Buzz Out Loud Podcast

An analyst from Morgan Stanley asserts that Apple would sell more iPhones if it offered the phone on more carriers. Really? Wow. We also have an example of a church leader misusing the prefix "cyber." But that's not as crazy as IBM taking on Google. Or is it?

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Adobe pushes Flash video on mobile devices
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10367061-64.html
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/05/flash-10-1-announced-for-just-about-anything-with-a-screen-webo/

Vonage app available for iPhone, BlackBerry
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10367280-17.html

Marketplace is live on Windows Mobile 6.5 phones
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/05/windows-marketplace-goes-live-for-6-5-phones/
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/10/05/htc-pure-and-tilt-2-bring-windows-mobile-6-5-to-atandt/
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12261_7-10367154-10356022.html

Windows 7 to usher in crush of cheap laptops
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10366950-64.html

Hidden fees discovered for “free” Windows 7 upgrade
http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/10/05/1242259/Hidden-Fees-Discovered-For-Free-Windows-7-Upgrad

IBM takes on Google with new Webmail, calendaring solution
http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/10/ibm-takes-on-google-with-new-webmail-calendaring-solution.ars

Palm ignores USB group's warning, restores iTunes sync
http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20091003/palms-webos-1-2-1-restores-itunes-sync/

Will books be Napsterized?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/business/04digi.html

Apple could sell more iPhones by ending exclusive AT&T deal, analyst says
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9138941/Apple_could_sell_more_iPhones_by_ending_exclusive_AT_T_deal_analyst_says?taxonomyId=1

A CNET Conversation with Steve Ballmer
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30966_3-10366517-262.html

VOICE MAIL
Dwight the key grip on mesh nets and 4K shooting

E-MAIL
Hi Folks

I thought I’d share this example of Apple’s ever-reaching IP protection policies. Just as background, Woolworths is Australia’s largest retailer (80% of supermarket business goes through two companies here) and they have interests in electronics, hardware and liquor. This news made front page! I recall Fake Steve Jobs writing that Microsoft is like the Borg. I guess this suggests that perhaps Apple isn’t too far different.

http://www.theage.com.au/business/apple-bites-over-woolworths-logo-20091005-ghzr.html

Love the show!

-Alberto

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Hey guys, in regards to episode #1076 and the rant about the ‘cyber-’ prefix, I just wanted to throw this in. I’m LDS , and as I was listening to General Conference today (when the church leaders speak and church members worldwide tune in via TV, internet, radio, and satellite broadcasts), one of the speakers (they are almost all older men) mentioned ‘cybertechnology’. I thought ‘what??’

Anyway, I love ya, keep it going.

Hilton, from Layton Utah.

**********

Buzz Crew,

Great show!

You read an email on your October 1 show from James the Field Engineer about Star Trek Props. I worked in pumps/irrigation sales for a couple of years, and found that Infiltrator (http://www.infiltratorsystems.com/productline/h20_chambers.asp) -brand effluent-irrigation chambers are used very, very heavily in TNG, DS9 and Voyager series. They are used as wall support structures and decorations on walls in many diverse sets. As a guy who worked with the stuff every day, it became very distracting to see it in reruns. But it was clever, I’ll give ‘em that.

Also, in about every third episode, an away team would land on a planet, and in the settlement on that planet would be the same, identical trussed lighting-support structure (like for stadium lights, just lighter duty) right in the middle of the village. It would always go up past the camera frame and, presumably, be holding the set lights. But they made it look like it was the aliens’ normal technology. For every alien culture ever.

You won’t possibly care about this enough to read it on air, but Tom might get a kick out of it if he recognizes the Infiltrator linked stuff in various sizes on old STTNG reruns.

Scotty, Mechanical Engineer, Cupertino

LG announced that Orange in the U.K. will have the exclusive rights to sell the watch phone. But will anyone who isn't a d-bag want one? We discuss. We also get excited about RIM bringing full Flash to its phones. And Jason forgets how Tom's mind works.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

MySpace buys iLike and turns off automusic play on profiles
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10313405-36.html
http://www.appscout.com/2009/08/myspace_halts_instant_music_st.php

RIM planning on including full Flash and Silverlight support in browser
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/08/19/rim-planning-on-including-full-flash-and-silverlight-support-in-browser/

Orange gets exclusive rights to LG Watch Phone
http://newsroom.orange.co.uk/2009/08/20/orange-brings-the-watch-phone-exclusively-to-the-uk/

Twitter may have been denied patent for Tweet
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10313566-2.html

Ford EV’s will talk to the grid
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/08/fords-plug-in-hybrids-will-talk-to-electrical-grid.ars

Besieged by attacks, AT&T dumps celebrity hacker
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/19/att_dumps_kevin_mitnick/

Rural broadband = more jobs, better salaries
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/08/rural-broadband-more-jobs-better-salaries.ars

The Myth of the Isolated Kernel Hacker
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/08/20/1342223/The-Myth-of-the-Isolated-Kernel-Hacker?from=rss

NASA probe blasts 461 gigabytes of moon data daily
http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/08/20/1233258/NASA-Probe-Blasts-461-Gigabytes-of-Moon-Data-Daily

Forget doctors. Is there a laptop on board?
http://gizmodo.com/5341675/random-dude-with-a-laptop-called-up-to-cockpit-to-help-pilots-plot-a-new-course

Buzz Out Loud: The novel
http://socialnomics.net/

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

VOICE MAIL
Mike the Linux Developer – Why ARM is a bad idea for Linux

Dwight on URL shorteners. So what if they go belly up?

