Hi, I'm Molly Wood, and welcome to the Buzz Report, the show about the tech news
that everyone's talking about. This week, Apple freakouts, the tablet wars begin for
real, and hey, it gets better.
But first, it's the Gadget of the Week.
The Gadget of the Week is the new MacBook Air. It's got roughly the shape and sharp narrow edge of a
butcher knife and the guts of an entry-level MacBook, except the graphics, those are good. There's a 13.3-
inch and an 11-inch model, and the prices range from $999 to $1,599. All the new Airs are flash-memory
ONLY, so Steve Jobs promises instant-on performance, like the iPad, SUPER long battery life, like the
iPad, and he also said that Apple is opening up an App Store for the Mac, which would mean you could
download apps on your flash-memory, super thin, super sexy laptop ... like the iPad. Except for two to three
times the cost. I gotta say, I'm going with iPad on this one.
Now, speaking of Apple, the company also held its earnings call this week. And ... wow. Here's a surefire
way to pep up those boring earnings conference calls: Have Steve Jobs show up unannounced and let him
go ape-nuts talking smack about the competition.
In a 5-minute rant, he talked about how 7 inches isn't enough for a tablet screen, because the app experience
is terrible and you'd have to file down your fingers to use it. Maybe he forgot that his company also makes
the iPhone. And that it's probably working on a 7-inch iPad. I mean, come on. You know it's coming, and
then he'll tell us why it's the bees knees.
Jobs then went on to extol the virtues of Apple's consistent user experience as opposed to the "fragmented"
nature of Android. And he took some pot-shots at RIM along the way, which caused RIM's co-CEO to
shoot back that hey, maybe people like a choice of different tablet sizes, and how about if Steve Jobs stops
trying to consumers what to think from up there in reality distortion land.
No, I'm serious, he really said that. CEO fight! I wish Steve Jobs would have an earnings call hissy fit every
week!
And actually, we're about to see whether people are digging the 7-inch tablet after all, because the first
serious 7-inch tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, finally has a price and a release date! It's headed to
Verizon, for 599 bucks. A Verizon data plan is available for 20 bucks a month, but NO contract required.
Plus, you get Android, HDMI, a front-facing camera, and a smaller, lighter footprint. Let the games begin.
Aaaand finally, let's have a look at what's Clogging the Tubes. This week, it's the It Gets Better project.
After the recent rash of gay teen suicides, the Internet has been coming together as only the Internet can. It
started when columnist Dan Savage put out a call for people to post videos, then a YouTube video of a
Texas city councilman tearfully telling teens that it does get better got more than 3 million views, now gay
and lesbian Google employees recorded a video, and even Hillary Clinton is doing one.
It's rare that we can stand up here and say that the Internet is saving lives, but people at the It Gets Better
and the Trevor Project say that they have seen an increase in calls to suicide hotlines. So in this case, it is.
So, good job, Internet. And yes, everyone. I promise. It does get better.
And that's the Buzz Report for this week, everyone. I'm Molly Wood, and thank you for watching.
And you feel like there�s no hope, there�s no one who will ever understand you. I am a software engineer
now at Google, and I just want to tell you straight forward that things get so much better.
As you leave high school, you are not going to be in control of those bullies anymore, you are going to be
in control of your own life.
