Buzz Out Loud 910: Palm grows a pair

We debate the proper pronunciation of WebOS from Palm. Does it rhyme with Huevos? In any case, Palm has killed the old Palm OS, so may it rest in peace. We also analyze the state of the TV industry. LCD shipments are down, so everybody's getting out of the plasma business? I guess that's why I'm not CEO of an electronics company.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 910

Buzz Out Loud chat auction to benefit Kiva
http://www.humanety.com/

MS to offer free Windows 7 upgrade to Vista users
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/11/238222
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/02/upgrading-to-windows-7-what-xp-and-vista-users-need-to-know.ars

Google penalizes itself for paid-blog promotion
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10162610-93.html

FCC prevails over Verizon in subscriber retention fight
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/02/fcc-prevails-over-verizon-in-customer-retention-battle.ars

Asus to make fewer EEE PCs
http://www.infoworld.com/article/09/02/12/Asus_plans_to_reduce_variety_of_Eee_PC_netbooks_1.html

Palm OS dead
http://www.precentral.net/palm-ceo-ed-colligan-talks-pre-investors
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/02/a-farewell-to-palm-os-company-stakes-future-on-webos.ars

Opera turbo-charged browsing
http://www.opera.com/press/releases/2009/02/12/

Yearly LCD TV shipments dip for first time
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10161978-92.html

Pioneer to stop making TVs
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10162515-1.html

Panasonic to bring Full HD 3D by 2010
http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/09/panasonic-sets-out-to-bring-3d-full-hd-to-blu-ray-by-2010/

Report: Apple to stream video to iTunes users
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10162234-93.html

Musician sells CD for $15.98, CD + live concert for $5,000
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/11/musician-sells-cd-fo.html

VOICEMAIL
Staticky guy from maybe Denmark?
Has a trademark claim

Patrick New Hampshire
What I would do if a pirate ship was found in my yard.

E-MAIL
Hey Jatona, Patrick the problem solver here.

Regarding the netbook naming issue, here is a word you could use to refer to the devices *and* the feelings you seem to have towards them: “mehbook”.
Ok this won’t stick, but it’s sort of fun to say once or twice right?

Cheers,

Patrick Beja

**********

Hey Buzz People,

Jonathan from the UK here. I found a story on the BBC’s website (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7885569.stm) talking about how the European Parliament(different from the EU? Not sure wants to have a red button on the front of a games console to turn off the game or ban a particular game from running. What the EP doesn’t seem to realise is that the console ALREADY HAS AN OFF BUTTON!. Games are rated for a reason, parents should choose which games their child can play. Also, all of the current gen consoles(360, Wii and PS3) have age settings so you can ban games over a particular age built into the console. The European Parliament do indeed need to educate parents to the avaliability of the functions, but if the parents don’t already exercise authority over their children when it comes to video games, how is a big red button going to change anything?

Educate the parents to this function of the console, and leave us gamers alone. That was my Jonny rant

Love the show, Jonathan.

I’m not sure why the authors guild are upset about the text to speech
thing on the new Kindle.

the only book that isn’t going to suck when read to you by a machine
is “A Brief History of Time”.

-Bjørn

**********

Buzzers,

Do you have any idea why my iTunes asked me if I would like to update
“carrier” information? Did the rest of the world get this message today?
What could the carrier, at&t, want to change on my phone?

I don’t like this kind of updating…and I’m not paranoid…no matter
how many people are watching me.

Mark from Virginia

And then: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/02/iphone-carrier-update-boring.ars

**********

Heya Buzz Crew,

In episode 909 (and others), there was a general sense of irrelevance regarding satellite radio. *gasp!*

I have been a satellite radio subscriber for years now and while I was quite skeptical of the merger, I still love my Sirius-now-SiriusXM radio - in both cars. I often equate the experience to moving from dial-up to high-speed Internet: don’t try it unless you’re ready to commit because you won’t want to go back. I don’t even listen to the sports or celebrity stuff; the music is enough for me. The channels are far more genre-specialized than any terrestrial market and, of course, the music is commercial free! When I’m at home I even tune into their TV feed (via DISH Network / DIRECTV) and online stream since I already know the lineup.

They have made listening while driving a great experience and it’s available right now, not in a few years. I’ll warrant that there are good ‘net-based audio options, but wireless data coverage is not ubiquitous, streaming is unreliable while driving (tower hops), and, most serious of all, we are always under constant threat of usage caps.

They had better be careful with the price, though - there is a fiscal limit to my love.

Ryan from Castle Rock