E-MAIL
Heys guys,

In episode 1044, you guys talked about the new PS3 slim. But for owners of the 1st and 2nd gen PS3, there is more reason to hold on to their chunkier PS3s. Even those looking to buy a new PS3, if you can, get the 1st or 2nd gen models. Here’s why:
The older models have 4, instead of just 2 USB ports. They even have SACD and built-in flash card readers, something the slim lacks. But most importantly they have either the Emotion Engine or Software Emulation to play PS2 discs, something new PS3 models like the slim can’t do. Also, the option to install Linux has been removed. And there’s just something about having a large shiny imposing PS3 that you simply can’t get with the smaller PS3.

The slim is more energy efficient though and you do get HDMI-CEC Bravia sync.

Devin from Sunny Curacao,
please mention my site: thenokiaguide.com

**********

Hi guys,

I dont understand you making this big deal about the artificial DNA.
This is complete useless for crimescenes. Why would anyone create fake
DNA to frame someone, when every person loses endless DNA-samples
every minute. Just get in someones Car or House and you have His DNA.
Or simpler – just touch him on His shoulder or wait Till He is
Standing up from a chair and you have REAL DNA. Unlike tom said, found
dna was never a sure thing – the framing issue was always there.

Bottom line : in court, fake dna changes nothing.

Lts

Alex from austria

**********

Hey ballers,

You want cheap windows 7? How about free? For all you students out there, many universities are signed up with MSDN Academic Alliance (http://www.msdnaa.net/search/schoolsearch.aspx) – this is a repository of microsoft software, including the windows 7 RTM, which you can get for nothing. I think whatever currency you convert that into, it’s going to stay pretty cheap. (You can also gain access to this by buying an IEEE membership, which is only $15.)
It’s a pretty sweet deal, and most people who have access to it have no idea it exists.
Spread the word,

Helen from NZ

Bing's June bump won't be enough to take significant share from Google according to JP Morgan analysts. Of course, analysts will say anything anyway. And apparently so will we. It's kind of a complaining podcast today, but we do find a shining example of good at the end.

EPISODE 1018

Netflix rises on speculation of Amazon.com buyout

Verizon to start it's own app store
http://gigaom.com/2009/07/13/verizon-to-mobile-developers-can-you-hear-me-now/
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/13/verizon-to-its-smartphones-thou-shalt-have-no-other-app-store-b/

RIM Launching A BlackBerry social network for venting tomorrow
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/13/rim-launching-a-blackberry-social-network-for-venting-tomorrow/

Windows Marketplace taking app submissions on July 27, coming to WinMo 6.0 and 6.1 later this year
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/14/windows-marketplace-taking-app-submissions-on-july-27-coming-to/

JP Morgan survey shows Bing won't gain much against Google
http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-survey-confirms-bing-will-bomb-2009-7
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10285524-2.html

U.K., not North Korea, source of DDOS attacks, researcher says
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9135492/U.K._not_North_Korea_source_of_DDOS_attacks_researcher_says

First portable HD Radio on the way, and it's cheap
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10284790-1.html

Swiss Postal Service lets users check snail mail online
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/07/swiss-postal-service-lets-users-check-snail-mail-online.ars

NASA has the lost tapes
http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/13/2342220/NASA-Has-the-Lost-Tapes

Photos: Paws-on with the Pet's Eye View Cam
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/0,39029552,49302958,00.htm
http://www.mr-lee-catcam.de/cc_index_en.htm

Make sure to check out Dan Lueders' remix of "In The Chatroom" at the end of today's episode! It's pretty awesome.

VOICE MAIL
Ted in Farmington on how downloading could show as streaming

Jim the SysAdmin on Google's plan

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew!

Molly, this is specially for you. On his last encyclical letter, Pope Benedict XVI talked about the "unduly rigid assertion of the right to intellectual property, especially in the field of health care."

In a way, it's a holy rant... check it out:

http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/07/07/pope-ipr/
http://legalpad.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/07/things-the-pope-doesnt-like-poverty-injustice-ip-lawyers.html
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html

All the best,

Henrique from Brazil

**********

Hi Buzz Crew,

Long time, first time. I was just listening to your audio podcast today and you reported a story where 6 out of 10 corporations don't plan to migrate to Windows 7. Tom specifically mentioned Intel as still being on Windows XP. I am an Intel employee and I can confirm that we had a pilot program for Vista but our IT department decided not to go through with the migration for several reasons (security issues, hardware requirements etc.) We had a couple of members of our group participate in the pilot and they couldn't stand it. During meetings the Vista people were always a few minutes behind the rest of us because it took them that much longer to come out of sleep mode, collaboration was nightmare for them as well (Live Meeting and Sharepoint were hit or miss on Vista). Bottom line, I believe we still use XP because it just works. I haven't heard anything about migrating to 7 anytime soon, will keep you posted if I do.

