Continue reading »]]> For those of you who pay attention, there was no new episode.  This is because we are doing some work on switching to a new format.  We haven’t put together a solid plan, but Chuck and I have some interesting ideas for moving forward.  For the coming weeks, we will be testing out some ideas and planning out the improved podcast.  Until we publish the new format, we will not be putting out any new episodes (unless it’s outtake episodes).  We hope you enjoy the new format and stay tuned for new episodes!

Continue reading »]]> Wikipedia editors take down meticulously researched and cited article about the 17th century Dutch-Indian war known as the “Bicholim Conflict” after discovering it never actually happened. French ISP Free updates its DSL modems with an ad blocker that’s enabled by default. Sony Releases Major Album Solely To Extend Copyright Protection.  Politician holds a gun buy-back program to enhance his collection.  Inception: a tool for compromising the slumber of computers with full-disk encryption.  Google adds ‘free for print subscriber’ option to Play Store magazines.  Father Hires In-Game “Hitmen” To Deter Son From Playing.  All that, plus this week’s “Oh Asia, You So Crazy!”

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/127

Continue reading »]]> The Pirate Bay Is The World’s Most Efficient Public Library.  25-GPU cluster cracks every standard Windows password in <6 hours.  Over 13,000 petition White House to build a Death Star.  Jammie Thomas Takes Constitutional Argument To SCOTUS.  Is the Flickr API a National Treasure?  Australia police discourage use of Apple maps app after rescues.  California Accidentally Posts 14,000 Social Security Numbers.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/124

Continue reading »]]> Kuratas, the 13-foot mech: unleashes your inner Ripley, costs $1.35 million.  Netflix Strikes Streaming Deal With Disney, Gains Exclusive Access To New Titles Beginning In 2016.  Telstra phone-theft bill shock shows roaming still broken.  Twitter Loses Ability to Properly Display Instagram Photos.  This Highway Tracks Random Bluetooth Signals To Estimate Travel Times.  Google Play Private Channel Launches for Google Apps.  Vice Magazine Accidentally Revealed Where John McAfee Is Hiding.  Just Say No To College.  Microsoft: Surface Pro Battery Life Half That of Surface RT.  Netflix CEO Hastings in trouble with SEC for announcing figures on Facebook.  New, Faster Way To Make Vaccines – Use Messenger RNA.  Dumbass teen steals car, robs bank, brags about it on YouTube, gets arrested.  North Korea says its archaeologists discovered a unicorn lair.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/123

Continue reading »]]> Proposed law scheduled for a vote next week originally increased Americans’ e-mail privacy. Then law enforcement complained. Now it increases government access to e-mail and other digital files.  Nudifier: Turn Any Photo Into a Hilarious Censored Nude.  WordPress To Accept Bitcoins.  Congresswoman asks Reddit community to help write bill targeted at bogus copyright takedowns.  Microsoft’s New Data Center Will Be Fueled by Poop.  Google Glass Could Be the Virtual Dieting Pill of the Future.  Security researcher found guilty of conspiracy and identity fraud in ‘hackless’ AT&T iPad hack.  Probable Rogue Planet Spotted.  Copyright Troll Links to TorrentFreak, Antics Ensue.  Valve’s Big Picture Could Be a Linux Game Console.  Nanoparticles Stop Multiple Sclerosis In Mice.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/121

Continue reading »]]> Razer products now comes with spyware, uses Internet all the time, stop working when the connection drops.  How a Reddit Rage Comic Saved a Man’s Life.  Microsoft Has Software that will translate your speech into a different language, in your own voice.  The Whisky Sampler Advent Calendar.  Amazon Donates 2,000 Kindles To Wounded Veterans.  New Jersey will let citizens displaced by Hurricane Sandy vote by email or fax.  Copyright-Infringing Tweets Will Now Be “Withdrawn” Instead of “Disappeared Forever.”  CBS finally embraces Hulu, signs licensing agreement for over 2,600 episodes.  Towers Of Vegetables Go Up As Singapore Builds First Vertical Farm.  DHS-FBI Bulletin: Indicators of Suspicious Behaviors at Hotels.  All this plus this week’s Oh Asia You So Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/120

Continue reading »]]> NetFlix Caught Stealing DivX Subtiles From Finnish Pirates.  Dude open sourced his DNA!  AMBER Alerts Show Up In Google Maps Now.  Kindle user claims Amazon deleted whole library without explanation.  Yahoo Will Ignore IE 10′s “Do Not Track”.  Wikipedia Is Nearing “Completion”.  Hurricane Sandy Makes Only Person in Line for Wii U Leave.  EFF And Others Push For Open Wifi APs Everywhere.  Glow-In-The-Dark Smart Highways Coming To the Netherlands In 2013.  EFF Wants Ubuntu To Disable Online Search By Default.  Mice Genetically Engineered To Detect Explosives 500 Times Better Than Normal Mice.  Tokyo’s Super Cool Zombie Café for Halloween.

