Buzz Out Loud Podcast

Amazon announced same-day delivery for certain areas today, although we're not sure if you can buy wines by the glass. We also cover the BlackBerry Storm and the Motorola Cliq announcements. Guess which one we like better? And the Danger Sidekick tale continues.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Don’t change your Twitter passwords if you don’t want to lose your account
http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/twitter-warns-users-not-change-log-in-data-until-further-notice-815

Microsoft confirms data recovery for Sidekick users
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/oct09/10-15sidekick.mspx
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=4245

Sidekick outage is more than just an inconvenience for deaf people
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10375186-56.html

Sidekick users file a lawsuit
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10375240-56.html

BlackBerry Storm 2: Marginally better
http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/rim-blackberry-storm-2/4505-6454_7-33776074.html
http://cnettv.cnet.com/rim-blackberry-storm-2-verizon-wireless/9742-1_53-50078204.html

Motorola Cliq
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/motorola-cliq-t-mobile/4505-6452_7-33770768.html

Wal-Mart to launch prepaid plans
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/10/14/walmart-launching-own-pre-paid-cell-plans/

Amazon.com introduces same-day delivery
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/amazoncom-introduces-same-day-delivery/?hp

Gartner Says worldwide PC shipments returned to growth in third quarter of 2009
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1207613

Google to launch remote book downloading service
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-10-15-google-editions_N.htm?csp=34

U.K. copyright group tells cinemas to ban laptops
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/10/15/1321243/UK-Copyright-Group-Tells-Cinemas-to-Ban-Laptops

New CBS News iPhone app (shameless)
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=334256223&mt=8

Voice mail
Rob wants to know about this Sprint data-only phone

Vic the Texas Rancher Pilot on a use for the iPhone car starter

E-mail
Hi Buzz Crew

See:

http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/index.php/software-update-causes-mass-box-
failure

A major software update to UK sat tv HD Freesat boxes has bricked many
boxes including mine. No warning and no way to re-wind. I have no TV at
all now and helpful tech support guy says they will be sending out a
new over-the-air update in the next few days – hopefully. Don’t know
how it will work as box reboots every 30 secs at the moment!

So no TV, no Hulu in the UK. Looks like a lot of Podcasts to listen
to.

Love the show

Paul the no-tv-for-now guy in the UK.

***********

Hey buzz crew,
When you were talking about the business week article on WiFi direct I
couldn’t help thinking this sounds an aweful lot like a protocol that
we already have: ad-hoc wireless!
I’ve used this tons of times to connect two laptops without a router.
What’s the big deal?

Love the show!

Ben the network security admin
Rochester, NY

***********

After hearing Texas Instruments threatened individuals who hacked their TI calculators, I began to wonder why would Texas Instruments even care. In my mind, other than being completely ignorant to the potential of the benefits of hacking, there are only two reasons why Texas Instruments would care.

1. The software programs offered on the more recent versions of the TI family don’t require the CPU processors or Ram that they currently have. If you are able to hack the calculator and import the TI-89 version on the software on a TI-83 version, you have now better calculator without them getting the additional payments. (Which, if true, is sad because they would rather protect their old technology than innovate and develop a brand new standard for calculators)

2. They are protecting the ability for their calculators to be considered “approved” for standardized testing. If hacks are available, they may feel they could lose that “approved” branding, which would hurt their sales dramatically.

(One could make the argument of preventing students from flashing a library of game-boy games onto the calculator and making it the best hidden video game toy in the school system. But games have been available for at least 10 years now on the TI-brand of calculators.)

Either way, these actions are surprising for a company that was voted by Business Ethics as one of the top 100 corporate citizens in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007

***********

Hi Buzz Crew,

Just had to report a strange occurrence involving bluetooth, an iPhone
and a Toyota Prius:

My wife and I were both driving home from the gym. I was engaged in a
phone call (using my iPhone and a bluetooth earpiece). She was
following a few car lengths back in our new bluetooth-equipped Toyota
Prius. Suddenly my phone call ended. I chalked it up to typical
cellphone dropped calls. But in fact here’s what happened. Our Prius
was close enough behind my car that its built-in bluetooth paired with
my iPhone, effectively hijacking the call. My wife said she was
listening to the radio and was interrupted by my friends voice asking
“are you still there?”

Anyway… thought it was an interesting story.

