Buzz Out Loud Podcast

I'm very pleased that LegalTorrents.com has come along to prove that I'm not crazy when I say there are plenty of legal reasons to use torrents. And they even have a torrent of Bible 2.0. Probably with new commandments from the MPAA. We also chat about AMD and Intel making nice, and how long that might last. And Microsoft tries to patent sudo. Yes, they said, "Sudo grant me a patent," I'm sure.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

AMD and Intel settle on antitrust and IP disputes
http://channel.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=21135

HP acquires 3com
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2009/091111xa.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10395645-260.html

Microsoft exec: Mac OS inspired Windows 7
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10395980-71.html

How we really designed the look and feel of Windows 7
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/11/11/how-we-really-designed-the-look-and-feel-of-windows-7.aspx

MPAA shuts down entire town’s muni WiFi over a single download
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/12/mpaa-shuts-down-enti.html

Microsoft Patents Sudo’s Behavior
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/11/11/2055226

Xbox console ban is ‘permanent’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8356621.stm

Twitter issues mulligan on new ‘retweet’ feature
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10395812-2.html

Google SafeSearch now lets parents lock settings
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10395112-238.html

LegalTorrents Launches Copyright-Compliant Tracker
http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/11/11/2026244/LegalTorrents-Launches-Copyright-Compliant-Tracker

Facebook status update saves man from jail
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10395597-71.html

VOICEMAIL
Casey in LA has a abet for us on Project Natal

Skyler in Bakersfield on SIP

EMAIL
But here it goes: I told you so!

http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.hacknroll.com%2F2009%2F11%2F12%2Fa-verdade-sobre-o-apagao%2F&sl=pt&tl=en&history_state0=

The link is a translation of an article written by a brazilian guy who managed to hack into the ONS (national electric system operator) by spying on their robots.txt file and using SQL injection technique. He claims it wasn’t him who took down the power grid.

Now, excuse me, I gotta go find what I need to do in order to immigrate to Canada.

Love the show – Rafa

**********

Hi buzz-crew.

Regarding the EU cookie law. How do Local Shared Objects
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Shared_Object) fit in to the
equation?
Will LSOs have to be approved by the user as well? If not, then all
sites will just store all data in LSOs instead and those are even
harder to get rid of.

To delete LSOs you have to go to the right folder on your computer and
delete the files manually or you have to go to Adobe’s control
panel-site and delete them there. On the control panel-site you can
also choose if sites should be able to store data on your computer or
not, BUT if you block storage some sites will not work (ustream is one
example).

If you’re using Firefox there is an extension called BetterPrivacy
which gives you better control over LSOs.

Lllloooooooooove the show.

Mauritz, a concerned EU-citizen.

**********

Buzz Crew,

Isn't anyone a little worried about what Google is doing with all this information they are collecting? Maybe they are developing all these free products just to gather as much information as they can?

Example:

I am at work, get a Gmail from my boss saying I need to finish a report (and we use Google Docs of course because it's free). My wife calls my Google Voice number and says we need toothpaste. I leave work to go to the gym, and decide to watch a popular YouTube video while on the bike. A 15 second Crest commercial happens to pop up, but I skip it. I usually take the long way back to work (of course Latitude knows this).

Then my Droid tells me, "You better pick up some Crest on the way back to work and take the shorter route since you will pass a drugstore. And you better hurry since you are only half done with the report!"

And of course due to some error all this ends up searchable on Google.

Love the show,

Heath
Honolulu, HI

**********

Hi BOL folks,
The reference to the 5gb limit on data is in the fine print from the PDA/Smartphone email plan (which I have for my Droid).
It says:

The Data Plans and Features MAY NOT be used for any other purpose. Examples of prohibited uses include, without limitation, the following: (i) continuous uploading, downloading or streaming of audio or video programming or games; (ii) server devices or host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing; or (iii) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections. This means, by way of example only, that checking email, surfing the Internet, downloading legally acquired songs, and/or visiting corporate intranets is permitted, but downloading movies using P2P file sharing services and/or redirecting television signals for viewing on laptops is prohibited. A person engaged in prohibited uses, continuously for one hour, could typically use 100 to 200 MBs, or, if engaged in prohibited uses for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, could use more than 5 GBs in a month.