Show notes available at http://wiki/whatstherumpuspodcast.com/119

Continue reading »]]> Sorry the audio is messed up from 1:00-3:30 and 4:30-9:00, we had some technical issues with recording software.  So we had to use a lousy copy of the audio during those parts.

Dutch government gives itself the right to break into your computer and destroy it. Texas School ID Tracking Chips Protested By Parents And Students.  Making Biodegradable Computer Chips Out of Spider Silk.  A Girl Bought an iPad at Wal-Mart But Inside the Box Was Just a Stack of Notepads.  Smallest Penis Gets Free iPhone 5.  The Filter Bubble is real: Impersonal Google Search Results Are Few And Far Between, DuckDuckGo finds.  Magic Finger Turns Any Surface Into a Touch Interface.  Real Life Anime Characters Becoming the New Fad?

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpudpodcast.com/118

Continue reading »]]> Samsung creates F2FS file system for NAND flash storage, submits it to the Linux kernel.  US Air Force’s 1950s Supersonic Flying Saucer Declassified.  First Community Release of Diaspora.  Prince of Sealand Dies At 91.  Lone Packet Crashes Telco Networks.  DRM Could Come To 3D Printers.  Apple Sued Over Distinctive “Eye Closeup” Photograph Used To Promote Retina MacBook Pro.  PETA Condemns Pokemon For Promoting Animal Abuse.  Microsoft claims ownership of the number 45, asks Google to censor the US government and Bing.  Laser Strikes On Aircraft Becoming Epidemic.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/117

Continue reading »]]> A German liquor company called G-Spirits is promising customers that “every drop” of its line of alcoholic beverages has been poured on the naked breasts of a certified model.  Facebook: Federal online privacy rules would violate free speech rights.  French Central Bank password was 123456 (really).  3-D Printer Company Seizes Machine From Desktop Gunsmith.  BitCoin Gets a Futures Market.  Booty alert: sensor-laden cows text farmers when they’re in heat.  Tumblr Will Live-GIF the Presidential Debates.  tldr.io is a service for summarizing long reads for lazy readers.  The Guantanamo Bay Museum Of Art And History.  Google settles with publishers after seven years of litigation surrounding its book-scanning service.  All this plus this weeks Oh Asia, You So Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/116

Continue reading »]]> Neil Young reveals Pono music player, promises ‘the best sound anyone can get’.  Tesla Model S getting first ever over-the-air car firmware upgrade next week.  Criticized for overpriced parts, company gives away 3d schematics instead.  NotFound Project, Placing Missing Children Alerts on 404 Error Pages.  French government to use PostgreSQL and LibreOffice in free software adoption push.  Can a Flashy New Redesign Make Myspace Cool Again?  Apple Products Account for 14 Percent of All Crime in New York City.  Long-Distance Smartphone-Enabled Pleasuring Devices.  Do Phones Need to Come With Chargers These Days?  German Parliament Bans Laptops, Pirate Party Shows Up With Typewriter.  All this plus this week’s Epic Fail and Oh Asia You So Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/115

Continue reading »]]> xkcd’s 13-Gigapixel Webcomic. IOS6 maps fail so hard, a Tumblr is born.  Open-Dyslexic is a new open sourced font created to increase readability for readers with dyslexia.  ‘Gangnam Style’ breaks Guinness World Record for most YouTube likes.  Richard Branson hopes to send hundreds of thousands of people into suborbital space in next 20 years, and start a colony on Mars in his lifetime.  Rackspace sued for hosting GitHub.  Former Reddit programmer hit with 9 more felony charges in MIT hacking case.  Syrian Rebels Hack Together Digital Cameras To Replace Machine Gun Scopes.  Kickstarter bans product renderings, requires project owners to be open about risk.  Hotmail: Your password was too long, so we fixed it for you.  All this plus this week’s Science News, Epic Fail, and Oh Asia You So Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/114

