Hi, I'm Molly Wood, and welcome to the Buzz Report, the show about the tech news
that everyone's talking about. This week, it's the new iPhone, of course. Also, a
billion future Facebookers, tweets in Russian, and unicorns!
But first, it's the Gadget of the Week.
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The Gadget of the Week is *not* the iPhone 4, as everyone might expect. As it turns out, there are other
gadgets out in the world. I know, right? Who knew? But we'll get to that later. For now, the Gadget of the
Week is the Droid X. Verizon very cleverly held an announcement on Wednesday, the day before the
iPhone 4 launch, to give details about the next Droid. And it's a beauty. It's kind of like Verizon's version of
the Evo, but not with 4G. It DOES have a 1 gigaherz processor, a 4.3-inch display, HDMI out, an 8
megapixel camera that takes 720p high-res video, and like the Evo, it can act as a hotspot for up to 10
devices, for an extra fee. And it goes on sale .. well, in mid-July. But you can't blame them for trying to
steal some iPhone thunder. Ok, and speaking of which ...
It's iPhone 4 week. Some folks who managed to get a pre-order through got a nice surprise -- a phone in the
mail as early as Tuesday, June 22nd. A couple showed up here on Wednesday the 23rd, but of course,
Thursday was the Big Day of iPhone Lines.
Interestingly, Best Buy and AT&T both said they would not have any phones in stock on the 24th, and
Apple said the white version won't be available until the middle or end of July. Way to draw out the buzz
with the summer-long lines, there, Apple. Smart.
The reviews are in, and not surprisingly, they're pretty positive. But of course, all the reviewers are in San
Francisco or New York, so most of them are saying the biggest problem with the iPhone is, you guessed it,
AT&T. Maybe if some tech reviewers set up shop in Omaha, it'd be a whole different story.
Also in the news this week, in case you were wondering, social networking is a thing.
Russian president Dimitry Medvedev is in San Francisco this week, and among his stops? Twitter
headquarters. He stopped by for a sit-down with Ev and Biz, and while he was there, he sent his first
tweets. I was all excited to follow him, but then I remembered ... I don't know Russian.
Speaking of Russia, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confidently declared this week that it's almost a
guarantee the site will reach one BILLION users in the next three to five years. They've just got to get
Russia, China, Japan, and Korea on board. Those are the only four countries where Facebook is not the
leading social network. And I wish Zuck was exaggerating, but um. He's not. This is the new Internet,
people. Get used to it.
And now, for a new segment on the Buzz Report that we're calling ... Lawyers Gone Wild.
ThinkGeek dot com got a 12-page cease and desist letter this week from the National Pork Board because
they described a product on their site as the "new white meat." The Pork Board said that infringed on its
trademarked slogan, "the other white meat." But here's the thing. The "new white meat" in question here?
It's Canned Unicorn Meat, and it's from a listing that was an April Fool's joke.
The Pork Board sent ThinkGeek a 12-PAGE CEASE AND DESIST letter over an April Fool's joke about
UNICORN MEAT that didn't even SAY, "the other white meat," it just said, "white meat." How much did
this cost the pork farmers of America in legal fees?
OH. And HERE'S THE KICKER. The National Pork Board is actually planning to ditch "the other white
meat" slogan completely. But I guess the lawyers still plan to use it. Once a cash cow, always a cash cow.
Or unicorn. In this case.
And finally, let's have a look at what's Clogging the Tubes. Obviously, that Kesha song Tik Tok was
begging to be mashed up with the original Star Trek. I mean, who couldn't see that?
Now that is some good editing. And way more watchable than the actual video, that's for sure. Yuck.
And that's the Buzz Report for this week, everyone. I'm Molly Wood, and thanks for watching.