Buzz Out Loud Podcast

A new law in Europe protects all citizens from the evils of cookies. Instead of relying on people to operate their own browsers, Europe now requires all Web sites to notify users that they will set cookies. That certainly sounds annoying. Come on over to our freedom-loving U.S. sites, y'all! We also check in on Motorola Droid sales and find out that the Milestone kicks the Droid in the butt. And Google has a holiday present for you. And it's free!

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Motorola probably sold 100,000 Droids in first days
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a4IZD2kI6dh8

Smartphones beat recession, Nokia still on top
http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/11/smartphones-beat-recession-nokia-still-on-top.ars

Microsoft pulls Windows 7 download tool
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10394191-56.html

Google to acquire Gizmo5, swing at Skype with VoIP-enabled Google Voice?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/09/google-to-acquire-gizmo5-swing-at-skype-with-voip-enabled-googl/

Google to offer free Wi-fi in approximately 50 airports for holiday season only
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/20091110_free_airport_wifi_holiday.html

Yahoo to put Wi-Fi in Times Square
http://www.appscout.com/2009/11/yahoo_brings_free_wi-fi_to_tim.php

Intel introduces a digital book reader that reads aloud to the blind
http://venturebeat.com/2009/11/09/intel-introduces-a-digital-book-reader-for-the-blind/

Hundreds of Facebook groups hacked
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10394058-2.html

Consent will be required for cookies in Europe
http://www.out-law.com/default.aspx?page=10510

Mac OS X 10.6.2 delivers more than three dozen fixes, but crashes Atom-based Netbooks
http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=221601027

Blockbuster to rent movies on SD cards, but why?
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/chris-dannen/techwatch/blockbuster-rent-movies-sd-cards-why

VOICE MAIL
Rafa from Brazil on blackouts in Brazil
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/brazil_blackout/

Thomas in Ohio about selling free software

E-MAIL
Long time first time. I started listening when Molly was out having her baby, and I haven’t missed one episode since.

I moved back to China three months ago, and at least in Beijing, the podcast is not blocked right now. When I visited home in 2008, all cnet podcasts were blocked, but it’s no longer the case this year.

I try to get around the great firewall very sparingly, only when it’s absolutely necessary, so I know pretty well among the podcasts I subscribe to, which are blocked and which are not. As mentioned on the show, Radio Lab is blocked. So is This American Life. So is Savage Lovecast by Dan Savage. But sorry guys, BOL is not, not even after the WOW incidence.

LOVE THE SHOW

alex
(no, my name is not alex)

**********

Hey BOLers..

This is Vijay from India.. Long time BOL listener.. you guys rock..

We have been talking about Motorola DROID for long now.. but not much about its GSM/UMTS brother the MILESTONE. Now that MILESTONE has been announced in some European countries, I was waiting for it to launch in India too. I guess it will be coming soon. Initially, I was thinking that only the Radio is different from the DROID. But apparently not… Here are some of the differences

The following features are available in Milestone and not in Droid

MultiTouch in Gallery and Browser (Droid only has double tap)
Geotaging in the Gallery photos.
MotoNav (Offline turn by turn navigation maps) This does not require internet connection (say if you are in some rural areas or in San Fransisco if you are on AT&T 3G ) where as Google Navigation requires connection to internet. Google Nav is also available on the Milestone.. best of both worlds !!
Phone Portal – Very cool thing where a webserver runs on the phone !!! The phone can be accessed just like a website from any desktop browser for the gallery, bookmarks etc just like accessing any cloud service.. pretty cool
MTP Sync Media Transport Protocol sync for easy syncing of media along with meta data etc.
Mysign – Gesture based short cuts where certain functions (say calling a specific contact, or turning on wifi etc) can be made into shortcuts based on certain gestures..

I did not get a link with these differences but basically got this information from the motodev podcast.. at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/motodev/2009/11/04/Developing-Android-Applications-for-DROID-and-Mile

LOVE THE SHOW..

Vijay

**********

Hi Buzz Crew,

It’s not a given that Murdoch has to loose against Google, because it’s
not a given everybody would use Google to search for news. Imagine most of
the news coporations would opt out of Googles Index and would be searchable
on Bing, because Bing would share their revenue. People would move to Bing
- at least for search for news. Newspapers would get more revenues.
Everybody would be happy, except for Google, which would at some point be
forced to pay newspapers to add them to its index.

