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TECHGEEK Weekly 29: New Blood Required

Terence Huynh — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 19:00:51 +0000

While James and Stewart are out, we get Tom Wood – a former host of a former TECHGEEK Podcast incarnation – to help us dissect the news that Playboy is going to the iPad uncensored, the University of Sydney having a privacy headache and Steve Jobs has gone on medical leave – again.

Tom Wood, who also happens to be a known advocate of cyber-bullying prevention, also finds himself doing Stewart’s job.

And yes, Stewart and James will be back next week (hopefully). Hope you enjoy the episode. See you all next week, and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE!

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The Top Stories

Steve Jobs goes on medical leave again
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/18/steve-jobs-goes-on-medical-leave-again/

Apple’s bright view outshines Jobs’s plight
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70G2Y320110119

Google changes CEO, moves Schmidt to Chairman
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/21/google-changes-ceo-moves-schmidt-to-chairman/

Headache for Uni of Sydney as student data exposed on web
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/20/headache-for-uni-of-sydney-as-student-data-exposed-on-web/

Nintendo 3DS to launch 25 March in Europe, 27 March in North America
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/20/nintendo-3ds-to-launch-25-march-in-europe-27-march-in-north-america/

Nintendo reveals new information for Nintendo 3DS
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/20/nintendo-reveals-new-information-for-nintendo-3ds/

U.S. Approves Comcast’s Acquisition of NBC U, but With Conditions
http://newenterprise.allthingsd.com/20110118/u-s-approves-comcast%E2%80%99s-acquisition-of-nbcu-but-with-conditions/?mod=ATD_rss

Comcast will retain NBC’s stake in Hulu, but is stripped of control
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/01/comcast-will-retain-nbcs-stake-in-hulu-but-is-stripped-of-control.html

Stewart’s Tom’s Briefs (1)

The Samsung Secret – Why U.S. Galaxy S Phones run Android 2.1 Still
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=913045

Mobile payments are coming to Starbucks
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41153715

Eighth grader knocks Angry Birds out of the top free spot on the App Store
http://venturebeat.com/2011/01/17/eighth-grader-knocks-free-angry-birds-out-of-the-top-spot-on-the-app-store/

Playboy Magazine coming to iPad in its uncensored form in March, including full back catalog
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/19/playboy-magazine-coming-to-ipad-in-its-uncensored-form-in-march/

In Other News

Bloomberg: PSP2 announcement next week, PlayStation Phone at MWC
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/19/bloomberg-psp2-announcement-next-week-playstation-phone-at-mwc/

iPad 2 Retina Display confirmed by a picture of wood?
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/18/ipad-2-retina-display-confirmed-by-a-picture-of-wood/

FaceTime, Camera and PhotoBooth Icons Confirm Camera in iPad 2
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/20/facetime-camera-and-photobooth-icons-confirm-camera-in-ipad-2/

Latest rumor: iPad 2 won’t feature Retina Display
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20028878-37.html

HTC to launch Flyer tablet PC in March
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20110119PD217.html

W3C brings out a new logo for HTML5… wait, what?
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/19/w3c-brings-out-a-new-logo-for-html5-wait-what/

Last Days For Central IPv4 Address Pool
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/01/22/057227/Last-Days-For-Central-IP-Address-Pool?from=twitter

Stewart’s Tom’s Briefs (2)

Google Launches Fourth Annual ‘Doodle 4 Google’ Contest
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2375961,00.asp

“Angry Birds” To Become an Animated Series
http://mashable.com/2011/01/20/angry-birds-animated-series/

Apple “screwing” new iPhones out of simple DIY repair
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/01/apple-screwing-new-iphones-out-of-simple-diy-repair.ars

Duke Nukem Forever Gets Release Date, New Trailer
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/01/duke-nukem-forever-release-date/

Don’t forget, you can catch a bit of the pre-show recording over at our new Insider blog – TECHGEEK.com.au Insider.

It’s official – Comcast takes majority stake in NBC Universal

Terence Huynh — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:25:49 +0000

In the biggest management shakeup in the media industry, GE and Comcast have announced the long rumoured deal that would see Comcast gaining a 51 percent majority stake of the media empire NBC Universal, after GE bought the final 20 percent of its original 80 percent holding of the company from Vivendi. GE will still hold a 49 percent stake.

Comcast will give approximately $6.5 billion to GE for the majority shareholding.

This gives the largest cable television operator in the United States ownership of broadcast network NBC, an array of cable channels including USA Network, MSNBC and Syfy, along with the Universal Pictures movie studio and the one-third stake of Hulu. The new entity will also oversee the running of Comcast’s cable channels – including G4 and E!.

The new deal also gives Comcast a long list of international properties – including the Hallmark Channel, 13th Street and the international variations of the Sci Fi Network. In Australia, Comcast will also own a stake of TV1 and Showtime via NBC Universal.

“This deal is a perfect fit for Comcast and will allow us to become a leader in the development and distribution of multiplatform ‘anytime, anywhere’ media that American consumers are demanding,” Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said.

“Today’s announced transaction will increase our capabilities in content and cable networks. At the same time, it will enhance consumer choice and accelerate the development of new digital products and services.”

Terms of the deal include that Comcast will not let its business interest affect NBC News’ programming; and that Comcast and GE have redemption rights that could lead Comcast having 100 percent control of the new company. The new board will comprise of three directors elected by Comcast, with two from GE. Current NBC Uni CEO Jeff Zucker will remain, but will now report to Comcast COO Steve Burke and not GE.

