Buzz Out Loud Podcast

Why the long Face...book? A woman battling depression put some pictures of herself having fun privately on Facebook. Somehow the insurance company found them and cut off her benefits saying she looked happy enough and must be cured. Really? We also get further impressions on Google's Chrome OSD now that we've had more time with it, and YouTube pulls a Hulu, but not in the good way.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Try out Chrome OS for yourself
http://gdgt.com/google/chrome-os/download/
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/google-chrome-os-available-as-free-vmware-download/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10401919-265.html

Other Stories

YouTube pulls a Hulu — yanking API access from Popcorn Hour, other TV-connected devices
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/youtube-pulls-a-hulu-yanking-api-access-from-popcorn-hour-ot/

Twitter turns on location. Not for Twitter.com just yet.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/19/twitter-location-api/
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twitter_location_api_possible_uses.php

Sony unveils its answer to Apple’s iTunes
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/nov2009/gb20091119_588376.htm

Sony hits snag getting its own game out for PSP Go
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/11/sony-hits-snag-with-getting-its-own-game-out-for-pspgo.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

Britain’s new Internet law — as bad as everyone’s been saying, and worse. Much, much worse.
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/20/britains-new-interne.html
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/11/19/1511255/Secret-UK-Plan-To-Appoint-Pirate-Finder-General

Law firm contemplates class action suit to recompense Xbox Live modders
http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2009/11/20/law-firm-contemplates-class-action-suit-recompense-xbox-live-modders/

Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/11/19/quebec-facebook-sick-leave-benefits.html

Kickers and Science

LHC dimensional apocalypse from midnight
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/20/lhc_feedback_roundup/

This Google’s made from 100 percent virgin pulp, not chrome
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/this-googles-made-from-100-virgin-pulp-not-chrome/

VOICE MAIL
Derrek points out something very important about this episode

Mike the truck driver

Shane from Coshocton. Dude! He’s from Coshocton!

E-MAIL
Hi Buzz crew, Chadd the ita in California here. Was just watching the
buzz report on my spealy and wanted to let you know that both my sibs
use their jejaws while operating their fetches. Recently, despite my
protests, I have noticed my parents responding to my text messages while
they are driving the fetch.

All of them are using Blackberries, is there something I can get them
for Christmas that will allow them to text hands free? At least that may
be a step in the right direction.

Love the buzz report

-Chadd
Rialto, California

**********

Hey Buzz Crew

I had heard about your show for a while but only started listening about 8 months ago. After listening to one episode, I decided to listen to all of them. 1,110 episodes later, I’m all caught up. In case you’re wondering, I’m not crazy, I just have a lot of free time at work. Love the show.

Jonathan
Summerville, SC

**********

PC Game moders have created their own Modern Warfare 2 Dedicated Servers.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Modern-Warfare-2-Gets-Dedicated-Servers-Workaround-127188.shtml

The problem with insulting Tweakers and Hackers is that motivates them to
‘code’ you off at the knees, like AgentGOD did.

Give them a dedicated server on the PC or Crack down on moders, watch your
sales drop and piracy rise.

I don’t own the game and don’t plan on buying it anytime soon, but as a PC
Gamer that lives on the Mod and Modding community (when not playing MMO’s)
I am getting tired of game companies buying into the console market
fallacy.

Robert Clark
Prince Albert, SK

Turns out when we blew up the moon a few weeks ago, we found water! Yay! The bottled water companies are presumably planning their trips now. THIS is how we motivate us to get back to the moon! We also hear more from old man Murdoch on blocking Google from indexing his newspapers, and Dell launches a smartphone. Does anybody want it?

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Rupert Murdoch to remove News Corp’s content from Google ‘in months’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/6559694/Rupert-Murdoch-to-remove-News-Corps-content-from-Google-in-months.html

Google Chrome OS to launch within a week
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/13/google-chrome-os-to-launch-within-a-week/

Google confirms purchase of VOIP provider Gizmo5
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-google-confirms-purchase-of-gizmo5/

Dell smartphone to debut in China, Brazil
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/us_tec_dell_smart_phone
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10397177-94.html

Cheap to good home: Used 360, pirated games, slightly banned
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/11/cheap-to-good-home-used-360-pirated-games-slightly-banned.ars

Modders release update to free the 1 million Xboxes banned by Microsoft
http://www.dailytech.com/Fix+for+1+Million+Banned+Xbox+360s+is+Incoming/article16823.htm

YouTube to get high-def 1080p player
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10396826-2.html?