For individual use only and not for resale. We reserve the right to protect our network from harm, which may impact legitimate data flows. We reserve the right to limit throughput or amount of data transferred, and to deny or terminate service, without notice, to anyone we believe is using an Data Plan or Feature in any manner prohibited above or whose usage adversely impacts our network or service levels. Anyone using more than 5 GB per line in a given month is presumed to be using the service in a manner prohibited above, and we reserve the right to immediately terminate the service of any such person without notice. We also reserve the right to terminate service upon expiration of Customer Agreement term.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=planFirst&action=viewPlanList&sortOption=priceSort&typeId=3&subTypeId=49&catId=448

Hope this helps.

Lee B
Droid owner in Atlanta

Bing has taken over MSN video and it has videos from every network. Why isn't Microsoft trumpeting this? We also get really confused by Verizon's unlimited plan that has a limit of 5GB. Does it? Doesn't it? What the hell? And we debate the way Twitter retweets.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Microsoft disconnects Xbox gamers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8354166.stm

New Microsoft Project Natal details leak, coming next year for cheap
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/11/new-microsoft-p.php

Google tests skippable ads In YouTube videos
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=117200

T-Mobile moves aggressively into HSPA and HSPA+
http://wifinetnews.com/archives/2009/11/t-mobile_moves_aggressively_into_hspa_and_hspa.html

Supremes wrestle with business method, software patents
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/11/supremes-wrestle-with-business-method-software-patents.ars

Google hopes to remake programming with Go
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-10393210-264.html

Microsoft moves MSN Video under Bing umbrella
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10394673-56.html

Twitter changes up ReTweet
http://evhead.com/2009/11/why-retweet-works-way-it-does.html

Google Latitude, now with Location History & Alerts
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/11/google-latitude-now-with-location.html

Google Latitude gets snoopier: Adds location history and alerts
http://www.pcworld.com/article/181907/google_latitude_gets_snoopier_adds_location_history_and_alerts.html

VOICE MAIL
Brannon from Lake Elsinore on Gizmo

Jeremy in Virginia about the cookie law in Europe

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew,

It was funny how you guys talked about hackers blacking out Brazil in previous years and just yesterday (Tuesday) we have suffered another one. A report says that it affected 18 states (4 totally, 14 partially) and also Paraguay (about 90%). The blackout is believed to have been caused by weather conditions and it has shut down 3 power transmission lines, some hydroelectric power plants and two nuclear power plants. The power was totally restored by 3:15 AM (Brazilian DST). More information can be found in the following link (in Portuguese, sorry): http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/ult95u650831.shtml

Please stop talking about blackouts here… It appears to have and immediate effect! LOL

Love the show!

Gus, the IT Auditor from Curitiba, Brazil.

*********

Hey buzz crew love the show! Have heard you guy mention that “unlimited
data” on wireless isn’t really unlimited. I did some checking as I am a
heavy data user and can’t find anyplace on Verizon, ATT or Sprints
website that says theres actually a 5gb limit (and yes I read as much of
the fine print as I could find). I did see that there was a 5gb limit on
there data card plans and tethering but it says that right up front. So
my question is what are you talking about? Oh and when I said I was a
heavy data user I meant that I am a truck driver who uses my Sprint data
card which I luckily got when they had the unlimited plan which I get to
keep. My average usage is… 25gb a month with an all time high of 52gb.
I also have almost no trouble getting 3G service in all the places I go.
Again Love The Show!

James

*********

Hello Buzz Crew,

Referring to yesterdays episode, you mentioned the Milestone going to
Europe and how you would want to get a phone sent to you from Europe.
Well surprise surprise, you can go on a field trip to your friendly
neighbours up north. Telus is announcing that it will have it
exclusively (unlocking anyone? ). It’s supposed to come out “early
2010″.

Here is a link to engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/10/motorola-milestone-headed-to-telus-in-early-2010/

Love.The.Show

Carl from BC,Canada

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/

Microsoft just got a patent for disabling your operating system until you pay an "agreed-on sum of money." Also we find out that the Palm Pre is going to sell out, which means Sprint can save a load on advertising. And Moblin is out for beta testing, even if you think the name is dumb.

