Buzz Out Loud Podcast

Today, the last Friday of July is SysAdmin day and we appreciate them even more because they came through during the live show and got us back online. We also talk about David Pogue's new movement to "take back the beep." And we need to watch out for pandas. Listen and you'll find out why. Special guests: The hosts of Hak5.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 1031

Apple to fix iPhone security flaw
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8177755.stm

The truth about the iPhone virus / vulnerability thing
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/ByteOfTheApple/blog/archives/2009/07/the_truth_about.html

Elinor: Researchers attack my iPhone via SMS
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10299378-245.html

David Pogue wants to take back the beep
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/07/30/1955255/David-Pogue-Wants-to-Take-Back-the-Beep

Bootkit bypasses Truecrypt full-disk encryption
http://www.h-online.com/security/Bootkit-bypasses-hard-disk-encryption–/news/113884

Hackers: We can bypass San Francisco e-parking meters
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10300233-83.html

HP researchers reveal details of browser-based darknet
http://www.h-online.com/security/HP-researchers-reveal-details-of-browser-based-darknet–/news/113873

Shock threat to shut Skype
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/biz-tech/shock-threat-to-shut-skype-20090731-e3qe.html

CU prof’s iPhone app lets users snoop out surroundings
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/jul/29/iphone-app-hoozat-cu-boulder-professor-richard-han

Cash for Clunkers cars get lethal injections
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/cash-for-clunkers-trade-ins-must-be-crushed-shredded/
http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/31/autos/cash_for_clunkers_update/index.htm

Fewer than 10 ET civilizations in our galaxy?
http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/31/1244235/Fewer-Than-10-ET-Civilizations-In-Our-Galaxy

Police: Texting, talking NY trucker hits car, pool
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090731/ap_on_hi_te/us_tow_truck_in_pool

Tonight the land rush begins for Facebook usernames and URLs. We'll tell you all about that. Also, Microsoft gets petulant and removes all browsers from its European versions of Windows, which makes Opera mad. And Macs get more worms and trojans.

EPISODE 996

Today is end of analog TV in U.S.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10262022-94.html

Microsoft to sell Windows 7 without IE in Europe: Odd and unnecessary
http://mashable.com/2009/06/12/microsoft-windows-7-internt-explorer-europe/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10262630-56.html

Opera lashes out over Microsoft’s browser removal
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10262913-56.html

Your Facebook business name: Already reserved?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10263324-2.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10263034-36.html

Twitter launches verified accounts
http://mashable.com/2009/06/11/twitter-verified-accounts-2/

Two new Mac attacks surface
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10263002-83.html

Free anonymous BitTorrent becomes reality with BitBlinder
http://torrentfreak.com/free-anonymous-bittorrent-becomes-reality-with-bitblinder-090611/

Gaming hardware, software sees slump in May
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/06/gaming-hardware-software-sees-slump-in-may.ars

DJs buy music on stolen cards’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/music/newsid_8094000/8094637.stm

Meteor bounces off German dweeb
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/space/5511619/14-year-old-hit-by-30000-mph-space-meteorite.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01422/meteorite_1422354i.jpg

N.Y. man sues dating Web site Match.com for deception
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN0939287520090609

VOICEMAIL

Rod from Washington on MS Money

Mike in Toronto’s ingenius iPhone plan

E-MAIL
Hay Buzz team, how come you are not in HD? yea I know the pixels are right (1.77), but the encoding sucks. You shouldn’t let those other shows hog the bandwidth bucket, its time you stood up for yourself, I may start a petition.
I still love the show despite the video quality.
Congratulations on show 1000, perhaps CBS could give you a bandwidth cake.

Ian

**********

Dear Buzz Folk,

I still have my Calculus textbook, filled with notes, formulas,
graphs, and corrections. And while having an electronic version of
the text would be nice for reference, I think an electronic version
inhibits the learning process. In my calc book, I have tons of little
notes filling in the gaps in examples the authors left out (”It is
left to the reader” and “It can be easily be shown” are my two least
favorite textbook phrases). I can’t imagine taking an organic
chemistry course without the ability to sketch compounds in the
margin. Technology is just not available to do these sort of things
easily and in a country that is behind in math and science education,
cheaper is not always better.

