Hi, I'm Molly Wood, and welcome to the Buzz Report � the show about the tech news
that everybody�s talking about. This week, it's serious data loss, car theft made easy,
and old-school going new-school. But first, it's the Gadget of the Week.
The Gadget of the Week is the Dyson bladeless fan. It's gorgeous. It's like art. It doesn't have any blades
that will chop off the fingers of the little ones or, worse, get all dusty and gross. Actual cool air comes out.
It's a marvel of modern technology and design.
Here's the thing. That is super awesome. But who puts out a FAN ... in October. It's cold now. We don't
need fans. Especially not 300 dollar fans. Call me in May, Dyson!
And now for the news. The big ongoing story of this week and last: the Sidekick data loss. Microsoft and T-
Mobile notified Sidekick users that ALL the data from their phones had been lost for good. Now, it sounds
like some of the data might be recovered, and T-Mobile has given affected users 100 dollar gift cards ...
and a month's free service. Now, why, when this kind of thing happens, do companies offer gift cards? I
know it saves THEM money, but ... do you really think all those pissed-off customers want to spend a
hundred bucks on T-Mobile stuff right now? Tacky.
Speaking of data loss, Apple this week finally acknowledged up to a serious bug in Snow Leopard that
deletes all user data and completely resets your account. A small number of users reported seeing the bug
back in SEPTEMBER. But it wasn't until the media jumped on the story that Apple finally admitted the
problem and said it's working on a fix. Let me be clear. This bug ERASES ALL OF THE USER DATA ON YOUR
COMPUTER. And they didn't ... wow. In a related story, Windows 7 comes out next week!
In other buzzy news, a company called Directed Electronics has released an iPhone app that can remotely
start up your car. It's called the Viper SmartStart. It's a pretty cool interface, you can like, open the trunk
and lock or unlock the car hit the panic button. And then ... press this button right here. To start the car.
From just about anywhere you have a 3G or EDGE connection. They demonstrated it from several states
away. In fact. Anyone can use this to start your car. You. Your husband or wife. Your kid. The mugger.
I'm just giving you guys some time to think about what a terrible idea this is. We on the same page, now?
Awesome.
And Barnes and Noble has confirmed that it will hold an event October 20th, at which many expect them
to announce their own e-book reader. In fact, Gizmodo posted some leaked versions of the e-reader, and
it looks fairly cool -- kind of Kindle looking, with a standard e-ink display on top, but then a color
touchscreen LCD on the bottom that you could use as a keyboard or for viewing images or maybe for
turning pages.
I don't know why I find this whole thing so weird. I mean, Amazon sold books, and made an e-reader. That
made sense. But I guess ... nothing about Barnes and Noble says "e" to me. They say more like, "p" for
"paper" and "parking validation." I don't know. I guess anyone can do their own e-book reader. Why not.
You go, brick and mortar kings!
And finally, a quick look at what's Clogging the Tubes. As I mentioned, Windows 7 makes its public debut
next week. It's a big deal, very exciting for Microsoft, and we wish them well with the launch. But ... it just
felt like an appropriate time to take a look back at the 30 Funniest Blue Screens of Death from Francesco
Mugnai's blog.
Ah, good times. I'm sure that won't happen with Windows 7.
And that's the Buzz Report for this week, everyone. I'm Molly Wood, and thanks for watching.