EPISODE 978

Palm Pre to run $549 off-contract
http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/19/palm-pre-to-run-549-off-contract/

Sprint's CEO thinks there will be a Pre shortage, decides not to take advantage
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/05/20/sprints-ceo-thinks-there-will-be-a-pre-shortage-decides-not-to-take-advantage/

Microsoft wins patent for crippling your computer until you pay up
http://gizmodo.com/5261677/microsoft-wins-patent-for-crippling-your-computer-until-you-pay-up

Microsoft expands Netflix ties; will Window Media Center appeal to the masses?
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-microsoft-expands-netflix-relationship-with-windows-media-center-deal/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10245258-93.html

Craigslist sues SC AG for declaratory relief
http://blog.craigslist.org/2009/05/cl-sues-sc-ag-for-declaratory-relief/

Mac OS X users vulnerable to major Java flaw
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/19/2344239

Intel brings rich UI to Moblin Linux platform
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2009/05/hands-on-intel-brings-rich-ui-to-moblin-linux-platform.ars

Virgin Airlines goes fleet-wide with WiFi service
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10245381-94.html

All your movies on a single DVD
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,25515035-1702,00.html

Robot Warriors will get a guide to ethics
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/19/2151227

Monster by Mail’s summer of supervillains
http://www.monsterbymail.com

If you like funny things and smart things, you will like this
http://www.myextralife.com/

One-thousandth episode coming Thursday June 18. Want to be on the episode? Post a video of yourself. MUST be less than 30 seconds long. And send a link. No attachments. Could be well-wishing, could be memories, epithets...we don’t care. We’ll choose from all the messages we get and play a selection on the thousandth episode, as well as post them in the Wiki.

Also, Photoshop contest! Design the Thousandth Episode podcast artwork! Rules: Use the BOL logo in some capacity, and go nuts! Submissions should be 300×300 JPEG. E-mail the image to buzz@cnet.com

VOICEMAIL
Paul starts a suport group for BOL listeners.

Dwight the Key Grip loves compasses in phones

Don has even more reasons to love the compass in the phone. And schools us.

E-MAIL
The reason the Russians, China and the EU developed or are developing their own Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is because they don't want to rely only on the US military for positioning data. Should the US decide, they could scramble the signal tomorrow and then accuracies would go from 1 meter to 100 meters (Selective Availability). As to why would anyone need more than one: at any given time the most GPS only satellites you will see at any given time is 12 and that many is rare. Compare that to the 18 satellites that I was tracking yesterday morning when combining the GPS and Glonass constellations. And when Galileo comes online, that number will increase to an average of 24 satellites at a time for multi-constellation capable receivers. All these satellites won't be that beneficial to in-car nav units, but high precision centimeter grade accuracy units used in Land Surveying, Construction, Agriculture and Aeronautical applications will be greatly enhanced. More is better.

Take care,
Daniel
GPS Specialist

**********

Buzz!

You were half right Tom-

Ricky Gervais switched from Podcast to “Audiobooks” that are about an hour long (and Hi-Lar-i-ous) each. He’s actually tried a few different models including “free for a while” where if you downloaded the podcast with in the first week or two you’d have it for free, but if you wanted it from the back catalog it’s a couple of bucks. Seems pretty fair in the sense that you did have a chance at getting it for free at one point.

The current Audiobooks come out once a month and are $2 each and I buy everyone one based on how great the previous podcasts are. They seemed to be selling well because I tend to see it at the top of the Audiobooks list in Itunes.

And, again, I highly suggest them.

Sorry I haven’t had much to say lately, I’ll work on that. Also, won’t be in Cali for 1000-but I’ll be listening!

Later,

Frank L.

**********

Hey Buzzcrew,

Not to drag this out longer than needed, but Tom should be able to name another successful (at least last I heard) paid podcast as he and his wife have been guests: Mac OS Ken Day 6. Additionally, this is an example of something going paid when it was free because it is only marginally more Apple-centric than Ken Ray’s previous radio show/free podcast Technocracy Radio. As you said, paid works alongside free as long as there is a value-add.

What I am more interested in is how successful the public-radio model works for podcasts and other new media. I know Leo Laporte gets a lot of funding from donations, but he also has more advertisers than anyone else in new media. People like Dan Carlin (Hardcore History, Common Sense) might offer a better gauge for the success of donations. I know BOL analysis specials/interviews are rare, but someone needs to do an in-depth on the state of new media.

