Episode 605: It's the price point, stupid

Drop the price, introduce a cheaper version, and your little PS3 starts selling like hotcakes! Plus, Leopard: huge in Japan.

One mother's brave crusade against Windows Vista leads to a dramatic showdown with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Or something slightly less dramatic. Also, AT&T's new terms of service reveal that the company is really sorry about appearing to try to censor free speech. And, all four Beatles are now selling music online--separately. Ahem.


Listen now: Download today's podcast



Shelly from Texas
I got so righteously indignant that I wanted to find out who sponsored this bill! And you didn't tell us!

[The answer: Reps. George Miller from California and Ruben Hinojosa of Texas, and the sections are in the College Opportunity and Affordability Act.]

There is a Serenity comic!

James from Target
Comics are pirated, and it sucks!

Molly, you go girl! re: education vs. entertainment

You go girl! I can't believe that the federal government would want the higher education system to bow to Hollywood! f;kjl,m;.adskaf.,...sorry my fists were clenched and makes typing hard...

It brings a few thoughts to mind:
  1. Yes, stealing/piracy is not healthy for the economy nor respectful to the artists.
  2. I recall a documentary on the History Chanel that stated the end of most empires has come when society increasingly turned into an entertainment based economy.
  3. Wikis to create legislation has probably gained more legitimacy and credibility considering.
  4. Totally agree--addressing public safety issues are way more important than this legislation!!!!!
  5. This will only exacerbate the problem a class divide on campuses.
  6. This may indicate how desperate the MPAA or RIAA is in a digital world where old money and friends can only do so much--and now they're mad because they can't keep up. They should consider the theory of "creative-destruction." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_destruction)
  7. This also shows how much more financially attractive artist/musician- centric revenue models are such as Live Nation.
Be strong, be well, have fun,

Wii to drop MP3 support
Hello ToMolly (and Capt. Raygun),

I promise not to rant about why open standards are a must (and that OGG format is used in most games), but are you kidding me.

My young son loves putting a few MP3s on an SD card that has photos so he can view them in the slide show mode and have MP3's as background music. Honestly, this is how we view our pictures now in our house so no update for me.

As well, I believe the Excite Truck game we play at a friend's place has the ability to support custom soundtracks using MP3 files on a SD card.

I was waiting for the old Nintendo to rear their dumb and ugly side again. Nice to see they didn't disappoint.

Abrazos et gros baisers sales,

Papa Chango

P.S. Going back to Barca next week to finish some tracks. We'll let you know if we find out any good dirt on Tom's escapades there. Actually, we''ll just put it on his Wikipedia page if we do.

Spam filter your life
Hey Jason, Tom, and Molly,

In episode 603 you guys mentioned spam filter algorithms being applied to trolls on forums etc. Why stop there? What we need is an active speech spam filter! Every time someone says something stupid, your reply would be:

"What, What? Your words of stupidity were owned by my spam filter son!"

Hey it could even have an automatic reply to verbal spam, and you wouldn't have to do a thing!

Love the show,
Jason from Bermuda

Robert Heinlein

Oh, and comic book piracy is large enough that there are dedicated comic book viewer programs and an associated file format.

Paul in Edmonton, Canada

Colossus cracks code once more
Hi BOL crew,

This is the ultimate in cool for cryptography geeks. The "Colossus", the computer used to crack German cyphers was rebuilt. Even if you're not a cryptography geek, the name alone is soooo cool. Colossus.

Need I say more.

Jimmy from Barbados


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