Buzz Out Loud Podcast

Ok, but just to be clear, when I say it's time for me to get a pimp, what I MEAN is that it's time to get a PMP -- a portable media player. That is, perhaps, an iPod Touch. Anyway, you'll understand. In other news, the MPAA is trying to clamp down on your analog hole and break your DVR all at the same time and Apple's Snow Leopard is having a rough landing ... apparently because of the picture on the box.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

MPAA still pushing for output control
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/movie-studios-again-demand-hdtv-disabling-powers-from-fcc.ars

YouTube talking to studios about streaming majors like Netflix
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10337004-93.html

Vudu coming to Mitsubishi TVs
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10335687-1.html

Toshiba grits its teeth, releases Blu-ray player
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10344487-1.html

Apple ships a known vulnerable version of Flash with Snow Leopard
http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/09/02/apple-ships-vulnerable-version-flash-snow-leopard/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10344478-37.html

And reports of “spinning wheel of death” are growing
http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=219501236&subSection=Macintosh+Platform

Amazon slams Google’s book scanning
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10335976-265.html

Walkman outselling iPod in Japan
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ansrP2IonbRA

Samsung netbook to have 11 hour battery life
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10344384-1.html

Sprint announces Android HTC Hero
http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-10338820-251.html

Microsoft calling on thousands to host their own Windows 7 parties
http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2009/09/microsoft_plans_thousands_of_neighborhood_parties_for_windows_7.html

VOICEMAIL
Ben: My Palm Pre has it all

EMAIL
Hello Hot Buzz,

Maybe I’m an optimist, but the failure rate of the XBOX 360 has me hoping that the next generation XBOX console will be the most reliable console ever created. Playing it will be like eating at Jack in the Box after the E. coli outbreak.

I only hope that the ad campaign includes Bill Gates wearing a giant round mask and talking smack against the competition.

With Love,
Aaron in Vancouver/Portland

**********

Buzz crew,
I believe everything you mentioned on Wednesday’s show about what you need to make a phone into a decent in-car GPS is already available, at least for some phones. I have been using TomTom software on a Windows Mobile phone for a couple of years. It does not require live data, you can use the phone AND still navigate (with a bluetooth headset). It sounded like in your discussion you were thinking of only how the Iphone does it. Perhaps a broader look is in order. ( I sound like such a Windows Mobile fanboy, don’t I?)
Bryan
Jonesboro, Arkansas

**********

It appears that Rafe’s statement is true in general, but check out the
wording in the Vehicle Code:
http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d12/vc26708.htm

This part says “Don’t put stuff on your windshield”:

“26708. (a) (1) ( )1 A person shall not drive any motor vehicle with
any object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied
upon the windshield or side or rear windows.”

This part says “Okay, MAYBE put it on your windshield, but only if it’s
a GPS thing and only in a certain area”:

“(12) A portable Global Positioning System (GPS), which may be mounted
in a 7-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield farthest
removed from the driver or in a 5-inch square in the lower corner of the
windshield nearest to the driver, if the system is used only for
door-to-door navigation while the motor vehicle is being operated and
outside of an airbag deployment zone.”

So yeah, you can use it on your windshield if you follow those
guidelines.

Nicole (Lee)

The Microsoft Yahoo hookup finally happened and now all their friends are glad the drama's over. But they're not getting hitched. Microsoft's shelling out some dough for Yahoo to use Bing and Yahoo's going to sell the crap out of it. In other news, we will all die from automatic drones programmed to make their own decisions about who to kill.

EPISODE 1029

Yahoo, Microsoft reach search, ad deal
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10298303-56.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10298334-2.html
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-yahoo-to-keep-almost-all-revenues-for-first-three-years-with-msft-deal/
http://www.choicevalueinnovation.com/thedeal/Default.aspx
http://calacanis.com/2009/07/29/yahoo-committed-seppuku-today/

How to hijack ‘every iPhone in the world’
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/28/hackers-iphone-apple-technology-security-hackers.html

Samsung’s debut e-book reader arrives
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10296228-1.html

AT&T suffers massive mobile data outage in Northeast, Midwest
http://www.businessinsider.com/att-suffers-massive-mobile-data-outage-in-northeast-2009-7

AT&T social network
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26976

U.S. movie studios ask judge to board, scuttle Pirate Bay
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/us-movie-studios-ask-judge-to-board-scuttle-pirate-bay.ars

Pirate Bay co-founder denies MPAA allegations
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10298254-93.html

