Firefox is trying a new blank tab feature that gives you some links but leaves the focused middle area blank to go easy on the floveal area of your eye. We also are very excited about mind control peripherals for your computer. And Natali says pinche again. Which is always good.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
 |
EPISODE 927 |
YouTube to block UK music videos
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7933565.stm
Firefox, too, revamping new-tab behavior
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10191921-2.html
Amazon testing HD VOD on TiVo?
http://i.gizmodo.com/5166326/amazon-hd-video-on-demand-now-beta-testing-on-select-tivo-devices
Venezuelan cell phone for $14
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/03/09/venezuela-to-get-a-14-cell-phone/
MetroPCS gets the Curve
http://gigaom.com/2009/03/10/metropcs-gets-blackberry-curve/
How much are you paying for cell service? Would you believe $3 a minute?
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/128255
NY Times could save money by giving everyone a Kindle
http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/1/printing-the-nyt-costs-twice-as-much-as-sending-every-subscriber-a-free-kindle
U2 sponsors RIM not Apple
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2342754,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121
Finalized USB 3.0 tests just months away, consumer devices set for next year
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/10/finalized-usb-3-0-tests-just-months-away-consumer-devices-set-f/
SmartNav units control PCs with just your noggin’
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/10/smartnav-units-control-pcs-with-just-your-noggin/
Webcam Brings 3-D to Topps Sports Cards
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/technology/09topps.html
Dancing with the Woz: ‘A Teletubby going mad’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10192278-71.html
VOICEMAIL
Peter from Brampton
Megapixels, gigahertz, oh my
EMAIL
Hi JaMoTo
This is the story that sky have the capability to roll out 3D TV by
the end of the year! Just in time for the upcoming London 2012
Olympics, well china was in HD, we have to one-up them somehow!
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/09/sky-suggests-uk-homes-could-see-3d-tv-by-the-end-of-the-year/
A little bit of ’sky’ background, as cable is very rare in the UK
(relegated to very dense population areas), sky is the only premium TV
provider for the majority of the UK.
Thanks for the Great show!
Chris from York, UK
You may want to call it “Classic York” or “The Original York” either
is fine 
**********
Hi Buzz out loud,
I just had a quick comment regarding your discussion of the Kepler
telescope in yesterday’s episode. Natalie spent some time arguing that
given the current state of the economy, the $500m price tag for the
mission was unreasonable. Now I’m no NASA administrator, but it seems
to me like the funding for this mission would have been allocated
several years ago, given the length of time required to build a
state-of-the-art satellite. Therefore, weighing the cost for this
mission against current spending priorities really doesn’t make sense.
Sincerely,
Chris the Bioinformatician from Calgary
**********
I can foresee a future where mp3s become nostalgic, when our audio devices come equipped with artificial intelligence musicians. The files themselves would only contain notes/tableture, containing markers about sensitivity, pressure, etc…, and and the original vocal track. This way we would be able to split the tracks in real time, and each performance would sound richer and slightly different every time. And if you shook your iPod hard enough, the AI would stumble over and curse at you in their tiny little voices. By then we could look back and say, hey remember when we actually used to listen to pre-recorded material?
Love the show
-poekoo
**********
Tom, Nat, and Jason,
Thought you might find this story interesting.
Two economists from the University of Washington have looked at current copyright and patent laws and concluded that they're not good. The pair see current Intellectual property laws as similar to 'medieval trade monopolies' which were bad for the economy as a whole, and are calling for the system to be reformed.
The full article can be found here .
- Guidemaker Dave [in Philadelphia]
**********
“Hamsters can seemingly run forever inside their little wheels, and scientists from Georgia Tech are finally helping them get somewhere.
To harness hamster power, the scientists sewed electricity-generating threads one-fiftieth the width of a human hair into a yellow jacket worn by the hamsters as they ran. A human-sized jacket, capable of powering an iPod, could be ready in as little as three years….
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/03/09/hamster-energy-power.html
Chris The Commuter
**********
Hey Buzz-
Two things on the knowing where the person filming the movie is sitting from Episode 926.
