Ep. 947: Walk this Wii

>> Jason Howell: Today is Tuesday April 7, 2009. >> Natali Del Conte: I'm Natali Del Conte. >> Tom Merritt: I'm Tom Merritt. >> Jason Howell: And I'm Jason Howell. >> Natali Del Conte: Welcome to Buzz Out Loud: CNET's Podcast of Indeterminate Length. This is Episode 947 and Brian Cooley has ditched us for the day. >> Tom Merritt: Yes, and for no reason. He didn't give us a reason why. >> Jason Howell: No. >> Tom Merritt: He was just like "Oh did I tell you I was canceling? Yeah I'm canceling." >> Jason Howell: Oh you mean I didn't? >> Natali Del Conte: [Laughter] >> Jason Howell: Sorry. >> Tom Merritt: And it's sad cause he really -- he really does want to rant about the Segway PUMA... >> Jason Howell: He does. >> Tom Merritt: ...that we're going to get to later as we go. >> Natali Del Conte: I know. I really wanted to hear what he says. I have a rant of my own but it doesn't have to do with actual technology of that, so we'll have to get him to talk about it when he comes back. >> Tom Merritt: Yes, yes we'll bring it back. >> Natali Del Conte: But for now -- for now we're going to talk about Google Health and Microsoft Health Vault because both of those services have news. Google Health has expanded its deal with CVS which is the pharmacy. There are not too many of those in California. >> Tom Merritt: CVS not CBS. >> Jason Howell: Right. >> Natali Del Conte: Yeah. >> Tom Merritt: Just make sure everybody realizes. >> Natali Del Conte: We don't have a partnership with Google Health. >> Tom Merritt: No. >> Natali Del Conte: CVS the pharmacy does and now they're going to take all of your prescription... >> Jason Howell: They're going to take all your prescriptin [assumed spelling] and do it for you. >> Natali Del Conte: [Laughter] Prescriptin sounds like a drug. >> Jason Howell: It does. It totally does. >> Tom Merritt: [Inaudible] experience. >> Jason Howell: [Laughter] >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, CVS is like we used to be Hook's Drugs or they bought Hook's Drugs. It's kind of a Midwestern East Coast area chain. They bought Eckerd too I think. >> Natali Del Conte: Is there one in California? I don't think I've ever seen one. >> Tom Merritt: I think I may have seen like one maybe in like L.A. suburbs or something. Yeah, but they're not very widespread. We're kind of a Walgreen's territory here. >> Natali Del Conte: Right. So but if you use CVS to get your prescriptions, now you can import all of your prescription history into Google Health and manage it that way. And I use it for -- I've used it for Walgreen's and so I can see all the prescriptions that I have there and when they expire. I have asthma so I need kind of a regular update on when my inhalers expire so that I can back for that. So this is very handy. I wish it worked with Duane Reade because that's what I use here in New York, but that's probably coming. >> Tom Merritt: Apparently there's a CVS on Van Ness in San Francisco that I was unaware of. Somebody in the chat room mentioned that. But yeah it's... >> Natali Del Conte: Yeah, I think it's in the marina. >> Tom Merritt: ...it's a cool idea to do your prescription information online. Pharmacies have done it for a long time for you but you haven't had access to it. So the difference here is that Google gives you some access to it so that you can see it. And then Microsoft is signing up customers for the Health Vault Service through the New York Presbyterian Hospital. Starting Sunday patients of that hospital can export their records to a Microsoft Health Vault account and get a look at their medical history that is saved in that hospital: so again, a way to steward your own health records. Now of course both of these bring up 2 big problems: one is privacy and the other is compatibility. >> Natali Del Conte: Well privacy yes. That's been something that's a big deal since Google Health launched. It's not a new issue because they're with CVS. I personally don't have a problem with it but the concerns are that if you have a disease that maybe is a bit more embarrassing or you'd want to keep that to yourself... >> Tom Merritt: Right. >> Natali Del Conte: ...that it becomes a privacy issue because if you're Google -- it's all living behind one little, tiny password. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, and it's living on Google's servers and if somebody hacks into their servers or Microsoft's servers in the Health Vault case, you know your data is in somebody else's hands. I imagine that it's probably safer in their hands than it is... >> Jason Howell: Right. >> Tom Merritt: ...on the average desktop considering the amount of viruses and Trojans and things out there. But you don't feel as in control when it's stored by somebody else. >> Jason Howell: And you've never really had an outward facing company like this have access to this type of information. >> Tom Merritt: Right. >> Jason Howell: So it's kind of like the first -- it's like the baby step into this foray. I guess Google would be the one that I would think of that I would trust out of any of them? >> Tom Merritt: Oh really? >> Jason Howell: Yeah, for some reason. >> Tom Merritt: You would? You're very credulous with Google aren't you? >> Jason Howell: [Laughter] >> Natali Del Conte: Well who else would we want to do it? >> Jason Howell: Right exactly. Who else would we trust to do it? >> Natali Del Conte: If we're going to go towards electronic records of our health. Microsoft: I 'm okay with that. Yahoo: I probably would be okay with that. Google: I'm okay with that. But any kind of other third party I wouldn't get on board with. >> Tom Merritt: What about security companies? Somebody like you know in an encryption? >> Natali Del Conte: Like Symantec? >> Jason Howell: I don't know. