Buzz Out Loud Podcast

First, apologies for the song that will be stuck in your head for at least a week. Blame the chat room. In the news today, the T-Mobile Sidekick outage, the ongoing Facebook outage, the IBM outage that briefly crippled Air New Zealand, and the unbelievable failure that is the PSP Go launch. It's a fun show.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

T-Mobile: We probably lost all your Sidekick data
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/10/t-mobile-we-probably-lost-all-your-sidekick-data/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10372521-1.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10372525-56.htm
http://www.hiptop3.com/archives/what-caused-the-sidekick-fail/
http://samj.net/2009/10/if-its-dangerous-its-not-cloud.html

Downed Facebook accounts still haven’t returned
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10372417-36.html

Amateur’ IBM brings down Air New Zealand
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/12/ibm_new_zealand/

PSP Go launch has become a nightmare for gamers, Sony
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/10/psp-go-launch-has-become-a-nightmare-for-gamers-sony.ars

FCC to investigate Google Voice call blocking
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/09/AR2009100904385.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10372521-1.html

Study: 54 percent of companies ban Facebook, Twitter at work
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/10/study-54-of-companies-ban-facebook-twitter-at-work/

BSA: 41 percent of software on personal computers is pirated
http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=8325

LG’s new twist on e-readers: Solar power!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10372744-1.html

Hadron Collider physicist arrested on terrorism charges
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10372398-71.html

VOICE MAIL
Anonymous Linux dude: how about a streamlined OS? #nerdsnort

E-MAIL
Hi Guys and Girls

This new Lightpeek standard sounds awesome but when you’re heads down, bum up in a dark corner because one cable is too short and the network, monitor, mouse and keyboard cables all look the same I think I’ll want to strangle someone. There’s a certain elegance in having a network cable that looks completely different to a DVI cable because my monitor doesn’t understand TCP/IP and my switch won’t go 1080p.

Cheers
Craig

**********

Hello Buzzies!

First: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, and Happy American Columbus Day!

On another note however I would like to say why the Amazon Kindle
sucks overseas. Don’t get me wrong I love the idea of the Kindle,
built in 3G, buy books as you go and it works everywhere! However if I
would like one in the Netherlands (and Europe for that matter) I have
to buy it from Amazon.com and I have to pay in American Dollars. Which
isn’t to bad, heck the Euro/Dollar exchange rate is awesome at the
moment. But here come the terrible parts:

Although Amazon says it works overseas you have to keep this in mind:

- Ships with American Plug/adapter
- 20$ Shipping
- 60$ import costs
- Works through ATT Roaming partners, but you don’t have any roaming
costs (that is what Amazon says, they say US customers overseas pay
1.99$, but say other countries are free). In reality though, the books
(which you also have to pay in American $) are more expensive in the
European Kindle store than in the US kindle store.
- Newspapers are full price, but don’t get delivered with Images and
charts (saving bandwidth)
- The blogs feature is disabled (couldn’t care less)
- The experimental browser is disabled (yes this does suck)

The part that hurts most is the ‘premium’ on books even though Amazon
says no roaming fees (and don’t give the ‘tax’ excuse, because if that
is the case, there would be a Kindle store for every country, instead
of just for Europe. And the part that if I want a newspaper I don’t
get the pretty images and graphs. What’s the point of a newspaper if
they can’t show me any Pie charts?

Amazon did a lousy job, and wants to be easy by making a deal with ATT
Worldwide instead of making deals with carriers in every country. What
they probably should have done was introduce a Wi-Fi Kindle. And
release Kindles with 3G when they had deals in those countries.

I also came across another artist that is spreading his music through the Radiohead model, 'pay what you want $0 is good too'. The artist name is 'Yellowgold' never heard anything about him, but his new album 'The Mellower' is awesome! You can find it here: http://www.yellowgoldmusic.com/ . Good stuff!

Just my 2 cents!

Alex

**********

Barnes and Noble creating an android based e-book reader? More like Barnes and Noble creating the first Android based tablet. Google not only gets it’s hand into the e-book market after they have digitized books, but they also get the ability to test and review their android software on non-phone hardware. You can almost guarantee this device will not only read books but allow users to listen to mp3s, browse the Internet via wifi/chrome, and download all apps from the android marketplace. Knowing Google, they will also include you-tube functions as well as the ability to post on blogs and subscribe to rss feeds.

