Buzz Out Loud Podcast

No, no, fellow residents of southern Illinois, not tractor pulling--tracker pulling! The Pirate Bay has pulled out the trackers, but that doesn't mean you can't download anything. The site's still up for now using a different technology. Also, Google's book deal seems to have been changed, but not enough to satisfy its opponents. And Natali and I get into a philosophical argument.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Google book settlement revised, criticized
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/11/google-offers-revised-book-settlement-but-critics-unappeased.ars
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10398995-93.html

AOL to spin off Dec. 9, begin trading Dec. 10
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10399445-93.html

Amazon to launch Kindle in Canada
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE5AG38V20091117

The Pirate Bay tracker shuts down for good
http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-tracker-shuts-down-for-good-091117/

Swedish retailer pirates the Pirate Bay logo
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/piratebay-logo-registered/

Activision denies Modern Warfare 2 Russian ban
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/11/17/russia_mw2/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10399131-71.html

Twitter, Orange rock MMS in the U.K.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Web-Services-Web-20-and-SOA/Twitter-Orange-Rock-MMS-in-the-UK-814457/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10399475-2.html

NBC Launches all-in-one video player, VoIP and texting tool--and it's ad-supported
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-nbc-launches-all-in-one-video-player-voip-and-texting-tool-and-its-ad-s/

Times editor James Harding outlines plans for online charging
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/17/times-editor-james-harding-online-charging

MIT robot rides shotgun to make us happier drivers
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/11/mit-robot-rides-shotgun-to-make-us-happier-drivers/

VOICE MAIL

Anonymous – tip for Xbox 360 isn’t true

E-MAIL
How Google Voice forwards to Skype using Gizmo and no Skypein number is pretty easy. Once you set up your Gizmo account to work with your Google Voice account, you can then go to Gizmo, and by using the forwarding tab, you can enter a Skype ID which is the first option. Since this is a VOIP solution, I don’t even think funds are required such as forwarding to phone number.

I don’t see Gizmo or Google Voice killing this feature, but Skype may have a problem with it. However, in reality – I noticed that when it’s not a Skype – Skype communication, or if you are forwarding your Skype to a phone number, it seems to degrade the quality. Personally, I only use Skype for calls in the event that the cell phone doesn’t work, and use a SIP client for Gizmo based calls.

However, nonetheless, at least until Skype doesn’t like the fair competition, and may try to alienate users, this works just fine. A note of advise. While Google Voice accepts SMS from phone numbers, it doesn’t take Short Code numbers (such as Twitter’s 40404), so you couldn’t set your GV number to show in Skype’s CID info, so calls from Skype would still not show a number where you could be reached.

Hope this provides some enlightenment,
Frank

**********

Our cable went out the other day so we had been waiting for HULU to put the latest episode of “V” online.
One thing we noticed while watching it was that it had the “WSB-TV Atlanta” logo branding in the lower left corner. Does everyone see this, or just people in the Atlanta area? Does this mean they have a HULU server in every market? We went to the abc website, and that branding was not there, just the plain abc logo branding.

I just thought this was odd.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Geoff Johnson

Molly and I go off on the Net neutrality debate, not so much about what the meaning of it is, but more on why you shouldn't use lies to defend your position. We also discuss the attractiveness of the Nook from Barnes and Noble, and Molly and Rafe have a BlackBerry fight. About the phones. Not the fruit.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Retail distribution may tip e-reader race; Barnes & Noble rolls out Nook
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=26305

Barnes & Noble’s Nook: A virtual e-reader tour
http://www.pcworld.com/article/173999/barnes_and_nobles_nook_a_virtual_ereader_tour.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/10/21/barnes.noble.nook/

BlackBerry Bold 9700 (Onyx) now official
http://www.intomobile.com/2009/10/21/blackberry-bold-9700-onyx-now-official.html
http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-10379329-85.html

Google to blend search, music in One Box
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10379922-261.html

Exclusive: Guess who else is coming to dinner? Twitter-Microsoft Bing deal confirmed, but so is Facebook-Bing
http://kara.allthingsd.com/20091021/exclusive-guess-who-else-is-coming-to-dinner-twitter-microsoft-bing-deal-confirmed-but-so-is-facebook-bing/