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, I don't think so. >> Jason Howell: I don't think so. >> Tom Merritt: I think that's the thing is there isn't anybody that you will fully trust out there. That's what makes this so thorny is that you know even though - like I say - it rationally is safe, it just gets under your skin and makes you a little weirded out that you know this big company -- because right now you trust them but you know companies change over time. >> Jason Howell: Yeah. >> Tom Merritt: Look at Microsoft. They've changed radically in different ways over their whatever, 20, 30 year history now. So you know, who's to say that Google won't drop the "Don't be evil" from their mission statement. >> Jason Howell: Or just drop the "don't." Yeah, exactly. >> Tom Merritt: And then where are you going to be? >> Natali Del Conte: Yeah, I don't know. I think there are a lot of other things to get worked up about. If we're going to go towards electronic health records, I think this is a good way to go. And you don't have to. You can keep getting written prescriptions and waste trees if you really like that but I think "Why not?" You know? >> Tom Merritt: Then there's also the compatibility issue which is less of a big deal but it is sort of this like "What if I go to CVS and I get admitted to New York Presbyterian Hospital? Now I have to have 2 sets of records?" >> Natali Del Conte: Right. >> Tom Merritt: You know there's not compatibility between these two and I think that's something that will become a bigger problem later on as more people begin to use this. Not as much of a big deal right now because the subset of people is very small. >> Natali Del Conte: Right and right now the insurance companies don't work with the various pharmacies so it's a big pain in the butt. The last time I was in San Francisco I needed to refill my inhaler, but because I had already refilled it at Duane Reade and forgot to pick it up before I left to go home to San Francisco, then the insurance company wanted to charge me like 500 dollars or however much it is to buy Albuterol and that was a big pain in the butt. >> Tom Merritt: Right. >> Natali Del Conte: So if they were standardized and I could just go into Google Health and say "Drop it from Duane Reade and then pick it up at Walgreen's," then that would have made my life a lot easier. They don't work that way right now and so the insurance companies are trying to work with Google Health right now as well, but if you have an insurance company that's not there, then you're kind of hosed. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah. It's kind of like with Sudafed. You know, if you want to buy the real deal Sudafed you have to go and show your ID. And so in a family, you have to remember who bought it last... >> Jason Howell: Yeah. >> Tom Merritt: ...because there's a limit on the amount you can buy over a certain period of time. It's like "Okay you have to go buy the Sudafed now because I bought it last time and we don't want to you know, get busted for you know, trying to meth-lab because we're just trying to solve our cold." I think that whole thing's ridiculous but that's not a tech story. Let's move onto Australia, not just because it's a pretty place to visit but because they are going to try to build a national high-speed broadband network to the tune of 43 billion Australian dollars that takes fiber to the premises which means instead of not just fiber to the home, they're going to run fiber to pretty much every building in 90 percent of Australia. >> Natali Del Conte: And this is going to be a government sponsored initiative but it will be a public company which is kind of odd because Australia has had several initiatives like this. They've funded private companies to do this before but it was not - like Tom was saying - to every building. It was fiber to the node: not fiber to the home. So all these other companies that were already working on this, they're like "What? You're going to do this yourself? Now why have we been working on this?" >> Tom Merritt: No, it's fair to say that there are plenty of places that have this right now. I mean they've got fiber to the home in New York and Toronto somebody in the chat room mentions. There's lots of places, but an entire country that is covered in kangaroos will now be covered in fiber broadband. And you know, instead of fiber to the node which is what they were getting from the private sector, they're going to have fiber right into your house: right into your head practically. >> Jason Howell: So this is interesting because you know a lot of times when we talk about you know bandwidth and caps and all of this stuff related to you know the speed of the internet and everything, we always hear from you know "down under." And they're saying you know "Well it's not as bad as it is down here," or whatever. And suddenly it kind of seems to be going in the opposite direction. They're getting the connectivity that the rest of the world wishes that they had. >> Tom Merritt: Well yeah but is it that [inaudible] a question though. >> Natali Del Conte: Right. >> Tom Merritt: They're going to get the fiber but is it going to be capped? >> Jason Howell: Right, yeah. Five gig cap a month. >> Tom Merritt: Everybody will use up their cap in the first day... >> Jason Howell: Yep. >> Tom Merritt: ...from just like browsing the internet. >> Natali Del Conte: So but I originally they had thought maybe they would just go wireless because Australia tends to be quite rural with the outbacks and the aborigines and all of that stuff, but now they're saying that they can bring fiber - hard wired fiber - to 90 percent but the remaining 10 percent, that is still too rural to get hard wired access is going to get wireless. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, they're going to use wireless to fill in the gaps which -- that seems to be the case. I got some sort of rambling angry email in the Buzz email box about how wire -- 1 ISP which the writer never named, is doing wireless broadband to fill in the gaps and that people are actually going to have better internet in the rural areas of the United States soon because of this ISP. I don't know what the ISP is, but I do know that there are lots of places out there doing that: rolling out the wireless broadband. That's how my sister gets her internet. So yeah, it could be an interesting competition between the freedom of wireless versus the fiber to the node because they you know, you still need to run Wi-Fi for yourself inside your house. And at this point, are you slowing yourself down running a wireless network because the fiber's so fast? >> Natali Del Conte: I don't know. Another couple of companies that are in competition -- well not companies, but another competition that we're watching is the Associated Press and everyone else. The Associated Press has decided that they're launching a new effort to fight against web news piracy. They're not exactly saying what they'll do but they're saying that they are going to work