Engadget Podcast 143 - 04.24.2009
By Trent Wolbe 
posted April 24th 2009 1:04PM
posted April 24th 2009 1:04PM
In case you aren't hip to the Twittersphere, Josh, Nilay, Paul and Engadget's own Twitter bot put out their feelers for listener questions this week, and got a lot of great material for discussion. Inquisitive minds wanted to know which wild conjectures these fine men believe about the Zune HD, how particularly evil Time Warner Cable is, and other matters related to Chinese phone manufacturers and The End Times. If you failed to seize upon this opportunity to ask, or found your own question heartlessly ignored, make sure to take advantage of the various avenues of contact listed below and ask away!
Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Song: Ghostbusters
00:02:36 - Is this the Zune HD?
00:23:08 - Time Warner Cable lays out broadband capping plans, says $150 for "unlimited" use
00:28:25 - Time Warner Cable to axe DOCSIS 3.0 trials without tiered billing?
00:33:53 - Time Warner and Embarq can't compete with city-owned ISP, trying to outlaw it
00:47:37 - Ugobe files for bankruptcy, Pleo facing extinction
00:53:28 - Keepin' it real fake
01:09:03 - T-Mobile Sidekick LX 2009 video hands-on
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Wow, up early this time. Should be fun!
Is big daddy Time Warner going to cut funding after all that you said about them? ;)
Time Warner doesn't own Time Warner Cable anymore, so it's not an issue -- and even if it did, we would still rip into them.
not really a comment on the show but i'd really like it if the itunes version was mp3 instead of aac, surely it'd be easier for you to just do the mp3 one too
you rock for this one! :)
Nilay Patel @ Apr 24th 2009 1:40PM
Time Warner doesn't own Time Warner Cable anymore, so it's not an issue -- and even if it did, we would still rip into them.
and iMaPC :)
When the fuck are you guys going to do that "answer readers' questions" podcast that you say you will?
You should also record/podcast some of your shows live over-the-internet, so that people can send-in and call-in with questions in real-time.
Other than that, you guys really do have a great show.
Uh, we did do that show -- it's this one! We had a lot of fun doing it, so keep sending in questions, ideally we'll answer one or two each week.
And stay tuned on the live front -- we have some ideas. Big ideas.
Thanks!
P.S. I have serious man-love for you. (The non-homo-type man love.)
Theory:
Microsoft see's the success of the iPhone, and then see's how the coolness of the iPhone sells more macs. Microsoft wants a cool device too. I think the key here is Windows Mobile 7.
I bet MS plans on having windows mobile 7 out within a few months of Windows 7. Then the two OS's are directly linked and people will see the 7 and understand that both products are on the cutting edge. I think Windows Mobile 7 is going to be completely overhauled from any windows mobile build we have seen. But I also think that with windows mobile 7 there will be specific requirements to running it.
By doing all this Microsoft will be able to bring out a new OS, and some hardware to "show'em how its done." without pissing off the likes of HTC, Samsung, etc... I think zune functionality will be built into the OS as well as all devices must have capacitive touch support. I think it will also have game support like the PSP 2 PS3 or DS to Wii experience. The Zune HD is going to feature all this, but it wont be a phone it will be a PMP. its up to Danger, HTC, etc.. to make the "Phone" versions. But the key here is that this would connect all of Microsoft's IP's together, giving them "SYNERGY". That lovely corporate word. This isn't my dream either. This is just Business 101 talking.
Sorry for the long post. Need a Conspiracy Theory Blogger on the Engadget Team?
i am 12 and i listen to the engadget podcast. i was nine when i started reading Engadget
I agree with S4Rs, or at least that that's what they would do if they were smart.
By the way, the reader who is 17 and thought they might be the youngest is definitely wrong. I'm sure I'm not the youngest, and I'm 15.
I'm 14... started reading Engadget when I was 12. I don't know why, but I can't seem to go a day without the gadget news I get here. It's addictive.
Oh, and one more thing... Engadget, you get off MY lawn.
Hey guys, love the podcast, I listen every week. I wanted to chime in on the whole KIRF discussion.
Nilay touched on this point, but I think the big reason that China makes so many KIRFs is because it doesn't enforce international intellectual property laws, and it doesn't because it has no incentive to. This is exactly the way America was in the 1800s--books written in foreign countries were not subject to US copyright until the 1900s. This allowed American publishers to rip off European books and sell them to the American public for a fraction of the cost. It wasn't until American authors themselves began to create works worth protecting that America began respecting international copyright.
China is undergoing the same process. The country is poor so its to their advantage to allow KIRFs--that way, its citizens can have cutting edge technology at way less cost. But one day a Chinese company (maybe Lenovo or Haier or someone else altogether) will come out with a truly innovative product that it wants protected abroad. Then China will begin to enforce IP laws and KIRFs will move elsewhere.
My two cents :)
I would have read engadget from the womb were it made available to me.
Seems like China is going the right direction with their loosening of IP laws. Companies developing patents-of-mutual-destruction isn't what these laws were ever intended for.
great podcast, as usual.