Otherwise, love the show!

Regards,
Matthias from Germany

**********

Tom Richmond, the star caricaturist of MAD Magazine’s new generation had a project he worked on rejected by Apple. It was an app that had caricatures of all the members of Congress with their contact information. It was rejected because in ” in Apple's reasonable judgement may be found objectionable, for example, materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic, or defamatory."
I got the information from Mark Evanier’s site http://www.newsfromme.com (http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_11_09.html#018025)

Here’s the direct link to the story: http://www.tomrichmond.com/blog/2009/11/09/apple-rejects-my-caricature-app/

Love the show!
PS to Molly ~ Go Cats on 11/21!

Jay Huber
Bozeman, MT

Calculator hackers have figured out how to run independent OSes on TI calculators. Unfortunately TI wants to stop them. Why? We have no idea. Also we play fast and loose with physics when discussing black holes and Higgs Bosons. We also totally redefined the word mint. In a bad way, unfortunately.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Sidekick data restored?
http://twitter.com/wcpreston/status/4848175078
http://twitter.com/ruv/status/4845969713

Wi-Fi is about to get a whole lot easier
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2009/tc20091013_683659.htm
http://www.wi-fi.org/news_articles.php?f=media_news&news_id=909

Apple shipping iPhone 3GS' resistant to jailbreaking?
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/10/13/apple-shipping-iphone-3gs-resistant-to-jailbreaking/

EFF warns Texas Instruments to stop harassing calculator hobbyists
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/10/13
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/10/bloggers-fight-tis-dmca-takedown-over-calculator-hack.ars
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-10374284-264.html

Family Guy to shill for Windows 7
http://www.pcworld.com/article/173646/family_guy_to_shill_for_windows_7.html

B&N e-reader pics leaked; event confirmed for October 20
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/10/barnes-and-nobl.php

Finland becomes first country to make broadband access a legal right
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/14/applause-for-finland-first-country-to-make-broadband-access-a-legal-right/

Twitter cracks down on spam
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-twitter-cracks-down-on-spam/

Artificial black hole created in Chinese lab
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24234/

The collider, the particle and a theory about fate
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/science/space/13lhc.html

VOICE MAIL
Stefan on gas masks

Rafe on the pressure-sensitive keyboard

E-MAIL
On BOL1083 when discussing the Berners-Lee comment, my head nearly exploded
as my pet peeve was repeatedly forced into my ears.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FORWARD SLASH!

There is slash; there is backslash… no forward slash, no backward slash.

I know this isn’t show-worthy, but I feel better now.

Thank you,

J.R. the GWAIN (guy without an interesting nickname)

**********

While listening to episode 1078, where you were discussing the purchasing of specific genes, I was reminded of a story about some grad students reported by NPR’s RadioLab from more than a year and a half ago. The students were doing some experiments with E. Coli. Not liking the poop smell associated with the bacteria, they got a gene for mintyness from some other researchers and inserted it. I remembered that the students also inserted a gene to make it smell like banana once the E. Coli was ready for them to do their experiment. That was not included in this short article, but is in the audio show if I remembered correctly. Here is a link to an article about it, but the audio podcast is much better (RadioLab is awesome).

http://www.npr.org/templates/text/s.php?sId=90014997&m=1

By the way, if you are mailing a link from the browser on your iPhone and get a call just before you hit send, you get the opportunity to write your entire e-mail again! Sigh. I’ve got to send this quick before another call comes in. Please insert the “love the show” recording here.

Darren Lacey
Telecommunucations infrastructure electronics technician from South Bend, IN

**********

Hey buzz crew,
I don't know if you guys know but Sprint is selling data only plans on their smart phones for $29. No voice (incoming calls blocked, outgoing $0.40 per min) but you can use data and tether (other than Pre and BB 8350i). Here is detail: http://sprintrelaystore.com/data_only_plan.htm

Love the show.

Sam in Houston, TX

Today, we hear how the Del Conte's deal with their enemies, find out what kind of deposit Tong makes when he visits a bank, wonder why on earth Google ever even bought the slice of AOL it just dumped, and look forward to the Pre on Verizon--but when?