with newspapers and broadcasters to direct readers to landing pages that could offer news from the AP and its members, rather than unauthorized sites. So this is kind of a veiled threat towards bloggers and anyone else who is taking their news that they believe that they own outright. >> Tom Merritt: Let's be clear here. I agree that there is a problem and this is a problem not just for the Associated Press. It's a problem for any publisher including CNET, where people will take your content, wholesale, put it up on a blog and put Ad Sense words on it and try to steal your [inaudible]. >> Jason Howell: Right. >> Tom Merritt: And that is a problem and its wholesale copy write violation because you're not doing anything to ad value or transform the work. It's not fair use at all. But remember, the AP is the one who suggested that even if you quoted 5 words from an AP story, that you would have to pay a licensing fee for that. That violates fair use. AP are the ones who are trying to bring up this old 1918 case - International News Service versus the Associated Press - to say that the people who would steal news from the newspaper on the east coast and use the telegraph to send it to the west coast and get published earlier, you know were violating copy write. The judges came up with that. It's a little use precedent. They're trying to apply that to the internet today. >> Jason Howell: Impossible. >> Tom Merritt: And the big problem here is taking aim at the search engines, not just Google now. They're aiming at Digg, and Readit and any of these places including you if you put a link to an AP story in your Twitter post apparently. If you include a headline and a little about the story that tell people where they're going, it seems like they're after all of that: anybody who is repackaging it up. Google has a response out today saying like "Look, all we do is fair use. We take a headline, a little bit about what the story is, and then we link off to the licensed area. And if you don't want to be linked, we don't have a responsibility as Google to not link to you, but we're nice enough that we'll say fine. If you don't want to be linked to, we'll pull you out." And you know what? I agree. >> Natali Del Conte: Then you get no traffic. >> Jason Howell: Right. >> Tom Merritt: You should do that. Google, cut them off. Just say "You know what? Fine, we are not going to link to any Associated Press story anymore." See if that's really what they want. >> Natali Del Conte: Well yeah, and the irony is that AP's revenue grew 5 point 3 percent last year because of new media. And even in their own statement they said thanks partly to growth and new media, video and photo archives markets. And so because they're taking advantage of new media, they are seeing a new revenue growth so why are they being so stale in other ways? >> Tom Merritt: Because they're greedy. And they want to license every single word. They want Google -- they figure "Hey you know what? Google has a lot of money. Let's go after them." Google isn't even the largest source of their content: Yahoo is. Yahoo has the most AP stories and drives the most traffic to them, but they're not going after Yahoo because Yahoo's broke. [ Laughter ] They're going after Google because has the deep pockets and they think they can force them to pay for this. There's a great article out there. Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow is pointing to it. It's from Danny Daggle. He's like "Look please, get all your newspaper colleagues to agree to a National Just Say No to Google Week and let's see what happens." I bet we see them get a lot of traffic from Google for free and we actually do earn -- they realize that they get a lot traffic from Google for free and actually earn something off those pages. They realize that it turns out people can find news from other sources besides the AP. That it's not everyone that's just ripping off the AP as if they're the only font of information. >> Jason Howell: Right. >> Tom Merritt: And that people realize that being out of Google doesn't magically solve all their problems overnight. And they would have no one else to blame at that point. >> Natali Del Conte: Right and how -- they're being so vague about this threat like "We're just going to redirect people to these other landing pages." How are you going to do that? They don't even really say what they're going to do. >> Tom Merritt: Oh yeah, this is too little, too late and you know what -- the difference is they can't go after a DRM thing like they can with the MPA and the RA. They can't try to you know copy protect the font or the typeface or they would. They'd be doing it. So they're -- you know they're trying to get into the game late. And the fact of the matter is, there's plenty of us out there like CNET, like TechCrunch, like Engadget, who are doing exactly what the AP is doing for our various niches and we don't have this issue. In fact, we want Google to link to us. We want to be in the news. We spend money on SEO experts to get us into Google and raise us in there. >> Jason Howell: Yeah. >> Tom Merritt: We understand how the game is played. They don't. They want to send it back to the old days and it's not going to work. >> Natali Del Conte: Well speaking of sending back to the old days, a new Slashdot article is reporting that Microsoft is offering a downgrade from Vista into XP but there's also news that it could potentially be offering a downgrade from Windows 7 to XP is you really want to go old school. