Buzz Out Loud 703: No doughnuts, no peace

EPISODE 703

Psystar: Apple's terms violate U.S. monopoly laws
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1685

Elusive 'Twitter ads' spotted in the wild
http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9919041-36.html

Windows XP SP3 now set for April 29 debut
http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2008/04/15/windows-xp-sp3-now-set-for-april-29-debut

NPD: Amazon’s MP3s not affecting iTunes
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9918981-7.html

Kid Breaks Vacuum to Play Xbox Instead of Doing Chores; Mom Sells Xbox, Pranks His MySpace
http://gizmodo.com/379633/kid-breaks-vacuum-to-play-xbox-instead-of-doing-chores-mom-sells-xbox-pranks-his-myspace

Flickr’s Doughnut Giveaway Morphs Into Worldwide Event
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/04/flickr-plans-to.html

Window stickers with cell phone number
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/14/window-stickers-with.html

Rocket Racing League announces August takeoff
http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9917928-36.html

Iron Man’s New Villain--an Open Source Terrorist
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/15/0037211

VOICE MAIL

Anonymous
But we gave the telcos money before.

Shelley Austin
I think hybrids are too quiet.

FORUMS

Introducing MollyRants.org
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6035_102-0.html?forumID=97&threadID=291447

E-MAIL

DC Flash Mob Participant Arrested for Dancing in Celebration of TJ Birthday

Hey Buzz Crew,
I just wanted to let Buzzville know about what happened to one of my friends (and yes, I was there) this past Saturday:

http://www.theagitator.com/2008/04/13/so-about-that-tree-of-liberty/

Tonight, a group of about 20 D.C.-area libertarians headed down to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial for some flash mob fun. The prank was harmless revelry: To ring in Jefferson's birthday, we would meet on the steps of the memorial at 11:55 p.m., wearing iPods, then dance for about 10 minutes, capture the whole thing on video, and leave.

Note: This post made the digg front page this weekend.

Further reporting from Radley Balko available here:
Video of the incident: http://www.theagitator.com/2008/04/14/jefferson-dance-party-video/
http://www.theagitator.com/2008/04/13/jefferson-arrest-update/

Brooke is fine and the most recent break down of the story (from a fellow participant) is available here:

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13056

Since this event was organized on Facebook, I thought you all might take some interest in the event.

In Freedom,
--Elizabeth

Elizabeth the Economist/Policy Analyst
in Alexandria, VA

Boy Scouts helping neighbors with DTV conversion

Hey Tom,

Listened to today’s BOL postcast (BOL 702) and you played a call from a Boy Scout in Nev. This is Ron, the one you met up at last week’s meetup. My last name is Larson, and I was up from Santa Barbara for the RSA Conference.

I got a laugh about the Jehovah's Witness help. You mentioned a message board about this, but I can’t find it. I looked at the BOL Forum. Nothing there. What Message Board?

Anyhow… it was good talking to you guys.

--Ron Larson

Amazon improving digital download quality?

Hi Tom, Molly, and Jason,

A while back when Amazon debuted their new digital download music service, you read my complaint that the tracks were encoded in joint stereo w/ a variable bitrate. I didn’t download anything from them since, but tonight I gave them another shot with the new Birthday Massacre album (yeah my taste is a bit obscure). Now, I look at the track encoding, and I see that it’s encoded with LAME3.91 at a constant 256 kbps… and in FULL stereo! I don’t think I could encode it any better myself. Amazon, I love you. (And I love BOL too!) I just hope this is across the board and not isolated to this particular album.

--Mike in Fla.

Well actually, Fry’s vs. Fry’s

Hey Tom,

Fry’s Food & Drug/Fry’s Marketplace is not owned by Fry’s Electronics.

Kroger which owns Ralph’s, Quik Stop, Food 4 Less, Hilander, and many other grocery chains is the parent company to Fry’s Food & Drug/Fry’s Marketplace.

Fry’s Electronics is run by the three brothers John, Randy, and Dave Fry.
Their father Charles Fry, sold the Fry’s grocery chain in 1972.
Kroger acquired the chain sometime later.

Fry’s electronics was founded in 1985 using some of the money that their father gave them after selling off the grocery chain.
One more bit of trivia is that the Fry’s brothers are or were part owners in the San Jose Sharks.

LTS KUTGW
Hershal, the former Fry’s (electronics) Employee

P.S. My brother works in the Meat Department at Fry’s …uh, the other one …no, not the electronics one …yeah, I assume you figured that …just in case though… okay, bye now.

Sväng, svang, svung? What is it?

Hi,

In episode 699, you guys were talking something about iPhone/N95 and a new word popped out: Sväng
Molly: Sväng is my new favorite word ever. Sväng me!
Tom: I read once something about that “Sväng” was standard English in 16th hundreds, and then went away.
Molly: Really? Because it sounded too funny?

Anyway,
I’m a developer, and a very long time regular listener of BOL from Finland, and this dialoge hit me because I’m also a member of a Harmonica Quartet called Sväng (www.myspace.com/svangharmonica and http://www.svang.fi ).
While this may sound like totally non_hi_tech thing, it is quite the contrary.

We deploy fully digital audio system on stage comprising a RME digital audio interface connected to PCI express card slot of MacBook Pro running Logic pro’s Main Stage and real time effects, eq’s and other plug-ins. Then we have a Bluetooth remote midi controller to switch between patches during the live performance.

Yes, I realize that our Sväng and yours are not the same thing, and while pronounced exactly alike the spelling most likely is not the same. I’m curious, however, what is the meaning of Sväng(?) in standard English?

-Pasi-