Buzz Out Loud Podcast

It's a-hole Thursday on Buzz Out Loud today, as we regale you, the listening audience, with tales of cyber douche baggery on Wikipedia, Facebook, and computer fair failures. Also, warp drives (space rant!), the death of Duke Nukem, and Meatspace.

EPISODE 969

It’s 5/7/09. Why do numbers people like stuff like that so much?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/05/06/national/a195730D93.DTL&tsp=1

WiGig Alliance formed: Seeks to codify an in-room wireless spec that can handle HD video and everything else
http://www.twice.com/article/CA6656779.html?nid=2402

Phony Wikipedia entry used by worldwide press
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/06/2237244

FBController allows for hijacking of Facebook accounts
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10234720-83.html

Missile data found on hard drives
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8036324.stm

Twitter Search about to cast a wider net
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10235360-2.html

Twitter: Not for sale (read: the right offer hasn’t come in yet)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/164493/twitter_were_not_for_sale.html

Xerox ColorQube technology claims to blend the best of laser, inkjet, affordability, and environmental friendliness
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/05/xerox_draws_on_oregon_technolo.html

Sorry, no newspaper discounts on Kindle DX if you can get local delivery
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-amazon-kindle-dx-newspapers-to-offer-reduced-rates-for-two-year-subscri/

Kindle books now a shocking 35 percent of sales when Kindle version available
http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-kindle-sales-now-a-shocking-35-of-book-sales-when-kindle-version-available-2009-5

Duke Nukem developer goes belly up
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8037688.stm
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/05/duke-nukem-forever-was-the-glue-that-kept-us-together.ars

Star Trek Warp Drive not impossible, physicists say
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/090506-tw-warp-drive.html

VOICEMAIL
Jason the runner
Wolphram “cheating” Alpha

John
high school Kindles

E-MAIL
I was curious about the cost of an NYTimes subscription on the new Kindle vs paper delivery, so I did a little math.

Kindle subscription: $13.99/month = $167.88/year
Paper subscription, NY metro area = $5.30/week = $275.60/year ($107.72 diff.) [aside: Dude, we save less than $2/week here? WTF?]
Paper subscription outside NYC = $6.70/week = $348.40/year ($180.52 diff.)

The cost of a Kindle DX is $489. Assuming you buy one and ONLY use it to read the NYT:

$489/107.72 = 4.5 years to pay for itself for a NYC native
$489/180.52 = 2.7 years to pay for itself in the rest of the country.

It’s still a lot of money, obviously, but a device that pays for itself in 3 years isn’t really so bad. And if other papers are priced comparably, that could go down quite a bit depending on how much you read. If you replace three newspapers with Kindle subscriptions, the big Kindle could pay for itself in a year or less.

On the other hand, my laptop reads NYTimes.com for free (in color!) AND is also a computer, and I already own it. So there’s that.

Anyway, just had to share my overthinking with someone!

Love the show,
Jessica in Brooklyn

**********

How about this for irony? I replaced my desktop PC and Dell laptop recently with a Mac Pro and a MacBook Pro. I use Windows frequently on both of these machines for work and such. Seems that the machines that I replaced did not have processors that would support XP mode on Windows 7, but both of my Macs do support it.

I can see the marketing campaign now: PC: I have a new version of Windows coming out; it's great. MAC: Well, I can run it better than you.

Love the show.

Regards,
–Thierry

**********

I was listening to Episode 968 when Brian Cooley stated that 1080p is only useful when trying to ‘impress yourself with how great your television is’. Molly then chimed in to add that Blu-Ray is only for ‘HD wankers’? I own both a PS3 and a 1080p television set, and I must say that you’re absolutely correct.

Ben, the HD wanker

PS: Love the show even if it’s not in High Def.

The whole world was fooled into fearing a huge storm of worminess that never happened. Was it because we were prepared or because it really wasn't that big of a deal at all? We also avoid most of the April Foolery and talk some Nehalem processors and BlackBerry App World.

