Buzz Out Loud Podcast

Rafe Needleman and I get in a fight over Windows 7's loose activation policy. Brian Tong suggests we hug it out. Rafe and I seem to prefer stabbing it out. We also take Flickr to task for censoring images and wonder why the Internet addiction center is so expensive.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Windows 7 runs free without activation for 120 days with simple command
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/21/windows-7-runs-free-without-activation-for-120-days-with-simple/

Yahoo deletes anti-Obama image from Flickr
http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-deletes-anti-obama-image-from-flickr-2009-8

Twitter to roll out commercial accounts this year
http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/08/20/twitter-to-roll-out-commercial-accounts-this-year-co-founder-stone-says/

Facebook launches a Twitter app
http://mashable.com/2009/08/20/facebook-twitter-app/

WordPress gets own URL shortener
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10314587-250.html
Vb.ly – “sex positive url shortener”
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10313617-250.html

Coalition to challenge Google Books settlement
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10314586-93.html

Microsoft retail stores are hiring
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/08/microsoft-retail-stores-are-hiring.ars

First American Internet Addiction Treatment Center
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/08/20/1833202/First-American-Internet-Addiction-Treatment-Center

ACP, one of the oldest open source apps
http://slashdot.org/story/09/08/21/1121202/ACP-One-of-the-Oldest-Open-Source-Apps

DARPA 3D reasoning engine to identify urban threats
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10314619-42.html

Vote for Buzz Out Loud at SXSW 2010
http://www.cnet.com/8301-19709_1-10311505-10.html

Voice mail
Anonymous on how easy it is to install a program in Linux

Patrick in New Hampshire does a word count

E-mail
Hey Buzz Crew!

I was thinking (dangerous, I know), the other day you guys were
talking about URL-Shortening on twitter and how you can’t just allow
links to go on forever because then people would go around that by
putting all the stuff they need in to an http://blahblahblah

So what if…

You had endless links but the actual link text you see is just
“link” ?! Crazy right? That way all links become 4 characters! Yes
yes, there’ll be security issues, but it won’t be worse than bit.ly
already is I suppose

For you html gurus out there, I guess it would look something like:

Here’s the tweet, and here’s the link and the rest of the tweet

TADA, problem solved. No more apocalypse from url shorteners dying XD.
not from twitter at least

Cheers,
Qiming

(Pronounced Ki-Ming)

Love the show

**********

All the URL shortening talk and twitter’s 140 character limit nonsense
got me thinking: Do you think the wireless carriers will ever
officially ditch the 160 limit on SMS, or do they make too much on
suckers like me with VZW Blackberries that don’t use EMS and make you
send multiple messages if you exceed 160 characters?

Wishfully thinking,

Luke the Pastor

**********

Hey Buzz Crew i just wanted to throw my hat into the ring about the
slim. Only the older PS3 Models feature Backwards compatibility. The
current models (80gm, 160gb) DO NOT feature the ability to play PS2
Games. Only the launch Models (60gb and 20gb) have the ability.

~Paul

Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra drops by to chat with us about the technology policies of the current U.S. administration. We ask him our own questions as well as some from the audience. Get Chopra's takes on Broadband, health care, Net neutrality, education, and more.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

The following is a rundown of the topics covered in this comprehensive interview and the questions asked by the hosts as well as some questions submitted by fans of Buzz Out Loud. Thanks for your participation, everyone!

ROLE OF FEDERAL CTO
Tom: What is the role of the Associate Director for Technology of Science and Technology Policy and how does it differ from the CIO, FCC, etc…
“As Chief Technology Officer, Chopra’s job will be to promote technological innovation to help the country meet its goals, such as job creation, reducing health care costs, and protecting the homeland. Together with Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, their jobs are to make the government more effective, efficient, and transparent.” –Obama

BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE
Molly: Do you believe that every American has the right to high-speed Internet access? Should this become a utility that is regulated by the government, with infrastructure and expansion required in the same way as common carrier lines?

Tom: What is the plan to lift the U.S. higher in the rankings for broadband infrastructure and access?

HEALTH CARE
Karl Robstad, MD (’Dr. Karl’): You have previously mentioned health IT as one of your top priorities. As a doctor, the effective rolling out of a cohesive EMR system is something we have all been keeping an eye on ,as the utter lack of cohesion even within hospitals is readily apparent. To that effect, do you plan on supporting the distribution of a single EMR system, country-wide? If so, would you recommend the current VA LIS system or would you support a private effort such as Google’s? Would such integration be mandatory or voluntary? If mandated, what kind of timeline seems feasible? Would a national EMR system give patients full, unfettered access to their medical records, or would there still be an element of professional privilege available?
Thank you for this opportunity.