Ccarline

Or perhaps we should call it OLPC. One laptop per criminal. The idea of letting prisoners use computers is good, but fraught with peril. Also, we start a new PSA campaign where Billy learns that e-mail can be dangerous. And that's one to grow on.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

PSP Go arrives, Sony launches 100 games
http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=105D7C9D-1A64-67EA-E402F9BD3FAEBCDC

Google Wave First Look
http://lifehacker.com/5370738/google-wave-first-look

Google Wave invites for sale on eBay
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/10/01/google-wave-invites-for-sale-on-ebay/

Nvidia’s Fermi takes direct aim at supercomputing, Intel
http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/10/nvidia-takes-direct-aim-at-intel-supercomputing-with-fermi.ars

OTOY’s Jules Urbach: Cloud computing ‘threatens’ game consoles, Blu-ray, PCs
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=3368

Google releases Android 1.6; Palm unleashes WebOS 1.2
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/10/google-releases-android-16-palm-releases-webos-12.ars

Apple and Google breaking up over iPhone maps?
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/172951/apple_and_google_breaking_up_over_iphone_maps.html
http://blogs.computerworld.com/14835/apple_purchased_mapping_company_in_july_to_replace_google

Twitter to launch user-created Follow Lists
http://mashable.com/2009/09/30/twitter-lists/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10364831-26.html

U.S. urges ‘cyber hygiene’ effort
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8279867.stm

Wireless network modded to see through walls
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/10/01/1321212/Wireless-Network-Modded-To-See-Through-Walls

Convicted hacker left in charge of prison computer system
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/09/27/conputer-meltdown-115875-21703149/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/29/inmate_hacker/

VOICE MAIL
Ian about Onlive on Uverse

Keith in Georgia wonders how ATT has enough bandwidth to make us of OnLive

E-MAIL
Hey BOL,

In episode 1072 you played RougeTess’s voicemail regarding PayPal security
using the keychain security key. I jumped on the bandwagon early, and have
had one since they were introduced.

I hate to say it, but this cool little gizmo does not provide as much
security as it seems at first glance. Sometime between when I got mine
almost two years ago and now, PayPal totally neutered the functionality by
providing a “I don’t have it with me” bypass link, where you can supply
your credit card number, checking account number, or *gasp*, answer a
traditional pre-defined security question.

Yes, it’s better than username/password alone, but it’s not as good as it
used to be or could be. And it’s definitely not true second-factor
authentication.

–Brad in Victorville

**********

Hey BOLers, James the field engineer from Michigan. In episode 1074
you mentioned seeing modern day tech in the new Star Trek movie. Well
I embarrassed my wife and impressed my twelve year old when I saw two
of the above Symbol M2004 hand scanners on the bridge of the
Enterprise! My son was even more impressed when I showed him one I
keep as a spare in my service truck. Now we just use them to ring up
customers at our chain of gas stations but I guess in the “future”
you’ll be able to fly a starship with them, my son can’t wait. Love
the show. James

**********

Hey Buzz Out Loud Crew,

I just wanted to send you a short message. I am a Palm Pre user, and I first started listening to your show when I downloaded a Homebrew app called drPodder. It monitors the RSS feeds for lots of podcasts and can be set to auto-download and queue up podcasts for later listening. One of the default podcasts for this application happens to be your show. This is what got me hooked on your show, and probably did the same to a number of other Palm Pre users.

Thanks for carrying news regarding the Palm Pre, I love hearing the occasional blurb about technology I use. Love the show, please keep up the good work!

Sincerely,
Darin Boots

We finally get to the bottom of why Apple rejected the Google Voice app, how not to get caught for being a thief over Facebook, and we have plenty of sympathy for Palm. Also, Rafe hates libraries and culture.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Google Voice rejection came from the top at Apple
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/fcc-releases-confidential-details-of-google-voice-app-rejection.ars
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10356432-265.html

Facebook break leads to burglary suspect
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10356117-71.html

Swedish group calls gaming addiction a ‘pandemic’ threat
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10356098-62.html

Test-drive: Office Web Apps technical preview
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10355890-250.html

Palm losses mount despite the Pre
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10356044-266.html

Palm abandons Windows Mobile
http://www.precentral.net/palm-abandons-windows-mobile

PSP minis lack network features for fast approval time
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/17/psp-minis-lack-network-features-for-fast-approval-time/

New Digsby comes clean
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10356011-12.html

Verizon boss hangs up on landline phone business
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/verizon-boss-hangs-up-on-landline-phone-business/

iPhone case that reduces radiation
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/09/17/new-60-iphone-case-apparently-reduces-radiation-by-60/

Google patented reading lists
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_invented_reading_lists.php
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7,590,691.PN.&OS=PN/7,590,691&RS=PN/7,590,691

Gene Roddenberry’s Mac Plus is coming up for auction
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/09/09/18/0056220/Gene-Roddenberrys-Mac-Plus-Is-Coming-Up-For-Auction

Voice mail
Brian from Albany on Google making toys for geeks only

Mike from Irvine on Bing Bing Bing

E-mail
Hey Buzz Crew,

If anyone out there want to upgrade to Windows 7 and is a student (valid .edu address, but theoretically has to provide proof of enrollment on demand), you can get either Home Premium or Professional (upgrade versions) for just $30!

http://www.Win741.com

At first it may seem like only Home Premium is offered, but if you click "I need to join my network's domain" at the bottom of the page, you will be presented with Professional. Which is one of very few reasons anyone would need Professional anyway, though they could make it a bit more obvious.

