Buzz Out Loud 1529: HTC tries to buy some street cred (Podcast)

HTC spends $300 million to acquire some Beats Electronics awesomeness, but we have to admit: we're befuddled. Also, Apple is now officially the world's most valuable company, and we're happy, because they're slightly less evil than ExxonMobil. And in the worst idea we've heard in a while, the British Prime Minister floats the idea of turning off social networks to stem the rioting in London. Dude, do you WANT more riots!?

Watch this: Ep. 1529: HTC tries to buy some street cred

46:58

Podcast

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NEWS

Apple crowned world’s most valuable company
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h1Pe2dX4xP4wWs_1bdGcsnWCyAsw?docId=CNG.3f52ef86b556df5220f05bad79855509.3e1

HTC to acquire majority stake in Dr. Dre’s Beats
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20090967-261/htc-to-acquire-majority-stake-in-dr-dres-beats/

HTC to Buy 51% of Dr. Dre's Beats Electronics for $300 Million
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-08-10/htc-to-buy-51-of-dr-dre-s-beats-electronics-for-300-million.html

Facebook’s phonebook fiasco
Want to find the phone numbers of all your friends and some strangers, too? Just look inside your Facebook contacts page.
http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/192399/facebooks-phonebook-fiasco

(The Facebook scare that wasn’t)
http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/the-facebook-scare-that-wasnt/

British PM considers turning off social networks amid further riots
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/british-pm-considers-turning-off-social-networks-amid-further-riots/54711?tag=content;selector-blogs

Intel creates $300 million Ultrabook Fund
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20090869-1/intel-creates-$300-million-ultrabook-fund/

IBM Executive says PC era is in its twilight
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20090984-64/ibm-executive-says-pc-era-is-in-its-twilight/

Quick Hits

Viacom, Cablevision Settle Dispute Over iPad Streaming
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903918104576501202675626970.html

911 will soon accept texts, photos, video
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/08/11/text.911.mashable/index.html?hpt=te_bn6

Ford and SunPower to bundle electric cars with rooftop solar power
http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_18653385

Hulu bids expected next week
http://allthingsd.com/20110811/would-be-hulu-buyers-will-have-their-checkbooks-ready-next-week/

HP cuts TouchPad price to $399; price war?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20090790-64/hp-cuts-touchpad-price-to-$399-price-war/

Science News

Cancer cured in three leukemia patients, by HIV
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44090512/

EMAILS

Hey Buzzies
In Episode 1527 you talked about Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.5 being banned because of the lawsuit.
We all know the Ipad sales have been crushing since day one.
The fact that Apple is putting this much time and money into making sure that no one else even CAN compete in the tablet is a little “”puppy kicker”".
Is Apple that insecure that they need to make sure no one else can even play in the sandbox?
This feels desperate to me.
Just a thought, Love the show.

-Bernie W

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Hey Buzz Crew,

Html5 is not going to solve our problems, maybe html.

The problem that html5 has is the lack of DRM, protection of intellectual property, and lack of standards when dealing with rich media. Oh I forgot, it is slow in most browsers. Think about it, a developer spends countless hours and resources to perfect an html5 app. They release it. Everyone loves it. Evil developer saves the page and code locally and releases the evil html5 app, that competes with the perfect html5 app.

I know this happens anyway, but html5 makes it easy for anyone to be the evil developer.

Love the show.

David in Denver

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Hey buzz crew! I know I’m a couple episodes behind but after hearing Molly’s remark about wanting HBO Go offered as a streaming only option for those who don’t want to sell there soul to the devil that is the cable companies (I’m looking at you, Comcast), I think it is a brilliant idea and the future of content delivery. However, this would undoubtedly cause a conflict of interest, with Comcast-the-ISP de-prioritizing HBO Go traffic in order to push people toward Comcast-the-cable-TV-provider’s subscription add-on. My parents currently subscribe to HBO, and of course me being a techie college student I completely abuse that via the HBO Go app on my phone, but should I ever be cut off I would look at an HBO Go streaming only plan as a serious entertainment option.

Love the show,

Spencer in Olympia

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Greeting and Salutations

I’m a long time listen from Dayton Ohio who really enjoys the show. Currently my job requires a lot of travel time and I stream BOL on the way home. Sometimes the construction and traffic can really be a pain but listening to the show can really help relieve my stressful commute. During Wednesday’s podcast 1528 you talked about a Star Trek resort being built in Jordan and I have to agree that BOL should be there to cover the historic event!! We definitely need to send Molly and Brian to boldly go where no man has gone before!

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http://bol.cnet.com, 800-616-2638 (CNET), buzz@cnet.com

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