SPDY: Google wants to speed up the Web by ditching HTTP
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/11/spdy-google-wants-to-speed-up-the-web-by-ditching-http.ars
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10396574-265.html

Comcast TV Everywhere launch details: December, free for existing subs, really goes anywhere
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/12/comcast-tv-everywhere-launch-details-december-free-for-existin/

Synthetic Stone DVD claimed to last 1,000 years
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/11/13/019202/Synthetic-Stone-DVD-Claimed-To-Last-1000-Years

Using photosynthesis to power hydrogen production
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/11/photosynthesis-proves-to-be-a-powerful-source-for-hydrogen.ars

Water. On the moon.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/prelim_water_results.html

VOICE MAIL
Ken in DC has a solution for the town in Ohio that lost it’s WiFi

Richard in Santa Monica has a theory

Anonymous Verizon user’s question about cancellation.

E-MAIL
Hey guys,

I’m sobered up now, and the bet about Project Natal is most definitely
on. Um… the thing is, I only intended to make a bet against any
buzz host, not every host. It’s possible that I wasn’t exactly clear
about that (I can’t imagine why) but I’m not sure I can justify
shelling out for 3 or 4 of them, and if I win, then the hassle of ebay
or craigslisting the extras ones doesn’t exactly smell of victory.

So since Natali was the first one to accept, then this is my digital
handshake. If Project Natal is available at retail on or before
November 30th, 2010, I will buy one for her. If it’s not, then she
will have to buy one for me. I only ask that you all autograph the
box for me (I promise not to sell it!). If Natali decides to back
out, then the offer is still on the table for anyone else.

/casey

**********

Hi Buzz crew, Matt from MN.
So whats the difference between what the MPAA is doing to a town and what Microsoft is doing to XBox Live users. There was no judicial oversight in either case.
Does this mean that Apple could claim an user violated the EULA on a jailbroken iPhone and then take away their right to use Apple's OS on their phone?

Love the show!

**********

Hey buzz crew

Just a thought.. If you can use facebook status updates to get yourself out of jail, maybe the next thing will be using your google latitude history to show you weren’t at the scene of a crime.

Just sayin..

Love the show
-beth

**********

Hey Buzz Crew -
I am an Apple stock holder (albeit a fairly small investor - but an investor nonetheless) and I am starting to give a second thought to the whole Psystar lawsuit with Apple. Since they are going about legally purchasing licenses and using them to install on other machines, does Apple really have a case against them or not? I'm concerned that if Apple does not win this suit, this will open the floodgates HUGE to making all types of Hackintosh-style computers, thus taking a potentially huge portion of the market away from them and would begin the decline of Apple stock. I know that Apple is more than just an operating system but still…Thoughts? Should I be afraid that Apple might not be able to defend against this?

Thanks guys!
Rob

Bing has taken over MSN video and it has videos from every network. Why isn't Microsoft trumpeting this? We also get really confused by Verizon's unlimited plan that has a limit of 5GB. Does it? Doesn't it? What the hell? And we debate the way Twitter retweets.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Microsoft disconnects Xbox gamers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8354166.stm

New Microsoft Project Natal details leak, coming next year for cheap
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/11/new-microsoft-p.php

Google tests skippable ads In YouTube videos
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=117200

T-Mobile moves aggressively into HSPA and HSPA+
http://wifinetnews.com/archives/2009/11/t-mobile_moves_aggressively_into_hspa_and_hspa.html

Supremes wrestle with business method, software patents
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/11/supremes-wrestle-with-business-method-software-patents.ars

Google hopes to remake programming with Go
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-10393210-264.html

Microsoft moves MSN Video under Bing umbrella
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10394673-56.html

