Hi, I�m Molly Wood and welcome to the Buzz Report � the show about the tech news
that everyone is talking about. This week, phones give you cancer, again, maybe, as
usual. China gets into Google again, and Steve Jobs returns for the WWDC keynote.
Which we know all about. What!? But first, it�s the Gadget of the Week.
The Gadget of the Week is the new Intel Ultrabook � category. Intel is pushing the idea
of ultra-thin laptops that weigh less than two pounds, have nice long battery life, are as
powerful as full-size laptops, and cost less than a thousand dollars. Kind of like a
MacBook Air, but lots more of them and way cheaper. Intel is hoping people will want to
buy Ultrabooks instead of tablets, and they�re even predicting that 40 percent of laptop
sales could be Ultrabooks by 2012. Which might happen, I guess. As long as there isn�t
a new iPad in 2012. OHHHH �
And now for the news.
It's been a good couple of months, but the cell phones and cancer scare is back, with a
bang. The World Health Organization issued a new report saying cell phone radiation is
possibly carcinogenic to humans.
STOP THE PRESSES.
Actually, I don't mean to downplay the possibility of getting brain cancer from talking on
your cell phone, but there's a metric buttload of things that are in WHO�s 2B category of
"possibly carcinogenic to humans." For example, various medications, coffee, lead,
chloroform, gasoline, kryptonite--the list goes on.
As always with these things, WHO says more studies are needed. Well, duh. But hey,
even if mobile phones do cause cancer, there�s a small silver lining here: who makes
calls next to their brains anymore? We all just text! I guess, thumb cancer, maybe.
In other big news this week, Google announced Wednesday that a hacker in China got
access to hundreds of Gmail accounts � including Chinese dissidents and journalists
and even some senior U.S. government officials. Google said it shut down the security
breach and has notified people whose accounts were compromised, but didn�t say how
long the hackers had access. Apparently they were stealing passwords, monitoring
emails, and changing their forwarding and delegating settings. Google says its internal
systems haven�t been affected, but the whole thing is just � super scary. These hack
attacks are just coming fast and furious lately.
In fact, I got kind of excited earlier this week when PBS reported that Tupac Shakur was
alive and hanging out in a small town in New Zealand. Sadly, turns out, yeah, that was
also a hack, but a group that was unhappy about a Frontline report on Wikileaks.
Seriously, though. It�s out of hand with these vigilante hacker groups. But who�s going to
say anything about it? It�s kind of like when there�s a bee around. You can�t DO anything
about it � you can sit there and hope the bee doesn�t sting you, but you can�t try to swat
the bee away, or you�ll make it mad and it WILL sting you. Ugh. Hate bees.
In other news this week, Apple announced that Steve Jobs himself will be giving the
keynote address at WWDC on Monday, showing off iCloud, Apple's �upcoming cloud
services offering,� OS X updates, and some other software and app developments.
What�s weird is that Apple issued a press release to actually say WHAT they�ll announce
at the keynote. What!? Apple NEVER does that! What about the weeks of speculation
and rumor-mongering, and daily blog posts that parse supplier order sheets and
Japanese language newspapers and stuff? Where�s the mystery!? We want our
annoying Apple mystery!
And finally, let�s have a look at what�s Clogging the Tubes. Actually, this week, even
more than usual? It�s just Cats in the Tubes. First, there�s the sleeping kitten that gets a
hug from its mommy.
I watched this one hundred times. Then, there�s the genius cat that plays a shell game,
and wins.
Ahh. Do you think there would even BE an Internet without cats?
And that�s the Buzz Report for this week, everyone. I�m Molly Wood, and thank you for
watching