Thought your listeners should hear about this!

LTS,
-Nick the Biochemistry Grad Student

**********

Honestly I don’t understand why people aren’t talking about this more.
Libraries are a community resource of technology and learning and easy to take for granted.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/09/sign-of-the-times-philadelphias-public-library-to-close.html

On the one hand it’s great to see up close what the Geekthelibrary.org (supported by the Gates Foundation) does to support public libraries.
On the other, it’s hard to believe that America’s first library, set up by Ben Franklin, can close with very little fanfare.

Maybe Buzztown can start a campaign or just shout from Twitter or Facebook or their blogs, so this tragedy can get a voice?

Thanks-
Sheala, GA

**********

I was listening to episode 1065 and you talked about Google putting out a printer for their online books.

I work in academia and I think this is bass-ackwards. It seems like they’re trying to make books more like PDFs (or whatever format) when what I want is for PDFs to be more like books. Writing in the margins and stuff like that is great, but I can’t keep 1000 books in my laptop case, or easily search them all for a word, or quickly sort them by publication date, etc.

Shouldn’t we work at bringing desired features to the new technology not adding features to the old technology? Let’s make PDFs have the features we love about books. Otherwise it feels like adding a hand crank starter to the engine on a Prius.

Just my thoughts.

RTJ

Who has the most perfect balls in the world? Metrologists. No, seriously. They do. You should see the pictures. This is serious science, people, so quit your childish snickering. In actual news for the day, Apple misses its chance to make iTunes the world's music software (again) by blocking Pre syncing with its latest iTunes update, and Apple actually called Microsoft to demand that it take down its Laptop Hunters ads. Wow. Talk about balls.

EPISODE 1020

New Pre owners can get the old version of iTunes if they want
http://www.oldapps.com/itunes.php

A better solution for Pre users might be DoubleTwist
http://www.doubletwist.com/dt/Home/Index.dt

First Microsoft retail stores to open this fall
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10287499-56.html
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=3358

Apple demands Microsoft stop its Laptop Hunters ads
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/07/apple-demanded-microsoft-to-stop-its-laptop-hunters-ads.ars
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10288022-37.html

Apple drops to fifth in U.S. computer sales
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/07/15/idc.prelim.q2.2009/

Debbie Downer BBC reports "Dip in global computer shipments"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8153651.stm

While perky CNET says "PC market improvement on the horizon"
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10287728-92.html
http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/07/intels-gain-dells-pain-as-pc-market-coasts-along-bottom.ars

Dell Consumer Products VP hints at a smartphone
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/15/dell-consumer-products-vp-hints-at-a-smartphone/

Google's chiller-less data center
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/07/15/googles-chiller-less-data-center/

Sony's new development strategy for PSP
http://www.develop-online.net/news/32374/Exclusive-Sonys-new-development-strategy-for-PSP

Hybrid drivers are a lousy insurance risk
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090715-713631.html

Navy spends $33 million on hybrid for the high sea
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/07/16/035245/Navy-Spends-33-Million-For-Hybrid-of-the-High-Sea

Houston, we erased the Apollo 11 tapes
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106637066

VOICEMAIL
Paul from Verizon on the Verizon app store

E-MAIL
I thought I would follow up with you guys on this. Not only did Comcast refuse to take a firm "No" for an answer, their Twitter rep decided to access my account without permission anyways and post about it on Twitter... I'm flabbergasted.

Love the Show,
The Rocco

On Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 8:18 PM, Rocco Augusto wrote:
Hey Gang,

So I was complaining about how my Comcast service blows on Twitter today, like I always do, and I received a tweet from someone from their public relations team wanting to know if they could help in fixing my problem. I would describe the conversation but I figured it would be better to just let you read the transcript:

therocco: I love how without fail my Internet dies for 5 minutes everyday at 6:15PM. I hate you #comcast.

ComcastBonnie: @therocco can i help?

therocco: Unless you have a magic switch you can flip to not make my service blow, I highly doubt there is anything you can do @ComcastBonnie

ComcastBonnie: @therocco you'd be surprised

therocco: @ComcastBonnie I would be surprised as my neighbors and I have been filling complaints for over a year and service STILL drops constantly

ComcastBonnie: @therocco DM the phone# we have on file for you so i can check the node you're on. prepare to be amazed

therocco: While I appreciate your good intentions @ComcastBonnie... there is no way I'm DMing my phone or any information to anyone over the Internet.

ComcastBonnie: @therocco google me :) bonnie smalley check nytimes article

therocco: I shouldn't have to Google you, @ComcastBonnie. If the problem is so easy to fix I shouldn't have to turn to a public forum to get help.

therocco: @ComcastBonnie If #comcast cared about fixing the problem it would have been fixed a year ago, not when I complain on Twitter.

therocco: @ComcastBonnie and if Twitter is the key to getting help with a #comcast problem, why the heck do you have a support line?

