Buzz Out Loud Blog

In today's show, featuring co-host Dan Ackerman, we discuss the benefits of being an independent musician (Dan says it's a great time!), the increasingly furious-yet-futile fight between the MPAA and RealDVD, Delta preemptively filtering porn on planes, and Kid Rock finding a home on the Web, regardless of whether we want him there.

EPISODE 824

eBay buys Bill Me Later, lays off 1,000
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10058660-92.html

Judge temporarily halts sales of RealDVD in wake of lawsuit
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081005-judge-temporarily-halts-sale-of-realdvd-in-wake-of-lawsuit.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10058574-93.html

Ask.com, now with more answers
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10058007-2.html

“Iron Man” release brings down Paramount’s servers
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/04/2158212

Analyst: Half of ’social media campaigns’ will flop
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10058509-36.html

Delta to filter porn on planes
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10058786-94.html

Kid Rock comes to Rhapsody
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10057638-27.html

MySpace Music: 1 billion songs streamed
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10058708-36.html

Musicians band together for more control in digital age
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-musicians-band-together-for-more-control-in-digital-age/

Virtual fence could modernize the Old West
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/06/1253233

VOICE MAIL
Tami from SC: How could you forget the GameGear?

Joe in Sacramento: tip for Molly!

E-MAIL

Dear JoMoTo++,

I must begin with a confession: I am not a regular listener, but my boyfriend often tells me what you all are discussing, and yesterday I discovered something awful--something I had to tell someone--and I believe you would be most understanding of my distress. I am the proud owner of a “fat” iPod Nano and I’ve been waiting for the googleplexes of companies that make MP3 accessories to start making some for the new shape. Yesterday, I visited the Apple store and, to my dismay, saw the fourth generation Nano--back to the old shape, or a close approximation thereof. Now I’ll never get all my totally-don’t-need-them-but-so-much-guilty-fun gizmos and blinged-out cases! Am I the only one who feels this this way? Appreciators of the fat nano must unite!

I would bemoan my poor fat nano’s fate,
But Steve Jobs is impossible to move.
Alas, my cries of anguish are too late:
My cause is lost; there’s nothing left to prove.

Sincerely,
Melissa Marx

Hey Guys,
So i have noticed over the past few weeks how often Molly talks about her love for Hulu. So I decided to give it a try. I was watching one of my favorite childhood shows Married with Children when I came upon a shocking realization. The original theme song for the show had been replaced with this crappy knock off tune. At first i thought it was something just for that season or episode, but when I watched other episodes they all had the altered theme song. So I was wondering if you guys knew if TV theme songs had copyrights that could expire? Or any other alternate explanation for the altered song. Thanks

Show Love They I

Endy

Hey JaMoto,

I've been, err...conversing...with Comcast about the 250GB cap and after a few emails telling them how wrong they are to have a cap and not have any way to measure it, I got this interesting revelation from one of their customer support techs:

It's important to note our new threshold will not change our practice around excessive use. We will continue to call only the top users who consume the most data each month, which is usually well over 250GB, which is the same practice we've had in place for several years.

So, given that, it seems like they're not going to pull the plug on everyone who goes over 250GB, but only those they find to be the top (ab)users. I guess it's also important to keep in mind that this was just one support tech, probably just trying to get me off their back, but hey, it's an interesting development anyway.

Keith in Spokane.

Hi BOL,

After trying to use the Amazon music store and other DRM free stores without any luck since I reside on the other side of the pond I started thinking:

“What’s up with this ? They can’t get us DRM free music stores and decent none platform dependent streaming video services so they give us the bandwidth to pirate the whole shebang instead ?”

No seriously, I found a local alternative here in Sweden (and baltic countries) cdon.com, which since I last wisted them acutely have started with regular DRM free MP3:s instead of only the nasty WMA:s. Not everything but still, they have started!

But you can never guess what I found there, sure in WMA format but still, Kid Rocks "conceptual album" Rock N Roll Jesus, available for purchase, in single track format !! Not that I would even pirate his music but still, so much for "conceptual album".

Great show!

