Buzz Out Loud 1216: Geek soap operas (podcast)

Between the legal drama playing out in the South Bay (Gizmodo raid! Dubious warrants! Potential counter-suits!) and the latest developments in the Infinity Ward/Activision internal drama (Involuntary labor! Withholding royalties and bonuses!), it's pretty much the Days of our Lives around here. Also, no Hulu in the UK, and Comcast gets a big, steaming pile of poo from its users. But at least it's Golden Poo.

Watch this: Ep. 1216: Geek soap operas

38:29

Podcast

Microsoft inks patent licensing deal with HTC
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2010/apr10/04-27mshtcpr.mspx

… and claims Android steps on its patents
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20003602-56.html

Android 2.2 will have native Flash…take that iPhone!
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/googles-andy-rubin-on-everything-android/

Apple buys Siri
http://scobleizer.com/2010/04/28/breaking-news-siri-bought-by-apple/
http://scobleizer.com/2010/02/08/why-if-you-miss-siri-youll-miss-the-future-of-the-web/

iPhone “thief” has been identified by police…but we don’t know his/her name yet
http://mashable.com/2010/04/27/person-who-found-lost-iphone-prototype-identified-by-police/

Gizmodo may sue Santa Clara county
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20003664-37.html

Apple sued over liquid sensors in phones
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20003400-37.html

Infinity Ward staff sues Activision for $500 million
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/04/infinity-ward-staff-sues-activision-for-500-million.ars

Hulu abandons UK plans after broadcast talks collapse
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/7639763/Hulu-abandons-UK-plans-after-broadcaster-talks-collapse.html

Terry Childs guilty of felony
http://www.infoworld.com/t/government/terry-childs-found-guilty-044?source=rss_infoworld_news

Comcast awarded Consumerist’s “Golden Poo” award (thanks, Dr. Karl!)
http://idle.slashdot.org/story/10/04/27/1539210/Comcast-Awarded-the-Golden-Poo-Award

We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint (thanks, Jason)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html

Awwwww of the day: Ze Frank crowdsources a chillout song
http://www.zefrank.com/chillout/

Vote for CNET TV for a Webby Award!
https://www.youtube.com/webby?x=tech

Vote for CNET for a Webby Award while you’re at it!
http://webby.aol.com/media_types/web?focused_on_category=727#public_vote_form_727

Once you are done voting, why don’t you take a load off and rewrite the Buzz Out Loud theme music! BOL Remix contest is underway!
http://www.cnet.com/8301-19709_1-20003121-10.html
NOTE: Remix does not mean “remix for the club” This is a refresh of the current theme. You can use all of the sounds provide or only one. Or really, if you use none, that’s fine too, as long as the THEME of the current song makes it in.

Voicemail
Rabbit Eye
Task force gets its chance!

Anonymous
TV widgets are actually cool!

Email
Jamoto:

As someone who previously worked at Nokia, I have some insight as to
why Nokia does not succeed in the US market.

1. Nokia does not produce high-end CDMA phones, which currently limits
them to working with T-Mobile and AT&T. Perhaps this will be less of
an issue when everyone goes LTE, but that is several years out.

2. Even when Nokia does decide to work with either T-Mobile or AT&T,
assuming the phone makes it through the lengthy operator customization
and approval process, the resulting device is a generation behind and,
often times, neutered compared to the corresponding European version
of the device.

3. Nokia does not make their phones available in enough retail outlets
for people to actually try the phones out before they buy them, nor do
they do any real marketing in the US to the masses.

I’ve heard plenty of years of lip service from Nokia about wanting to
improve their market share in the US market. As far as I can tell,
it’s just that–lip service.

Meanwhile, Nokia has a bigger problem than their lack of presence in
the US market: their global market share for smartphones is on the
decline. They are still clearly in the lead, but the trend lines don’t
look good for Nokia. While the Nokia N8 looks promising, it remains to
be seen whether or not that or future devices will win back any
converts to the iPhone, Android, or others. Nokia really needs to
shore up their products before they can even think about making a
comeback in the US market.

Showing the love, loving the show,

– PhoneBoy

**********

In response to that emailer that asked why we still refer to it as the cloud, I just want to remind everyone why we call it the cloud in the first place. It’s not to “dumb it down” or anything like that. In computer networking diagrams, the internet was always depicted as a cloud icon because the details of the internet were not important to the network being diagramed. This is just my two cents. And if anyone has more info on “the cloud” feel free to comment because I’m just pulling off the top of my head and the networking classes I took almost 10 years ago.

Thanks,
David