Hi, I'm Molly Wood, and welcome to the Buzz Report, the show about the tech news
that everyone's talking about. This week, your perfectly serviceable home theater
solution, the entire future of the friggin Internet, and a sex scandal without any sex.
First up, the Gadget of the Week.
This week, the super-utilitarian, actually kind of a neat little thing, Gadget of the Week that I really sort of
want is the Sony HT-CT150. It's a soundbar home theater system that includes just the bar and a
subwoofer, costs less than $300, has three HDMI inputs, and sounds good. Right!? Technology doesn't
have to be confusing. Sometimes it's just what you want. Can we pick this up again after I order that? Is it
just me?
And now for the news. Google and Verizon have announced a modest proposal, they're calling it a
"legislative framework," for how Net neutrality should work in the future. They said the current wired
Internet should remain totally open, non-discriminatory, and scalable. No pay for extra access, just a wide
open field of innovation. Then again, that's the old wired Internet that no one is really investing in anymore
and that's running out of bandwidth.
So, then there are two other areas of potential Net neutrality regulation: first, wireless broadband networks,
like the one Verizon currently operates. Under Google and Verizon's proposal, those do NOT have be
neutral networks. Wild west out there. And they have this concept of private networks, which could be like,
premium content or medical networks or the porn channel, and those could also be tiered and cost extra and
be un-neutral, too.
So, you know, all the stuff Verizon and Google can make lots of money on in the future should be totally
free from consumer-friendly regulations or rules.
Nice. Thanks, guys. I'm glad you're not officially in charge of writing laws. Email your
congressional representatives, would you? And hope there's nothing juicy about them on
Google Street View. What a world.
Moving On. Let's talk about a sex scandal without any sex, shall we? It's strangely appropriate that Jodie
Fisher is a soft-core Skinemactress (I made that up), because she's the woman who apparently brought
down HP CEO Mark Hurd, and both of them insist there wasn't even any nookie.
Hurd stepped down last week after reports that he padded expense reports in order to maintain a "close
personal relationship" with Fisher. Which, considering that he's a bajillionaire and ALSO didn't get any,
would seem to make him a double sucker. And either HP is very, VERY serious about its accounting
policies, or this guy was not as popular as HP's stock price would suggest.
And in news that's as stubborn as a herpe, the Verizon iPhone rumors are back this week. According to
TechCrunch, Qualcomm is making CDMA chips for Apple in large quantities, the phone is expected to be
announced in December and be delivered in January, and it will have a newly insulated exterior antenna.
You might EVEN be able to get a white one.
And finally, a very special Clogging the Tubes. Senator Ted Stevens, the man who gave us the "series of
Tubes" meme that inspired this segment, was killed this week in a plane crash in Alaska. And the Internet
had kind of a soft spot for the corrupt old senator who totally didn't understand the Internet. So, we wish
him a fitting farewell.
And that's the Buzz Report for this week, everyone. I'm Molly Wood, and thanks for watching.