Continue reading »]]> The real source of Apple device IDs leaked by Anonymous last week.  Soon Advertisements Will Involve Forced Interaction.  Apple Sues Online Polish Deli Over Their Name, “A.pl”.  Former German first lady sues Google over ‘prostitute’ autocomplete suggestions.  GoDaddy reports massive outage was not a hack.  Why the First Laptop Had Such a Hard Time Catching On (Hint: Sexism).  Magic: The Gathering is Turing complete.  University builds cheap supercomputer with Raspberry Pi and Legos.  Europe officially runs out of IPv4 addresses.  I Applied to Grey Poupon’s Members-Only Facebook Page… and Was Denied.  All this, plus this week’s Epic Fail, Science News, and Oh Asia You So Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/113

Continue reading »]]> Kim Dotcom: FBI can’t have Megaupload founder extradited without piracy evidence, NZ court rules.  Jimmy Wales threatens to encrypt Wikipedia if UK passes snooping bill.  Hacker steals $250k in Bitcoins from online exchange Bitfloor.  BitTorrent study finds most file-sharers are monitored.  Fox to Release Digital Movies Three Weeks Prior to Retail.  Bruce Willis Isn’t Suing Apple Over iTunes Music Ownership Rights.  Samsung flew bloggers halfway around the world and then threatened to leave them there if they didn’t cooperate.  Space Sugar Discovered In Binary System Star.  Are App.net’s Crowdfunders Being Taken For a Ride?  California To License Self-Driving Cars.  100% of publicly educated students in Estonia will learn how to code starting in the 1st grade.  All that and this week’s Recent Study and Oh Asia, You So Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/112

• Kim Dotcom: FBI can’t have Megaupload founder extradited without piracy evidence, NZ court rules
• Jimmy Wales threatens to encrypt Wikipedia if UK passes snooping bill
• Hacker steals $250k in Bitcoins from online exchange Bitfloor
• BitTorrent study finds most file-sharers are monitored
• Fox to Release Digital Movies Three Weeks Prior to Retail
• Bruce Willis Isn’t Suing Apple Over iTunes Music Ownership Rights
• Samsung flew bloggers halfway around the world and then threatened to leave them there if they didn’t cooperate.
• Space Sugar Discovered In Binary System Star
• Are App.net’s Crowdfunders Being Taken For a Ride?
• California To License Self-Driving Cars
• 100% of publicly educated students in Estonia will learn how to code starting in the 1st grade.

[edit] Recent Studies

• Drinking Too Much? Blame Your Glass

[edit] Oh Asia, You So Crazy!

• Japanese Squeeze Breasts for Charity

Continue reading »]]> The Japanese invent a machine converts plastic back into oil.  Biodiesel From Sewage Sludge.  Kim Dotcom Declares War on Media With Bigger and Better MegaUpload.  California state legislature approves Location Privacy Act(via Phone Scoop).  World First Bionic Eye Implant Enables Blinds to Experience Some Vision.  Walmart Is Testing an iPhone Checkout System That Could Help You Escape Its Clutches a Little Bit Faster.  Wolfram|Alpha Personal Analytics for Facebook.  Obama answers live questions on Reddit, crashes servers.  School demands that boy must change his name from Hunter because it violates its weapons policy.  Twitter Launches “Twitter Certified Products” — Partners With DataSift, Gnip, HootSuite & Others.  All this, plus a Recent Study, Dumbass Apple News, Epic Fail, Oh Asia You So Crazy and Ryder Says Things!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/111

Continue reading »]]> Mark Zuckerberg reportedly forcing Facebook’s Android team to use app and see how bad it is.  How Hollywood Is Encouraging Online Piracy.  WikiWeapons: 3D printed guns for everyone.  The White House open-sourced their petition software on GitHub. Drunk Driver Caught on Motorized Picnic Table. Servers Ultimate Turns Your Old Android Phone Into a Tiny, Multipurpose Server.  Bullied NY Woman Sets up Anti-Bullying Foundation.  Melky Cabrera’s fake website.  Neil Armstrong, First Man on the Moon, is Dead.  Dropbox Rolls Out Two-Step Verification.  All this, plus Science News, Epic Fail, and Oh Asia you so Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/110

Continue reading »]]> The Oatmeal is raising funds for the Tesla museum at Wardenclyffe.  Wikileaks reveals “TrapWire,” a government spy network that uses ordinary surveillance cameras.  Putting an end to the biggest lie on the internet.  Garry Kasparov Arrested and Beaten at Pussy Riot Sentencing.  Pixar open sources production animation code, patents.  iAMScientist Looks To Crowdfund Scientific Research.  Insane Clown Posse To Sue FBI Over Gang Designation.  Buying Twitter followers is sinful, says SAUDI CLERIC.  FTC Censures Facebook, Then Asks You to Like It on Facebook.  Blurred Eyeglasses Unveiled To Help Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Avoid Impure Sights.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/109