Besides, the cost savings are minimal. “Applied Chemistry – A
Textbook for Engineers and Technologists” costs 107.51 in hardcover on
amazon.com (random example). The kindle version costs 96.76. And I
can’t sell it at the end of the semester for pizza money. I can’t let
a friend borrow it. Or own it after amazon stops producing the kindle
and my kindle dies. Or I could get a version for my laptop,
encumbered with DRM that doesn’t work on my linux/mac or after the DRM
server is shutdown. Yup, that 10.75 I saved was well worth it. Open
textbooks are a possible solution (thinking about writing a statistics
for biologists one myself, after I get tenure) but “usable in the
classroom” quality and open is not always possible.

P.S. Kinldle: The home of the $6,400 ebook.
http://www.amazon.com/Selected-Nuclear-Materials-Engineering-ebook/dp/B001QTVXAK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1244805281&sr=1-1

Mike the statistics professor

**********

Hey buzz crew,

With all the reports about the new iPhone you seemed to miss a ground
breaking event. Since the iPhone 3G S is the same size as the iPhone
3G that means all of your cases and add ons will work with the new
modle! I can’t believe apple forgot to stick it to us the customers
and force us to upgrade all the stuff we have already bought. Is this
the start of a new kinder apple or just an over sight of some project
manager?

Love the show!

Kathryn from Portland Oregon
( where AT&T coverage not that bad )

**********

Hey guys,

After hearing you wax poetic about Joss Whedon, I felt you guys would be helpful in getting the word out about Can’t Stop the Serenity 2009.

“Can't Stop the Serenity” is a global fundraising effort featuring charity screenings of Joss Whedon's 2005 film Serenity to benefit Equality Now.

This year, in addition to Serenity, many locations will also be hosting big screen showings of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," Joss Whedon’s awardwinning Internet musical sensation.

Fans of Joss Whedon show Serenity on his birthday (June 23rd) to honor him and to raise money for his favorite charity, Equality Now. Equality Now (http://equalitynow.org/) works to end violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world through the mobilization of public pressure.

There are over 47 cities hosting these events throughout the summer. For details about the closest city hosting an event go to http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com.

Thanx.

David Adams
New England Browncoats

http://www.thehey.com
http://www.newenglandbrowncoats.com
http://www.twitter.com/thehey
http://www.cstsboston.com

**********

1000th episode is next week, thanks for all your submissions. Don’t miss the big show Thursday June 18th at the normal time and in the normal feeds live at 10:30 AM Pacific http://www.cnet.com/live

Turns out surfing Facebook at work has a name and it's good for your productivity. A study shows that 20 percent of your time spent Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing (WILB) will improve your output. Texas also says hasta la vista to Vista, and AT&T tries to block movies on its wireless network.

EPISODE 945

Google reported sniffing at Twitter, but to what end?
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/04/google-reported.html
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/02/sources-google-in-late-stage-talks-to-buy-twitter/
http://www.appscout.com/2009/04/google_incorporating_twitter_f.php
http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090403/sorry-to-get-you-all-a-twitter-but-google-is-not-in-late-stage-talks-to-acquire-the-hot-microblogging-service/

Google reveals “Secret” server designs
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/02/157244
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10209580-92.html

AT&T changes TOS to limit mobile video
http://newteevee.com/2009/04/02/att-changes-tos-to-limit-mobile-video/

Older Slingboxes incompatible with Sling iPhone app
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10210377-1.html

Study: Surfing the Internet at work boosts productivity
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/04/study-surfing-the-internet-at-work-boosts-productivity.ars

Telcos said its testing plan to offer PCs to businesses
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10787_3-10211116-60.html

Texas Senate proposes a budget with a no-Vista-upgrades rider
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/02/2158253

OS diversity protects cell phones from virus outbreaks
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/04/cellphone-os-diversity-protecting-against-viruses.ars

Angry villagers run Google out of town
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/02/1731231

Robot achieves scientific first
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f2b97d9a-1f96-11de-a7a5-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10211175-1.html

MIT scientists build virus-powered batteries for Your next electric car
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/mit-scientists-build-virus-powered-batteries-your-next-electric-c

Chicks can do math
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/03/1525244

VOICEMAIL
Steve from Calgary
Howell world tour!