Love. The. Show.

Anonymous Intel ASIC Designer

P.S. Tom, cheer up! You'll get sponsors any day now.

**********

Dear Buzz Out Loud,

I just finished listening to epsiode 1017 and i am truly sickened by your continuous criticism, pot shots, and negative comments towards the blu-ray format, sony's playstation 3 game console, and apple's iphone as well as other products. I understand as well as anyone that companies often make stupid decisions, boneheaded moves, and other poor choices. Sony's game marketing in itself is a tragedy. They have at least ten (10) potential million+ selling games but only three to four will ever sell to that level due to poor marketing. if the Playstation 3 had Microsoft's marketing they would be on the heels of the Wii in sales by now.

The reason i write though is that the extent to which you all HARP on the negatives is just too much. Nearly every week (if not every other day) you heap more criticism on top of the mountain that you have already created. Natali and Molly are especially guilty. I doubt that they even reasearch into, inquire about, or ever use a PS3 to even be knowledgeable about it. I fear that they just repeat what they hear others say without ever verifying the information... much like a lazy and ignorant parrot would.

I admit that i love the Playstation 3 because of the incredible amount of features that it has. And it does irritate me, not that you criticize the console, but that you do it while omitting, skimming over, or rationalizing the faults of its competing products and even the console's strengths. For example Molly trashes the PS3 because it costs $100 more than the midrange xbox 360 pro but actually justified the additional xbox live yearly fee as a "cost as a online gaming." For her it may be something she pays for without a second thought, however after five years that very xbox live membership costs the same as a Wii and listeners should be made aware of that additional cost when they listen to a technology journalist (who we are told by CNET is both objective and knowledgable) compare the two consoles.

Also you fail to mention that the PS3's hard drive can be upgraded with any off the shelf laptop hard (2.5" SATA) which is an incredible strength in terms of storage costs of the limited Xbox 360 options. Playtv allows the PS3 to act as a digital video recording device even while you are playing a game (currently avilable in Europe and possibly Asia). Remote Play allows PSP owners to access data and even play select games on the PS3 from any wireless hotspot anywhere in the world. Each point is a significant strength kept from listeners by Buzz out Loud and also CNET. Please note that keeping information away from the public is the opposite of respected journalism.

Since you all are so well adept at creating criticism though i challenge you to curb (or even shut down) the criticism until you can create a better portable high definition storage (i.e. blu-ray) format, or game console with online network, or even the perfect smartphone. You do not even have to create a physical product... just make the design and technical specifications for one that could be built. I really would like to see and hear your ideas. Then you could post the designs on your Buzz out Loud web site and have audience members vote on the best and also comment on them. Then you could show those companies how you are so much smarter than they are. I am sure that they would appreciate the education.

I certainly hope that your audience is more merciful on your work than you have been to the companies whose actual products you criticize.

Best Wishes,
-Playstation fanboy Raf (not Rafe)

P.S. I will not be surprised if you choose no to create because it is always easier to criticize than to create. That is why despite all of Molly's rants she will never change the world for the better. that is because it takes more than just hot air to make things better!

**********

Hey Tom,

About Episode 1017 and Blu Ray Players. I have actually read that Blu Ray is way up. EngadgetHD has several reports on this. Way back in January they reported that compared to the original rate of DVD adoption, Blu Ray is outpacing it 2 to 1 http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/01/06/blu-rays-first-two-years-outpaces-dvds/
They also reported that Blu Ray Player sales were up 72% in the 1st Quarter of 09
http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/05/06/blu-ray-making-greenbacks-sales-up-72-to-start-09/ The fact is the Blu ray player being sold for under a $100 dollars is slow and just isn't very good. Don't take the experience of one Walmart in Wisconsin as the way BluRay is doing everywhere. Blu Ray is doing fine in the US and is doing even better overseas. Love the Show

Steve from Texas

We speculate even more on the rumored large format Kindle, and get the announcement date wrong right from the start. What, we're supposed to read press releases? Also on the rumor front, we discuss Apple's interest in buying Twitter and Electronic Arts. Somethings just not sitting right about this one.