NET NEUTRALITY
kenwiesener: While I understand that the FCC is currently investigating wireless open access (RM-11361) and handset exclusivity (RM-11497) and that it may not be appropriate to comment on those investigations, my question to Mr. Chopra is how does the Obama administration view Net Neutrality with regard to the mobile product and service space in general and do you believe that it is the role of government agencies such as the FCC, FTC, etc. to regulate mobile application stores like the App Store to ensure equal footing for developers and to promote consumer choice? Thank you for your response!

EDUCATION
Natali: What is the real picture in terms of public education and technology? Do most public schools have technology that will prepare them for the workforce? What are some of the ways that the government is trying to bridge the digital divide in underclassed areas?

SOCIAL NETWORKING AND CYBERSECURITY
cyberman375: What is the Administration's guidance on balancing the emerging capabilities of social networking, and the security constraints? Some issues seem to be easy, such as banning the use of peer-to-peer file sharing on government computers. Others, such as restricting the use of Twitter, would remove what is becoming an important tool for policy makers to communicate directly to people. Given that using Twitter, Facebook and puts some security and operational readiness concerns into non-government hands, how seriously can the Government afford to move services into depending on social networking as a major form of communication? –

OPEN SOURCE
KevinDupuy: With the huge deficit, why doesn’t the Fed Gov switch to proven open source tech, like SUSE or Red Hat instead of Windows?

ONLINE VOTING
Natali: Will we ever have online voting that is both reliable and secure? (also asked on blog by cybergorilla)

U.S. military may ban Twitter, Facebook as “security headaches”
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/08/03/us-military-may-ban.html

Network neutrality in Congress, round three: Fight!
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/08/the-war-over-network-neutrality.ars
http://ostp.gov/

Open Government Initiative
http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/

As the new owners of the Pirate Bay take over they will have to eventually change things and sell out. So Rafe has dubbed them as Cruiseship Bay. We also discuss the pyrrhic victory of RIAA over Usenet.com and Rafe and Natali hate some more on Verizon.

EPISODE 1009

RIAA triumphs in Usenet copyright case
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10276607-93.html

Cash for Pirate Bay file-sharers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8128551.stm

Twitter reworks following lists, adds functionality
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10276568-26.html

Obama adminisration lauches IT spending tracking site
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/technology/01dashboard.html?_r=1

Verizon says house shoppers crave high-fiber Internet diet
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/verizon-says-house-shoppers-crave-high-fiber-internet-diet.ars

New Click-Fraud Attack Is Stealthiest Yet
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/06/30/2237256/New-Click-Fraud-Attack-Is-Stealthiest-Yet

Frustratingly long secret code enables totally useful landscape email on Pre
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/01/frustratingly-long-secret-code-enables-totally-useful-landscape/

GDGT launch
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10276755-2.html

Chicago ‘burb ditches red light cameras, no safety advantage
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/chicago-burb-ditches-red-light-cameras-no-safety-advantage.ars

Most Complete Topographical Map of Earth Complete
http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/06/30/1650208/Most-Complete-Topographical-Map-of-Earth-Complete

VOICEMAIL
Nick wants to take over the world… or at least the Internet

EMAIL
in an effort to confirm Molly’s suspicion of AT&T as the worst 3G network, i present this link to PC World’s 3G test they ran in 13 U.S. cities

summary:
Verizon=fastest
Sprint=most reliable (by a small margin over verizon)
AT&T=blows (~20% less reliable than the other 2)

and a good note at the end that seems to be a recurring statement:
“Somewhat surprisingly, our testers also found that the “bars of service” readings on their phones were rarely an accurate predictor of the quality of the ensuing connection. In most places and with most wireless providers, the “bars” did little more than indicate whether the phone had access to some service or to no service.”

thanks for an entertaining show
corey
http://www.pcworld.com/article/167391/a_day_in_the_life_of_3g.html

**********

Hi Buzz crew,

Just a quick e-mail on the subject of the Amazon referral scheme and the
impact of local tax legislation here in Hawaii.
When the legislation went through state and house, very few locals
seemed aware of it, then all of a sudden one of the members of a major
local tech community site here, TechHui, caught wind of it and alerted
everyone:
http://www.techhui.com/profiles/blogs/urgent-help-stop-hb1405-the?id=1702911%3ABlogPost%3A44364
From there numerous letters and petitions to house representatives and
Governor Lingle went out explaining the significant financial impact it
was liable to have on local business and citizens, along with TV and
radio interviews; no doubt, though, a number of residents here not
members of techhui were surprised to receive e-mails telling them their
referal income was suddenly being stopped by numerous websites, not just
Amazon.