EPISODE 943

Want April Fool’s updates? Go watch Loaded.
http://cnettv.cnet.com/2001-1_53-50005651.html

Web 2.0 Expo
http://news.cnet.com/webware/

Live blog: Countdown to Conficker
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10208722-83.html
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/04/conficker-war-r.html

Yahoo Twitter AIR app
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=15576
http://sideline.yahoo.com/

Spam back up to 94percent of all e-mail
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/31/2012228

Wales giving up on Wikia Search
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10207896-2.html

BlackBerry App World has landed
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10208852-1.html

Computer exercises help stroke victims
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE52U7XH20090401

Nehalem Xeon’s touchdown: Could sweep current market
http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/04/nehalem-xeons-touchdown-could-sweep-current-market.ars

SeeqPod bullied into bankruptcy by record industry
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/seeqpod-bullied-into-bankruptcy-by-record-industry.ars

Researchers develop braille for vibrating touch-screen devices
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/31/researchers-develop-braille-for-vibrating-touchscreen/

"Star Trek" sequel already planned
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/31/2116218

NASA in Colbert conundrum over space station
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/01/0041200

VOICEMAIL
Two callers
Skype calls from Windows Mobile

Rob in Phoenix
Howard Stern on Natali DelConte

Jonathan from NZ
I use a Mac

Anonymous
Cheer up Natali

E-MAIL
Hi Buzz Crew,

in Episode 942 you played a voice mail asking the question, why Buzz Out
Loud is so Apple/Mac Centric. You made comments on the voice mail but you
didn’t answer the question. Don’t you want to answer the question or don’t
you have a good answer to the question?

I have a theory why Buzz Out Loud and similiar podcasts are a little Apple
Centric, but I would like to hear you ideas on the point.

I would love to hear a little more Linux and Open Source News on the Show.

Love the show
Matthias (Mathew) from Germany

**********

Hey Buzz Crew,

Heard about what you said on yesterday’s show regarding the Skype
iPhone app in Canada.
I am a little perplexed. I (ex-Montrealer now in San Jose) was
chatting with my ex-boss (now friend) in Canada, yesterday, and we
decided to test the app. We both installed it on our iphones (he in
Montreal, me in San Jose) and we were both successful and enjoyed a
long free conversation.

It is available in Canada. At least it was to him.

Love you guys,

Christos Kalantzis
The MySQL Guy

**********

Hey Buzz Crew,

you mentioned on Ep. 942 that iPhone users in every country except
Canada would be able to have and use the Skype app. Well guess what,
T-Mobile is OF COURSE blocking it for German customers as well.

http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20090331-18359.html

I would say “bummer”, but I’m not an iPhone user, since the data plans
are way too expensive for me.

Love the show.

Niels (pronounced “Neil’s”) from Germany

Justin Yu is not a virgin, but he plays one on this podcast. And that's just the kind of thing you get when you have a member of the 404 on the podcast. We also evaluate the new nearly-buttonless iPod Shuffle, some online gaming stats, and Google's new ad-targeting system.

EPISODE 928

New talking shuffle
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/03/11ipod.html?sr=hotnews
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10193443-37.html

iPod touch 2G finally jailbroken with NitroKey
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/10/ipod-touch-2g-finally-jailbroken-with-nitrokey/

Speaking of hacking…Chinese hack iTunes gift cards
http://i.gizmodo.com/5167465/get-200-itunes-store-vouchers-for-260

TelstraClear rejects New Zealand copyright code
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/2252415/TelstraClear-rejects-copyright-code

Report: Online gaming drops on PC, Wii beats out PS3
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/03/npd-group-online-gaming-rising-wii-beats-out-ps3.ars

NBC Universal content now available on PlayStation Network
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/10/nbc-universal-content-now-available-on-playstation-network/

Google launches cookie-based ads
http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/03/giving-consumers-control-over-ads.html

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10193423-93.html

Google crowd sources Maps
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10193481-2.html

$1Million Xbox lawsuit
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-03-11-lost-xbox_N.htm?csp=34

Facebook launches in Arabic
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/mar/10/facebook-launches-arabic-version

Could Fuller take Trek back to TV?
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/11/1214223

Star Wars TV series also in the works
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/40384

Kutiman Mixes YouTube
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2009/03/11/kutiman-mixes-youtube/

VOICEMAIL
Kim in PA
Kiss the floor musicians!

