Episode 604: School daze
Democrats propose a bill that would force universities to stop file-sharing or risk losing financial aid. Molly blows a gasket.
Molly Wood Former Executive Editor
Molly Wood was an executive editor at CNET, author of the Molly Rants blog, and host of the tech show, Always On. When she's not enraging fanboys of all stripes, she can be found offering tech opinions on CBS and elsewhere, and offering opinions on everything else to anyone who will listen.
4 min read
House Democrats propose a bill that would force universities to implement technical barriers to file-sharing or risk losing federal financial aid. Plus, they might be pressured into school-wide subscriptions to services like Napster. Molly: loses what shred of sanity remains. Tom: wisely calls in sick.
--Molly
Listen now: Download today's podcast
--Molly
Listen now: Download today's podcast
 | EPISODE 604 |
TODAY'S LINKS:
TODAY'S VOICE MAIL:
Ben from Minneapolis
Don't update your fifth-gen iPod!
Don't update your fifth-gen iPod!
Jeremy from Denver
Molly! Get fired up on flash memory!
Molly! Get fired up on flash memory!
TODAY'S E-MAIL:
Big flash, plus stalker stuff
Hey Buzz crew,
Just wanted to let Molly know that you can get 32GB flash USB sticks from Corsair.
Regarding the story about a man who got help finding a woman he saw on the subway (forgot the episode number), I got two words: Distributed stalking.
Love the show.
Best regards,
Lars in Denmark
Hey Buzz crew,
Just wanted to let Molly know that you can get 32GB flash USB sticks from Corsair.
Regarding the story about a man who got help finding a woman he saw on the subway (forgot the episode number), I got two words: Distributed stalking.
Love the show.
Best regards,
Lars in Denmark
Microsoft will get it right eventually...crap!!!
Hello Jallom,
I do not subscribe to the theory that MS fixes everything eventually. Just because MS eventually fixed IE, Xbox, and a few other products (but I can?t name any others) does not dictate that they will eventually fix the Zoon.
There are number of products that MS continuously makes worse, not better. Just look at the OS. Which was the third version of Windows 3.0? Oh yeah, that rocked! Or did they finally get it right with ME; oh no, it was Vista, right?
Tom, you are really boring me with the "you'll see, they'll get it right next time" crap!
Finally, three cheers for the dude who doesn't Adobe to screw up Photoshop. I to am a Pro user from way back. I hope if Adobe does change the interface they also offer an alternative classic "workspace."
Thank you,
Robert Hazelrigg
Hello Jallom,
I do not subscribe to the theory that MS fixes everything eventually. Just because MS eventually fixed IE, Xbox, and a few other products (but I can?t name any others) does not dictate that they will eventually fix the Zoon.
There are number of products that MS continuously makes worse, not better. Just look at the OS. Which was the third version of Windows 3.0? Oh yeah, that rocked! Or did they finally get it right with ME; oh no, it was Vista, right?
Tom, you are really boring me with the "you'll see, they'll get it right next time" crap!
Finally, three cheers for the dude who doesn't Adobe to screw up Photoshop. I to am a Pro user from way back. I hope if Adobe does change the interface they also offer an alternative classic "workspace."
Thank you,
Robert Hazelrigg
Troll filter
Hey TMJ,
Greetings, Buzz-ards!*
Just a quick note re: the proposal to create an anti-troll filter (as mentioned in ep. 603):
Wouldn't such a filter make Digg.com just quietly disappear, crumpling up like a little deflated balloon?
Just askin'.
Matthew the science teacher
*This is not an insult. Buzzards are cool! (Also, what we call "buzzards" (or sometimes "vultures") in America are in fact more closely related to storks than to European buzzards. And storks are *way* cool.)
Hey TMJ,
Greetings, Buzz-ards!*
Just a quick note re: the proposal to create an anti-troll filter (as mentioned in ep. 603):
Wouldn't such a filter make Digg.com just quietly disappear, crumpling up like a little deflated balloon?
Just askin'.
Matthew the science teacher
*This is not an insult. Buzzards are cool! (Also, what we call "buzzards" (or sometimes "vultures") in America are in fact more closely related to storks than to European buzzards. And storks are *way* cool.)
Skype phone
Hi,
Skype is rolling out a 3G phone in Europe. U.K. and Denmark first, rest of Europe to follow. See the phone and its video-calling capabilities.
Daniel from Norway
Hi,
Skype is rolling out a 3G phone in Europe. U.K. and Denmark first, rest of Europe to follow. See the phone and its video-calling capabilities.
Daniel from Norway
RCMP "giving up" on downloaders
Hi Tom & Jolly,
I just wanted to address a story near the end of episode 603, in regards to the RCMP "giving up" on pursuing downloaders of unauthorized copyrighted material.
It is not entirely that it is too difficult (read: impossible) to enforce, but, more importantly, because the RCMP are more concerned with operations that produce actual counterfeit products like pharmaceuticals, electronics, etc...you know, *real* crimes that affect and pose danger to *real* people, not just an imaginary danger to some business' racket.
More on this can be found here.
...which also links to this video.
Brent
Hi Tom & Jolly,
I just wanted to address a story near the end of episode 603, in regards to the RCMP "giving up" on pursuing downloaders of unauthorized copyrighted material.
It is not entirely that it is too difficult (read: impossible) to enforce, but, more importantly, because the RCMP are more concerned with operations that produce actual counterfeit products like pharmaceuticals, electronics, etc...you know, *real* crimes that affect and pose danger to *real* people, not just an imaginary danger to some business' racket.
More on this can be found here.
...which also links to this video.
Brent
Help for the HD guy in Ep. 603
Hi Buzz Out Loud crew,
Just listening to episode 601 where the chap from Flagstaff was complaining that his HD DVD player was not upconverting, and Molly posited that HDCP was the culprit. I came across a similar problem with my PS3, and there is a workaround.
It seems that most (all?) HD sources will only upconvert when connected to the TV via an HDMI cable. My TV is a couple of years old and doesn't have an HDMI connection. However, it is perfectly capable of supporting resolutions up to 1080i via analogue inputs. Instead of ditching my perfectly good TV, I bought a cunning little device from China, the appropriately named HD-Fury (http://www.hdfury.com/), which takes an HDMI input and outputs an HD analogue signal. It cost about 50GBP, so will probably be about $100 in the states, but is a heck of a lot cheaper than a new TV. With this device, your picture source, be that PS3 or HD DVD player, thinks it is connected to an HDCP-compliant TV and will output in full HD. I'd recommend that your listener snaps one up quickly as it is bound to become popular, and hence, illegal.
Love the show.
Austin (from London)
Hi Buzz Out Loud crew,
Just listening to episode 601 where the chap from Flagstaff was complaining that his HD DVD player was not upconverting, and Molly posited that HDCP was the culprit. I came across a similar problem with my PS3, and there is a workaround.
It seems that most (all?) HD sources will only upconvert when connected to the TV via an HDMI cable. My TV is a couple of years old and doesn't have an HDMI connection. However, it is perfectly capable of supporting resolutions up to 1080i via analogue inputs. Instead of ditching my perfectly good TV, I bought a cunning little device from China, the appropriately named HD-Fury (http://www.hdfury.com/), which takes an HDMI input and outputs an HD analogue signal. It cost about 50GBP, so will probably be about $100 in the states, but is a heck of a lot cheaper than a new TV. With this device, your picture source, be that PS3 or HD DVD player, thinks it is connected to an HDCP-compliant TV and will output in full HD. I'd recommend that your listener snaps one up quickly as it is bound to become popular, and hence, illegal.
Love the show.
Austin (from London)