Continue reading »]]> Peter Schiff Opens Hard-Money Bank. Iran Is Quitting the Internet Because It’s Afraid of America.  Curiosity landing removed from YouTube after bogus copyright claim by Scripps.  The Internet Archive Starts Seeding Over a Million Torrents.  MCA’s Will Bars Use of Beastie Boys Songs to Sell Crap.  Ukraine Officials Shut Down Demonoid to Impress the US Government.  French illegal downloads agency Hadopi may be abolished.  Best Buy Founder Makes $8.5 Billion Bid To Take Company Private.  Facebook Is Trying Online Gambling.  Rest in peace SCO (finally).  Ustream Outperformed Cable News During Curiosity Landing

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/108

Continue reading »]]> Digg relaunches as a general news site. ‘Dr. Horrible’ gets CW premiere date. Facebook Wants to Be Your Instapaper Now, Too.  Twitter does something really, really, really stupid – will they fix it?  FCC Tells Verizon It Can’t Force You To Pay $20 For Tethering Anymore. New Bill Nye The Science Guy Show Coming To YouTube.  Why Apple TV Just Became Apple’s Most Important Product.  We Need An FDA for Computers.  Student disciplined for improving campus course-selection system.  Google Fiber gains over 3,900 pre-registrations, more than 20% of ‘fiberhoods’ clear rally hurdles in first two days.  All this, plus this week’s Oh Asia, You So Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/107

Continue reading »]]> Is a Computer Worm Causing Iranian Nuclear Facilities to Blast AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ At Night?  Local residents deal with phantom garage door opener.  New Orleans music legend stands at own wake.  Buzzfeed retorts comedically to a McSweeney’s parody of their site.  A Hacker publishes how to open millions of hotel rooms with arduino in less than a second.  Apple throws $356 million at making Its security better… or did they?  How to expeditiously watch Battlestar Galactica.  An arcade operator admits that, yes, those crane games are really rigged.  New toilet paper dispenser improves hygiene and conservation.  Why Valve wants to port games to Linux: Because Windows 8 Is a Catastrophe.  All this, plus Dumbass Apple News and Oh Asia, You So Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/106

Continue reading »]]> Penny Arcade sells out.  Facebook continues plans to become the creepiest social network ever.  Digg bought for $500k.  Is the QWERTY keyboard near its end?  A Christian bookstore markets the biggest ripoff in the history of tablet computing.  AMC gives Dish network a proper slap in the face.  A member of European Parliament unintentionally leaks the emails of everybody who fought against ACTA.  Mitt Romney breaks the Facebook rules.  Plus Science News and Oh Asia, You So Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/105

Continue reading »]]> The Internet declares it’s freedom.  Def Leppard is re-recording it’s entire back catalogue to screw Universal.  A German university is suing one of its former students over early graduation.  Will the ubiquitous Gideon bible be replaced by a Kindle?  Windows 8 upgrade priced at only $39.99.  The porn industry is positioning itself to be a very natural bedfellow to Google’s Project Glass.  Want to leak the goings-on in that staff meeting to the world outside with some style?  Use a transparency grenade!  Cisco locks it’s own customers out of using their own routers until they agree to use a service that will spy on their Internet usage.  Blizzard drops the banhammer on Linux users, because using Linux is cheating in Diablo III.  A New Jersey court says it’s not illegal to look at someone elses email if they forget to log out before they leave the computer.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/104

Continue reading »]]> Facebook decides your email address for you.  An Olympic dead heat finish stumps high speed cameras.  Scientists crack RSA’s SecureID 800.  Other scientists plan to hack Stephen Hawking’s brain.  Apple no longer claims to be immune to viruses.  Is Google Plus a ghost town or a developing company town.  Orbitz gives higher priced hotel rooms preference for Mac Users.  A publisher intends to make books using disappearing ink, to force people to read them quicker.  Homeless Mo is a new internet star.  A new task completion service opens in the New York City area.  A new website allows you to argue with politically opposed people on the phone.  The Nexus Q has been hacked to run Android games within 24 hours.  All t hat, plus Dumbass Apple News, a Recent Study, an Epic Fail!, and an Oh Asia, You So Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/103