Alex in Buffalo
Linux not good on Time Warner Cable

Tony
West Virginia insulting issue

E-MAIL
This looks cool. Add this to the list of alternate game consoles.

http://digg.com/d1nnEK Envizions announced that it is taking orders for an open-source Linux gaming system, and will start shipping beta units to game developers, resellers, and software partners on April 10. The EVO Smart Console is based on a 2.4GHz Athlon, and includes a Fedora-based Linux distro.

-MC Fisticuffs

**********

Hi guys!

About the Windows Live update for Windows Mobile 6.5. Tom said “I don’t know how many folks use Windows Live anymore.” Well, here in the Netherlands and some other european countries many people use Windows Live Mail and almost everyone has a Windows Live Messenger account. Actually, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t use the Windows Live Messenger. Just wanted to let you know.

Love the show!

Wessel
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

**********

Forgot to tell you about this very clever conficker test in my previous email. Not sure if you’ve heard about it but if you haven’t it’s worth checking out:

http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/infection_test/cfeyechart.html

Patrick Beja

**********

http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/press/2009/04/02/linux-foundation-to-host-moblin-project/

Interesting one there. Mobilin is a linux distro created and until now
managed by Intel that is aimed at the Atom based MIDs and Netbooks.
It’s looked pretty interesting, taking lightweight and fast Xfce desktop
environment and a standardised API to make it easier for programmers,
whilst including GTK and QT as well.
It also manages something few other OSs have achieved, a true boot up in
just 5 seconds, from scratch not Suspend To Ram, not hibernation.

With that announcement Intel has passed over management of the
application to the Linux Foundation, whilst retaining a person on the
steering committee. What hasn’t changed is the core developers. Intel
is still employing them full time to work on it, so it appears to be an
almost political rather than practical change here to try and pull other
parties in and get them invested in the development.

Paul,
Hawaii.

We were really thinking about calling this episode something to do with prehistoric snake. Because Natali is very into the prehistoric snakes. Although she can't kill them. Instead we discuss Bill Gates releasing mosquitoes at TED, the Congress sort of delaying the DTV transition, and Google trying to steal your health information.

EPISODE 905

Bill Gates Unleashes Mosquitoes On Rich TED Conference Crowd
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2009/2/bill-gates-unleashes-mosquitoes-on-rich-ted-crowd
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7871210.stm

DTV delay passes, 264-158
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/02/dtv-delay-passes-264-158.ars

AP suing over Obama picture
http://www.usatoday.com/life/2009-02-04-AP-obama_N.htm

Google can read your vital signs
http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/04/google-ibm-healthcare-technology-internet_0205_google.html

Google books for iPhone and Android
http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2009/02/15-million-books-in-your-pocket.html

Google offline calendar
http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/static.py?page=offline_faq.html&hl=en

In games, brains work differently when playing against a human
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/02/humans-think-different-when-told-theyre-playing-a-human.ars

Microsoft offers to just ‘Fix it’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10157210-56.html

Yes! It’s the cardboard PC!
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/02/05/recompute/

Parking ticket leads to a virus
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7872299.stm

MIT researchers make ’sixth sense’ gadget
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c3b86e67d015d664d720fa421d679c0f.311

Prehistoric monster-snake
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/02/05/giant.snake.colombia/index.html?eref=rss_tech

VOICE MAIL
Paul from Verizon Wireless
We have service on cruise ships

Nathan the physics teacher from Tennessee
OK Natali. I got words for you.

E-MAIL
Hi Janato,

Listening to episode 902 and Natali on the E Slick reader and her desire for it to be a little more like the Kindle, I was jumping up and down for somebody to mention this product I’d just written about on my blog. The as yet unreleased reader has it all but no word on price, hope you like it, I think it’s got real potential.

http://mygadgetlife.co.uk/start/?p=684

I did think about leaving a message but being from Yorkshire I’ve got an even more unfathomable accent than that guy from Liverpool, eh up sithe! (pronounced hey up sith-i thats hello and how are you - in translation)

Love the show (electronic voice style)