Pirate Bay sale dead in the water
http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-sale-dead-in-the-water-090728/

VoloMedia awarded the "Patent for Podcasting"
http://newteevee.com/2009/07/29/volomedia-awarded-the-patent-for-podcasting/

Barnes & Noble switches to free Wi-Fi, just the thing for your e-book reader
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/28/barnes-and-noble-switches-to-free-wifi-just-the-thing-for-your-e/

U.S. Air Force says decision-making attack drones will be here by 2047
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/28/us-air-force-says-decision-making-attack-drones-will-be-here-by/

Twilight MMO
http://www.inquisitr.com/31013/this-is-happening-twilight-mmo-announced/
http://www.twilightthevideogame.com/

Cooley needs a cigarette after a personal moment related to the wonder of band printers and the glory of dot-matrix. Who knew? We also have a good long talk about how soon physical papers will disappear and teach Rafe all about the Konami Code.

Episode 970

Murdoch: Web sites to charge for content
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/05/07/murdoch.web.content/

Analyst: AT&T likely to cut $69 iPhone service plan by $10
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10235782-94.html

AT&T, VZW are no longer immune to the recession – smartphone subs softening
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=17670

Virginia Won’t Pay Hacker Ransom Demand
http://www.dailytech.com/Virginia+Wont+Pay+Hacker+Ransom+Demand/article15069.htm

First battery-powered portable hotspot
http://www.twice.com/article/CA6657115.html

MPAA tutorial shows teachers how to snag video with a camcorder rather than ripping.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/05/mpaa-teachers-should-video-record-tv-screens-not-rip-dvds.ars

Konami Code triggers Easter egg on Facebook, too
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10236321-26.html

Voice mail
Anonymous New York hacker

Bruce
dot matrix forever

Reed
Wireless douchebaggery

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew,

Regarding episode 968, lots of people are trying to figure out why Amazon thinks they can sell a $589 Kindle. I have a theory. The Kindle DX is just a decoy.

According to Dan Ariely's book Predictably Irrational, people have a hard time determining the value of something unless they have something to compare it with. He cites the following example: Years ago, when bread makers first appeared on the scene, Willaims-Sonoma had a difficult time selling their $275 bread maker. In stead of lowering the price, they introduced a second model which was bigger and more expensive. Once they did, the original model started flying off the shelves. The bigger, more expensive model was just a decoy to drive sales.

Amazon wants to sell more Kindles, but eBook readers are still a novelty and the public doesn't really know yet what they are worth. Instead of lowering prices, Amazon has given us a second device, a decoy, to subliminally persuade us to think the original Kindle is a great buy.

Love the show!

Kyle

***********

Hello buzz crew,

I just have to laugh at how we are just never satisfied.

we have our quad cores desktop computer and after a while we feel tied
down to it. We feel the need for something portable but powerful
enough, to run all our apps, so we get a laptop. A few weeks go by and
we start to complain the desktop replacement laptop is too big and
heavy so we swap it for a lighter and more portable netbook. Then
comes the iPhone, the solution to our problems! but wait… it’s too
small for reading so we get a kindle with it’s fancy e-ink and longer
battery life. Now we complain that the kindle has no color, and its
not big enough to read our newspapers, so get a giant kindle! The Dx,
but wait, it’s too damn pricy! And doesn’t do everything I need so I we
go back to our desktop and begin the cycle again. I think I got the
answer. A portable yet lightweight “iMac” strapped to my back with 3D
glasses. When will we be satisfied? That is the true question. Oh
well, I love my tech. Keep working Microsoft, Amazon and Apple, as we
will continue to dish out our hard earned cash at the next great thing.

It’s a nerds world, love the show.

Ron
Bronx, NY

We're not talking about a team of dancing zombies; we mean a team of friends to form her Zombie Preparedness task force. Because it is Zombie Preparedness Day. We also bring it with some open-source good news for DVR builders, and the Linux folks talking tough to Microsoft.

