bestdamntech

Live version, unedited.

"After hearing accusations that Coldplay's Chris Martin stole a song from unknown band Creaky Boards, Schmidt lashes out in defence of Coldplay in this intense and unbridled (and quite obviously unscripted) tirade against the millions of Creaky Boards fanboys." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7Dud5OEgRA

Redlasso.com (Jim McCusker), Rachel. Schmidt, Drdrew Best Damn News Headlines Answering question from last week as to 4th most popular search engine....AOL Google extends lead over competition last month growing to 61.6 percent, up from 59.8 percent in March seemingly proving unstoppable. Also proving that even a merger between Yahoo and Microsoft would not be enough to topple the giant. Larry Page made the trip to Washington to appeal to the powers-that-be for access to the unused TV whitespace in an attempt to blanket the whole country with free wifi. He also talked up a possible Yahoo-Google deal citing a near monopoly in communications if Microsoft and Yahoo were to bed together. Microsoft launches cash for search service that pays users a rebate for buying products they found through the company's Windows Live search engine. Gates claims that MS will partner with more than 700 retailers including eBay Inc, Barnes & Noble, Sears and Home Depot. The One Laptop per Child program is planning to resume its BOGOF program where users can purchase the laptop and donate one to a third world child. They announced plans for the 2nd gen, dubbed XO that should be closer to the $100 goal. They also announced a partnership with Microsoft to offer their operating system for cheap (but not cheap enough at this stage as they still have to work out the licensing agreement.) They also have a new domain at www.laptop.org Schmidt faced http://badvista.fsf.org/blog/don-t-give-microsoft-the-remote-control Microsoft plays a little too nice with the FCC. Iris on the Virus http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/05/22/vulnerabilities-in-ical-pose-potential-security-risk Tech Tips Around the World Wide Web Europe is planning a 'big brother' campaign in a bid to counter terrorism. Their plan includes the creation of a digital vault which will contain information on every email, internet visit and phone call. This central repository will be made available to Home Office officials. Tech this out - This one straight from the "Oh my God, this is the biggest news ever!" files. Facebook is planning a redesign. They're talking about tabs folks. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=509854&id=21073243776#pid=509854 - Napster launched its new mp3 store touting some 6 million unprotected tracks not without its bugs though - HP launches a green initiative for printers...the HP DeskJet D2545 Printer is made almost entirely out of recycled plastic. - Mahaolo are opening up to everyone. The editors will be monitoring but anyone can edit content. - Speilberg has entered the gaming arena with Boom Blox. Teaming up with EA, it has been described as "This is a wacky, addictive puzzle game with precious little story and surprisingly bland characters" Drewmors Site of the Week http://www.howcast.com/ http://ww.redlasso.com