ComcastBonnie: @therocco if you don't want the help, you can just say no :) i'm here to fix the weird issues, which sounds like your node's problem

therocco: @ComcastBonnie If getting help from #comcast means sending my personal information over Twitter's insecure network, I'll pass. Thanks anyway

-----

Am I the only one that is annoyed by these big name companies trying to offer support for customers problems over Twitter instead of taking care of the problems in-house? Can you imagine how many people are out there daily sending their personal information over Twitter, most likely not over SSL, to Comcast's crackerjack "support staff" because they can't get help over the phones? Is this Comcast's first *INSERT BAD WORD HERE* day on the Internet?! Have they never even read their own support disclaimers on their site and every other site out there that states to never send your personal information to ANYONE over the net?! I mean, really?!

I 100% acknowledge that I am most likely overreacting but you would think that when you spend over $100 a month for their unreliable service that they would at least humor you and pretend to fix problems instead of passing the buck off to a select group of "problem solvers" that spend their days trolling Twitter trying to mitigate annoyed tweets from dissatisfied. I officially declare shenanigans on Comcast.

INSERT MOLLY RANT THEME HERE

Love the Show,
The Rocco

**********

Dear Tom,

After witnessing Molly and Cooley selflessly sit down with fan, after
fan, after fan at B Bar, getting their pictures taken in a veritable
sweatshop of memories, I felt I should probably do something nice for
them. I don't know what I am going to do for Molly, but it seemed the
least I could do for Cooley would be to send his name on a vacation.
I'm sure you'll want to pass this along to him.

Your bon ami,

-Aaron

Brian Cooley... your name will be carried to Mars on a microchip carried by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover.

**********

Who made perfect balls out of silicone? Metrologist!!!
http://gizmodo.com/5315383/worlds-most-perfect-pair-of-ballsyes

Muahahahaha!

Javier Ardila

**********

Is Woodford Reserve better than Nob Creek?

Lee in Boston

NASA may have found the lost moon tapes and our best hope is for some kind of remix. Also, Molly tells us all to beware the sticky death roller if we use the dead-fly-powered alarm clock. We also still don't have a sponsor. In case you were curious.

EPISODE 1007

Steve Jobs returns to work as Apple CEO after medical leave (thanks, Nate Lanxon on Twitter!)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSy0WezEGvvY

Sony considers adding phone to PSP
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10274415-1.html?

Sony begins shipping PCs with Green Dam software installed
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218101773

Google mistook Jackson searches for Net attack
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06/29/003214/Google-Mistook-Jackson-Searches-For-Net-Attack

Amazon cuts off North Carolina affiliates
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06/26/172248/Amazon-Cuts-Off-North-Carolina-Affiliates

Keeping news of kidnapping off Wikipedia
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/technology/internet/29wiki.html

Reading machine to snoop on Web
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10274435-42.html

Universal phone charger deal done in Europe
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_8124000/8124293.stm

Lenovo expanding Del and Esc keys, nuking Caps Lock
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/28/lenovo-expanding-del.html

Has NASA Found the Lost Moon Tapes?
http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/06/28/186245/Has-NASA-Found-the-Lost-Moon-Tapes

VOICEMAIL
Dance in Boulder on Windows 7

E-MAIL
Dear Buzz Crew:

This is Siavash, alive and yet fighting.
You think airing trilogy of Lord of the Rings is a big thing? The channel 3 is going to AIR the whole Prison Break series, ha? What you have to say about that? I've heard it is 3 episode a day.
This is really stupid, let me tell you something, in Iran we have 7 channels over the air, analog and digital with standard definition, in Tehran less that 50% of people watch the Iranian TV and they mostly watch satellite TV. And most of the people have watched these movies and series on DVD, so who cares that they are aired on TV?
And there are some people like me that never watch Iranian TV. I don't have a antenna for Iran's TV , and I only watch satellite TV.( who chooses watching Mullahs instead of watching MTV?)
My source of movies and series are satellite TV and torrent download (sorry, but no copyright law here and I really love to watch the latest series and movies).
Series like Prison break, Lost, Heroes, Office, Friends, CSI , 90210 , 24 and etc are big hits and everyone watches them in DVD or downloaded Divx.

So, all I'm trying to say is that it does not matter if they air Lord of the Rings or Prison Break, because at least in Tehran no one cares and more than 60% percent or more don't watch any Iranian TV. We can buy a copied DVD for 2$ or an original one for 15$, now I buy BlueRay disks for 30$, why should we care what is one the TV when we can watch it with better quality and no censor?
They are doing anything they can to keep people off the streets but they can't, even one day marathon of Angelina Jolie movies can't do it.