EPISODE 967

Thanks, all: CNET TV wins People’s Voice Webby
http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?media_id=97&season=13#film_tech_vid

New photos, details on the Gigundle
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10233431-1.html

Windows 7 RC has arrived this morning
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10233399-56.html
http://download.cnet.com/Windows-7/3000-18513_4-10906772.html

Apple in “late stage” talks to buy Twitter, announce at WWDC; Google got told to walk?
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2009/05/05/apple-to-buy-twitter-and-electronic-arts
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/05/twitter-mania-google-got-shut-down-apple-rumors-heat-up/

Report: FTC eyes Apple, Google board relationship
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10233187-37.html

When does a Netbook cease being one? Asus rolls out one just shy of the 12″ mark (missed this one yesterday)
http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/04/asus-goes-big-ger-with-11-6-inch-eee-pc-coming-this-month/

Craigslist, seven AGs hold sex ad summit today in NYC
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10233256-93.html

RIM CEO confirms Storm 2
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0439320520090504

…and it will soon have native LogMeIn
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10233320-12.html

Navigon exits GPS PND business: the Big 3, recession, and nontraditional nav systems are flattening the industry’s structure
http://www.gpsbusinessnews.com/NAVIGON-stops-PND-business-in-North-America_a1497.html

Hacker purports to be holding VA prescription records hostage for $10M
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10233348-83.html

VOICEMAIL
Electric cars are worth it

Apple iPhone tablet prediction

Curve vs iPhone

E-MAIL
Hey everyone,
I’ve been reading more about the new Amazon Kindle widescreen and it’s starting to sound like this is being aimed at college students more than the savior of newspapers. Even though this device hasn’t been released yet, and as a college student myself, here a couple of items I have before I drop down money for this device.

1. Many textbooks manufactures are making personalize editions for the university and are not available to buy online. This semester I had three of my four classes that had a personalize edition for the university so students had to buy the textbook at the bookstore and not at amazon.com.

2. Rumor has it that the new widescreen kindle will support PDFs. What would be great is if the new kindle will support powerpoint since many classes are taught on powerpoint and the professors put the ppts available for download.

3. Many college students will not get the kindle as the university bookstore will probably not buyback the downloaded textbooks at the end of the semester. Although, if all of my textbooks that were available for the kindle were $80 - $100 instead of $500 for textbooks, the difference in savings will pay for itself.

Gregory Schultz
Mass Communication major
Louisiana State University

Guys (and gals),

**********

For years, I have been a Sprint…er…Nextel…whatever. Anyway, I see two things that Sprint can offer that will save them, if they so choose. First, you have the iDen PTT service. It is vastly superior to anyone else. Let’s face it, if you want PTT, Nextel is it! Yet Sprint has let this feature sit stagnant for years. Why else would they buy Nextel? Start throwing that feature in as many phones as you can, it has a loyal following!

Second, and probably more importantly to the masses, they have really great speeds (in some places, or so I hear). When they launch the Pre, they should allow 10 gigs of data and tethering. Offering a better deal, rather than a much /cooler/ product (iPhone) could save them.
Sadly, with the eminent release of a GSM Pre, it looks like Palm is doing the wise thing and NOT doubling down on Sprint.

By the way, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is pretty much an idiot.

Respectfully submitted,

Clayton

**********

BOL Crew,

Just wanted to pass this along (although I’m sure you’ve already seen this). The guy behind NoScript makes his money from ads displayed on his own page, which appears automatically (by default) every time there’s a new update to NoScript. However, he has admitted and apologized for making his NoScript extension break functionality in the extension AdBlock, specifically to not block ads on his own domains. He has since apologized, but it’s very interesting.
http://hackademix.net/2009/05/04/dear-adblock-plus-and-noscript-users-dear-mozilla-community/
Love The Show!

-Greg (emptythevoid)

Firefox is trying a new blank tab feature that gives you some links but leaves the focused middle area blank to go easy on the floveal area of your eye. We also are very excited about mind control peripherals for your computer. And Natali says pinche again. Which is always good.

EPISODE 927

YouTube to block UK music videos
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7933565.stm

Firefox, too, revamping new-tab behavior
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10191921-2.html

Amazon testing HD VOD on TiVo?
http://i.gizmodo.com/5166326/amazon-hd-video-on-demand-now-beta-testing-on-select-tivo-devices

Venezuelan cell phone for $14
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/03/09/venezuela-to-get-a-14-cell-phone/

MetroPCS gets the Curve
http://gigaom.com/2009/03/10/metropcs-gets-blackberry-curve/

How much are you paying for cell service? Would you believe $3 a minute?
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/128255

NY Times could save money by giving everyone a Kindle
http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/1/printing-the-nyt-costs-twice-as-much-as-sending-every-subscriber-a-free-kindle

U2 sponsors RIM not Apple
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2342754,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

Finalized USB 3.0 tests just months away, consumer devices set for next year
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/10/finalized-usb-3-0-tests-just-months-away-consumer-devices-set-f/

SmartNav units control PCs with just your noggin’
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/10/smartnav-units-control-pcs-with-just-your-noggin/

Webcam Brings 3-D to Topps Sports Cards
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/technology/09topps.html

Dancing with the Woz: ‘A Teletubby going mad’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10192278-71.html

VOICEMAIL
Peter from Brampton
Megapixels, gigahertz, oh my

EMAIL
Hi JaMoTo

This is the story that sky have the capability to roll out 3D TV by
the end of the year! Just in time for the upcoming London 2012
Olympics, well china was in HD, we have to one-up them somehow!

http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/09/sky-suggests-uk-homes-could-see-3d-tv-by-the-end-of-the-year/

A little bit of ’sky’ background, as cable is very rare in the UK
(relegated to very dense population areas), sky is the only premium TV
provider for the majority of the UK.

