Buzz Out Loud Podcast

China has delayed required installation of Green Dam Youth Escort, but we find out it does a better job blocking pork than porn. Whew. Protect those kids from the piggies! Also a big win for remote cable DVRs! And the Pirate Bay got sold. You can sell it?

EPISODE 1008

Swedish company to buy Pirate Bay
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10275759-83.html
http://thepiratebay.org/blog/164

China Delays Mandating Filtering Software
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124636491863372821.html

China also filters Jonny Depp, Garflield, and Paris Hilton
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE55T26Y20090630

Remote Cable DVRs are legal: Supreme Court denies appeal of Cablevision decision
http://www.betanews.com/article/Cable-DVRs-are-legal-Supreme-Court-denies-appeal-of-Cablevision-decision/1246290931
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/cablevision-remote-dvr-stays-legal-supremes-wont-hear-case.ars

Senators want to bar contracts to foreign companies selling IT to Iran
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090629_3881.php

With 3.5 launch, Firefox faces new challengers
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10275396-2.html

Amazon drops Rhode Island just like they dropped North Carolina
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124630810805070105.html

Toyota thinks up mind-reading wheelchair
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10275267-1.html

New HTC Hero ROM leaked, Flash 10 already chugging along on a few lucky G1s
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/30/new-htc-hero-rom-leaked-flash-10-already-chugging-along-on-a-fe/

First manned solar plane unveiled in Switzerland
http://green.venturebeat.com/2009/06/30/first-manned-solar-plane-unveiled-in-switzerland/

VOICEMAIL
Dan likes the new lineup

Bruce about CapsLock

EMAIL
Just passing along this story where they said apple’s solution to the universal charger is to include an adapter from dock conector to micro usb, so no new hardware on the horizon…

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/25149/next-iphone-charges-via-micro-usb.phtml

Love the show!
Javier Ardila

**********

The discussion of metric is interesting to me as we changed over here in Canada when I was in grade 4 or so. Now, what happened to those of us in this generation is that we know an odd mish mash of units. Temperatures outside, well that is in Celsius, but when I cook I use Imperial measures, including temperature. The temperature of my parents' pool, I still do that in F. Distances and speeds while driving, km and km/h are fine, distances to object, metres are great, but when I measure to say repair something in the house, I use inches. Oh and I am 6 foot 1 inch tall, and weigh about 175 lb, I have no idea what my height or weight is in metric. (I could convert of course, but I don't).

I am just confused.... My 15 year old daughter on the other hand, does everything in metric, no problem.

Dave (the psychologist)

Dr. Kiki from This Week in Science joins us to talk tech and science, and we realize that we will all soon wear solar-powered Gundam suits and travel the Earth. That is until they become self-aware and eject us and kill us all. We also take NASA to task and tell you when to get a new Windows PC.

EPISODE 1004

HTC Hero running Android and Sense UI
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/24/htc-hero-details-begin-leaking-from-htcs-own-website/

China not backing off despite filter code post on Wikileaks
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/06/china-not-backing-off-despite-filter-code-post-on-wikileaks.ars

Comcast, Time Warner team up to control TV on the Internet
http://gigaom.com/2009/06/23/comcast-time-warner-team-up-to-control-internet-video/
http://newteevee.com/2009/06/23/what-you-need-to-know-about-tv-everywhere/

Dutch gov. wants to tax online media to fund print
http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/06/23/1925228/Dutch-Gov-Wants-To-Tax-Online-Media-To-Fund-Print

NIH funding level correlates with lower U.S. mortality rates
http://arstechnica.com/science/2009/06/nih-funding-level-correlates-with-lower-us-mortality-rates.ars

Free Windows 7 won’t last forever
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10271092-56.html

Windows 7 upgrade program nears launch
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10271742-56.html

OLPC Fork Sugar on a Stick goes 1.0
http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/06/24/1243255/OLPC-Fork-Sugar-On-a-Stick-Goes-10