Best Damn News Headlines CBS BUYS online media company CNET for $1.8bill ReadBurner Partners with Netvibes - Drew talks about it Ask (IACI) Buys Dictionary.com for $100m Verizon have announced plans to adopt an open source platform for their phones but will be backing Linux over google's android MySpace fake user Lori drew, who allegedly helped create a fake MySpace account to contact neighbour Megan Meier who thought she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans which ended up in the hanging death of Megan has officially been charged with "one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorisation to obtain information to inflict emotional distress." Public pressure (and what they call potential copyright infringement) has forced the folks at Sega to pull a marketing website/video for their new game "Offset the evil" by using a campaign that resembled the My Little Pony character. As a result of the backlash they decided "we thought it would be a good time to take it down and move the campaign onto the next stage." Yahoo launched its new SearchMonkey platform for developers to add extra features link ratings, add images like a facebook photo aimed at improving the user experience, kickstarting it with the SearchMonkey developer Challenge awarding up to $10,000 for the top apps. These "enhanced results" will apparently replace the current search results. Finally, Google is continuing to roll out (although there is a waiting list) FriendConnect with the aim of integrating social features like blogging and feedback forms without requiring the skills of a developer. On the other end MySpace, Yahoo and Ebay have jumped on to the OpenID option. One platform not accepting of the Google initiative is Facebook...for his opinion on such issues... Schmidt faced Facedbook bans Google Friend Connect: Facebook is all about openness and data portability, as long as that doesn t involve openness or portability of data, it seems. Today they wrote a long 7 paragraph blog post to get a single point across: Facebook has banned Google s Friend Connect access to the Facebook API. They claim that Google's use of the data goes against their policies and wants to work with Google to cometo an agreement, however Facebook's application distributes their info in a similar fashion. Iris on the Virus Safari 'carpet bombing' vulnerability. Apple says 'meh' Tech Tips Around the World Wide Web While Google is starting to blur certain images on their street view option here in the US, they're launching street view in the EU amid privacy concerns. According to one source in France "Unlike in the US, we are mostly beautiful people but we do have some uglies. Generally we like to hide the uglies but with something like this Google streetview, it will be difficult". Tech this out - Comcast has acquired Plaxo - ComScore data has Google jumping to the head of the class by overtaking Yahoo as the most popular website in the US as determined by the number of unique monthly visitors. - Amazon is taking some interest in Animoto, the very cool music video creator - Flash 10 has been made available for public testing Tech Biffo I can't decide who the biffo is between, Myspace and the "Spam Kings" or the Spam King to Spam King for the Spam King title. Self proclaimed "Spam King" Sanford Wallace plus another self-proclaimed "Spam King" Walter Rines has been ordered to pay $230 million to MySpace for hijacking other people's MySpace pages or setting up their own and sending over 700,000 junk messages to members. Meanwhile another self-proclaimed "Spam King" Scott Richter is being pursued by the News Corp giant. Site of the Week www.offsettheevil.com

Best Damn News Following their failed bid on Yahoo, Microsoft is giving Facebook a bit of a poke to see if they'll poke back over the possibility of a full acquisition. While they already claim $240 million investment in the company, values are being thrown around in the ballpark of $15 billion.As anticipated, Grand Theft Auto smashed all sorts of sales records, raking in some $500 million in its first week. The Hooker and Prostitutes Union (HPU) have now changed their tune, now staking a claim in the success of the game. "Even though the game depicts violence against us, it's all true and now it gives us an extra element of credibility" says Lindy LaLa the union's spokeperson. Now a new group has come out against the game, RAD (Russians Against Defamation) are complaining that "in the game Russians are depicted in a bad way" they go on to say that "not all Russians are that ugly" citing Baryshnikov, Kournikova and Sharapova as examples. Plus, only 70% of Russians regularly wear sweat suits. (Side note, most copies sold on XBOX)MySpace launches "Open Availability", data share with Yahoo, Ebay and Twitter, et al.http://mashable.com/2008/05/08/breaking-myspace-announces-data-availability-with-yahoo-ebay-and-others/Pownce says game on with shared files in friend streams, and more storage space for everyone. Competitor to box.net, ups the game on twitter.Drewmors Microsoft trying to buy Facebook now that they've dumped Yahoo at the arranged marriage alter? Do they really want FACEBOOK or do they want Mark Zuckerburg (or both?). Zuckerburg the next Bill Gates? Long term CEO? Ballmer/Gates' Successor? The debate on Net Neutrality rages on. Also raging on...Schmidt facedSenators to ISP's: "Think twice" about 'Net neutrality or else.http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080506-senator-to-isps-think-twice-about-net-neutrality-or-else.htmlYears ago, Congress began protecting ISPs from the twin threats of regulation and taxation; in return, ISPs were expected to deliver an unimpeded connection to the Internet. A move away from a neutral 'Net would undermine the "very philosophical underpinnings of what we fought for for the last 15 years," according to Ron Wyden (D-OR). If that happens, he sees no reason for Congress to continue sheltering ISPs. Iris on the VirusChinese cyber attacks

Flemo's back from Australia!Happy Birthday to the Internet!Microsoft struggles with XP SP3 and Vista.eBay vs. CraigsListHookers Pissed Off over Grand Theft Auto 4 (IV).CrudWare Company Sues despite sucking ass.BBC uncovers Facebook flawJustin.tv Representative pisses off Podcamp community.