Thanks for the Great show!

Chris from York, UK
You may want to call it “Classic York” or “The Original York” either
is fine

**********

Hi Buzz out loud,

I just had a quick comment regarding your discussion of the Kepler
telescope in yesterday’s episode. Natalie spent some time arguing that
given the current state of the economy, the $500m price tag for the
mission was unreasonable. Now I’m no NASA administrator, but it seems
to me like the funding for this mission would have been allocated
several years ago, given the length of time required to build a
state-of-the-art satellite. Therefore, weighing the cost for this
mission against current spending priorities really doesn’t make sense.

Sincerely,
Chris the Bioinformatician from Calgary

**********

I can foresee a future where mp3s become nostalgic, when our audio devices come equipped with artificial intelligence musicians. The files themselves would only contain notes/tableture, containing markers about sensitivity, pressure, etc…, and and the original vocal track. This way we would be able to split the tracks in real time, and each performance would sound richer and slightly different every time. And if you shook your iPod hard enough, the AI would stumble over and curse at you in their tiny little voices. By then we could look back and say, hey remember when we actually used to listen to pre-recorded material?

Love the show

-poekoo

**********

Tom, Nat, and Jason,

Thought you might find this story interesting.

Two economists from the University of Washington have looked at current copyright and patent laws and concluded that they're not good. The pair see current Intellectual property laws as similar to 'medieval trade monopolies' which were bad for the economy as a whole, and are calling for the system to be reformed.

The full article can be found here .

- Guidemaker Dave [in Philadelphia]

**********

“Hamsters can seemingly run forever inside their little wheels, and scientists from Georgia Tech are finally helping them get somewhere.

To harness hamster power, the scientists sewed electricity-generating threads one-fiftieth the width of a human hair into a yellow jacket worn by the hamsters as they ran. A human-sized jacket, capable of powering an iPod, could be ready in as little as three years….

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/03/09/hamster-energy-power.html

Chris The Commuter

**********

Hey Buzz-

Two things on the knowing where the person filming the movie is sitting from Episode 926.

1. They already have mostly assigned seats in the UK. Odeon Theatres (and I’m pretty sure the others too) have you choose your seat even when you are buying the ticket at the counter (obviously they do it online for pre-orders). And yes they charge premiums for “better” seats. You have all different styles, from old crappy seats from pre-stadium seating (which if you are over 6 foot they are too small –knees slammed up against the seat in front of you), they also have multiple forms of stadium seating, including ones with tables for your food & drink. And of course location is added into the price too! And NO YOU DON’T WANT THIS! Unless you really like paying 2x as much for the same movie.

2. Tom you’d be right for saying this could help prove that person X had the seat where they recorded the movie. But they’d already have to know exactly WHEN the movie was recorded or they’d be blaming some poor soul who just wanted to watch a movie. I’m guessing this technology is strictly for supporting their belief that person X recorded the movie. Not finding out who did it.

Cheers From Oxford!
Tom Merritt the Doppelganger

Oh snap, as they say. Palm has decided to get all vague in Apple's face about patents. Molly's back and she's hazelnut brown. And we determine that tech is, in fact, pretty sucky. All that and more, if you can get your sucky tech to work long enough to listen.
Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 897

Microsoft extends Windows 7 beta
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212902415&cid=iwhome_art_Opera_mostpop
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/01/23/general-availability-for-the-windows-7-beta-to-end.aspx

How many versions of Windows 7 will there be?
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2009/1/how-many-versions-of-windows-7-will-there-be

Good sign for Blu? Blu-ray theft on the rise
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10148897-1.html

Wikipedia considers limiting user edits
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10149648-93.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7851400.stm

Monster.com suffers database breach deja vu
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/24/latest_monster_security_breach/

Fallout 3game updates coming to Xbox, PC, no PS3
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2009/1/things-for-ps3-go-from-bad-to-worse-game-publishers-abandoning-sonys-console-sne

RIM CEO: Buggy smartphone software is the “new reality”
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/26/rim-ceo-buggy-smartphone-software-is-the-new-reality/

Palm responds to Apple veiled threat
http://i.gizmodo.com/5137691/palm-responds-to-apples-legal-posturing-with-even-more-posturing

G1 for sale in non-3G areas
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/01/23/t-mobile-g1-coming-to-the-rest-of-the-us-retail-stores-tomorrow/

Verizon Internet phone
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10149009-94.html

Obama launches Recovery.gov
http://mashable.com/2009/01/24/obama-to-launch-recoverygov/

Nintendo brain-trainer ‘no better than pencil and paper’
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/gadgets_and_gaming/article5587314.ece

Huge inauguration photo is like a presidential "Where's Waldo?"
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/01/26/huge-inauguration-photo-is-like-a-presidential-wheres-waldo/

(which he took with a 14.7-megapixel point-and-shoot)
http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/canon-powershot-g10/4505-6501_7-33280758.html

VOICEMAIL

Tom the Plumber - Here’s how a black hole will kill you

I Miss Molly

E-MAIL
Hello JaNaToX and the Buzz Brigade

(The X is for the guest host, although Mondays are Molly,
so it should be JaNaToMo, but I digress…)

Jason’s back and so is the album artwork!