Twitter changes up ReTweet
http://evhead.com/2009/11/why-retweet-works-way-it-does.html

Google Latitude, now with Location History & Alerts
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/11/google-latitude-now-with-location.html

Google Latitude gets snoopier: Adds location history and alerts
http://www.pcworld.com/article/181907/google_latitude_gets_snoopier_adds_location_history_and_alerts.html

VOICE MAIL
Brannon from Lake Elsinore on Gizmo

Jeremy in Virginia about the cookie law in Europe

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew,

It was funny how you guys talked about hackers blacking out Brazil in previous years and just yesterday (Tuesday) we have suffered another one. A report says that it affected 18 states (4 totally, 14 partially) and also Paraguay (about 90%). The blackout is believed to have been caused by weather conditions and it has shut down 3 power transmission lines, some hydroelectric power plants and two nuclear power plants. The power was totally restored by 3:15 AM (Brazilian DST). More information can be found in the following link (in Portuguese, sorry): http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/ult95u650831.shtml

Please stop talking about blackouts here… It appears to have and immediate effect! LOL

Love the show!

Gus, the IT Auditor from Curitiba, Brazil.

*********

Hey buzz crew love the show! Have heard you guy mention that “unlimited
data” on wireless isn’t really unlimited. I did some checking as I am a
heavy data user and can’t find anyplace on Verizon, ATT or Sprints
website that says theres actually a 5gb limit (and yes I read as much of
the fine print as I could find). I did see that there was a 5gb limit on
there data card plans and tethering but it says that right up front. So
my question is what are you talking about? Oh and when I said I was a
heavy data user I meant that I am a truck driver who uses my Sprint data
card which I luckily got when they had the unlimited plan which I get to
keep. My average usage is… 25gb a month with an all time high of 52gb.
I also have almost no trouble getting 3G service in all the places I go.
Again Love The Show!

James

*********

Hello Buzz Crew,

Referring to yesterdays episode, you mentioned the Milestone going to
Europe and how you would want to get a phone sent to you from Europe.
Well surprise surprise, you can go on a field trip to your friendly
neighbours up north. Telus is announcing that it will have it
exclusively (unlocking anyone? ). It’s supposed to come out “early
2010″.

Here is a link to engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/10/motorola-milestone-headed-to-telus-in-early-2010/

Love.The.Show

Carl from BC,Canada

Viacom may have found a smoking gun in its billion-dollar case against YouTube, but on the other hand, we speculate YouTube may have a smokinger gun. Also the FTC wants you to disclose all that money you've been paid to blog about cleaning products. Or whatever. Even if you just posted on Facebook. You need to make yourself aware of these rules.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Android handsets to Verizon
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10368202-265.html

Microsoft’s Windows phones hit the market
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10367699-56.html

Smoking gun found in Viacom v. YouTube?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10365329-261.html

New FTC plugola rules could extend to some users' social network pages
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10368064-36.html
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/10/more-transparency-coming-to-blog-reviews-under-new-ftc-rules.ars

Over-the-air downloads come to BlackBerry
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10367606-27.html

AT&T pushes Opera for full HTML on more phones
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10368043-266.html

Eolas sues, well, everybody.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Eolas-Technologies-Files-prnews-153761650.html?x=0&.v=1
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/10/company-that-won-585m-from-microsoft-sues-apple-google.ars

Federal ban on DWT will start with truckers, end with you
http://www.todaystrucking.com/news.cfm?intDocID=22565

Startup offers prebuilt biological parts
http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/10/05/2312233/Startup-Offers-Pre-Built-Biological-Parts

VOICEMAIL
Anonymous loves John Rubenstein

E-MAIL
Hey BOL,
Not sure if you saw this earlier but it looks like Roger's is losing it's exclusive on the iPhone 3Gs in Canada. Another Cell Phone company, Telus, is starting to sell the device in November.

What is interesting here is with the 3 major Cell phone providers in Canada, Rogers, Telus and Bell, only Rogers has been 3G and GSM based. The other two were previously CDMA and EVDO based. Looks like they are rolling over to 3G technology sooner than anticipated.