John, Rochester, NY

Sure Apple has made their September 9 announcement official, and yeah Disney is buying Marvel and will soon own Spider-man. But we're most concerned about RIBA the robot bear who's coming to get our unhealthy thin humans. Protect yourself! Keep out of beds and wheelchairs and for heaven's sake stay over 135 pounds!

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Disney buys Spider-Man and friends
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-spider-man-meets-mickey-mouse-disney-buying-marvel-for-4-billion-in-sto/

Utah Law Punishes Texters As Much As Drunks In Driving Fatalities
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/29/1224250/Utah-Law-Punishes-Texters-As-Much-As-Drunks-In-Driving-Fatalities

Verizon cuts BlackBerry Storm pricing to $50
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/08/31/verizon-cuts-blackberry-storm-pricing-to-50/

Apple confirms September 9, 2009 “rock and roll” event
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/08/apple-confirms-september-9-2009-rock-and-roll-event.ars

Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/wikitrust/

Personalized In-Game Advertising In Upcoming Titles
http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/08/30/1618218/Personalized-In-Game-Advertising-In-Upcoming-Titles

Man uses 'Find My iPhone' to locate his iPhone... and three robbery suspects
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/08/30/man-uses-find-my-iphone-to-locate-his-iphone-and-three-robbery-suspects/

Why Don't Teens Tweet? We Asked Over 10,000 of Them.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/30/why-dont-teens-tweet-we-asked-over-10000-of-them/

Thousands call for Turing apology
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8226509.stm

Wheelchair of the future takes on the scooter
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-10320802-247.html
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/08/31/rodem_hi_tech_wheelchair/

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

VOICEMAIL

Fordo’s secret project

EMAIL
Hey Buzzies,

I always hear about how Natali is always breaking iPhones, and I just came accross this story on engadget with an impressive video of an iPhone protective sleeve that can protect the phone from a 2 story drop and a hard throw at a wall due to being made of a specially engineered, non-newtonian material, here is a link to the story, watch the video it’s quite impressive:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/31/video-tech21s-iband-protective-case-and-its-mystical-magical/#continued

Hope that is helpful to Natali

Byebye!

-Kassandra

**********

Dear Buzz crew,

I just saw on TV the new commercial for “The Shack” about how they sell more phones than the population of Scandinavia. Big deal really. However, as I’m watching the commercial there are these huge mountains in the background and dancing phones with yellow braids and people-phone-things yodelling. Umm … the Alps are in *Switzerland*, not Scandinavia. They don’t yodel in Scandinavia and there aren’t even any huge mountains (Norway has some, but not like the Alps). I’m so infuriated!

Okay, maybe I’m biased … I am a Scandinavian Studies student after all. But hey, how does that mistake pass so many people? Hopefully someone on the Buzz crew can sympathise with me.
Love the show!
- Ethan
the Scandinavian Studies student

**********

Hey Buzz Crew-

Seems you may want to join up and call upon the Colbert Nation to stop this horrible uprising that is about to begin:

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/riba-robot-bear-is-capable-of-carrying-humans

You have been warned!

Cheers & Fears from Oxford! :p
Tom Merritt the Doppelganger

I'm not sure why I mentioned an actual piece of horse, but it had to do with trojan horses and mysterious laptops showing up at Governor's offices around the US. We also help you get hooked up with Snow Leopard compatibility and warn you against a couple of scary government initiatives.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Snow Leopard Application Incompatibilities Compiled
http://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/27/snow-leopard-application-incompatibilities-compiled/
http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3258

Snow Leopard’s malware protection only scans for two Trojans
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=4139

Bill would give president emergency control of Internet
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10320096-38.html

Quantum Cryptography for the Masses
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23317/?a=f

FBI Investigating Mystery Laptops Sent To US Governors
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/0210225/FBI-Investigating-Mystery-Laptops-Sent-To-US-Governors

Investor Group Makes Play For Skype
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/28/investor-group-makes-play-for-skype/

Storm 2, Touch Pro2, Omnia II and possibly the Pre – all in Verizon’s inventory database
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Storm-2-Touch-Pro2-Omnia-II-and-possibly-the-Pre—all-in-Verizons-inventory-database-article-a_6641.html

Yelp Brings First US Augmented Reality App to iPhone Store
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/yelp_brings_first_us_augmented_reality_to_iphone_s.php
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_wall_has_fallen_3_augmented_reality_apps_now_l.php

