X

Buzz Out Loud 998: Dot communism

Chinese filtering software has been criticized for having holes. The solution? Fix it. How communist. We also give you a hack for getting free tethering on the iPhone and we bemoan the fate of MySpace.

Tom Merritt Former CNET executive editor
4 min read

Chinese filtering software has been criticized for having holes. The solution? Fix it. How communist. We also give you a hack for getting free tethering on the iPhone and we bemoan the fate of MySpace.


Listen now:
Download today's podcast
Subscribe now: iTunes (audio) | iTunes (video) | RSS (audio) | RSS (video)

EPISODE 998

Opera Unite aims to reinvent the Web
http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2009/06/hi-my-name-is-opera-and-ill-be-your-server-today.html

http://mashable.com/2009/06/16/opera-unite/

AT&T won’t charge extra for MMS on iPhone
http://www.applethoughts.com/news/show/94126/at-t-not-planning-on-charging-for-mms.html

…And here’s how to get free tethering
http://9to5mac.com/9to5mac-tether-iPhone-hack

Hackers find remote iPhone crack
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/06/16/0017221/Hackers-Find-Remote-iPhone-Crack

Facebook finally catches up to MySpace in the U.S.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/15/facebook-finally-catches-up-to-myspace-in-the-us/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10265163-2.html

MySpace slashes head count by 30 percent
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10265566-36.html

Twitter downtime gets delayed for Iranian election news
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10265213-2.html

Chinese filtering software ordered to be cleaned up
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/business/global/16censor.html

Blackberry Tour for international Sprint and Verizon customers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67187&full_skip=1

Mercedes demos a car with airbags *everywhere*
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10263120-48.html

Cars driving in the parking lot generate electricity to power a U.K. supermarket
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1193070/Shoppers-cars-soon-able-power-supermarkets.html

Science Academies: Renewable power tech ready for big growth
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/06/science-academies-renewable-power-tech-ready-for-big-growth.ars

VOICEMAIL
Shalin – Ranger Panda for Mascot

Aaron – Another way to call out from Google Voice

E-MAIL
Dear Buzz Crew:

One again this is Siavash, from Tehran/Iran. As you may know from the news there a revolution going on in Iran, after the changes in votes by Iran's government, people are on the street every day and night.
We have no access to technology at all, all the mobile services and SMS,MMS and EDGE services are down, Facebook, YouTube and many other sites have been filtered, most of the time there is no internet connection with ADSL lines and a very powerful noise in satellite services, because of these problems I was not able to send you the videos I made for 1000 episode of BOL, know I'm using a 2way satellite service which has a very low bandwidth because of the noise, and I'm not able to download or stream BOL anymore.

Just wanted to say congratulations to all you guys for making this 1000 episode happen, I've enjoyed every minute of the show since the episode 50 or 60 that I started listening, and I have to say you guys are the best in tech field.

I hope there will be a day that we could have proper internet access and I could join you guys again.
Here is a link to my Facebook album and some pictures of what is going on in Tehran : https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24107&id=1081415824&l=c9e2b20028

I Love the Show, YOU ARE THE BEST

Best Regards

Siavash

***********

Hey BOL,

Just wanted to pass on an idea on getting subsidized iphone upgrades annually, instead of every 2 years. My friend does this and it’s so simple. I can’t believe no one else has sent this in. All he did was add a second line to his account for 9.99 per month. The second line shares minutes, has no extras, no texting, nothing. Just the cheapest 2nd line plan you can get. Now he can upgrade either line and have the AT&T store switch phone numbers on each line everytime he upgrades. If you want to get the new iphone each year, it might be work 120 bucks per year to have the luxury of upgrading yearly at the subsidized price.

Love the show,
Ragan

***********

Hey Guys,
By now, I’m sure someone has mentioned this already, but thought I’d pass it along.

In epised 994 you discussed maps for the iPhone and the possibility of TomTom using Open Street Maps. TomTom bought TeleAtlas a year or two ago, so it’s doughtful they can lower their cost with open source maps.

Love the show, keep rockin’ Molly,

Mike

***********

I think it is great that Microsoft is donating to the poor for everyone who downloads IE8. Now can we get them to donate $6 for each person who downloaded IE6 and put this in a fund for the mental health care of all the web professionals who had to support that piece of #$%&^*?

Chris the podcaster

L.T.S.

***********

The 1000th episode is Thursday June 18th. There will be no pre-show, here will be a live audience it will be streamed live on cnet.com/live. There will be audio and video on demand afterwards in the normal podcast feeds.

1000th episode meetup in San Francisco: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113374732587

Send us buzz at buzz@cnet.com or call us at 1-800-616-CNET (2638)