Switching to solar power, one year later
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/06/23/191230/Switching-To-Solar-Power-One-Year-Later

Deep in bedrock, clean energy and quake fears
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/business/energy-environment/24geotherm.html?_r=1&ref=science

NASA sticking to Imperial units for shuttle replacement
http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/06/24/1430236/NASA-Sticking-To-Imperial-Units-For-Shuttle-Replacement?from=rss

Jury reports that Steon’s Orbo does not produce free energy
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/23/jury-reports-that-st.html

VOICE MAIL
Alex from Europe about the Mercedes E class

Erin from Punxsatawnee on Verizon customers
http://reviews.cnet.com/best-verizon-wireless-phones/?tag=rb_content;contentNav

E-MAIL

Dear Buzz Crew:
I'm OK guys, and today angry, no not they way you might think, I'm angry on the company I love the most and I have spent thousand of dollars buying their products, and loving them, yes, I'm talking to you Nokia.
As you can see on the article below Nokia has sold a monitoring application to Iran's Telecom, for monitoring calls, sms, mms, and internet usage.

http://www.mobile-review.com/fullnews/main/index_eng.shtml#24832

I have read in some other articles that Nokia has said we sold that application on late 2008 and the agreement says it can be used for limited number of users, mostly for security reasons like tracking and finding spy or anything like that, but the Iranian government is using it to monitor everyone's phone, and this is against Nokia's agreement and term of use and Nokia is going to sue Iran's government.
But who knows?
Have a great day

Best Regards

Siavash

Today's show may be held together by Duct tape and super glue, but Jeff Bakalar was kind enough to help us cover the day's news. Time Warner cancels its bandwidth cap plan, the Pirate Bay founders are thrown in the slammer, and YouTube is said to launch a pay-per-view model.

EPISODE 955

Time Warner to shelf plan for pay-as-you-go broadband

Use of proxy server would increase jail time

New T-Mobile Sidekick

Some big Twitter announcement

Oprah about to Twitter

Caption tool for YouTube

YouTube to launch pay-per-view model

Pirate Bay founders get jail time

Florida to build the first solar-powered city

GM proposes standard electric vehicle plug

NBC and the cable companies are teaming up to make it really annoying for you to watch the Winter Olympics onlione. Brian Cooley sums up their plans well, and it's today's title. We also discuss fiber-eating alien insect and solar power beamed down from space.

EPISODE_952

Episode 952

Amazon ‘adult’ book-delisting fail: Error or troll?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10218626-83.html

Cut fiber line knocks out state courts’ communications
http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/4949649/

Report: KKR, Warburg, others join founders for Skype buyback from eBay http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10218837-93.html

Anchors aweigh: eBay casts off StumbleUpon
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10218418-36.html

BlackBerry consumers experience e-mail outage
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10218474-94.html

Microsoft to start pushing IE 8 browser
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10218185-56.html

Xbox 360’s class-leading warranty extended again to cover E74 errors http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/14/xbox-360s-class-leading-warranty-extended-again-to-cover-e74-er/

PG&E Makes Deal For Solar Power From Space
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/14/0317236&from=rss

…meanwhile, in the real world, California Energy Commission moves forward on rules to outlaw some TV’s starting in 2011. CEA, and most mfg’s and retailers hate this. - Energy Efficiency Standards for Televisions
http://www.energy.ca.gov/appliances/tv_faqs.html

Touchstone dock for Palm Pre to run $69.99?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/13/touchstone-dock-for-palm-pre-to-run-69-99/

Palm Pre spotted just minding its own business in San Fran?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/13/palm-pre-spotted-just-minding-its-own-business-in-san-fran/

NBC Again Will Limit Live Olympic Broadband Coverage To Pay TV Subscribers
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-nbc-will-limit-live-olympic-broadband-coverage-to-pay-tv-subscribers/

Mitsubishi says its pulling the trigger on electric cars
http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/04-09-2009/0005003663&EDATE=