EPISODE 1028

Verizon to offer Palm Pre in early 2010

Verizon changes tune on Wi-Fi

Verizon customers can sign onto Boingo

Sprint Nextel to buy Virgin Mobile USA

Texting while driving more dangerous than you think

iPhone OS 3.1 will usher in 'augmented reality' apps

Google abandons AOL investment

Google Voice pulled from iPhone

B of A to reverse policy and start closing branches--online and mobile banking the reason

Microsoft uses human computing game to tune Bing

Woman sued $50,000 for Tweet

Follow-up on Yelp lawsuits

On today's episode, we invent a new word that we hope will show up on a show like "The Hills" sometime soon. Plus, we get fired up, make terrible jokes about monkeys controlling computers with their brains, and actually work in a tiny bit of news. For example, Apple's doing a tablet and music labels are trying to sell some new weird digital album thing. You might like the "fired up" part better.

EPISODE 1027

Apple partners with music labels for interactive content for new netbook -- Sept

Microsoft in new EU browser offer

Confusion at Best Buy over rumors of a $99 Palm Pre

Installing Pre homebrew apps: now even easier

Netflix Prize: And the $1 Million Winner Is...?

ATandT blocks 4chan

AT&T said to block 4chan; pranksters fight back

Wi-Fi on ordinary cell phones

Aussie Net filtering trial deemed a success despite problems

Nissan's Forest AC blows wild scents through your ride, keeps you alert

Monkeys and scientists develop persistent "plug and play" control over brain-to-computer interface

Bill Gates wonders why Google would want to make a browser-based operating system. In fact he wonders what exactly a browser is anyway. We also have some crazy Steve Ballmer quotes and some crazy stats of how many people respond to spam.

EPISODE 1019

Bill Gates on Google's Chrome OS
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286308-56.html

Ballmer: what IS this thing!?
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-microsofts-microsofts-ballmer-on-google-chrome-os-who-knows-what-this-t/

Gates: Natal to bring gesture recognition to Windows too
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286309-56.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286772-56.html

TechCrunch receives confidential Twitter documents from hacker
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/14/in-our-inbox-hundreds-of-confidential-twitter-documents/

Comcast offers HBO, Cinemax on the Web and on-demand
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/07/comcast-welcomes-hbo-cinemax-to-online-offerings.ars

CBS is first broadcast network to sign on for "trial" period
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-cbs-signs-on-for-comcast-broadband-trial-first-broadcast-network/

Google Voice coming to Android, BlackBerry
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10286763-2.html

Apple cops to OS 3.0 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth problems
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10285817-233.html

New Service Converts Torrents Into PNG Images
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/07/15/1314253/New-Service-Converts-Torrents-Into-PNG-Images

12% of e-mail users have actually tried to buy stuff from spam
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/07/12-of-e-mail-users-try-to-buy-stuff-from-spam-e-mail.ars

State Dept. to Clinton: Please let us use Firefox
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10287084-16.html

VOICEMAIL
Steve from Seattle on economics

Pastor Hudson on Verizon Store

EMAIL
Hey Buzz Hosts,
All the talk yesterday about Netflix possibly being purchased by Amazon really made me think about how Netflix is predominately a tech company and how funny it is that my grandparents have a Netflix subscription.
You see, my grandparents have never had a computer, Internet, cable, or satellite. They don't see any need for modern technology and really couldn't care less about it. That was until my family introduced them to Netflix.
My grandparents still don't have a computer, but they are in love with Netflix. They have developed their own hack to manage their que without a computer. My grandma writes down the movies she wants and calls my mother about once a week to have her add them to the Que. My grandmother manages her Que, with shipping dates, by paper and pencil. This speaks very highly of Netflix's shipping reliability as my grandmother can tell you with accuracy when her next movie will arrive without having access to her account.
I also like the set up, since I get to use the streaming feature of their account on my XBOX 360.
I've include two photos of my grandparents' "Que."
Pic #1 and Pic #2.
I thoroughly enjoy the show. Thanks for keeping my up to date on the tech world!

-Clayton from Oklahoma.

**********

Hey BOL-
In episode 1018, you mentioned what would child between Netflix and Amazon? Its already out there: RokuPlayer. After all, they both joined forces to get more content and even cross promote each other to sell more boxes. I even have an account with both and just got a RokuPlayer. Maybe they could iron out more included content if Amazon does buy them, but I enjoy what they both currently offer on the RokuPlayer.