Paul in Austria
Don’t pick on FireWire

E-MAIL
Hi Tom:
Pinkeltje
It’s Dutch.
I once spent a year in the Netherland so I recognized the word structure of “Pinkeltje”.
The Dutch like to add je or tje to the end of words to denote that they are small. (A booklet would be a boekje.)
And Philips is a Dutch company.

So it’s a small pinkel.
I’m afraid I don’t know what a pinkel is….

Darlene in Edmonton Canada

**********

Hi BOL
I have been noticing lately that there has been some discussion on assigned seating in movie theaters. Well it’s becoming more popular here in the Kansas City area. AMC headquarters is based here in the area and they have recently opened a new venue of theaters that are designed for in-theater dining, with recliners and assigned seating. The theater staff also serve alcoholic beverages under certain circumstances. The prices are the same for all seats so Molly should be pleased,no first class seating, just first class service for everyone.

I just thought the listeners might want to know that a new movie experience is coming to theaters.
http://www.amctheatres.com/theatres/domestic/studio30/

Enjoy the show
Jimmie from KC

While there are stories about Windows 7, the FCC investigating Cox Cable, and the Palm Pre launching in March, you really need to listen to the story of the Klingon who robbed a convenience store. Really.

EPISODE 904

Six editions of Windows 7: Better than Vista, still too many
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/02/official-windows-7-skus-revealed-six-editions.ars
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10155943-56.html
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1890

Vuze calls for FCC probe of Cox Cable traffic management
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/02/vuze-calls-for-fcc-probe-of-cox-cable-traffic-management.ars

AT&T to buy Verizon spectrum?
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/att-may-buy-3-billion/story.aspx?guid={ACE7576D-432F-4AAF-9ACF-B71A3F5C1D13}&dist=msr_1

Google Latitude
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4774345n
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/see-where-your-friends-are-with-google.html

Palm Pre launching 3/15?
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/02/04/sprint-eol-list-reveals-target-palm-pre-launch-plenty-more/

Toshiba's sexy smartphone. Where did this come from?
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/02/03/toshiba-comes-out-of-nowhere-with-the-ultra-slick-tg01-touchscreen-phone/

Garmin and Asus combine on Nuvi phone
http://www.infoworld.com/article/09/02/04/New_GarminAsus_smartphones_to_take_many_OSs_1.html

India’s $10 laptop is not a laptop
http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/04/indias-10-laptop-is-not-a-laptop/

Zune original programming
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/feb09/02-04ZuneMeanPR.mspx

Yahoo Search Pad
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10156207-2.html

For poseurs only: HarperCollins launches “video books”
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/02/for-poseurs-only-harpercollins-launches-video-books.ars

Man robs convenience stores with Klingon “Bat'leth”
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/04/1456240

VOICEMAIL
Rod the School Counselor
Thanks for all the bandwidth!

Steve from Long Island
Cruise ship

E-MAIL
Hey JaMoNaTo,

You mentioned the iPod Breathalyzer on the show this last Monday (Ep. 902) and I thought you might like the link. Behold, the iBreath! It looks like this is not only an iPod Breathalyzer, but also a FM transmitter. Not only will this work off of your ipod’s batteries, but you can also use it with (I believe) is just a standard iPod sync cable hooked to any power source (Computer or USB power adapter for car or wall).

Josh
Computer and Network Technician
(aka “The company computer guy”)

***********

Hey buzz team,

This is Alex from RssPlayer and I just wanted to add to Joshes email from episode 903 when he created the tiny urls for all your podcasts.

There is something called Custom Url Schemas on the iPhone. They are designed so that one app can open another app and share data. Some commonly know schemas are http:// (opens safari) tel:// (calls someone) and mailto: (opens email). In the next RssPlayer update, I will incorporate a custom url schema that will allow you to import a feed simply by clicking a link in safari or mail.

Here is an example
rssplayer://foo.com?feedurl=http://tinyurl.com/ourfav

When clicked, RssPlayer opens and import the feed. No more typing.

Maybe someone will build a iPhone friendly netcast directory with a button that imports directly to RssPlayer.

So that’s it.