NASA To Announce Module Name On Colbert Show
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/13/1512241

*****

VOICEMAIL

Robert Something doesn’t jive about the Linux numbers

*****

EMAIL

Hey Buzz Peoples,

I remember Tom talking about Virtualization in Windows a few episodes back. I wanted to direct Tom to Microsoft’s new app that should let Windows finally break free from all the legacy apps. MED-V lets you install any program you want and run it seamlessly. If the program can not run on the version of windows that it is installed on it will launch a hidden virtual computer and launch the program for you. The program will run as if it was natively installed on your computer. Paul Thurrott has a great article in it: http://www.winsupersite.com/vista/medv.asp. This should hopefully let Windows get even smaller and speedier.

The Now Recently Layed-Off Mechanical Engineer,

Emiliano

*****

Hi
I just wanted to inform you guys of a couple of things that have been

going on in Belgium. The past couple of months, there has been a lot off

talk about the dangers of riding a bike or walking while listening to your

mp3-player. The assistant-secretary in charge of mobility last week

announced that he had commissioned a report, investigating whether or not

pedestrians and cyclists are indeed not paying enough attention to

traffic when listening to music. He hopes to have this done by the summer

and possibly propose a law against listening to music via headphones

sometime this year.

The organisation of parents who have lost a child due to a traffic

accident came out with a statement today, saying that they believed it

puts these people at a greater risk and it should be against the law.

By the way, the discussion started in all earnest when a teenager was

caught by a train at an railway intersection. The kid was listening to

music, but they seem to forget that he also ignored the lights and had

to slalom past the boom barriers.

Just wanted you to know

love the show

Roel Moeurs

Leuven, Belgium

*****

Hi Buzz Crew -

The caller a couple of days ago brought up Stardock’s Impulse service and it’s GOO technology, but the conversation didn’t reveal the biggest part of this technology and why it may be game-changing for the PC games industry. It essentially allows online-purchased and downloaded PC games to be sold back creating a “used” downloaded games market. Sale proceeds go to the publishing company, with Stardock taking a transaction fee.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/30/gdc09-understanding-what-stardocks-goo-means-to-the-used-pc-ga/

From the article:

The super distilled basics (use picture above to follow along):

* Seller: So, you bought a PC game and now want to sell it. You go to the Impulse Marketplace and — if you accept the “used” price — your license will transfer back to the publisher and the game can’t be played anymore. The game is “sold.”

* Buyer: You want a game, but don’t want to pay full price. You go to Impulse Marketplace and will be able to purchase this “used” license from the publisher through the service and download the game from the digital distribution service at a reduced price. That’s it. Now you own the license and can sell it back whenever.

* Publisher: Here’s why publishers will probably like this system: The companies receive almost all the money — minus Stardock’s transaction fee — from the resold license. Essentially, the publishers get to sell the same license several times and have entered theprofitable “used” games market .

Cheers!

Fraggle

The authors Guild might be afraid of the robotic voice of the Kindle, but Wil Wheaton sure isn't. Neilsen lays a bombshell with the news that job search sites have increased traffic because of, you guessed it, these troubled times. And Hearst is planning their own large format e-reader for their magazines.

EPISODE 920

Facebook wants you to ring in on policy
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=56566967130

It’s not always about money; sometimes hackers just hate you
http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/02/its-not-always-about-moneysometimes-hackers-just-hate-you.ars

Neilsen: Job search site traffic is up
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10172635-2.html

Hearst to launch a wireless e-reader
http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/27/technology/copeland_hearst.fortune/index.htm

Skype To Go lets you make VoIP calls from anywhere
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10172518-62.html

Detachable keyboard on new LG phone
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2341777,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

Nokia Comes With Music phones confirmed for U.S. this year
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/02/nokia-comes-with-music-comes-to-us-in-2009-au-in-march.ars

Digg to get a software-free toolbar
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10172940-2.html

Prototype SunCat batteries enable solar charging
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10173434-1.html

Smart Cars that communicate with each other Could Hit the Road by 2012
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/02/talking-cars-co.html

Wil Wheaton vs. Authors’ Guild vs. Kindle
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/26/wil-wheaton-vs-autho.html

TV.com iPhone application
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2341817,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

VOICE MAIL
Chris in STL
How do you follow news on Twitter

The Beast 33
Context for LimeWire on Today Show

Jay in Tacoma
If you can’t hear my voice mail….

