DirectTV launches new HD channels!!!
Hey TM,
I turned on the TV this morning and CNN was in HD. DirecTV finally launches its HD satellite. Here is the channel list:

265: A&E HD
282: Animal Planet HD
220: Big Ten HD
202: CNN HD
278: Discovery HD
206/73: ESPN HD
209/72: ESPN2 HD
70/501/509: HBO HD East
269: History Channel HD
76: HD Theater (was Discovery HD Theater)
79: HDNet
78: HDNet Movies
280: Learning Channel HD (TLC HD)
544: Movie Channel HD
212: NFL Network HD
284: Science Channel HD
538: SHO Too HD
71/537/543: Showtime HD
540: Showtime HD West
267: Smithsonian HD
519: Starz Comedy HD
520: Starz HD East
521: Starz HD West
522: Starz Edge HD
518: Starz Kids and Family
247: TBS HD
245/75: TNT HD
74: Universal HD
604: Versus HD/Golf Channel HD
362: Weather Channel HD

Info courtesy of DBStalk.

Gregory

'Halo 3' release madness on video
Hey guys, I'm a little behind on BOL (episode 566) but figured I'd chime in on the 'Halo 3' launch while it's still somewhat relevant. Hope this isn't too stale.

Monday night I waited outside a GameStop with a friend to pick up 'Halo 3' at midnight. While I don't own a 360 myself, I camped out with my friend for moral support and also to video blog some of the antics. I witnessed the usual hundred-or-so-person line snaking around the building starting with 'the guy' sitting comfortably at the door who, of course proclaimed, his love for Master Chief and mocked you for not getting in line 27 hours ago.

The best moments were when the doors opened up and while each person entered and left, shiny box in hand, the crowd cheered them on as if they were winning an award at some crazy ceremony. One gamer in particular couldn't wait to get home so badly that he had to jump into his car door window and speed off.

I've tightly edited some of the insanity (ridiculousness) into this 1-minute video.

Love the show, keep up the great work!
Darren the video podcaster in Virginia

Not jiving with the jingle
Comment on episode 566. I know I'm running a bit late in the Buzz listening but wanted to give a rallying cry for all to join in the fight to ELIMINATE the Linux chaser from all of the future. Yes, not just future Buzz casts but the entire future.

Phil

Tom asked for it, and now it's here: Blockbuster autoremoval
Long ago, maybe 100 episodes or more, you [Tom] made a comment that it would be cool if when you swapped a mail rental for store rental at Blockbuster, the corp computers could remove it from your queue. Well, it's here, at least as of this Tuesday evening.

I swapped a DVD at the local store at about 9 p.m; at 10:30 I logged in to remove it from my queue, and I was met with a pop-up asking if I would like to remove it, and if I'd like to have it done automatically from now on. Sweet!

But to be fair, it may have been around longer. I've had pop-ups blocked in Safari for just about as long as I can remember, and tonight I had it turned off for a specific reason.

Tim Murray
Roswell, Georgia

Change!
Molly, don't depend upon a bank to take your rolled coins. Some time ago, I took a bunch of rolled coins to my bank for deposit into my account. The bank refused to take them. Their excuse was the rolls could contain slugs, and the content of each roll would have to be verified. They refused to break open each roll and count the coins.

So I tried spending them at Safeway, and they refused to take them, also.

So now I take coins to the Caltrain ticket machine and buy my tickets with many tens of coins. Pennies are still a problem, however.

Cheers
Steve
Cupertino, Calif.

Best Buy adds disclaimer to secret Web site
Hello Buzz,

Thought you'd like to read this one.

Rodrigo, from Toronto, from Brazil.

"In response to being sued and humiliated on the Internet over their 'secret Web site,' reader MK says Best Buy has added a disclaimer that warns customers that the in-store kiosk doesn't display the same prices as the public Web site."

Rodrigo

65535
Tom,

Your geek membership is revoked.

How can the Buzz team think that 65535 is an arbitrary number? 65535 is 2^16 - 1 and a well-known limit in 16-bit computing.

See Wikipedia for more.

Kevin C.

The 'Chuck' airplane conspiracy
Hey Guys,

I was on an airplane coming back from the Bahamas a few weeks ago and during the last stretch of the flight the attendants put on a grainy episode of that old show 'Wings' (it was a prop plane by the way, go figure). We missed the end of the episode when the plane landed nearly 5 minutes before the show's conclusion. Thank the lord for forceful mercies, but still I think that the airplanes do this just to give people the illusion that they had a shorter-than-anticipated flight, and lucky us we're there on time.

Sincerely,
Kevin M.