Keep up the good work.
Alex from New Jersey

***********

Hey Tom, Natali, Jason, Rafe, and Molly Monday

This is in reference to picking up geeky/nerdy chicks at coffee shops.
Ever since last month (or two months ago) when you discussed
initiating conversation with girls who use netbooks (or anything tech
related for that matter) at coffee shops, I have been trying to get my
game on and work up the courage to talk to some of them. Today, I had
the perfect opportunity when a very attractive woman sat down next to
my table and opened a book on how to use Adobe Dreamweaver CS4. She
started reading on page one, so I assumed that she was just beginning
to learn how to use it. This was perfect, because not only do I use
CS4, but I just finished reading a book on it myself! So, with my
heart pounding, palms sweaty, and mind racing, I opened my mouth and
said: “excuse me, hi, you are going to really love using that
software.” She then turned to me, smiled and said: “really, that’s
great because I’ve been looking for a good alternative to Front Page.”
We then nerd-chatted it up for 20 minutes, and then she ended up
giving me her number! Score!

So, thanks for the help and encouragement guys, it worked!

Chris
Larkfield, CA

***********

I just have to give a “well actually” to the Crazy Canuck.

I checked up on CrazyCanuck’s numbers. I didn’t quite follow. They seemed pretty off to me.

The first place I assumed he strayed was his calorie conversion. Food Calories are based upon heating one KiloGram of water 1 Celsius Degree. (not 1 gram) As such
they are equal to 1000 calories.

But that wasn’t enough of a discrepancy. “2,569 Calories is equal to .002988 Watts”???

The watt is a unit of measurement equal to 1 Joule/ 1 second. (1 Kilowatt equals 1000 joules/ second.)
1 calorie is equal to 4.187 Joules. (1 Kilocalorie= 4187 Joules)

So a 1 oz. shot of whiskey containing 64(,000) Calories equates to 267,953.88 Joules. In terms of watts (267,953.8 watts. or (267.95 KiloWatts.)

This means it would take just .56179 oz. of whiskey to produce 150 Kilowatts. (per second remember)

There are 3600 seconds in an Hour. 2022 oz/hr of whiskey could maintain 150 Kilowatt/ Hr. (50.56 bottles @ 40 oz./ hr.)

But we’re talking 100% efficiency here.

The worlds top of the line coal fired power plants are just 32% efficient. That is 3.125 times less.

2022 * 3.125 = 6318.75 oz/ hr. or 158 bottles/ hr.!!

But that’s really good!!, The worlds most efficient otto cycle (4 stroke internal combustion) engine is approx 20 % efficient.

2022 x 5 (100/20=5) = 10,110 oz/ hr. or 252.75 bottles/ hr.

I figure if we had 405 people from buzztown, each taking 1 shot every 12 minutes (5/ hr.) we could
easily power a 100% efficient 150 kWH Data center between us.

Love the Show.

Josh in Salt Lake City.

Episode 876

In these troubled times, RIAA can’t afford to sue you
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10127003-93.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122966038836021137.html
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-recording-industry-moves-away-from-lawsuits-enlists-isps-in-piracy-figh/

Universal Music seeing ‘tens of millions’ from YouTube
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10126439-93.html

Silent protest planned for Jobs-less keynote,
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/12/19/silent-protest-planned-for-jobs-less-keynote

Gates Foundation to help libraries be better free ‘net cafes
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081218-gates-foundation-to-help-libraries-be-better-free-net-cafes.html

Number of landline-free households up 10 percent in U.S.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081218-number-of-landline-free-households-up-10-in-us.html

LCD TV revenues to dip for first time ever
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10126273-92.html

Toshiba to OEM laptops with OpenSolaris
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F19%2F1332225&from=rss

NPR now lets you roll your own podcast feed
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/npr_now_lets_you_roll_your_own_podcasts.php

Samsung Electronics will launch Google phone in Q2
http://english.etnews.co.kr/news/detail.html?id=200812190010

Trek creator’s widow dies aged 76
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7791210.stm

Voice mail

Oaf-er? SoCal - Nova? Really Palm?
DEBUNKED! http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp

Chris the Podcaster - Don’t hire podcaster?!!!! Really?

Anonymous - Monstrous problem

E-mail
Happy Holidays, Buzz-folk!

It may seem like $6 million is a lot to pay to have a space shuttle delivered (BOL 875), until you realize that $2.5 million is just for the bubble wrap! Not to mention all the !$&#^*# foam peanuts…

LTS/KUTGW!