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, according to this Slashdot post, Greg Keyser has confirmed that they have broadened the options for PC makers in downgrading from Vista XP, but they wouldn't confirm there were reports that HP has been given the green light to sell downgrades -- to sell new PCs with Windows XP Pro preinstalled or that we might actually be able to downgrade Windows 7 if we wanted to, to Windows XP. >> Jason Howell: Wow. >> Natali Del Conte: So there you go. >> Tom Merritt: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Now there's an update to this that I didn't see earlier. "We will offer downgrade rights from Windows 7 to Windows XP in the same way we did with Windows Vista," a Microsoft rep said: this according to CRN.com. >> Jason Howell: Way back to XP. That's just surprising to me. It seems like a reversal of everything they've been saying before -- or you know up until now which is "No, we're ready to move on. We're ready to move on." But now it's kind of them admitting that people might have a need to stay in XP even once Windows 7 comes around? >> Tom Merritt: Yeah. >> Jason Howell: I guess for business. For business. >> Natali Del Conte: It doesn't seem like anyone's really wanting to do this though. It's just an option. >> Jason Howell: But they're giving you that option. >> Natali Del Conte: I mean is this because of demand because we haven't heard much about the demand for this. >> Tom Merritt: Maybe it's a clever ploy? Maybe they're saying "You know what? We'll offer this and then we'll show how few people do it and that will show how great Windows 7 is." >> Jason Howell: [Laughter] That could be. >> Natali Del Conte: You're such a Windows 7 conspiracy theorist. You always have a new one. >> Tom Merritt: There's something going on here. [ Laughter ] I love a good conspiracy. Who doesn't? >> Natali Del Conte: Yeah, I like a good conspiracy but I don't think so. This is just a nice option but I don't know who's doing this. Write us if you really want to go from Windows 7 to XP. >> Tom Merritt: But why would Microsoft -- they had to be dragged kicking and screaming into offering downgrades from Windows. >> Jason Howell: Exactly. >> Tom Merritt: Why would they just yeah? That's why I'm suspicious. Why would they so easily do it for Windows 7? Well, something else that's easy for you to do is get access to music on Yahoo now with their new Yahoo Artist Pages. They're no longer locked down. They're wide, wide open. You can even configure them to include links to iTunes, Amazon, Last.fm, Rhapsody, Pandora and others. >> Natali Del Conte: So when I saw this I said to myself, "This is what My Space Music was supposed to be where you can get links to get the music either free or streamed. You can link to it as a fan page." It's quite nice actually. >> Tom Merritt: I actually like this quite a bit because of that: because of the fact that I can configure it to the stuff that I like. And it seems like they have a pretty good variety of services and options to buy things. >> Natali Del Conte: Yeah, they have over 500 thousand artists already featured there although I went there and I'm like "Wow, I'm so uncool. I don't know any of the new artists anymore." >> Tom Merritt: Who is this U2? >> Natali Del Conte: All I know is Beyonce. >> Tom Merritt: Well they have Pet Shop Boys up there, come on. >> Natali Del Conte: I guess. I only listen to polka and they don't really have that. >> Tom Merritt: You're a polka-lot listener. >> Natali Del Conte: Yeah. >> Tom Merritt: Somehow I'm not buying that. >> Jason Howell: I don't know if they have a polka store on the Yahoo Music page. >> Tom Merritt: Do you have a secret stash of videos on You Tube of you dancing to polkas? >> Natali Del Conte: [Laughter] I might. I might. Now I'm going to get hate mail for hating on polka. I really don't know anything. >> Tom Merritt: The Polish are going to write it. "Why must you hate all our polkas? They are a fine, traditional dance." >> Natali Del Conte: I actually do like polka. I went to the Philharmonic and saw a partly polka concert but anyway [Laughter]. >> Tom Merritt: That's alright. We're not going to hate on polka. Can you believe she likes polka? >> Natali Del Conte: Shut up. >> Jason Howell: I'm not going to loan her my iPod. >> Tom Merritt: [Laughter] My iPolka. The other weird thing about this story is that Amazon and iTunes are listed as 2 of the places that you can link to, to get your music from the Yahoo Music pages and part of the reason for that is Amazon is up and coming. They've had 16 percent of digital music buyers last year according to Paid Content. Now that might not sound like much but they are far and away ahead of everyone else including Napster and Wal-Mart who have barely surpassed 5 percent: all these numbers coming from the NPD Group. So Amazon on the rise, headed for iTunes. And one thing that might keep them in the race - because they lost the advantage of being DRM free now that iTunes is entirely DRM free - but iTunes switched on their variable pricing today, so most of the top downloads at iTunes are now a buck 29. Some of them are 99 cents and of course there are some bargain songs out there that are lower. But at Amazon, all the top downloads are 99 cents. >> Natali Del Conte: Actually I was -- I read somewhere that in the U.K. - and I didn't find this and I wasn't able to verify it so I didn't put it in our rundown - but I read that in the U.K. Amazon was dropping prices to as little as 29 pence. So if anyone is in the U.K. and knows that for sure, write us about that. >> Tom Merritt: I definitely have seen the equivalent of that with like albums available for 399 or you know bargain songs for free that are brand new out there. Amazon just I guess the record companies like them better. >> Natali Del Conte: Maybe. >> Jason Howell: Yeah well, it's interesting too in this Engadget article because it kind of points out what Apple has said in the past about why they're charging you know a buck 29. And they kind of superimpose these 2 images from iTunes and Amazon MP3 at the top 10 in most of the same songs if not almost the same songs. And everything in Amazon of course is 99 cents, whereas iTunes is 129 pretty much across the board on those charts. So are they charging Apple more then or is Amazon just kind of take -- you know, eating it a little bit. >> Tom Merritt: I think Amazon could be using it as a loss leader right now because what Amazon has that iTunes doesn't is a whole other store. Once you lure someone in... >> Jason Howell: Right, to blight the experience and everything. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah exactly. You buy some MP3s and then they say "Hey, would you also like to buy this book on music or these actual physical CDs or DVDs or whatever?" So they could be using it that way and that's not really going to be as useful for iTunes where their only business in iTunes anyway -- they're not trying to sell you Apple products. >> Jason Howell: Right. >> Tom Merritt: They don't -- you know you don't download a Britney Spears song and they try to sell you an iMac. Maybe they should? >> Natali Del Conte: Or maybe it's just one of those things where it's like you're already here and you want music so we're going to charge you more because we can. Like buying a hot dog at a ballpark that costs 20 dollars or whatever. