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EPISODE 847 |
Hey Microsoft, Yahoo’s for sale--for real this time
http://www.crn.com/software/212000962
Obama, McCain campaigns both hacked, files compromised (thanks rpcaldiera)
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/05/221222
An Obama presidency: Good, bad news for technology
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10082672-38.html
Apple activates podcast downloads in 2.2 firmware
http://www.macrumors.com/2008/11/06/apple-activates-podcast-downloads-in-2-2-firmware/
Feature films coming to YouTube
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10083481-93.html
Video: Windows 7 promises faster boots and up to 15% better battery life
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/06/video-windows-7-promises-faster-boots-and-up-to-15-better-batt/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10083242-56.html
http://cnettv.cnet.com/2001-1_53-50004352.html
Warner Bros. to fight China movie piracy with 60¢ downloads
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081105-warner-bros-to-fight-china-movie-piracy-with-60-downloads.html
WPA cracked in 15 minutes or less, or your next router’s free
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/06/wpa-cracked-in-15-minutes-or-less-or-your-next-routers-free/
Intel names ‘Nehalem’ launch date
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/11/06/core_i7_launch_date_named/
Cancer genetic blueprint revealed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7706487.stm
U.S. Army to push X-files tech development, invade 'World of Warcraft'
http://gizmodo.com/5077240/us-army-to-push-x+files-tech-development-invade-world-of-warcraft
Voice mail
Anthony from Louisiana: Kindle in the Wild
I was listening to episode 846 where you mentioned about EA’s hilarious work around for the CD key and I am sad to say that I was one of the those who received only 19 of the 20 digits. I thought about calling EA to find out how to resolved this but I figured that it would take to long and opt to simply guess the last digit. They allowed 3 tries before requiring you to re-enter all the digits again. I believe you can eliminate zero and O just because they look too similar reducing the number of possibilites to 34. I finially found the last digit on my 33th tried when I skipped Y and typed in Z. Safe to say EA has been nothing but trouble. Just wanted to get my story out on EA’s key cracking idea.
Also on another topic, I have seen two Sony E-Readers in the wild within the period of two month on the NYC train system. I thought seeing one was rare but two is really something. Funny thing is that I bought my girlfriend a Kindle for Christmas a months ago so by the time Christmas comes along there will be another Kindle in the wild.
Love the show,
– Johnnie
**********
Just be glad EA isn’t in Eastern Nigeria!
Hi BOL,
You guys were speaking of EA issueing a “workaround” for the missing CD key and noting that since they were alpha numeric keys, there were 36 options. I just thought you guys might like to know that in the Igbo language (Eastern Nigeria) there are actually 36 letters in the alphabet.
A B CH D E F G GB GH GW H I I J K KP KW L M N N NW NY O O P R S SH T U U V W Y Z
When a vowel appears twice, the second one has a dot on the bottom showing a longer sound and the second N has a not at the top for a different sound
Little International fact for you guys
Love the show,
Chuma
**********
The Soviets are killing us in the race to populate space with junk. Probably slowed downed recently though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race#Number_of_satellites_launched.2C_by_nation
Jim from Seattle
**********
Ref episode 844 and previous discussions about Google Chrome
advertising.
I just returned from a trip to Taipei; and Google is most definitely
promoting Chrome over there.
Walking along one of the main streets, I happened upon a wall-sized
billboard looking like a giant browser window, complete with embedded
“flash video” player. see picture here -> http://flickr.com/photos/monody/3008198330/
I guess Google is not a dominant player in Taiwan, or indeed much of
Asia. So it only makes sense to employ different advertising tactics.
LTS,
Vidar
from Norway
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
EPISODE 825 |
A.M.D. to split into two operations
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/technology/07chip.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10059766-92.html
Warner Bros. to release movies online before DVD in Korea
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081006-warner-bros-to-release-movies-online-before-dvd-in-korea.html
Hulu to stream presidential debates live
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10059756-93.html
EU to require user-replaceable batteries in CE?