Google Maps Predicts Traffic Conditions Google Maps can now predict traffic information for any day of the week and time of the day, based on past conditions. By default, if you click on the Traffic button in a supported area from the US, Google Maps shows real-time traffic information. The Twitter/FriendFeed Desktop Client Arms Race Continues A lot of people are addicted to Twitter (microblogging), and a lot of people are addicted to FriendFeed (friends' activity streams). While both are web services Alexa Updates Its Web Rankings - Still Not Good Enough Amazon-owned Alexa has announced a major update to its 10 year old web ranking system. Previously, Alexa's rankings were based solely on data collected from the downloadable Alexa Toolbar, but now the company is aggregating data from multiple sources Download YouTube Videos as MP4 Files (Tip) Answer "No to All" When Copying FilesGoogle's Great American Wireless Auction 'game' annoys US lawmakers Worth mention. IRIS ON THE VIRUS From Phishing to Whaling

Matt (of WordPress) Drops by the studio and we discuss Microsoft, Open Source, Yahoo, and the future.

Matt from Wordpress.com and .org stop by the House that Geek Built in Philly.Full show coming soon!

Best Damn News

Some of the crew from The Best Damn Tech Show, Period attended the opening night of Philadelphia's Beer Week as members of the press crew. While the initial dinner was held at Monks Cafe (and was apparently awesome according to Schmidt and Plante), this video includes footage taken from Nodding Head, a favorite of Duchess Plante and some damn fine beers to boot.

The crew has tried to record new shows over the last few months... The writers union strike has left us without the written word, our shoots were terrible at best. Paul walks us through a few of the bad attempts and promises better shows to come...

One of the biggest stories over the past couple of weeks is the RIAA's victory over Jammie Thomas who was ordered her to pay the recording industry $220,000 in damages. Stories from the jury (who deliverated for only 5 minutes before coming up with a decision) are coming out, most of them are admiddedly not savvy net users and didn't believe her IP spoofing story. One of the Jurors wanted to send a message "that you don't do this, that you have been warned."Meanwhile, a support account has been set up on Freejammie.com which crashed as a result of so many users wanting to donate to her cause but is now back up and has collected some $9000. She is appealing.A hack is now available to add more functionality to the iPod touch, utilizing the Wifi capabilities. Not sure why it wasn't Apple, potentially licencing restrictions. http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/11/ipod-touch-now-running-mail-and-more/IRIS ON THE VIRUS CrudWare dude fined $25k for pushing his CrudBEST DAMN GUEST We sit down with Alive in BaghdadSCMIDT FACED Schmidt loves Madonna...not sure if Madonna feels the same way...YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS SHIT....IF YOU DON"T IGGS'LL TELL YOU One year anniversary of GoogTubeTECH IT OUT Google's rumoured cell phone appears to be more like an operating system than a phone http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/google-mozilla-and-the-open-source-phone/GEEK CHICK Vanity RingSITE OF THE WEEK www.aliveinbaghdad.org

Halo 3 is here and the boys are busy playing the hottest videogame to hit Microsoft's XBOX 360 since Bioshock. Paul tries but can't seem to get the crew away from Masterchief, the Flood and the Covenant...