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, yeah because -- and you know you do get a - somebody pointed this out to me this weekend - you do get a little more with an iTunes download. You get a PDF with liner notes and things like that. >> Jason Howell: Yeah that's true. >> Tom Merritt: I don't think you get that with the Amazon MP3s: at least none of the ones that I've bought. So there's -- it's again, it's the old Apple you know mystique: the quality, oh the experience, all of that. Amazon works pretty well. I mean it's integrated. You have to download that separate downloader but then it puts the songs into iTunes for you so it's almost the same. >> Jason Howell: [Inaudible] >> Tom Merritt: Yeah there's that too right? >> Jason Howell: For a lot of people that's even more value for the fact that it's completely open. I'm not saying that you know these DRM free ACs aren't. They're just maybe a little more inconvenient compared to what people have. >> Natali Del Conte: Well Google's searching is about to get a little more convenient. Google has just become more local. Now they're going to provide local results to anything you search: not just in Maps but anywhere. If you search for say "dentists" it will give you the results based on the zip code of your IP address. So if you are in a VPN or somewhere your IP address is not actually where you are locally, then that's not going to work. But they're going to do the best to bring you localized results. So there you go. >> Jason Howell: Whether you like it or not. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah I think this is probably pretty cool... >> Jason Howell: Yeah. >> Tom Merritt: ...but let's take the other side of this story. This is freaking scary. They know where you are at all times. >> Natali Del Conte: But we've already known that they knew where we are. >> Tom Merritt: Oh yeah. >> Natali Del Conte: That's not new information. >> Tom Merritt: Also, I don't know this sort of IP addressed based geography doesn't always work. Anybody on tour is not going to be able to use this service. >> Jason Howell: Right. But I think you'd know that if you're using Tor right? >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, yeah or you should. >> Jason Howell: Well hopefully. I mean maybe your in depth enough to know. >> Tom Merritt: I think it will probably work well enough. It's not going to work as well as we want it to though. >> Jason Howell: Right. >> Tom Merritt: It's not going to get me down to the street until everything has GPS then yeah. I don't think this is going to be perfect but I do like the idea that I can just -- because a lot of times you have to put in like "restaurant - San Francisco." Like especially restaurants that have a name. You know this is what this is going to be the most useful for: have a name that's common across the country like... >> Jason Howell: Like Union Deli. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a great example. You put in Union Deli and it's like "Well which one? Do you want the one in North Carolina or New York or Chicago?" >> Jason Howell: Right. >> Tom Merritt: If I put in Union Deli and it knows "He's in the Bay area. He means that one." That's a good use for this. >> Jason Howell: Right. >> Tom Merritt: Something that I can't seem to find a good use for is the new GM Segway partnership called the Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility Project or Project PUMA. >> Natali Del Conte: This thing is King of the Nerds. They sent us footage this morning because they had it on the Today Show. And they had Meredith Vieira well just kind of doing donuts in the front of the Today Show. I mean I don't know where you're going to use this? Like you can't get on the regular streets with it and there's no room on the sidewalk for it. >> Tom Merritt: Apparently that's the idea is that you'll go on the regular street with this thing and you're just going to get honked at and run down. I mean they'd have to re-architect whole cities around this one. >> Jason Howell: Yeah right. >> Tom Merritt: It's a Segway 2-seater where you sit down and there can be a passenger. >> Natali Del Conte: It's not supposed to launch until 2010 and it like you said it can only get to 35 miles an hour so you're not going anywhere super fast. I guess if you're just in an urban area where you're going from building to building that's fine. But I can't imagine you actually commuting to work in it. >> Jason Howell: I could probably use one of these to get from one side of the CNET building to the other for how many times I have... >> Tom Merritt: When you have to run down to get the keys at the other end. [Inaudible] at 35 miles an hour. "Get out of the way. Beep, beep." Yeah, you know what? I think in all honesty I really wish Cooley were here to rant on this today. >> Jason Howell: Yeah. >> Tom Merritt: But I think this will end up being a novelty item similar to the Segway. So you know how you see Segways? The most often I think people probably see Segways is when they're somewhere touristy and there are people on a Segway tour. >> Jason Howell: Yeah. >> Natali Del Conte: Actually I think this will go one below that and be like a motorcycle sidecar. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, you know what it will be? It will be -- have you seen those people in and around San Francisco with the little tri-cars... >> Jason Howell: Yeah, that's perfect. Yeah. >> Tom Merritt: ...that they rent them at Fisherman's Wharf and then you can drive around San Francisco. >> Jason Howell: Like a self guided tour. >> Tom Merritt: Totally, that's what this is going to be. >> Jason Howell: Right. >> Tom Merritt: You can either have a segway tour with the guide or you rent one of these and it's the self guided tour on your 35 mile per hour PUMA. >> Natali Del Conte: Oh those things are so annoying when you're trying to drive around them when you're down at Crissy Field. You're like "Get the heck out of the way." >> Tom Merritt: Or you may see a lot of these. >> Natali Del Conte: And they make you wear a helmet on those things. >> Tom Merritt: Oh yeah. You might not have to wear a helmet on this one. >> Jason Howell: You wouldn't fit in there with a helmet on. >> Natali Del Conte: But don't you have to ride a segway with a helmet? >> Tom Merritt: Yeah but this has a top so