Regards,
Steve L.
South Jersey

**********

I think buying the space shuttle is a great idea! I want to chip in with $1000 USD, but since i can’t send actual money i figured i should send you $1000 USD in winkeys. I’m sure Oleg Teterin will be more than happy to buy them from us once we raise enough for the shuttle. In theese troubled times i can only afford $1000USD and i dont know how much that is in winkeys so please send the change back….preferably in sets of or :-o. Thank you and Love the show! - HinDRAncE

**********

To the Nearly Omniscient Leaders of the Buzz Army,

I heard your cries of suffering over the way Firefox skips over drop
down lists on the Mac. I too felt this pain in the past, but today I
bring you good news.

For some reason, Apple decided that the default behavior of OS X should
be to only set the focus on lists and text boxes when tabbing through a
screen. They did have the foresight, however, to let users change that
behavior in the “Keyboard and Mouse” preference pane.

Check out this handy blog entry for the full details, and fear no longer
the Firefox:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/apple/why-doesnt-tab-work-for-drop-down-controls-in-firefox-on-os-x/

Matt The Java Developer

**********

Hey JaMoToNat,

There's a cool Facebook Group where Aaron Sorkin himself has been answering posts, in an effort to do some background research for his Facebook script. I'm a huge fan of his writing, so it made my day when he posted back. Other actors like Josh Malina and Kim Webster have posted as well.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=33807262256

Love the show,

John in San Diego

**********

The hardware website Sharkeyextreme.com does a price check of various computer parts every month, and they just started checking SSD prices.

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/article.php/10704_3787791__6

Long story short: prices vary considerably, this seems to depend on drives which are enterprise vs consumer focused, SLC vs MLC. budget speeds vs higher speed. etc.

Best deal though: OCZ “core V2″ 30gig drive is $70 or 2.33/GB

Worst Deal: Super Talent MasterDrive PX 64 GB goes for $807 or $12.61/GB (though i would assume its Crazy fast though)

check it out

Faiz

EPISODE 860

Cooley debriefs:
- Just drove in in the new 370Z with SynchroMatch transmission.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10102550-48.html

- From iPhone to Bold: how it's going, why I did it.

- Promo: EOH today discussing car tech seen at the L.A. Auto Show (open now)

Amazon Kindle 2 Slated For "Early Q1″
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/25/amazon-kindle-2-slated-for-early-q1/

Flurry of online video stuff:
- Blockbuster launches a box
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10107437-1.html

- YouTube goes wide screen
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10107536-93.html

- TiVo goes mobile for everyone
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10107464-1.html

The Guild Coming to Xbox Live Marketplace
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/11/the-guild-comin.html

Teacher in porn pop-up case dodges jail but loses creds
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081124-teacher-in-porn-popup-case-dodges-jail-loses-creds.html

Senate: When analog TV goes dark, leave a light on
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081124-senate-when-analog-tv-goes-dark-leave-a-light-on.html

Web and mobile increasing TV viewership
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Research_25/TV_s_new_best_friends_Web_and_mobile.asp

New study crowns Google’s Chrome king of speed
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10107591-16.html

Nanotech clothing fabric ‘never gets wet’
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16126-nanotech-clothing-fabric-never-gets-wet.html

Voice mail
“Hey:” Star Trek reminiscences

Bob the patent lawyer: “close enough for nuclear war”

EMAIL

Jamoto,

On Buzz-Out-Loud #859 Daniel in Hell e-mailed about the EULA for the iPhone which restricted the use of the phone for, “the development design manufacture or production of various kinds of weapons”. I believe that this is due to the fact that it contains a GPS unit, which could at least theoretically be used for a targeting or timing system. I would guess that this would be a standard EULA feature of other GPS devices, but maybe just the iPhone since it can run apps and would be easier to configure for the task. I guess the option of using the phone to record and replay a Molly rant is still an unrestricted pleasure. Love the show, keep up the good work.

Thomas the Professional Nuclear Engineer
“It ain’t rocket science - its Nuclear Engineering”

**********

Orbital Speed and Buzz Out Loud
http://blog.dotphys.net/2008/11/orbital-speed-and-buzz-out-loud/

Rhett Allain

**********

Emmanuel

What’s Up Buzz Crew!

