Buzz Out Loud Podcast

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

EPISODE 854

Obama can’t use his BlackBerry
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us/politics/16blackberry.html

Asus phone
http://gizmodo.com/5090348/asus-announces-800mhz-worlds-fastest-smartphone
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/11/17/asus_p565/

Google speech application supposed to really launch today
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/16/update-on-google-iphone-voice-recognition-app-look-for-it-on-monday/

Flash on Windows Mobile
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2008/11/16/adobe-to-demo-flash-on-mobile-but-only-windows-still-working-on-the-iphone/

AOL video uploads shutting down
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/15/aol-gets-out-of-user-generated-video-business/

Most users don’t office in the cloud: 1% use Google Docs
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081117-report-users-continue-to-prefer-office-over-google-docs.html

Old people are scared of technology
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/scared_of_technology_youre_old.php
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10097839-1.html

UK couple in real-life divorce over virtual affair
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27718230/?gt1=43001

Order pizza from your TiVo
http://www.gearlog.com/2008/11/ordering_dominos_pizza_from_yo.php
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10098333-93.html

Lost Beatles song may bring Fab Four to Net sales
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10098215-93.html

Quantum cloaking makes molecules invisible
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/16/2137230

US space-funeral company plans lunar cemetery
http://news.sg.msn.com/oddities/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1786876

VOICEMAIL

Jason in Georgia - What happened to exploding batteries

Andy Novosibirsk, Siberia - Netbooks galore here!

CT baggage handler - But how did they get there?

EMAIL

Hey guys, Looks like MS has decided what to do with all the cash they were going to spend on Yahoo.

I work for one of the Microsoft managed partner ISV's. MS was just on our weekly internal sales call and our MS partner manager was on talking about how we can offer up Microsoft financing through the end of the MS fiscal year (June).

This financing is not just for MS products but anything that is involved in the entire enterprise solution including hardware and other software.

The internal MS guys are touting that 2-5 business days turn around and touting that it will be easier and cheaper than going with traditional financing . They are willing to finance anything from small 10k deals and up, and depending on customers credit rating with D&B will determine the % rate. He was saying that it was going to be in the range of 5-8%.

https://www.microsoftfinancing.com/

Rob

**********

$139 blu-ray players on Woot.com today.

Just sayin...

Ryan the Biologist

**********

In trying to catch up with BOL, I was listening to #845 and I want to
pose a question related to the AT&T experiment with bandwidth caps. Has
anyone thought about the licensing contracts that AT&T might be looking
to sign with media companies? Think about it, AT&T or Comcast could sign
usage contracts with sites like Netflix, YouTube or Hulu so that their
site usage does not apply to their customers’ bandwidth caps. This would
allow ISP’s to make more $$$ and control traffic.

Coming soon to a legal agreement near you… AT&T merges with YouTube.

So far I have not heard anyone bring up this point via CNET or that TWiT
guy. If ISP’s can stop Bit Torrent, then they can probably allow
certain, preferred content to flow freely.

No charge for this two cents opinion. LTS.

Thanks,

Rodney

**********

In show 853, you had two stories which prompted me to type in... First, you made a big deal out of Google search on the iPhone supporting speech. Windows Live Search Mobile has had this feature for quite some time - and I find it quite useful. Like the Google offering, you speak to it, it sends the speech to the servers, and the servers do the speech-to-text. The use of the accelerometer in the iPhone is new - and a cool idea - but the speech part is not new. I use Google Search on my Windows Mobile phone if I am in a place where I can type easily, but use Windows Live Search Mobile specifically for the speech-to-text if I am driving or walking.

You also made a big deal out of President-elect Obama making use of technology by planning to put his weekly address on YouTube. President Bush podcasts his weekly address - see http://www.whitehouse.gov/podcasts/, or http://www.whitehouse.gov/rss/radioaddress.xml. Not sure YouTube video is an earth-shattering improvement for a weekly address that most people won't pay any attention to after the first month. I also happened to listen to an NPR Podcast just after BOL, and they made it sound like Obama invented the Internet because he plans on putting government information on the web. While I'm all for using technology, and more is certainly better, can we have a reality check? Some of the advances in technology use are simply because time is elapsing. When the government launched THOMAS back in 1995, that was newsworthy from a tech perspective. Saying you will put more stuff on the web is, well, simply expected.

LTS,

/John in Fairfax

**********

You guys were teasing about using old software on Friday’s show. Well I am
one of those use it till it dies dudes.
I am still using Quicken Version 3, 1993 that dates back to the Windows 95
days. It still works on XP just fine.
There is more than one reason for sticking with it. Don’t have to learn new
version and best of all hackers are not
going to be looking for a realistic user of a 15 year old version of
financial software. Also still use Eudora for email.
Have been using it since 1995 and it also still works fine on XP. I have
years worth of elaborate filters which I have
moved every time I get or build a new machine. I figure all the hackers and
attackers out there are trying to
break into Outlook and MS stuff in general. At work I use Outlook on our
office exchange server just fine but
at home I am still with Eudora V5.1.