EPISODE 944

Time Warner rationale for bandwidth caps doesn’t add up
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/get-ready-for-metered-broadband-texas.ars

Verizon promises 4G wireless for rural America
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12261_7-10209933-51.html

MPAA: Box office up, but 'sober epic' underway in home video
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/04/mpaa-box-office-up-but-sober-epic-underway-in-home-video.ars

Piracy law cuts Internet traffic
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7978853.stm

Palm opening Web OS SDK up to developers
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10209815-94.html
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12261_7-10210019-51.html

Internet Explorer mobile browser: Sleek, but weak?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10209570-2.html

New Windows Live for Windows Mobile
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/02/microsoft-releases-all-new-windows-live-client-for-windows-mobile/

Ovi to launch next month
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/04/02/nokias-ovi-to-be-launched-globally-in-a-month/

TomTom suit suggests Microsoft’s still Microsoft
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10209525-16.html

Linux wants to drop FAT file system
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/04/linux-foundation-says-its-time-to-ditch-microsofts-fat.ars

West Virginia new cyberbullying law
http://www.inquisitr.com/21133/west-virginia-introduces-anti-bullying-bill/

AT&T, Verizon looking to join e-book reader market?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/02/atandt-verizon-looking-to-join-e-book-reader-market/

Rate people 1-5 on new social site
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=7222890&page=1

Voice mail
National Zombie Preparedness Day

iPhone Voip Call

Nokia SIP call

E-mail
Hey Guys,

I made a google calendar with all the CNET Shows times on it. Please share it with the podcast audience at CNET. There is a button to add the calendar to your own Google Calendar in the bottom right of the screen. Here is the link: http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=bjM5ZGxpNTl0NTRmOHA0ZTRzbzkxNWMyZzBAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ

Also, if you know who runs watchbol.com , feel free to give them this link to put on the site or whatever.

Steve from NJ

**********

Tom,

I love the show, and while we disagree on certain subjects, I
appreciate your experience and opinions.

However, this is not the case when you are discussing Blu-ray and
Netflix. On a personal note, I can’t believe that you are holding out
on Blu-ray … it’s great. And since you don’t have a PS3 or
standalone Blu-ray player I don’t think you should be commenting (as
if you have real world daily experience) on supposedly equal
alternatives.

It all boils down to one argument I’ve heard from you more than once.
You suggested on Tuesday’s show that Netflix HD streaming is a viable
alternative to Blu-ray. First of all the quality of the Netflix
streams that are actually labelled “HD” are DVD quality at best, and
that’s being generous (I checked again last night to make sure it
hasn’t improved). Second, you know that the availability of new
releases on Netflix streaming(the area that Blu-ray shines) is
virtually non-existent.

I’ve been a Netflix customer since Jan 2000 and I love it, but their
streaming as it currently exists will never even replace my need for
physical DVD.

I feel that in this one small but important area you are doing your
listeners a disservice, particularly the ones who are on the fence and
trust your opinions as fact.

And Natali, it made me really sad to hear you read that letter from
the disgruntled listener. don’t let people get you down.

Eric from NYC

**********

My opinions above are based on using this equipment:
Panasonic Viera 1080i 37″ Plasma
Tivo Series 3 HD connected via HDMI (used for Netflix streaming)
Sony PS3 for Blu-ray via HDMI
TWCNYC 15MBPS cable/internet

On yesterday show, there was a call to arms/request for more
Linux/Unix/BSD/etc… stories. Well, I know I sent this in yesterday, but
since it might’ve fallen through the cracks of all the April Fools’
nonsense, I decided to resubmit it.

Yesterday, on Planet Ubuntu (http://planet.ubuntu.com/) the distro’s
community’s Blog feed, the Mythbuntu DVR/Media Center Team made a huge
announcement which scores a major victory for Linux users everywhere.
They have scored an arrangement/deal with both Time Warner AND Comcast (of
all companies) for them to offer support for their CableCards in the 9.04
release.

Here is a snippet of the announcement:

“Today marks a historic day in Mythbuntu development. Over the last year
we have been having discussions with several major cable companies in the
United States regarding enabling CableCARD support for all Mythbuntu
users. Late last year we reached an agreement with two of those major
companies, Time Warner & Comcast…Due to the difficulties in defining how
CableCARD support will work on Mythbuntu, it is only launching with the
ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable tuner [1]. These are the first products that
are being certified for CableCARD support on Mythbuntu, but expect others
to follow.

To start off, you will have to pick up an ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable
tuner…Next, contact your cable support specialist to schedule a time for
a technician to come and drop off a CableCARD in your home. For your
convenience, Time Warner and Comcast have allocated specialists
specifically for the expected call load…You may have heard of problems
with technicians refusing to install CableCARDs in anything that was not a
television set in the past. Per the terms of this agreement, all
contracted technicians have specific instructions to assist with
installation on Mythbuntu regardless of circumstances. If your technician
gives you a hard time, refer him to this URL.”