Kevin in Pittsburgh

**********

The Risky Business podcast has the presentation of the security researchers (hilarious, actually), and an interview with them, both discussing the 2 keystroke capture techniques you talked about on the show. There are a few points that will get missed by mainstream reporting because these are corporate security researchers, not end-user security researchers.

1) An attacher who wants to use either of these method is going to choose a valuable target that meets the functionality of the attack. E.g., many, many ATMs use the PS2 keyboard interfaces required by the electrical fluctuation attack, making this a perfect exploit to capture pin #s. Niether attack is presented as a possible for use against individuals at home or in coffee shops.

2) The point is that sensors, such as those used to detect small electrical fluctuations and physical vibrations, are becoming cheaper and more sensitive every day, and these and other methods will be more and more viable proportionally.

http://risky.biz/netcasts/rb2/rb2-shakacon-presentation-hackers-freakin-laser-beams-their-heads-presentation
http://risky.biz/netcasts/rb2/rb2-shakacon-interview-hackers-freakin-laser-beams-their-freakin-heads

Ben
The Sysadmin in Minneapolis who listens to lots and lots of security podcasts.

Natali has some tips for secure password hints that involve her armpits. You'll just have to listen. We also give our thoughts on Office 2010 and what kids these days are doing on the Internet. That includes Brian Tong.

EPISODE 1017

First Take: Microsoft Office 2010 technical preview
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10284013-12.html

Monday's Office 2010 preview leaks to BitTorrent
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9135454/Monday_s_Office_2010_preview_leaks_to_BitTorrent?taxonomyId=1

Ericsson to run Sprint's wireless network, but how?
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/ericssons-rx-for-us-broadband.ars

Collapse in illegal sharing and boom in streaming brings music to executives' ears
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jul/12/music-industry-illegal-downloading-streaming

Note by 'teenage scribbler' causes sensation
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/035e83fe-6f18-11de-9109-00144feabdc0.html

Six in 10 companies plan to skip Windows 7: Survey
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE56C0NC20090713

Re-Rumor: Apple tablet coming in October, priced at $800
http://gizmodo.com/5313266/re+rumor-apple-tablet-coming-in-october-priced-at-800
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/13/apples-9-7-inch-netbook-to-debut-in-october-for-800/

How to use electrical outlets and cheap lasers to steal data
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/070909-electrical-data-theft.html

Strong passwords not as good as you think
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/07/13/1336235/Strong-Passwords-Not-as-Good-as-You-Think

iPhone in China without Wi-Fi
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10285137-37.html

Apollo 11 moon mission to be recreated on the Web
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/13/apollo-11-moon-mission-to-be-recreated-on-the-web/

Mario Marathon
http://www.mariomarathon.com/

VOICEMAIL
Crowdsourcing player movements is a bad idea

Tech support call

E-MAIL
I was shopping at a local Wal Mart this weekend when I came across $98.00 Blu Ray players. Alot of them, shelves FULL! Everyone was just walking by I didn't see anyone buying them or even giving them a second look.

Seems to me the interest is fading. Sony may have really screwed up on this format, just like every other format they've come up with.

Regards

Robert King
Eau Claire WI

***********

Dear Buzz Crew,

I have to comment on the gaze-tracking privacy software discussed in
Wednesday's episode 1014. Tom was absolutely correct that it shows
normal text to the authorized user and gibberish to everyone else.
(At least for the high-end product Chameleon; the consumer product
PrivateEye just obscures the whole screen.) I guess not everyone has
taken a visual perception class, so I'll try to explain.

We have the intuitive impression that our eyes behave like cameras –
constantly reading in all the pixels, and smoothly panning around from
object to object. Not so at all! Half of your visual cortex is
devoted to the central two degrees of your visual field. That works
out to half an inch of good focus area at a standard reading distance
of 14 inches. Moreover, your eyes constantly jump around in
incredibly fast, involuntary movements called saccades, only pausing
for about 200 milliseconds at a time. During the saccades, visual
input is suppressed. With decent gaze-tracking equipment (such as
from you local college's cognitive psychology department), you can
flash up pictures of penguins during saccades, and the user won't
notice anything odd.

Here's a video showing someone's eye movements while reading Google
search results:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w29DrEEsqT4
And yes, your eyes still jump around even when you're reading a
structured text document. Chameleon just fills everything except the
tiny, fluctuating area you're looking at with random text.