Some thoughts on the Russian OS:
It could be a fully localised version of one or more
Linux distributions, where both the interface and
documentation is in Russian. I’m not aware of how
far the community-driven localisation has progressed.

In India, the government has funded projects to translate
and localise both Linux and OpenOffice. And mind you,
this involves 15-18 languages! A Debian-derived
distribution called Bharat Operating System Solutions or
BOSS Linux is already available (http://bosslinux.in),
while CDAC, the national computing research establishment,
is working on a localised version of OpenOffice called
BharateeyaOO.o (meaning Indian OpenOffice.org in Hindi).
(See http://www.ncb.ernet.in/bharateeyaoo/details.shtml)

And I fully agree with Tom that governments should be
sceptical (if not paranoid) about proprietary software that
they might need to use. Imagine Russia was using an OS
made in Ukraine, and in the recent gas (natural gas, not gasoline)
dispute, this software vendor decided to push an update to just
Russia crippling the TCP/IP stack. It is certainly possible with
today’s IP Geolocation technology; the only question is how finely
one can tune the “attack” so as to reduce collateral damage and
the resulting bad publicity.

Just my thoughts on the matter.
Eagerly waiting for Ep 900
Aveek from India

**********

On episode 896, you mentioned that Seagate is claiming that they’ve
fixed the firmware issue for the 7200.11 drives.

You asked for reports from listeners of any continuing troubles, which
I’m more (less) than happy to provide:

While Seagate has issued a firmware fix to upgrade existing functional
drives, or drives that were bricked by the faulty update, there’s no
way to fix drives that failed prior to the firmware release, such as
my 1TB drive. The issue with drives that bricked prior to the
announcement is that they don’t appear in your BIOS, and are therefore
inaccessible by the firmware update utility.

Of course, Seagate has been quoted several times in the media as
saying they’ll provide free data recovery for bricked drives. The
unfortunate truth is that when I called about this, their support team
didn’t know about this offer, but told me that I would hear from
supervisor “soon”. That was last week. I called back and was simply
told that my request was “escalated”, however the person I spoke with
couldn’t provide any more information, including who was handling
escalations, how to get ahold of them or when I might hear from them.
All emails to the support line just result in automated responses
about the firmware update that won’t resolve my issue.

Frustrated in Cleveland,
Derek

EPISODE 865

Listener co-host details: Email buzz@cnet.com with your name, phone number, preferred time of day (with time zone). We are shooting for doing the interviews next week.

Smartphone numbers are in: iPhone sales exceed Windows Mobile sales for first time
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/04/smartphone-numbers-are-in-iphone-sales-exceed-windows-mobile-sa/
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081204-apple-rim-winners-in-shrinking-smartphone-market.html

Recharge your cell phone by talking into it
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F03%2F2320200
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7764537.stm

Google was 3 hours away from DOJ Antitrust Charges
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F04%2F1412218

Firefox users targeted by rare piece of malware
http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2008/120408-firefox-users-targeted-by-rare.html

Apple to sell a $99 4GB iPhone at Wal-Mart?
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/12/04/apple-to-sell-a-99-4gb-iphone-at-walmart/

World’s second Android phone now on presale
http://www.intomobile.com/2008/12/04/worlds-second-android-phone-now-on-presale.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10113308-94.html

Report: Comcast usage monitor coming in January
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10112892-2.html

Apple believes someone is behind Psystar
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F04%2F1528233

Monster Cable sues Monster Minigolf
http://consumerist.com/5101473/monster-cable-sues-monster-minigolf-for-trademark-infringement

Doctor performs amputation by text message
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F03%2F2345206

Voice mail
Alex: Facebook phishing?

E-mailL
Morning JoMoTo
A Buxx card uses real money. It’s a preloaded credit card designed for
teens so that they have a card to use but can’t run up a big bill. Both of
my kids have them and it teaches them how to keep track of spending,
budgets, etc.
Love the show

Dr. Mom from Twitter

**********

The final version of the Double BOL BINGO- with full descriptions and proper names.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33039348@N04/sets/72157610707558064/
http://www.box.net/shared/qvrycdsv8b#Double_BOL_BINGO
I’d have to say this was quite fun- though frustrating to a level of ridiculous at moments. Taking a hard look at what technologies actually have impact and presence and how people use said technology kept me interested throughout. Also: Finding a Segway outside of its protected preserves is very unlikely. Though the number of Kindle+Segway combos are probably much higher in number than Kindle+BlackBerry Storm combos.