Best Regards

Siavash

**********

It’s not enough that humans gave robots a place to congregate to plan our demise, now we’ve adapted them with the ability to extract fuel from the very nectar of life. All that innocent experimentation with fuel cells that run on blood has led to this, a flesh-eating clock. This prototype time-piece from UK-based designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau traps insects on flypaper stretched across its roller system before depositing them into a vat of bacteria. The ensuing chemical reaction, or “digestion,” is transformed into power that keeps the rollers rollin’ and the LCD clock ablaze. The pair offers an alternative design fueled by mice, another contraption whose robotic arm plucks insect-fuel from spider webs with the help of a video camera, and a lamp powered by insects lured to their deaths with ultraviolet LEDs. Man, this is so wrong it has to be right.

Michael

**********

The crew at BOL:

You had a round of derision for english units on the replacement for the
space shuttle. I’m glad to hear that you will be reporting the weight
of netbooks in grams, not pounds. The screen sizes will no longer be in
inches. Your CD’s and DVD’s will no longer be 5 1/2 inches. You won’t
be reporting how many pounds you lost on your last diet, and you will
report that the iPhone masses 0.135 kg instead of weighing 4.8 ounces.

As a practicing engineer (29 years), I have an intuitive understanding
of my designs in inches. I can convert to metric easily when needed,
but I have a storehouse of experience in English units. Unfortunately,
I’m passing that on to newly minted engineers, as well.

Charlie

Yes, as a matter of fact, it IS rocket science.

**********

I know one can’t predict the exact date of any given episode due to holidays, special episodes and what have you, but based on the average number of podcasts per month over year in the 2006 – 2008 period, I believe I can make at least a rough projection. I am greatly anticipating Buzz Out Loud’s Millionth Episode in October of 6120, give or take a decade.

Love the show.
-Mark, the person.

We discover a great way to make omelets in a Ziploc bag, as well as rename the Netbook Guggenheimer and discover the cattle prods will soon be installed in your car. Oh, and Windows 7 is coming October 22.

Episode 988

Happy 25th birthday, Tetris
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10255013-17.html

PS3 motion controller may be the best game motion capture yet
http://gizmodo.com/5276068/ps3-motion-controller-may-be-best-game-motion-capture-yet

Complete E3 coverage
http://reviews.cnet.com/e3/

Federal antitrust probe targets tech giants, sources say
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/02/AR2009060203412.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10255478-92.html

Windows 7 to launch October 22
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10253924-56.html

Microsoft to use a new term for Netbook
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090602PD221.html

Microsoft won’t offer Windows for smartbooks
http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2009/060309-microsoft-wont-offer-windows-for.html

Study: P2P customers are Hollywood’s best friends--really!
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/study-p2p-customers-are-hollywoods-best-friend.ars

Opera passes iPhone to lead mobile-browser market
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE55171K20090602

Firefox 3.5 beta boosts open-video standard
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/06/02/2053236/Firefox-35-Beta-Boosts-Open-Video-Standard?from=rss

———————————————
Voice mail

Anonymous, what’s up with your game coverage

Patrick in NH about missed calls and omelets
http://www.mrbreakfast.com/superdisplay.asp?recipeid=1076

Sean in Boulder about search engines, and… why?

———————————————
E-mail
Aloha buzz crew, Paul in Hawaii again..

Saw this and thought of you:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/monticello-appeals-court-win.ars

I love it when competition wins and the “big boys” discover they don’t
have as much of a monopoly as they thought they had.

Love the show!
Scott

———————————————
Hi Buzz Crew,

I’d be interested to hear your views on this topic: is the prevalence and success of online gaming, e.g., xBox Live et al, going to lead to a decline in the use of, and hence research in, AI?

I imagine that it is a lot more cost effective to crowd source AI, i.e., use other online gamers each of whom pays a subscription, than developing the necessary software in-house. I also imagine that the games industry is a major driver of research in AI.

While studying AI in college, I heard many predictions, most of which I felt were grossly optimistic, as to when “true AI” would be achieved. If the interest in the topic is waning then this Holy Grail can only move farther out of reach.

Best regards,

Barry, Ireland

———————————————

There have been biometric sensors in pilots helmets for at least 25 years.
The sensor determine if the pilots eyes glaze over. At times the pilots pull a high “G” turns and pass out. The sensor then takes over control of the plane and flies it until the pilot wakes up.

Sounds like certain CNET correspondents need the same device, but attached to a high voltage whoopee cushion.

Charles
Sioux Falls, SD

———————————————
1,000th 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. 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 1,000th episode as well as post them in the Wiki.