The full story can be found here:

http://www.mythbuntu.org/cablecard

Keep up the great work. {{Insert electronic “Love the show” here}}

Marc K. {{technomensch in the forums…rafe’s multimedia junkie}}
The South Florida Social Geek
http://meetup.com/sflsocialgeeks

**********

Hi Buzz Crew,

I wanted to let you all know that I uploaded the 3D video I shot using
the two flip camcorders at SXSW. There are two scenes, the one before
your live show and another from a panel which had Jonathan Coulton on
it. I’ve uploaded my 3D composites as well as the source videos if
anyone wants to download them (you need to be a vimeo member to
download content). Here’s the link:

http://www.vimeo.com/user482102/videos

I used stereo movie maker to create the composites:
http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/stvmkr/

It was great meeting each of you. Now that I have seen a live BOL
taping I can cross it off my “bucket list”. Now I just need to meet
Molly and Veronica.

Love the show, thanks for being so awesome towards your fans.

Nick Waters

**********

BOL Meetup Trifecta
Tonight in SF - Rev3/Tekzilla/BOL meetup at Moscone
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10152_102-0.html?threadID=336693&tag=forums06;forum-threads
Saturday, April 4th in SF - Brunch Out Loud starting at the Ferry Bldg Peets in SF @ 10:30am
Thursday April 16th in NYC with The 404 (details to follow)

In today's show, featuring co-host Dan Ackerman, we discuss the benefits of being an independent musician (Dan says it's a great time!), the increasingly furious-yet-futile fight between the MPAA and RealDVD, Delta preemptively filtering porn on planes, and Kid Rock finding a home on the Web, regardless of whether we want him there.

EPISODE 824

eBay buys Bill Me Later, lays off 1,000
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10058660-92.html

Judge temporarily halts sales of RealDVD in wake of lawsuit
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081005-judge-temporarily-halts-sale-of-realdvd-in-wake-of-lawsuit.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10058574-93.html

Ask.com, now with more answers
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10058007-2.html

“Iron Man” release brings down Paramount’s servers
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/04/2158212

Analyst: Half of ’social media campaigns’ will flop
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10058509-36.html

Delta to filter porn on planes
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10058786-94.html

Kid Rock comes to Rhapsody
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10057638-27.html

MySpace Music: 1 billion songs streamed
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10058708-36.html

Musicians band together for more control in digital age
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-musicians-band-together-for-more-control-in-digital-age/

Virtual fence could modernize the Old West
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/06/1253233

VOICE MAIL
Tami from SC: How could you forget the GameGear?

Joe in Sacramento: tip for Molly!

E-MAIL

Dear JoMoTo++,

I must begin with a confession: I am not a regular listener, but my boyfriend often tells me what you all are discussing, and yesterday I discovered something awful--something I had to tell someone--and I believe you would be most understanding of my distress. I am the proud owner of a “fat” iPod Nano and I’ve been waiting for the googleplexes of companies that make MP3 accessories to start making some for the new shape. Yesterday, I visited the Apple store and, to my dismay, saw the fourth generation Nano--back to the old shape, or a close approximation thereof. Now I’ll never get all my totally-don’t-need-them-but-so-much-guilty-fun gizmos and blinged-out cases! Am I the only one who feels this this way? Appreciators of the fat nano must unite!

I would bemoan my poor fat nano’s fate,
But Steve Jobs is impossible to move.
Alas, my cries of anguish are too late:
My cause is lost; there’s nothing left to prove.

Sincerely,
Melissa Marx

Hey Guys,
So i have noticed over the past few weeks how often Molly talks about her love for Hulu. So I decided to give it a try. I was watching one of my favorite childhood shows Married with Children when I came upon a shocking realization. The original theme song for the show had been replaced with this crappy knock off tune. At first i thought it was something just for that season or episode, but when I watched other episodes they all had the altered theme song. So I was wondering if you guys knew if TV theme songs had copyrights that could expire? Or any other alternate explanation for the altered song. Thanks

Show Love They I

Endy

Hey JaMoto,

I've been, err...conversing...with Comcast about the 250GB cap and after a few emails telling them how wrong they are to have a cap and not have any way to measure it, I got this interesting revelation from one of their customer support techs:

It's important to note our new threshold will not change our practice around excessive use. We will continue to call only the top users who consume the most data each month, which is usually well over 250GB, which is the same practice we've had in place for several years.

