02/22/2007 01:49 AM

The five ways YouTube is blowing it

In this week's Buzz Report, Molly Wood looks at the five ways YouTube is blowing its chances at greatness.

11/16/2006 10:26 AM

Why the Zune will help kill DRM

Microsoft's Zune hits the streets with little fanfare, lots of negative press, and yet another clunky, intrusive DRM scheme to master. Rather than entice customers, Molly thinks this latest attempt at content lockdown will only hasten DRM's demise.

10/04/2006 02:35 AM

Sports: enemy of both technology and fans

When professional sports and technology meet, it often turns into the equivalent of a personal foul. The NFL doesn't want game-day information published online, the MLB pulled its podcasts from iTunes, and no one can figure out how to deal with streaming. Time for Molly to take up knitting.

07/05/2006 12:22 PM

Net neutrality: bring it on

I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this, but I'm actually rooting for Net neutrality legislation. No, I don't really want to have to regulate the Internet, but we can't afford to leave it in the hands of the telcos and the cable companies. They're blinded by greed, and lately, they've started lying to you about tiered Internet. Big time. Check it out.

03/13/2006 11:32 AM

Is the end of the Internet upon us?

There are a lot of, shall we say, challenges facing the Internet as we know it--and before your eyes start to glaze over because you take the Net and the Web for granted and you don't think anything will ever really change, think about this. What if we ended up with a whole bunch of Internets? It could happen. Here's how.

11/03/2005 11:13 AM

DRM this, Sony!

This week, the news came out that Sony's been secretly installing Trojan-horse-like technology with its digital rights management (DRM) software--and doing it when you're just innocently playing a CD. We wish we could say we're shocked, but DRM's been creeping toward unacceptable for a long time now. Is it too late for consumers?

10/12/2005 04:29 AM

The (robotic) road ahead

On October 8, robotic history was made: five fully autonomous vehicles completed a 132-mile desert course, turning a new page in the development of robotic vehicles that will help protect our soldiers and, possibly, you. How? By wresting the steering wheel out of your hot little hands. Are we ready?

08/18/2005 12:07 PM

The Buzz Report: Triple-X: a brief history of a dirty domain

So, ICANN was this close to approving .xxx as a top-level domain, when suddenly the politicians got involved. Seems like a pretty straightforward story of sex, politics, and the Internet, right? But why were Republicans (and the porn industry) singing a different tune five years ago? Molly investigates.

07/26/2005 09:26 AM

The Buzz Report Archive

06/28/2005 12:21 PM

The Buzz Report: P2P is the new bong

The Supreme Court has ruled that P2P companies can be sued if their users pirate intellectual property--but only if the companies induce them to commit that piracy. But the justices didn't touch the technology, and I, for one, appreciate their restraint. What's the next step, other than some quick and clever P2P marketing?

06/09/2005 02:30 AM

The Buzz Report: Is RIM really in danger from Microsoft?

When Microsoft announced that it would include direct-push e-mail with Windows Mobile 5.0, the analysts went crazy. Columnists and journalists and bloggers shouted the death of RIM from the rooftops. But is Microsoft really going to destroy the push e-mail market in one fell swoop? I say no

06/02/2005 01:04 AM

The Buzz Report: Five reasons social networking doesn't work

Social networking appears to be floundering, despite all those months of people insisting it was the new hottest thing ever, the must-have feature, and the best online development since blogs. But what if it really wasn't? What if it was just a passing fad with no real future potential? I'm just speculating here.

05/24/2005 05:22 AM

The Buzz Report: VoIP: what is it good for?

Voice over IP is the must-have feature that's creeping into everything from instant messengers to MP3 players. But like all technology that's not interoperable and seems kind of clunky right now, it has me thinking of a better tech tomorrow--one with unified telecommunications at every turn. Dream on, right?

05/17/2005 02:14 AM

The Buzz Report: What's the problem with hybrid cars?

All the articles I see say that hybrid cars are taking off, that automakers are jumping on the bandwagon, and that everyone in America will have one by Christmas. But in fact, hybrids make up less than 1 percent of annual auto sales, and a fair number of you just plain don't want one. Why not?

05/12/2005 11:53 AM

RFID: bring it on

What with the recent passage of the Real ID act, the furor over Google's Web Accelerator program, and the Zabasearch flap, I thought it was a good time to revisit our innate privacy paranoia with this classic column on RFID. In sum, what's the big deal?

05/10/2005 01:18 AM

The Buzz Report: DVD storage is so over

The format wars over the next generation of DVD media are heating up, and both sides are hoping for a compromise or a clear winner. They're kidding themselves. When it comes to storage, and even recording high-def video, DVDs are over. Bring on the next generation of storage.

05/05/2005 02:10 AM

The Buzz Report: Is search ruining the Web?

Without showing up in search results, your Web site is dead in the water. But what happens when we start designing Web pages to meet the algorithms of the Google gods, instead of meeting standards of usability and design? Well, we make money, keep our sites alive, and break the rules out of necessity. Sorry, standards.

04/28/2005 12:52 PM

The Buzz Report: Inside tech journalism: the NDA game

Mac OS X Tiger hit the streets today, but not without a lot of petty infighting between tech journalists and Apple over who would get to break the news about the new OS first. Of course, the funny part is that you already knew the whole story. So why must vendors keep playing this shell game with the media?

04/26/2005 02:40 AM

The Buzz Report: Windows is weak: where's the alternative?

It's looking grim for Windows right now. The excitement isn't there, and neither are the features or even the attention to deadline. That leaves an opening in the operating system market that hasn't been there in years--but it won't last. Who will seize the day?

04/15/2005 02:52 AM

The Buzz Report: The iPod Shuffle: I don't get it

Once in a while, you know you're taking the unpopular road. But as the iPod Shuffle shoots up the market share charts, I just can't help but put the brakes on for a second. What's so great about that thing? Can't you see how funny it looks hanging around your neck? Consider this a brief plea for audio player reason.

04/14/2005 12:03 PM

The Buzz Report: Big media ain't going anywhere

The Buzz Report

04/12/2005 02:34 AM

The Buzz Report: Death of Voom: we just weren't ready

HDTV seems so good, but in practice, it's still confusing, expensive, and hardly widespread. So why would poor, promising little Voom hang its hat so squarely on the HDTV peg? Obviously, it didn't pay off, but I'm sorry to see it go

04/07/2005 08:19 AM

The Buzz Report: PCs get faster! But who cares?

Desktop computers are faster than they've ever been, thanks to new dual-core processors, SLI graphics technology, and 64-bit operating systems. But who's this stuff for? Does anyone really need a computer that fast?

04/05/2005 11:30 AM

The Buzz Report: Warning: adult content...everywhere

In today's world, adult entertainment is coming to a cell phone near you. Porn is increasingly demarginalized, and heck, even Jenna Jameson and Ron Jeremy are becoming mainstream figures. They already took over the Internet; I say cell phones are next.

03/31/2005 12:48 PM

The Buzz Report: Enter the robots

Robots are cool, fascinating, and not just a little bit creepy. But it's time to get over our fears of a robotic future, because the future is now. Here, a tour of some of the robots--humanoid and otherwise--that I saw at the International Expo in Japan last week.