mail your tax returns–they cancel the stamp with a large red stamp proclaiming “Taxes from Hell!” Across the street from the buildings it’s very green this time of year, and not very hellish.

Love the show.

Mike (the chemist) from Michigan

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

Google and HIPAA

Molly, Tom, and Jason,

OK, I listened with interest about HIPAA not covering Google's Medical Record's system. Believe it or not, this isn't unusual. I am a medical software developer and an EMT, so I have a pretty good understanding of HIPAA from both angles.

Here is the deal: HIPAA specifies something called a covered entity. These are doctors, hospitals, labs, EMTs and paramedics and the like, as well as insurance companies. Not everyone who deals with your healthcare information is a covered entity. My company (again we write medical software) is not a covered entity, but we must have something called a Business Agreement with any covered entity that is going to give us Protected Health Information (or use our software). Believe it or not, many of the doctors that you see when you're sick use a third-party company that handles billing and insurance submissions, and I don't believe they are covered entities in and of themselves, but they do have business agreements with the doctor's offices they bill for. That means that while we and they are not specifically covered by HIPAA, this business agreement requires that we act like we are. I am not sure if Google has such agreements in place (I imagine they would if they are getting information directly from a hospital or doctor's office), but I don't know for sure.

Now, if you as a person are providing your medical data to Google for storage, HIPAA doesn't apply, as it basically only covers healthcare providers and payors (insurance companies). So if they don't have a privacy policy as stringent as HIPAA and with the financial penalties for failure to follow their policy, my advice is don't offer up your information.

Just some food for thought.

Thanks and "Love the show."

Branden
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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

Why cell phones in public places piss us off

Buzz crew,

Reference show #729

Here is the abstract (not going to pay for the full article) about why a cell phone conversation (or any one-sided conversation) seems more annoying than it is actually. Basically you cannot stop yourself from listening, but the fact that you cannot hear the other side is what annoys you. The fact that the conversation is mostly banal crap is controlled for in the experiment.

Love the show!

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~ content=a713820212~db=all~order=page
Abstract
Mobile (cell) phone conversations are commonly perceived as annoying when conducted in a public space. An experiment is described that demonstrates one factor contributing to this phenomenon: hearing only one side of a conversation makes it more noticeable and intrusive. Two actors repeatedly staged the same conversation under three conditions: cell phone; normal, co-present both audible, and co-present only one audible. After the staged conversation, which took place on a train, a third person obtained verbal ratings from members of the travelling public. As in a previous experiment published in this journal, the cell phone conversation was rated as more noticeable and intrusive than the normal co-present both audible conversation. Critically, a new experimental condition, co-present one-audible, in which both actors were present but only one side of the conversation was heard, produced ratings equivalent to the cell phone condition. This ‘need-to-listen’ effect is discussed with regard to implications for design and theories of language use.

Brent Quick

NOTE: The audio for today's episode was lost because of a technical glitch in the studio control room. As a result, the audio for this podcast was pulled from our live-stream camera. Don't expect anything mindblowingly awesome. This episode is for the true, hardcore BOL fan. Be warned!

EPISODE 731

iPhone shortage hits NYC
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9950713-1.html
http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/22/ iphone-line-forms-at-apples-flagship-for-absolutely-no-reason/

NASA Phoenix mission to mars: An out-of-this-world content management challenge
http://www.cio.com/article/print/365763

Delving into Google Health’s privacy concerns
http://science.slashdot.org/science/08/05/23/0520223.shtml

Microsoft embraces ‘Bring Your Own Laptop’ model
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-9950662-56.html

Linking to movies leads to $4 million in fines
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080523-linking-to-movies-leads-to-4-million-in-fines.html

OZ 3G iPhone to be fastest in the world
http://www.channelnews.com.au/Portable_Devices/ Music_Download_Sites/U2E5C8A3

GameStop to stop Zune sales
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/newsanalysis/ hardware/10418052.html

Photos: Itty-bitty minigun still a lethal weapon
http://news.cnet.com/2300-7348_3-6233303.html

‘Tunnel’ links New York to London
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7415911.stm
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Telectroscope_ Invention_Links_New_York_To_London_17983.html

Funeral for DRM in Cambridge, Mass., this Saturday
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/22/ funeral-for-drm-in-c.html

Smart and funny use of Google Adwords
http://royal.pingdom.com/?p=298

VOICE MAIL

Roy Honolulu
About GoogleSites

Mike Sonoma
The survey about $1,000 PCs.

E-MAIL

Patent terms and other minutiae

Hey guys, how are things? At work during the podcast so I can’t listen live…oh well…

Anyway, terms of various IP rights

Patents: 20 years from the date of filing (pretty much the same around the world, with some exceptions, like the Middle East where some countries use the Islamic calendar)

Trademarks: Infinitely renewable, provided you show continuous use and always enforce your rights (If you don’t you lost the trademark; think elevator).

Copyrights: Life of the author plus some ungodly number of years (I think it’s 50, it might be 75, but in reality, whenever Steamboat Willy expires, it is whatever Disney thinks is appropriate).

Trade secrets: Forever, provided you keep it secret. Think Coca Cola.

Great show, keep it up. My day is not complete unless I hear your voices. And I get a good Molly-rant at least once a week. Provided she doesn’t rant against patents, then not so much love.