Here is a link

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/bell-telus-to-launch-iphone-next-month/article1312692/

Love the show

Stephen Kennedy
Calgary Alberta, Canada

**********

Hey all,

OK, what bothers me always about saying 4k is this. We have 1080p, which refers to horizontal lines. 4k refers to the vertical lines. Apples versus oranges.

1920×1080 (2,073,600) versus 4096◊2304 ((9,437,184) Shooting quality of the Red One camera)

It’s just said, maybe, to make it sound 4 times better than 1080p. Which, at least, is true, since it’s 4.55x the number of pixels. But, 720p set makers should start calling them 1280 sets, and they can start selling them for more than a 1080p set. Imagine the profit margins! Maybe 1080p set makers will update to start saying they are 2k sets and charge more, for no change.

OK, sorry for the sarcasm, but 4k always annoys me.

Erick

**********

Hey Buzz Crew!

In episode 1075, you talked more about OnLive's upcoming gaming service, which will let you play games "in the cloud" using your web browser as a thin client. According to their FAQ (http://www.onlive.com/service/faq.html), you'll need a 1.5Mbps connection for standard def (5Mbps for high def) and a "small browser plug-in." Not quite the magic technology that Tom had in mind, but still really cool.

We've got something similar--online right now, and needing a lot less bandwidth--for scientific computing. We've used the open source VNC (virtual network computing) software to create a web site where nanotechnology researchers can access more than 150 live simulation tools via their web browser. Instead of playing games, they're computing electronic properties of quantum dots and designing transistors made of carbon nanotubes. You can too! Just log on to http://nanoHUB.org . We're using the same software platform to create similar sites for many other areas of science and engineering, including cancer care, pharmaceutical engineering, and microelectromechanical systems. More details at http://hubzero.org .

Here's to a wired future spent worshiping our nano-botic overlords!

Michael, the research "hub" guy
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN

P.S. If you want to see nanoHUB in action without getting an account, watch this video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr0GA_TluGY You'll see the simulation tools about 1 min in.

Lots of stories with buzz today, including a new Archos Android tablet, the launch of Zune HD, and voice chat on Facebook. Of course, Joe the pilot in Honolulu sent us some good, old-fashioned Filipino whiskey and rum. So Cooley makes us pause and do a tasting. Poor Natali gets left out, though. Sad.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Microsoft hopes to turn it around with Zune HD
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10352801-93.html
http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2009/09/zune_stops_squirting_and_adds_features_people_might_actually_use.html

Archos store is down--you know what that means?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/15/archos-store-is-down-you-know-what-that-means/

Sony Ericsson promises to change things forever on September 21
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/15/sony-ericsson-promises-to-change-things-forever-on-september-21/

Taiwan Economic News: 9.6-inch, PA Semi Apple Tablet due in February, cost $800-$1,000
http://www.9to5mac.com/tablet-rumor-wintek-300000-month

Times Web ads show security breach
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/technology/internet/15adco.html

Veoh wins copyright case; YouTube wins, too?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10352183-93.html

Microsoft says no TCP/IP patches for XP
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/09/15/0131209/Microsoft-Says-No-TCPIP-Patches-For-XP

Voice chat coming to Facebook via Vivox plug-in
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10352684-52.html

Google opens Data Liberation Project
http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/09/introducing-dataliberationorg-liberate.html

Mobile epileptic seizure detector
http://social.thewherebusiness.com/content/mobile-app-detects-seizures

VOICE MAIL
Michael from Chicago on radio personalities.

Michael from Toronto on Coke products

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew,

I know you don’t always cover Australian tech news but in this case something pretty major is happening down here. The government has decided to force Telstra (our largest telco and pay TV/broadband provider) to split and thus break up its monopoly on several markets. This is a pretty major story for us (in fact it was the first item on the news tonight) as it along with the $40 billion national broadband plan will be the biggest shake up to our telecommunications sector for years.