E-MAIL
Buzz Crew,

Here is a link to the first Web browser you mentioned on Buzz Out Loud
episode 919.

http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/WorldWideWeb.html

It was called world wide web

Thanks,

Ted,
Antigo, Wisconsin

Hi guys,

Not an hour after listening to episode 918 was I myself SMiShed. I
received a text message from auto-notice@ncsecu.org (North Carolina
State Employees Credit Union). The body of the text said “State
Employees CU urgent notification:unusual activity,please verify your
online information at 877-336-6029″ Even though I knew it was a scam
I gave them a call to see if I couldn’t waste some of there time ala
419 eaters. I went strait to voice mail; it seems, unfortunately,
that they had too many other SMishy fish in their net already.

This morning on NPR I heard that in fact it was a scam and that people
should be careful not to fall for the trick.

Zac in Raleigh

You CNET folks being in-laws with the CBS peoples, I would like to personally thank Buzz Out Loud for bringing back my reason for going to Las Vegas!

http://trekmovie.com/2009/02/26/cbs-confirms-contract-to-re-open-st-the-experience-in-may-new-stte-documentary/

best,
brian in L.A.

Hi y’all!

I was thrilled to hear your second episode in a row mentioning tech
and education. As a high school teacher, I agree that providing
PowerPoint slides on handouts CAN make students lazy. However, at my
school we have a gadget called the Qwizdom student response system
(NAYY - not affiliated yada yada) that enhances PowerPoints by
allowing teachers to embed multiple-choice or true/false questions
that students answer with cool little remote devices. Teachers can
choose any type of feedback, such as instant right/wrong, ability to
change answers, or no feedback if they want answers recorded as quiz
scores. Some universities even require students to buy their own
remotes to use in certain classes.

Our informal surveys suggest students remember more when they must
interact with the presentation. Plus it’s just more fun!

Love the show,
RogueTess

ActionPoint software: http://www.qwizdom.com/Education/Products/Actionpoint.html

Article about Qwizdom use in universities: http://www.michigandaily.com/content/qwizdom-clickers-tuning-some-students-turning-others

“The European Space Agency (ESA) on Friday named a Frenchman and a German who will join four Russians in an innovative 105-day isolation experiment to test whether humans can one day fly to Mars.

From March 31, the six “crew” will be locked inside a special facility in Moscow that replicates conditions of a space trip to Mars.

The simulation will be followed by a 520-day experiment, starting later this year, that would last as long as a real mission to Mars…. ”

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.1c9410f52a65c5c99d8964a72b43ea22.8a1

Chris the Commuter

This is a long one folks. We get a little yelly about online video, The Pirate Bay, and HDTVs in hotels. When we get to the space-based solar array that beams power to Earth by microwave, Rafe suggests turning the state of Arizona into a microwave hot spot. Sorry Arizonans. Enjoy.

Episode 915

Palm Pre no longer features data tethering on Sprint Web site
http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/palm-pre-no-longer-features-data-tethering-on-sprint-website/
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/02/19/sprint-removes-data-tethering-from-palm-pre-feature-list/

Apple snapping up flash memory for new iPhone?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10167926-37.html

CBS still thinks Hulu content is fair game
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/20/cbs-interactive-well-within-our-rights-to-stream-hulu-content/
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/02/19/cbs-strikes-back-at-hulu/

Cable companies scheme to limit online content to pay-TV subscribers
http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-scheme-to-limit-online-content-to-pay-tv-subscri/
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123509028580728229.html?mg=com-wsj (requires WSJ subscription)
http://thekevinpipe.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-scheme-to-limit-online-content-to-pay-tv-subscribers/