Phil

Hello Buzz Folk-

I was listening to BOL 904 on Tuesday and was a little surprised to hear
about your concern at the sale of some of Verizon’s spectrum to AT&T as
a condition of the Alltel acquisition. If Verizon has to sell off some
spectrum the conditions of these deals usually insist that a carrier not
own both of the primary A and B spectrum in any given market. This
usually refers to the 800 MHz cellular spectrum and is most strongly
enforced in rural areas without as many options for carriers. I haven’t
looked at the details but I assume that much of the spectrum is in
markets where Verizon formerly competed with Alltel. Remember that
spectrum is licensed by not only by frequency but also by geographic
area. As long as Verizon still has a nationwide license for spectrum
they will not be loosing coverage.

That was long and probably won’t be read but hope that clears some
things up.

-Ryan
Physics Teacher in Boston

Hey Buzz Crew, Brenton the computer Scientist here,

I have been an avid listener since around the 500’s and always enjoy listening to the show on the commute to work. How ever, when I am listening on my laptop I like to keep an eye on the show notes, and this is not always possible because of work etc. so i decided to create a widget for my Mac which contains the show notes of the latest episodes. So a little time later I have it working, and I have included the link for any Mac users among the army who have the same problem.

http://support.callaghan001.com/widgets/bolRSS/

Love the show, and I have seen a Kindle in the wild.

Brenton.

Buzz Clique,

First of all, bravo for mobilizing the Buzz Brigade to drink
themselves into oblivion. I’m sure whatever sinister plans you have
for this evil buzz datacenter will benefit us all. I - like a lemming
- will follow our overloads to wherever we need to be, even if that is
at the bottom of a whiskey bottle. Anyway, drinking gallons of whiskey
gave me something interesting to do whilst I was passing the time off
work due to the recent #uksnow you may have seen tweeted repeatedly.

I admire the quality of intellectual characters we have in Buzz Town,
however I noticed that all the mathmatical ability in the world
doesn’t equate to a high level of perception, leading to what I
believe to be what you guys call a ‘well actually’.

You see, cranky what’s-his-face and the other math dude have made a
fatal oversight to their whiskey powering calculations. The crux of
their figures is centred around how much energy is in whiskey. Luckily
the Scots had it figures out so they could still get mashed on the
whiskey while reaping the benefits of it’s BYPRODUCTS.

So I’m afraid our intrepid mathematicians will have to rethink their
figures based on leftovers rather than the actual whiskey itself.

Hopefully by some remarkable turn of events the byproduct is something
like dilithium crystals or the like. I’d rather be an alcoholic - in
spaaaaace.

Big up your shoes and socks and of course I’m affectionate towards
your show.

Greg The Garage Head from London town (That’s garage as in ga-ridge
not ga-raahhhshh. It rolls off the tongue better that way)

Hey BOL crew,

Steven the Biologist from Montréal here. In regards to your discussion of plugging in electric vehicles in Episode 903, a simple combination of technologies should easily solve the problem of where to plug in your vehicle when you’re on the road: take electric vehicles and combine them with wireless power (such as the eCoupled / PowerCast devices showcased at CES this year), add a sprinkle of RFID, and bake until done. Once the wireless power device are a bit more advanced, you could conceivably build them into the roads themselves as cities and businesses roll out new roadway infrastructure. Add in a unique identifier for each vehicle, like an RFID device, and your car could be identified as it charged off a particular surface. Paying for this service could go into the private or public sector or both as appropriate; it’s conceivable that you could pay your local utility for charging just like you pay for power at your house.

Sounds like a winning combination to me.

Cheers,
Steven.

Episode 866

Listener co-host details: E-mail buzz@cnet.com with your name, phone number, preferred time of day (with time zone). We are shooting for doing the interviews next Monday 3-4 p.m. PST and Wednesday 4-5 PST.