Thanks for this and all the other cool stories!
–Amy in Pennsylvania

http://oculislabs.com/Products/ChameleonP.htm (mouse over “oculis in action”)

Well, you don't really need to totally disregard this episode, but that is what 10-12 means in CB radio talk. And the news is light. Although we do learn that the head of MI6's Speedo is not a state secret. But it SHOULD be!

EPISODE 1012

MI6 boss in Facebook entry row
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8134807.stm

Small towns and farms to get Net Neutrality
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10278484-94.html

Apple orders up a ton of cameras, rumored to hit the iPod
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/07/06/apple-orders-up-a-ton-of-cameras-rumored-to-hit-the-ipod/
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/06/prepare-yourself-for-ipod-video/

iPhone 3GS unlocked with Purplera1n + UltraSn0w
http://gizmodo.com/5307693/iphone-3gs-unlocked-with-purplera1n-%252B-ultrasn0w

For Mac, too
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/05/iphone-3gs-jailbreak-mac/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10279029-1.html

Free Wi-Fi for the residents of Venice, Italy
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/2236213/Free-Wi-Fi-For-the-Residents-of-Venice-Italy

We rent movies, so why not textbooks?
http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/07/05/1546214/We-Rent-Movies-So-Why-Not-Textbooks

AOL shuts down CompuServe
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/169220/AOL-Shuts-Down-CompuServe

Billions stolen in online robbery
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8132547.stm

Desperate-to-leave LinkedIn users rename accounts “delete delete delete”
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/05/desperate-to-leave-l.html

Geek Atlas provides tour guide for geeks
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8132924.stm

VOICEMAIL
Kelly the Gaffer on why OS X is so cheap

E-MAIL
Hi Buzz crew this is Marlon – “guyfromtrinidad”, I am a lover of Nokia’s E series and am absolutely delighted with my E71. So I got even more excited when I saw this article concerning Android coming to Nokia’s smartphones, http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/jul/06/nokia-mobile-internet-phones. I mean the idea of a very slick touchscreen E series phone had me super excited, gone would be the dated OS that I tolerate, yes, yes, yes. And then I read this http://gigaom.com/2009/07/05/will-nokia-jettison-symbian-for-android/ and this http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL613838520090706. A a quick and emphatic no, no, no by Nokia. Though it still leaves the door open for the Nokia/ Intel partnerships to embrace Android. What do you think?
Luv the show

Guyfromtrinidad
Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies

**********

Hey Buzz Crew

As self appointed captain of the Buzz Navy’s ship “paradigm panda”, i hereby issue a call to arms for all buzz citizens!

1: For once! SOMEONE must defeat Leo Laporte in an online poll, and hence, Molly must be declared president of the internet!

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=1894

2: Tom must defeat Patrick Beja in a different online Poll! To prove that A: The Buzz Brigrade always wins, and B: Brian Coulis-ites (anti european) can get along with regular folk in a common cause!

http://frenchspin.com/en/2009/07/a-feud-of-epic-proportions/

(Robot Voice) Love-The-Show

Techpriest

PS: (Tom merrit shouting voice) DON’T OPEN ATTACHMENTS! (old skool joke i know, couldnt help it…)

**********

Hey Buzzers,

I’ve got fios at my house here in Camarillo, Ca and one of the selling points for me, my girlfriend not as much, is the Fios. The only other option for internet here is Time Warner and given their track record I will do nearly anything to not give them a penny of my money. So yes, Fios can be a selling point, especially for a buzz listener.

Secondly I’ve got a pre and let me tell you, RocknRollHax is great. I get html formatted emails fairly regularly and some (looking at you newegg) benefit greatly from landscape mode (for readability). There is no need for landscape while composing (obviously) and I really wish they included an option foramdscape on email reading only.

Anywho, I’m also part of the engineer/architect/programmer cabal when it comes to caps lock…but it should be moved.

Keep up the good work,
Ted the Engineer

Well, actually, people are made of black holes. But I couldn't do a Soylent Green reference if I wrote that. We also talk about Natali's Lady Things and the fact that we all wear makeup. Oh, and Sony is broke. And Jammie Thomas is going back to court. So it's not all good news.