So, given that, it seems like they're not going to pull the plug on everyone who goes over 250GB, but only those they find to be the top (ab)users. I guess it's also important to keep in mind that this was just one support tech, probably just trying to get me off their back, but hey, it's an interesting development anyway.

Keith in Spokane.

Hi BOL,

After trying to use the Amazon music store and other DRM free stores without any luck since I reside on the other side of the pond I started thinking:

“What’s up with this ? They can’t get us DRM free music stores and decent none platform dependent streaming video services so they give us the bandwidth to pirate the whole shebang instead ?”

No seriously, I found a local alternative here in Sweden (and baltic countries) cdon.com, which since I last wisted them acutely have started with regular DRM free MP3:s instead of only the nasty WMA:s. Not everything but still, they have started!

But you can never guess what I found there, sure in WMA format but still, Kid Rocks "conceptual album" Rock N Roll Jesus, available for purchase, in single track format !! Not that I would even pirate his music but still, so much for "conceptual album".

Great show!

Sincerley
Bejron

EPISODE 775

‘Hijacked’ SF passwords made public (Thanks Russ960!)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10000342-83.html

Hammer drops at last: FCC opposes Comcast P2P throttling
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080725-hammer-drops-at-last-fcc-opposes-comcast-p2p-throttling.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121720316961088595.html

Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10000379-2.html

AT&T threatens WiMax joint venture
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10000105-94.html

MPAA planning site to offer legit movie links
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080727-mpaa-planning-site-to-offer-legit-movie-links.html

Jobs entrusts a New York Times columnist with the truth about his health, even before he tells Apple shareholders
http://venturebeat.com/2008/07/28/jobs-entrusts-nyt-columnist-with-truth-about-his-health-before-apple-shareholders/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/business/26nocera.html

FCC approves Sirius-XM satellite radio merger
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10000241-94.html

VOICE MAIL

Anonymous
RIAA's nefarious plan.

Stewart
Why iPhone dock has changed.

E-MAIL
Hey Molly,

With your dislike of the iPhone’s missing features, and being a previous Treo user. What cell phone are you using? Just curious.

Dave
Rochester, N.Y.

I had my first run-in with the law regarding the hands free law that went into effect in California on July 1. I was driving in the afternoon last Thursday to pick up my wife from work. I had both my cell phone and Bluetooth headset. I was about 2 miles from my destination when I decided to call my wife to tell her that I was getting close. I brought my right hand to my ear to initiate the call through my Bluetooth headset when I changed my mind, figuring that 2 miles is a little too far to call her and that 1.5 miles would be better. The moment that I put my hand down from my ear, a police officer pulled me over. Evidently, the shear act of placing your hand to your ear is enough evidence to pull you over for possibly breaking the hands-free law.

Thanks for the great podcast!

Alfred

I’m sorry Buzz Crew, although I appreciate the podcast for it’s entertainment and it’s source of tech news, you guys completely botched this story.

Well actually,

What you guys forgot to mention was that he was making claims without reliable evidence, which means anything he says should be completely ignored, regardless of how many initials are in his name. Notice how he says that there is a risk, but all the evidence is conveniently unpublished (aka nonexistant). This guy is an alarmist quack.

If there is evidence that cell phones cause cancer, someone would be winning a Nobel Prize, because microwaves are non-ionizing and can’t break tissue according to our excellent understanding of electromagnetic radiation.

Considering that we talking about 2 watts or less (almost always less) of microwave radiation, there would have to be a library of bullproof, peer-reviewed, controlled studies before this idea is anywhere near scientific legitimacy.

Tony

You’ve talked now a few times about Terry Childs, the network tech who kept the admin passwords to himself and allegidly “boobytraped” his network so that it would fail during a planned power outage. With Cisco network gear, you can have different configs in “running” mode and in “start-up” mode. Running mode is what the router is currently using, while start-up mode is what the router will load and run after a reboot. Even with UPS backups, we all know power fails unexpectedly. Choosing to have configurations in running mode while not in start-up mode on purpose is only for nefarious intent.

Then, to add a dollop of creepy to this guy’s story, here’s a clip from Info Week : “Childs’ troubles with the technology department started to snowball June 20 when he followed and took photographs of the agency’s new head of security after she began an audit of who had password access to the system, authorities said.” (http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=209600496)

By any standard, this guy should not be considered a “good” sysadmin.

