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Buzz Out Loud 941: Urine nation

The Streamy awards made me think of how Hollywood and the video bloggers are starting to come together. It made Natali think about urination. So maybe they need to rethink branding. We also tell you how violent video games will make you see better.

Tom Merritt Former CNET executive editor
4 min read

The Streamy awards made me think of how Hollywood and the video bloggers are starting to come together. It made Natali think about urination. So, maybe they need to rethink branding. We also tell you how violent video games will make you see better. For real.


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EPISODE 941

Happy fourth birthday! I can’t believe Buzz Out Loud has been around for four years. Here’s hoping for four more! –Joseph in Ohio
http://buzzoutloud.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_1

Streamy Awards dominated by Felica Day
http://newteevee.com/2009/03/29/joss-whedon-felicia-day-and-a-pile-of-streamys/

Google gives away music in China
https://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE52T22P20090330

Disney and YouTube close to content deal, report says
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162185/disney_and_youtube_close_to_content_deal_report_says.html

AND/OR: Disney, Hulu restart talks over ABC shows--report
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090328/media_nm/us_disney_hulu

Pirate Bay coming to Facebook
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/29/2040256

Red Hat: Recession is good for our business
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/03/red-hat-succeeding-despite-recession.ars

Video games ‘can improve vision’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7967381.stm

Skype for iPhone: It’s official
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12261_7-10206786-51.html

Twitter integration could come to OnStar
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/28/twitter-integration-could-come-to-onstar/

Mouthy billionaire Mark Cuban fined for using Twitter
http://gawker.com/5189516/mouthy-billionaire-mark-cuban-fined-for-using-twitter
http://blogmaverick.com/2009/03/29/are-tweets-copyrighted/

University offers social media degree about Facebook, Twitter, and Bebo
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/5073683/University-offers-social-media-degree-about-Facebook-Twitter-and-Bebo.html

Hotelicopter: April Fool’s come early
http://www.hotelicopter.com/

VOICEMAIL
Shane in LasVegas
iPhone patent art

Anonymous
"Family Guy" is setting a bad example

E-MAIL
Molly mentioned the E74 error last week. It turns out that I got that error. I called M$ and after troubleshooting I was told it was a hardware failure. I was informed that the console was out of warranty. I found that strange since I had heard that they had a 3 year warranty and my box was manufactured less than two years ago. I was informed that the three years are only for the RROD problem. The console repair would cost $120 but I could save $20 if I did it online. Unfortunately every time I tried to do it online I kept getting and internal server error(500). I informed the CSR about my online problem and I got the discount after being escalated (probably to the guy in the next cubicle).

Nice way to stop bleeding money M$. Change the way the error shows up and now they can make money on the deal. If it wasn’t for my zombie shooting 10 year old this would make a nice addition to my trash day collection.

LTS

Vicente
In San Diego

**********

Hey Buzz crew,

Just dropping you a link to let you know that the sturdy Mars rovers are once again back in action. Five years and not a red ring of death in sight. Can NASA take over making xbox 360s?

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/26mar_marsroverupdate.htm?list227107

–aslan00cm

**********

In the mid 70’s the CB Radio became an everyman’s way to connect to other people. With the CB you could find and talk to people you didn’t know, get help, avoid speed traps, and find information of all sorts. You did all this while using a “handle” as a substitute for your actual name. The CB exploded in popularity. Hollywood jumped on board and the CB was featured in a long list of now forgettable movies ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens‘_band_radio#CB_in_movies ). Then as quickly as it appeared, the CB faded away.

Will Twitter see the same rapid adoption and slow fade?

Breaker One Nine

Wally from Minnesota - aka twitter.com/twdixon

**********

Hey guys,

I love when you talk about stuff I know about…

There are about 1 000 000 000 000 neurons in your brain, and some may have
upwards of 10 000 synapses. The human nervous system is massively parallel
and hierarchical. (This is called the Hughlings Jackson principle).

Compare this to the lovely flatworm, the nematode. It has 302 neurons, and
we know what every circuit does, and, we know the whole frakking genome. So
the nematode is used a lot as a model for learning at the synaptic level,
whereas more complex processes are usually looked at with neural network
models. These models are just computer programs. Indeed, I learned how to
write such code in grad school, where my foreign language was Turbo Pascal
(no kidding). It seems that the research project you are talking about
combines the best of both worlds.

BTW, the synaptic process involved in learning is likely a phenomenon called
long term potentiation. This was first postulated by Canadian
neuropsychologist, Donald Hebb.

I wonder if I should count these emails to BOL as publications on my CV, my
annual report to the Dean is due soon…..

Dave (the psychologist)

Watch this: Ep. 941: Urine nation