EPISODE 974

Sony Records First Full-Year Loss In 14 Years
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-earnings-sony-records-first-full-year-loss-in-14-years/

eBay wins L’Oreal suit
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ebay-wins-french-court-ruling-in-loreal-case

Not-so-shocking: Jammie Thomas, RIAA unable to settle
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/05/not-so-shocking-jammie-thomas-riaa-unable-to-settle.ars

Pirated music dominated by pop hits
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8049495.stm

Three strikes proposal for print
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/14/three-strikes-propos.html

AirTran Wi-Fi for ALL flights
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-biz-air-tran-wireless-internet-may12,0,5545703.story

Mulligan! Twitter backtracks on unpopular change
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10240163-36.html

YouTube on Google News
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10240709-93.html

Import Contacts
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/import-your-mail-and-contacts-from.html

Street View in Japan must reshoot
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10240459-71.html

Google asks personal health questions
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10240076-2.html

Kindle owners start to lose text-to-speech on purchased books — how do DRM-free Kindle books work?
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/14/kindle-owners-start.html

Kindle for all bloggers
http://gizmodo.com/5253808/amazon-opens-kindle-to-all-bloggers

Illusion Cloak Makes One Object Look Like Another
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/13/2215220

Could all particles be miniblack holes?
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23530/

Holy Moly iPhone app rejected by Apple
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=7575266&page=1

VOICE MAIL
Kim
A podcast entirely about Twitter

Ton
Why would anyone want to see @replies

E-MAIL
Hi Buzz Crew,

In episode 973 you talked about a credit card that displays a unique code for online purchases. I don't think adding more complexity to a credit card is a good idea. I use a Bank of America credit card with "ShopSafe" for online purchases. When I'm ready to purchase online I simply logon to BOA (Bank of America) and use ShopSafe to generate a one use credit card number. You can set the expiration date and credit limit for the credit card number. The number can only be used by one vendor so it's of no value to anyone if they steal it.

Link to BOA ShopSafe Service info:

http://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/index.cfm?template=learn_about_shopsafe

Love the show,

RJ

Buzz crew,

I’m a few days behind, but I just listened to your bit about an iPhone or iPod Touch being required by a university. Here at the University of Minnesota (go Gophers!), the university will actually lend iPod Touch to students in some classes, particularly media classes. You keep the iPod Touch for the semester and turn it back in when your course is finished. It is a pretty good programme and seems quite fair.

Also, we use Moodle for our online classroom stuff. It’s an okay system, but I think the University likes it because its free and open source!

However, I also agree that requiring students to have some fancy tech gadget is ridiculous.

—–
Ethan Poole

Aloha Buzz crew,

http://www.pcper.com/#NewsID-7154

The first signs of Intel’s Larrabee processor has been spotted in the
wild at the opening ceremony for the Visual Computing Institute at
Saarland University in Germany. Larrabee is Intel’s attempt to break
into the (GP)GPU market, hoping to break Nvidia and AMD’s current
stranglehold. It’s a bit of an odd beast in comparison to the existing
offerings: Instead of creating a completely specialised chip they’re
using a chip that’s largely based on their existing speciality, the x86
CPU; though it means they’re paying AMD nice bits of licensing money per
GPU they crank out thanks to cross-licensing for stuff like the x86-64
support.

The guys at PC Perspective have taken a pretty close look at the picture
and seem to believe it contains 32 cores + 32 vector processing units,
which seems to validate more or less what a few sites were claiming all
the way back in June 2007.

Love the show,
Paul, the brit geek in Hawaii.

Hi Buzz Crew,

I just wanted to take a quick moment to respond to your comments in episode number 973 where you were wondering why cell phone salesmen always have the "inside scoop" on product releases.

Having worked for Verizon Wireless for about a year in college, I can tell you that these inside scoops are completely made up. You see, Tom, you were close when you mentioned that the salesmen are on commission and that should be a driving factor. It IS a driving factor because of how the commission works. The salesmen are paid commission for 3 things - new line, out of contract line, and accessory sales. Notice what is missing there? On contract sales! That's right; the representatives don't make a penny for replacing your broken, on contract phone. Actually, it hurts their numbers as the accessory sales ratio is tied to the number of handsets sold. At Verizon, we needed to sell 3 accessories for every handset that we sold. People who are replacing broken handsets never buy accessories because they already have them. To put it simply, the salesmen don't want to sell an on contract customer a handset because they get NO commission and it hurts their numbers.

