Buzz Out Loud 942: Fill up on Confickerdoodles

A new scanner developed by Kaminsky and friends can help find Conficker-infected machines. We're so drenched in Conficker news at this point that I think the Girl Scouts have started selling Confickerdoodles. We also analyze Netflix's Blu-ray-rate hike, and try to decide why they're fighting over toilets in space.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 942

Netflix to hike up monthly Blu-ray fee by up to $8 a month
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10207302-2.html

New method for detecting Conficker discovered, debuted
http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/03/new-method-for-detecting-conficker-discovered-debuted.ars

YouTube gets Disney
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123844481702470815.html

American Airlines to expand Wi-Fi in planes
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/31/1247225

Apps to dominate CTIA Wireless 2009
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12261_7-10207651-51.html

Skype app for iPhone to launch Tuesday, but not in Canada
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/03/30/skype-iphone.html

Is Google pulling tethering apps from the Android Market?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/31/is-google-pulling-tethering-apps-from-the-android-market/

Contrarian Google launches investment fund
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10207853-76.html

Two dead in NY: May be payback for an online scam. That’ll learn ya’.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/03/31/sports/s070646D86.DTL&tsp=1

Dead Wii guy
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2348477.ece

Man uses 35 cable modems to provide Wi-Fi, sued by Comcast
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/03/comcast-goes-after-illegal-resale-of-its-internet-service.ars

Microsoft kills Encarta — what took so long?
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/10286-msn-encarta-to-be-discontinued/

Cold War standoff over ISS toilet
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/31/1332257

VOICEMAIL
Robert the Kiwi
Why so Mac-centric

Christian from Browntown
Natali, don’t fear helicopters.

E-MAIL
It seems to me and to many others who listen to the show that Natali Del Conte is quick to stereotype and judge all those who live between the two coasts of the United States. She has made disparaging remarks about the southern states, rural areas and, most recently, even the viewers of ‘The Family Guy’. I don’t watch the show and I have no idea what the target demographic is, but she implied that they would be the most likely to still have analog TVs, a condition that seems to be a mark of shame in her world. Not only is this assumption probably wrong, it is what Christopher Hitchens calls poor comedy: “jokes that
only stupid people laugh at”.

Furthermore, I can’t help but think that Natali’s cute face and ability to turn her head to the right angle for a photograph is the only reason she has a job in tech journalism. I’m sure her looks have granted her many a door opening that would otherwise have been closed. Who’s judging now? You know what it’s like, Natali. I don’t expect this to be read on the air, but that is your decision.
I continue to listen to the show and except for the occasional inane
comment, I enjoy it immensely. Thank you.

Matthew Dattilo
Jeffersonville, IN

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You said my last name on the podcast! Sort of! Why don’t I have any of that Dairy Queen money?

Eric Brasure

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Hey Buzz Crew,

Regarding Vicente’s email in episode 941 and previous emails about the E74 error. I can, in fact, confirm that there is not conspiracy that the E74 error and RRoD are the same error that was just changed in the NXE update. You see, I have had BOTH errors in my short 2 years of owning an XBox 360. I got the E74 error last year and then, about 2 days after updating to NXE, I got the RRoD. Thankfully, I got then in that order so that it was covered by my regular warrantee for E74 and the extended RRoD warrantee later.

Love the show,
Dan from Wisconsin

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Hey Buzz Crew,

I know you guys have a big hate on for my preferred mobile OS, but you forgot to mention that Windows Mobile has supported Skype for years now. And guess what? It runs on either WiFi or cellular data connections and can be minimized and run in the background!

…but I guess the fact that the iPhone has just come out with a limited functionality version of Skype is the big news

…love the show!

Mike

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Hey Buzz crew,

I was watching the (unintentionally) funny 60minutes “The INterwbehszor iz ze inFECTED”
episode and like many other finns (tho I live in Sweden) noticed the “hacker hunters” lack
of knowledge about his “enemy”.

At about 10:46 of this video: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4901282n
They show a picture of what they claim is a russian hacker group and even point to one
saying this guy is called Tempest etc.

Little does he know he has just been pwned by a Finnish internet joke and that the picture
is about 5 years old.

This picture was originally used as part of an internet joke called Isän Maan Puollustajat:
http://www.pelulamu.net/viznut/web/isanmaa/
Basicly the picture was taken from IRC-Galleria (http://irc-galleria.net/index.php) and then
added to a page with a lot of badly writen neo-nazi huff and buff and has been online for
at least 5 years. The guys in the picture were neo-nazis, but have apparently given that
up once they grew up.

As a funny coincidence the name Tempest is the name of a finnish demoscener whose
work was stolen by Timbaland (judge yourself based on the evidence, I believe it tho,
Timbaland is a waste of air if you ask me), the same guy who came up with the joke was
also collecting material for Tempest vs. Timbaland: http://www.pelulamu.net/timbaland/

So, maybe CBS should do a bit more fact checking on who they have on as their “experts”.
There is a lot of Finns laughing at 60minutes right now and this “news” is actually been
picked up by a lot of the mainstream media as well.

Just thought I let you know, maybe you at least get a good laugh out of it, I know finland has

Love the show as they all seem to say.

//uskomaton
A Finn living in Swede