Time Warner testing fix to hole in home router
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10379477-245.html
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10/time-warner-cable/

Amazon: Windows 7 is ‘the biggest preorder product of all time’
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/44377/140/

AT&T enlists employees to oppose Net neutrality
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10379360-266.html

Verizon CEO slams Net neutrality at conference
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10379932-266.html

Nvidia targeting real-time Cloud rendering
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/10/21/1354224/NVIDIA-Targeting-Real-Time-Cloud-Rendering

LHC reaches operational temps, collisions start in 5 weeks
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/10/final-lhc-segment-reaches-operational-temperature-at-19k.ars

GE shows off pocket-size ultrasound scanner
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10379692-2.html

VOICE MAIL
Frank L has a crafty Windows upgrade plan

E-MAIL
Hey BOL
U2 is live streaming their Sunday concert form the Rose Bowl! How cool is that?! http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10379610-52.html. I went to the Vertigo Tour in LA in 2005, so I know this will utterly fail in comparison, but still, a free, online concert from one of my favorite bands? Sign me up, cuz now I’ll definitely be waiting for the DVD (maybe Blu-Ray?) to come out. Hope this becomes a new trend with music in the very near future. Plus, I also think this lines up with someone’s New Years prediction if I’m not mistaken.

LTS,
Ben the Industrial Engineering Grad Student from Arkansas

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

EPISODE 1004

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VOICE MAIL
Alex from Europe about the Mercedes E class

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

E-MAIL

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

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

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

Best Regards

Siavash

We were pretty shocked to find the announcement on Reuters that Verizon will get the Palm Pre in six months. Color us shocked. Also, Time Warner and AOL are breaking up; it's for the best. And Natali calls Brian Tong short. Wow. Pot call the kettle black much?

EPISODE_983

Time Warner ditches AOL
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10250944-93.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/business/media/29warner.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Verizon and Palm Pre???
http://us.mobile.reuters.com/m/FullArticle/p.rdt/CIND/nrbssTechMediaTelecomNews_uUSN2833749320090528

AT&T wants the Palm Pre
http://d7.allthingsd.com/20090527/atts-pre-envy/?mod=ATD_rss

Hands-on with Palm Pre
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/05/28/palm-pre-first-hands-on/

Palm Pre said to sync up nicely with Apple’s iTunes
http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/28/palm-pre-said-to-sync-up-nicely-with-apples-itunes/

PSP Go! details confirmed, smaller PS3 is on the way
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/05/mole-confirms-psp-go-details-with-a-smaller-ps3-on-the-way.ars

Gmail in real-time: Google does the Wave
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10250742-2.html

Google considers taking beta tag off Gmail
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/28/1236240
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/253690/is-google-finally-ready-to-take-beta-tag-off-gmail.html

It’s official. Kumo is now named Bing!
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/05/hands-on-with-microsofts-new-search-to-bing-or-not-to-bing.ars
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10250614-56.html

AT&T says 7.2Mbps wireless coming this year
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/27/1829210

Blackberry wins 101 domains in one lawsuit
http://domainnamewire.com/2009/05/28/blackberry-wins-101-domain-names-in-single-udrp-case/
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26835

Cambridge study: DRM turns users into pirates
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/27/cambridge-study-drm.html

Liquid helium trumps liquid hydrogen at AMD’s Phenom II overclocking love-in
http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/28/liquid-helium-trumps-liquid-hydrogen-at-amds-phenom-ii-overcloc/

Bitterness to be classified as a mental illness
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/27/162216&from=rss

VOICE MAIL

Sand – Waterproof Kindle case
http://m-edge-accessories-llc.amazonwebstore.com/Medge-Leisure-Jacket-for-Amazon-Kindle/M/B001C5PI8G.htm?traffic_src=froogle&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=froogle
http://ireaderreview.com/2009/04/23/kindle-2-waterproof-case-trendy-digitals-case-for-kindle-1-2/

E-MAIL

Dear Buzz Crew:
I have to confirm that Facebook is not filtered, in first few hours it was open and filtered again because of many difficulties of ISPs in Iran trying to change their filtering lists.
But at last after a few hours Facebook was complete out of Iran's government filtering protocol.
You should know it only 6 month that Facebook and YouTube are not filtered in Iran, other sites like Myspace or Orkut are still being filtered.