Victory!

David in Provo (TrojanBee)

**********

Hey Buzz Crew,

As soon as I heard that I could win Cnet stickers on the live stream, I ran off. One of the only places you will ever see segways in Tarpon Springs, Florida is Fred Howard Park Beach. After about an hour of running throughout the beach, I found a nice little pack of segwayers. I then ran to the main center of Tarpon into many of it’s coffee shops, I found an Asus eee PC, though I’m not sure of the model. Admitably, the Zune and the GPS were those of my neighbors.

Pictures:
http://photobucket.com/BOLbingo

Please excuse the HORRIBLE quality as I took them with my phone. Due to my limited texting privaleges, was force to take a picture of a picture.

-Chris from Florida
-AKA PacGamer

**********

Hey Tom, Molly, Jason & Random Host,
I had just finished listening to Slashdot Review's daily podcast dated 3 Dec 08, "SDR2008-12-03", and I am seriously traumatized!!! They talk about a doctor, funded, by DARPA, who is working on re-animating the dead. You'll have to listen to the episode but this totally frightening to me. It's like a zombie movie in the making. DARPA is funding this so soldiers on the battle field can be quickly put into suspended animation so they won't die. What happens when it goes wrong? What happens when the re-animated creatures go awry? I am all for the advancement of science, but this is scary.
Love the show!!!
Kory - From Landstuhl Germany

In today's show, we find out that the demise of humanity is imminent (or that all of our robot mythology is fundamentally rooted in self-hatred), the RIM BlackBerry Storm takes the world by drizzle, and Microsoft hopes that actually giving you songs will convince you to buy a Zune. Oh, and we don't care about Yahoo Glue. In case you were wondering.

EPISODE 857

RIM BlackBerry Storm arrives
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/rim-blackberry-storm-verizon/4505-6452_7-33311850.html

Meet the first multitouch consumer laptop: HP’s TouchSmart tx2
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10102285-1.html

Mozilla revenue $75 million in 2007, up 12 percent
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081119-mozilla-revenue-75-million-in-2007-up-12-percent.html
http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10102627-12.html

Microsoft, labels try to revive subscriptions
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10102846-56.html
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12519_7-10103777-49.html

Sources: Apple, music labels talk DRM-free songs
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10102414-93.html

Web debut for Guns N’ Roses album
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7739133.stm

Yahoo brings its Glue to the U.S.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10103776-93.html

Hey, remember Lively, Google’s Second Life, yeah, me neither. It’s gone.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/lively-no-more.html

Samsung launches 256GB solid-state drive
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10103645-64.html

IBM gets DARPA cognitive computing contract
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10103355-52.html

VOICEMAIL
Lee the exhaust guy: swarming with e-books

Daniel: MMS on the iPhone
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/20/mobispines-iphone-mms-application-for-the-entire-universe/
Mobispine press release: http://www2.mobispine.com/press/readpress.dot?inode=4568

E-MAIL

Hello Buzz crew. Like many others, I downloaded the Xbox New
Experience update last night, wasted about 20 minutes tweaking my
avatar so I don’t look like a punk kid, upgraded to LIVE Gold, and
made a beeline for the Netflix player. Microsoft and Neflix have
provided an amazing service to Netflix subscribers. It’s a little
disappointing that you can only browse titles in your Instant Queue,
but the interface is slick and easy to use. I selected an episode from
the (otherwise disappointing) current season of Heroes. Within
seconds, I was watching the smooth playback in high definition. You
can scan forward and backward through the video using a coverflow-like
view that shows thumbnails from the show.

The only downside was that I had to switch to my TiVo to order pizza.
If the Xbox Netflix viewer is anything like what we can expect to see
from TiVo, then bring it on. Can you imagine Pizza AND Netflix in one
UI? Now THAT’s a great user experience.

- Richard
Washington, D.C.

**********

Hey JaMoTo and the extra crew member!

Looks like we’re not immune from the big media companies as much as you are in the States. According to The Age…

The Australian film and television industry has launched a major legal action against one of Australia’s largest Internet service providers for allegedly allowing its users to download pirated movies and TV shows.

The action against iiNet was filed in the Federal Court today by Village Roadshow, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Disney and the Seven Network.

(Source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/biztech/film-pirates-put-iinet-in-the-dock/2008/11/20/1226770617457.html)

The interesting thing is, the Seven Network is in this suite. For those who don’t know, we have 3 major commercial television networks, namely the Seven Network, Nine Network and Network Ten. The last 2, offer Australians on-demand downloading of their shows on their website, and the Nine Network themselves have locally produced shows on the iTunes store. So why is the Seven Network resorting to suing when they could just easily join the other two networks by providing Australians more legal alternatives to the torrents? This goes for the other companies in the suit. If they really want to kerb illegal downloading, why don’t they open some US-exclusive options like Hulu to the Australian audience? You guys (maybe it was The 404, I can’t remember, haha!) said yourself that Hulu’s catching up to YouTube in terms of revenue.