Today it was announced that Governor Lingle has decided to Veto the bill
(HB1405), amongst others:
http://www.hawaiisenatemajority.com/wp-content/upLoads/2009/06/govs-veto-list.pdf

That was one significant hurdle, now all that’s left is to persuade the
House not to override her veto. It’s an amazing tribute to what local
communities can do if they collaborate and put the pressure on.

Paul, the Brit in Hawaii.

**********

Two things..
I don't see any risk of microbes from earth infecting another local planet, since any microbes already on the planet are well adapted to local conditions and our microbes would be wimps in comparison.
Likewise microbes from space is not a real concern...do you have ANY idea about how many different microbes/viruses are already on this planet (check out Bergey's manual for a list of sorts..it is the bible of microbiology). The competition on this planet is extreme..
Have you not heard of Darwin?
From: Bob..Your tame microbiologist.

Your discussion about NASA was very interesting....it seems to support the concepts I've outlined at http://www.h2liftship.com , which has had no response to speak of since I put it up...such is the risk of being way forward thinking..

Thanks,
Bob Freeman

**********

Hey there buzz crew
This is Rohan from India.

It is my first time writing to you guys.

Regarding the whole debate over the caps lock key, how about adapting
the “double tap” of the shift key like the iphone/ipod touch to
regular keyboards. I too accidentally hit the damned caps lock key on
my macbook and just wish that they would get rid of it.

On other topics (just to fuel your anger towards your telecom
companies), we Indians only have to pay 1 paisa (the “cent” of Rupees)
for sending an SMS, and nothing for receiving. If you take the current
exchange rates, that would be just 0.00021 U.S. cents. Enjoy!

Oh by the way, we converted to the Metric system in 1954 and just last
year have also planted our Flag on the moon. You can ask ISRO (Indian
Space Research Organization) to help you convert NASA’s Imperial
measurements.

love the show!

Rohan

But you can point north if you wear a belt of a dozen or so magnets all the time. We'll explain. Also Palm Pre is coming for $200 and we have some rumored next-generation specs. Oh and about 300 car stories, 'cause you know. Cooley is on the show.

EPISODE 977

Palm Pre to arrive June 6 for $200
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10244423-1.html

Next-gen iPhone specs, launch date revealed?
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/05/next-gen-iphone-specs-launch-date-revealed/

Biz Stone on Twitter: No ads
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10244449-36.html

Obama wants U.S. to chase controversial CA fuel economy standards
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/05/19/19climatewire-white-house-proposes-new-stricter-national-f-12208.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy#Calculation

GPS system ‘close to breakdown’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/19/gps-close-to-breakdown

Tesla gets nod, 10 percent investment from Daimler to do battery packs for the new Smart EV
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10244414-54.html

New version of Microsoft/Ford SYNC started being pushed out yesterday
http://www.twice.com/article/CA6658004.html?q=SYNC

Microsoft's My Phone Service beta open for public
http://www.slashphone.com/microsofts-my-phone-service-beta-open-for-public-195757
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2818

ALI proposes implied warranty that all software be defect-free
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/05/microsoft-linux-foundation-hate-on-ali-contract-guidelines.ars

Hacking our five senses and building new ones
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/18/163223

1000th episode coming Thursday June 18th. Want to be on the episode? Post a video of yourself. MUST be less than 30 seconds long. And send a link. Could be well-wishing, could be criticism, could be praise!!! Could be bribes, we don’t care. We’ll choose from all the messages we get and play a selection on the 1000th episode as well as post them in the Wiki.

VOICE MAIL
Anonymous
I pay for a podcast

Sean
Some examples of stuff that was free and is now paid

E-MAIL
Paul K. points out that the cameras stealing chip and pin was real! –
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/4980190.stm

Hey guys,
I was listening to Ep. 974 where you were talking about Google Street View having to reshoot in Japan to eliminate undesirable items in the top of the pictures.