Best Regards

Siavash

——————————–
Hi Buzz Crew,

Am I missing something? If you can get a Pre under contract for $199
and if the Sprint cancellation fee is $200, why would anyone buy an
unlocked Pre for $549? The math would say that’s a $150 penalty to
buy it unlocked with no real benefit. Add to that the fact that you
can only go to one other carrier in the U.S. with this phone and
buying an unlocked Pre makes no sense.

Love the show,
Terry
Prairie Village, KS

——————————–
Hey Buzzers of the past and present,
On the occasion of the upcoming historic 10^3 episode of Buzz Out Loud, I would love to hear from a selection of long-time Buzzers what Buzz Out Loud story has most surprised you in that you would never have predicted the technology or technological development that story represents at the time the show launched. In other words, what story from the history of the show would have been most unbelievable to you had the ghost of buzzing future come to you in a dream the night of the very first BOL episode and told you you would one day report this?

Congratulations and keep up the good work!

~ Chris the Human Factors Grad Student

——————————–
Hey Buzz Crew,

I just finished listening to episode 982 where Cooley asked the
question “Is there any data on Internet yellow page usage?” Well ask
and ye shall receive… I work for a yellow page directory publisher
so I looked up a couple of statistics for you.

* Print yellow pages usage remained stable with 13.4 billion
references in 2006 and 2007. (1)
* Approximately 87% of the U.S. population used the print yellow
pages in 2007. (1)
* Internet yellow pages (IYP) searches increased 15% in 2007 to 3.8
billion searches, up from 3.3 billion in 2006. (2)
* 51% of the 144 million people performing online local searches in
December 2007 used IYP. (2)

(1) KN/SRI 2007 Industry Usage Study
(2) comScore

Everyone here understands that it is hard to get people to go to our
web site when they could just “Google it”, so they are trying to roll
out features to get people to come to our site, such as reviews and
even 30 second web commercials in selected areas.

Just trying to put up some numbers to fight the ever-present argument,
“who uses the phonebook anymore?” because every time I hear someone
ask that question I want to get on a soap box and scream that WE ARE
NOT OBSOLETE YET! And before anyone starts to complain… the books
are made from recycled wood pulp (NO trees are cut down to make a
book) and are 100% recyclable.

Just my two cents.

Love the show.

Kat T
the phone book layout artist in Iowa
(oh yeah, real exciting job, I know)

——————————–
1000th episode coming Thursday June 18th. Want to be on the episode? Post a video of yourself. MUST be less than 30 seconds long. And send a link. No attachments. Could be well-wishing, could be memories, epithets we don’t care. We’ll choose from all the messages we get and play a selection on the 1000th episode as well as post them in the Wiki.

Want to get involved in the production of the show? Find your favorite BOL moment, clip it out of the MP3, or video, and send us the moment. For video, please upload to a video hosting service and send us a link. Email either to buzz@cnet.com

We're not sure that Barney Frank gambles in his pajamas, but he's fighting for your right to do so in the United States. Also, Verizon gets a little slutty, looking for an iPhone...and an Android phone...and pretty much anything else. And Blu-ray is on the rise, but so are digital downloads.