Continue reading »]]> Charles Carreon sues everybody.  Learn a language for free with Duolingo.  An NYU student develops the best robot ever.  An old lady gets her retirement paid for by the Internet.  US regains title of best supercomputer in the world.  The Unity 4 3D engine will natively support Linux.  Apple is stealing ANdroid people with the cunning use of AirPlay.  Twitter rolls out expanded tweets.  A malware author taunts security researchers using built-in chat.  All this and a recent study and an Oh Asia You So Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/102

Continue reading »]]> Funnyjunk threatens The Oatmeal, Facebook’s CTO leaves 1 month after the IPO, Darth Vader robs a bank and gets away on a sweet BMX.  Researchers are taking a new approach to designing unmanned drones.  The creator of XML suggests a new HTTP error code.  ICANN reveals the requests for new generic top level domain names.  Bitcoins receiving a great deal of legitimacy in light of the Euro Zone crisis.  Reddit to ban links to big name sites over spamming violations.  A decade-long Civ 2 game mired in a 1700 year-long nuclear war.  Plus, this week’s Science News and Dumbass Apple News.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/101

Continue reading »]]> The Department of Homeland Security detains a software developer because of his product.  A Sci-Fi staple is no more.  North Korea figures out a cunning way to distribute malware.  Gizmodo wants you to do their dirty work for them.  A cross platform HTML5 game has finally been released.  Steam to be released on Linux this year.  Who will history remember – Bill Gates or Steve Jobs?  Plus, this week’s Epic Fail and Oh Asia, Your So Crazy!

Show notes available at” http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/100

Continue reading »]]> Hulu is designing a new model that will require you to already be a cable subscriber to view their content.  Seattle’s first SUpervillain threatens Seattle’s existing superhero population.  Microsoft dropping DVD/Blu-ray support for Windows 8.  NY Judge rules that IP addresses are not sufficient evidence to identify copyright infringers.  A new smartphone app allows you to register a complaint against the TSA as soon as it happens.  A bug in new Samsung TVs causes them to restart in an endless loop.  A Mexican ad company deploys a machine that trades dog droppings for free WiFi.  The Listserve is a new mailing list where one subscriber per day is randomly selected to send a personal essay to the list each day. Symantec says religious websites are more prone to malware insertion than porn sites.  Venus will make a once-in-a-lifetime appearance next month.  All this plus an Epic Fail, Recent Study, Dumbass Apple News, and Oh Asia You So Crazy!  Plus Ryder says things.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/98

Continue reading »]]> The 100th episode is coming up and we’re bring Ryder out of retirement for it!  Join us live on Ustream on June 3rd at 6pm EST for this auspicious event!

This week, players attempt to destroy the economy in EVE Online.  A 92-year-old bootlegger sens thousands of films to troops overseas.  Axe Cop! is coming to television (insert ubiquitous Fox joke here).  Source code for the Apollo and Gemini programs has been released and curated.  University of Florida has eliminated it’s Computer Science program.  A redditor embarks on a summer-long adventure bouncing around the US to do the things you want him to do.  IBM and Cisco have teamed up to develop the smart city of the future.  Cybercriminals exploit Björk’s Biophilia App To Compromise Androids.  Fort Atlantic releases their new album on an NES cartridge.  Who owns the files on your Google Drive?  All this, plus a Recent Study, this week’s Epic Fail, and Oh Asia You So Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/97

Continue reading »]]> Play Frogger with real traffic and fake frogs.  DirecTV pulls a bonehead move and locks out a lot of their customers from their content.  Assassin’s Creed may have blatantly ripped off it’s content.  A bicyclist uses GPS to create meta art.  Man gets arrested for going through TSA checkpoint naked.  A group in the U.K. try to make coding more accessible to kids.  All this and this weeks Epic Fail, Oh Asia You So Crazy, and Ryder Says Things.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/96

Continue reading »]]> A new ISP that takes your privacy seriously.  Google launches “The Power of the Internet” campaign.  A study suggests that violent video games build cooperation and social skills, not violent tendencies.  Kidnap victim rescued with the power of Twitter.  NYC begins replacing pay phones with touch screen computers.  High scool juniors develop flavor strips for astronauts.  Facebook acquires Instagram for $1 billion.  All this and a Recent Study, Dumbass Apple News, an Epic Fail, and this week’s Oh Asia You So Crazy!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/96

Continue reading »]]> Viacom sues Youtube… AGAIN! Richard Clark shows his utter inability to grasp the fundamentals of the Internet.  Google finally shows us what augmented reality will look like.  The US Government uses the kiddie porn defense to keep the Megaupload Servers offline.  Dell acquires Wyse Technologies.  A Federal judge rules P2P users aren’t in a conspiracy.  Video game companies agree to close sex offenders’ online accounts.  Bravo announces a new “I can has Cheezburger” reality show.  Plus, Epic Fails, a Recent Study, Ryder Says Things and Oh Asia You So Crazy!  Also, tell us your ridiculous TSA stories!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/94