-Brian in Fort Worth

P.S. Decided to reread Tom’s book Boiling Point — Not a good idea in a recession, especially while living in Texas when the governor talks about seceding in public remarks (see Tax-Day Tea Parties). For those unfamiliar, he just said that current spending policies will cause high taxes and could make some people want to secede.

EPISODE 898

Microsoft releases IE 8 browser
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7852340.stm
http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10150516-12.html

Senate passes bill to delay digital TV switch
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601984.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10150551-38.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hlGcM0ZxYV5dDtZR_9xfCPZnkFaAD95T4LV80

New law will require camera phones to “click”
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-414
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F26%2F1846209

Apple awarded key iPhone multitouch patent
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10150436-37.html

Xerox had sued Palm over patent infringement that started in 1997 and lasted 9 years
http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/8696/palm-and-xerox-settle-graffiti-dispute/

Kindle 2???
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/01/27/amazon-press-conference-next-monday-i-can-haz-kindle-too/

Boeing: We zapped a UAV with a laser
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10150136-76.html

Book of Wikipedia on Wikipedia
http://mashable.com/2009/01/27/wikipedia-missing-manual/

YouTube users caught in Warner Music spat
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10150588-93.html

Wii Channel for doctor advice
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/27/wii-check-up-channel-will-link-you-to-health-professionals-dr/

Guitar Hero as text adventure
http://www.offworld.com/2009/01/champion-of-guitars-text-adven.html

VOICEMAIL
Anonymous
Internet more of a necessity than TV

Josh in Salt lake
Is T-Mobile G1 a precursor to 3G in more cities

Greg in London
What’s this about a Gdrive?
http://mashable.com/2009/01/26/google-gdrive/

E-MAIL
Hi Buzz Crew, this is Chris from Michigan. I’ve been following this story about Fallout 3, and it seems the problem has more to do with a Downloadable Content exclusivity deal with Microsoft than a feud with Sony. The major issue stems from the fact that the game ends, and you must go back to a previous save to continue with any side missions. This is fixed with new DLC, but that happens to be exclusive. The end-game continuing feature may come in a later patch to the PS3 or the DLC may be only a timed exclusive, but PS3 owners still may get this at a later time. Check out this 1up story for details:
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172447

Thanks a lot and love the show!

**********

Hi buzz!
Instead of earthquake or something to do with 3 miles. The black hole will cause the fabric of space to rotate with it because of its intense gravity field. This means that people/things around it could possibly fell into this “orbit” and reach faster than light speed! If they cannot stop they rotation, they could potentially travel back in time so far that they never existed.

See, not painful!

Love the show,

Ultimatebuster

**********

Guys,

I wanted to share this story, because I LOLed like both laughing and doing things out loud was going out of fashion.

http://www.paidcontent.co.uk/entry/419-sun-editor-reckons-quality-trumps-recession-online-threat/

To give America the background, The Sun is a mainstream, paid-for daily newspaper. As Paid Content points out, this “quality” paper, which features a naked girl every day on page three, has come out with headlines like “UP YOURS DELORS” (in reference to Jacques Delors) and “IT’S PADDY PANTSDOWN” (in reference to Paddy Ashdown, a British politician).

Incidentally, today’s headline is ‘CHEEKY STARS OGLE BIG BOOBS’.

Nate

**********

Hi BOL,

Actually Saint-Petersburg calling

Just wanted to add 2 kopeks to your discussion regarding Russian National operation system in 896 podcast.

It’s only a project for now and president should decide whether to fund it or not. But many government structures already said that they would really want to have a system that they could control (in terms of development) because they have a lot of requirements (this system should be compatible with some Russian military hardware for instance) and that there is no system on the market that meets these requirements. That’s why they decided to launch such a project. Microsoft is also involved into these negotiations, but Microsoft think that we should “properly” integrate systems which are currently available on the market, so they don’t want to develop anything new, I think that with such opinion they will have to step out of this affair, because I doubt that Bill Gates ever knew something about Russian military systems

With respect to IT and Russian government at all. I think this will be interesting for you, because you like to discuss IT in Whitehouse. So here some fact about our president and Kremlin

http://www.kremlin.ru

First of all our president has a videoblog Видеоблог Дмитрия Медведева , they also added ability to add comments to president’s posts, they said that some comments and their authors were filtered but most of them are in the blog right now. We don’t know whether president will reply on some comments or not, but that’s still a huge step for our president and his administration.