EPISODE 963

Pre release date: June 7?
http://www.precentral.net/pre-release-date-june-7th
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/29/palm-pre-138-to-build-according-to-isuppli/

Report: Verizon thinks Pink--as in Microsoft iPhone rival
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/04/verizon-courting-microsoft-for-iphone-competitor-pink.ars

Motorola’s first Android phone Calgary looks impressive enough that I actually care
http://gizmodo.com/5232562/motorolas-first-android-phone-calgary-looks-impressive-enough-i-actually-care

Sales of Blu-Ray, digital downloads up big in first quarter
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-blu-ray-sales-digital-movie-sales-up-big-in-first-quarter-2009/

Cablevision power play: 101Mbps Internet, no caps, $99
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/cablevision-power-play-101mbps-internet-no-caps-99.ars

Barney Frank to reintroduce legalization of online gambling
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346112,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

Warner Music claims Lessig is a pirate, has his presentation taken off YouTube
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/29/warner-music-claims.html

Is RealDVD dispute really about a DVD jukebox?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10229768-93.html

Zimbra 1.0 desktop client
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10229060-12.html

Google Search graphs public data
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Google-Search-Graphs-Public-Data-849892/
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/adding-search-power-to-public-data.html

"Swine Flu Hemagglutinin": Amino acid sequence as ambient music
http://stephan-zielinski.com/dwa/2009/04/28/swine-flu-ha-as-ambient-music/

Spanish Flu of 1918: How bad was it?
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/29/spanish-flu-of-1918.html

Webby’s voting closes on Thursday! HELP US WIN!! CNET TV - under Online Film & Video: Technology
http://pv.webbyawards.com

Webware 100 voting also closes on Thursday! Vote!
http://www.webware.com/100

VOICE MAIL
Dwight Key Grip
Time Warner digital TV shenanigans

E-MAIL
I think you guys should back just a tad off of AT&T (did I really say
that) anyway I use both a nokia and an iphone on AT&T. Although I
have not seen the types of missed calls you are describing I have
seen some on my iPhone especially in this one corner of my house where
the bars will literally go down to nothing. On my nokia however I
don’t have such a problem, but in the section of my house where the
iphone goes down to nothing the nokia goes down to 2 bars. Just wanted
to remind you there are two veriables to this reception situation;
carrier and phone.

Mark

**********

I support a server environment with Windows, Linux, Solaris and AIX systems, and I use Linux and Windows desktop systems every day. My experience tells me that stability is a factor of what applications and features you run, rather that the OS.

Windows will run for years without rebooting if you run a specific set of “uncomplicated” applications. E.g., no legacy apps, no beta apps, etc.

Linux (and other UNIXish systems) will run solidly as well. Especialy if configured to run one specific app with no other overhead. When you add a GUI, 3D acceleration, beta applications, and other fun stuff, you’ll find that those application crash as often on Linux as on Windows.

Linux is configured to be stable more often than Windows, but the increasing popularity of Linux desktops is slowly changing that ratio.

Any modern OS can be solid. Any can be flakey. None are bulletproof.

-Ben,
the OS agnostic sysadmin in Minneapolis

P.S.: Do not answer Security Questions. Pick a Question, and answer it with a secure password, preferably random. Record it in a pasword vault, or in another secure location. It should be nothing more than a backup password.

One of our listeners is stunned that you can buy a song from John Cage in the iTunes store that is 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence. In other Apple news, Tim Cook thinks Netbooks suck. And Time Warner says, "Fine, if you don't want to pay our outrageous data fees we won't give you faster Internet. So there."

EPISODE 959

MySpace CEO to step down
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10225519-93.html

Microsoft in “much better place,” oversight extended to 2011
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/04/antitrust-oversight-of-microsoft-extended-to-may-2011.ars

No data caps, no DOCSIS 3.0? TWC’s math doesn’t add up
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/twc-without-data-caps-internet-upgrades-now-in-doubt.ars

Time Warner Cable won’t compete, seeks legislation
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/23/1521218&from=rss

AT&T cuts cord on VoIP service
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10225426-94.html

Pirate Bay lawyers demand retrial
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8014626.stm

YouTube video sharing
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10225416-2.html

New Mega-Botnet discovered
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/22/2223214

Apple's Tim Cook: Why don't we make Netbooks? Because they suck
http://venturebeat.com/2009/04/22/apples-tim-cook-why-dont-we-make-netbooks-because-they-suck/

MIPS architecture gets Android Port thanks to Embedded Alley
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/04/embedded-alley-announces-android-port-for-mips.ars

