Buzz Out Loud 679: Unhack my Heart

EPISODE 679

Time Warner CEO addresses Yahoo-AOL talk
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9891145-7.html

YouTube opens up for developers
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9891790-7.html
https://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=yFlR6EEySg8

No punitive damages in YouTube case
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080311-judge-to-viacom-no-punitive-damages-in-youtube-case.html

Did DivX close Stage6 to duck copyright litigation?
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9891761-7.html

Hackers claim to unlock iPhone 2.0
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,143361-c,iphone/article.html

A Heart Device Is Found Vulnerable to Hacker Attacks
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/business/12heart-web.html

Intel $100 Nettop is all about cost cutting
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9891780-1.html

Intel: 160GB solid state drives will be unveiled soon
http://news.yahoo.com/s/macworld/20080312/tc_macworld/intel160gbsolidstatedriveswillbeunveiledsoon

Japan probes reports of iPod Nano fires
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,143356-c,mp3players/article.html

Study: Amount of digital info > global storage capacity
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080312-study-amount-of-digital-info-global-storage-capacity.html

VOICE MAIL

Brian Albany
My response to movie exec.

Trish New York
About the Maxwell’s Silver Hammer Thing

Ron Fort Worth
A little iTunes news.

FORUMS

BOLcats!!!
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10152_102-0.html?forumID=97&threadID=287269&messageID=2726340

Doctorate in Buzzology
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10152_102-0.html?forumID=97&threadID=287378&messageID=2726943

E-MAIL

Hulu

I know you may have misgivings about Hulu. However, the moment you mentioned Hulu in episode 678 was live I shut down your podcast immediately and started watching The Office. See ya later

Still love the show, but now it will have to wait.

Anthony Sunclades

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BOL education

Hello BOL Crew,

I’m Peter from Hungary. Last time (667) you talked about how BOL teaches people. Actually, I’ve been learning English for 4 years, and now that I’m in the last year of high school, I’m getting ready for the Cambridge Proficiency test. The podcast provided so much help to understand spoken English, and it improved my pronunciation (I can rant as wild as Molly at least).

I have to say thank you for all your hard work, Buzz Out Loud is still the most entertaining podcast in the universe.

My exam is scheduled for April, wish me luck, guys.

Keep up the good work,
–Peter

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Comcast blog monitoring

Dear TMJ,

Hello from Romey in Fort Collins (aka Gromey who stole SpectacleFest). I wanted to make you aware of some interesting correspondence I received from Comcast through their patrolling of my blog.

I am in the process of buying my first home and blogged about my reassessment of my TV & Internet service. In it, I analyzed the possibility of switching service from Comcast onto other providers. Later in the day I received a phone call on my cell phone from Comcast, mentioning they had received an e-mail query regarding comparisons of service.

After investigating, I came to the determination that someone from Comcast monitored Google Blog Search, came across my blog, looked up my information in their records and had someone call my cell phone (as it was listed as the primary number for the account). Someone from Comcast Executive Offices confirmed my suspicion, with the correction that they looked my name up my WHOIS domain record (see blog comments). When the Comcast agent called again, they did admit to reading my blog entry.

While I sometimes forget that the whole point of blogging is to share your thoughts with the Internet community, I still can't help but be a bit creeped that Comcast went through so much trouble just try to retain my account. Should this be considered good customer service or a spooky invasion of privacy? I would have been happy if they commented on my blog or emailed me, but for them to look up my information and call me directly really weirded me out. What if I made more egregious statements than “their DVR sucks and I’m pissed I can’t get the NFL Network without paying $5″?

I’d be anxious to hear your thoughts.

Thanks,
Romey in Fort Collins

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Molly’s collusion question

Hi Molly,

In episode 678: Buzzkill Tuesday, you ask why a TV network’s forming a unified advertising network is OK. Collusion is not illegal unless it has negative implications to consumers and competition. This is actually the case with most antitrust issues. Since the networks wouldn’t dominate the industry (Google is a pretty big competitor) and there if there is no negative implications to TV audiences they probably won’t have any legal issues. As a matter of fact, what if this is good for consumers? What if this somehow allows more targeted contextual advertising? Who knows.

Love the show, long time listener first time e-mailer.

Yev from Seattle.

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Piracy in Spain

Dear JAMOTO

This morning, on a free newspaper in BCN tube, a news shocked me [had to read it twice] regarding piracy issues.

According to “Qué!”, a free tube newspaper part of Vocento group, a court in Valencia has declared that aftermarket chips placed in video consoles are legal as they can enhance the performance of the device and, therefore in a similar way to what happens with the automotive industry, should be taken into account for the 2 year compulsory warranty those devices have in Europe.

I thought it was funny to read, as far as most of the conversions allowing piracy in video games are chip installing related. This can mean that now, those chips can be legal and all the companies can do is bury the consumer in never-ending calls to customer service.

But, as most of the EU law systems, the Spanish one does not take into account the precedents. They can be relevant for the judge in case he is in doubt when applying the jurisdiction, but they are not relevant as the Spanish legal system is based in the French one, not in the Briton.

Take care.

Hasta luego!
Iñaki

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iPhone SDK prohibits Firefox?

Thought I would forward this story from AppleInsider. It goes over how wording in the SDK’s terms may prohibit applications such as Java, Firefox, and others from being ported to the iPhone. At first, I was stoked about this SDK announcement, but as usual, Apple wants to keep such tight control over their product, that customers may never see the apps get ported that would make the iPhone the most useful gadget ever conceived by man. Way to screw up again, Apple.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=3845

Matt in Virginia

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Tim Couch’s insane proposed law

I’m thinking the only reason Tim Couch wants to make it illegal to post online anonymously is to keep track of everyone who might mention how much he sucked in the NFL…

Jeremy
Milwaukee, WI

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TSA clears the air for flight

Hey guys,

Just as Molly hoped (at least I think she did), the fancy TSA blog has a post detailing the MacBook Air event. Good news: it’s not cleared to fly! Bob, the friendly TSA blogger, is even trying to get a unit from laptop to X-Ray to see if it really does look different.

Love the show!

Link: http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2008/03/apple-macbook-airs-are-cleared-for.html

-Mike