Facebook Connect opens up
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10113604-2.html

So does Google Friend Connect
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10113648-2.html

Koobface’ Virus Attacks Facebook
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/12/koobface-virus.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10113981-83.html

eBay holiday contest overrun by automated scripts, honest users disgruntled
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/04/ebay-holiday-contest-overrun-by-automated-scripts-honest-users-disgruntled/

First NFL game in 3-D fumbles, then recovers
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/N/NFL_3D?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-12-05-07-43-16

Some Xbox owners see poor-quality Netflix streams
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10113937-93.html

Online reporters now the journalists most often jailed
http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/12/05/0532240.shtml

Martini Life launches as hub for affluent individuals
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10113329-2.html

Obama sports white earbuds, doesn’t rock Zune
http://www.macworld.com/article/137347/obama_ipod.html

Voice Mail
Daniel: beaten to the Netbook girl

E-mail
Hi Buzz Crew:

In episode 863, Jason brought up the notion of having holographic passengers. (For the sake of discussion, let’s ignore the fact we don’t actually have a viable holographic system.) My engineering side kicked in, and I started thinking about the equipment that would have to be added: computers, projectors, power conversion (since there’s no way this thing’s running on 12 V), etc. In short, this is one option that’s not going to fit in a Prius. Maybe an Escalade assuming you were not planning on using the back for anything else. The cost of this thing would be enormous. That said, if one or two holographic passengers qualifies me for the HOV lanes, I’m in.

Craig (in VA just outside DC)

**********

Hey JaMoTo (+1)

With all the talk lately about who watchs ads on the TiVo, I was happy to find a new article circling around the net lately. There is an affliction that is now dubbed “TiVo Guilt”.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/12/02/tivo.guilt/?iref=hpmostpop

Also on the TiVo viewers and how many commercials they watch, I have noticed a strange pattern in my boyfriend’s TiVo habits: When we are watching something live, he gets very indignant that he can’t fastforward the commercials, but when watching something pre-recorded, he promptly forgets we have a TiVo. We’ll make it halfway through the break and he’ll suddenly go “Oh yeah, TiVo!” and begin fastforwarding then, having just watched half the ads. This process will repeat for subsequent breaks. It’s an odd little phenomenon, no?

Love the show!
Amy in cold London, Ontario, Canada

**********

What’s goin’ down, BOL crew?

I know you talked about this a few days ago, but today, my cousin’s macbook-pro collapsed horrendously the other day due to a virus. I didn’t believe it at first because I’ve had an ibook g4 for over three years and I have never had a problem with it. He took it to the local apple store. They said that he should purchase more than one type of virus software, but they didn’t sell any at the apple store.
My cousin had to go to CompUSA to buy clunky and terrible virus protection software that completely harshes the mellow of his computer, increasing its boot time by a considerable amount.

I thought you all might like to hear about this.

Love the show,
Ian the high school student from Milton, Georgia

**********

Who hates Apple and has the money to fund Psystar? The answer should be obvious:

The Beatles.

Think about it.

-Jon
(a.k.a. “TenaciousWii”)

**********

Hi guys,
Go to the kogan website and order the international one. It costs about ?500 ($600). I knew it sounded too good to be true.

Love the show,
Eoghan (Owen) in Ireland.

In today's show, Molly gets a new favorite metaphor, Apple deletes the very thought that you should run antivirus on a Mac, .Tel gets our wallets at the ready, and poor widdle Windows' market share drops below 90 percent. The horror!
Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 864

Apple deletes Mac antivirus suggestion
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10111958-83.html

Twitter CEO: The revenue’s coming soon, but I won’t tell you how
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10112037-2.html

.Tel them where to find you
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/tel-them-where-to-find-you/

Vista SP2: What's inside?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1745

Windows 7 Beta 1 to arrive January 13?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=613

Windows drops below 90 percent market share
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F02%2F1857253

Vlingo one-ups Google with a better voice-powered iPhone application
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13549_7-10111763-30.html

Logitech makes 1 billionth mouse
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F03%2F1311210

PayPal brings allowances into the 21st century
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/paypal-brings-the-weekly-allowance-into-the-21st-century/

Scientists report mental ‘body-swapping’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/02/AR2008120202527.html

BOL named an iTunes ‘Classic’
http://www.veronicabelmont.com/2008/12/itunes-best-of-2008-awards/

VOICE MAIL
Shalin: Cooley loves space!

E-MAIL
Hi Molly,

Hopefully the attachment won’t be a problem with security software on the CNET network but here’s the BOL Bingo card! Feel free to email back with items to swap, remove, and/or replace. Enjoy!