IBM Images a Single Molecule
http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/1119203/IBM-Images-a-Single-Molecule

Loch Ness Monster surfaces on Google Earth
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/28/google_earth_nessie/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10318790-36.html

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

VOICEMAIL
Anonymous solution to earbud problem

Anonymous2 on Firefox private browsing

EMAIL
Hey guys,

love the show, with Tom’s virtualization (show 1051) idea, there are a few fantastic products like Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop. With XenDesktop you get a whole virtual desktop deliver to your computer which can either run using the power of your computer or of the servers and means you can run pretty much any OS on your laptop but for company work use their virtual access, you can even access the desktop through the web so you could use a netbook .

At my current company we heavily use virtualization like this because everyone uses different operating systems but all the companies core apps are windows based, as I am writing this to you I am in the Outback of Australia using my companies internal applications through my web browser running on my Mac.

Cheers,

Ray the systems admin guy

**********

Hello Buzz Crew,

I'm not sure if this is of interest to anyone, but did you know that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is allowed to seize your laptop or other electronic device without cause when you enter the US?

This applies to everyone, US Citizens and foreign nationals. The rules were recently updated, partially under pressure from a recent ALCU lawsuit, but the ALCU wants further changes. Under the revised rules, CBP and ICE are also allowed to keep your laptop for up to 30 days to perform the search. The ACLU asserts that the rules are still too broad and have the potential for abuse.

While the occurrence of this happening appears to be quite uncommon, is does happen. The CBP reported they only did about 1,000 laptop searches during a 10 month period, and only 46 were in-depth searches. The CDP processed 221 million passengers during that same time frame. Rare as it may be, I certainly would not want to be on of the travelers who were subjected to this search and seizure of their laptop. The thing that really bothers me is they are allowed to do this without cause.

Quoting the PC world article linked below:

"CBP has asserted that it can search all files, including financial documents and Web browsing history, on travelers’ laptops and electronic devices “absent individualized suspicion.” The agency does need probable cause that a crime has been committed to seize a device."

I guess all of this is something to think about when deciding if you should take your laptop, smart phone, or any other electronic device on your next overseas trip.

Here are the relevant links:

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/170963/us_dhs_revises_border_laptop_search_rules.html
http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1251393255852.shtm http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10320116-38.html

Thanks for such an informative and fun show.

Lenny the Globetraveler

**********

I thought you guys might get a kick out of this. Two Swedish geeks spent six months putting this stop-motion music video together for their electronic music. They used a Nikon DSLR, a lot of legos, and even more patience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qsWFFuYZYI&feature=channel_page

Thomas,
Stockholm, Sweden

We discuss a computer algorithm that can determine if photos are pretty or not. I guess hot or not is going out of business. We also look at the causes of the Google error and speculate on how Wolfram Alpha will be used.

EPISODE 975

Networking error caused Google outage
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10241126-93.html

International Energy Agency says CE is gobbling up energy faster than green measures can save it
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54C4K420090514?sp=true
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/05/power-hungry-gadgets-endanger-energy-efficiency-gains.ars
http://www.pge.com/mybusiness/energysavingsrebates/buyersguide/bce/index.shtml

Wolfram Alpha goes public today
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/05/wolfram-alpha-set-for-launch-first-look-unveiled.ars

Nintendo DSi drives April gaming sales
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/05/nintendo-dsi-drives-april-gaming-sales.ars

eBikes come to Best Buy
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2347082,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

MLB scores patent to black out streamed games
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10241356-93.html

N.Y. Tax on Games, DVDs, and junk food
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/14/1739258
http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/05/14/new-york-bill-would-add-fat-tax-video-games-dvds-junk-food

Exclusive: First Look at the BlackBerry Storm 2!!
http://crackberry.com/exclusive-first-look-blackberry-storm-2

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/05/14/exclusive-blackberry-storm-2-shots/

Computers with opinions on visual aesthetics
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/15/0613204

1000th Episode June 18th!
Send email to buzz@cnet.com with the subject line 1000th Episode Invite, if you are serious about wanting to attend the recording at 10:30 AM Thursday June 18th. We have a limited amount of seats.

VOICEMAIL
Ben
Kids don’t use Twitter

E-MAIL
One note about Shop Safe … don’t use it when you have to show the card to pick up the item you purchased. This mostly applies to show/concert tickets, but it would be a bummer to have a lot of hassle in real life because you were being safe online.