I don't know if it would have the same restrictions. >> Jason Howell: Right. >> Natali Del Conte: It is King of the Nerd vehicles for sure. >> Tom Merritt: I think we're going to see a lot of these in Florida too. >> Natali Del Conte: [Laughter] >> Tom Merritt: Puttering around in the retirement communities. >> Natali Del Conte: Why? >> Tom Merritt: Replacing golf carts. >> Jason Howell: That's true. [Laughter] >> Tom Merritt: That's essentially what it is. It's like a 2 wheel golf cart. >> Jason Howell: Yeah it is. >> Natali Del Conte: It doesn't have a lot of storage for a golf cart. >> Tom Merritt: That's true. You're going to have to have a special version with the you know the golf accessory... >> Jason Howell: The caddy thing on the back. >> Tom Merritt: So you can put your groceries in it. Instead you should probably walk because walking is healthy, walking is good for you, and walking allows you to use the new pedometer that comes with the Nintendo DSi. >> Natali Del Conte: That's right. It's called Personal Trainer: Walking. And so you just wear it around all day and then it will sync up wirelessly with your new DSi and tell you how lazy or how active you've been that day. And then also it can work with the Mii from your Wii. So I'm not sure if it can actually slim down your Mii if your Mii is heavier based on your Wii Fit but I'm thinking that it probably will. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, Molly was complaining about that yesterday. >> Jason Howell: Yeah. >> Natali Del Conte: What that the Wii Fit doesn't get slimmer because... >> Tom Merritt: She hasn't used her Wii Fit in awhile so she goes on and she was like what point 2 what she has been the last time she'd used it months before. And it fattened up her Mii on her. >> Natali Del Conte: [Laughter] >> Jason Howell: I had no idea that happened. That's hilarious. >> Natali Del Conte: I don't think she'd appreciate me laughing at that but that's funny. >> Tom Merritt: Mii Wii. So yeah if you had the DSi that could keep... >> Natali Del Conte: That's why we women avoid mirrors. >> Tom Merritt: You just hook on the DSi and keep the pedometer on all the time. It keeps your Mii slim. One more thing to worry about. >> Jason Howell: Yeah exactly. >> Tom Merritt: Is this really a game? Is this really Personal Trainer: Walking? That is the game that requires the pedometer. >> Natali Del Conte: I guess so. >> Tom Merritt: Because I guess everything is a game now? >> Jason Howell: Yeah exactly. Well that's how you make you know fitness fun is you put a game [inaudible]. >> Tom Merritt: You're right. You're right. >> Jason Howell: I mean gyms are doing this a lot nowadays too. My wife is a trainer and she's telling me that like the latest craze right now is integrating video games into the exercise experience. So if you're on a bike and you know you're doing your exercise there, you've got a virtual you know field that you're biking through or whatever. It's kind of silly. But it gets you and pulls you in somehow. >> Natali Del Conte: I guess so. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, putting games in there to motivate people, that all makes sense. I get it. But just calling a game "Personal Trainer: Walking" doesn't grab me. >> Jason Howell: Living. >> Natali Del Conte: Well what do you want them to call it like "Walk this way" or something like that? >> Tom Merritt: At least that'd be -- it's totally cheesy but... >> Jason Howell: Walk this Wii. >> Tom Merritt: But Walk this Wii. >> Jason Howell: No. >> Natali Del Conte: At least that's actually good. >> Jason Howell: Walking. >> Tom Merritt: Walk this Wii. >> Natali Del Conte: I don't know, I like the way the fitness community has started to use technology to get us to be aware of what we're up to all the time. I've started to use Tweet What You Eat where you go in and you say "Starbucks 190 calories" and that makes me accountable for it. So I can't just go and pop a handful of Girl Scout cookies. >> Tom Merritt: Does it actually post it on your Twitter? >> Natali Del Conte: It doesn't. You do it as a direct message and then when you go to Tweet What You Eat you can see what other people and other Twitter profiles are eating unless you want to keep that private. And I was hesitant about using it because I don't want it to go in my feed because I think that it's boring... >> Tom Merritt: Yeah. >> Natali Del Conte: ...when someone puts like Oreo cookies and I'm like "Get off my Twitter!" >> Tom Merritt: That's one of the biggest complaints about Twitter is like "Yeah, people are always talking about what they're eating." >> Natali Del Conte: Right, so you can keep it private. I guess you could broadcast it if you want but that's an automatic "unfollow" for me if you do that. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah. >> Natali Del Conte: But I do think that it's an interesting way to become accountable for what you're eating. So I'm going -- I just tried it in these last couple of days and so far so good. >> Tom Merritt: There's an iPhone out that Scott Johnson from Extra Life Radio has been raving about that does sort of the same thing where you just go and you put in what you eat in there and it keeps track of all the calories. >> Natali Del Conte: Live Strong. Livestrong does it. >> Tom Merritt: Is that it? Livestrong? Okay. >> Natali Del Conte: And that's probably the best one I've seen so far because I keep looking for them and if it doesn't give me an automatic calorie count, I don't want to have to go and figure that out myself. >> Tom Merritt: Right. >> Natali Del Conte: But I also want it to take into account my exercise for the day as well. And there's another one that I covered at Demo... >> Tom Merritt: You hook it up with a pedometer. >> Natali Del Conte: This is not that one, no. One that I covered at Demo, it actually -- if you were looking for food around you and you say you want to go and eat something within my diet plan, it will give you choices. Like Subway, you can eat this, this and this at Subway. And then you go there and you can actually order it from your iPhone - order that thing which is in your plan - and then you say "I ate this" and it imports the calories into your daily -- and I thought that was really complete. >> Tom Merritt: Is it spelled "I capital ATE capital THI?" >> Jason Howell: [Laughter] >> Natali Del Conte: No, I wish I could remember the name of it. >> Tom Merritt: I ate this dot com. I think we have a use for the pedometer now though because that can keep track of the calories when you're just walking around... >> Natali Del Conte: Yep. >> Tom Merritt: ...and then feed right in. >> Natali Del Conte: It's true. >> Tom Merritt: So we've driven, we've walked, now let's fly. >> Jason Howell: Let's do it. >> Natali Del Conte: Let's fly in a solar plane: the new Sunseeker 2 just launched an 8 country tour in Europe. And it's going to fly around and show us that solar flight is possible, although not necessary commercially because it's a teeny little thing. It's about the weight of a motorcycle and it spans about 17 feet by 23 feet and it's just a tiny little car. Actually the car is about the same way as the PUMA. But it's kind of encouraging. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, yeah. It could get 40 miles per hour under solar power. >> Jason Howell: That's cool looking. >> Tom Merritt: And twice that with the batteries, however if you open up the batteries, they drain out in 15 minutes and it takes 30 to 45 minutes to recharge. >> Natali Del Conte: So that puts you at a negative battery life. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, don't go under any clouds after you've done that. >> Jason Howell: [Laughter] >> Natali Del Conte: Yeah, that's not great. >> Jason Howell: Nice. >> Tom Merritt: Because you "Oh let's open her up. Yeah, 15 minutes okay I've to let the batteries recharge." Cloud, crash. Boom and gone. >> Natali Del Conte: Uh-oh. So test all your parachutes... >> Tom Merritt: Yes. >> Natali Del Conte: And make sure that you've got them. >> Tom Merritt: Remember that your seat can be used as a floatation device in case of a water landing. >> Natali Del Conte: Still, fun thing. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, it's really cool actually. I mean it's amazing to think of this plane being powered under solar power directly. It doesn't have to have the batteries as long as it's got good, direct sunlight. And so obviously that's not practical all the time but it's a pretty impressive feat of engineering, no? >> Natali Del Conte: Are you volunteering to go up for a [inaudible]? >> Tom Merritt: I would go up in this. Yeah, absolutely. >> Jason Howell: Yeah. >> Tom Merritt: I would love that. >> Jason Howell: I think it's cool looking. >> Natali Del Conte: I would probably do this over a helicopter. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, well we all know how you feel about helicopters. >> Natali Del Conte: We go so many emails from people saying "Helicopters are safe." >> Tom Merritt: And then other people say "Oh no they're not." >> Jason Howell: Other people say "Oh no they're not." Yeah, exactly. >> Tom Merritt: So you can just pick whatever you think about helicopters at this point. We'll leave that to your own research out there. Let's move onto the voicemails then shall we? >> Jason Howell: [Inaudible] enough. >> Tom Merritt: Our first caller did not want to identify himself most likely because he's Canadian. >> Hi guys, I was just listening to a bunch of older Podcasts and some other Podcasts that aren't [inaudible], and you Americans -- you Americans and your complaining about your bandwidth caps, and this and that. You know we here in Canada don't have any Android phones yet. We also don't have Hulu. We got the iPhone a year late. And our storage caps are much lower than anything currently available and carries in the states. So before you complain, just think about this: at least you're not in Canada. Love the show. >> Natali Del Conte: Hate it for you. >> Tom Merritt: You have such good curling and hockey and back bacon. It makes up for it right? >> Jason Howell: We only wish we had curling. >> Tom Merritt: No that kind of sums up every Canadian email we've gotten over the past 4 years. >> Jason Howell: Yeah, exactly. >> Tom Merritt: It's like why? Why don't we get anything? Why do we have to wait for everything? We don't feel your pain because we live here but we empathize. >> Natali Del Conte: Yeah, we hate it for you. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, so there you go. I'm glad you were able to get that out. Let's move onto our next caller who is not calling about our Podcast. He just thought maybe we'd be interested in hearing this? >> Hi, this is Hayman [assumed spelling] from Dublin, Ohio just listening to TWiT which doesn't take calls but I know you guys are friends so. There was a joke being made about gas lines being used as network pipes. And I was wondering, they actually put gas lines that come to homes be -- I mean are made of metal. So why not? It could be actually really feasible. So maybe it could give somebody and idea, you know? Thanks, love the show. Bye. >> Tom Merritt: So Hayman? You should just send an email to TWiT then. >> Jason Howell: We're not cool. >> Tom Merritt: I actually -- I understand the idea he's talking about which is like you know gas pipes are metal and then so the idea of having gas pipes carry the internet is intriguing and all of that stuff if you could figure out the insulation and the not exploding the gas part. But we -- huh? "Ah TWiT doesn't take calls so I just figured I call you guys." >> Jason Howell: I had a really good voicemail. I had to call somebody. >> Tom Merritt: I guess maybe we should have had Leo on. >> Natali Del Conte: Thank you. >> Jason Howell: Yeah, right. >> Tom Merritt: One of these times. >> Jason Howell: We should bring him on and play voicemail for him. >> Tom Merritt: Okay, alright. Thanks Hayman. You know, we are all friends. You're right. Okay, cool. >> Jason Howell: Alright, moved on to the emails at Buzz at CNET.com. >> Tom Merritt: Yes, Buzz at CNET.com. >>> Jason Howell: Yeah it's so confusing with our URLS. Well but anyways, Grant from Nashville writes in and says "Regarding MLB.com. I dare say the video quality and user experience is worse than last year. [Inaudible] is worse than last year's Silverlight. You can't resize the video. You can't watch full screen on one monitor and use your computer. It kicks the browser, all browsers out of full screen when you do that. And I am appalled they are calling this year's highest quality stream HD. The video resolution for HD starts at 720 p, correct? It's nowhere near that. From my quick guess I would say it's still in standard def in just a higher bit rate which makes it