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10152_102-0.html?forumID=97&threadID=318627&messageID=2919376&tag=forums06;forum-threads

Holly in NYC

(hollyhock on Twitter, watchBOL chat, CNET forums)

Hello Buzztown.
In Episode 863, Commander Mark wondered if it would be possible to have the BOL podcast automatically emailed to him each day while he was on his 7 month "Navy cruise".

If buzztown isn't able to come up with a suitable automated method, I'd like to volunteer to email him the podcast manually each day. I'd like to do that as a small thank you for his service.

Feel free to pass my email along to Mark for this purpose.
MC Fisticuffs.

PS. I think you should add "somebody typing 'Brittney Spears' into a search engine" to in-the-wild Bingo.

Hey JaMoTo,

It’s amazing how Molly coined the term “net-box” and Brian came up with portable xbox 360, and suddenly there is one on engadget. It is awesome how BOL pushes technology along. They should keep this moving along and create a netbook + net-box, but then I guess it would just be a super battery draining, overheating, carpal tunnel inducing netbook with an enormous power supply that sounds like a vacuum cleaner. Oh well, I guess we have some more hurdles to jump before we get to this point.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/03/ben-heck-outdoes-himself-with-xbox-360-portable/

Love the show,
Brendon the Food Scientist

As a loyal user and fan of the iPhone from day one, I always enjoyed
your talks about it and didn’t fully understand the hate until all the
twitter talk got to me today.

Understand it’s the popular thing and you have to talk about it. You
won’t lose me as a listener, but could we get a AIM chaser or
something?!? Maybe a cool jingle too???

Bob
The Nuclear Engineer

Hi BOL -

Here’s what I see in the wild every day — BOOKS! Books. They’re not just for geeks anymore. (Note jeans tucked into boots.)
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/6590/photopa5.jpg

Amanda

I just listened to Tuesday’s show where you mentioned that Apple store employees do not suggest antivirus software. When I worked for Apple tech support it was considered a fireable offense to flat out say “Macs can get viruses.” In stead we were told do dance around it and say something along the lines of “while it is certainly possible for viruses to be written for a mac, you only need to worry about antivirus software if you have windows installed.”

Ian from Saskatoon

CORRECTION:
Hey Molly,
I am writing regarding an incorrect quote in your write up for today's Buzz Out Load, the link to DVR commercial skipping: 50 or 97 percent? Depends on who you ask.
The original article for Ars Technica "DVR commercial skipping: 50% or 97%? Depends on whom you ask" incorrectly quotes Garth Ancier saying "a full 97 percent of them are skipping the ads." The correct quote is "We've seen more like 30% of people watching our commercials on DVR," (not 3%) The quote was taken from a Q&A session for Garth Ancier's keynote speech at the Future of Television conference.
Can you please make the correction in your article?
I have spoken with the Ars Technica journalist, it was a simple mistake in notes, he is making the correction as well.
For reference, here is an article from Multichannel News covering Garth Ancier's keynote speech which has the correct percentage:
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6615738.html

Thank you for your help,
Devin

News of the Yahoo demographic's searching habits arouses a sudden love for space in Brian Cooley today. Also, the Nokia N97 gets a chilly reception, especially in light of all those delectably cheap Netbooks flooding the market. Pownce disappears, Apple suddenly starts recommending antivirus for Mac users, and Microsoft claims the Xbox 360 pwned Black Friday.

EPISODE 863

iPhone beware, the Nokia N97 is coming (PC World)
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20081202/tc_pcworld/iphonebewarethenokian97iscoming
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10110873-1.html
http://www.nokia.com/A4136001?newsid=1274500

Netbooks dominate cyber-Monday, at least on Amazon
http://www.pcworld.com/article/154754/

Asus: $200 Netbooks next year
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/12/02/asus_200_dollar_netbook/

Pownce to shut down after Six Apart sale
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10110443-2.html

Microsoft: Xbox 360 Routs PS3 in Record Black Friday Sales
http://www.pcworld.com/article/154778/microsoft_xbox_360_routs_ps3_in_record_black_friday_sales.html

Forbes: Nintendo making $6 profit on every Wii sold
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/12/01/forbes-nintendo-making-6-profit-on-every-wii-sold/

Data shows Wii games discounted fastest
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/25/data-shows-wii-games-discounted-fastest/

Apple suggests Mac users install antivirus software
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10110852-83.html

DVR commercial skipping: 50 or 97 percent? Depends on who you ask
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081202-dvr-commercial-skipping-50-or-97-depends-on-whom-you-ask.html

Cell phones are even worse than chatty passengers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/02/AR2008120201066.html

No escaping Britney Spears: 2008’s top searches
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10110841-2.html

VOICE MAIL
Dwight the key grip: so close to bingo!