Also, MBNA used to allow limits, almost like an allowance. I used to give myself a limit and an expiration date of a couple months for iTunes purchases. A little hassle, but it kept me on a budget.

Love the show!

Jason in Boston

**********

Hey BuzzCrew-

As usual I seem to be a day late and a dollar short (’a pound short’ doesn’t sound nearly as nice, need that alliteration) on the podcast. But it was mentioned about having a keyboard on the credit card to make it more secure. Well Europe again is ahead of the US on security. So all cards over here have a chip in them- Most stores make you insert your card to a machine and you have to type in your pin to use it as a credit card/debit card (Know as chip & pin service). And most banks over here (Barclay’s for one) have a small device (looks like a calculator) to allow you to check your account online, where you have to insert your card into the device type in your pin and it gives you a 8 digit number that has to be typed in with a few minutes of trying to log on to view ANY of your account info. Separately if you choose to purchase online from many stores, Visa for example, send you to another page to verify your info by asking for random characters from your specialized password just for online for purchases.

Moving here it was a major change to get use to all of that, but now I quite prefer it. Only frustration is if you are on the go and forget to bring your card reader you can’t access your bank account anywhere but Holes in the Wall (ATMs) or in your own bank.

Cheers from Oxford!
Tom Merritt the Doppelganger

I know you hate links but this is to info about Barclay’s PinSentry [the card reader]: http://www.barclays.co.uk/audiopinsentry/reader.html

**********

Hello BOL,

BOL had a call out for evidence of TimeWarner Cable leveraging the
analog TV broadcast shutdown to scare people to their service. I did
get a print version here in Southern California, but it’s on their web
site too. I’ve attached a screenshot of the image saying “Don’t Let
Your TV Go Dark”. It’s also on this link:

http://www.timewarnercable.com/SoCal/?divhome=1

if you click the “DTV Transition” right tab. I think the casual
reader could get caught in a misimpression.

Love the Show,
Dean
Huntington Beach, CA

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)

There is a lot about pants in today's episode. I mean, the French Parliament killed the Net piracy bill, Conficker started adding a key logger, and the AP does more stupid stuff. But really, it's all about pants. The new "Star Trek" movie was shown to a surprised group of Austin fans. Apparently, it melted one man's pants, it was so good. And there are also some robotic pants in today's show. But, the show is far from pants in the British sense. Just listen.

EPISODE 949

French parliament unexpectedly kills Net piracy bill
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10215937-38.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/09/u2s-manager-wants-to.html

Conficker wakes up, updates via P2P, drops payload
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10215678-83.html

NAND flash supply to tighten after Apple reportedly places large order
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090409PD219.html

Google responds to AP
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7988561.stm

Associated Press threatens AP affiliate over YouTube channel
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/08/associated-press-thr.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10215703-93.html

BlackBerry Storm 2 with Wi-Fi, new screen?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10215106-94.html

Gmail time zone tracker
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/08/gmail-can-now-tell-which-of-your-contacts-are-awake/

Industry moves: Sims' creator Will Wright leaves EA
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-industry-moves-sims-creator-will-wright-leaves-ea/

Intel aims for 2-second boot time with Moblin Linux platform
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/04/intel-aims-for-2-second-boot-time-with-moblin-linux-platform.ars

CFLs causing utility woes
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/08/2125250

Is Shaq trying to seduce Mark Cuban via Twitter?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10215867-71.html

Spock gives fans 'Star Trek' treat
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7989146.stm

Monster Cable is still stupid
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/09/monster-cable-learns-nothing-sues-monster-transmission/

VOICEMAIL
Jimmy from California
Is Costco the cloud?

Anonymous Drinker
???

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew,

On episode 945 you guys talked about taking breaks for internet at work and about how productive that might be. I laughed when Tom mentioned people working in a call center. I work in a large call center and most of our supervisors do not mind if we take a few minutes here or there to check well known sites such as CNN.com or other related news sites. They do not allow us to surf sites such as Twitter or Facebook because of security risks. I just thought I'd pass that along.

Matthew

**********

Hi Buzz crew.

