Buzz Out Loud 729: Wacky wireless Wednesday
It's all cell phones all the time: The FCC might make early termination fees less of a problem, rural carriers want less exclusivity (and so do we), and no one wants cell phones on a plane except, strangely, Molly.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
 | EPISODE 729 |
Microsoft offers cash back search
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7413099.stm
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10787_3-9949286-60.html
Microsoft demos Zune advertising service
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/146109/
microsoft_demos_zune_advertising_service.html
Copyright fight brewing between TV networks and RedLasso
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9948892-7.html
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/5/
party_s_over_bloggers_cbs_nbc_fox_sue_redlasso
AT&T offers free Wi-Fi to laptop wireless users
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9948890-7.html
“Phlashing” attacks could render network hardware useless
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/
20080520-phlashing-attacks-could-render-network-hardware-useless.html
Second-generation “$100 Laptop” will be an e-book reader
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/20/1621214
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9948562-1.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/
20080520-olpc-2-0-coming-will-project-survive-to-see-its-launch.html
“If you want your N-Gage games on your new phone, you’ll have to buy them all over again.”
http://www.allaboutngage.com/features/item/Nokia_When_
you_upgrade_to_a_new_phone_you_will_lose_all_your_N-Gage_games.php
FCC may regulate cellphone early-termination fees
http://gizmodo.com/392380/fcc-may-regulate-
cellphone-early-termination-fees
Exclusive cell phone deals called into question
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9948904-7.html
Survey: 74 percent of Americans say 'no' to in-flight calling, 'yes' to data
http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/21/survey-74-of-us-
americans-say-no-to-in-flight-calling-yes-to/
Apple, CBS sued over ‘Mighty Mouse’
http://www.9to5mac.com/mighty_mouse_trademark
VOICE MAIL
G from Liverpool
?
XO Laptop
Hi Jason, Molly, and Tom.
The new version of the XO laptop version has been unveiled, and it looks like an electronic book.
My problem with this: If you’re giving computers to children to make them computer literate, why would you give them a device that doesn’t work like a regular computer? You’re not making them computer literate. Instead, you’re making them XO literate, which does no good in finding employment or learning computer science in school. Just my 2 cents.
Joe
aka dOgBOi
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Clarification on the broadcast flag stuff
BOL crew:
I’ll refrain from starting this with “Well actually,” mainly because the set of regulations (and non-regulations) that outline the various broadcast flags (plural) is, at its best, byzantine. Let me see if I can help clarify why some of the DRM disasters only affect TiVo and why some only affect Vista Media Center.
There are actually two different broadcast flags.
One was floated by the FCC at the request of big media and was for off-the-air broadcasts (i.e. NBC, ABC, CBS, WB, etc.). That one was never enacted, but all the technology provisions are in place for this flag to be embedded in the program signal from the source. In the case of American Gladiators, NBC apparently set the flag “accidentally.” Vista Media Center respects this flag even though they are not required to. Microsoft has basically volunteered to degrade the experience for their customers.
The second flag is one mandated by CableLabs for any device seeking CableLabs certification (which is required if you want to use CableCards). This flag is set by the cable company at the request of the content owner. The FCC has mandated that rebroadcast of over-the-air channels can have no restrictions. In addition, *only* video-on-demand or pay-per-view can have the "copy never" flag.
Anything else can be set to either "copy freely" or "copy once." In the case of John Adams, the cable company “accidentally” set the "copy never" flag, and TiVo respected it because it is required to do so to keep its certification from CableLabs. TiVo degraded the experience for their customers because the cable cartel mandated it.
Oh, and just to muddle things up a bit more: Most cable company DVRs don’t respect any of the flags. A cable company's own DVR is apparently exempt from the CableLab certification process. So the only folks who got screwed by the mix up with John Adams were folks who own third-party DVRs.
See? Simple.
/kyle
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Violent video games
Hey jamoto,
Can’t remember the episode but it’s the one discussing the effects of violent games.
So I got to thinking, if violent games encourage violent behavior, then surely sporting games should encourage the same? And musical games make you more musical?
Just a thought.
Cheers
Kevin
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Ringback tones
To clarify, from 9-5pm I have the regular ring ring as my ringback tone. After 5pm it’s my ringback tone. If they start complaining that they hate my tone, then I go into my account and set it so that whenever they call me no matter what time they hear it just to annoy them even further because that’s what a good friend does.
Peterjon
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The Ting Tings
The Ting Tings sing “Shut Up and Let Me Go”, the song used in the newest iPod + iTunes commercial, entitled “Gamma”.
**insert love the show noise here**,
Dylan from Missouri
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Napster story
Hey all,
I was very interested in your story on Napster selling its entire catalog of MP3s for 99 cents each. I am in the process of making a playlist for myself of the top 10 songs of the year for radio station 91X 1983-1992 (when I was 11-20 years old and living in San Diego County). About half the songs I already had on CD’s, another 40 percent I was able to get off of Amazon Unbox, and two songs I had to get from ITunes. The rest of the songs I can’t find anywhere legally without buying the entire CD.
I looked on Napster to see if they had a better selection, but the only song I could find that I still need is “Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. I don’t know what the Amazon Unbox song total is, but in my small unscientific sampling, Napster wasn’t any better.
Also, Napster has one *big* drawback for people that want a whole album.
As far as I could tell, you had to buy each MP3 separately. So if an album has 14 songs, it costs $13.86, while the same album would be $9.99 or less at Amazon Unbox.
If anyone knows how to get legal MP3’s of General Public, Midnight Oil, P.I.L., and Camouflage, please pass me the info!
Brian of Fairfield, California (home of the Jelly Belly factory)
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YouTomb
Thought this was neat:
MIT’s YouTomb catalogs videos yanked from YouTube
http://youtomb.mit.edu/
Jim Lunsford