Facebook policy change
http://apps.facebook.com/fbsitevote/contests/208?_fb_fromhash=914932b0c630e9d25ea42dd469941cae

Slick new Ubuntu "Jaunty Jackalope" springs onto Netbooks
http://www.webmonkey.com/blog/Slick_New_Ubuntu__Jaunty_Jackalope__Springs_Onto_Netbooks

Robotic penguins
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/22/2235215

Vote for CNET TV on the Webby People's Voice Award!
http://pv.webbyawards.com/

VOICEMAIL

Brian from Chicagoland
iPhone vs. BlackBerry

B from Turkey
John Cage on iTunes

E-MAIL
Dear Buzz people,

I’m sure you’ve heard about the Pirate Bay trial’s judge and his alleged ties to the recording industry, but I wonder if you’ve heard about this and what you think of it: http://www.thepirategoogle.com/
Not only is the idea very amusing, but its simplicity illustrates something that we tech fiends have known for a while: Google is sort of a Pirate Bay too.

Which makes it easier to ask the question: “Would the RIAA ever take on Google and ask them to filter the Internet?”
(It does seem like too big an idiocy to even formulate, but maybe we shouldn’t underestimate the ability of the copyright lobby to shoot themselves in the foot. Indeed, if too many torrent sites started closing, new tools far more sophisticated than this one would surface in a matter of weeks. What would the copyrights holders say then? It’s probably too big a deal for anyone to have a chance of wining, even the copyright lobbies. The Pirate Bay is a bunch of kids in Sweden, but Google is a whole different animal. Still, I’m not certain they would understand that.)

So let’s review: FTP turned into centralized p2p, which turned into decentralized p2p, which became individual file p2p. Each time, pressure from the RIAA pushed the system to bury itself deeper into the fabric of the Internet. Could it be that they have finally pushed it so far that they cannot do anything about it anymore?

Patrick Beja
http://frenchspin.com
http://twitter.com/notpatrick

**********

Hi,

Sorry if this is old news to you but I just noticed it. If I go to google’s home page using IE7, there’s a little ad at the top telling me I should install chrome for faster browsing. When I use firefox to view the same page, it’s not there. Is google trying to say something about IE?

Regards,
duckling

**********

Tom,

There’s a simple yet awesome extension to your ridiculous-turned-
amazing idea about flash disc mice from yesterday: operating systems
in a mouse!

Get a lightweight Linux distro capable of installation on a USB stick
and presto! Your favourite mouse AND linux distro wherever you go.

Vikingbushi, infrequent chat room attendee

**********

Hi buzzers,
This old BluRay is useless and dead as a video distribution argument because of streaming is so tired and so wrong. This sounds like the argument that on deamand from the cable company is supposed to kill of DVDs. Yea, that happend. So the idea of ownership of phisical media is going to die, right? Yea and we’re going to be flying in hibrid air cars and wearing auto sizing sneakers and jackets. I have a really nice plasma tv, and BD is so much better, and no dvd is not good enough. The entire sentiment of good enough is anti progress and your podcast should be above that. And Tom’s argument that he doesnt have a PS3 because it is too expensive, is so lame. He has every single player box, worth a lot more than a PS3. He buys more tech than me, and thats saying something, so dont give me the too expensive crap.

Love the show

Y

**********

Hey Tom, Natali, Jason, random(GuestHost),

I am one of those individuals that does not yet have access to
Google ‘Me’. Based on your discussion of the offering yesterday, I have
a question: what is to stop a malicious person from potentially creating
false profiles for individuals, filled with less-than-genuine
information. It seems like I could create a false Google account under
the name ‘Tom Merritt’, then write all sorts of bad stuff about Tom,
which result in people thinking he’s a jerk or something (not that I’m
going to do that), and how then, would the real Tom Merritt combat this
doppelganger?

Sincerely,
Chris the Bioinformatician from Calgary

P.S. I realize that the above scenario can be played out on other social
networks as well, but somehow having this information popping up in
Google seems like the kind of place where authenticity would be more
important than say, Facebook.