1. They already have mostly assigned seats in the UK. Odeon Theatres (and I’m pretty sure the others too) have you choose your seat even when you are buying the ticket at the counter (obviously they do it online for pre-orders). And yes they charge premiums for “better” seats. You have all different styles, from old crappy seats from pre-stadium seating (which if you are over 6 foot they are too small –knees slammed up against the seat in front of you), they also have multiple forms of stadium seating, including ones with tables for your food & drink. And of course location is added into the price too! And NO YOU DON’T WANT THIS! Unless you really like paying 2x as much for the same movie.
2. Tom you’d be right for saying this could help prove that person X had the seat where they recorded the movie. But they’d already have to know exactly WHEN the movie was recorded or they’d be blaming some poor soul who just wanted to watch a movie. I’m guessing this technology is strictly for supporting their belief that person X recorded the movie. Not finding out who did it.
Cheers From Oxford!
Tom Merritt the Doppelganger
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
Episode 765 |
Yahoo rejects joint-bid for search business by Icahn and Microsoft
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-9989870-93.html
Microsoft' Latest Offer Detailed; Major Shareholder Legg Mason (Still) Unimpressed
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-microsoft-latest-offer-detailed-legg-mason-unimpressed/
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/13/1217220
Steve Wozniak out of line at iPhone store?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-9989823-93.html
Apple: One million iPhones sold, 10 million App Store downloads in first weekend
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9990149-2.html
Apple 2.0 Piper Jaffray analyzes first weekend iPhone sales «
http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/07/14/apple-sells-425000-iphone-3gs-in-three-days/
3G iPhone’s mediocre battery life still beats rivals
http://www.pcworld.com/article/148348/3g_iphones_mediocre_battery_life_still_beats_rivals.html
Did Apple set developers up for failure?
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/14/did-apple-set-developers-up-for-failure/
Tired of iPhone news? - This one's for you
http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe&video=iphone3g
Tesla Roadsters now rolling off production line
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9990153-54.html
Smart parking spaces in San Francisco
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/13/0141252
Homer Simpson and the Kimya Botnet
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/12/1157244
Robot crabs coming to an office near you
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9990135-1.html
Voice mail
Daniel LA
Phoneless in Los Angeles
Isaac Minnepaolis
Save image works in iPhone now.
Anonymous
Here's who's using Windows for Workgroups
Tom, Molly, and Jason,
Recently Comcast sent out a letter saying they will be dropping 7 analog channels on July 15 from their "Extended Basic" package and only offering these channels in their digital packages. The minimum digital package is their "Digital Started" package which cost an additional $3.95 a month plus the cost of a converter box for each device. Some of the channels they are dropping like MSNBC are already offered as a digital channel. Even though Comcast is offering fewer channels in their "Extended Basic" package they are not reducing the cost of this package. Most people in my area have several analog TV's and VCR's directly connected to cable without a converter box.
Love the show,
RJ
**********
My staff and I listen to your podcast every day and enjoy the light-hearted approach to the tech news.
I/we have one major bug bear though.
Why is it that you predominantly discuss Apple products and Google services over all else. Don't get me wrong, they have to be represented, but guys, all your show sounds like these days is an advertisement for Apple and Google.
If your show is paid for, or sponsored by the above then fair enough. As your intro suggests, you are not. So please guys, try to keep a balanced overview of the tech news, as we are sick to the back teeth of hearing APPLE, they are not THAT good and as far as I know, still a minority in the global user market.
Apart from that, we enjoy the show.. keep up the good work.
Keith Fielding
**********
Hi, Buzz Crew,
I was listening to Friday’s episode where Tom was trying to think of a business model where a small number of people pay while others get by for free. I have the perfect example. Craigslist. A small number of users pay to post job ads in select markets while everyone else can use the service for free.
On a different note, I might be old fashioned, but I really like the security of having a disc even though I transfer (my legally purchased) media to my computer/ipod. Having had two backup external hard drives fail in the last several months, I was very glad that I had a box in my closet full of old DVDs and CDs. I will probably continue to keep them around, at least until we have full cloud computing.
Love the show, keep up the good work!
-Jonathan in Philadelphia
PS: It was great having Veronica on the show again!
PPS: Natalie is great, too! Bring her back more!
