Buzz Out Loud 1208: Good News Friday marred by Bad News (podcast)

We tried so hard to enjoy various good news items today, like how the DirecTV TiVo is coming in 2010, Sony is climbing up the game console sale charts, and the tech sector is finally hiring again and making money and stuff! But ... you know. There's also Sony's refusal to refund retailers who give money back to unhappy PS3 owners, Ireland trying to censor the Internet, and Ning working as hard as possible to lose every single one of its users. We tried, though. We really did. --Molly

Watch this: Ep. 1208: Good News Friday marred by Bad News

39:46

Podcast

Top Stories

DirecTV DVR now coming second half of this year, plus more answers from TiVo CEO
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30966_3-20002650-262.html

Other Stories

Official ACTA text coming next week
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/free-at-last-official-acta-text-coming-next-week.ars
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-20002541-256.html

Viacom focused on PR war win with latest YouTube doc dump
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2010/04/viacom-focused-on-pr-war-win-with-latest-youtube-doc-dump.ars

Nintendo still rules game sales but Sony’s smiling
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/04/kratos-final-fantasy-rule-march-video-game-sales.ars

Apple Software Security Inferior to Microsoft's, Says Iconic Hacker
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Apple-Software-Security-Inferior-to-Microsoft-s-Says-Iconic-Hacker-139942.shtml

Tech Sector in Hiring Drive
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304628704575186362957042220.html

Ning's Bubble Bursts: No More Free Networks, Cuts 40% Of Staff
http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/15/nings-bubble-bursts-no-more-free-networks-cuts-40-of-staff/

Apple Introduces us to a New iTunes “Concert Ticket +” System
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2010/04/apple-introduces-us-to-a-new-itunes-concert-ticket-system.html

Ireland May Be Next To Censor the Internet
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/04/16/1211212/Ireland-May-Be-Next-To-Censor-the-Internet

Sony Refuses To Sanction PS3 “Other OS” Refunds
http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/04/16/0349250/Sony-Refuses-To-Sanction-PS3-Other-OS-Refunds

Kickers and Science

Apple blocks Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist from iStore for “ridiculing public figures”
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/15/apple-blocks-pulitze.html
http://gizmodo.com/5518945/apple-asks-pulitzer-prize-winner-to-resubmit-rejected-app

Email
What’s shakin’ Buzz Crew,

Sorry, I don’t get a chance to listen to the show every day so I didn’t know a reply had been requested.

1. Yes, they were using the Dongle mentioned earlier.
2. No, they were not walking around, which is one of the major downsides in my eyes, because that would have been great. (I was trying to say what I envisioned the iPad Could do during a presentation.)
3. In regards to the speed, the presentation was about an hour long, it had embedded videos but was fairly simple aside from that. Perhaps the file size was an issue because of the embedded videos? I really don’t know.
4. Yes, they gave up on it rather quickly, but as the presentation given was fairly standard format for that company, the issues they had really was a deal breaker and presentations was the purpose they had for purchasing the item.
5. No, I was not going for FUD. Though if others found it worked well for presentations I’d be happy to hear that because that’s one of the ways I think the iPad could be used in very cool ways.

Hope this clears things up.

Regards,
Phil the Developer from Boston

———————-
Hi There!
Petty Officer Miller in Kabul here. In ep. 1205 you talked about Korean gaming, and the new restrictions. I would like to submit for your review the term “StarGraft.” Also, the fact that they are trying to combat rampant gaming addiction doesn’t bother me. The fact that they are imposing the rules on select titles does. It would be like saying you can kill yourself (not literaly) trying to become a better lacross player, but not if you want to join the NFL, because football is a more popular sport in the states than lacross.

Love the show.
———————
Hey ToMoJo (and guests),

In Episode 1207 you were discussing Gamestation owning its customer’s souls. This reminded me of my encounter with Ebay while attempting to auction off my soul. It has been a few years since and I can’t find the Email anymore, but I did attempt to sell my soul and oddly enough had several bids totaling around $40.

Unfortunately, I received an Email from Ebay informing me that my auction violated Ebay’s terms of service because:

A. They could not actually verify my soul to be real, and therefore I wasn’t actually selling anything.

B. If my soul WERE real it would be considered a part of my body, therefore violating their rule about the sale of body parts.

To be clear I WAS selling a signed sheet of paper giving away my soul, but apparently Ebay didn’t see it that way. I really wish I still had access to that Email because it was a hilarious bit of legalese trying to explain why a soul could or could not exist.

As always, love the show.

Chris from Orlando
———————-
Dear Tom, Molly & Jason

For all those who thought the iPad was only good for browsing the web while sitting in the bathroom, the Prime Minister of Norway is using the iPad to run an entire country! I must admit he is probably just monitoring some reports or responding to emails, but it is still huge. The iPad must be included in planning for doomsday scenarios.

This gives new meaning to “the iPad is good for use while sitting on the throne!”.

-Sid the business analyst from Seattle.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/sns-ap-eu-norway-prime-minister-ipad,0,6981809.story