Sincerley
Bejron

EPISODE 823

Steve Jobs heart attack… not
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10057521-37.html

Music publishers keep same download rate, Apple keeping iTunes open
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/10/music-publishers-keep-same-download-rate-apple-keeping-itunes-open-aapl-
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081002-royalty-rate-stays-same-for-itunes-other-download-services.html

Microsoft gives users 6 months longer to flee from Vista
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/03/windows_xp_recovery/

Cybercriminals syndicating Google Trends keywords to serve malware
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1995&tag=nl.e540

South Korea’s free computer-game business model hits the U.S.
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/02/2149239

Sega to launch PSP beater in 2009
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/10/03/sega_vision/

Linux rescues battery life on Vista notebooks from Dell
http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/03/057200

Hands on with Sony’s new PRS-700 digital reader
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10057331-1.html

Oops I’m Late’ phones ahead for you
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10057264-2.html

Bank robber hires decoys on Craigslist, fools cops
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10057472-36.html

VOICEMAIL
Mike: CDMA SIM cards

Dan from Ohio: How are they tracking these Firefox downloads?

FORUMS

Control music with your brain--need I say more?
by benofsky–2008 - 10/1/08 4:19 p.m.

Gizmodo in Australia has an interesting article about a company that is producing a type of headband/music-player which will read your brain waves and play music that is appropriate for your mood. Of course, currently they’re using an audio format (MXP4), which allows for multiple versions of the same song, such that they can shift the version of the song depending upon your mood. It doesn’t seem a far cry away to have such a player selecting music based upon your mood instead, however!

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/10/musinaut_music_player_djs_music_according_to_your_brainwaves-2.html

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6035_102-0.html?forumID=97&threadID=310684

E-MAIL
I became so enraged by Molly’s little rant about the removal of
streaming content on Netflix, that I signed on to leave them a nasty-
gram. But guess what? The missing seasons of both The Office and
Heroes are back for online streaming. Maybe they were just doing some
maintenance. Or…maybe they heard you, Molly!

Richard
Washington, D.C.

**********

Hey Jamoto +1,

About yesterday’s discussion about disappearing Netflix content: I had started season 1 of 30 Rock last weekend. It showed up in my queue with a note that said it was available until October 1. My guess is that it wasn’t a Netflix decision, it wasn’t related to the added content, and since the season premiere is at the end of the month, the suits in charge probably think scarcity will drive up sales on iTunes. *cough, torrent, cough*

[insert molly rant here]

love the show.
engnr_chik from the chat

**********

Hey Jamoto,

Thursday, after the story about Aussie’s phones having the wrong time,
Molly uttered the melodic universal mark of failure: Wah waah. Anybody
know the origin of that utterance? Perhaps a Vaudeville trombonist? I
ask because I occasionally use it myself, and my five-year-old son has
*hilariously* picked up on it.

“Dad, can I play the Wii?!”
“We’re about to leave. There’s no time.”
“Wah wah waah.”

While writing this e-mail, I’ve come up with a great name for it: The Fail Wail.

Joe

**********

Hey, a little well actually,

You guys had a little confusion about the resolution of the camera in the Nintendo DSi.

The DSi has two cameras, one on the outside that is 3 megapixels, as well as another inside on the hinge that is VGA, so 0.3 megapixels. (I thought of attaching an image, but i realize you guys could Google one faster than you could open an attachment…)

Anyways, love the show

Faiz

Stuck with a stinky new Mac Pro? Good news: it might be toxic! (No proof of toxicity has been determined.) Also, Tom Merritt reveals himself to be a ruthless murderer of Firefox downloads. And the state of Pennsylvania takes it upon itself to make the streets safer by making old people smarter. Love it!
Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 822

Nintendo officially unveils Nintendo DSi and online store, coming Nov 1 in Japan for $180
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081002-nintendo-shows-off-new-dsi-with-camera-app-store.html
http://kotaku.com/5057870/nintendo-announce-new-ds-the-nintendo-dsi

Toxic fumes from Mac Pros?
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/02/1223203
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=962025&tstart=0
http://www.macworld.com/article/135835/2008/10/macpro_benzene.html

Microsoft will soon release ‘Windows Cloud’ OS, Ballmer says
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9115978

75 percent of all Firefox downloads go dead, reveals Mozilla
http://news.softpedia.com/news/75-of-All-Firefox-Downloads-Go-Dead-94681.shtml

… launches contest to get users to use it
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10056668-16.html

SlingMedia prepares to launch video portal at Sling.com
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/01/slingmedia-prepares-to-launch-their-video-portal-at-slingcom/

Hackers clone Elvis’ passport
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/02/0242214

Sysadmin steals almost 20,000 pieces of computer equipment
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/02/0246203

Drivers may get insurance breaks for playing computer games
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/10/01/older.drivers.videogames.ap/index.html

Daylight saving time shift to cause phone havoc Down Under
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/10/02/telstra_daylight_savings/

VOICE MAIL
Matt: Netflix took away my Heroes!