Let me get this straight… Picasa can go through all my pictures and, with surprising accuracy, tell me who is in each of my photos, but Google can’t figure out how to go through and automatically crop out the tops of these images? Why would they spend all the money to take these pictures over again when a simple batch edit of the photos would give the same result? Do they really want an added 16 inches of sidewalk at the bottom of the image that bad?

LTS…

Karl the epithetless
Austin, TX

BuzzKrew-

I agree with your consensus that tab overload is at least 50% user behavior and no new design solution will ever be able to solve that half of the issue. However, there’s a Firefox add-on that, at least for me, has now enabled me to manage an ungodly number of tabs efficiently: Tree Style Tabs. This extension puts your tabs in a sidebar and also, more importantly, nests them based on the source of the link. If, for instance, you use CTL + click to open a bunch of stories from the CNET homepage, all of those new tabs are branched off of your original CNET homepage tab. Of course the downside is the loss of screen real estate from the side bar, but it’s worth it if you’re working with more than, say, eight tabs at once.

No doubt many others are weighing in with their solutions, but Tree Style Tabs has additional geek cred as Steve Gibson was the first person I heard recommend this add-on.

-Reid of the Catskills

Hi Buzz,

Just wanted to let you know how Murdoch’s mouthing off is affecting my part of the publishing industry.

I work for a large business to business publisher and the concept of us re-gating content and making it paid-for only is one being discussed in the board room heavily at the moment.

A lot of redundancies have been made recently in my company and it’s now apparent that all the original print-orientated former journalists have replaced the business-focus minds we had in the decision making positions. As such our innovation and forward momentum have been replaced with a strategy to reinforce what we have instead of finding new online revenue streams.

The phrase that keeps being used is ‘our value lies in our content’. Apparently this means the best idea is to start charging for it.

We used to only allow our content to be viewed by people who subscribed to our print product. A few years back we opened our sites up to everyone for free and started to move the old print hounds towards making our online offering it’s own entity. As such our traffic is 5 times what it was and is still growing.

We’re doing market research at the moment to see where our core loyal audience is and whether there’s enough that will pay for our content to justify going to a subscription or micropayments model.

The importance of innovation in a recession is something often spoken about. I guess they didn’t get the memo.

Old habits die hard. I hope I have a job in 6 months.

An anonymous web developer in London

We get taken to task today for our segues, which, we admit, can be quite forced sometimes. So, we show some examples of the good and the bad. We also have a Cooley rant about the new Segway minicar from a few weeks ago. And I suggest we go clubbing with baby seals, and Cooley and Natali threaten to kill me.

EPISODE 960

Now closing: GeoCities, a relic of Web’s early days
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10226255-2.html
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2345857,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

Obama getting a new high-security BlackBerry
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9132058

Apple apologizes for Baby Shaker
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/biztech/04/24/cnet.apple.baby.shaker.app/index.html

EU debates your right to get online
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10225875-94.html

Wikipedia lawsuit could put it on the wrong side of fair use
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/wikipedia-suit-could-put-it-on-the-wrong-side-of-fair-use.ars
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/24/1239232

T-Mobile will work with Echelon to monitor home power consumption
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2345849,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

New Windows 7 hack purports to be “unfixable”
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/23/new-windows-7-hack-purports-to-be-unfixable/

Windows 7 RC (7100) out early on torrent trackers
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-out-early-on-torrent-trackers/

Chinese hackers attacking NYC computers
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/23/2025243
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/04/22/2009-04-22_international_hackers_lauching_attack_against_nypd_computers.html

Hundreds of thousands of Chinese Black Hats
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/24/1311216

Facebook users say yes to changes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8016532.stm
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=79146552130

Scientists mix in metal to make superstrength spider silk
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/04/metal-enhanced-spider-silk-tougher-than-the-original.ars

VOICEMAIL
Alex from Michigan
More on John Cage’s 4:33

Bingo the Chimp
I just want to get paid.

E-MAIL
Heya Buzz crew,

Some interesting news came from an otherwise disappointing T-Mobile subscriber report - they have sold one million G1s since launch just six months ago. While not necessarily record-breaking, that is a significant milestone for Android.

http://www.tmonews.com/2009/04/one-million-g1s-sold/

I have been away for a while so I must leave you with …

Miss the show!