Continue reading »]]> A high school senior in Indiana is expelled for a profane tweet. A UK gang netted over iTunes fraud. Qualcomm calls for an end to proprietary drivers. A fungus that eats polyurethane may be the end to non-biodegradable waste. Tron light cycles in less than 226 bytes. A gooey joystick for your smart phone. Alabama wants to protect you from cyberbullying take away your first amendment rights. Plus, a Recent Study, Oh Asia You So Crazy, and Ryder Says Things!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/93

Continue reading »]]> Facebook fights back against nosy employers. UK student extradited to the US for “pirating.” Congress wants your TSA stories. DoD networks are completely compromised. NetZero offers free 4G data. What do neutrinos and satellites have in common? Listen in to find out! Plus, a Recent Study, an Epic Fail, Oh Asia You So Crazy, and Ryder says Things!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/92

Continue reading »]]> The FBI can’t crack Android’s Pattern Lock. The Sanford Airport says no to the TSA. March Madness will be streamed to all of the Internet. Encyclopedia Britannica ceases production of encyclopedias. People are sending money to the RIAA and MPAA in droves, listen in to find out why. Homeless people in Austin, TX have become 4G hotspots for SXSW. Is your ISP spying on you? If they aren’t they will soon start! All this, and a Recent Study, a couple of Epic Fails, and an Oh Asia, You So Crazy!  Plus, Ryder says Things!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/91

Continue reading »]]> LulzSecs leader has been arrested, is this the end for the notorious group?  More and more employers and colleges are demanding you give them your Facebook password.  Reddit forms a PAC to oust Lamar Smith from office, and Mediawiki transfers all their domains away from GoDaddy.  Crowdfunding insvestors is moving closer to Congressional approval.  Warner has a “quick and easy” way for you to rip your DVDs into DRMed digital media that is neither quick nor easy.  NBC will livestream the 2012 Olympics in its entirity for free.  MIT offers a certificate in piracy.  The U.S. government deems that if your domain is a .com, they have jurisdiction to seize it.  The Washington Post hires CmdrTaco of Slashdot fame.  Flying swarms of robots may start to provide WiFi to protestors and activists.  All this, plus a Recent Study, this week’s “Oh Asia, You So Crazy!”, and another installment of Ryder Says Things.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/90

Continue reading »]]> Find out how Futurama’s Bender became the head of the Washington D.C. School Board. A Frenchman sues Google. Are Railgun’s close to being a reality? The Chinese public wreck Google Plus for the rest of us. Facebook is spying on us. Go grocery shopping with a cart that follows you around. All this, plus an Epic Fail, Oh Asia You So Crazy, and a Recent Study. Plus, we introduce a new segment: Ryder Says Things.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/89

Continue reading »]]> This week cancer robots have free range of Nevada highways, Pinterest makess money, EFF fights patents, and Google+ teaches you how to cook.  A fifth grader discovers a new molecule and Steve Jobs wins an award.   Tune in to find out what this week’s “Oh Asia, You So Crazy!” is and we’re bringing back an old segment!

Continue reading »]]> Two weeks until BasementCast 3! Adrian is working on getting the live cast working for it so if you can’t be with us in person, you can be there via the Internet.

This week, our fine and well-pedigreed hosts discuss SOPA’s big brother ACTA, 3D printing, a new free college, gnu (and blowjob) scanners, Super-WIFI, and the magic-eye watch.

Sega introduces a crazy new gaming device in Japan which is So Crazy. A would-be adventurer tries to follow in Bear Gryles footsteps (guess how that ends?). Listen to this episode to find out where in P-space Pac-Man falls.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/84

Continue reading »]]> In this week’s episode, Adrian and James discuss the takedown of Megaupload and the raid of Kim Dotcom’s “lair”.  Anonymous shows what they think of the Megaupload takedown.  As if you hadn’t heard enough about SOPA, over 7000 sites participated in an Internet Blackout on Wednesday Jan 18th.  The repercussions of Wikipedia’s blackout were felt all across Twitter.

In the back half of the show, the Russian space program discusses a joined moon base with NASA and the ESA.  In the past we’ve seen manufacturiing jobs move from the US to Asia, now we’re seeing a trend of R&D jobs moving in the same direction.  Google has some detractors in India: this week they vandalize the OpenStreetMap project and have also been linked to the Mocality scandal we discussed last week.  New York City takes an innovative approach to college prep: Software Engineering High School.  Adrian and James both agree that they would have tried to go there if they were still in high school.