E-MAIL
Molly,
You know how you we a little peeved about Apple's new proprietary but not proprietary “mini display port”. Well here is a Gizmodo story that gives you a glimmer of hope!

http://gizmodo.com/5100514/apples-mini-displayport-might-not-be-bs-proprietary-port-after-all
- Elam

**********

Great idea for a CNet Channel broadcast through CBS affiliates. I would have to say from a technology standpoint that couldn't be difficult and really shouldn't require the person to manage it. I personally have an auto updating video playlist in iTunes that nearly does this already. Just subscribe to all of your RSS feeds and then play through the list starting at a certain time every day. Once that's done playing go to an "off air" static screen until the next day, that's if you run out of video in the 24 hour period. It could probably be done with Automator and some apple scripts come to think of it. Interesting…might have to play with this for fun. jason

Regards,

Daniel

**********

Hi buzz crew,
Sorry for any typing mistakes but I am writing this on a blackjack 2. I just wanted to let you know that I saw my first Netbook today at a coffee shop. I really wanted to get a dell mini9 but chickened out because I didn’t know how I would deal with a ridiculously small keyboard.
(Ironic I know.)
So apparently this guy with the Netbook had the same problem as me because he had a full size usb keyboard connected to it! What is the point of a tiny little glove compartment computer if you need to lug that beast around with it?

Buzz You Long Time.
Dave in Saratoga, NY.

**********

Dear BOL Crew,

First of all, thanks for a great daily podcast to keep me up to date on tech.

I will be going on a 7 month navy cruise soon and I don't want to miss my daily BOL fix. Available bandwidth during the cruise does not allow me to download podcasts or anything else. There just is not enough bandwidth. I have also tried getting BOL via your RSS feed, but it does not work again due to bandwidth limitations.

I can received email attachments, but I don't know if there is a way for me to setup before my cruise an automatic daily email attachment with the BOL audio file.

Can you recommend a solution?

Thank you! I love listening to BOL daily when I am on tierra firma.
Mark

Commander Mark
Supply Officer
P.S. You need to do a show from a navy ship while on cruise. We could fly you on and catapult you off! (0 to 150 mph in 3 seconds!)

(How would http://www.podlinez.com/ work for you? -JH)

**********

Hey guys,

There is going to be a protest about the Australian Internet Censorship on the 13th and I was wondering if you could give it a little publicity.

http://www.stopthecleanfeed.com/

Cheers,
Brad
The Australian

We discover a fun new tautology on today's show (you know, competition...for the win?), have a fun time goofing off with Brian Tong, rail against Apple's decision to include HDCP restrictions in its new MacBooks, and rejoice at the arrival of Netflix streaming on the Xbox 360 (minus a few select Sony movies, ahem). Also: India takes on Google in the Earth-spying department. Yeah, India! Go, India!

EPISODE 856

Apple’s new MacBooks have built-in copy protection measures (thanks Mager!)
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/11/18/apples_new_macbooks_have_built_in_copy_protection_measures.html
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/11/17/apple-brings-hdcp-to-a-new-aluminum-macbook-near-you

Psystar antitrust claim against Apple dismissed
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10101581-37.html

Microsoft’s new Xbox experience launches, Netflix users go wild
http://www.pcworld.com/article/154163/microsofts_new_xbox_experience_launches_netflix_users_go_wild.html
http://venturebeat.com/2008/11/19/new-xbox-experience-launches-looks-great-netflix-integration-fails/

Netflix streaming on Xbox doesn’t include Sony Columbia Pictures movies (thanks, Anu!)
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/18/nxe-netflix-streaming-queues-suddenly-gimped/