Signed,
Michael the Intel Project Manager

I'm a physicist who has worked in two different labs specializing in low temperature solid-state physics research. In both cases we had a piece of equipment that could reach 1.9K with ease, and you can have one too! It's available from Quantum Design, a company in San Diego, starting at a little less than $100,000. You'll probably have to spend a bit more to get the necessary options added on, but I wouldn't expect it to cost more than about $150,000. In fact, in the first lab I worked in, we were able to reach 0.35K using one of their add-ons. Anyway, I thought that Buzz Town might be interested in purchasing one...for what reason I'm not sure. You can find out more at http://www.qdusa.com/products/ppms.html

Enjoy!
Nathan
Murfreesboro, Tenn. (near Nashville)

EPISODE 741

Live blog: Steve Jobs at WWDC 2008
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9960064-37.html

What’s good for Apple is better for everyone else
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/wireless/news/2008/06/iphone_smartphones

Supercomputer sets petaflop pace
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7443557.stm

MPAA wants to stop DVRs from recording some movies
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080608-mpaa-wants-to-stop-dvrs-from-recording-some-movies.html

Amazon working again, but what went wrong?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9962403-7.html

SanDisk confirms death of TakeTV and Fanfare
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9963059-1.html

Adapting Web sites to users
http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/20872/

Meet Sense Networks, the latest player in the hot ‘geo’ market
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9962810-36.html

Voice mail

Ethan
About that whole voice mail thing.

Leif East Bay
Diamond notes.

E-mail

Rating ads on CNET

Hello —
In episode 740 you discussed the “new” idea of giving feedback on ads.
HELLO? Do you not know that the CNET BOL page has already had this
feature for some time? In spite of what Tom says “you will do”, I have
given positive feedback on the ads I find unobtrusive and/or clever, as
well as ranting about annoying ads. (especially the ones where I’ve
accidentally activated a pop-up by mousing over the ad. GRRRR– I
refuse to read ads that do this!!!)

Of course I’ve done the verboten “pause podcast” to write this, so I
hope you didn’t mention this later in the show.

Icelandscg in the Azores (for one more week– then moving to Germany)

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

Just wanted to say congrats to some BOL listeners

Last week a couple of friends of mine who are Buzz Out Loud listeners
got married.

I know they’re listening so I just wanted to say congratulations to Jeff
& Cela Schiffman.
Also, for the benefit of any nerds who are reading this (Tom, Molly, and
Jason) check out the wedding ring…
http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/4976/2551835869343acf30d8bwj8.jpg
Designed by the groom it has Sapphires for the engine and a diamond in
the gun turret. It also split in two. When he proposed he gave her the
back half and said “You can have half now and the other half when we
reach Alderaan.”
Also, their wedding cake…
http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/5504/255266225048c007e233bjj5.jpg
Also designed by the groom.

This is what happens when two people meet in a 6 week long line for a
Star Wars film in Hollywood

Love the show!

JimJimBinks

EPISODE 691

The music industry's new extortion scheme
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/27/the-music-industrys-new-extortion-scheme/
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9905404-7.html

U.S. students, alumni to get legal P2P
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/28/griffin_wmg_p2p_deal/

MPAA to broadband providers: Pull the plug on pirates
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9905266-7.html

WiMAX pioneer blasts the technology, but should the finger be pointed at him and his IT department?
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=627

Amazon tightens grip on printing
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120667525724970997.html
http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004597_03272008.html

Apple’s Leopard lasts ‘30 seconds’ in hack contest
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39375171,00.htm
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/27/pwn-2-own-over-macbook-air-gets-seized-in-2-minutes-flat/

Dell offers sub-$1,000 Blu-ray laptop
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9905416-7.html

Experts uncover world's oldest recording
http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1315449/experts_uncover_worlds_oldest_recording/

Doomsday fears spark lawsuit
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/27/823924.aspx

VOICE MAIL

Gavin
Crazy evil genius wi-fi plan.

Tony Florida
Mitosis Tom, not Meiosis.

Barry
Consumer behavior.

E-MAIL

Anonymous deathbots

Hi Buzz Crew,

Um, no comment.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/28/british-group-campaigns-against-autonomous-death-bots/

Joe
AKA dOgBOi

YouTube video identification match

Hi BOL,

I uploaded a video to YouTube that I created in Final Cut Express (love my new Macbook Pro). It contains some some footage of two of my grandkids and some copyrighted material, so shortly after it uploaded I received the message below. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Sony/BMG is allowing the use of this material, especially since I sent out e-mail links to friends and family as soon as the upload completed (before receiving the notice).