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/10/06/new_eu_directive_pushes_toward_replaceable_iphone_batteries.html
EU battery rule may zap iPhone, blow away MacBook Air
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/07/eu_batter_directive_spells_trouble/
VoIP safe from Verizon patent assaults (too late for Vonage)
http://techdirt.com/articles/20081006/2246322473.shtml
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10059844-94.html
Ford to introduce restrictive car keys for parents
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/07/0011249
Google launches Mail Goggles to save you from yourself
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10059735-2.html
Lightbulbs could replace Wi-Fi hotpsots
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/33993.php
Polaroid film factory now “prints” solar panels
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20081007005342
Atrivo ISP shutdown sends ripples through the spam deluge
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081006-atrivo-isp-shutdown-sends-ripples-through-the-spam-deluge.html
VOICEMAIL
Hayden: Even Apple changes their tunes!
Hola.
Ummm...Even if you block streaming porn, you still aren't blocking porn on your HDD or on DVD. Which begs the question, how was this not a problem before Wi-Fi was on planes? I get that as much as I get why you'd watch freaking porn on a freaking airplane, YOU PERVERT.
Personally, I think people caught should be shamed in front of everyone by the captain over the in-flight speaker... "BING! Excuse me, passengers of flight 401. This is your captain speaking. We've reached a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet, annnnd I would just like to bring to your attention that the gentleman in seat 36A is watching porn. Yes, the gentleman with the greasy comb-over and gold-plated aviator glasses annnnd the porn appears to involve Swedish maids...Somebody's been a verrry dirrrty boy! Please feel free to scoff at him around the cabin. Thank you, and please enjoy the rest of your flight."
Problem solved.
LtS-KUtGW,
Dr. Karl
**********
At the risk of sounding like a “well actually” I have to give at least some props to Paramount for responding so quickly to resolve the Opt In/Opt Out issue on their recent release of Iron Man, which to my estimation was working on Thursday of last week. It seems like they are actually listening to the forums, which means they seem to actually care about us (at least as much as when there is widespread bad press for their product!).
While the potential of BD-Live hasn’t yet been realized, I think it must be a learning process for them.
We’ll see how this plays out, but I must say I’m cautiously optimistic.
Molly, feel free to tear me up if you feel like it.
LTS!
Cheers,
Anon from L.A.
**********
Seriously?! You talk about RC cows and nobody suggests mounting
freakin’ lasers on their heads! For shame. Then again, mounting a
laser on a mobile methane factory qualifies you for the cow evil
genius short school bus. Mini moo?
Anyway, isn’t one of the games on Wii Play an RC cow? I smell a lawsuit…
brian
**********
Hey Buzzites,
I just listened to show 824 and have to say I take issue with the comment that the musicians were all bands that no one cares about.
All the bands mentioned are huge over here (U.K.), and some of the others like Robbie Williams and Kaiser Chiefs are worldwide. It seems to be just America that doesn’t care but last I checked that's still a minority worldwide.
Sorry, rant over.
Love the show, John from the U.K.
PS. Tom, about my previous e-mail regarding the BBC, maybe there’s a market for a Web service that would allow me to send you recorded Doctor Who and Torchwood in exchange for recorded Heroes and Lost. That would be legal right?
**********
Hey Guys, Sean from Green Bay here. In show 824 you talked about how
ask.com is touting their ability to answer questions like they did
when they had jeeves. Tom said he tested with the question “What high
school did John McCain go to?”. Doesn’t this demonstrate that ask.com
is clearly a hacker tool meant to circumvent password recovery
mechanisms built in to many Web services? Ask.com must be taken down
immediately!
Sean
--Molly
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
EPISODE 667 |
Hungry for burgers.
What's with the huh?
Hey, just finished your last podcast about will iTunes refund those session pass.
I don't have the same experience; but I did get a refund from Apple after NBC pulled their stuff off iTunes. I also got 2 free episodes as extra. All these are unexpected to me; since I did not ask for question them on this at all. Here is the e- mail I got.
Future episodes of "Psych" will not be available on the iTunes Store. We realize that you purchased a season pass and regret that we will not be able to deliver these episodes to you. I have issued a pro-rated refund in the amount of $13.12 for the remaining episodes. You will see this credit in three to five business days. If Store Credit was used for this purchase, you should see the credit applied to your balance immediately.Take care,
I have also granted two free video credits to your account which you can use to purchase of any two TV episodes, music videos, or short films on the iTunes Store.