Want to get involved in the production of the show? Find your favorite BOL moment, clip it out of the MP3, or video, and send us the moment. For video, please upload to a video hosting service and send us a link. Email either to buzz@cnet.com

EPISODE 853

Microsoft launches online store: Is there deeper meaning here?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=10849
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10097239-75.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/153874/microsoft_opens_online_store_im_not_impressed.html

PSP outsells PS3 and Nintendo (Wii and DS) outsell anything you can think of
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081114-october-npd-sales-the-console-market-is-all-about-pricing.html

Nintendo’s Wii Speak a new front in war against used games
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081113-nintendos-wii-speak-a-new-front-in-war-against-used-games.html

Google brings speech recognition to phones
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/technology/internet/14voice.html
http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2008/11/14/google-iphone-app-already-lists-voice-function-but-its-not-there/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10092525-2.html?tag=mncol;title

Universal Music Group: We're still selling tunes, amazingly
http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20081114/universal-music-group-were-still-selling-tunes-amazingly/

Obama to deliver weekly address via YouTube
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10097321-38.html

Lawmaker plans bill on Web neutrality
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE4AC7SU20081114
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081114-is-government-regulation-needed-to-ensure-net-neutrality.html

GirlInYourShirt: $75 buys your start-up marketing for a day
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/13/girlinyourshirt-75-buys-your-startup-marketing-for-a-day/

DNA strands modified into tiny fiber-optic cables
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/14/135213

Purified urine to be astronauts’ drinking water
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE4AD3MB20081114#

Voice mail
Eric from Michigan: Wii Fit!

Chris from Austin: the girl and the netbook

E-mail

This is Kevin Yeaux from openSUSE again. We’re on our way to our first
release candidate for openSUSE 11.1 on November 27th, but there was some
other big news today: Banshee, the open-source music player sponsored by
openSUSE/Novell, just released it’s 1.4 version.

The biggest news in here is for owners of the T-Mobile G1 Android phone:
full support for the phone’s music playing capabilities. Full automatic
or manual synchronization, cover art, and the ability to import music
purchased on the Amazon MP3 store into your computer.

The other major news is that there is a beta release of Banshee 1.4 for
Mac OS X. Also included are many areas of UI polish and bugfixes.

Banshee is a Mono-based open-source media player that supports music,
movies, podcasts, features Last.fm integration, and more. Banshee is the
default music player for openSUSE.

For more info, see http://www.Banshee-Project.org and
http://abock.org/2008/11/13/banshee-14-hits-the-streets-packed-with-awesome/

Thanks, and *love* the show, ya’ll.
–
Kevin

**********

I think I can explain why RIM went with the suretype keyboard on the new BlackBerry Storm. I have the Pearl, which has the same double lettered keyboard.
I can type so much faster on this phone than I can on any other; even my friends with full QWERTY phones can’t nearly keep up with me. And I think I know why: You can just hit the general direction of the key you want, the area you are aiming for is twice the size of a normal key. The phone software does an excellent job of guessing what you mean, and it learns new words as you type. It also has the added bonus of doing punctuation for you! On a touchscreen, that would be even more usefful.

Good job!
Ryan from Fresno

**********

This is in response to the netbook email you guys received in episode 851. Upon hearing the email, I recalled a recent Kotaku.com article (http://kotaku.com/5083584/the-number-one-location-for-portable-gaming-is-home). I wouldn’t be surprised if people bought these netbooks and just used them around the house. I think Kotaku puts it best saying ” ‘portable’ can be defined as ‘will work on the toilet or in bed’ “.

Love the show! Not a long-time listener, but hope to be a… future long-time listener…?

-Alex M.
Berkley, MI

**********

In addition to having a trademark on a word (CBS ) or a logo (think about the CBS Eye) you can also protect what is called Trade Dress . Remember this branch of law is about protecting indicators of source-that is the mark by which consumers know your products from someone else’s. Pretty much anything that can be tied to a specific good or service, or a source of those goods and services, is protectable. That includes how that good or service looks/is packaged. Need easy examples?

Think about how all McDonalds look the same on the inside. Or how, even without the label, you’d know what a Coke bottl e looks like (or a Mrs. Butterworths for that matter.) These aren’t names or logos per se, but you’d know what the goods/services were anyway. This Trade Dress can apply to both the packaging of the goods, or the goods themselves. Usually the Office will not say something is inherently distinctive (and instantly protectable under TM law) but will require a showing of acquired distinctiveness (meaning you have to show that consumers have come to associate the trade dress with your products only).

Now I know what you’re thinking-isn’t it incredibly dangerous to grant Trademark protection to how a good is shaped etc? Isn’t there a possibility that the Office would be granting a Patent in perpetuity for a design or invention that should only be protected by Patent’s limited term? And you’re right-it is tricky business. This is why the good people at the USPTO get paid to do what they do. It is a very tricky job to separate those elements of packaging/the goods that are protectable to those that are functional or patentable etc-but this is what is done. It is incredibly complex at times and would bore the Buzz audience beyond repair to explain it in full detail-so go look it up if you want to know more.