Yahoo! acquires Zimbra GodTube Named Augusts Fastest Growing Site http://mashable.com/2007/09/18/godtube-comscore/ DiggSpaceBooks? http://mashable.com/2007/09/18/digg-social-network/ NYT now offering their info for free, removing the subscription model and adding the ad supported model. Could be pressure from Murdoch's newly acquired WSJ who is expected to drop their subscription model for an ad supported one. Presentlying: Google Presentations Jobs says Apple will fight iPhone unlocking hacks 'It's a cat-and-mouse game,' says CEO in London http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9037398 AROUND THE WORLD WIDE WEB The UK can expect iPhones on November the 9th through the O2 network for 269 pounds The country of Belgium was put up for sale on ebay. http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/ebay-halts-sale-of-belgium/2007/09/18/1189881479834.html Microsoft vs. EU - Schmidt faced The Court of First Instance (CFI) delivered its final judgement on the aged lawsuit between the European Union (EU) and Microsoft. The court upheld the earlier victory for the European Union, requiring Microsoft to enable third-party integration to its rivals through documentation and support, to release a version of Windows without Media Player, to pay a substantial fine and to pay the majority of the legal costs of the case. YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS SHIT, IF YOU DON"T IGGS'LL TELL YOU We're celebrating 25 years of the smiley face emoticon. Iggs has more. TECH IT OUT Trent Rezner, the outspoken frontman for NiN is speaking out against the RIAA, encouraging fans to "Steal it. Steal away. Steal, steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealing," calling Universal and the RIAA "greedy fucking assholes", Said the music industry reps in response "no comment". AOL are NYC bound in an attempt to become more hip to what the kiddies are doing these days. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/technology/17cnd-adco.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=business&adxnnlx=1190142316-ysltiLwMBRc1DCssjUQ6Mg IRIS ON THE VIRUS WHAT'S HOT. WHAT'S NOT. WHAT'S THE GOSS. Hot - TC40, everyone was there Not - TC40, Slimey practices to get startups to pay for a conference that was supposed to bring an end to startups paying Goss - TC40, Twitter changes FakeTechCrunch40 reporter's twitter account name SITE OF THE WEEK http://www.mobicious.com/ringtones/new Make your own ringtones for free! Simple mp3 upload, edit the piece you want, send it to your phone.

Just when you thought Blu-ray was becoming the studio darling comes word that Paramount and Dreamworks will be distributing solely on HD-DVD. They cite cheaper players and discs as being the primary reason and determined that the quality was higher.Skype has recovered and apologized for their gaff, offering users a bonus 7 days of serviceGotta love the MPAA. A 19 year old Virginia gal has pleaded guilty (to avoid a year of jail) to taking a 20 second clip of Transformers movie to show her younger brother. She was turned in by the movie owners http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/teen-cops-guilt.htmlyoutubeYouTube has started displaying overlay ads as opposed to the very annoying pre-rolls., The viewer is offered 10 second text ads over the bottom third of the viewer. It looks as though advertisers will be charged by the CPM rather than the clickGEEK CHICK MetroNaps Energypod is the tool for powernapping at workDREW SPEWS NEWSSITE OF THE WEEK www.moanmyip.com

early draft letter from Jobsy to Apple customers: To all iphone customer,Im really, really sorry about the fact that you bought one of our awesome products at full price a couple of months ago before they went on sales but shit, thats the way it goes. It happens. Shit happens. Tech shit happens. So quit sending me your whiny emails. You really should have known that the first gen would be a little buggy and probably more expensive. Your friends probably told you and I know for a fact that the guys at the Best Damn Tech Show, Period warned you but you went and did it anyway and now youre crying me a river. Take off your skirts you Nancys and take stock in the fact that you were one of the earliest adopters of this beautiful machine and now have a story to tell your grand kiddies. Oh, and because Im a bijillionaire, heres $100 Apple store credit to shut you up and prompt you to spend more money with us. Booya.Up yours, JobsyApple unveiled their new iPod lineup. Were looking at a more stout version of the nano with video, 4Gb for $149, the classic has received a slight makeover, and check out the ipod touch. Rumour has it that the price slashing may include iTunes Tv episodesNBC is pulling their shows off iTunes and putting them with Amazon who claim a far stricter DRM and more flexible pricing options.AOL is revamping Netscape.com yet again reverting it back to gthe traditional portal that it used to be.Tech it Out Veoh is the latest to be bullied by movie heavyweight Universal Movie Group.Facebook users will appear in Google search results Facebook bans breastfeeding group because of explicit contentFirefox has hit the 400 million download mark in less than 3 years.Its becoming a menage et trois keep a geek eye out on the newest player in the already annoying HD-DVD v Blu-Ray battle. HD VMD or Versatile Multilayer Disc. The quality is described as at least as good as the others but the kicker is that it is 1/4 the price.Outro Internet People http://www.channelfrederator.com/methminute39

Podcamp Philly 2007 sponsors, presenters and attendees find out which of the great South Philly steak shops make the best cheesesteak.

