Buzz Out Loud 905: Buzz off malaria

We were really thinking about calling this episode something to do with prehistoric snake. Because Natali is very into the prehistoric snakes. Although she can't kill them. Instead we discuss Bill Gates releasing mosquitoes at TED, the Congress sort of delaying the DTV transition, and Google trying to steal your health information.

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EPISODE 905

Bill Gates Unleashes Mosquitoes On Rich TED Conference Crowd
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2009/2/bill-gates-unleashes-mosquitoes-on-rich-ted-crowd
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7871210.stm

DTV delay passes, 264-158
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/02/dtv-delay-passes-264-158.ars

AP suing over Obama picture
http://www.usatoday.com/life/2009-02-04-AP-obama_N.htm

Google can read your vital signs
http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/04/google-ibm-healthcare-technology-internet_0205_google.html

Google books for iPhone and Android
http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2009/02/15-million-books-in-your-pocket.html

Google offline calendar
http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/static.py?page=offline_faq.html&hl=en

In games, brains work differently when playing against a human
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/02/humans-think-different-when-told-theyre-playing-a-human.ars

Microsoft offers to just ‘Fix it’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10157210-56.html

Yes! It’s the cardboard PC!
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/02/05/recompute/

Parking ticket leads to a virus
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7872299.stm

MIT researchers make ’sixth sense’ gadget
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c3b86e67d015d664d720fa421d679c0f.311

Prehistoric monster-snake
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/02/05/giant.snake.colombia/index.html?eref=rss_tech

VOICE MAIL
Paul from Verizon Wireless
We have service on cruise ships

Nathan the physics teacher from Tennessee
OK Natali. I got words for you.

E-MAIL
Hi Janato,

Listening to episode 902 and Natali on the E Slick reader and her desire for it to be a little more like the Kindle, I was jumping up and down for somebody to mention this product I’d just written about on my blog. The as yet unreleased reader has it all but no word on price, hope you like it, I think it’s got real potential.

http://mygadgetlife.co.uk/start/?p=684

I did think about leaving a message but being from Yorkshire I’ve got an even more unfathomable accent than that guy from Liverpool, eh up sithe! (pronounced hey up sith-i thats hello and how are you - in translation)

Love the show (electronic voice style)

Phil

---

Hello Buzz Folk-

I was listening to BOL 904 on Tuesday and was a little surprised to hear
about your concern at the sale of some of Verizon’s spectrum to AT&T as
a condition of the Alltel acquisition. If Verizon has to sell off some
spectrum the conditions of these deals usually insist that a carrier not
own both of the primary A and B spectrum in any given market. This
usually refers to the 800 MHz cellular spectrum and is most strongly
enforced in rural areas without as many options for carriers. I haven’t
looked at the details but I assume that much of the spectrum is in
markets where Verizon formerly competed with Alltel. Remember that
spectrum is licensed by not only by frequency but also by geographic
area. As long as Verizon still has a nationwide license for spectrum
they will not be loosing coverage.

That was long and probably won’t be read but hope that clears some
things up.

-Ryan
Physics Teacher in Boston

---

Hey Buzz Crew, Brenton the computer Scientist here,

I have been an avid listener since around the 500’s and always enjoy listening to the show on the commute to work. How ever, when I am listening on my laptop I like to keep an eye on the show notes, and this is not always possible because of work etc. so i decided to create a widget for my Mac which contains the show notes of the latest episodes. So a little time later I have it working, and I have included the link for any Mac users among the army who have the same problem.

http://support.callaghan001.com/widgets/bolRSS/

Love the show, and I have seen a Kindle in the wild.

Brenton.

---

Buzz Clique,

First of all, bravo for mobilizing the Buzz Brigade to drink
themselves into oblivion. I’m sure whatever sinister plans you have
for this evil buzz datacenter will benefit us all. I - like a lemming
- will follow our overloads to wherever we need to be, even if that is
at the bottom of a whiskey bottle. Anyway, drinking gallons of whiskey
gave me something interesting to do whilst I was passing the time off
work due to the recent #uksnow you may have seen tweeted repeatedly.

I admire the quality of intellectual characters we have in Buzz Town,
however I noticed that all the mathmatical ability in the world
doesn’t equate to a high level of perception, leading to what I
believe to be what you guys call a ‘well actually’.

You see, cranky what’s-his-face and the other math dude have made a
fatal oversight to their whiskey powering calculations. The crux of
their figures is centred around how much energy is in whiskey. Luckily
the Scots had it figures out so they could still get mashed on the
whiskey while reaping the benefits of it’s BYPRODUCTS.

So I’m afraid our intrepid mathematicians will have to rethink their
figures based on leftovers rather than the actual whiskey itself.

Hopefully by some remarkable turn of events the byproduct is something
like dilithium crystals or the like. I’d rather be an alcoholic - in
spaaaaace.

Big up your shoes and socks and of course I’m affectionate towards
your show.

Greg The Garage Head from London town (That’s garage as in ga-ridge
not ga-raahhhshh. It rolls off the tongue better that way)

---

Hey BOL crew,

Steven the Biologist from Montréal here. In regards to your discussion of plugging in electric vehicles in Episode 903, a simple combination of technologies should easily solve the problem of where to plug in your vehicle when you’re on the road: take electric vehicles and combine them with wireless power (such as the eCoupled / PowerCast devices showcased at CES this year), add a sprinkle of RFID, and bake until done. Once the wireless power device are a bit more advanced, you could conceivably build them into the roads themselves as cities and businesses roll out new roadway infrastructure. Add in a unique identifier for each vehicle, like an RFID device, and your car could be identified as it charged off a particular surface. Paying for this service could go into the private or public sector or both as appropriate; it’s conceivable that you could pay your local utility for charging just like you pay for power at your house.

Sounds like a winning combination to me.

Cheers,
Steven.