Episode 675

Microsoft considers switching its bid for Yahoo to all cash. Why? Because they have a lot of cash. Bill Gates, on the other hand, is practically a pauper, at least according to Forbes' annual billionaire list. In other news, the MPAA turns out to have made record revenues in 2007, erasing any and all sympathy anyone might have left for them. 
==Stories Covered==
*Apple SDK announcement
*The Vista Capable mess: Intel pushes, Microsoft bends
*Internet Explorer 8: Crash, Restart, Crash
*Acid3 Test unleashed, murders every current browser
*Whistle-blower: Feds Have a high-speed backdoor into wireless carrier
*Piracy caused by poor choice
*MIPI ISP filter conflict (Thanks Luke from Melbourne!)
*What piracy crisis? MPAA touts record box office for 2007
*Circuit City trading in HD DVD for Blu-ray players
*Gates dethroned as world’s richest man
*Ask.com says they don’t want to become women’s site
*Microsoft to switch Yahoo bid to all cash?
*Swiss bank in Wikileaks case abruptly abandons lawsuit
==From The Phones==
*Someone: Analogy for packet inspection.
*A.J. from Alameda: Do things just keep getting more ridiculous?
*Robert from Edinburgh: I got a letter from Paramount.
:Dear Sir or Madam,
:We have received a complaint regarding an allegation of Copyright Infringement.
:We were supplied an IP address of the system that was sharing the alleged copyrighted material, which we traced to your PIPEX ADSL account.
:As I am sure you are aware, this breaches our Acceptable Use Policy, (http://www.pipex.net/legal/aup/ ) and many copyright laws, namely the Berne Convention.
:Please reply to this email within 7 days stating that your PIPEX account will not be used for copyright infringement or any breaches of the law or the PIPEX Acceptable Use Policy.
:Failure to respond or further infringements will cause your account to be temporarily suspended,and could also result in your account being terminated.
:We have included the original complaint for you to view
==Emails==
===iPod related crimes===
Hello BuzzTown,
This is Rodrigo from Brazil, now in Toronto!
So the number one video on YouTube is a videoclip from the Brazilian band Cansei de Ser Sexy, also known as CSS an indie eletronic/pop band a little bit popular outside of Brazil. Even though I like the band and Veronica also mentioned this band on BOL a while ago, they are NOT that famous to be number. They are not that famous outside of Brazil and they are even less famous inside of Brazil. I can assure you that the 89 million views that video got is indeed a hack!
And regarding the crimes related to iPod, I just want to share this “funny” story. I went back to Brazil last december and I brought an iPod Touch to a friend, two weeks ago he was stopped while walking to the bus stop. A guy pointed a gun to him and said “Give me your wallet and your iPod”. My friend was not showing the iPod but he was wearing the white earphones. He said to the thief that he didn’t have a wallet and took the iPod touch out of his pocket to give to the bad guy. Here comes the “funny” on all this. They criminal stares at the iPod Touch and said, “What’s that? Where’s the iPod?”, so my friend realizes that this guy doesn’t even know what is an iPod Touch so my friend tells him “I’m sorry this is all I have”… The guy got angry but went away and didn’t steal anything from my friend.
So yes, if you are facing a stupid south american criminal you might be safe caring an iPhone or iPod Touch.
 :)
Best
Rodrigo
===Memory debate===
Hey Buzz Crew,
You brought up the debate about whether Google and other resources are making us “dumber” because we no longer have to remember anything.
Since when does memory equal intelligence? I could memorize every US President and recite it back to someone, and most likely that person would later say, “boy, he was really smart.” Yet, I might only know their names, which does not really make me smart, just good at memorization. A piece of paper could do this, and with more reliable accuracy. On the other hand, if I could put that information in context to tell you interesting facts about certain presidents, or make connections between presidents that others haven’t before, that would be something worthwhile.
There is a famous quote by Einstein, “Never memorize what you can look up in books.”
Apparently, the story behind this is that someone asked Einstein to recite some “well-known” scientific formula, and he couldn’t do it, and people were shocked. He explained that he saw no reason to clutter up his brain with a fact like that, when he knew exactly where to look it up when he needed it. He wanted to spend his time on more important things than memorizing facts that are easily found on paper, rather than memorizing things just to make himself seem “smart”.
Freeing up the brain from memorization creates room for creativity and other useful tasks.
I don’t think the real question is whether removing the need to memorize makes us dumber. The real question is, if we stopped forcing children to do useless memorization in school that they will never actually use, what would be left? Especially in college, we’re forced to memorize books and books worth of facts that we won’t remember even months later, only so that we can do well on tests.
Just some food for thought.
Love the show,
Steve from Nashville
===Denver airport’s free Wi-Fi===
Hey Tom, Molly, and Jason
I just have a quick comment on episode 674 concerning censorship in Denver Airport's free Wi-Fi.
First of all if a service is provided for free, consumers should not have the right to complain about blocking certain content. This is the same reason why ABC, CBS, Fox, and other free over-the-air channels must comply with FCC censorship laws. Paid content like HBO, Cinemax, and satellite radio are not govern by the censorship law because they are paid content. So if you wanted to have unrestricted access to the internet you should pay for it.
Second of all if you want unrestricted internet access in any free Wi-Fi hot spot, all you have to do is use VPN for which the content filter software cannot determine what to block. The only thing I see is that they can block VPN traffic entirely but I doubt that is being done.
Love the show and keep up the good work.
Maynard
from New Jersey
===Analogy dispute!===
Hey TMJ,
As a law student currently writing a paper on online privacy, I have to take issue with Shobee’s(sp?) analogy correction.
We protect phone communications because of the privacy interest that exists in not having our communications intercepted, not because it isn’t where crime is happening.
If we are ok with saying that piracy is happening online and monitoring is the best way to stop it, then we may have to say that it’s ok to have police walk through our homes whenever they like, cause that’s where lots of crime is happening. Or perhaps since cars are used for smuggling, the police need to randomly stop our cars and search them. Not every person is going to be committing crimes in their homes or cars but, in Showbee’s words, if you want to catch who you need to catch, this is where you are going to find them.
The internet today handles so much private activity that any suggestion of tapping our connections must be taken very seriously. Piracy, in my opinion, simply isn’t a strong enough reason to head down the very slippery slope of internet monitoring.
love the podcast,
The Anonymous Canadian Law Student.
===Illegal downloads in Iceland===
Howdy Buzz Folks,
Thought you might find this interesting.
Hmmm, I guess I’ll be
Nine convicted for Illegal Downloads in Iceland
http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/ ?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=302026
“Alexa” in the Azores…. (formerly in Iceland)
==After The Credits==
*Jason and Molly are ready, Tom is not. Molly calls Tom a diva and sings "Diva Tom Merritt" to the tune of "Viva Las Vegas".