Thanks

These two stories cover the news pretty well

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,26075552-5014239,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,26076525-5014239,00.html
Gough Kettle

**********

Regarding the Japanese music industry’s plan to make all cell phone songs check for DRM approval — If all the music is DRM’d, does that mean that if you have a music ringtone then your phone has to ask the server for permission to ring? Best excuse ever to miss a call. “The phone never rang, the DRM sever must have been down”

Daniel
from Knoxville, TN

Ok, but just to be clear, when I say it's time for me to get a pimp, what I MEAN is that it's time to get a PMP -- a portable media player. That is, perhaps, an iPod Touch. Anyway, you'll understand. In other news, the MPAA is trying to clamp down on your analog hole and break your DVR all at the same time and Apple's Snow Leopard is having a rough landing ... apparently because of the picture on the box.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

MPAA still pushing for output control
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/movie-studios-again-demand-hdtv-disabling-powers-from-fcc.ars

YouTube talking to studios about streaming majors like Netflix
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10337004-93.html

Vudu coming to Mitsubishi TVs
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10335687-1.html

Toshiba grits its teeth, releases Blu-ray player
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10344487-1.html

Apple ships a known vulnerable version of Flash with Snow Leopard
http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/09/02/apple-ships-vulnerable-version-flash-snow-leopard/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10344478-37.html

And reports of “spinning wheel of death” are growing
http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=219501236&subSection=Macintosh+Platform

Amazon slams Google’s book scanning
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10335976-265.html

Walkman outselling iPod in Japan
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ansrP2IonbRA

Samsung netbook to have 11 hour battery life
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10344384-1.html

Sprint announces Android HTC Hero
http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-10338820-251.html

Microsoft calling on thousands to host their own Windows 7 parties
http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2009/09/microsoft_plans_thousands_of_neighborhood_parties_for_windows_7.html

VOICEMAIL
Ben: My Palm Pre has it all

EMAIL
Hello Hot Buzz,

Maybe I’m an optimist, but the failure rate of the XBOX 360 has me hoping that the next generation XBOX console will be the most reliable console ever created. Playing it will be like eating at Jack in the Box after the E. coli outbreak.

I only hope that the ad campaign includes Bill Gates wearing a giant round mask and talking smack against the competition.

With Love,
Aaron in Vancouver/Portland

**********

Buzz crew,
I believe everything you mentioned on Wednesday’s show about what you need to make a phone into a decent in-car GPS is already available, at least for some phones. I have been using TomTom software on a Windows Mobile phone for a couple of years. It does not require live data, you can use the phone AND still navigate (with a bluetooth headset). It sounded like in your discussion you were thinking of only how the Iphone does it. Perhaps a broader look is in order. ( I sound like such a Windows Mobile fanboy, don’t I?)
Bryan
Jonesboro, Arkansas

**********

It appears that Rafe’s statement is true in general, but check out the
wording in the Vehicle Code:
http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d12/vc26708.htm

This part says “Don’t put stuff on your windshield”:

“26708. (a) (1) ( )1 A person shall not drive any motor vehicle with
any object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied
upon the windshield or side or rear windows.”

This part says “Okay, MAYBE put it on your windshield, but only if it’s
a GPS thing and only in a certain area”:

“(12) A portable Global Positioning System (GPS), which may be mounted
in a 7-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield farthest
removed from the driver or in a 5-inch square in the lower corner of the
windshield nearest to the driver, if the system is used only for
door-to-door navigation while the motor vehicle is being operated and
outside of an airbag deployment zone.”

So yeah, you can use it on your windshield if you follow those
guidelines.

Nicole (Lee)

We learn that not only is a botnet using Twitter to store some of its data but that botnet follow Veronica. Who is a bot herself. We also ponder why leaked pictures of the Dell smartphone are so blurry. And bad news folks. Looks like no tablet for the Apple announcement, but it sounds like it will be in September.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Dell’s first phone spied on web
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/08/14/dell_smartphone_pictures/

Apple planning September event?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10309110-37.html

Sources confirm no Apple tablet at Sept. event, coming in 2010
http://www.loopinsight.com/2009/08/13/sources-confirm-no-apple-tablet-at-sept-event-coming-in-2010/

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090813/here-it-comes-but-what-is-it-exactly-apple-plans-keynote-event-for-september/