I just finished listening to episode 948 where you followed up on the variable pricing from iTunes, Amazon etc. My first reaction was that, since I’m in Canada, my songs will still be 99 cents for a while longer. Nope. I just checked and, sure enough, all songs are now .69, .99 and 1.29 per song. Amazing! It took us over a year to get the iTunes store in Canada after it was launched in the US because of Licensing issues. Just as long to get T.V. shows and movie rentals for the same reason. We couldn’t get the iPhone untill the 2nd generation and when I checked over the weekend most of my purchased music still was not availible for the DRM free upgrade. But raise the price by 30 cents so the record labels can make more money and the Canadian music industry is instantly all over it. Capitalism. Gotta love it.

Speaking of love it. Love the show….Tom, your segues are rubbing off on me.

Take care,
Wayne, the Visual effects Artist, Quebec, Canada

PS: Natali, I hate FiOS because FiOS hates Natali.

**********

Perhaps for his next upgrade cycle, the eyeborg might consider one of
these:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/08/exmoveres-wearable-chariot-for-the-mild-mannered-cyborg/

If you ask me, it looks like the 21st century version of a centaur…
except instead of the lower half being a horse, it’s a Segway)

LOVE THE SHOW.
Donald, the (still) out of work software engineer

**********

Hi Buzz Out Loud
Yesterday you had a caller mention that Mutant Chronicles was on Video on Demand before theaters. Here is a second movie that I know is going to debut on VOD before hitting theaters. The movie is called Surveillance. It is directed by Jennifer Lynch and produced by David Lynch, two well known directors. It will be on VOD on May 29th and in theaters on June 6.

I am excited about this and I hope this trend continues. Also the new tv series Southland premiered on Hulu a week before it was broadcast on tv.
Here is the link to the surveillance site where it shows the dates of release and a trailer, pretty cool.

http://magnetreleasing.com/surveillance/

Enjoy the show
Jimmie from KC

**********

Hey guys,

As stupid as it sounds, I know of at least two reasons why someone would downgrade from Vista or even Windows 7 to XP (not that they’re great reasons). First reason–I work for a company that edits patents for the government; and even though we’re a division of a major publishing company and can probably afford to upgrade our software, we have to use the programs that the government mandates, and some of these programs still rely on a command-line interface (apparently the government doesn’t trust us to make tables using a GUI-based program). Given how many bugs are in these programs anyway (and every time they tweak it things go wrong, like we can’t print in bold or something), I don’t think they’re working to update it and make it compatable with anything beyond XP. We’ve tried to convince our contracter (the USPTO) to let us use newer programs, but it’s no-go, so we’re stuck using XP for the forseeable future (and I do mean future).

The second reason? Just today my parents called to ask me if they can downgrade their brand new computer to XP because their old copies of programs like Lotus 1-2-3 aren’t compatable with Vista. Yeah, there are alternatives, but my stepfather is 85 still reminisces about punch cards (he worked for IBM until the mid-80s). I’m still trying to talk them out of it.

Anyway, those are two (annoying) reasons.

Mary Jones

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 892

Meet Son of Storm, Srizbi 2.0: next-gen botnets come online
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090115-meet-son-of-storm-srizbi-2-0-next-gen-botnets-come-online.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7832652.stm
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F16%2F142211

Video game industry roars in December
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-10143990-235.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090115-king-of-the-hill-nintendo-dominates-final-2008-sales-charts.html

Intel profit sinks 90%
http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/15/technology/Intel_earns/?postversion=2009011521

Circuit City fails to be wanted, will now be liquidated http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/16/circuit-city-fails-to-be-wanted-will-now-be-liquidated/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7834250.stm

UPDATE: Apple Mac Mini based on Nvidia Ion
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/apple-mac-nvidia-ion,6849.html

Facebook has Whopper of a problem with Burger King campaign
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9126098

New cloaking surface throws an electromagnetic curveball
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090115-new-cloaking-surface-throws-an-electromagnetic-curveball.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10143649-1.html

Where to watch the inauguration online
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10144072-38.html

Choices narrowed for first U.S. CTO
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2009/tc20090115_815265.htm

How many AAAAAs in Khaaaaaaaan?
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/16/how-many-aaaaas-in-k.html

Voice mail
Ryan from Hawaii: Pull the plug!
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa090115_mo_DTV.81dfa76.html
(from Greg in Baton Rouge)

Patrick from NH: carpentry tip for Cooley

E-mail
Hi all. I am not a famous person. I have never voted for an idol. I’ve
only been an AT&T customer for 3 weeks so I’ve only managed to send
less than 100 txt messages - not a heavy texter. Even after all that,
I still got the American idol spam txt yesterday. You guys made me
feel like I’m a “somebody”. Thanks!