**********
Hey, guys!
Just wanted to thank Evan from Washington, D.C. He saved our marriage! My wife and I got into a big fight when she couldn’t connect to the Internet. Listening to episode 762, and in particular, Evan’s email. I shutdown ZoneAlarm and connected to the net. Voila! It worked! Thanks, Evan. And thanks, BOL!
Tolerate the show.
David
Microsoft and Yahoo are dead, over, done, in the ground, and Yahoo has moved on to Google, and that's the end of it. Or is it!? Also today, spitting crosses the line, cell phones cause serious (like, for real) addiction in some Spanish teens, Metallica retracts its redaction of some blogger reviews, and MySpace is getting a new design. Phew. Finally.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
EPISODE 745 |
Analysts don’t rule out a Microsoft-Yahoo deal just yet
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9967862-7.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080612-microsoft-yahoo-deal-really-seriously-dead-this-time.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html
http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?&ReleaseID=316450
Potential MySpace redesign leak hints at new features
http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/06/potential-myspa.html
http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9967731-2.html
comScore: Facebook matches MySpace
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/06/13/comscore-facebook-matches-myspace
Metallica retracts retraction
http://www.metallica.com/index.asp?item=600942
Spit will be worse than spam
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/12/136232
Mod chips legal in the U.K.
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/06/12/2037223.shtml
Universal to appeal promo CD ruling
http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/06/universal-to-ap.html
Spain treats child phone addicts
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7452463.stm
Real racing in the virtual world
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7440658.stm
Final Skynet satellite launched
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7451867.stm
‘I’m NOT the 'Wii Fit' girl!’
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9967527-1.html
Screen grab: Woz hacks Kathy Griffin’s iPhone… on TV
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/13/video-woz-hacks-kathy-griffins-iphone/
VOICE MAIL
Alex
Molly cursed me!
Paul Verizon
Here's our data plan?
Eric Michigan
About the paperclip.
FORUMS
IMPORTANT Q: …are we electing a Mayor yet?
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6035_102-0.html?forumID=97&threadID=297787
My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nothing.
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/science/orderingplanets.htm
--Brian
Damn, seems our government wants to be just like yours…
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/06/12/tech-copyright.html
--Dave
hi Buzz Crew,
Tom, the theory of your “cycles” you’ve been talking about on past 2
or 3 episodes it’s one of the basic theries in economics and it’s
called “business/economic cycles”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_cycle - here you can red more
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Cyclee.jpg - and a
nice graph
Greetings
--Thomas the programmer from Poland
http://www.subbrilliant.com/blog/?p=104
Hello BOL crew,
I just viewed the "poster" for the BOL meetup tonight at http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/780695...And I just gotta say, I am a little frightened because it reminds me too much of this...
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/5509/bolzombiesew6.jpg
Maybe it's just me. Anyways, thanks for the great podcast!
--Alfred Hom
--Tom
Listen now: Download today's podcast
|
Episode 672 |
Judge: Wikileaks gets its domain name back
http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9883240-38.html
First spam felony conviction upheld: No free speech to spam
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/
20080302-first-spam-felony-conviction-upheld-no-free-speech-to-spam.html
Vista prices fall even further
http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9883961-56.html
Pirates find proper way to crack Vista’s activation schema
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/03/0622230
More audiobook publishers drop DRM: Will Audible follow suit?
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/03/more-audiobook-publi.html
Nine Inch Nails uploads new album on Torrent sites
http://torrentfreak.com/nin-uploads-new-album-on-torrent-sites-080303/
Fan-funded music
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13526_1-9882091-27.html
Woz strikes again: Disappointed by iPhone, wary about MacBook Air and Apple TV
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/
woz-strikes-again-disappointed-by-iphone-wary-about-macbook-ai/
MacBook Air aflutter: Demand stays strong, sold out often
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/
20080302-macbook-air-aflutter-demand-stays-strong-sold-out-often.html
iPhone jailbreak tools updated to open firmware 1.1.4
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/02/29/iphone_114_hacks_released/
Source: Apple may not restrict free iPhone apps
http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/02/29/apple.and.free.iphone.apps/
Advocacy groups bash Comcast’s “technical-sounding nonsense”
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/
20080303-advocacy-groups-bash-comcasts-technical-sounding-nonsense-fcc.html
Will RealNetworks buy Scrabulous?
http://gigaom.com/2008/03/02/will-realnetworks-buy-scrabulous/
Mark Shuttleworth reveals definitive list of Ubuntu code names
http://menpro.blogspot.com/2008/02/mark-shuttleworth-reveals-definitive.html
Voice mail
Anonymous Darwinist
Robot-Grandma love anecdote.