FORUMS

U.S. government can’t get e-mail
by buildakicker - 10/1/08 8:37 AM

I am a Web manager for the Forest Service. You are TOO right when you say they cannot handle the traffic. Just so you understand, I still do not have a database driven Web site. Everything I do is static or XML based. It’s crazy. They are in the 1990’s with this whole deal. They just don’t get it. Many people that aren’t into it, don’t get it.
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6035_102-0.html?forumID=97&threadID=310622

E-MAIL

OK guys, I am sick and tired of the ladies having to call in and defend me. I own a white Eee 701, with no hacks or modifications besides adding the full desktop version of the preinstalled OS. And guess what? I am manly enough to realize that it’s form factor is perfect for most casual Web surfing and e-mail. I have a quad-core desktop that rarely gets used, because sitting on the couch with a beer watching football is easier and more comfortable with a Netbook than any of my other computers.

I don’t often disagree with you guys, but seriously,
Netbooks are not the one-size-fits-all that you want it to be. It is a computer that specializes in Web based activities and is very portable--nothing more and nothing less.

Chris the attorney in DC

PS - the pearl white IS kinda girly…

With all the chatter around Real DVD… I thought I should point out another similar product, who has taken the Kaleidescape approach. Dull out of my skull I found Drive-in for Mac OS X 10.4+ for PPC and Intel and essentially does the full copy leaving the CSS in-place while adding a second encryption.

The FAQ states:
Is Drive-In legal?
Under license by the DVD CCA and DVD FLLC, Drive-in creates an image that is an exact duplicate of the information that is on the owner’s original DVD disc, thus preserving original content protection. In addition, Drive-in locks the software to the owner’s computer and locks the images to the software. Drive-in allows users to play movie images on computers that they own, but it does not allow users to share their images with others.

I do wonder why a small company was able acquire the relevant licenses while real was shut out. Oh one last thing… if you want to find the product on the interconnected tubs we call a web, just feel luck with google using the term “Drive-in”
Jason M.

Calling Real DVD “Steal DVD” is pretty humorous. In fact, it’s kind of like calling someone a name on the playground a name that rhymes with their name. You know like Jason the Mason or Molly the Trolley or Tom the Mom. I think the MPAA should change its name to the Mad Pirates Association of America.

Matt

Hey Buzz crew,

I just wanted to give you an update. Podcaster is now available via Cydia on jailbroken iPhones. Just as a side note, I jailbroke my iPhone for the first time and it took about 4 minutes. Left all my icons and preferences untouched and gave me 2 additional App Store alternatives. Why would you NOT want to do this. Now I have all the apps I ever wanted. Good job jailbreak community.

Alex S.
Podcaster Developer

Hey Buzz Crew, this is Gregg from Seattle

I’m responding to your comments about Live Search on episode 821.

The statements were made about whether Microsoft should even be in the search business, whether this is a battle they should actually pick …
because Google is the clear winner and a better search engine.

My question is this: What is the alternative? That Google become the only search engine? With all the flack I hear you give Google about privacy concerns, and jokes about Google’s “New World Order”, is that the world we want to live in?

And who is going to keep Google from being the big-brother, world-dominating, privacy-invading monster? Is it Yahoo? I certainly don’t hear you say good things about their business model and management acumen.

The way I see it is here you have a solid, player (Microsoft) with the resources and the ability to keep Google from becoming the only choice, with a solid product (Live Search). I've used Live Search for 2 years and I find it works great. It's a good product. Maybe it doesn't work as well in all places, but it has a lot of great features. And Microsoft is investing (a lot) into making it better.

So why are we razzing Microsoft about being a decent contender as an internet search provider. Isn't that what free market is all about.
Doesn't this competition mean better products for our customers? Isn't this all a good thing?

My take: "Go Microsoft! It just means better products for everyone!"