Peter on the train in Chicago

**********

Hi BOL Crew, Long time first time, At&T said they were sending these texts to “heavy texters” and people who had voted for American Idol in the past. I fit in to both categories. I have voted twice from my phone and my sister, my mother, and myself send 8000, 5000, & 4000 texts a month respectivly. I’m a little hurt i didn’t get a message. :’( Love the show.

McAfee15

Episode 890

Yahoo names new chief executive
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7827518.stm
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10142085-92.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10142275-93.html
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-yahoo-react-bartzs-selection-considered-safe-uninspiring/

AT&T spams 75 million users with ‘Idol’ ad
http://news.cnet.com/A-text-arrives.-Oh,-its-just-an-Idol-ad/2100-1039_3-6248715.html

YouTube now mutes videos with unauthorized copyrighted music
http://mashable.com/2009/01/14/youtube-mutes-videos/

Storm Worm botnet “cracked wide open”
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F11%2F1923250

CEA confirms Apple-related exhibits at CES 2010
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10139861-37.html

Psystar: We bought Mac OS fair and square
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10142226-37.html

Internet not really dangerous for kids after all
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F14%2F0012255

Supreme Court refuses to hear cable DVR case
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10141706-93.html

History in the making in LA as online ads hit target
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/12/la-times-online-advertising

Chinese carmaker proves they can drink brown liquor just like Americans: Announce EV they claim gets 250 miles on a charge
http://jalopnik.com/5129433/byd-e6-250-miles-per-charge-electric-car

GM to launch first U.S. car battery plant for EV’s
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123177620626273679.html

3 cups of coffee increases hallucinations
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F14%2F169223

Voice Mail
Jose from Jacksonville: HATE Windows 7!

Ian: CrystalTalk is not new

E-mail
Welcome back from CES and a belated Happy New Year.

With the new year’s vacation and CES, you have missed some news items worthy of mentioning… I made a small list … very small …
list would be bigger if the Internet wasn’t down most of the last few weeks

Psion sues everyone using the term “netbook”
http://www.slashgear.com/psion-netbook-trademark-holder-target-fan-sites-with-cd-notices-2427683/

UGO Acquires 1UP… Mass Layoffs… EGM Dead … many good gaming podcasts are gone now
http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/01/07/ugo-acquires-1up-mass-layoffs-egm-dead

3 sea cables cut, I had to live without BOL for the last few weeks of December
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_submarine_cable_disruption#19_December
press release: http://www.orange.com/en_EN/press/press_releases/cp081219en.html

Have a nice, 3 day week

Best regards…

Khaled A.

**********

Molly,

In previous shows you talked about how all of the wires from wall mounted TVs and home theater components would negate the benefit of wall-mounting them. Check out this Switched.com article about flat HDMI cables that you can put on the wall and paint over. I think flat paintable speaker cables have been around for a decade or so. Now all we need are flat power cables that can carry more than 1kW of power and we’ll be set.

http://www.switched.com/2009/01/13/flatwire-hdmi-cable-is-literally-flat-enough-to-stick-and-hide-o/

Like the show,
Automotive Entertainment and Information Application and Integration Engineer Joe.

**********

Hey Guys-
My friend, who livecasts his life, but does NOT torrent/etc is
getting shut off by Comcast, and has no other way to get Internet
other than 1.5/256 att DSL. Comcast is effectively disconnecting him
from the net…
So it WILL hurt people who don’t just torrent…

Reid

**********

Happy Birthday Alex from Romania who just turned 15.

What!!? Alex from Romania was only 14???!!! Now I feel like an underachiever. –Tom

**********

to my dearest buzz crew,

HOLLARRRRRRR!

As i was strolling the interwebz i came across this little article via ap. It basically states you live on an island and blog each week about your experiences. i thought to myself as i sip my coffee & baileys out of my cnet mug “hot damn this is the job for me”, but i quickly realized who really wants to sit back on the white sands in the warm sun sipping your fruity cocktail right outside of your own private villia blogging away? yep i do too!

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5isjR8iopWyjk0utgVIClRKYqfnHgD95M6VKO2

Cordially,
phatemokid

p.s. get those applications in before the deadline feb 22