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 all-new and improved Twitter,
Craigslist cleaning up, and the benefits of video games. But first, it's the Gadget of
the Week.
The Gadget of the Week is Dell's new 10-inch tablet, which is totally going to take on the iPad for sure.
Touch-screen display, dual-core Intel atom processor, it's running Windows 7, and get this. This tablet has
a hidden feature. Wait for it ... THAT'S RIGHT! It's a tablet with a keyboard! You flip the screen around,
fold it up, and your tablet totally has a ... oh, for the love of god. It's a frigging convertible tablet laptop.
This is not a tablet. This is to an actual tablet as clip-on sunglasses that flip up are to actual sunglasses. It's a
convertible tablet laptop. Just ...come on. Seriously.
And now for the news.
Twitter held a press conference this week to show off its new and improved interface. Now, instead of just
seeing tweets, there's a second pane in which you can see more content: pictures, geolocation, user profiles,
videos--all kinds of stuff.
The intent is to keep people on the main Twitter site, which is great, but of course, the first thing we all
thought was, hey, pretty! What about the Fail Whale?
Nope, not a word about site stability. Also? Not a WORD about making more money. Or better search. Oh,
well. At least there were pretty pictures.
Some lucky people have the new interface right now, while others will see it in the coming weeks. Along
with, almost certainly ... the fail whale. C'mon. You know it's true.
In other news this week, Craigslist says it's officially out of the pimp game. The company's director of law
enforcement and customer service relations was called to testify before the House Judiciary Committee this
week, on the subject of sex trafficking of minors. He told the committee that Craigslist has permanently
closed its adult services section. But he also said the section had actually HELPED Craigslist fight human
trafficking and and exploitation. Which might have been true. When it wasn't linking directly TO human
trafficking and exploitation. There have to be better ways.
Speaking of exploitation, Google confirmed this week that it fired an engineer who used his powers at
Google to get personal information on several teen-agers and then harrass them. Because ... Google also
has TONS of your personal information, and we have little to no idea who's able to access it and what they
do with it. And if the allegations against this engineer are true, I kind of want off the Internet. Again.
Hey, you know how people are always saying that playing video games rots your brain? Well, cognitive
scientists at the University of Rochester published a study showing that people who play fast, action-based
games actually make quicker accurate decisions. How awesome is that? Split-second catlike reflexes that--
--flapjacks.
And speaking of nerds and throwing things, Apple this week denied reports that Steve Jobs was busted
trying to smuggle Japanese throwing stars onto his own private plane. Apparently he was fascinated with
the throwing stars because they only work when you hold them just right.
But seriously, let's be honest ... if anyone was going to smuggle shuriken? It would totally be Steve Jobs.
Bad. Ass.
And that's the Buzz Report for this week, everyone. I'm Molly Wood, and thank you for watching.