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

EPISODE 955

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

Use of proxy server would increase jail time

New T-Mobile Sidekick

Some big Twitter announcement

Oprah about to Twitter

Caption tool for YouTube

YouTube to launch pay-per-view model

Pirate Bay founders get jail time

Florida to build the first solar-powered city

GM proposes standard electric vehicle plug

Don't walk slowly and then stop abruptly if you are on the sidewalks of New York City; Natali might show you a new type of road rage. Also, cabbies in New York might have to give up their cell phones while on the job; AT&T has plans to extended its carrier exclusivity with the iPhone; and Zune phone rumors abound...again...and we fall for it...again. Will Goodman, producer for the CBS Early show joins us on today's show.

EPISODE 953

EU sues UK over user tracking
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=65927
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10219848-93.html

Report: AT&T looks to extend iPhone pact
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10219695-37.html

Time Warner Cable tells FCC to shut up about Net neutrality
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/04/time-warner-cable-to-fcc-shut-up-about-net-neutrality.ars

Google preps next version of Android
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/163081/google_preps_next_version_of_android.html

Motorola building Android-based cable boxes for Japan’s KDDI?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/14/motorola-building-android-based-cable-boxes-for-japans-kddi/

Details about Exchange
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10219256-56.html

Zune phones rumor resurfaces as ad deal
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2345334,00.asp
Spring-designed Zunes
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/14/microsoft-ushers-in-spring-with-new-zune-originals-designs/

NYC taxis can’t use phone at all?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/14/nyc-cabbies-could-have-cellphone-use-blocked-while-driving-bu/

AT&T FamilyMap
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/04/15/att-launches-familymap-let-the-spying-began/

NASA names Space Station treadmill after Colbert
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/15/1258221

VOICE MAIL
George in NYC
Headphoneless in New York? NO!

JV from Alabama
Poison the cables as deterrent?

E-MAIL
Buzz crew,

Much more detail about the fiber optic cable cut in “Chapel Hill” was published by the Raleigh News & Observer after your show had already aired. The mystery is solved! Construction workers cut the cable on Chapel Hill Road in Raleigh, North Carolina. (The road goes to Chapel Hill but is not actually in Chapel Hill; it’s about 25 miles away.) Nothing sinister here, as it’s just a little accident. Underground cables get cut all the time. Fortunately, most times they get cut, they’re not major trunk lines or anything like that. While I don’t have a landline anymore, my landline with BellSouth (now AT&T) would go out a few times a year due to an underground cable cut. I suppose we were lucky here in the Triangle that it was only the courts that went down when a major line was cut. Also, while AT&T was struck with this one, the NC Administrative Office of the Courts has already planned to switch their services to another provider so they hopefully won’t go down again.

Love the show!

Michael the Law Student

**********

Tom, in response to the email you got about the telephone cut in San Jose and the cables being under pressure. Yes it is true that our copper cables are under pressure and really the pressure is between 6 to 12 pounds, our fiber cable are not under air pressure. We typically know when a fiber cable is cut within 15 min, our response varies depending on how fast we can get a hold of a technician to go out and fix it. If it is during the night it can take up to hours to go down the call out list to get someone out there. (We are union so there are rules for call outs)

Anyway just wanted to chime in on this, Love your show…

Brian

AT&T Employee…

P.S. Tell Natali she is awesome!!!

**********

Hey Buzz Crew+1,
I was happy you guys talked about MED-V yesterday. I happened to spend most of the day at work getting it up and running, and it is pretty cool. At the school district I work at we still have a LOT of win2k out there. We expect to have it all converted to Vista within the next few years, but the elementary schools still use 10+ year old programs from the Windows 3.1 days. We try to get them to find newer software, but it’s a losing battle for us. It looks like MED-V was made for our situation. So far I’ve only tested it with IE from Win2k, but it worked surprisingly well.