Ryan from Castle Rock

**********

Hey Buzz crew,
I’ve been listening for years now and I have finally decided to write
you all an email. For almost a year now I’ve heard on BOL how many of
you have complained about AT&T and the 3G data service and coverage. I live in Tampa FL, and have been blessed with amazing fast and reliable 3G service but I recently went to Chicago on business and was affected by what I thought was a myth. I am not sure if it was the tall buildings or what, but downtown Chicago has the worst 3G service ever! The phone kept switching from 3G to EDGE to no data at all, even if I
was just standing still!!! The worst part about it was this constant searching for a data network absolutely killed my battery life and my iPhone never made it to the end of the day. So for all you BOL listeners like me who thought people were full of BS for complaining about the iPhone/AT&T 3G coverage I am hear to tell you some people are really hurting when it comes to data service. Oh, and to top it all off the silent on/off switch on the side of my iPhone above the volume rocker completely broke off!!! And all I was trying to do was switch it to silent mode before a meeting started.

Love the show guys,

German A. Gonzalez

**********

Hi Buzz Crew,

I hope you all enjoyed your two-minute rant-fest regarding “cracked” netbook keyboards on episode 959. Sorry to spoil your fun, but I was listening to the earnings call and Tim Cook did not say “cracked keyboards”, he said “cramped keyboards”, and that is what is written in the article linked off the show notes. Perhaps you’d like to go back and have re-rant on today’s show based on this new information.

Love, the show,
Doug

**********

Hey buzz crew, quick comment on how friendly penguins are. I grew up on Puerto Natales, Chile, where we have penguins just running around in the streets. Not really. The live in pingüineras, but I remember thinking they where adorable and trying to pet them as a kid and one almost took mi finger off. I sure it does not apply to all race of penguins, but I can see mean penguins armed with lasers taking over the world.

Macs infected with a new pirate-induced botnet are launching denial-of-service attacks! Do you have your zombie botnet preparedness kit? Also free mobile DTV in DC, an official Windows Mobile 6.5 release date, and Oracle buys Sun.

Episode 956

Oracle buys Sun
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/technology/companies/21sun.html

Obama appoints Aneesh Chopra as CTO
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/04/18/tech-industry-cheers-as-obama-taps-aneesh-chopra-for-cto/
http://www.technology.virginia.gov/OfficeInfo/chopraBio.cfm
http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/04/aneesh-chopra-as-chief-technology.html

UN World Library goes public
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/20/AR2009042001324.html?wprss=rss_technology

Free DTV in DC
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/20/AR2009042001302.html?wprss=rss_technology

WinMo coming early
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/17/windows-mobile-6-5-to-officially-launch-on-may-11/
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/04/17/win.mobile.65.on.may.11/
http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/

Gmail Suggests Recipients
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-in-labs-suggest-more-recipients.html

Don Henley in YouTube infringement spat
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10222772-93.html

eReader limits some books to US readers
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/20/0126246

YouTube tests channels
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/youtube_testing_secret_new_channels_beta.php

The city where every arrest gets Twittered
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10222755-2.html

Voice mail
Erwin from LA
When is the Palm Pre coming??

E-mail
It was bound to happen:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=3157

Zombie Macs! Get your shot guns and make your way calmly to the nearest mall and hunker down.

Evan the Friendly Sys Admin in Israel

**********

Hey Buzz Crew

In episode 955 there was discussion regarding the use of proxy servers in the commision of a crime causing an increase in jail time. This was compared to wearing a disguise during the commision of a “personal” crime. In many places it is illegal to this and you will be charged for doing so. I found numerous examples on the net from Canada, the UK and the US (mostly Delaware???) of people being charged with wearing a disguise while committing a crime.
Although I recognize the US Sentencing Commision is looking at this as an automatic increase to sentence time where as I am speaking only of charges I still think the parrallel is there.
The question is will it be illegal to wear a ski mask while committing cyber crimes???
Love the show
Mike from Toronto

**********

Hey buzz Crew!
This is Siavash from Iran, in episode 952, when Brian was talking about Mitsubishi , he said there is no top level product in their product line , Hey man! You are in car tech, have you ever heard of a car named Mitsubishi Evo 9 or Evo 10 ? the cars than changed they way all the car makers now make their rally cars, they only cars that could hit Subaru Impreza in the face. They are one of the cars in the world with the highest level on technology. I'm not trying to plug anything, all I say when you talk about Mitsubishi the first thing that comes to your mind a EVO 9 not a flat panel TV.