Now you see why these salesmen know all of these magical release dates. It's to get the customer to go away and hurt someone else's numbers.

I'm not defending the salesmen as this is a terrible practice, but as long as phones are subsidized, the companies are not going to pay their employees for on contract sales, and the salesmen will keep coming up with dates.

In Japan, our phones are no longer subsidized, and the customer service has gotten so much better since they changed the practice. Also, our monthly bills have gone down (by almost 50%!!). On the flip side, I paid about $650 for my last phone. I don't think the USA is ready for that kind of sticker shock on phones, so I guess you will have to deal with the made up release dates and inflated charges for the time being.

Love the show!

Shawn

Don’t you think that Twitter is a bit pretentious? I mean you have
people that write usually one sentence about their everyday lives that
contains little or no valuable information. With the teenagers that
can’t spell, I’m surprised they don’t use all acronyms. This emphasis
on the self seems to be a theme with these websites (i.e. myspace,
ipod, youtube, justin.tv). Do people really think their lives are that
interesting that they need to be broadcast to the world? This is why I
recommend the book “The Dumbest Generation”. – Matt

On today's show, we have a lot to apologize for, but don't hold your breath because it ain't happening. (It's all just a desperate plea for more voicemail.) The short version is this: Kindle DX is ludicrously expensive, Blu-Ray is catching on but totally shouldn't be, and Craigslist is officially a pimp.

EPISODE 968

Kindle DX unveiled: 9.7-inch screen (2x area), $489, summer ‘09 delivery, integrated PDF, textbook emphasis, Times, Globe, and Post all “testing” it
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10234355-93.html
http://bit.ly/iyLfo

What to expect in Windows 7 Release Candidate
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10234111-12.html

Some PC’s won’t be able to run Windows 7 in “XP Mode” — bad news for some legacy apps
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10234073-64.html

Windows 7 is backward compatible — with one of Explorer’s oldest flaws!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10234336-92.html

“Nothing but filth” - AG’s demand that Craigslist remove sex ads, period
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10234276-93.html

Apple adding 3G to Macbooks?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10233734-37.html

Wolfram Alpha shows data in a way Google can’t
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10233763-2.html

Blu-ray starting to catch on, says NPD
http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_090506.html

Nearly 800 commercial planes will have Wi-Fi by end of ‘09, reports In-Stat
http://www.in-stat.com/press.asp?ID=2519&sku=IN0904520WBB

Researchers build a plug-in Prius that's part of the grid--not just leeching off it
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/05/a-prius-that-gives-back-to-the-grid/

E-MAIL
I think this is an interesting conversation about kindle in college.
First, the resale value of text books is ONLY pennies on the dollar when you trade it into the bookstore. By selling them on amazon, you can drastically increase the resale value.

The real question is, do we need text books at all?
Most of the time, teachers put notes on line that are meant to supplement the text book, but usually they replace the textbook, because no one reads the book anyway. Also, because I am a compsci major, text books are usually out of date anyway. It would be really cool if teachers would create learning materials that replace a big expensive textbook, and send them right to your kindle. If you did this, wikipedia style, with information that you get from all over the internet, we wouldn’t even need textbooks at all..
- Mighty Matt

**********

OK, the idea of the new KindleDX is somewhat tempting. But $500? Seriously? Does that mean that I’ll have to shell out $1000 (plus whatever 2 subscriptions cost) so that my wife and I can share the Sunday paper? Until the price comes down to $99 - maybe $150, this will be a niche product for most consumers. I might be willing to sacrifice the 3G connectivity and live with WiFi if that would bring down the cost. That might also keep me from spending too much on impulse purchases.

Derik (in Columbus, Ohio)

**********

Regarding episode 966:

Microsoft has offered downgrades for every version of Windows since
(at least) Windows 98 - it’s right there in the license. With Vista,
computer manufacturers started advertising this option, but they put
it forward as something they were doing, not an option Microsoft had
always offered. The perception that the downgrade option from Vista to
XP is a new thing invented by Microsoft in response to the backlash
against Vista is wholly mistaken.

(insert robotic Love-The-Show voice here)

-Rabbi the Linguist, downloading the 7 RC as I type…