Who better to help with Obama with his FCC Transition than a Level 70 Shaman! Last week President Elect Obama appointed Kevin Werbach as a Co-Chair to the transition team. Level 70 ain’t nothing to sneeze at. I’m also sure this is why Obama wants a laptop in the Oval… I mean with all that down time, I’m sure Werbach will have Obama hooked on World of Warcrack in no time!

http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/11/20/obamas-fcc-transition-co-chair-is-a-wow-player/

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/gigaom/big-tech/2008_11_18_obamas_fcc_transition_team_co_chair_a_wow_player.html

**********

What’s this I hear? You need another host for Friday? I’m not doing anything over Thanksgiving - flights home from Vegas to Portland for both Thanksgiving are too expensive, (in these troubled times,
*drink*) but I can fly to SFO for cheap! $150 on Virgin America round-trip! You can pay me back later.

I’ve even written the intro in advance:

(Camera 1) Merritt: “Coming up on CNET Live: it’s that time of year again, time for 10 STRAIGHT hours of CNET Live’s Holiday Help Desk, when we ease the pains of your holiday tech shopping. Lots of reviews, lots of questions, lots of answers!”

(Camera 2) Cooley: “Plus, I’ll teach you how to roast a turkey with the Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries from a new Ford Escape hybrid! And Cars! Cars! CARS!”

(Camera 3) Me: “And I made a cape from my CNET sweatshirt! CNET Live starts now! EXCELSIOR!”

(I unfurl my cape and fly stage-left Al Gore-style. Animated exclamation points dancing on screen. Play intro sequence.)

Perfect opportunity for my Al Gore impression. You can have that for free. Unfortunately I’m not very patient with verbose callers, comfortable in front of cameras, or altogether functional before noon, but that also means I’m totally nerdcore, so feel free to give me a call. Like Cooley said, nobody’s gonna be watching this anyway, right? (Just let me know before Wednesday, because the price doubles on Thursday.)

LTS,

-Andrew

Social networking finally reaches its most underserved niche: the hobos. Look for Tom to officially join the Hobo Nation any day now. In other news of the day, Caroline McCarthy joins us for a rollicking discussion of The Washington Post's war on spam, and Molly most likely gets herself fired from CBS and kicked off TWiT in one fell swoop. So, learn to love Caroline. She might be sticking around.

Episode 851

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 makes date with U.S.: Black Friday for $799.99
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/12/sony-ericsson-xperia-x1-makes-date-with-us-black-friday-for-79/

Qualcomm floats 'PC alternative' 3G device
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=10805
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122646599469620261.html

Microsoft close to blowing another $1 billion on Verizon search And mobile deal
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/11/microsoft-close-to-blowing-another-1-billion-on-verizon-search-and-mobile-deal
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10094749-94.html

'Washington Post' blog shuts down 75% of online spam
http://it.slashdot.org/it/08/11/12/1253230.shtml

More Google catch-up: Gmail Adds video IM
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/11/more-google-catch-up-gmail-adds-video-im-goog-
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10093175-2.html

Google meets the CDC: Flu tracking by search trends
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081111-google-meets-the-cdc-flu-tracking-by-search-trends.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10094798-71.html

First Trek film footage unveiled
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7722407.stm

Contact with extraterrestrial life by 2025?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10094740-52.html

Identifying people by odor as effective as fingerprinting
http://idle.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/11/2223205

Classmates.com user sues; schoolmates weren’t really looking for him
http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2008/11/classmates

Voice mail
Shalin loves space
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/science/f_analyzer.html

Karen hates space

Ken: a Netbook in the wild?

E-mail
Hi JaMoTo,

I am a little peeved today. Tuesday nights are a great night for TV so I decided to skip some shows and watch them online. But nooooo, CBS decided pull the rug out from under the viewing public and not post any full episodes of “The Mentalist” on their site. So I decided to go to Hulu and watch “Law & Order SVU.” Again another network decided to pull the full episodes. I thought this was their idea. Fox and NBC, didn’t they start Hulu? I’m convinced only ABC and to some degree Fox wants people to see their shows. I guess I could buy episodes on iTunes or Amazon. I just wish there was some consistency. Thanks, I needed to vent. Love the show!