A software glitch caused a mass outage for Skype users last Thursday. Some for as long as 14 hours leaving folks livid, particularly with their lack of communication on the issue. People expect a high-level of transparency in these issues.iPhone owners are starting to get their first bills, many of them complaining at the fact that they are very detailed, some as long as 300 pages. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdULhkh6yeAAround the World Wide Web Two Dutch bloggers have been ordered to court to answer charges of filming up womens skirts. They apparently did so with permission in order to alert females to the dangers of see-through stairs and floors. http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/upskirting-bloggers-facing-court/2007/08/15/1186857565394.htmlIn Australia, a man faces up to 5 years in prison for uploading a copy of The Simpsons movie taken on his mobile phone to Bittorrent.Google is going after China and ordering more than the Kung Pao Chicken. They have been quoted as planning on buying 1 to 2 Internet Companies, most likely in the search or portal space to upset Baidu which has a 55% market share.Also in China, in a growing trend, a couple has made an attempt to name their child @.Iris on the VirusTech it Out Google finally rolling out embeddable mapping features so that folks can add their maps to websites and blogs etc.Google has also added Suns StarOffice to their Google Pack.Remember when hotmail was hot? MS thought that going with Live Mail would boost subscriptions but not so, now they have to resort to bribery (4 GB storage 10 for paying customers). Still no Pop3 supportgoodbye. http://internetcommunications.tmcnet.com/topics/broadband-mobile/articles/9642-lack-email-users-has-microsoft-hot.htmDirecttv has been testing a partnership with Current, a carrier of BPL services apparently with great success. They will be rolling out the bundled packages in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.TECH BIFFO Or more a case of stupidity, American Airlines is suing Google for trademark infringement because they display advertising when someone searches for their keyword. Gimme a break. http://techdirt.com/articles/20070817/021228.shtml

With the big TV analog switch-off scheduled soon, the FCC has revised the rules for using the 700Mhz spectrum. Google wants to keep these airwaves open and the FCC has agreed stating that there can be no restrictions on the devices and services allowed on the network. Good stuff. Google has pledged $4.6 billion for the lot which, if they stick with their current business methodology, could mean free wireless (and good wireless) for all (maybe with a few ads thrown in.)Elton John is also having a say (surprise, surprise) possibly as a result of seeing declining album sales for his Captain and the Kid. He is calling for the ban of the Internet to see what sort of art is produced over that span. http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/eltons-war-on-the-web/2007/08/02/1185648044623.html SCHMIDT FACEDPopular preteen hangout Club Penguin has been snapped up by Disney for around $350 mill. Sites like this and Webkinz are challenging parental decisions as to the amount of involvement of online social networking activities for their children.YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS SHIT BUT IF YOU DONT IGGs WILL TELL YOU Cell Phone HistoryTECH IT OUT A new player in the Best Damn Hottie, Hot, Hot category is Webby or Morgan Webb who has a new daily news show called WebbAlert which can be found at WebbAlert.comIn a sign that Facebook is really starting to make waves, politicians are now having a closer look to determine its liability for letting sexual predators on the site.Microsoft is testing out ad supported version of Works in an attempt to block moves by Google for the online office suite.GEEK CHIC Microsoft Zune sucks so use it to protect your Apple Ipod. www.hideapod.comTECH BIFFO Eminem sues Apple. Reps for the rapper are filing a federal lawsuit claiming that Apple (or more specifically Universal) is allowing users to download music onto iPods without permission. They claim that Apple has not compensated them for songs from The Eminem Show. Of the 99 cents that a track costs, 70c goes to recording companies while 9c goes to the copyright holders.SITE OF THE WEEK www.yelp.com quietly rolled out an API

