Culture

Buzz Out Loud 749: Tom no longer exists on Netflix

Netflix inspires nothing but rage in Tom, Molly, Jason, AND Natali with its announcement that it will not only get rid of profiles, but erase all the data of the profile-holders. Tom? Quitting.

Molly Wood Former Executive Editor

Molly Wood was an executive editor at CNET, author of the Molly Rants blog, and host of the tech show, Always On. When she's not enraging fanboys of all stripes, she can be found offering tech opinions on CBS and elsewhere, and offering opinions on everything else to anyone who will listen.

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Molly Wood

June 19, 2008 12:07 p.m. PT

4 min read

Netflix inspires nothing but rage in Tom, Molly, Jason, and Natali with its announcement that it will not only get rid of profiles, but also erase all the data of the profile-holders. Tom? Quitting. Netflix? Claiming hardly anyone will be affected. We also suggest that Netflix consider the approach of Microsoft, which heard the furious cries of the 46 people who bought DRM'd tunes from MSN Music, and is extending its support for that DRM through 2011. Hint hint, Netflix, hint hint.
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EPISODE 749

Netflix To Eliminate Profiles Feature
http://www.netflix.com/Help?p_faqid=3962&nlid=20427.1001179.0.1.0.0&eid=T1dbO9MEwQ0c
http://blog.netflix.com/2008/06/profiles-feature-going-away.html
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/06/19/0337233.shtml
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/19/0337233

Microsoft does 180, will continue to support MSN Music DRM
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080618-microsoft-does-180-will-continue-to-support-msn-music-drm.html

Free music service Qtrax is back with… wait, no it isn’t
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080619-free-music-service-qtrax-is-back-with-wait-no-it-isnt.html

Mozilla Firefox 3 vulnerability
http://dvlabs.tippingpoint.com/blog/2008/06/18/vulnerability-in-mozilla-firefox-30

Yahoo Mail hopes to lure users with ‘ymail.com’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9972349-7.html

Court limits employer access to worker messages
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/E/ELECTRONIC_PRIVACY?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-06-19-08-12-28

Swedish parliament approves bugging bill, after delay
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/061808-swedish-parliament-approves-bugging-bill.html

Teens use technology to party in strangers’ pools
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/06/18/tech_aids_pool_crashing/

VOICE MAIL

Robert
About upgrading to new Firefox.

Doug
More T-Mobile iPhone rumors.

Tracy Atlanta
OR it could be this.

E-MAIL

Hi Tom, Molly, and Jason–

Sources of the 911 calls? We can attribute most of our emergency calls (Fire/EMS) via cell phone. And yes in our area, E911 does work.
(Background info: Our response district is a primarily a “economically challenged” area.)

*Regular 911 in a city goes to the respective city’s “dispatch center”. Not necessarily the exact city you are in. When they call, the number does not provide additional info like “big dog that bites” on the CAD system. This system is relatively out of date.

*Enhanced 911 is a regional type dispatch center (I think proper term is PSAP or Public Safety Access Point).
Most of the calls get automatically routed to the respective dispatch center-from the info attached to the E911 call.
Additionally, E911 does provide info to our responders like “big dog that bites”. Emergency Responders like this kind of report because it gives us more info and we can get to you faster without your dog biting us.
Note: E911 only works with systems that already have 911.

Regional centers with delay of calls? There are metropolitian areas in the US that have regional call centers (usually county run)--Assigned from Federal Governmnet funding (”Regionalization”). The delay is usually 30 seconds for them to manually route the call.
Again-most of the calls get automatically routed to the respective dispatch center-from the information attached to the E911 call.

Your major worries? In vehicle systems such as OnStar do delay the process because they ask questions like “Are you OK? We show an airbag deployment-Shall I call 911 for you?” Freaking idiots at Onstar. Just call 911 regardless. Obviously, OnStar folks have NEVER seen an airbag deployed…ever. (Note: Just my opinion).

Tom: Last figures I got? 911 service is available to 94% of the US.
But because of the publication of the “911″ emergency number, most of the country ASSUMES that 911 works everywhere.

If anyone has further questions on these issues, I suggest you call your local area Fire Department and they will be happy to help you out.

--Fire Chief Kevin
Buzztown Fire Department

P.S. I believe, since all residents of Buzztown are technologically sound, that we have an E911 or A911 service (Awesome 911)….

Hi JaMoTo. I’m a regular BOL listener and UserFriendly.org fan. I’ve heard you mention their Link of the Day before and wanted to let you know that my site made the cut today. Thought you might like to know one of your audience members got the call.

--Dan
The Pompous Ass Words Site
http://www.pompousasswords.com

The cake is a lie: IE team bakes a treat for Mozilla
via Digg / Technology on 6/18/08

In honor of today’s Firefox 3 release, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team gave a cake to Mozilla. The tasty treat, which prominently displays IE’s blue “e” icon, just arrived here at Mozilla headquarters in Mountain View.

--Daniel