Its expected that the new company will be a rival to Disney and Viacom – which Comcast previously tried to purchase. Hopefully, this does not become another Time Warner/AOL story.

The deal has already been approved by GE and Comcast’s boards of directors, but needs to be reviewed by the regulatory commissions

Yahoo to sell open source rival to Exchange – WSJ

Terence Huynh — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:55:57 +0000

Yahoo may be slimming down its diversified business by selling its assets and close down several of its websites, as its looks to find a potential buyer for its open-source email provider Zimbra, a competitor to Microsoft Exchange, which it bought for US$350 million in late 2007.

Its Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) provides email, contacts, calendar, search, VoIP and document collaboration and authoring tools to its clients, and can be installed in-house like Exchange, or using server hosted by Yahoo.

Yahoo has used its technology to power its new web-based Mail and Calendar tools, with the interfaces strikingly similar.

According to All Things D, potential buyers include Comcast and Google – both own services that would integrate nicely with Zimbra; with Comcast having online address book and social network Plaxo, while Google has its Google Apps service, which includes its popular GMail service, for business customers. Comcast is also a Zimbra user.

The price, however, may be lower than what Yahoo originally paid for the company.

But its not only Zimbra on the chopping block; other business units, including its personals and online classifieds websites, are set to face the axe. The move is set to refocus the company to be primarily a consumer company, with a new and pricey marketing campaign to promote this new aim.

Yahoo’s assets have been slowly dwindling as it closed down its blogging website Yahoo! 360, video editing and hosting site Jumpcut and free web hosting service GeoCities this year, among others in the past three years including its Auctions and Photos websites (Yahoo! Photos was replaced with Flickr). As well, it has announced it will no longer be part of the search business, as it will give its business to Microsoft and its Bing search engine.

NBC’s new late-night show targeting G4’s audience?

Terence Huynh — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 10:48:59 +0000

Is NBC targeting the audience demographic of former gaming-dedicated network G4 with its brand new late-night show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon? Well it might look so, since Jimmy Fallon has announced that on his second week on doing the show, the Diggnation crew will make an appearance.

Diggnation, one of the popular shows on Revision3, is hosted by Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose (who rose to fame by creating Digg). Fallon has already made an appearance on the show.

And that’s not all, Fallon hopes to bring in video game developers into the show. This would bring it in similar territory to G4’s X-Play show, the only show that is dedicated to the gaming culture.

Comcast to offer usage monitor in January – report says

Terence Huynh — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:57:04 +0000

If a report from DSL Reports is true, Comcast is soon offering its internet subscribers a bandwidth usage metre as early as the first week of January of next year. The new usage metre will allow customers to track how much they have used on their new 250GB caps, meaning that they don’t have to install third-party software to monitor their downloads.

This would, like we do in Australia, adjust customer’s habits on downloading and uploading content on the web. Previously, it suggested that you should download and install special software to monitor your habits, or face the wrath of a verbal warning because you have gone over your 250GB cap and you weren’t (or were) doing anything illegal.

US to get capped – Comcast to cap all broadband customers

Terence Huynh — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:01:29 +0000

Starting October 1, all of Comcast’s residential broadband customers will now be capped, similar to what is happening here in Australia and the entire world; after releasing new guidelines of its Acceptable Use Policy.

However, their plans will be different to what it is set here – with users will be capped at 250 gigabytes per month, per account – and for those who do will go over will get a courtesy call from their customer service, but those who go over it a second time within the next six months after their first notification will be suspended for an entire calendar year.

As well, they are not bringing out any tools to monitor your usage, but their support site tells you to search for bandwidth metering software on Google to track it. However, Comcast notes that most customers use between 2GB and 3GB of data.

Comcast buys Plaxo

Terence Huynh — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:49:08 +0000

NEWS IN BRIEF: TechCrunch is reporting that Comcast has bought social contact list Plaxo today. While financial terms were not disclosed, the purchase price is between $150 and $170 million.

Founded in 2002, Plaxo raised just under $30 million in venture capital. It has also been the subject of rumours of being acquired by Google and Facebook, among other names.

“It could happen to you”

Terence Huynh — Mon, 14 May 2007 04:48:25 +0000

An outraged parent has written a blog post about his disgust when he called Comcast hangs up after he called their 911 [That's the American equivalent to 000 in Australia].

It is 2:30 AM PDT. Yesterday was my Sonâ€™s 4^th birthday. An hour ago he had a seizer. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital with his mom, my wife. I am at home right now going out of my mind with worry. I have another son who is sleeping, so one of us had to stay here while the other went.

I am not sure where to start because I am really pissed off. I picked up my telephone and called 911. All I got was a buzzing sound on the other end. I hung up and called 911 again, another weird noise.

Frustrated, I start hunting for my cell phone. After finding it, I call 911 and spend the next 5 minutes (which felt more like 22 hours) trying to the dispatcher what our address was.

Currently [at the time of writing] it has 1066 diggs. One of my favourite comments has to be from Rhino2…

Digg Group Think Unite! Ralley the 17 year olds, we’re going to spam the crap out of comcast and be a plague on the internet.

Just saying, there are two sides of the story.

Just between me and you though – I won’t depend on ANY digital voice system for 911 calls.
Teh internets are tricky with the bits once in awhile… all those tubes getting clogged up.