So let’s get back to Lego-Apparently they were granted a EU Trademark for the design of their blocks (which is to say that the EU office originally thought that there was something about the Lego block in its appearance that made it distinct from other building blocks and that consumers would recognize it as a lego block based on its shape alone). Mega Block , which brought the cancellation suit, must have said something like “wait a minute! This a patent/functional thing and the EU should have never granted protection for this design. We should be able to make competing blocks and the protection is baring us from doing so.”

(For a point of reference think about how the coke bottle, while protected, doesn’t prevent Pepsi from putting soda in a bottle the way that the protection here might prevent Mega Block from making toys.)

What has happened is that that court has agreed and cancelled the protection for Lego. This will get appealed, clearly, and we’ll have to see what happens.

Also-this analysis involved a little guesswork because I”m not that familiar with how EU trademark law works-but it works roughly the same.

For the record-I didn’t find any trade-dress protection for the Lego block in the US.

-Anon.

Several organizations, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (aka EFF), sent public letters asking the broadcast networks and YouTube to ease up on the copyright takedown notices. Maybe this campaign season will help shed some light on the issues with the way the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is implemented... as long as it's fixed for all of us and not just politicians. We also get into Sony's new, harsh terms of service, as well as LaLa's move to put your music in the clouds.
Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 835

Groups asks YouTube, networks to cool it with political takedown notices
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10070635-38.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081020-fixing-dmca-takedown-problems-through-shaming-legal-reform.html

Sirius/XM: 15 *years* before they can merge their technologies? (Meanwhile, two satellite systems continue with wasteful overlap.)
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081020/FREE/810209989/1530/FREE

Big Brother is listening (and grabbing): Sony’s new PS3 ToS
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081020-big-brother-is-watching-and-listening-sonys-new-ps3-tos.html

Never mind the radiation: fear the cell phone’s nickel
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081021-never-mind-the-radiation-fear-the-cell-phones-nickel.html

Keyboard sniffers to steal data
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7681534.stm

Lala's spectacular new music service
http://technologizer.com/2008/10/20/lalas-spectacular-new-music-service/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10071094-93.html

Canadian pol: broadband not a luxury, but basic human right
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081020-canadian-pol-broadband-not-a-luxury-but-basic-human-right.html

Hardcore computer bringing oil submersion cooling to the masses
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/21/hardcore-computer-bringing-oil-submersion-cooling-to-the-masses/
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/20/1825211

Sony “looking into” PSP-3000 screen-interlacing problems
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/21/sony-looking-into-psp-3000-interlacing-problems/

Researchers discover the most creative time of day
http://idle.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/20/1652246

VOICEMAIL

Anonymous
What is all this fascination with what you’re doing?

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew (and guest)
In regards to yesterdays episode, 834, about Little Big Planet, I’m not sure it was a mistake on the developers part to put the particular song, Tapha Niang, into the game. It’s a beautiful song and they may have just seen it as such. The musician is Toumani Diabate, who is Muslim. His music is widely available and I found the controversial song on iTunes. Will it be pulled from iTunes?

This is not the fist time that sacred Koran text has been injected into video games. In 1998 Zelda: Ocarina of Time; contained a musical track with Islamic phrases, but was pulled from later shipments by Nintendo. Zack & Wiki back in 2007 had Koran phrases removed. I think Call of Duty 4 had some stuff that was objectionable by Muslims, but it was removed as well.
Things might get lost in translation if developers use real-world ideologies and political/religious struggles and real-world places as part of their content. Zombies, aliens, and super-sonic hedgehogs tend not to be easily offended .
Luv da sho!

Vic the Video Game Artist

**********

Talk about in-the-wild, I saw a non Steve Woz segway rider in the wild this past weekend in NYC. I also saw him run over someone’s foot in a crosswalk and the victim shaking his fist and cussin’ in the wild, although sadly, the cussin’ and fist shakin’ is far from rare in NYC.

Love the show…

Charles from Conn.

**********

Hey there JaMoTo & Guest,
There’s no shortage of comments on BoL about Ohio’s uh, irregular voting system. And several months ago Molly put out a request for tech savvy Ohioans to volunteer their services. Well, last week I got the call from the board of elections accepting my request to help. So I’ll be a tech rover for a local (read: uber-rural) precinct troubleshooting voting machines and making sure that things go as smoothly as possible. Thank you for pointing that issue out (although strange to have my civic duty nudged by a West Coast tech podcast). Just wanted you to know that the BoL community is doing our part. Love the show.

Luke in Ohio

**********

Refereing to #830 and the MacBook video:
I'm several episodes back, AND I stopped in the middle of the episode to write this, so I apologize if it's already been established. Machine shops are dirty and greasy!
I visit many machine shops and even the cleanest ones (which are usually a Japanese run plant) are still greasy and dirty. I just watched the Mac video and nothing stood out as being filthy at all.