Tina in Omaha.

**********

Hey Super Cool Buzz Crew,

The reason for the gimmicky gift card is profit. The speaker gift card at BestBuy can only be acquired in $50 intervals. Studies have shown that people spend between 15 and 25% more than the gift card is worth when they take it redeem it at the store. Offering a cool, (any of my 6 kids would love a speaker the size of a credit card) yet gimmicky item starting at $50 may encourage the gift card buyer to increase the gift from $30 or $40 to get the gimmick will, in the end be more money at the store. This is because the extra money spent with a gift card is not a hard dollar amount, it is a percentage of the card value.

BTW, I won a Zune through the PepsiStuff promotion and have subscribed to your podcast, along with 4 others from CNET. I love the way the Zune software deletes my listened to podcasts off of the device and replaces it with fresh ones automatically. Do iPods do that ? I have never used one, I'm kind of against apple as I explain here:
http://tsabonis.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!C4372C2C55C1E241!142.entry

Always, love the show.

Anthony

**********

I was very surprise to here your report about the windows 7 article on infoworld.com . Not surprise that you reported it but that the article was so negitive and contridictory to everything that I have heard mainly TWIT podcast episode 167. So I made my way to the article in questioned and realised a “developer” from this website was band from the MIcrosoft pdc conference. So I start to question how they got the windows 7 pre-beta build…maybe bitorrent? Finally there is another thing I realised…who runs bench marks on a pre beta version of software that is ment for develpers? There is nothing obligating you from making a comment about this on your show. I was just informing you, since you guys usually do a good job of reporting good solid tech news. I know you guys frequent TWIT but i put a link below anyway. I was going to link other articles but I think TWIT is respectable enough.

http://twit.tv/167
Mark

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

On today's show, the world of anonymous chatting gets even more confusing, thanks to the increasing numbers of computers passing the Turing test. Is it a pervert? Is it a computer? Is it both? In other news, Chrome breaks Molly's heart, Sony breaks all the rules and keeps the PS3 prices high, and people keep preordering G1 Android phones. Who knew?

EPISODE 829

Test explores if robots can think
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/berkshire/7666246.stm
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/10/13/1450205.shtml

Sony rules out PS3 price cuts for holiday season
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0c6d283e-988a-11dd-ace3-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

1.5 million G1 Android phones preordered
http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-39701-118.html

Employees, not hackers, cause most corporate data loss
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081012-employees-not-it-responsible-for-most-corporate-data-loss.html

OpenOffice.org overwhelmed by demand for version 3.0
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/13/openoffice_org_download_website_dead/

Google’s Chrome declining in popularity
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/10/13/161238.shtml

FCC says Seattle tests back smutless, free broadband proposal
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081012-fcc-says-seattle-tests-back-smutless-free-broadband-proposal.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10063866-94.html

Microsoft launches PC Advisor Repair Utility. Going after Apple next?
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/microsoft_goes_after_apple_with_pc_advisor_utility

People prefer angry-faced cars
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/13/0631240

YouTube beams up ‘Star Trek’ for long-form video
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10063661-93.html

VOICE MAIL
Remy - Verizon isn’t sleazy.

E-MAIL
Hi Buzz Crew,

What do you guys think of this new way of clogging up those spam bot
servers:
http://www.auditmypc.com/freescan/antispam.html

It’s a different way of getting the spammers: instead of blocking e-mails, it clogs up their servers (as ant trap manufacturers would say, stopping it at the source). The description on the site is pretty good, but essentially it tricks spam bots into opening the Web page– full of useless, yet convincing e-mail addresses–and makes them regenerate it via the link at the bottom, thereby feeding them more useless e-mail addresses, and the cycle continues.

–Jonathan

Hey BuzzCrew (+1),
Just to let you know, if you select a Beatles track (I did Come Together), and ask iTunes to make a Genius playlist, it now does! I’ve been checking after iTunes updates my Genius every week, and after updating last night, it now creates the playlists. I guess it’s finally gathered enough data from users iTunes libraries to make Genius playlists. Either that, or The Beatles have come to iTunes.

Love the show!
Dave,
Melbourne, Australia
aka DaveBinM