It’s great to be an iiNet customer at this stage too. First the trial of the internet filter, now this from the entertainment industry. I’m with iiNet myself, so it’ll be interesting what’s to come.

Love the show guys!

Cheers!

**********

Mark

For the teacher and others who are having problems with HDCP issues there
are HD Strippers that are adapters or boxes that they themselves are HDCP
compliant and then pass through the signal without the HDCP DRM. a famous
example is the HDFury:

http://www.hdfury.com/

Robert Clark
Prince Albert,SK

**********

A hobo is a traveling homeless person who takes work when they can get
it. A tramp is a traveling homeless person who does not work.

Hobos are also governed by a code of ethics, have a duly appointed hobo
king, and a rich hobo-only written language based on a series of
pictographic symbols and codes which they used to communicate things
such as marking a good place to sleep, where you can find someone
willing to give you food, and what towns have cops that will beat the
crap out of you.

So I think Tom will be doing a decent service by launching a hobo social
site. I would give it a square missing it’s top line.

–Keith from New York, not a hobo

**********

JaMoTo,

I just wanted to take a quick moment to ask that you recognize the BOL chat room moderators on the show as they do an absolutely fantastic job of making the chat extremely user friendly and pleasant.

I’m sure you guys are generally too busy either getting ready for, or actually executing, the show to really notice how hard they work at helping new users along and just generally making everyone feel comfortable within the community.

I’d list them all by name but I fear that I would forget someone and feel terrible about that - suffice it to say that if someone has a gold star next to their name they are nothing short of awesome personified.

Not as anonymous as I used to be,
Snit

We try to get all sentimental about the demise of the Mars Phoenix lander, but Brian Cooley ruins it with his outlandish assertions about the uselessness of space. Plus, he loses his mind about the crappiness of the BlackBerry Curve. In sum, a good time is had by all.

EPISODE 850

Mars Phoenix Lander completes its mission
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10092897-52.html
http://www.urbanhonking.com/universe/2008/11/interview_marsphoenix.html
http://gizmodo.com/5082385/this-is-my-farewell-transmission-from-mars

Flat-panel TV shipments begin their decline
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10093153-1.html

FCC OKs digital workaround for DTV signal range problems
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081111-fcc-oks-digital-workaround-for-dtv-signal-range-problems.html

AVG virus scanner removes critical Windows file
http://securityandthe.net/2008/11/10/avg-virus-scanner-removes-critical-windows-file/

Cooley Rant: How did RIM fool so many for so long with BlackBerry? It’s CRAP. Gimme’ that GD iPhone!!!
http://www.pcworld.com/article/153666/apples_iphone_so_far_the_best_phone_ever.html

Mininuclear plant is safe, affordable, and purifies water (but doesn’t turn lead into gold)
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/11/mini-nuclear-plant-is-safe-affordable-and-purifies-water-but-d/

Best Buy’s holiday gift cards now double as speakers, still a lazy present
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/11/best-buys-holiday-gift-cards-now-double-as-speakers-still-a-la/

Largest Aussie ISP agrees to “ridiculous” Net-filter trial
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/11/1329222

Windows 7 benchmarks show little improvement on Vista
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/11/0110251

Texting bug hits the Google phone
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7722367.stm

VOICEMAIL
John the Bomb Builder: cheap Blu-Ray!

Anonymous Ad-hater

E-MAIL

Hey Buzz crew-

Did you know most states have a public utility service commission? A
friend of mine was told by Bellsouth that it was too expensive to fix
the phone lines to her house and she could live with bad service or
find someone else to help. She called the Georgia Public Service
Commission and filed a complaint. The GPSC called Bellsouth and said
you fix it or you get fined. So they fixed it within two weeks.
Buzz Brigade you are having problems with your utilities Google public
service commission in your state and get some help sticking up for
yourself. And yes there is one in Oregon, so yesterday’s DSL caller
should look into it!

Sheala, GA

Ps- if I pay $3400 for a graphics card, it better be showing me the
future or something!

**********

From the Consumerist.

http://consumerist.com/5082090/timeline-how-circuit-city-came-undone

According to the chart it all starts in 2007 when they fired all employee’s that knew anything so that they could replace them with a team of monkey’s at a lower cost.

In the comments it is traced further back to 2003 when they converted all commissioned sales persons to hourly to lower costs (and pay) and the “good” people left. Of and they fired 4100 people at that time.
http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/sales-selling/6363203-1.html

The best comment is “Maybe Circuit City should fire all of their executives and hire lower-paid replacements.”

LTS

Brent

**********

The average life cycle of a game console, not including the ones that were colossal failures (I’m looking at you N-Gage), is five to six years. It is way too early for any of the big three to be releasing a new console. Updated versions of the current machines not included (Wii-HD anyone?).

Love the show,

Jonah Gregory
(Certainly not e-mailing from work)