Love The Sh0w!
Best Regards
Siavash Ghahremany

While Twitter has announced a sort of a business plan, President Obama is ripping off Digg for an Internet town hall meeting, and Windows 7 may be getting a release candidate in May, we really don't care. Because we have some hardcore physics stories about buckyballs and hardware neuron simulators.

EPISODE 939

Twitter to be a freemium service
http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-confirms-paid-pro-accounts-on-the-way-2009-3

AT&T exec: ISP will never terminate service on RIAA’s word
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10204514-93.html

Windows 7 Release Candidate coming in May
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7965513.stm

Giz explains: How a brainy worm might jack the world’s PCs on April 1
http://i.gizmodo.com/5183751/giz-explains-how-a-brainy-worm-might-jack-the-worlds-pcs-on-april-1

Apple refund clause: Bad for developers?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10204817-37.html

Obama turns to Web to take questions from public
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090326/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_online_town_hall
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7966226.stm

Google drawing and Google voice search for BlackBerry
http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2009/03/drawing-on-your-creativity-in-docs.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10204643-2.htmle

Flash on Android
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/25/flash-coming-to-android-courtesy-of-bsquare/

Nintendo’s Iwata opens GDC with games, Wii storage news
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-10204002-235.html

New lossless mp3HD format trades convenience for file size
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/03/new-lossless-mp3hd-format-trades-convenience-for-file-size.ars

Graphene chip could hit 1,000GHz, make your Core i7 feel totally inadequate
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/26/graphene-chip-could-hit-1-000ghz-make-your-core-i7-feel-totally/

Microchip mimics a brain with 200,000 neurons
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/25/1452209

VOICEMAIL
Unknown Penguin
Geek vs. Nerd

Mark from Florida
Shaq and Twitter

Shalin
Solution to Colbert space module

E-MAIL
Hey Tom, I just wanted to let you know that I actually went to Best Buy about a month ago to buy a dial-up modem. As I recall there was only one type of modem to choose. I had a friend that needed to replace his dial-up modem because it was fried when lightning struck his house. I talked to him about switching to high speed access but in the end he decided to stay with his existing dial up service.

Jeremy from Indiana, formerly of Greenville, IL

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Team RUSH 27 update — Hey guys,
Thank you SO much for reading my email. It was cool to get some props for the stuff we do from you guys.
Anyways, an update. After 2 district competitions (Kettering and Lansing) we are now competing at the Michigan State tournament in Ypsilanti in a little over a week. We have won the Chairman’s Award (the highest award you can win) at the District level, and now we are going on to compete for it at the state level.
GO TEAM RUSH! (You don’t need to fake enthusiasm for this one)
Love the show,
Patrick the robotics dude

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It just warms the cockles to discuss accounting! Time value of money is my real forte, but Apple’s accounting policies are fun too.

I fell several days behind due to a multi-day Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 marathon. I was quite surprised that we still haven’t arrived at the reason for Apple’s “SOX” issue by the time I caught back up.

As Doug the CPA pointed out, it really isn’t a SOX issue, but SOX means companies pay more attention to GAAP because now all the CEOs and CFOs can get in huge trouble if they don’t follow or have good accounting practices.

So why is Apple doing this? I have no inside knowledge, but the issue is revenue recognition when you deliver a product/service in multiple pieces over time. When you have a subscription based business, it’s easy to tie something like major software upgrades to the ongoing payments customers make. But when you deliver major functionality over time to a device that was paid for all at once some time in the past, you must assess how much of the revenue is recognized at the time of the initial sale and how much of the revenue must be deferred to the time of the upgrade. There are many tests that accountants must apply to the situation. To give you an idea, here is a recent abstract from FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) about Revenue Arrangements with Multiple Deliverables (warning, geek accounting content!):
http://72.3.243.42/pdf/abs08-1.pdf

You have to divvy up all of the revenues you receive over the entire time that you are delivering the product. If you add functionality to a product, then you can be considered to still be delivering that product. Apple is being conservative, as many companies do not consider firmware upgrades to be “still delivering the product.” But their conservative approach isn’t completely unreasonable. Apple could choose to defer recognizing revenue from the initial sale, but that would be messier to account for and would decrease the revenue they got to recognize immediately when an iPod Touch is sold.

I guess you could say Apple gets to have their cake and eat it too

Love the show,
Ernie from the East Bay

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Palm has had eBooks since Its’ beginning. While the Palm screen is more of
an LCD screen than the iPhone. Palm predates a 2002 patent application.