Cheers,
Bob “The Patent Lawyer”

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

Totally unofficial Twitter contest

OK here is probably your first entry:
http://www.blurbem.com/

This is what I wrote in one night so it is still a work in progress but it has basic microblogging and RSS features. Hopefully I’ll have the search done by the BOL podcast today. Anyway it is not much to look at yet but it solves the scalability problem. How, one may ask? I used Google App Engine so it is pretty much infinitely scalable.
Unfortunately for now, since Google App Engine is in an alpha stage, my account will be limited, so that may limit the site if you guys advertise it to the world for me If that happens, then I’m sure they’d give me more CPU time if Molly had a super scalable rant.

Anyways have fun with it! And if you have any suggestions, bugs, or feature requests, be sure to log them at:
http://bugs.blurbem.com/

If people like the service, I definitely plan on making it better quick; such as making it prettier and doing stuff like SMS updates. And sorry up front for the ads, but code monkey has to make some money for bananas.

Happy blurbing!
Paul Bailey

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

I still love standard-def TV!

Hey Buzz crew,

I finally received my Government DTV voucher in the mail. The first thing I did was run out to Radio Shack and buy the Digital Stream Digital to Analog Converter. I got it home let it run its channel scan, then in seconds I went from two over-the-air channels to six.

What amazed me even more was that I had been used to watching the same content on my parents’ cable system. Their system yielded a somewhat over compressed, pixelated image. I thought “well I guess that’s what I have to look forward to”. I was completely wrong, everything is crystal clear. Apparently (and I should have known) that cable companies will downgrade content quality to accommodate bandwidth requirements.

I’ve considered going to Craiglist and buying someone’s outdated 46-inch SD TV to replace my 20-inch for maybe $150 then calling it a day. I’m also considering buying an outside multidirectional antenna to pull in the Central Texas and Oklahoma stations. Owning an HDTV is great, but if you can’t afford it why worry? My box allows for letter boxed 16:9 or the standard 4:3 images. This may not allow me to count Conan O’Brien’s eyebrow hair strands, but it will let me see the entire HD field. A lot of syndicated content is and probably will continue to remain in SD for quite some time. I’ve seen actual HD content. It look’s great, but I can still sleep at night not having it for now.

Love the show

-Thomas from Texas

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

Netflix streaming

Tom, Molly, Jason,
I’ve been listening for a few hundred episodes, but this is my first e-mail. In Episode 730 you mentioned that on a media center box the only way to view “instant” movies is in the IE browser with a keyboard and mouse. Well actually their are three Media Center plug-ins that add the capability to the “10 foot” interface. My favorite (My Netflix) uses the IE plug-in but does so in the background so there is no problem doing it with just a remote control.

Love the show.

Mike (Navy Officer in Virginia)

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

Tom’s a pervert

I don’t know if you planned it this way, but the title of Episode 730 forced me to sit in my car at work in the parking lot to wait to see why Tom is a pervert. Every story that came up had me listening intently for some reason for his perversion (like statements about “Oregon”). Putting it at the very end was quite a sly trick to keep your listeners focused, but passers-by probably thought it strange that I was just sitting there in my car.

Maybe you should copyright this format.

Dr. Rob

http://distractible.org.
PS: I am over 36, too. Dang, my cover is blown.

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

What the hell?!

I got a non-tech-related “What the Hell” subject, but What the Hell, I guess having a bitchfest (b***hfest?) about ancient stuff might stir up some more viewers.

I hate oh so much that there are so many different standards for mechanical pencils. I have two of theses in my hands, and they are completely “incompatible”: different lead sizes, AND different ERASER SIZES! Now, I understand lead, it’s for the picky people who need their marks to be oh so thin or oh so thick, but ERASERS? Seriously, the erasers are different widths, so if one pencil loses its eraser, I cant just swap them. This seems like a minor problem, but it’s worth killing people over.

Thanks,

Niko

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

Ta la

Dear Tom, Molly, and Jason

Ta la is thank you directed at a person, and la can be used instead of the word mate, we do have a lot of unique phrases that everybody else in the world simply don't get.
For Instance "laughin" and "sound" are terms for the word good or great.
Simon was on the ball then he dropped it with my name.
If I was to talk in full flow Scouse most people would get lost except my fellow Scouse Buzz Out Loudians.
Thus ends the Scouse 101 lesson.
I'm only 30 so I'm not of pervert age yet, which is nice.

Gully (Not Skully)
Liverpool
Uk

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

Voice actors getting paid

Hey there Molly, Tom, and Jason,

As for the actor in GTA IV who did not get paid residual income, the developers, the actual programmers don’t get paid residual income either. Only the big boys at the top are the ones getting residual income. Prior to this guy getting paid, I think the developers, who are actual employees of Rockstar, should get their residuals first, as they do produce the lion’s share of the effort that goes into the game.

Love the show.
Joseph from Atlanta

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

Indeterminate length determined

Hello Buzzers,

As a numbers nerd, the “Indeterminate Length” of your podcast has always struck me as something that needed some determining. I analyzed episodes 523 through 722 and can happily report that your podcast is 38 ±10.6 minutes long (to ~95 percent accuracy).

I posted my work and scripts on the BOL Wiki under the Topic “Indeterminate Length Explored” if anyone wants to improve or extend my work.

Thanks, and keep up the good work!

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

Brian Trapp
Pougheepsie, N.Y.