Your credit balance should display in the upper-right corner of iTunes next to your account name. If it does not, please sign out and sign back in to refresh. The sign out/sign in functions are found under the Store menu of iTunes. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you for being an iTunes customer.
Sincerely,
Ray from Alameda
Hey Buzz crew,
This Roque (aka Rocky) from Guadalajara, Mexico, I have been planning in writing to you guys for some time, but finally got some time while I'm at school, in my boring class (Electronic design with integrated circuits, is not as cool as it sounds, and yeah I'm taking my degree as an Communications and electronics engineer) but anyways going to the point of the mail, I was listening to show 663 I think about the cable companies forcing customers to switch to digital, and well I can give you some information about Comcast, because I work as a Comcast account executive (yes that's right we are in Mexico) and don't hate us too much, we are not that evil, well at least in Comcast in the California market, you don't need to worry if you have Comcast, it won't make any change in the basic and standard analogue services, they will keep working at least for the next 5 years, but as you said in episode 664 there will be change, is obvious if over the air TV (free TV) is going digital why not cable?, satellite is digital, over the air TV is digital, only cable is missing... and well everything is going digital, as they tell us at school, all what we are learning will be old when I finish!
And now going to the other reason to my mail, I know you have lots of complains about Apple, but I can't help myself, let me tell you I'm in my second iPod, and yes is an iPod touch, and you know it works fine, love to have Wi-Fi in it that way I don't need to carry my laptop that much, but you know I bought I think 1 week before the damn iPod update in January, after sometime I decide OK I'll pay for the updates (I want the e-mail one) and guess what I can't! What's wrong with Apple why so much punish to people!, the truth I wanted to buy a zune, but well you know they don't sell them outside the states. so sad, and the last thing that is missing is able to download podcasts to the touch, most of the time I don't have a chance to plug it to my PC till late in the night so I'm always 1 show behind, if I could download the show while I'm school, I will be able to listen it on the way to work.
But anyways should go back to pay attention to my class or I'll be working for Comcast for a long time!
Great show keep the good work!
Rocky your Comcast account executive for today!
Tom, Molly, and Jason,
I am an intern at a senator's office and after receiving a lot of calls about the digital television transition. When these calls came in they were directed to me since I understood what I was talking about. My boss overheard me and called me into her office and after 30 min of one on one time she assigned me a project of putting together something for the senator to help his constituents with the switch. On previous shows there were a lot of calls about possible fraud from cable companies and electronics retailers, I would like to include these in my report. If you would be willing to put out the call it would be greatly appreciated, I have created a gmail account for this project but it forwards to my main account so fell free to give it out on the air. It would be a great help if you could help me out with this project, and keep up the good work because there are geeks getting into the government and we will fix the problems that need fixing but you need to keep us informed and united.
Thank you,
Zack
Hey Molly, Tom, and Jason,
I happened to be out this weekend with a few buddies who work over in Redmond. After a few (OK, a lot) of drinks I asked them how they felt about the death of HD DVD and the 360 add-on drive.
Don't worry, they all said, the Blu-ray add on will be available by June-ish. It's fully designed and ready to begin manufacture, as soon as a marketing plan is ready. According to my sources it will run somewhere in the range of $199 to $250, and will work and look exactly like the HD add-on. Probably to save costs since I'm sure they have tons of unused HD DVD shells laying around. From what I've learned in the from these guys in the past, and the quantities of booze in them, I'd give this a 80 percent chance of being accurate. Keep up the awesome work!
D in Seattle
Hey Buzz crew,
Love the show. I started a Facebook group to promote the usage of LOI over LOL. It's called "The LOI Movement". Mention it on the show. Hey, if we can buy Revver, we can destroy LOL.
P.S. Love the mullet, LOI.
Also feel free to mention my full name, just don't give out my any of my personal information listed in the signature below.
-- Thank you for your time,
Ron Landreth
First--I am a 53-year-old grandmother who has listened to your podcast for about a year. I teach language arts and have used computer and Internet technology in my classroom for years. http://www.mrswieseman.org I just wanted you to know that just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm not interested in new technology. I do love my toys:) LOI
Secondly--I purchased a song on iTunes plus just yesterday, and there was a notice that for only $2.70 I could upgrade some already purchased songs. How did Jeff get the freebies?