With respect to president’s PC:

1. looks like he likes Macbooks

2. But as a work PC he uses Windows XP and probably some super-secret military OS. Isn’t it difficult to switch from aple to microsoft and then to this freaky device ? Probably because of that they want a National OS.

Love the show. Thanks.
Sergey.

Finally, we get to bring you, the listener, on to the show and tell you how cool you are. Today's co-hosts: Frank the Patent Lawyer, Chris the Podcaster, Allen099, and Phatemokid!

Episode 844

Intel Core i7 chip reviews arrive–yes, it’s fast
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10080831-64.html
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/03/1324208
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081103-intel-lifts-curtain-on-nehalem-performance-hint-its-fast.html

Windows 7 ‘pre-beta’ washes up on Pirate Bay and co
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/03/windows_7_pre_beta_bittorrent/

Windows 7 to be 256-core aware
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/11/02/0130253.shtml

Inside Windows 7’s new desktop
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10080417-56.html

Circuit City to close 155 stores
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10080934-92.html

Behind the Cogent-Sprint depeering
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/03/0143239

U.S. court throws out most software patents
http://www.itexaminer.com/us-court-throws-out-most-software-patents.aspx

MySpace and MTV monetize pirated content With Auditude
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/11/myspace-and-mtv.html

Amazon takes a stand to eliminate wasteful, hard-to-open gadget packaging
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/03/amazon-takes-a-stand-to-eliminate-wasteful-hard-to-open-gadget/

Technology voter guide
http://news.cnet.com/2009-1040-6247428.html

Space litter to hit Earth tomorrow
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/01/2010247

Voice mail

Tommy in Kingston - CueCat User

Mike in Mansfield - Problem with DTV converter box

Shane in Vegas - Chrome advertising returns

E-mail
After you install the leaked beta version of Windows 7 takes exactly 7.01 GB of space and BTW uses less memory 350MB RAM iddle after installation and 500 with 10 tabs of firefox open and a virus scan with Avst at the same time.

Allex from Romania

**********

On show 842, last caller mention decentralizing torrent server doesn’t
help anyone other than pirates. Well, as a Chinese I can tell you the
closest thing to “freedom of speech in china” is torrent. It bypass
the great firewall of china. And once torrent servers are
decentralized the cost of censorship will start to out-weight it’s
merits.

This is one of the reason why tech-savvy Chinese cringe when a
journalist claim “there is no free speech in china”. I mean, if they
don’t go to illegal downloading sites. How are they going to see
illegal free-speeches?

really, really love the show
J.Chen, the immigrant

**********

Yo buzz crew,

I was disappointed to see that you did not cover the rather large news of Ubuntu 8.10 coming out this past week, the newest version of the worlds most popular Linux distribution. I was sure you would mention it, if only so you could play the Linux chaser theme tune.

I have come to terms with the fact that you are obviously freedom haters who don’t want to give open source software like Ubuntu it’s due, but come on, at least play the linux theme tune. You know you want to.

James

**********

I am tired of hearing physical media is dead and Blu-ray is going nowhere. And I mean that in a polite way, I don’t like how tone can come across in an email.

Amazon isn’t the end-all be-all, but it is a good trend tracker….

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/electronics/172514/ref=pd_ts_e_nav

This top 25 list of DVD players show the top 5 sellers are Blu-ray players.

3rd Best selling electronic item overall is a Blu-ray player.

Prices will come down to meet a decent up-converting player, so people that want a bit better DVD player obviously is just getting a Blu-ray.

So many people don’t have broadband, don’t even know they can get shows on TV, they only know about youtube.

Blu-ray definitely has some life in it. I love digital distribution, but it has a LONG way to go to even hit the mainstream, and longer to supplany physical media.

Just my two cents.

Erick soon to be from Manhattan Beach

If both of them get you free Wi-Fi, which one would you rather have? Also in the news today, Google's Street View team doesn't care for a little turnabout, the patent process gets smarter thanks to the Web, and IMDB is now delivering movies and TV. Yeah, really. Maybe we're the only ones who thought it was weird. With special guest, Leo Laporte!

