Buzz Out Loud 830: One more thing: one less button

Steve Jobs delivers: he delivers one fewer button, an all-new proprietary display port, annoyingly glossy screens, and a paltry $100 price drop on the new MacBook. Huzzah. We do have some other news to talk about today, luckily, like Microsoft sticking with Windows 7 as the official name of Windows 7, and Joost deciding it might be time to get in the online streaming game. Good ideas, all.
Listen now: Download today's podcast

Episode 830

Apple notebook event: Live blog at 10 a.m. PDT Tuesday
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10064559-1.html
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/13/mr-blurrycam-reveals-the-updated-macbook-pro-899-laptop-model/

Windows 7 to be called — Windows 7
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/13/introducing-windows-7.aspx

Bush signs RIAA-backed intellectual-property law
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10064527-38.html

Joost launches Flash version for browsers: Easier but no Hulu
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-joost-launches-flash-version-for-browsers/

Hulu Envy: SNL planning standalone site; so does HBO
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-hulu-envy-snl-planning-standalone-site-so-does-hbo/

The Quietest Sun
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/14/0038230
http://thesuninmotion.com/

University tries “one iPhone per student” http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/13/1815229

Internet use ‘good for the brain’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7667610.stm

Voice Mail

Remy: Free Blu-Ray?

Tommy from Kingston didn’t hear that call

E-mail

Jamoto, Well Actually:

You mentioned reverse Turing tests, the most common reverse Turing test is a little known thing called a captcha. Just thought I’d point that out…

Ben, Ireland

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Just wanted to mention you may have missed why so many preorders.
You all kinda proposed that is was people just responding to a Google
is cool, so their phone should be as well. I am not sure this was it.
Keep in mind this is the first Open Linux phone available to the
masses that has a big player behind it at a low price. I also think
the open source community is responding much like they have with the
triple “e” PC and other Netbooks. Remember Dell being pressed to
make a Linux laptop? Also, look at the GP2X and the Pandora project.
I think there is a significant amount of us that have been waiting for
the right Open Linux phone to come along. Android looks to have the
right formula, so the response just reflects it.

Great show as always.

Johnny P

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Don’t believe the hype. I love the Android platform, but the 1.5 million figure is the tech echo chamber gone wild. ALL the reports stem from one Motley Fool article, and I contacted the author, and let’s just say there’s some dubious math used to reach that figure.

Thanks,

marin

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Buzz crew -

Along with JaMoTo, i was skeptical in episode 829 that a 25% success rate in a Turing test was enough to declare that an artificial intelligence had “successfully” fooled judges in conversation. I found the following scoring clarification in an AP/USAToday article:

Bronze goes to the piece of software that best mimics human conversation in text form.
The silver would go to a machine that could pass a longer version of the Turing Test and fool at least half the judges.
The gold would go to a machine that could process audio and visual information rather than just text.

No program has won the gold or silver prizes.
But what I want to know is: where can I play with the competing programs online? (I could use some conversation hints!)

- Joel in Ohio

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2008-10-13-computer-joke_N.htm?csp=34

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Hi JaMoTo (plus 1)

I know that BOL mainly focuses on US-centric stories, but this is an
extremely important to ALL Australians.

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy,
Senator Stephen Conroy is pushing hard for a ‘filtered Internet’ to
make the entire Internet in Australia safe for 5-year-olds. This means
that all ISPs will have to sort through every single packet being
transmitted to make sure the site is not on a black list or illegal.

It was originally believed that the filter would be ‘opt-out’ But it
has just come out that there will be two blacklists, the first is the
filter safe for 5-year-olds, and the second only filters out illegal
material. The opt-out will only move you from the 5-year-old filter to
the illegal only filter.

http://nocleanfeed.com/ is a great site that explains what is being
proposed and ways for Australians to rally support and take action
against Senator Conroy’s proposal.

Press release: http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/media/media_releases/2008/060
computer world story: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php?id=1399635276&eid=-255

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Hey Buzz crew,
I’m not sure if this is Buzzworthy or not, but I still thought it was interesting. For the past week or so, the local morning radio host here in Austin has had his listeners perform specific Google searches, effectively making those searches number one for the day on Google trends. He started out small, just asking them to search for his name, Bobby Bones. Then his “rapper” nickname Captain Caucasian. Then he started getting creative and having them search for Bobby Bones and Vanessa Hudgens. Then Bobby Bones, Vanessa Hudgens makeout pics. Each day it worked and became number one on Google Trends. And gossip blogs even started picking up the story and blogging about how Vanessa Hudgens found a new guy and its all a big scandal. So what does this say about Google if some crappy local radio DJ can manipulate the rankings so easily? I bet he can ask his listeners to search for “Steve Jobs dead” and the bloggers would probably pick it up as a real story. Well, I just thought it was an interesting story. Talk about it if you like, if not, I’ll still listen to the show.

Thanks,
David