Netflix may offer streaming-only pricing in 2010
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10168298-1.html?tag=mncol;title

Pirate Bay: We don’t know nothin’ about org charts, contracts
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/02/pirate-bay-we-dont-know-nothin-about-org-charts-contracts.ars
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/02/neij.html
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/02/gottfrid.html

Dell fights back against Psion Netbook trademark rampage
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/02/dell-fights-back-against-psion-netbook-trademark-rampage.ars
http://i.gizmodo.com/5156706/dell-wants-to-set-netbook-free

Bill proposes ISPs, Wi-Fi keep logs for police
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10168114-38.html

Yelp’s credibility problem–blame it on the algorithm?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10168065-93.html

Chrome gets Google Earth update
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10168357-2.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Space-based solar power within a decade?
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/20/0149254&from=rss

70-year-old Joplin, MO, man shoots his TV because he can’t get his converter box to work
http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=167900&catid=3

Voice mail

Tracy Garmin trending - cut off at greatest things ever

Dwight Booo Palm!

E-mail
Dear Jatona,

I found this article really interesting! The researchers used EverQuest II to track social networking in a way that would never have been possible in real life.

“In the real world, tracking a person's social network — which could include hundreds of contacts that serve different purposes — is nearly impossible.

But in online virtual games like EverQuest II, where tens of thousands of people leave digital traces as they chat with one another, perform quests together, form groups and buy and sell goods, researchers have found a gold mine of networking data.”

They discovered a lot of interesting things, like women are the most dedicated players, and people tend to underestimate how often they play, but one of the biggest results is a trend I’ve been noticing a lot recently. People don’t expand their social network with the internet, they just reinforce it.

Surprising Results: Virtual Games Players Stick Close to Home

Thought you might enjoy this article!
Love the show,

Meggie
Evanston, IL
Natali
In regards to Episode 913, you discussed an apparatus for allowing a cat
to agree to EULAs. I’m currently taking contracts as a first-year law
student here at the University of North Carolina, and today we discussed
formation of contracts on the Internet, including these “click-wrap”
licenses. Of course, I had to share the cat apparatus with my professor.
First, he responded that if one programs an electronic device to accept
license agreements for you, the effect is that you agree to the license
agreements. A court would likely view the cat apparatus the same way,
especially because the user enticed the cat to agree to the license.
But, even if your cat did somehow use your computer without your
interaction and actually agree to a contract using your account, the
contract may be upheld by a court because what we’re looking for in
contract formation is an objective manifestation of assent to the terms.
To the objective observer on the other end of the “tubes,” it looks like
you agreed to the terms of the contract.

I suppose this is cat FAIL, EULA WIN.

Insert “love the show” robotic recording here,
Michael the Law Student
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Rafe
Hello JaNaTo* (*the wildcard host)

In regards to episode 913, I see the ability to cram 1080p into a mobile device to be a great feature.

I travel frequently with work, and have my 16Gb Nokia N96 loaded up with rips of my DVDs and episodes of my favourite TV shows (Fringe, BattleStar, etc.) as well as days of music.

Quite often I end in a hotel room with lousy signal reception, or satellite feeds of 20 channels of obscure sports, so I whip out the phone, plug in the media cable and watch good quality video through their flat screen panels.

The standard definition video I'm getting now is fine, but as a lot of these in-room TVs are Hi-Def (with no Hi-def content being displayed or available!), if I can carry one device that pumps out Hi-def video, I'm all set.

Btw, as far as smart phone features go, I still consider the N96 to leave the iPhone in the dust.

Love the Show

Richard
(The Adobe Instructor)
Brisbane, Australia
Tom
Hey Buzz Crew,
Don’t know if you’ve seen this yet, but get ready to be vindicated!

