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 corporate takeover of our legal
system, some more, the dislike button you will, in fact, dislike, and the Twitter
movie! But first, it's the Gadget of the Week.
The Gadget of the Week is the Epic 4G. It's Sprint's second 4G phone, and it is hot as hell! It's got a 1
gigahertz processor, a 4-inch AMOLED display that our reviewers called "mesmerizing," a front-facing
camera, the ability to act as a hotspot for up to five devices, and ... AND ... a slide-out QWERTY
keyboard! Plus the 4G. It is unquestionably an outstanding bit of kit.
But is it Epic? Are you maybe setting yourself up a little bit if you call your phone Epic? And actually ... is
it ok if we just stop saying epic now? I'm over that. Also, epic fail. Thanks. Neat phone, though!
And now for the news. Fun story from the RIAA and National Association of Broadcasters today, which is
pulling a Google Verizon and putting out a little proposal for Congress. Specifically, they want Congress to
MANDATE that all cell phones include an FM radio. Because they do music. And music can only continue
to exist on the radio. And the radio can only continue to exist if cell phones have radios in them ... BY
LAW. No, I know. I was also stunned into silence. Luckily, this will never go anywhere. Not because our
lawmakers will finally stand up to companies and tell them they're not allowed to write laws for them. No,
no, no. It'll never happen because once Steve Jobs finds out someone is going to try to force him to put an
FM radio in an iPhone, he's going to explode the universe. We're good here.
Speaking of companies writing laws, AT&T put up a blog post this week saying they are TOTALLY in
favor of Verizon and Google's Net neutrality proposal that would exempt wireless broadband networks
from any regulation or consumer-friendly rules. Which is so funny, since it was AT&T's former CEO, Ed
Whitacre, who actually LAUNCHED the Net neutrality debate back in 2005, when he said that like,
Google wasn't going to get to use "his pipes" for free. Even though they paid. He's gone now. But his
adorably kooky and vaguely confused legacy lives on.
Ok, so, hey. You know that dislike button you've been seeing all over Facebook lately? The official
Facebook button? Hooray? It's finally here? Don't click it. Scam. I know, bummer, right? It's not super
dangerous, but it's a spam scam. And it's likely to be the most successful Facebook scam of all time
(assuming you don't count Farmville).
It's the modern version of the "naked Britney Spears pictures" e-mails that infested computers worldwide
with a nasty worm back in ancient history. You know, the kind of ancient history when people still wanted
to see Britney naked.
And now, let's have a look at what's clogging the tubes.
By now, you've probably seen the uber-dramatic trailer for "The Social Network," the movie about the
history of Facebook, directed by David Fincher.
ÒA million dollars isnÕt cool, you know whatÕs cool? A billion dollars. You donÕt want to get let behind,
this is moving faster than any of us imagined, letÕs sue him in federal courtÓ
And because this is the Internet, it took roughly 63 seconds for the parodies to start rolling in, mostly from
the same place. First, there was the YouTube one:
ÒThis is happening faster than any of us imagined, we donÕt have enough videos of adorable laughing
babies. Then find more! This is my shot. You mean OUR shot?
And now? Twitter.
Òtwitter restricts you to only 140 words per post? Characters, 140 characters. TheyÕre saying that Twitter is
nothing but a bunch of idiots and celebrities talking about what they had for breakfast. I know what it says.
Is it true? The failwhale is showing up more than anyÉ what is the failwhale? Why do you always go
limp when we fight?Ó
I know, right? So good. Also, the music in that Twitter one is done by the Gregory Brothers, who ALSO
did .... that's right. The Bed Intruder remix. I want them to play my next birthday party. Those guys are
GOOD.
And that's the Buzz Report for this week, everyone. I'm Molly Wood, and thanks for watching.