Love the show,

Gregg

on the Buzz Town Wiki, I have created, The Buzz Out Loud Dictionary, witch can be used to put in the words that are frequently used on Buzz Out Loud but are not dictionary words. The dictionary can be found here
http://buzzoutloud.wikia.com/wiki/The_Buzz_Out_Loud_Dictionary

Love the show

lightningboy7

EPISODE 821

Pandora, Webcasting see victory in Senate
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10055055-93.html

Studios Sue to Bar a DVD Copying Program
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/technology/01film.html

Would Apple really shutter iTunes? Unlikely
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10055021-93.html

Microsoft still paying people to search
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10053855-75.html

New Wii due by 2011
http://www.whattheyplay.com/blog/2008/09/30/new-wii-due-by-2011/

P2P growth slowing as infringement goes deeper undercover
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080930-p2p-growth-slowing-as-infringement-goes-deeper-undercover.html

Scientists develop incredible thinking cap
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10055309-71.html

Adobe exec confirms Flash for iPhone, says Apple will decide when
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10054749-1.html

New denial-of-service attack is a killer
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/01/0127245

Dell preloading Iron Man, world asks “Why?”
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/30/dell-pre-loading-iron-man-world-asks-why/

Starz gives Netflix fans a reason to stream
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/starz-gives-netflix-fans-a-reason-to-stream/

VOICEMAIL

Adam from Maple Valley
Some open source cloud examples

Joe from Westside
On the other side.

E-MAIL
Hi guys,

I’m catching up on last week’s episodes, and have been thinking about
this first sale doctrine mentioned re: Spore last week. Just to be
clear, I think the Spore DRM is lame… but in this day of digital
media, isn’t first sale outdated?

You can sell a CD you buy at the record store, but can't you sell music
bought online? Do you think someone would buy am unDRMed MP3 from the
Amazon store from you? In fact, are you even allowed to resell unDRMed
MP3 files?

How about iTunes purchased content--for example, movies or TV show
seasons? These actually are valuable.

– Nilay

**********

This topic may have been shared already, and it may not really be like Google’s carrier-less concept, but here in Southeast Asia, especially here in mobile savvy Philippines, a lot of local hackers offer dual-sim capabilities. In the days of Nokia 3310 (remember Space Impact or Picture Editor?!), buyers can opt for a modified back-plate cover that encases two sim slots that connect to the main sim slot, so your phone uses two carriers. Switching between carriers is seamless, but I’m not sure the extent of it’s capability, as I have not tried it.

We also have this phone called My Phone (check it at http://www.myphone.com.ph) that houses built in dual-sim slots and has advanced smartphone features to boot (albeit no Space Impact OR Picture Editor). Well, that’s it, what do you think?

Long time listener, great show!
Chris

**********

Hey Jamoto!

In response to episode 820, I think people should create their own clouds, everyone having their own miniserver. Companies could make money by releasing software to run your cloud. And then you’d only have to upgrade the hardware of the server, not your little eee PC accessing the server.

Robert the Soviet

EPISODE 820

Stallman rejects cloud computing
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080930-why-stallman-is-wrong-when-he-calls-cloud-computing-stupid.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/cloud.computing.richard.stallman

House Web site overwhelmed by e-mails
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10054346-38.html

RealNetworks files suit against Hollywood over realDVD
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/30/realnetworks-files-suit-against-hollywood-over-realdvd/

http://www.download.com/1770-20_4-0.html?query=dvd%20ripper&searchtype=downloads&tag=mncol;rbxcdl.2.a.1

Meanwhile Amazon had some Adobe Flash problems and was giving away movies
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080929-adobe-amazon-point-fingers-over-video-ripping-exploit.html

U.K. spy agency looking for a few good Facebook users
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080929-uk-spy-agency-looking-for-a-few-good-facebook-users.html

MI6 terror photos, data accidentally sold on eBay
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/slashdot/eqWf/~3/AM–AiheNPg/article.pl

AMD’s 45nm Shanghai enters production, next stops are Deneb, Istanbul
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/30/amds-45nm-shanghai-enters-production-next-stops-are-deneb-ist/

The 25 most influential people on the Web
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/09/0929_most_influential/1.htm
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10054281-36.html

VOICEMAIL
Doug in Culver City
Trick for burning without CDs

RogueTess
In defense of men using EeePCs

Anonymous
Zune is DRM-free (mostly)

E-MAIL

OK, two (three?) things.