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5741334.ece
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,496309,00.html

And here’s the actual policy report:
http://ethics.calpoly.edu/ONR_report.pdf

Good computer… good boy, send the e-mail…. nice computer…..

Hoping you get this,
Eric the Musician in Georgia (Chris the commuter sent this link as well)
Natali
Re: BoL 913 and networks not putting full TV catalog on Hulu, YouTube, TV.com, et al

As much as we’d love full catalog online, networks make a significant chunk of change from syndication to affiliates. Regardless of longtail, affiliate syndication brings in significantly more money than ads online.

- DHP
Digital Audio Manager, ABC News

EPISODE 806

CERN’s big collider now in action
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10037565-76.html

Flipping out: RIM BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 debuts
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-10036487-7.html

Congress questions high cost of texting
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10037221-38.html

Apple yields to NBC Universal on price, packaging
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10036785-93.html

New Marillion album free to share
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7606029.stm

Microsoft’s BlueTrack mice are here — laser bids a tearful goodbye
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/09/microsofts-bluetrack-mice-are-here-laser-bids-a-tearful-good/

Open source seeks U.S. Congressional approval
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10037544-16.html

Space-based solar power breakthrough to be announced (thanks Shalin!)
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=26383

MP risks arrest for Segway use
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10037672-76.html

Why e-mail has become dangerous
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/09/10/1244215.shtml

VOICEMAIL

Anonymous
The real scoop on Steve Jobs health.

Tammy SC
iTunes hurt me.

E-MAIL

Downloaded iTunes 8 this afternoon to check it out, and it turns out Apple had a little treat in store for me. Every time I tried to sync my iPod after that I would receive the lovely and ever popular blue screen of death, (by the way, I'm running Vista Ultimate on a Dell XPS M1330). Every time I'd plug in my iPod touch, crash. So then I got to spend an hour and a half trying to get rid of iTunes 8 and getting back to 7.7.whatever, (which--knock on wood--seems to have solved the problem). Apparently I'm not the only one: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8046500 . Just wondering if anyone else in Buzztown got this little bundle of joy as well.

Cheers,

Jeremy The Atmospheric Chemist

**********

C’mon! Can we stop complaining about the iPod’s lack of FM. Seriously!
I bought an iPod to get away from crap radio played over and over and
annoying, screaming ads from car dealers. If you need to listen to the
radio go out and buy one!!!!!!!!! Just leave me my iPod with the music
selection I like and the Best Buy Ads that are mildly amusing.

Sheala, GA

P.S.--It’s was nice to hear Remy’s dulcet voice again.

**********

Molly was just mentioning on yesterday’s show (805) that she has been
tempted to call radio stations to figure out what songs they’re
playing. Molly, let me save you some time and introduce you to a
magical Web site called yes.com. I stumbled upon yes.com a few years
ago when I was typing in random URLs to see if they existed, and found
a diamond in the rough. Yes.com somehow tracks every song (and
commercial) played by *almost* every station across the country in
real time. I really don’t know what they are doing, but it works. You
can just type in the call letters or name of your station, and look at
their top 100 played songs, or better yet, if you remember about when
you heard your mystery tune, you can look up their logs. Just go to
Monday at 11 p.m., and you see all the songs played in that hour. They
even have links to buy said songs in iTunes and Amazon, and chat rooms
for each station. It’s amazing. I work in radio and I am baffled by
their magic because they even track stations that, as far as I know,
don’t encode the track info into their signal. Check it out.

Love the show,
Gabriel Jordan
Raleigh, NC

**********

Kind of breaking news here. When you install Google Chrome, it also
installs a plug-in into all other Web browsers on that machine.

The file npGoogleOneClick5.dll does what the file name suggests: It sends
all URLs you click (not visit) back to the Google mothership. So you can
type URLs and be fine. But if you click on any link on any Web page, it
sends the information to Google.

Kind of creepy.

The plug-in cannot be disabled nor removed without breaking the Google
Chrome installation; which on my computer went into the trash along with
all the other Google-spy services.

Daniel in Norway