Since I’m celebrating my 43rd birthday on Sunday, it would be a cool birthday present to see my e-mail in the show notes. Also, I get to lay claim to being the youngest and most tech-savvy Grandpa on BOL, beating out that 50-something listener from a few weeks ago. There’s a reason the grandkids call me Grandpa Awesome, but mostly because I taught them to say that.

Here’s the link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2Y__FD9SDI

Best wishes to all of BOL on my birthday, Grandpa Al Woodstock, Ill.

P.S. Tom and Rafe bicker a lot more like an old married couple on the Real Deal, and when Rafe is on BOL, than Tom and Molly do.

Human Wi-Fi = higher food prices

I think that if we had human Wi-Fi, we would have higher food prices.
Here’s why:

When our body needs energy, we eat food so that the sugars and nutrients can be converted into energy. If we had power-hungry Wi-Fi adapters attached to us, we would lose energy more quickly, become hungry, and eat more, increasing food prices.

But I love the idea of a cell phone Wi-Fi router!!

-Cody-

Free, legal downloadable TV

Hi Guys,

So now that we’re all big fans of Hulu, NBC seems to have taken it a step further. Actually, it looks like they’ve been doing it for a while yet you haven’t told us about this! Why?! It’s called NBC Direct. I found it here while looking for episodes of Chuck. You install a browser plug-in and download a player and then you’re supposed to be able to store shows on your hdd/ssd. I’m scared to try it because it’s in beta and they acknowledge some mildy scary known problems like “The Open Case Media Agent powering the NBC Direct service “spikes” the CPU usage and does not decrease. A partial solution was rolled out with the 11/20/2007 update (build #5.2.0.1221). A more advanced solution is being developed and will be available shortly.” Also, I’m scared of ad crap in the software and I’m too lazy to research it. Maybe you’ve mentioned this before, but I really don’t remember hearing it, and I haven’t missed more than a few episodes in the last year.

Obligatory love the show (although I do).

Luke the Pastor in Rancho Cucamonga. (I’m Luke the Pastor in Rialto when I’m at work, but now I’m home, thus the location change.)

BOL cited in scholarly book

I’m only slightly exaggerating to get your attention. Please read on!

Hey Buzz Masters,

Please keep “indeterminate length” in the title of the show. Mostly I don’t notice it, but when I do it’s the perfect BOL joke: slightly too hip for the room, but in a self-deprecating way. It’s folksy and arch at the same time, which I love. It’s also a true statement.

But most importantly, if you change the title you’ll make the bibliography in my first professional publication less funny. (I know, I know, keep reading).

An excerpt from the bibliography of the chapter on handheld computers I wrote for Library 2.0 and Beyond: Innovative Technologies and Tomorrow’s User. Available at your local library, Amazon, and other fine places.
___

Laporte, L. et al. (2006). This week in tech. [podcast]. Accessed 11/14/2006 from http://www.twit.tv/TWiT.
Lizza, R. (2006, August 20). The YouTube election. New York Times, p.1.
Merritt, T., Wood, M. & Belmont, V. (2006). Buzz out loud: CNET’s podcast of indeterminate length. Accessed 11/14/2006 from http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11455_7-6457370-1.html.
Microsoft, Nokia have work cut out to rival iPod. (2006, September 6). [Electronic version].
eWeek, n.p. Accessed 11/15/2006 from Infotrac Onefile.
Miller, R. (2005, July/August). Ebooks worm their way into the reference market. Econtent, 30-34.
Mobile phone sales grow 21% in 2005. (2006). Electronic News 52(10), 25.
___
OK, so I’m mildly proud of “Laporte, L. et al.” But you see how the Buzz entry is the only mildly interesting looking thing on the list, and absolutely the only thing with any elegance? Remove the “of indeterminate length” and I’ve gotta put [podcast] in brackets. That’s no fun.

“Indeterminate length” for the win!

Chris the College Librarian

p.s. I know the URL’s changed. It’s in print. What can I do?
p.p.s. I’m secretly hoping this will spark a fight over whether Tom should have gotten top billing.
p.p.p.s. Thanks, folks–everything sensible I wrote was inspired by you or Engadget.

EPISODE 680

AOL buys social network Bebo for $850 million
http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9893014-36.html

MPAA boss: Net neutrality would cramp our P2P snooping plans
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080313-mpaa-boss-net-neutrality-would-cramp-our-p2p-snooping-plans.html
http://opinion.latimes.com/bitplayer/ 2008/03/mpaa-clarifies.html

Report: Microsoft says no Blu-ray for Xbox 360
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9893090-7.html

Blu-ray players: Mighty pricey
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9893149-7.html
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/03/12/ lack-of-competition-sends-blu-ray-player-prices-upward/

David in Vegas: Sony (and Movie Theater owners who charge me $6 for rubbery popcorn in a theater where you can’t (send in an usher to) keep people off their cell phones), go take a long walk off a short pier (because this is a family friendly podcast).