Really like BUZZ and all the CNET podcasts. Keep up the funnin’ with us
…. half the time I almost crash on
the way to work or on my way home because I am rollin’ in laughter while
listening to BOL

BYE
Darrell in Virginia
Also got email about Grandpa using Sidekick ‘98 and a user that brings back kids software

**********

Wii Speak
In fact the game does not come with that hardware it just can use it
if you have it. So, the game can travel through the rental and used
markets as normal, just not the hardware. Now whether the hardware
should work the same, that you can debate. Thanks for the great
podcast.
Johnny P

EPISODE 832

IMDB turns 18
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10067397-52.html

Android Market has a killswitch, but Google will refund your money if they use it
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/10/16/android-market-has-a.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10067543-16.html

HTC Dream T-Mobile G1 (black)
http://reviews.cnet.com/htc-dream-t-mobile-g1/

FCC looks set to back “white spaces” as Chairman signs on
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081015-fcc-looks-set-to-back-white-spaces-as-chairman-signs-on.html

Details released on the Radiohead experiment results: A tremendous success
http://techdirt.com/articles/20081015/1640202552.shtml
http://musically.com/blog/2008/10/15/exclusive-warner-chappell-reveals-radioheads-in-rainbows-pot-of-gold/

iTunes sells 200 million TV shows, adds new HD TV lineup
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/10/16/itunes_sells_200_million_tv_shows_adds_new_hd_tv_lineup.html

Only 4.13 percent of the Web is standards-compliant
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/16/1325215

Hawaii's move to digital bumped up to January 15
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20081015/BUSINESS/810150351/1071

Adobe addresses Flash Player ‘clickjacking’ flaw
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10067544-83.html

First official photos from new Star Trek movie
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/16/1210210

Queen has fit of Google giggles
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7672149.stm

No financial chaos in virtual world of Second Life
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXK9hDkozMzCd61pKw4Z38IvHBPA

Voice mail
Mike from Tacoma: cell phones on a passenger?

E-mail

As always, when people start talking about the consoles they usually start and end by comparing HD space.

Before my stance is undermined let me state some things. I do not own a PS3. I do own a Xbox 360 and a Wii.

The PS3 has 2.5 features over the Xbox 360.

The first being this magical thing called wireless networking. Now that I think about it the Xbox 360 is the ONLY platform that does not have wireless.

PSP? check
DS? yup
Wii? Indeed
iPhone? OMG yes
Zune? Seriously Microsoft….

And due to microsoft wanting to rake you over the coals, the wireless adapter costs $100

The second thing they are missing is something that THEY ALREADY MAKE! A browser. I will not run down the same list again, but you get the idea.

And the .5 is hdmi. only one of the models of Xbox 360 has the beloved hdmi port.

And do not get me started about the messed up proprietary HDs and…*sigh*

I am sure this rant is late but I had only 1 BoL on my ipod Shuffle during a 2 hour road trip so I heard you talk about over and over.

-Paul in Irving

PS the PS3 also cures cancer :p (FaH ftw)

PPS I know the fragmentation is horrible, but it is late. I apologize in advance if I offended Molly’s Grammar Sense. (Hmm super power?)

**********

Just to let you guys know that the first netbook (Asus Eee PC 700) was
released a year ago today. It’s amazing how far they’ve come.

Love the show,
Kyle from Ohio

**********

Saw a 40 to 50 years old lady, enjoying dinner at Ruby Tuesday alone with her Sony Ebook..

Luv de show

Pranav

**********

http://blog.wellsfargo.com/StagecoachIsland/

I haven’t checked this out yet, but I can’t believe it exists. Nevermind who I work for at the moment, this is hilarious.

-Philip

EPISODE 695

Apple passes Wal-Mart, now No. 1 music retailer in U.S.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080402-apple-passes-wal-mart-now-1-music-retailer-in-us.html

As expected, MySpace unveils new music service
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9910344-7.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/ technology/03cnd-myspace.html
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-live-myspace-music-call/

Comcast launches 50Mbps broadband--for $150 per month
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080402-comcast-launches-50mbps-broadband-for-150-per-month.html

Trademark dispute pits Apple vs. the Big Apple
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/news/2008/04/apple_vs_apple

AT&T Mobility CEO: All smartphones to be 3G within “months”--including iPhone and Centro?
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/03/ atandt-mobility-ceo-all-smartphones-to-be-3g-within-months-i/

Best and worst cell phone markets
http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/top-10-us-cities-for-wireless/

Game on all-time high: 72 percent of U.S. population plays video games
http://blogs.pcworld.com/gameon/archives/006748.html

Microsoft hoses down latest Xbox 360 Blu-ray rumor
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/02/ microsoft-hoses-down-latest-xbox-360-blu-ray-rumor/

IBM and Linden partner on Enterprise-class Second Life
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Greenfield/?p=213

Daily caffeine ‘protects brain’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7326839.stm

VOICE MAIL

Rafa
Don’t worry Molly, no people on Amazon text shopping!