About Spore, did you see: http://xkcd.com/480/, very funny. No need to buy Spore!

Secondly, the comments in various episodes about turning off the DRM servers...Games get patches, right? Well, when the game is 5 years old and people want to still play, just release a patch. Didn’t that happen with another game (also discussed on BOL previously) where the DRM was bunk and the developer actually released a community-created patch to strip the DRM? Few people will be playing it then and piracy wouldn’t be as rampant on a 5-10-year-old game.

For music, they just die because they are built into the files…but this could apply as well. Look at DRM-stripping programs for iTunes, etc. Walmart (from Ep. 819) could just release/e-mail a bit of software that looks in a folder and runs the program to strip the DRM and it’s done. If the labels are OK with them coming out and saying, "Hey burn to CD and re-rip," why not just allow them to strip?

Erick the Satellite Guy.

*********

Hi Buzz Crew -

I’d like to throw some ice water on the idea that a 250GB cap from Comcast should be enough for the average user. I just listened to the Real Deal episode on Bandwidth Caps (plug!) where the size of a “downloadable game these days” was guessed at 1GB.

I just purchased Call of Duty 4 over Steam and downloaded all 10 Gigabytes of it. 1/25th of my monthly stipend gone. Guess what? The install went awry and I had to redownload the game, which thankfully Steam easily allows you to do. 20GB later… BAM…. 1/12 of my monthly allotment gone. One-twelfth…. just downloading a game.

We’re doomed.

Love the show!
Fraggle

*********

JaMoTo & Guest

In Ep. 799 you talked about the 100-flavor Coca-cola soda fountain (http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/29/coca-cola-readying-100-flavor-soda-fountains/). Here are a few quick updates:
There a 100 flavor-cartridge bays--not 100 flavors.
The syrup is very unstable and must be kept at a specific temperature and must be agitated to keep from EXPLODING.
Carbon is added separately to the water, allowing for non-carbonated drinks such as Gatorade.
The image on Engadget is confirmed. The freestanding fountain features a touch screen.
The machine is so complex that the company making the inside of the device makes and designs medical equipment.

The project has just been completed and is now into production. Hopefully to be seen early 2009.
Sam
Melbourne, Australia

*********

Hi,
I kept laughing through Buzz Out Loud 818: The Zipless Squirt as you discussed “College bookstores turning to kiosks to stem e-textbook tide” and how they do not understand how to save themselves and all the things they should consider.
They are already history; they just do not know it yet.

My son just started his second year at UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County), which is a totally wireless zone with Internet everywhere.

Other than the first books that we purchased on the Internet for his first semester, he has not purchased books.

Since everything at the school is online, there is an online community for swapping books without going through the bookstore.

Two of his computer science teachers give the books they wrote away in PDF form--the professors figured they were paid to be there and present the material in a form needed/understood by the students.
In his current Java class, the teacher refered the students to sun’s JavaDocs and the Sun Tutorials at http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/. Their IDE is eclipse.
Similar story in his C class, GNU GCC complier and my 20-year-old copy of K&R C, the oldest copy in the class!

For his reading assignments in English Literature, he found the books in text form at the Gutenburg project http://www.gutenberg.org or MP3s for his iPod also at the Gutenburg project.

As for teaming with Amazon, it has already happened. We purchased his first books through Abe Books (http://www.abebooks.com), “used”. They are now owned by Amazon, who has always had a very good used book market. Read http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/01/shelfari-and-librarything-awkward-bookends-to-abebooks-amazon-deal/

Now, I admit he is a programmer, as am I, and we tend to go to the Web before going to the store.
But where the geeks (and engineers) tread the world eventually follows.

luv the show,
Kent -> State of the Ark programmer -> 37 years of coding excellence!