look a little better that way. When you put the video in full screen, it is still pixilated like crazy. Do I have grounds for a class action lawsuit claiming false advertising?" Yeah, and then he goes onto say that it's also a CPU hog. It consumes high CPU power. >> Tom Merritt: I think that's the worst part of it. >> Jason Howell: And that's yeah far too much for a stupid web video he says. So contrary to what we were talking about yesterday, it sounded great but of course you know we haven't experienced. >> Tom Merritt: Your mileage may vary. Grant didn't like it. Well that's Grant's opinion. Not everybody's having as bad of a time as Grant. >> Jason Howell: Sure. >> Tom Merritt: And Rafe did accidentally say you can watch all the games: not just the ones in your local area. And Grant corrected him and said "You're blacked out of all games in your local area." I think Rafe knew that. >> Jason Howell: Oh I see. >> Tom Merritt: He was just trying to say it gives you a whole lot of games. But yeah they do black out the video for any team in your area. >> Natali Del Conte: Which stinks. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah. >> Natali Del Conte: I don't like that. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, I don't like that either. I'm paying for it. >> Natali Del Conte: Yeah, if you do a class action lawsuit then maybe you should just ask for tickets to every home game. >> Jason Howell: Yeah right. To all the home games and then I'll forgive you. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, exactly. >> Natali Del Conte: Alright we have another baseball related email. This is from Brad in Ohio. He says, "Hi Buzz crew. Yesterday you talked about a story involving MLB and the streaming service that they offer, but you missed a huge nugget of information in that article. The question from the bottom asked about streaming MLB games on the iPhone. The response given says that Apple is working on the technology that will allow for streaming the games. They go on to say that the service will come with the iPhone 3 point 0 software. Could this mean Flash may be coming to the iPhone in iPhone 3 point 0?" And there's the link. >> Jason Howell: Doubt it. >> Tom Merritt: I doubt it too but something's obviously coming. >> Jason Howell: Something's weird there, yeah. >> Tom Merritt: Something's obviously coming to the iPhone 3 point 0 that would allow them to do that. >> Jason Howell: Maybe it's wishful thinking. >> Tom Merritt: Maybe that's what's coming. Now the iPhone has wishful thinking. >> Jason Howell: Yes. >> Tom Merritt: And finally, GAC in West Virginia - do not insult him or you'll be thrown in jail - writes in and says, "While I'm browsing open source news, I thought I'd send in something that I saw on this blog at Qimo or kweemo [phonetic] is a Linux distribution for kids aged 3 and up. Excellent if you want to get a really low powered cheap machine for the kids to play with. I have nephew that's about 3 years old and I might suggest Qimo to his parents so he can learn how to do things on his own. Kind of wish this was around when I was a kid. When I was an itty bitty, our family had good old Windows 3 point 1 and my dad eventually got a coloring game especially for me since I wanted a program to use myself. Before that, I had made lots and lots of kiddie art on MS Paint stored on 3 and a half inch floppy disks. Anyway, it looks interesting." >> Jason Howell: Wow, what better way to bring Linux into the mainstream by starting when they're young? >> Tom Merritt: Yeah, when I was... >> Jason Howell: And introducing them to Linux when they're 3 years old. >> Tom Merritt: When I was 3 years old there was UNIX. >> Natali Del Conte: I love that you said the name 4 different ways while reading that email. >> Tom Merritt: I know. >> Natali Del Conte: Because we just don't know. >> Tom Merritt: And if you say Qimo then it sounds like chemotherapy and then that just brings on a whole... >> Jason Howell: Right. >> Natali Del Conte: And if you go to the site, there's a picture of an Eskimo so I think it's kimmo [phonetic]. >> Tom Merritt: Kimmo, okay. >> Jason Howell: Oh okay. >> Natali Del Conte: Like Eskimo. >> Jason Howell: Right. >> Tom Merritt: Okay, alright, alright. I like that. >> Natali Del Conte: I was just making an inference from the graphic. >> Tom Merritt: No that makes sense. That makes a lot of sense and it sounds better too. But yeah, when I was 3 years old there was a timeshare Wang at my dad's office that I was allowed to look at and never touch. >> Jason Howell: I think the most I ever got was just a pocket calculator. When I was that young, maybe? >> Tom Merritt: Oh yeah, my dad had a calculator. He had a calculator. It wasn't the -- TI didn't have the programmable ones or even the scientific ones yet. It was just a calculator with like 10 buttons on it. You know. Well it had more than 10 because it had all the numbers plus you know. So maybe... >> Jason Howell: Plus things you could do with them. >> Tom Merritt: Yeah. >> Jason Howell: And not just punch them in. Cool well if you haven't already, you should check out CNETTV.com and our video podcast tab. We have included The Real Deal as another video podcast which I guess you have a new episode recording later today, is that right? >> Tom Merritt: Ah yes, we will be discussing digital photography with Steven Shankland. It will be the "Tom knows nothing" episode because I don't know much about digital photography. So I will be the newbie learning at the feet of Rafe Needleman and Steven Shankland. >> Jason Howell: Awesome. >> Tom Merritt: Joined with me. >> Natali Del Conte: Also I spared you guys my Verizon FiOS rant but let me just say this one more time: Verizon FiOS I hate you. [ Laughter ] >> Tom Merritt: Just had to get that in. [Inaudible] can't hold it back anymore. >> Jason Howell: [Laughter] >> Natali Del Conte: That's it. That's all I got. >> Tom Merritt: And if you would like to tell us what you think of Verizon FiOS or anything else, you can go to BOL.CNET.com. That's our blog. We can comment on every show, get links to the show notes, get links to the forums, get links to the wiki, all kind of great stuff. Go there: BOL.CNET.com. Also Buzzoutloud.CNET.com also works. >> Jason Howell: Yes it does. >> Tom Merritt: Just if you're feeling like typing more. >> Natali Del Conte: See you tomorrow guys. >> Tom Merritt: Bye. >> Jason Howell: Bye.