EPISODE 810

IMDb now serves full-length videos
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10042280-26.html

Everyone but Apple joins new 'buy once, play anywhere' group
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080915-everyone-but-apple-joins-new-buy-once-play-anywhere-group.html

Google audio search graduates to lab project
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10042536-93.html

T-Mobile’s Google-based phone nears
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122150409898737579.html

Street View operatives object to being snapped
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/16/street_view_crew_privacy/

Zune 3.0 to debut with ‘extra value meal’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10042174-75.html

Program brings Web’s collective wisdom to patent process
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/09/15/crowdsourcing.patents.ap/index.html

Porn passed over as Web users become social: author
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080916/wr_nm/internet_book_life_dc

VOICE MAIL
Lorenzo
What about Best Buy Digital Download service?

Kyle
Trapped in Facebook hell!

E-MAIL

Wally: I had a thought about why Podcaster was not allowed on the app store. I think the reason Podcaster was denied is not for the reason we think it is. When Apple said it was because “it duplicates iTunes Functionality”, I think they meant in a literal sense. If you think about this, the majority of podcasts are delivered as MP3’s. What format have the majority of online music stores been offering their music.. MP3.. All these online music stores would need to do to bypass the mobile iTunes store is give you a free RSS feed and a Web interface (either within Podcaster or their own modified variant). That’s exactly how Podcaster would duplicate mobile iTunes functionality.

Hey guys, I head you talking about Podcaster on the last episode and realized this was an application that I had to have in my collection. I knew it was asking for donation and figured I'd give it a whirl, see how well it worked, and maybe throw them $5 or $10. I went through the process of getting in the “Ad Hoc” network of the application and after receiving confirmation I was told I had to “donate” $10 before I could even try the application. I refuse to support developers who force donations down your throat to access their apps. I have donated multiple times to developers who just ask for it, as well as tried to donate to the iPhone Dev Team. In my humblest of opinions, forcing a “donation” out of your users is just as bad if not as worse as Apples literally shady confirmation process. Anyway, keep up the show, and I love the more regular occurrence of guest hosts.

~Jacob “The Under Appreciated Nerd” Tapp Phoenix, Ariz.

Hi JaMoTo (and appropriate suffix for whomever your additional co-host is),

In regards to Google’s plans to sail away from international law, I can understand how the idea that Google being above the law would be quite scary. They already have unprecedented control over our private data and although they currently do not have a remit to utilize it, this could change in the future.

However, for me there is one plus side to their potential untouchability. Being based in international waters would mean that the U.S. government would not be able to demand that Google hand over my (and your) private information under any counter-terrorist (or other) guise.

Is it wrong to trust Google more than the U.S. government? At least Google doesn’t care what I “shop privately” for.

Transatlantic love for the show,

Andrew the Medical Student from London

Hey Buzz people that are in studio today,

I’m writing in reference to episode 809 when you were talking about AT&T U-verse. U-Verse uses what is referred to as FTTN or “Fiber to the Node” in which, fiber is run to a node, and then from the node, users are connected by traditional copper cabling, thus limiting the potential throughput. Specifically, U-Verse isn’t really true fiber, its VDSL which stands for Very High Bitrate DSL.

This is completely different from Fios which offers FTTP, or “Fiber to the Premises”, which is a direct fiber line to your home. This is typically much faster and more reliable of a connection, and its what we think about when we think about fiber connections. The difference is, of course, that Fios or Fiber to the Premises, in general is extremely expensive in the “last mile”, and fiber to the node is relatively cheap in comparison, because the last mile is solved by traditional cabling that probably already exists or is much cheaper to roll out overall.

Also, the last statement Verizon made is that they do not plan on throttling or limiting Fios, so we’ll see how that works out, I hope they don’t. They really have no reason to, at least for a while. Their last mile problem is basically solved.

Hope that helps clear that up,

Love the show,

Max

The evil power of Dr. M is even greater than we thought...strong enough, in fact, to tarnish the shining reputation of the long-awaited Spore. Also in the news today, DVD ripping goes legit, a little too late, thanks to RealDVD, but we determine it's probably not worth getting sued over. And we put gurus against geniuses in a battle to the tech support death.
Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 804

Happy Birthday Google - 10
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=9930
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-09-06-google-ten-years_N.htm

DVD ripping goes legit with RealDVD
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10034540-1.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/technology/08dvd.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Gamers fight back against lackluster Spore gameplay, bad DRM
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080908-gamers-fight-back-against-lackluster-spore-gameplay-bad-drm.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/07/amazon-reviewers-clo.html