One of the earlier players in the MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) marketplace is shutting up shop. Ampd launched in late 2005 on the Verizon service and was one of the early 3G adopters targeting the 18-35 market. Verizon brought on the bankruptcy ny threatening to cut off its services.Apple releases its latest update nicknamed Leopard or 10.5 to very hum drum reviews claiming that there is very little new there.Digg jumps in bed with Microsoft, offering their ads for the next 3 yearsAround the World Wide Web Google Australia is asking kiddies to design their specialty logos for certain days like Australia Day and anzac Day. http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/google-wants-your-doodle/2007/07/23/1185043014717.htmlChinese Pirates busted with $500 million of software http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070724-chinese-pirates-busted-with-500-million-of-software.html US and Chinese officials announced today that they have busted two Chinese software piracy groups in possession of illegal software with an estimated retail value of close to $500 million. The groups operated out of Shanghai and Shenzhen, and sold much of the software through the Internet, according to the FBI.The Comsec ipod index reveals that Brazil is the most expensive place to buy an iPod nano at around $330 for the 2GB model more than twice that in the US. Canada is cheapest at $144.TECH IT OUT $100 laptop program is almost ready to go. Production begins in October and several countries have all but spat on their hands and shaken.The head of Acer has spoken out against Windows Vista, stating that The entire industry is disappointed by Windows Vista.Tech Biffo A San Fran woman was recently contacted by Universal to inform her that a video she posted has been removed from Youtube as is violates copyright laws. The video of her son dancing to Princes Lets Go Crazy in the background. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has stepped in and filed a lawsuit on behalf of the woman to protect her fair use and free speech rights. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1KfJHFWlhQ Apparently when asked about the biffo, Prince was quoted as saying People still listen to that crap?Mark Zuckerberg, the 23-year-old founder of Facebook, has been accused of stealing the idea for his enormously popular social networking site from a rival website ConnectUSite of the Week www.simpsonizeme.com

Schmidt from the Best Damn Tech Show, Period shows us how he gets to the studio every week.

AOL is apparently for sale. Time Warner announced that they have upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy.Google Streetview cars are unveiled http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/eye-on-you/google-streetview-camera-car-fleet-set-to-invade-america-279222.phpAround the World Wide Web Hanover Germany A German man who startled his neighbours when he hurled his computer out of the window in the middle of the night, was let off for disturbing the peace by police who sympathised with his technical frustrations.Tech it Out As Promised, Google are now cutting their cookies to 2 years instead of 30.Firefox has released 2.0.0.5X Box head Peter Moore has jumped ship over to EATransformers the movie is being hailed as a cgi marvel but here is a video of a real transformer presented to a Japanese audience. Very cool. http://hitslot.com/?p=111Tech Biffo Iran has unveiled a new game that simulates an attempt to rescue 2 iranian nuclear scientists kidnapped by the US. They claim it is a response to the game Assault on Iran. The game is called Rescue the Nuke Scientist http://www.smh.com.au/news/games/iranian-game-promotes-sacrifice-and-martyrdom/2007/07/17/1184559749090.htmlThe RIAA has been ordered to pay legal fees from a case they brought against the Fosters of Oklahoma. After Capitol Records could not provide the exact details of the alleged infringement and was ordered to pay legal fees to the tune of $68,685.23Site of the Week www.jingproject.com visual conversation