This week, Japan is so crazy!  A store selling women’s clothing and accessories has decided to use an interesting ploy to draw in customers… We’ll call it “colorful language.”

Link for this weeks show are available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/83

Continue reading »]]> Google is caught misbehaving by Kenyan startup Mocality.  Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. Reddit has decided to turn their SOPA Blackout into a Learn-In.  A new drug has been developed that may keep you sober no matter how much you’ve had to drink.  Amazon will begin collecting Indiana sales tax starting in 2014.  Matt’s dream device – A virtual reality helmet that runs Android.  Japan’s trend in “boob” gadgets increases.  Scientists have found a way to use salmon DNA to create data storage devices that could be cheaper than their inorganic coutnerparts.

Submit and vote on stories at http://whatstherumpus.reddit.com/

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/82

Continue reading »]]> Join the Revolution!

Apparently you can be sued for pirating a movie by the recording industry, even if you don’t own a computer or internet access – a retired woman in Germany found this out the hard way. We talk about SOPA and a workaround that could be used if SOPA is enacted. Universal Music Group shows their hand when they take down a video from Youtube that puts them in a bad light.

Ever heard an explanation of Star Wars in broken English?  This week’s “Oh Asia, You So Crazy!” shows us what that sounds like.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/81

Continue reading »]]> A new beer cooler prevents unwanted photos.  The WtR crew takes a stance on Duckface.  Is the TSA on its way out the door?  The fate of WebOS is finally decided.  Internet censorship?  We say no thanks!  Siri is Apple’s broken promise to the world.  The Rick Perry campaign is apparently not very Internet savvy.  Someone may or may not take an arrow to the knee.

Submit and vote for stories at http://whatstherumpus.reddit.com/

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/80

Continue reading »]]> A Taiwanese man sues two people after one of them clicks the Facebook “like” button for a post the other made.  A pron video was accidentally played on an LED billboard in Wenzhou, China.  Google Maps plans to start charging for usage.  Amazon Prime members will be able to borrow Kindle books for free in the near future.  Giant Lego man washes ashore in Sarasota.  Plus, Science News and an Epic Fail!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/79

Continue reading »]]> 10 things only bad managers say.  The creator of Unix and C died at the age of 70.  Siri says some weird things.  A computer virus hits the US Predator and Reaper drone fleets.  Netflix kills Qwikster.  The bassist from Weezer predicted his own death.  In the vein of the Likeable Consitution, there is now a Likeable Bible.  Plus, an Epic Fail and an “Oh Asia, You So Crazy!”

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/77

Continue reading »]]> Steve Jobs dead at 56.  Siri means something completely different in Japan.  PassMyWill allows you to send your passwords to your loved ones posthumously.  A theater professor’s Firefly poster deemed threatening by campus public safety.  Make your own speed vest to show motorists how fast you’re going.  Fakegirlfriend.co is a new service that will pose as your girlfriend.  Psystar loses its appeal in Apple lawsuit.  Plus, this week’s Epic Fail!

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/76

Continue reading »]]> OnStar begins spying on customers’ GPS location for profit.  Okite is an iPhone alarm clock app that sends an embarassing tweet every time you hit the snooze button.  The Onion’s joke about “screams and gunfire” coming from inside Congress backfires.  There is a new danger for urban cyclists: Biker’s Lung.  Iran blocks TOR, TOR unblocks itself later that day.  The movie industry’s self-piract proves that IP addresses aren’t people.  Gordon Ramsey’s porn dwarf double has been eaten by a badger.  Will alcohol be available in a theater near you soon?  Also, Science News and “Oh Asia, You So Crazy!”  Plus the re-emergence of the Fark Headline of the Week.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/75

Continue reading »]]> We’ve been following the plummet of Netflix over the last few months that started with the division of Netflix’s DVD service from it’s streaming service.  Last night Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix, sent out an email to those customers who still remain with the service giving a long-delayed and well-deserved explanation about the plans for Netflix services.

Dear Adrian,

 

I messed up. I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

 

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn’t make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

 

So here is what we are doing and why.

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

 

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

 

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

 

It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.

 

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

 

There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.

 

For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.

 

I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

 

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.

 

Respectfully yours,

 

-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix

 

p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.

 So what do you guys think?  “Appropriate and heartfelt” or “Too little, too late?”

