WFN #21 – The Grab Bag Episode

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Our first ever grab bag episode. Lots of tech stories to cover. And we now have a listener line. Give us a call at (877) 385-4WFN. We may use your call in an upcoming show!

The Passing of 3 Hollywood Legends

Google thought they were under a DDoS attack. It turned out to be an outpouring of searches for the late Michael Jackson.

NetFlix CEO on Blu-Ray

Netflix CEO predicts significant declines in packaged media rentals by 2018

Blu-ray Adoption Soft

A Harris Interactive study shows that more people own the defunct HD-DVD player than the current Blu-ray standard.

DVRs in the Cloud?

The Supreme Court declines to hear appeal to block remote storage DVRs.

Lunar Recon Orbiter

Lunar Orbiter mapping the surface of the Moon.

New Telescope to Be Launched into Space

NASA readies the next generation deep space telescope.

Windows 7 Pre-Orders dominate Amazon sales

People are taking advantage of temporary discounted pricing from Microsoft and are snapping up advance copies of Windows 7.

Microsoft Extends XP availability

The Windows OS manufacturer will sell XP on PCs through 2011.

Report: Sony considers adding phone to PSP

Sony giving thought to combining their PSP gaming device with the Ericsson phones to have an all-in-one device.

Toshiba 1GHz smartphone launched, runs Windows

1GHz processor power in smartphones? Really? Toshiba is working on it. Wow!

Windows Mobile Marketplace

Microsoft to Launch Windows Mobile Marketplace with 600 Applications

Google Voice

A really cool new offering from Google. Or is it? What’s your privacy worth to you?

HD-capable video camera included in the new iPhone

Apple’s iPhone 3GS can record HD images at 720p. But it doesn’t today. Why? Battery life might be the holdup.

Apple, other phone makers agree on standard charger for Europe

John called this one in an earlier podcast. Looks like they took the hint.

Pepcom Show Touts 720p Zune, New NVIDIA Toys, And Phones Galore

NVIDIA shows off the chip that will be inside the new Zune HD players.

35 years later, bar codes, and scanning, are everywhere

Has it been 35 years already? A milestone anniversary for the invention of the bar code scanner.

Say Goodbye to Kodachrome. No, not the song.

Kodak Kills Kodachrome.

HP reincarnates calculators on iPhone, Windows

Remember these? Perhaps you still use one. If not, maybe you still want one. Well, now you can run them on Windows or iPhones.

Control your Apple TV from your iPhone/iPod Touch

They may call this a ‘hobby’. But Apple’s engineers continue to deliver cool functionality to the Apple TV.

Nerd Site of the Week

RPN – Reverse Polish Notation

Movie Quote

(El Guapo) – “Would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?
(Jefe) – “A what?
(El Guapo) – “A *plethora*.”
(Jefe) – “Oh yes, you have a plethora.”
(El Guapo) – “Jefe, what is a plethora?”
(Jefe) – “Why, El Guapo?”
(El Guapo) – “Well, you told me I have a plethora. And I just would like to know if you know what a plethora is. I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has *no idea* what it means to have a plethora.”
– from Three Amigos, 1986