4,000 Anti-Scientology Videos Yanked From YouTube
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/09/08/0256208.shtml

Apple admits iPod is from 1970s U.K.
http://slashdot.org/articles/08/09/08/1343248.shtml
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/09/08/ipodlike-gadget-from.html

Microsoft “Gurus” coming to a store near you
http://www.dailytech.com/Microsoft+Gurus+Coming+to+a+Store+Near+You/article12887.htm

McAfee brings nearly instant malicious software updates
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10034741-83.html

New e-newspaper reader echoes look of the paper
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/technology/08ink.html
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-the-dream-lives-on-plasticlogics-e-newspaper-reader-esquires-e-ink-cove/
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/09/08/new-epaper-tech-to-b.html

Creating a ‘Facebook for spies’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10034509-93.html

VOICE MAIL

Joel Chandler
Demolition Man is here.

Remy
On the guest hosts.

Sgt. Wagner
ON Chrome's password storage.

E-MAIL

Hello, Buzz Crew!

I’ve been listening to the speculation about how hard it might be for Comcast to provide users with a bandwidth usage number and though I’d comment on a few realities. The idea that “they already have this data in a database with your account number because they assign your IP address” is just plain silly. Your IP address is irrelevant to the process. Carrier-class routers are amazingly powerful computers, but… the Comcast device that’s in a position to meter your usage is a fast but cheap and none-too-smart Layer 2 aggregating neighborhood switch modem that has a port physically connected to the cable that goes to your house. It knows your port number and not much else--even your IP address is assigned at a higher level by another device. The neighborhood switch isn’t primarily built for accounting--fast and cheap, remember?--and asking it to report very much info in real-time will blow its tiny mind.

Those port-level traffic counts have to be passed up to an accounting computer in batches--and not too often or for too many ports at once. Otherwise Comcast starts using up too much network bandwidth and router processing power for accounting, reducing what’s available to users.

And then the accounting computer has to correlate the neighborhood and port ID and traffic count data with the billing records to account for network changes, port reassignment and customer movement in the middle of the accounting period, and all that other boring real-world stuff. I’d guess that the only way it’s practical to do this for millions of users is an overnight mainframe batch run--and maybe not every night.

How many years did it take cell phone companies to get geared up to do a similar job and tell you *approximate usage as of a day or two ago? They don’t ever seem to tell you EXACTLY when the cutoff for the online > total is, and they never guarantee it will correlate 100 percent with your bill, do they?.

Certainly Comcast has an obligation to provide me with a usage meter if they’re going to cap my usage. No doubt they will--once they get their IT and Billing departments to catch up with the Grand Concept their executives decided was appropriate for the FCC. But give them a little time and recognize that it just might not be QUIE as simple as it looks.

Carl
Spokane, Wash.

Hey buzz-crew, long time listener Bob (from Michigan) here. I had an interesting experience today with Micro$oft and thought it deserved a rant. I sold my Xbox 360 via Craigslist, but forgot to delete my credit card information off of the console. I get billed $25 the next day from Microsoft. I rush to Microsoft’s Xbox Web site to cancel my account, but I can’t. I can’t even remove my credit card information! After wrestling my way through the tangled Webs of their customer service site, I ended up getting their 800 number. I immediately gave it a call and was put on hold. I talk to a girl after a few minutes and she transfers me to her supervisor. Ten minutes into this hold, I get charged again for $12.50 from Microsoft. That sunuvagun is still using my card! I finally get the supervisor, and after another long hold, she tells me she cannot refund any of the funds. Not even the funds that were charged during the ridiculous 45 minutes of waiting I did! To add insult to injury, she said she could only put a “hold” on the account and that my card could not be removed from the system for a billing cycle! GRRR, Molly, please back me up on this one.

ps. I’m happy I switched to Sony for my gaming needs.

Hello Jamoto,

I’ve been a long time listener and have heard you refer to the listeners of BOL as the “buzz army”. Well….we already have an army…the twit army.

Therefore I move that we adopt “The Buzz Force” or “The Buzz Air Force” moniker. I’m an Air Force Communications Officer and believe that the sophistication of the BOL audience lends itself to an elite Air Force rather than the a ground pounding Army (just kidding Leo).

Just a thought, keep up the great work and LOVE THE SHOW..

Brian, in O’Fallon IL.