Buzz Out Loud 768: Windows Mobile 7: Get fired up!

You never knew you had so many reasons to love Windows Mobile 7, but you'll find out a few of them today. Also, Amazon offers on-demand movie and TV streaming (on PCs and Macs both!), Microsoft explains the weird Halo no-show at E3...and the explanation is typical, baffling and infuriating. So, good work, Microsoft, as usual. Oh, and that asteroid that was going to kill us and then wasn't going to kill us? It's probably going to kill us, but we won't know for sure because we can't afford a subscription to New Scientist or a really big telescope.
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EPISODE 768

Episode 768

Amazon plans an online store for movies, TV shows
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/technology/17amazon.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/007299.html

Microsoft explains Halo’s no-show at E3 game conference
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/07/halo-bungie-e3.html

Report: Lionsgate cranks open for YouTube
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-9993159-93.html

YouTube on TiVo: It’s about time
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-9993173-93.html

Unlocked iPhone 3G available for direct shipment from Hong Kong, no catch at all
http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/17/unlocked-iphone-3g-available-for-direct-shipment-from-china-1/

Apple, Dell big winners as PC market shows healthy growth
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080716-apple-dell-big-winners-as-pc-market-shows-healthy-growth.html

Gmail reveals the names of all users
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/16/2220232&from=rss

Say goodbye to the computer mouse
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7508842.stm

Killer asteroid predictions ‘off by millions of miles’
http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19926643.500-killer-asteroid-tracking-may-be-off-by-millions-of-miles.html

VOICE MAIL

Tommy Kingston
Why Sony might not be able to distribute movies in Canada.

Anonymous
However in Puerto Rico.

Emilio Mechanical Engineer
I got a mobile excitement for you.

E-MAIL

Hey Buzz Crew,
I figured you might like this, or maybe not. A local TV station in the DFW Metroplex will be shutting of their analog tv broadcast later this month. TXA21 will shut off analog for two hours on July 23 to help people figure out if they’re digital ready. This is a smart thing I guess to make people realize digital is for real and coming.

One more thing, did you happen to see the picture where Woz was sitting in the VIP section on the Price is Right?

Love the show guys

Chris - the DFW airport aircraft fueler

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Hey Buzz Crew,

I was talking with a co-worker the other day about iPhone data plans in Canada vs. the U.S. and that led to text message rates, so I mentioned the point from one of the recent Buzz Out Loud podcasts about using AIM to get around paying for text messages.

He just sent me an e-mail saying that the cost per gigabyte on any data plan (even the worst Rogers plan) is a bargain compared with the cost per GB that text messaging equates to. Here’s an example using a couple of AT&T’s plans:

If you assume a generous 1,024 bytes per message (only 160 bytes of that is the actual message, but allow room for headers, and so on):
- The $5 for 200 messages plan works out to $24,414 per gigabyte
- The 20 cents per message (i.e. no plan) works out to $195,312 per gigabyte

It made us laugh…

Love the show,
Chris, from Vancouver.

P.S. As I finish typing this, I’m having deja-vu from somewhere in the last several hundred episodes that I may have heard you cover something along these lines before–if so, I’m sorry, but it still made me laugh all over again…

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Hey Buzz crew.

I wrote a few weeks ago (episode 743) about our having to switch our corporate phones to AT&T’s Enterprise Data Plan because we used GoodLink, which was $5 more than the regular “unlimited” data plan.

What we’ve learned since then is that the extra $5 is actually a Good-imposed service fee for secure transport service:

http://www.good.com/corp/int_products.php?id=402

Secure Transport Service (STS) - STS fees must be paid for each Good Messaging enabled handheld. STS fees are included in Good Data Plans purchased through Good carrier resellers (currently AT&T, Verizon, Telstra in Australia, Bell Mobility in Canada, and Telefónica O2 in the U.K.). For all other carriers, users require a Direct Secure Transport Service plan which is purchased directly from Good or a Motorola authorized reseller partner.

So, it looks like you’ve still got an unlimited data plan for $40 and the extra $5 (or some portion of it) is being passed on to Good (Motorola) by AT&T.

Hope that clears it up … it did for us anyway.

Jeremy
St. Pete, FL

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Just because it isn’t flipped on at the same time that the U.S. store is doesn’t mean it’s not coming to Canada.

From the story directly: “Although the video rental/purchase service will not initially be available in Canada, a spokesperson for Sony Computer Entertainment Canada confirms that it will be coming to Canada at some point.”

http://www.marketnews.ca/news_detail.asp?nid=3909

Ben @ Liverpool, Nova Scotia