Natali says she giggles when she sees guys using the tiny little Eee PC. But she doesn't question their manliness. Engnr_Chik thinks Netbooks are for everyone. Plus we speculate on the rush to release a prebeta of Windows 7, demand Wal-Mart do something about their forlorn DRM music tracks, and I'm possibly moving to Japan. Or New York. Or space.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 819

Japan to get 1Gbps home fiber connections
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/27/1757211

SpaceX orbits success with Falcon 1
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10053326-76.html

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/space-x-did-it.html

Windows 7 to finally go public in late October
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080929-windows-7-to-finally-go-public-in-late-october.html

Wal-Mart shutting off DRM servers, turning over a new leaf
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/28/walmart-shutting-off-drm-servers-turning-over-a-new-leaf/

Alcatel’s $1.5 billion MP3 patent payout denied on appeal
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080928-court-denies-alcatels-appeal-to-reinstate-1-5-billion-judgment-against-microsoft.html

AT&T drops Dish for DirecTV
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10052944-94.html

TiVo's software launches on a PC
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-tivos-software-launches-on-a-pc/

New TiVo UI (thanks tales!!!)
http://www.slashgear.com/tivo-new-user-interface-in-testing-features-picture-in-guide-at-last-2917609/

Sprint goes live with XOHM WiMax service in downtown Baltimore
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/29/sprint-goes-live-with-xohm-wimax-service-in-downtown-baltimore/

New Zune music from Fania
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/sep08/09-29FaniaRecordsPR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases

War crimes video games
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7638581.stm

VOICE MAIL

Chris from Portland
What about Indies in the cloud?

Librarian Cat
Little Brother review

E-MAIL

Hey Jamoto + 1,

I have to agree with RogueTess and Molly from Episode 818 - smallish Netbooks are great. I bought a 20GB 901 eee PC in July and I love it. It came with a Linux distribution, but I installed XP on it.

A big reason why I bought the Eee is its compact size. I just got back from 2 weeks on the island of Hawaii and I brought the Eee with me. Although we spent the first four nights in a little cottage in the middle of nowhere, the rest of the trip was spent in a B&B and a condo that both had Wi-Fi, so we were able to research our day excursions like horseback riding through the Waipio Valley (vy-pee-oh), find restaurant Web sites for phone numbers and menus, check e-mail confirmations, and most importantly keep on top of my NFL Pick-em group, which you can ask Jason about. Ask him who’s in first place, go ahead ask him.

Plus, even though it lacks a DVD drive, I was able to rent a couple of movies from Amazon to watch on the plane.

Also, the Netbook is not just for chicks. A dude I used to work with bought the 1000h Eee because he takes frequent trips on his motorcycle and it packs nicely in his road trip bags.

Love the show,
engnr_chik from the chat room.

I found the location of the Russian “happy face” on Google maps from
episode 817

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IeJHb-2CVGM/SNUFiyTlEHI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/shQMNh5h89o/s1600-h/smiley-1000.jpg

here it is on google maps

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=russland%2C%20Oblast%20Tscheljabinsk%20Tscheljabinsk&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Note the Identical traffic around the square, parked cars and shadows etc.
I was very sad about discovering this, because:

1. I felt happy that hundreds of Russian folks had such a sense of
community that they could get together and build a happy face.

2. A kinder, gentler graffiti has not made it big on the interwebs
after all.

3. …and worst of all, this means there really was no Vodka garden.

Spasiba for nothing, slashdot.

Aaron, Chico, Calif.

Sorry, I got behind on my podcasts and just heard Jason volunteer to go up on the space elevator.

Not going to happen.

The elevator is for freight only. Humans will still go up in launch vehicles. The reason is that the trip up will take days and the radiation would kill anything alive. The point of the elevator is to take cargo up.

1. For about $400/pound (instead of the $10,000/pound it costs on a rocket)

2. On a regularly scheduled basis (unlike rockets that get delayed almost every time

For more information...
http://www.liftport.com
Al

JaMoTong:

You guys got it a bit wrong about Windows 7’s decoupling from Movie Maker, and so on. The Windows Live versions of these apps are *not* run from the cloud: they are actual desktop applications that you can currently install from http://get.live.com. A lot of these replace existing Vista applications (photo gallery, mail, what have you) and are quite frankly a lot better. While they do have functionality that makes them play nicely with online services (like automatic settings for Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo when you’re setting up an account in the mail client), fear not: they still save stuff to your computer, and they do not require any kind of internet connection to be rad.

Except Live Writer, the blogging application. I guess that wouldn’t be very rad without an Internet connection. Unless you just liked to pretend you were blogging for real.

