Welcome to the Buzz Report. I'm Brian Cooley in for Molly Wood. This week, Mac
gamers get their comeuppance, we�ve got the FCC acting a lot like the FDA, and where
did Android come out of all of a sudden. First, though, it�s the Gadget of the Week.
The Gadget of the week is� Tablets! This week a lot of big players made noise about
changing their game to get out in front of the product most say isn't game changing: The
iPad.
Intel's Mooly Eden hit the stage (looking like the long lost brother of Steve Jobs and
Samuel L Jackson) to say his company is now serious about the tablet market. He
showed a prototype that will have all kinds of esoterica like printing and multitasking and
teased us that concrete news will drop at the Computex show in Taipei in a couple
weeks.
Meanwhile Verizon's CEO said his company is working on a tablet with Google and he
meant more than using Android, rolling up a lot of Google apps and data. The product's
arrival is all real vague at this point, but in the same breath Lowell McAdam also told the
WSJ we've probably seen the end of flat price all you can eat data plans and that mobile
data getting more expensive going forward is "not out of the question". Fun.
Now for the news.
FINALLY Steam has arrived for the Mac. It's been the dominant way to distribute and
manage games online for Windows folks for a couple years, but Mac users were dissed
like Steve Jobs cutting in front of Adobe's CEO in the cafeteria line. Steam for Mac will
launch with just a few games to start, but Valve promises new releases weekly.
Lucas got out in front announcing classics like 'Fate of Atlantis' and 'Loom' will be on
Steam for the Mac asap and that you won't need to buy them again if you already did on
a Windows Steam client.
Now Windows gamers are going to have to find something else to mock Mac users
for. Like, �Nice mouse buddy, the rest of the buttons on layaway?�
Speaking of the Apple, your are no longer imagining that your iPad has a crappy WiFi
connection. Apple has actually admitted as much, says a fix is coming in a pending
software update. In the meantime they suggest you try a number of tweaks to improve it
including adjusting the screen brightness. See, I heard LSD was making a comeback.
The FCC became the FDA this week by working on a plan to lower Americans' blood
pressure: It put carriers on notice that they should let you know when you're going over
your monthly allotted minutes or texts. You know, a little common courtesy that is
technologically drop dead simple and already done in Europe.
C'mon, FCC, go a little farther and make AT&T text me each month when my early term
fee goes down a little more. Like a little dutch auction of (bleep) hatred.
Wow, I gotta chill.
Good fodder for winning a bar bet: Ask some poor slob "what's the #2 smartphone OS
among consumers in America?" After he gets done thinking you're a real dork, he'll be
buying you a beer because he said iPhone or maybe Blackberry. It's now Android,
pushing Apple down to #3, according to NPD. It's largely thanks to Android being on
several hot phones and several carriers with several promotions and get-one-free deals
any given week.
But must drive Apple and the fanboys NUTS to see that, in the end, all that elegant
hardware and software is just good for 2nd -- or now 3rd place -- most real folks are just
deal whores looking for good enough.
That�s the Buzz Report, I�m Brian Cooley in for Molly Wood.