Disney: $123 million From iTunes Since 2006
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/3/ disney_123_million_from_itunes_since_2006

EA’s Take-Two offer turns hostile
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6187712.html

Gibson: Activision’s ‘Guitar Hero’ violates patent
http://www.news.com/ Gibson-Activisions-Guitar-Hero-violates-patent/2100-1043_3-6234177.html

DirecTV takes on video-on-demand
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9893052-7.html

Microsoft finally confirms Windows 7 for 2010 launch
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/13/microsoft-finally-confirms-windows-7-for-2010-launch/

VOICE MAIL
Jason in Cincinnati
Dude, CNET hires awesome people!

Anish
Help?

E-MAIL

Cold weather iPod issue

Finally, we who reside in the chillier climes can control our iPod without having to take off our gloves or use our nose:
http://www.dotsgloves.com/

Keith Allison

HDD versus SSD

Hey Buzzards,
You guys were wondering about some of the differences between SSD and HDD, one of my PC Hardware professors was mentioning that although SSD are more durable, when/if they fail their data is permanently lost. With HDD, when the drive fails, if the data is important enough, the platters can be removed and placed in a functional HDD case.
Also, up/downside, once data has been written over on an SSD, it is permanently lost.No amount of forensics technology will be able to recover it. Many would be happy about this, police forces will certainly not be.
Thought I’d give my .1?
Elam Noor
Arden Hills, (St. Paul), MN

Brain hacks, SSD and Hulu

Hey Jamoto,

…Hulu is great but they make some weird decisions on content. So a few months ago, I wanted to check out "Chuck." They had the pilot and episodes 9-13. Well I didn't want to get hooked and be left hanging so I didn't watch. Then when Hulu moved out of beta this week I went back to see if they had updated their content. They had but not in a good way. Gone were the previous episodes. Currently you can only find episodes 3-6. Come on, if you want my eyeballs Hulu, then put up the content and quit playing musical chairs with it.

Sorry, I think I just channeled Molly on that last point. Have a great day and keep up the good work.

Scott Gottreu
Fort Worth, TX

API

You’ve probably already heard this from other listeners, but API is not “Application Platform Interface” - it’s “Application PROGRAMMING Interface”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API

— Swashbuckler

Bebo and AOL

Hi Buzz Crew,

Just some random thoughts on the Bebo/AOL deal. AOL apparently has big plans. Integration of AIM with Bebo will make for a very enticing social networking platform. What better way to leverage that then to use Yahoo’s search, Buzz, and advertising to support the new AOL Bebo. Yahoo provides a way to monetize the newly combined service, plus it would add Yahoo Messenger and Yahoo Mail to the mix.

It’s an enticing idea. AOL would be a competitor again. So would Yahoo. Whether AOL would outright acquire Yahoo or do the sort of half merger that Yahoo was discussing with News Corp. is unclear. I would expect though, that AOL would acquire Yahoo simply because they’d want control over the e-mail and IM services.

The combined AOL/Yahoo would of course, be no match for Google in search advertising, especially with the approval of the Google/Doubleclick deal. But, with Bebo in the mix, it would certainly give Facebook and Myspace a run for their money (take that News Corp.)

Joe

Free Vista

Hi JaMoTo,
Remember when Microsoft was giving out free Windows Vista? Well, I suckered up to it and installed the spyware. Well, it was exactly three months from the day yesterday. Still nothing from Microsoft. Not an e-mail or a package in the mail. Just thought I’d give you guys a heads up on that. I will let you guys know if they ever do give me any information. I wonder if they were hoping I’d forget I installed it.
Love the show!!!
Chuma from San Jose

Hack Gmail - BEWARE!!!

Hey Buzz-tastics,

A friend passed this story on to me about a program available for download called G-Archiver, which apparently allows the user to input their Gmail credentials and then the program automatically downloads all their e-mails.

Per the story at the URL below, the software was programmed in such a way that each time someone downloaded their gmails, the user’s Gmail username and password was e-mailed to the software developer. Scary!

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001072.html

Thanks for the great show,
Dave in Detroit, MI