Charles
Sioux Falls, SD

Riding an electric motorcycle can make you smarter, but as Molly points out, it can also kill you. So six to one, half a dozen to the other. We also can break you off a piece of that Ice Pod bar. As soon as someone sends us one. And Sweden is trying to send us some bandwidth. Thanks, Sweden!

EPISODE 924

Obama names IT change-agent Vivek Kundra as federal CIO
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=1175

Sprint and Palm hosting Palm Pre Webcast on March 12
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10188601-1.html

Microsoft may let Windows 7 users turn browser off
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10188612-2.html

Sizing up a possible Nvidia-made x86 processor
http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/03/sizing-up-a-possible-nvidia-made-x86-processor.ars

How will BlackBerry App World work?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10189110-94.html

Exclusive: First Real Photos of the BlackBerry 9630!
http://crackberry.com/exclusive-first-real-photos-blackberry-9630

Intel develops embeddable DTV antenna for OTA on the go
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/04/intel-develops-embeddable-dtv-antenna-for-ota-on-the-go/

TV converter-box coupons start flowing again
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jIpdUSger8jBtyxle5zqogWtPingD96NVT4G1

Amazon entering used game business
http://kotaku.com/5164720/amazon-entering-used-game-biz

The Beatles come to Rock Band, instruments and all
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/05/the-beatles-come-to-rock-band-instruments-and-all/

Kindle 2 is hacked!
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/04/kindle-2-hacked-for-tethered-web-browsing-but-not-the-way-you-t/

Taking it too far: Ice Pod ice cream bars
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/03/03/taking-it-too-far-ice-pod-ice-cream-bars/

VOICEMAIL
Chris
Authors Guild

E-MAIL
Hey buzzers,

Maybe Best Buy can sell the electric motorcycle you talked about in
ep. 922 in the video game section. AFP is reporting a study by the
designer of Nintendo’s “Brain Age” game that says commuting on a
motorcycle works just like the game to make you smarter:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090304/hl_afplifestylehealthjapanmotorcycles_20090304110821

Sure, you could question the study’s crappy science, but I ride
motorcycles, and I, of course, am very smart. Therefore, this study
must be completely true. And even if it’s not, riding a bike is much
more fun than playing a video game on a bus.

-Mark, the supercomputer repairman

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Hi Buzz Crew,

I was wondering if the zillion could be successful in the average house. With the current set top boxes supplementing cable or satellite, you usually have one high bandwidth user on the system. With the Zillion box being used to replace cable, that would require me to have one in the family room and one in each of my kids rooms. That's four feeds at once. I don't know if four TV's per house is average, but even at half that, I don't see ISP's being able to provide that amount of bandwidth. I would like an alternative, but until we are a one TV household, I don't see ISP's providing it.

Bart

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Hey Buzz Crew,

Listening to episode #923 where Tom mentioned the download speed test
he did with Brian Tong between the Kindle 1 and the Kindle 2. I have
an theory as to why the Kindle 1 won over the Kindle 2. One of the
major improvements touted in the Kindle 2 is the improved battery
life. Well, one way they might have accomplished this is by
implementing more aggressive power management and/or power throttling
of the wireless chipset, which would impact wireless performance (i.e.
less power to the wireless chipset = less speed). Just my $0.02.

Love the show,
Donald, the out of work software engineer (yet another victim of these
troubled times… DRINK!!)

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Hello Buzz, I don’t know if this is something you report about but I think this is a important thing to talk about since it is the “next” step in creating more bandwidth (I’ve heard that you need more of that…).

For two weeks research teams in Sweden, Norway and the US have been perpearing for a big test of one atlantic cable. And they managed to send data at a rate of 40gbps from Sweden to Manasquan in the states. The cool thing about this is that the cable they used were not meant for this speed and allthough they did over-use it this much no problems occured on the other spectrums on the line. Last year there was a story about a granny that got a really fast ADSL line and a even faster Fiber connection (see first link) the same technic used then was also used now and the brain behind the mentioned test was also the one that made this one possible.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/40gbps-internet-connection-installed-in-swedes-home/
http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.215856/sunet-forst-med-40-gigabit-per-sekund-under-atlanten

Sorry for the bad grammar and spelling and the even more swedish last link

// Inga from Sweden =)

A company says it has made a virtual reality helmet that will give you sights, sounds, temperature, and even smell. Which makes us wonder if that's a good thing. Would you want to see movies with smell? We also talk about a new Internet TV box that's 50 bucks and carries major studio movies and TV shows. Is it the one?

