Episode 891

Leo Laporte joins the cast today to discuss, of course, Steve Jobs' medical leave of absence, the problem with filters (yes, it's the problem you think it is), the future of bendy gadgets, and how to dance like Bollywood.
==Stories Covered==
Apple: Jobs to Take Medical Leave of Absence 
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/01/14/apple-jobs-to-take-medical-leave-of-absence/
Analysts: he probably won’t come back
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/01/why-jobs-isnt-c.html
In the interim, who’s leading Apple?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10143030-37.html
PC shipments up just 1.1 percent in fourth quarter: Gartner
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/technology/01/15/09/pc-shipments-just-11-percent-fourth-quarter-gartner
Collateral Damage as UK Censors Internet Archive
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F15%2F151223
Best Buy to be Palm Pre's exclusive retailer
http://www.webosarena.com/2009/01/15/best-buy-to-be-palm-pres-exclusive-retailer/
FCC’s McDowell says agency not ready for DTV day
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090115-fccs-mcdowell-says-agency-not-ready-for-dtv-day.html
Control your TiVo via text message with Kwiry
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10142424-1.html
Don’t touch the DVR: commercials help us enjoy the show more
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090114-dont-touch-the-dvr-commercials-help-us-enjoy-the-show-more.html
Bendy gadget future for graphene
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7827148.stm
Zork to be revived as browser MMO
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2009/01/14/zork-to-be-revived-as-browser-mmo
==From The Phones==
*Anonymous DarwinistYouTube's easy audio upload fix
*Emiliano (we think)Windows 7 Tip for Jose!
*Jose from JacksonvilleNo, that won't help
==Emails==
Making cables vanish isn’t that difficult for the typical DIY’er. Take
a pizza cutting wheel and cut a channel in the wallboard wide enough to
accommodate your bundle of cables. Dress the cables into the channel.
Cover the channel with wallboard tape, cover with ‘mud’, let dry, sand,
and repaint. Simple eh?
Cheers
Steve in Cupertino
(the other one)
----
I think we should figure out how to make this Steve Jobs’ leave of
Absence into a gambling pool. We buy squares for $100 and pick the
dates for his return. We just need somebody to figure the payouts
and the time period for his return plus/minus a few days will create
the squares. What if he never returns or if he returns many years
later?
Kelly
California
----
Hello all,
I teach a course on neuropharmacology and we talk a lot about caffeine.
Some interesting stats:
About 190 000 000 North Americans show withdrawal symptoms from caffeine,
showing they are caffeine dependent.
Adult humans are caffeine metabolizing machines, we are very efficient at
it, the half life of caffeine in an adult is oh maybe between 30 and 120 min
whereas in nonhuman animals and kids (toddlers) it is about 3.5 DAYS
A majority of workplace spats that end in firings happen between 9 and 9:30
am. There is speculation that much of this is driven by caffeine
withdrawal.
In most research a cup of coffee is defined as a teacup sized serving. Most
of us drink more than that per serving, and the coffee that is brewed for
such studies tends to be weaker than that which most people drink.
I have no idea if this is germane to yesterday’s discussion, as I have had
only 1 cup of coffee today….
Dave (the psychologist)