Rafe wonders what could possibly go wrong with Comcast monitoring its users to protect them from malware. In the process, Rafe makes a few comments that have us wondering whether he'll return home to any Internet service at all. Barnes and Noble is rumored to be rolling out an Android e-book reader, while Steve Ballmer claims that the PC is the best e-book reader.
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EPISODE 1081
B&N e-book reader reportedly in the works
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10371468-93.html
PCs are best for e-reading, Microsoft’s Ballmer says
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUSTRE5974OZ20091008
Snow Leopard bug threatens user data, according to reports
http://www.9to5mac.com/snow_leopards_eat_users
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10356505-263.html
Report: AT&T waits 17 months to break even with iPhones
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10371785-37.html
DRAM study turns assumptions about errors upside down
http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/10/dram-study-turns-assumptions-about-errors-upside-down.ars
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-10370026-264.html
New ways to try and buy Microsoft Office 2010
http://blogs.technet.com/office2010/archive/2009/10/07/new-ways-to-try-and-buy-microsoft-office-2010.aspx
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10371817-56.html
Comcast’s war on infected PCs (or all customers)
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/10/08/2022211/Comcasts-War-On-Infected-PCs-Or-All-Customers
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10370996-245.html
Comcast set to launch ‘HomePoint’
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-Set-To-Launch-HomePoint-104907
Pressure-sensitive keyboard? Let the fun begin
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10371215-1.html
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/10/08/2152239/Contest-Winners-Show-Potential-For-Pressure-Sensitive-Keyboard
Penny-size nuclear batteries developed
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/10/09/1243245/Penny-Sized-Nuclear-Batteries-Developed
VOICE MAIL
Tommy in Kingston: The password book
E-MAIL
Moon 1, NASA 0:
So, I get up at O-Dark-Hundred to watch the greatest space collision since Shoemaker-Levy 9.
5-4-3-2-1 Impact! … Impact?
Watching the stunned NASA commentators, one of whom says “I Don’t know what we just saw.”…
PRICELESS!
Rob from Sedona
**********
Hi Buzzfolk,
I beg to differ with the slow Windows 7 boot times story you reported on in Episode 1080. I have run a script (on the RTM 32-bit version) that measures the time, from shutdown to usable desktop, multiple times and consistently get a time of 54 seconds, which does jive with the times your lab got in their testing, but not what Lolo Technologies achieved in theirs.
I think the bigger story here is why is Lolo getting slower times?
I’m not saying it’s because they sell PC tune-up software and may have a conflict of interest, I’m just sayin`…..
Thanks! Love the show.
Satchmo
Seriously, I love you. <3
Listen now: Download today's podcast
| EPISODE 860 |
Cooley debriefs:
- Just drove in in the new 370Z with SynchroMatch transmission.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10102550-48.html
- From iPhone to Bold: how it's going, why I did it.
- Promo: EOH today discussing car tech seen at the L.A. Auto Show (open now)
Amazon Kindle 2 Slated For "Early Q1″
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/25/amazon-kindle-2-slated-for-early-q1/
Flurry of online video stuff:
- Blockbuster launches a box
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10107437-1.html
- YouTube goes wide screen
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10107536-93.html
- TiVo goes mobile for everyone
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10107464-1.html
The Guild Coming to Xbox Live Marketplace
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/11/the-guild-comin.html
Teacher in porn pop-up case dodges jail but loses creds
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081124-teacher-in-porn-popup-case-dodges-jail-loses-creds.html
Senate: When analog TV goes dark, leave a light on
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081124-senate-when-analog-tv-goes-dark-leave-a-light-on.html
Web and mobile increasing TV viewership
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Research_25/TV_s_new_best_friends_Web_and_mobile.asp
New study crowns Google’s Chrome king of speed
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10107591-16.html
Nanotech clothing fabric ‘never gets wet’
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16126-nanotech-clothing-fabric-never-gets-wet.html
Voice mail
“Hey:” Star Trek reminiscences
Bob the patent lawyer: “close enough for nuclear war”
Jamoto,
On Buzz-Out-Loud #859 Daniel in Hell e-mailed about the EULA for the iPhone which restricted the use of the phone for, “the development design manufacture or production of various kinds of weapons”. I believe that this is due to the fact that it contains a GPS unit, which could at least theoretically be used for a targeting or timing system. I would guess that this would be a standard EULA feature of other GPS devices, but maybe just the iPhone since it can run apps and would be easier to configure for the task. I guess the option of using the phone to record and replay a Molly rant is still an unrestricted pleasure. Love the show, keep up the good work.
Thomas the Professional Nuclear Engineer
“It ain’t rocket science - its Nuclear Engineering”
**********
Orbital Speed and Buzz Out Loud
http://blog.dotphys.net/2008/11/orbital-speed-and-buzz-out-loud/
Rhett Allain
**********
Emmanuel
What’s Up Buzz Crew!
Who better to help with Obama with his FCC Transition than a Level 70 Shaman! Last week President Elect Obama appointed Kevin Werbach as a Co-Chair to the transition team. Level 70 ain’t nothing to sneeze at. I’m also sure this is why Obama wants a laptop in the Oval… I mean with all that down time, I’m sure Werbach will have Obama hooked on World of Warcrack in no time!
http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/11/20/obamas-fcc-transition-co-chair-is-a-wow-player/
**********
What’s this I hear? You need another host for Friday? I’m not doing anything over Thanksgiving - flights home from Vegas to Portland for both Thanksgiving are too expensive, (in these troubled times,
*drink*) but I can fly to SFO for cheap! $150 on Virgin America round-trip! You can pay me back later.
I’ve even written the intro in advance:
(Camera 1) Merritt: “Coming up on CNET Live: it’s that time of year again, time for 10 STRAIGHT hours of CNET Live’s Holiday Help Desk, when we ease the pains of your holiday tech shopping. Lots of reviews, lots of questions, lots of answers!”
(Camera 2) Cooley: “Plus, I’ll teach you how to roast a turkey with the Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries from a new Ford Escape hybrid! And Cars! Cars! CARS!”
(Camera 3) Me: “And I made a cape from my CNET sweatshirt! CNET Live starts now! EXCELSIOR!”
(I unfurl my cape and fly stage-left Al Gore-style. Animated exclamation points dancing on screen. Play intro sequence.)
Perfect opportunity for my Al Gore impression. You can have that for free. Unfortunately I’m not very patient with verbose callers, comfortable in front of cameras, or altogether functional before noon, but that also means I’m totally nerdcore, so feel free to give me a call. Like Cooley said, nobody’s gonna be watching this anyway, right? (Just let me know before Wednesday, because the price doubles on Thursday.)
LTS,
-Andrew
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.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
| 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
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)
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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. 