Apple and AT&T targeted by iPhone MMS lawsuit
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10309783-233.html

New games at used prices: Best Buy’s Utah plan starts a feud
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/08/best-buys-new-games-at-used-prices-promotion-starts-feud.ars
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/08/nintendo-hardware-slips-software-dominates-in-july-sales.ars

Google Books partners with Creative Commons
http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2009/08/bringing-power-of-creative-commons-to.html

Open Textbooks Win Over Publishers In CA
http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/08/13/1450220/Open-Textbooks-Win-Over-Publishers-In-CA?from=rss

Twitter-based Botnet Command Channel
http://asert.arbornetworks.com/2009/08/twitter-based-botnet-command-channel/

AP to create landing pages to aggregate news like Wikipedia
http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/08/how-the-associated-press-will-try-to-rival-wikipedia-in-search-results/

US Tests System To Evade Foreign Web Censorship
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/14/0426247/US-Tests-System-To-Evade-Foreign-Web-Censorship?from=rss

Take Back the Beep: AT&T promises to make some changes, T-Mobile and Verizon slow on the uptake
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/14/take-back-the-beep-atandt-promises-to-make-some-changes-t-mobile/

YouTube to show Sony’s “Ghostbusters” this week for film’s 25th anniversary
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/08/youtube-to-show-ghostbusters-tonight-for-films-25th-anniversary.html

VOICEMAIL

Bill from Ohio about Linux netbooks

EMAIL
Hey BuzzCrew,
This story popped up on Thursday, and I was really surprised you didn’t talk about it, but given the hatred for Entourage, I think it’s a decent story that Mac users are finally getting a native version of Outlook.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/08/next-office-for-mac-coming-in-late-2010-with-outlook-for-mac.ars

Love the show!

Dave,
Melbourne, Australia
aka DaveBinM

**********

Hi Guys,
I just wanted to show you guys my Buzz Out Loud OS X Dashboard Widget. It’s simple, but it’s great for listening to BOL streaming without opening [another] tab or iTunes. It’s called BOL Dash (Buzz Out Loud For OS X Dashboard… obvious). It comes in two versions, BOL Dash and my personal favorite, BOL Dash Mini which is the same as BOL Dash but it takes up less space on your dashboard. You can find them here: http://dashbol.weebly.com/ I know it’s not a great site but I made it fast to host the widgets. They are completely free so I’d love it if you would mention them on your show or better yet, put it on the BOL blog page.
Thanks,
Alex aka alexthekid from the chat, although I’m not in it as often anymore:-(

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Hey JaMoTo and company,

You’re probably (and hopefully) getting multiple emails with this link, but I figured I’d do my part to help make sure this makes it onto tomorrow’s show:

http://lifehacker.com/5336382/digsby-joins-the-dark-side-uses-your-pc-to-make-money

Now I know exactly why Trend Micro has been freaking out every time I’ve started Digsby in the past several weeks. I’m glad I gave the beta of Trillian Astra a try — I’ll be staying with it.

Mike

**********

Dear Buzz crew:
This is Siavash from Iran, remember my updates from Iran? Here is a new one and a very hot one.
Yesterday, my cousins phone rang and there was a private number, she picked it up and a man said, you have been updating your Facebook and sending emails about what was going on inside Iran, mentioning her name, her husband and her children, he said if you don't stop sending emails and Facebook updates and pictures about Iran's political and election issues we will arrest you and your husband and your child.

So I searched so much to find out what is going one, and it seems they have been able to access passwords of those using Gmail, hotmail and Yahoo mail, so they could check their mails and ... , but they could not find any Facebook passwords and any other personal host and domain names like the mail address I use.

So, my question is, why? Why Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail are giving out passwords to Iran's government and department of security? They are not supposed to, passwords are very confidential information and they should not betray people who trust these services. There is nothing mentioned in terms of agreement when you want to open an email account on any of these site and they promise you to keep it safe and protected? Ouh REALLY?

PS: I'm a security geek and I'm sure they can not track my emails , so be sure, I'm safe.

Best Regards

Siavash

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

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.