NEWS Sony has slashed prices on PS3 by some 17% and increased capacity from 60GB to 80GB in an attempt to compete with the Wii. The current model will be reduced by $100, the upgrade will still be $599. Microsoft is also cutting prices in an attempt to compete with the others. No word yet as to when and how much.It seems MSN has made some impact in search, increasing from 8.4% in May to 13.2% in June. Many are touting their move in offering prizes through the club.live.com. I personally attribute a lot of it to the fact that many users find it difficult to change the default search through Vista and IE7WORLD WIDE WEB MSN are claiming the crown for the largest online event in history with some 30 million (15 during the show and 15 since) views online. TV views were well beneath these numbers which has many channels concerned. Boo Hoo.GEEK PSYCHIC has predicted a smaller, cheaper iPhone in the works. Based on the iPod Nano, this version will most likely utilize a scroll wheel priced around the $300 mark. She reports this as a false rumour.TECH IT OUT Its becoming an interesting race to watch MySpace v FaceBook. More rumours abound regarding the purchase of Facebook by Google.Meanwhile apparently FaceBook is blocking gays, that is people with the surname Gay. All the gays around the world are fuming.Geek Chick http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/how_to_geek_you.phpTech Biffo ISPs are coming under increased pressure to become the Internets Gatekeepers after a ruling in Belgium stating that they one of their ISPs has the capabilities to block or filter copyright infringing traffic on their networks and should do so in 6 months.News Sony has slashed prices on PS3 by some 17% and increased capacity from 60GB to 80GB in an attempt to compete with the Wii. The current model will be reduced by $100, the upgrade will still be $599. Microsoft is also cutting prices in an attempt to compete with the others. No word yet as to when and how much. It seems MSN has made some impact in search, increasing from 8.4% in May to 13.2% in June. Many are touting their move in offering prizes through the club.live.com. I personally attribute a lot of it to the fact that many users find it difficult to change the default search through Vista and IE7 WORLD WIDE WEB MSN are claiming the crown for the largest online event in history with some 30 million (15 during the show and 15 since) views online. TV views were well beneath these numbers which has many channels concerned. Boo Hoo. GEEK PSYCHIC has predicted a smaller, cheaper iPhone in the works. Based on the iPod Nano, this version will most likely utilize a scroll wheel priced around the $300 mark. She reports this as a false rumour. TIME magazine has announced the top 5 sites to avoid. http://www.time.com/time/ specials/2007/article/0, 28804,1638344_1638341_1638336,00.html 1)eHarmony.com 2)Evite.com 3)Meez.com 4)Myspace.com 5)SecondLife.com TECH IT OUT It s becoming an interesting race to watch MySpace v FaceBook. More rumours abound regarding the purchase of Facebook by Google. Meanwhile apparently FaceBook is blocking gays, that is people with the surname Gay . All the gays around the world are fuming. Geek Chick http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/how_to_geek_you.php Tech Biffo ISP s are coming under increased pressure to become the Internets Gatekeepers after a ruling in Belgium stating that they one of their ISP s has the capabilities to block or filter copyright infringing traffic on their networks and should do so in 6 months. or CancelLists listsBlock.count = 0 listsBlock.reorder.url = /page/881330/lists/reorder Give this list a name: or Close or CloseMake a new list | Reorder listsNotes var noteReorderUrl = /page/881330/notes/reorder ; notesBlock.notesCount = 0 Title Body   or Close Add note | Reorder notesFilesChoose a file   or Close Add fileImagesYou can upload an image that is stored on your computer. 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The iphone release is starting to die down in the news which is why I thought we should mention it. I like the folks who decided they would like to see inside. Some doing it very methodically, others prefering brute force like on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy20b7pCcrYAround the World Wide Web Russian music downloading site that came under immense pressure from Visa and even got the U.S government involved has shut down. According to John Kennedy of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry If this is the end of allofmp3.com, this is good news . Coincidentally, a new website www.mp3sparks.com launched as it closed.In Japan, the Wii outsold Playstation 3 to 1Tech it Out Feedburner purchased by Google recently is now free for all. You do have to login to activate the services where you will see the message Thank You for Using FeedBurner. You owe us 0. It also includes MyBrand where you can point your URL and stats.Google has also acquired Grand Central Communications, a service which include some interesting telecommunications function including visual voicemail, playing voicemail from computer a whole slew of interesting features. For more go to www.grandcentral.comYahoo has been testing a SmartAds function that targets user behavior and has shown to have click thru rates some 2-3 times higher than regular advertising.Dr. is In Talk about Pownce v Twitter.