Cooley mentioned Intel or Asus factories being completely clean. Manufacturing of ICs is completely different then metal manufacturing factories. You HAVE to have grease and coolant in those types of environments. Otherwise all the equipment would rust and seize up. If Cooley's never seen a factory that looked like that, tell him to watch How It's Made on the science channel and look for a product that is manufactured from metal.

P.S. I've ONLY been in factories that look like the one in that video

Greg
NOVA

**********

I’m getting a little worn out by the MacBook Air hate, recalling a
recent nasty comment about the MBA being for “Starbucks posers,” or
something to that effect!…Me? Don’t love Starbucks, do love my
MBA. I’m a bike commuter and gave up a new MacBook for the MBA because
of the significant weight savings and a form factor that is very
comfortable on my back (it’s really smooth and rounded–that’s nice!).
So, it isn’t the very fastest computer, nor the one with the longest
battery life … does every new car have to be the fastest? Does every
new car have to have the best gas mileage (well, maybe these days)?

For a full size, beautiful-screened, full-function work computer with
a great OS that I *will* carry with me everywhere (vs. *have to
carry*) there doesn’t seem to be any competition. Not Netbooks, or
Windows laptops with vista on ‘em.

Granted, my MBA was not bought for full-price (Tom’s suspicion borne
out), but could have been: My company paid 1K for it; I paid the
balance, which worked out to 300 more bones. I might have paid the
balance on the full price, if necessary!

Hate the hatin’, love the show,

Dave in Palo Alto, Calif.

EPISODE 823

Steve Jobs heart attack… not
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10057521-37.html

Music publishers keep same download rate, Apple keeping iTunes open
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/10/music-publishers-keep-same-download-rate-apple-keeping-itunes-open-aapl-
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081002-royalty-rate-stays-same-for-itunes-other-download-services.html

Microsoft gives users 6 months longer to flee from Vista
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/03/windows_xp_recovery/

Cybercriminals syndicating Google Trends keywords to serve malware
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1995&tag=nl.e540

South Korea’s free computer-game business model hits the U.S.
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/02/2149239

Sega to launch PSP beater in 2009
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/10/03/sega_vision/

Linux rescues battery life on Vista notebooks from Dell
http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/03/057200

Hands on with Sony’s new PRS-700 digital reader
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10057331-1.html

Oops I’m Late’ phones ahead for you
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10057264-2.html

Bank robber hires decoys on Craigslist, fools cops
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10057472-36.html

VOICEMAIL
Mike: CDMA SIM cards

Dan from Ohio: How are they tracking these Firefox downloads?

FORUMS

Control music with your brain--need I say more?
by benofsky–2008 - 10/1/08 4:19 p.m.

Gizmodo in Australia has an interesting article about a company that is producing a type of headband/music-player which will read your brain waves and play music that is appropriate for your mood. Of course, currently they’re using an audio format (MXP4), which allows for multiple versions of the same song, such that they can shift the version of the song depending upon your mood. It doesn’t seem a far cry away to have such a player selecting music based upon your mood instead, however!

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/10/musinaut_music_player_djs_music_according_to_your_brainwaves-2.html

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6035_102-0.html?forumID=97&threadID=310684

E-MAIL
I became so enraged by Molly’s little rant about the removal of
streaming content on Netflix, that I signed on to leave them a nasty-
gram. But guess what? The missing seasons of both The Office and
Heroes are back for online streaming. Maybe they were just doing some
maintenance. Or…maybe they heard you, Molly!

Richard
Washington, D.C.

**********

Hey Jamoto +1,

About yesterday’s discussion about disappearing Netflix content: I had started season 1 of 30 Rock last weekend. It showed up in my queue with a note that said it was available until October 1. My guess is that it wasn’t a Netflix decision, it wasn’t related to the added content, and since the season premiere is at the end of the month, the suits in charge probably think scarcity will drive up sales on iTunes. *cough, torrent, cough*

[insert molly rant here]

love the show.
engnr_chik from the chat

**********

Hey Jamoto,

Thursday, after the story about Aussie’s phones having the wrong time,
Molly uttered the melodic universal mark of failure: Wah waah. Anybody
know the origin of that utterance? Perhaps a Vaudeville trombonist? I
ask because I occasionally use it myself, and my five-year-old son has
*hilariously* picked up on it.

“Dad, can I play the Wii?!”
“We’re about to leave. There’s no time.”
“Wah wah waah.”

While writing this e-mail, I’ve come up with a great name for it: The Fail Wail.

Joe

**********

Hey, a little well actually,

You guys had a little confusion about the resolution of the camera in the Nintendo DSi.

The DSi has two cameras, one on the outside that is 3 megapixels, as well as another inside on the hinge that is VGA, so 0.3 megapixels. (I thought of attaching an image, but i realize you guys could Google one faster than you could open an attachment…)

Anyways, love the show

Faiz