Quality pays: Hulu trumping YouTube
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10102220-16.html
http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20081117/when-will-hulu-catch-youtube-it-already-has/

Microsoft to offer free consumer security suite
http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10101582-12.html

A drink backed by a sports (gaming) hero
http://news.cnet.com/A-drink-backed-by-a-sports-gaming-hero/2100-1043_3-6247818.html

PC Magazine goes out of print
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/11/pc-magazine-goes-out-of-print
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-ziff-davis-to-close-print-pcmag-focus-on-online-still-looking-for-optio/

Indian space agency, Isro, to roll out a rival to Google Earth (thanks, Phil!)
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article5182639.ece

Woman wants a cyborg eye! - BTONG contribution
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/267901/artist_wants_cyborg_webcam_eye

VOICE MAIL
Dwight the T-Grip: true Hollywood battery stories

Paul from Verizon: why the BlackBerry rocks!

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew,

I’ve been traveling so I missed a couple podcasts, but I don’t think there has been a mention of the re-start of the One Laptop Per Child Give One Get One program this past Monday (11/17). I’ve been wanting to get one of these laptops for a while mostly because I think they’re interesting and I want to help out the program. I know the OLPC folks got a lot of grief last time they offered this program because they didn’t really have the logistical infrastructure to handle the delivery of laptops to people who bought them quickly and some people had to wait months to get theirs. This time however, they’ve teamed up with Amazon.com and things look like they should work much more smoothly. I placed my order with Amazon and I should get mine by Friday.

I’m sure there are listeners that would like to get a new NetBook/E-reader. And I think the keyboard is waterproof so in can be a great conversation opener for chatting by the pool (Chris from Austin). So deploy the Buzz Brigades to help kids in developing countries get a great tool for education.

Julian (San Diego)

http://www.laptop.org

http://www.amazon.com/xo

Hey JaMoTo

I was listening to episode 853 and 854 Re: The Wii speak application and then again on to the subject of the software companies not liking pre-loved games.

If the companies don’t like the idea of pre-loved games why don’t they have their own way of buying back sold games. This would allow people to get the same value from their games as trading their old games to EB etc… But allow credits to the new games. This would kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak.

Plus with the idea of saving the planet. Think about the latest game being made out of our old games.

Love the show.

Jon “The Student”

Australia

Hey Buzz Gang,

Just wanted to tell how impressed I was with the new NetFlix add-on to the Xbox 360. The quality is very good, particularly on cartoons. I just hope they update it so you can add stuff to your queue without a computer. I would hate to think the Xbox is just as dumb as a TV tuner and can only passively show videos. That would be as stupid as having a super gaming computer that’s hooked to my TV and my network that can’t browse the web… oh wait… never mind.

Take Care,
Kelvington

I have to disagree that the ‘Remote Spy’ program is significantly different then EA’s DRM. Well, on a technical level at least.

Both should have EULA’s stating don’t use their program illegally.
Both are meant to be put onto a computer you have legitimate access to.
Both change how your computer works and that change can be percieved as negative.
An unauthorized user can install both of these programs without permission by owner of the computer.
Both have removal issues.
Both can have legitimate uses.

In the discussion the case was made for business sales of this product, but for private sales one completely legitimate reason for a spy program that quickly comes to mind is by parents monitoring their children’s computers. I’m sure there are other things people can think up, but that’s my strongest legitimate use point.

In the class action lawsuit (http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/09/23/Spore.pdf) it states that the irremovable DRM is not disclosed (properly/at all) in the EULA and even if you made a case that it didn’t inappropriately phone home, the fact that it can prevent legitimate hardware/software from working is malware like behavior that occurs after an uninstall of the game itself.

In both cases when looking from a certain perspective they are put in a good or bad light… but if the government goes after one they should be going after the other.

Ben @ Nova Scotia

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

EPISODE 850

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VOICEMAIL
John the Bomb Builder: cheap Blu-Ray!

Anonymous Ad-hater

E-MAIL

Hey Buzz crew-

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

Sheala, GA

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

**********

From the Consumerist.

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

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

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

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

LTS

Brent

**********

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

Love the show,

Jonah Gregory
(Certainly not e-mailing from work)