Lastly--love the show, keep up the good work keeping semitech savvy old- timers like me informed.
Grandma Mary
Hi Buzz crew,
So the Zune offers gaming now? Is that a firmware upgrade? If so, where is the $20 charge for it? Shouldn't Microsoft and Apple have the same accounting rules? Or is Apple just making this up to get even more money from you? Just a thought.
Oliver
Hey Buzz crew,
JaMoTo nested again on the night of the 22nd (Friday). It is the very tail end of the leatherback sea turtle nesting season in Gabon and I expected that she would leave the area after nesting again, but it appears she is still lingering. This means she will probably nest again in another 9 or 10 days. She must be a very fertile turtle!
Bonus video! I have posted some video I took of JaMoTo on the beach and a couple of previously unposted photos on my blog to share with Buzztown.
Cheers,
Michael
Just to let you know. Google already launched balloons over Sao Paulo. They said it was a advertising for Google maps (a red balloon, like their red pin point in Google maps--got it?) but I thought it was bizarre. Sine when Google needs to advertise anything on the real world?
Or they were testing their new balloon Wi-Fi technology.
Some photos on an advertising blog here (Portuguese only, sorry). And here.
Alex, from Rio.
No, not the other Alex from Rio that runs while listening to BOL. But I can try to do mountain climbing listening to BOL, does that counts?
Molly, Jason, and Thomas,
It's Rick, the "balloon scientist" and amateur radio operator from Colorado.
:-) Hey everyone as to be the xyz occupation from somewhere right?
Allow me to drop a "well actually" or two on you folks. And in no way would I expect you to know any of this stuff without doing a fair amount of research so this isn't a rag on you guys just a friendly "well actually."
Balloons. Hmmm, at last something I know something about. This just goes to show, your audience can probably address just about any issue under the sun with some level of expertise, assuming they are sufficiently interested to respond. And, this time out apparently I was motivated to do so.
This e-mail is in response to the very brief mention you made in episode 665 where at the end you discuss Google's possible acquisition of Space Data's balloon borne cell system technology. Your discussion of this issue is probably dwarfed by my wordy response. But, I'm sure you say things like smurf and get 100 page diatribes all the time. It's the nature of a large audience right? Some of us have no common sense or word governors.
I tend to write voluminous tombs about inconsequential stuff so, here is the short version:
---------------------short---------------------
I know what I'm talking about (more or less).
$50 bucks for a balloon to fly these airborne cell towers...no way! The balloon has to be around $100 and the helium to fly it around the same.
Tom's idea that we should bomb the countryside with high velocity projectiles from the sky, well...possible but not a good idea and not necessary. The parachute will solve this problem.
Molly's worry about balloons going off on their own and disobeying the laws of atmospheric physics, I don't think so. But again, it is possible under some circumstances that generally won't crop up except infrequently.
Molly's concern about the polluting nature of balloon debris all over the place. Well again, as is true of much in life, yes and no. Yes, in the short term it can be a problem for wildlife. No, in the long term, latex balloons degrade to nothing and actually are eaten by the bacteria in soil. So, we're helping the little guys and should be applauded for our supporting the underdogs.
Jason's brief thoughts about tethering balloons, no way! But, Jason pretty much gave up on that idea almost before he finished the sentence he suggested it in. Never the less, I address it below.
Now, on to the ridiculously long version. I'm a lot less snotty and there are some good links that show neat photos, videos, and interesting information so if you have a few minutes ...
Rick von Glahn
Parker, Colorado
PS. If you ever have questions in this area (like that's ever going to happen), feel free to drop me a line.
--Molly
Listen now: Download today's podcast
... Read more
--Molly
Listen now: Download today's podcast
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Tom Merritt appears on
CNET TV, specializing in help and how-to and the ever popular Top 5
lists. He also co-hosts CNET's The Real Deal podcast. 
Jason Howell can
often be found producing Buzz Out Loud from the audio studios at CNET,
updating XML feeds from the comfort of his cubicle, and saying "uh-oh"
from time to time. 