Brian
Tax the filing process.
Alex Romania
Warranty on unlocked iPhones.
Comcastic!
Hey buzz crew,
I opened my current Comcast statement and on the last page after all the stupid fees there was “IMPORTANT ACCOUNT NOTICE” it said “Effective March 2008 - Standard cable service will no longer be sold. Current standard Cable-Only customers may continue their subscription at the new monthly rate (see enclosed) but new customers will no longer be able to purchase, upgrade or downgrade to the standard package.”
Now this is where it is stupid.
Standard cable's new rate is $54.40.
Digital started package is $55.40.
Just a dollar more?
Patrick
**********************
The Tilde
The tilde in URLs came from many of the original Web servers running on Unix. If my account on a server is chris on a Unix server, then my personal home directory is probably something like /users/chris2x but can also be referred to by “~chris2x”. URLs often had ~ because that was shorthand for where this particular user’s home page was stored. Since the users on the Web in those days were nerds, it probably did not occur to people at first that this was obscure. The death of the tilde in the URL was caused by people trying to tell their less nerdy friends how to type the darn thing.
Here is a good reference:
http://diveintomark.org/archives/2002/10/04/history_of_the_tilde
Chris the podcaster
***********************
The Archivist!!
Hey Buzz Town,
I’ve been listening to TWiT for about a year now, and finally decided to try BOL a couple weeks ago. Now, of course, I am kicking myself for not having come over sooner. However, I am now on a mission: archiving ALL of BOL.
When I noticed that iTunes did not have all of your backcasts (I wonder if I just created a new word…), I started listening to the earliest episodes available, starting with episode 483. Then, even though I knew it was coming, I was distraught at episode 521, when Veronica left. I decided that I needed more Veronica, so I wanted to find even older eps. I heard alpha.cnet.com from the older eps, and was able to find all of the backcasts. I am still working on downloading all of them, since I could not find a single link for all of them.
As I have been downloading, I have imported them all into iTunes and am working on making all of the titles uniform to comply with the format of the recent episodes. I am still deciding on whether or not I want to put the show notes in. The problem that I am running into is that there are some episodes that are just interviews, and I don’t know whether they count as separate for the episode count. For example, by my count, Episode 089 is “What the heck is Google Base?” dated October 26, 2005.
Also dated October 26, 2005, is an interview with Cory Doctorow. Neither of these intros actually list episode numbers yet, so I don’t know if the interview should be Episode 090, or 089i, or what. I would hate to get back to 483 and find that I have been counting wrong all along!
Also, I was fortunate enough to have heard your request to make a list of all of the things that Molly has said she wanted to buy, and once I start listening from episode 1-482, I will do so.
Thank you all for a wonderful podcast. Veronica, even though I see you on Mahalo, and BOL is still great, I miss you.
Thanks,
Joshua the Archivist
Wichita, KS
P.S. I also work for the post office, and was wondering what position Remmy (sp?) is in. My guess is he’s a DCO like me, and thus has 8 hours a day to podcast.
***********************
HD-DVD disc best-selling HD movie last week.
American Gangster HD DVD Tops VideoScan’s weekly high-def disc sales chart | High-Def Digest
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Disc_Sales/
Universal/American_Gangster_HD_DVD_Tops_VideoScans_Weekly_High-Def_Disc_Sales_Chart/1526
Ha!
-Nav
**********************
Buzz Town motto - Vote!
Jacob here to let you and the rest of Buzz Town that you can now vote for the Buzz Town wiki motto at: http://buzzoutloud.wikia.com/wiki/Buzz_Town_Motto
Thanks for the podcast,
Jacob the student from Australia
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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. 