-Jeff from Seattle

EPISODE 818

Jack Thompson Disbarred
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/25/1822207
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10051241-52.html

AT& T, Verizon to refrain from tracking users online
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/25/AR2008092504135.html

Calif. bans text-and-drive. Crazy people sad?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10050928-94.html

Google’s plan to free you from cell phone carriers
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/25/googles-end-run-around-the-wireless-carriers/

Trent Reznor to NIN fans: Help us understand what you’ll buy
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10051824-16.html

Muxtape founder ‘walked away from licensing deals’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10051297-36.html

EA skirts first-sale doctrine with limits on resale of Spore
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080925-ea-skirts-first-sale-doctrine-with-limits-on-resale-of-spore.html

College bookstores turn to kiosks to stem e-textbook tide
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080926-college-bookstores-turn-to-kiosks-to-stem-e-textbook-tide.html

Neuros open set-top box lets you crowd-subtitle the presidential debate
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/26/neuros-open-settop-b-1.html

Election season comes to Twitter
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10051813-36.html

Jet man Yves Rossy soars into record books with solo flight over Channel
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/3086878/Fusionman-Jet-man-Yves-Rossy-soars-into-record-books-with-solo-flight-over-Channel.html

VOICEMAIL
Rogue Tess: I love my Netbook

Justin: about the boot

E-MAIL

Hey Buzzards!

I may not be the first, but I wanted to direct your attention to an article in the Telegraph UK about how iTunes is in trouble. This ties directly back to your discussion on how Kid Rock didn’t want to sell his album on iTunes because it was a “concept album” (I cannot help but laugh every time I hear that). The only concept I’m seeing is that they want to sell us the whole album and not just the songs we like. AC/DC wants to sell only the entire album because blah-blah-blah, one song doesn’t represent who they are right now. Sure, fine, whatever, don’t give me any lines about art--this is all about commerce and selling the more expensive album and not the single. Radio and MTV seem to have done very well just playing one song off these albums for years.

What really got me was the first sentence of the last paragraph, “In the future we will all receive our music under a subscription model.” Like this is some forgone freakin’ conclusion? I’m thinking, ummmm NO! I like to own my music, as I know most of your listeners and the rest of the world do (not withstanding DRM, which is experiencing its death rattle’s as we speak). How many subscription models have we seen come and go? This line just blew me away.

Anyway thanks for reading,

Steve in Atlanta
Listener since the 200’s

P.S. Change is good!

**********

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/09/25/bmitunes125.xml

I finally saw my first one. The Aussie that owns this one was very gracious with his time in talking about. This thing is dead silent. Sorry about the bad pic, camera phone after all.

Tom the cube monkey
Boulder, Colo.

**********

Hey Buzz Crew-

Well, I’m a little behind again on the podcast, but in ep. 816 you got discussing narcissism and Tom Merritt believed everything is about him. Well, I believe it. I mean, I hear all the time Tom Merritt in my ears and I get e-mails for Tom Merritt, I write papers for publication and the lead author ends up being Tom Merritt (OK, officially, Thomas Merritt). I mean, in my life Tom Merritt is the most common name on my regular mail, too. And when I first signed onto twitter my posts were listed by Tom Merritt and then I get tweets from Tom Merritt. And I got followers for Tom Merritt (poor fools). So, Tom Merritt is right, my world is filled with Tom Merritt.

Have a good one!
Tom Merritt

**********

Solar power + the Amish = sign of impeding …
doom?
Weirdness?
Wake up call to the rest of us who are suddenly freakishly behind in technology of the Amish.

Here’s the original story:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_left_story/20080920_Amish_turn_to_solar_power_for_electricity.html

Sheala, Ga.

**********

So, I’m on my morning bus commute this morning, watching Mythbusters I recorded last night on Vista Media Center on my Zune, and a dialog box pops up. Something like “Someone is sending you a file. Do you wish to accept?”. Being the curious and naive person that I am, I accept. It ends up being “Who are You?” by The Who. The woman beside me on the bus nudges me, holding up HER Zune. I soon realize, I’ve just been squirted!!! I quickly respond back with “Do you think I’m sexy?” by Revolting Cocks. Her next squirt was “Good Girls Don’t” by The Knack.

We exchanged “gamertags”, and I’m hoping to chat some more with my new “squirting” friend.

Just though you might enjoy my strange bus ride story.

See you this afternoon in the chat room;

Paul (alamode) Cyopick

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

BTW, neither of us owns a Kindle or a Segway.