It’s a good enterprise alternative to the compatibility mode built in to Windows, but I’d say it’s definitely not for the average user (at least as it is now). I’ve included a link to a screenshot I took of IE in Vista next to IE in Win2k using MED-V.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yakk0dotorg/3444809176/

Jeremy Dennis

AT&T had an outage yesterday morning in the bay area due to fiber-optical cables being cut. This didn't just affect landlines, but cell phones as well. Rafe describes the dangers hackers would face in trying to cut those cables. We also estimate the distance to New York as 12 worms, and give a plus-five Holy Avenger sword salute to Dave Arneson.

EPISODE 950

AT&T was vandalized in the Bay Area?
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26715

AT&T uses Twitter during service outage
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10216712-94.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10216939-94.html

Good Friday via Twitter
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10217075-36.html?tag=mncol;title

Yelp lets business owners respond now
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/technology/internet/10yelp.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10216382-2.html

Time Warner Cable lays out broadband capping plans, says $150 for “unlimited” use
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/10/time-warner-cable-lays-out-broadband-capping-plans-says-150-fo/

Amazon to sell Xbox Live games
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/08/amazon-now-selling-xbox-live-arcade-games/

Bluetooth 3.0 prepped for launch on April 21
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/04/bluetooth-30-prepped-for-launch-on-april-21.ars

Virgin $50 unlimited plan, and new plan for the laid off
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2344760,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

Cold, dead hand of Frank Herbert reaches up from grave, stabs Dune Second Life megafans in the back
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/09/cold-dead-hand-of-fr.html

Mixed answers to “Is it OK for a Library to lend a Kindle?”
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6649814.html&

Woman watches home burglarized on Netcam, vectors the cops in FTW!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30151019#30151019

Researchers build ‘flying’ micro-robot
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10216870-76.html

Researcher resurrects the first computer
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/10/1425220&from=rss

RIP Dave Arneson, 1947-2009
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/09/rip-dave-arneson-194.html

VOICEMAIL
Josh in Salt Lake City
Gigabit not Gigabyte

Bill
A question for the author’s guild

E-MAIL
Hello Buzzcrew +1,

I have a bit of a well actually for you. In episode 945 Rafe and Tom mentioned that monkeys and dogs can’t do calculus. Well actually, a math professor from a college near my hometown has published several papers about his corgi’s ability to perform calculus on the fly.

An article about the duo can be found here: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/7051/title/Calculating_Dogs

And if you really want details, one of the papers can be found here: http://www.maa.org/features/elvisdog.pdf

Love the show,
-Jake (the computer science student)

**********

http://www.snopes.com/science/lightbulb.asp

hi bol’rs - just wanted to pass this along for natalie - the oldest
working light bulb is in a firehouse in california and has been on
since 1901. - http://www.centennialbulb.org/index.htm

andy b
video geek & fountain of useless knowledge
http://www.rwvc.tv

**********

Tom, Natali, Jason and guest,

In episode 949 you read an email were the user said they would need to downgrade to Windows XP in order to run old programs. Windows Vista (and I expect Windows 7) support a compatibility mode for previous versions of Windows:

Right mouse click on the "exe" file for the program.

Select Properties.

Click on the "Compatibility" tab.

Check the box "Run this program in compatibility mode for:"

From the pull down menu select the Windows version you wish to run in. Options include:
Server 3003
XP
2000
NT 4.0
98/ME
Windows 95

Yes you can run in Windows Frakkin 95 mode. Does Apple offer this level of backwards compatibility, I doubt it. Byte me Apple.

Love the show,

RJ

**********

Hi BOL Crew(of the day),

I am happy to bring news of a game company that seems to finally have the right idea about DRM.

Stardock recently sent me an email/spam that was trying to sell me the stand alone expansion to Company of Heroes, called Tales of Valor.

They offer it through “Impulse” which is similar to “Steam” for downloading game titles instead of buying off of the shelf.

The BIG news is that they claim that their new technology will Only limit the game to the person and you can install it on any number of machines!
They call it Goo or Game Object Obfuscation technology. It will keep the game up to date and associates the game with the person rather than the machine!!!

Wow, if it actually works.. THEY GOT IT RIGHT!
I felt obligated to write this email to you because of the shared angst about game DRM that I share with you all.

Kudos To Stardock.

Love the Show.
Barry in Napa.