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BEST DAMN NEWS iPhone hype. reviews have started flooding in and can be summarized by the following points. Its expensive. At $500 and $600, many are shirking at the costs although essentially youre getting an ipod and PDA and phone all in one. Its not 3G. True and big point. Apparently the EDGE system in excrutiatingly slow. Its hard to use. Apparently the touch screen takes some getting used to but after some initial frustration, its quite convenient. And that youre stuck with AT T regularly considered the worst service. People have been waiting in line for days, the hype is off the hook, it looks wonderful but were probably holding off for now.Cyberbullying getting out of hand in the US with 1/3 of teenagers have been victim to it.AROUND THE WORLD WIDE WEB A report out of the UK says sites like Facebook and Bebo are starting to pull closer to MySpace as it start to level out. People also staying on those sites longer.SCHMIDT FACED Facebook faces offIRIS ON THE VIRUSTECH IT OUTMySpace rebranding their video service, touted by some to be the YouTube killer. Now its MySpace TV.Nintendo opens up the Wii for the first time to independent video game developers.From the so 5 years ago files, Microsoft is now offering file storage to the tune of a whopping 500MB. Called Microsoft Live Folders this revolutionary product is sure to drive you to AOL for 5GB. Not to be left behind though, Microsoft are now getting into the PC making game, partnering up with Zenith and selling in India for the equivalent of $525 and called the IQ PC.Straight from the geek chic files, Scott Walker has come up with a cool use of a mac mini. Dubbed The Digital Newstand this product would be a cool addition to any geeks house. Here is a video of it in action. http://macenstein.com/default/archives/686Kevin Roses new system www.pownce.com was slammed on initial reviews but looks to have twitterers in a flitter. While it has its shortcomings it is touted as an IM with balls.GEEK CHICK Has a chumbySITE OF THE WEEK http://www.monsterdare.com/

The Guys take it easy during the summer, this weeks episode proves it. The crew enjoys a traditional American barbeque and manage to deliver a few precious tidbits of tech news.News Terry Semel steps down as head of Yahoo, or was pushed out. Yang takes center stage again with Susan Decker stepping up as president.Rumor has it that Rupert Murdoch is considering an exchange in the form of MySapce.com for 25% share of Yahoo!, an estimated 12 billion dollars.YouTube launched their remixer program last week in conjunction with Adobes Premiere Express software already available on PhotoBucket. There are a bunch of alternatives out there if you like this sort of thing. Our pick is JumpCut.comAround the World Wide Web YouTube extends its global reach by announcing versions of its site in Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom with translations where appropriate.Iris on the VirusTech it Out Sony are looking to roll out older TV shows (like Starsky and Hutch in 4 minute episodes especially for our ADD generation. Theyre calling them minisodes.With more and more clout, Google is taking on public policy via their new blog http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/Tech BiffoAmid accusations by Google, Microsoft has agreed to alter the Vista search when it rolls out its first service pack by adding a link to change the default desktop search option and agreed to give competitors technical instructions to help optimize performance.

The Guys take it easy during the summer, this week's episode proves it. The crew enjoys a traditional American barbeque and manage to deliver a few precious tidbits of tech news. News Terry Semel steps down as head of Yahoo1 or was pushed out. Yang takes centre stage again with Susan Decker stepping up as president.Rumor has it that Rupert Murdoch is considering an exchange in the form of MySapce.com for 25 share of Yahoo!, an estimated 12 billion dollars.YouTube launched their remixer program last week in conjunction with Adobe s Premiere Express software already available on PhotoBucket. There are a bunch of alternatives out there if you like this sort of thing. Our pick is JumpCut.comAround the World Wide Web YouTube extends its global reach by announcing versions of its site in Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom with translations where appropriate.Iris on the VirusTech it Out Sony are looking to roll out older TV shows (like Starsky and Hutch in 4 minute episodes especially for our ADD generation. They re calling them minisodes.With more and more clout, Google is taking on public policy via their new blog http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/Tech BiffoAmid accusations by Google, Microsoft has agreed to alter the Vista search when it rolls out its first service pack by adding a link to change the default desktop search option and agreed to give competitors technical instructions to help optimize performance.