Continue reading »]]> Did Netflix’s price hike kill their business?  Nope!  Chuck Testa!  The U.S. Constitution is now available in a Facebook-likeable format.  An unfortunate typo causes the hero of a romance novel to have an “accident” on his lovers floor.  Heard of the bleeoo project?  It’s an oral history of modems.  The Peepoo is a personal, single-use, self-sanitising, fully biodegradable toilet that prevents feces from contaminating the immediate area as well as the surrounding ecosystem.  Rent out your toilet to strangers using Cloo’.  Buddhist monks destroy a Muslim shrine in Sri Lanka.  Indie devs upload their own games to the Pirate Bay.  Judge rules that employees can’t be fired for Facebook complaints.  Obama admin wants hackers charged as mobsters.  Plus, Science News for the week.

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/74

Continue reading »]]> FEMA determines how bad a hurricane is by checking if the local Waffle House is open.  Listen in to find out how to determine how old your globe is.  Domino’s plans to open a pizza joint on the moon.  A company has devised a “green” way to dispose of human remains by liquifying the corpse.  Germany introduces “prostitute meters” to collect taxes.  The German ban on Doom has finally been lifted.  The Pirate Bay founders go legit with BayFiles.  Plus, a Recent Study, an Epic Fail, and “Oh Asia, You So Crazy!”

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/73

Continue reading »]]> We explain how to use an RJ-45 keychain amd a wall dock to never misplace your keys again.  A man uses Portal 2 as an engine to propose to his girlfriend.  Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple, nothing changes. IBM builds a data drive that can back up the entire Web 60 times.  Donnie and Mark Wahlberg plan to open Wahlburger’s Burger Joint.  Google Street View team takes on the Amazon River.  Listen in to find out the 10 scariest hacks exposed at Black Hat and Defcon.  Fox delays Hulu availability, piracy surges.  CmdrTaco resigns from Slashdot.  All this and an Epic Fail, some Science News, and an “Oh Asia, You So Crazy!”

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/72

Continue reading »]]> Henry Morgan’s long-lost flag ship discovered.  All of the Internet went down last week thanks to Amazon Web Services.  Abercrombie and Fitch cancels a customers account for being too loyal.  The Hipster Trek Tumblr is the best site on the Internet.  Anonymous vows to destroy Facebook on November 5th.  The first annual Defcon for Kids occurred in conjunction with Defcon 19 was designed for kids and even had some child presenters. Chuck talks about how much he hates Lifehacker now based on one article.  Plus, this week’s “Oh Asia, You So Crazy!”

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/071

Continue reading »]]> What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?  Skedaddle hides a secret, password-protected file drawer underneath you Mac’s desktop.  Virtual pets starve after bungled resolution to Second Life.  Is itching psychological?  Savvy bettors have learned how to beat the Massachusetts lottery.  A vindictive Walmart security guard accused a couple of shoplifting, gets husband deport, wife fired, and costs the couple their house and car.  PLus, the Study of the Week and this week’s “Oh Asia, You So Crazy!”

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/70

Continue reading »]]> Malware could be hidden in your smart batteries.  War texting lets hackers unlock car doors via SMS.  A Manhattan man tests the limits of the Apple Store’s hospitality.  Scientists discover that an ancient black hole contains 100,000 suns worth of water.  A new moon is discovered orbiting Pluto.  Plans are in the works to build a solar tower twice the size of the Empire State Building in Arizona.  All this, plus the Study of the Week and “Oh Asia, You So Crazy!”

Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/69

Continue reading »]]> We try to avoid talking too much about politics, but one piece of news this week caught my eye.  The Libyan rebels, with the help of some Middle Eastern and Libyan-American friends, were able to hijack Gadhafi’s Libyana cellular network.

In the early days of the rebellion, Gadhafi shut off cell phones and internet to stem the flow of information out of Libya.  Since then the rebels have had to communicate via semaphore, and while flag signals are kind of a bad ass way of communicating, it sucks as a primary communication tool. 

Ousama Abushagar, a Libyan-American telecom executive, got together a few childhood friends and raised funding in order to infiltrate Libyana and pirate their cellular signal.  The United Arab Emirates and Qatar both provided the millions of dollars worth of equipment needed to make this plan work, showing their support of the rebel government.  Etisalat, a UAE cellular service, provided use of one of their satellites for the pirate cell phone network.  Eventually the plan rolled out and Free Libyana was born.  International calls are extremely limited currently, but hey… who can complain when all domestic calls are free.  Beat that AT&T!