EPISODE 923

Kumo coming? Live Search headed for overhaul, rebranding
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/03/live-search-rebranding-is-coming-will-it-be-kumo.ars

Amazon offers e-books on Apple devices
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10187752-93.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10187912-1.html

Sprint Treo Pro available March 15
http://blog.palm.com/palm/2009/03/sprint-treo-pro-available-march-15.html

Office 14 crawls toward beta
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10187360-56.html

Obama picks Net neutrality backer as FCC chief
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/04/1314224

HD battle on the eastern front? Warner to support CBHD
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/03/warner-bros-to-support-chinese-blu-ray-competitor-cbhd.ars

Netflix stands behind Microsoft Silverlight
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10187442-93.html

Start-up offers alternative to subscription TV
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10187655-93.html

The Finns who invented the graphical browser
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/03/1835246

Bionic eye gives blind man sigh
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7919645.stm

Meet us at SXSW
http://sxsw.com/interactive/talks/panels?action=show&id=IAP0901416

VOICEMAIL
Aaron
TiVo beats Roku player hands down

Chris Greensboro
Jimmy Fallon idea for covering video games

Jose in Jacksonville
Hack the Kindle

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew:
This is Siavash, I'm a Cisco trained IT Engineer in Iran and I've been sending many mails to you that some got to the show so you may remember me.
About the Helicopter Story, generally Iranian people don't approve what the government does; please don't think of me as a terrorist listenerJ.
Kidding aside I did a little of digging in Iranian ISPs and the whole Iranian IP range and the IP that had hacked into the computer, as long as I can say, the IP belongs to a ISP, they say the IP has been dedicated to VPN connection and as their Log shows the VPN has been established somewhere in Middle East, (they don't say exactly where). So as I get it, either some one from Middle East has hacked into their servers, and used their IP address to hack the computer in USA , or there has been someone ( maybe Iranian) in middle east with access to this ISP and their servers and used their network to hack the computer.
So now all I can say is that the attack has not been inside Iran, but the identity of the hacker and it's location is still a mystery, I will do more digging on this and I will get back to you with any new and fresh info.

Love The SHOW!

Best Regards

Siavash

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Hi Buzzers,

You discussed in Episode 922 that the new Mac Mini has DVI instead of HDMI, and that very few HDTVs have DVI any more. That’s true, but DVI and HDMI are pretty much the same standard - it’s just that DVI only carries the video signal, and HDMI carries both video and audio together. So if you get a DVI to HDMI cable and connect it from a Mac Mini to an HDTV, it should send an HD signal just fine. You’ll just have to find some other way to handle the audio (like hooking up the audio out jack to the optical audio input on your receiver).

I agree, though - Apple should just get on the stick and add HDMI (and what’s with this “Mini DVI” port, anyway?)…

Love the show,

Eric the former home theater salesman
(”ericbtx” in the chat room when I can make it…)
Houston, TX

**********

Short note. Mono price will have a display port to hdmi cable sometime
this month. I’m stalking monoprice for one for my Macbook but should
work for the mini.

Love the show!!!!

Bobby the project manager

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I’m going to combine feedback around two bits from episode 922 when you referred to the unlikeliness of top notch technology from government (e.g. whitehouse.gov ) and challenges presented by open source research models (e.g. Merck’s Sage). I work for a company that provides IT support to the National Cancer Institute where Dr. Ken Buetow has led an effort to establish an open framework for cancer research to expedite discoveries. Check out the CAncer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) @ https://cabig.nci.nih.gov to see how government technology can be top notch and scientific research tools and framework open source.

-Nat-

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Hey guys, pretend this story is about apple products so you can give a shit:
Nokia 5800 North American (NAM) are pulling off the shelves, due to issues with 3G unable to get signals.

-ANkh, who is getting a little irritated by the snobbery involved in ignoring every symbian headline and reading out the specs of every item apple release.

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“A headset that harnesses all five senses will create such a convincing virtual reality that it will be indistinguishable from real life, designers promised.

The Virtual Cocoon, unveiled today, will enable users to go on safari from the comfort of their own front rooms.

The headsest will enable users to experience the smells, heat, sounds and sights of places such as Kenya’s Masai Mara….”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1159206/The-headset-mimic-senses-make-virtual-world-convincing-real-life.html

Chris the Commuter