Buzz Out Loud 696: So Say We All

EPISODE 696

Craigslist to fan blog: We want your domain, please
http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9911446-36.html

Finally: Craigslist launches a blog of their own
http://www.craigslistblog.org/2008/04/03/finally-craigslist-launches-a-blog-of-their-own/

Study: More couch potatoes parked in front of PC to watch TV
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080404-study-more-couch-potatoes-parked-in-front-of-pc-to-watch-tv.html

Verizon’s spectrum plans: Speedier wireless broadband
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9911450-7.html
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9911202-7.html

RIAA: N.Y. judge’s ‘making available’ ruling was no setback
http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9910636-38.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080403-judge-kills-riaa-subpoena-making-available-not-infringement.html

Policing Internet ‘not ISP’s job’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7329801.stm

MySpace Music leaves creators cold
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/04/myspace_music_coup/

Backhaul woes put Xohm launch on ice for a couple of months
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080404-backhaul-woes-put-xohm-launch-on-ice-for-a-couple-of-months.html

Madonna ’sleeps with Blackberry’ (Thanks Charles!)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7327084.stm

Matrix-style virtual worlds ‘a few years away’
http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13585-matrixstyle-virtual-worlds-a-few-years-away.html

New Dune movie confirmed
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/entertainment/08/04/04/1422253.shtml

VOICE MAIL

Tom Nuclear Engineer Virginia
How kids see parents work

Anish New York
You know what tomorrow is? (sent Thursday)

Ankh in Ireland
I know who’s the most gamingest.

E-MAIL

Most gaming country ever

Hey Buzz Buds,
I'm fairly new to Buzz Town, I don't own a house here yet, but I rent a timeshare. So I'm not really superknowledgeable about tons of random things like a lot of your listeners, but I was thrilled when you brought up an issue I knew the answer too! In episode 695 you talked about which country was the most gamingest country in the world. That country would no doubt be South Korea, in which not only do tons of people play video games but they also have a professional circuit in which players achieve fame comparable to Kobe Bryant or Tom Brady. I found a couple of articles that kind of talk about it but ABC just did a report on the issue two weeks ago. Peace out Crew!

P.S. I HATE COMCAST@!&@^#!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/18/GAMERS.TMP
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2007/gb20070326_937184.htm

Endy Mageto

Galactica 4.1 at 9am today?

Hey guys!

AICN reports that SciFi will debut Galacitca 4.1 @ 9 am PDT (12 noon
EDT) today online at scifi.com!

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36268

So say we all!

Roberto Suarez
Portland, Ore.

Comcast speed

Hi Buzz crew,

From what I’ve read in the past, Comcast’s DOCSIS 3.0 implementation right now is an early one, which is why the upload speeds aren’t that hot. They can do channel bonding for downloads, but I don’t believe they’ve managed that for uploads yet. And in fact, Comcast also promised that it would have 100Mbps speeds by the end of 2008, so it may be much more worthwhile by the time it gets to the Bay Area…which is probably sometime in 2009.

Also, Molly will be happy to know that the company is bumping the upload speeds for its regular tiers--they're talking about 1Mbps uploads for the regular 6Mbps tier, and 2Mbps uploads for the 8Mbps tier. See, they want you to switch! They really do!

Thanks for all the good work,

Jon
Ottawa, Canada

Comcast again?

Hi Molly, Tom, and Jason,

This e-mail is in reference to episode No. 695, and pretty much every episode for the past year or so. Is BOL a podcast or a Comcast-cast? Every time you bring up a Comcast story, I zone right out. I live in upstate N.Y., I’ve had Time Warner cable my whole life. I never even heard of Comcast before I started listening to your show back in the mid-200s. So, here’s my question: Is Time Warner too “east coast” to cover? Or are they such an awesome company that they never generate any negative press? I tend to doubt the latter, since when I upgraded to their DVR package last year, it took four trips to the local office for me to get one that worked. Anyway, time for Madlibs! Love the ______! Keep up the good _______!

Joe from Saratoga Springs, NY

Torrents without software

Hi Buzz Crew,

Imageshack, an image hosting service found at http://imageshack.us, has a service in Beta that allows you to use their server to download bit torrents, and then you can download the file from their server to your machine, thus eliminating the need for any client side torrent software.

When I first saw this, I thought for sure it was an April Fool’s Day Joke, but I have an Imageshack account, so I decided to test it. I grabbed the torrent file for Librivox’s audio copy of Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” (I chose this because it’s 100% legal and one of my favorite books) and then uploaded it to the Imageshack torrent beta site. Sure enough, I was able to then download the file from Imageshack.

My one problem with this: It’s for leechers only. If you don’t have client software, you can’t share, thus defeating the entire purpose of torrents. Still, for an occasional torrenter, this might be a good option. Stick with the legal torrents people! (I can just imagine how easy it would be for the RIAA or MPAA to track people on this thing.
All it would take is one subpoena and *bam* there’s a process server at your door.)

Instructions are here:
http://aravindjose.com/blog/2008/03/30/how-to-download-torrents-online-and-get-direct-links-for-it/

Joe
aka dOgBOi

P.S. As soon as I finished typing this out, I tried to open the zip file I downloaded and it was corrupt. Not sure if that’s because of Imageshack or because of the torrent itself. If anyone gets this working, I’d certainly like to know.

Safari auto install

Hi Buzz crew

I’ve been catching up on old episodes after being away on business and finally made it through to episode 695 this morning.

Once again there was a mention of the whole “Safari auto-selected for install in the updater” controversy, and how apple is the only one doing this.

Well, actually--every time I get an update for Java--the installer wants to add Google Toolbar to my system, and it’s selected by default.

I can’t believe no one has mentioned this, there have been several Java updates over the past year, and all of them tried to get me to install Google Toolbar.

So there you go

I’m not trying to defend Apple (although I do like my iMac and iPod Touch ;-) ) - but just wanted to set the record straight.

Love the show!

Peter The Dane