Mike from Newport News
Google with Skype would be great!

Anonymous Darwinist
Google conspiracy theory regarding Skype.

E-MAIL

What Google will do with Skype?

I can’t believe you didn’t put the two and two together.

Google will release an Android (build by a manufacture, not by Google) phone that will use 700Mhz band (the Internet band bought by Verison) and will use Skype for voice calls (even this Skype OUT allow you to call any phone number in the world.

Skype already has a Linux application how, how hard you think will be to integrate it into Android?

Allex from Romania

******************

The last Rickroll

Dear Tom and Molly,
I listened to your request about The Last Rickroll and I have made a rickroll to meet your need. It has Fonzie jumping the shark and then guess what?!?!? I will be uploading it to Youtube soon.

MRT3CH
P.S. Just keep searching for The Last Rickroll. And read this on your podcast so I get lots of views.

UPDATE: I have uploaded the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5EhwZH-gGI

Sheldon

*************

I hate Apple Safari

After first time when I’ve seen Apple Safari in iTunes updates I’ve selected Safari and I’ve entered into Tools > Ignore selected updates.

Today, after I’ve selected that i want to update iTunes I’ve seen again Safari in the iTunes Update.

I think Safari contains a Trojan design to track your every (that uses windows) move on the Internet because I doesn’t know anyone instead of hackers that they want to push their junk on your computer.

Don’t trust Apple people!

Alexandra

****************

Wimax in Iran--from 3 years ago!

Hey Jason - Tom - Molly:

As you have been talking about WiMax in U.S. and the stories about that all I was thinking about was, what the hell are they talking about? We have WiMax in Iran-Tehran about 3 years now.
A company called http://www22.laser.ir/ in Iran has been providing WiMax service, but because the service price is so high, not many people are using the service.
The price for the WiMax modem is $400, and the cheapest plan is 128Kbps bandwidth with $99 per month.
Of course other companies are trying to reach lower prices and provide better service, Anyway, we have WiMax in Iran. So we are not that much of third-world country, are we? ( Just kidding )

Love the show.

Best regards

Siavash Ghahremany

*****************

Pwning

Hi guys,

Tom, I might be giving away a lucrative link farm idea, but with all the coverage you guys have had about Pwn to Own the last few days I can’t help but think that maybe it’s time for you to compete with Molly’s non-CNET blog with your own… I think http://www.cultureofpwnership.com is open — or it was until you just read this on-air.

You could use it to espouse your views about the hacker ethos. Post ideas…
“Does pwning really mean owning?”
“How to beat pwn trolls!”
“Pwning zombies and other lifesaving pwnage”
“Can you pwn your cake and eat it too?”

Cheers,
Ernie from the East Bay

*****************

So Say We All address

Hey guys, I have the address set up. I’m not sure if you got my e-mail I sent from my regular account, but I’m sending you one from the “official” BOL So Say We All Gmail address (for the day or two it is good for). Let me know how to spread the word (or on the podcast). I unfortunately have to work on Friday morning, so in order to make sure that everyone who sends them in gets on I would ask that they have it sent by 7:30 AM EST on Friday so I can add the last people and still get to work on time. Thanks again!

bolsosayweall@gmail.com

Kevin from Michigan

So Say We All - CNET Buzz Out Loud Lounge Forums
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10152_102-0.html? forumID=97&threadID=290133&messageID=2743544

****************

The Ford Maverick was a fine car, Tom

Tom, in a world with Yugos, Gremlins, Pacers, Cimarrons, Vegas, Festivas, and other poorly made cars, you trash the Maverick. My family owned a 6-cylinder two-door Maverick in Grabber Blue, yes I know the color name was awful, but the car was solid. It was not going win a drag race or out-handle a Porsche, but our Maverick have over 120,000 miles on the original engine and transmission when we sold it. The ride was nice, and it had no major repairs done to it. For their time, the Maverick was a good car. The only issue was the marketing guy who came with the name Grabber Blue.

So once again, proof there is a defender for everything.

Well, I wonder if anyone would truly defend the epic Sci-fi blunder Battlefield Earth. Maybe you guys can put that one to the test.

Keep up the great work. Just quit picking on the Maverick.

Cheers,

Kev T
SF Bay Area