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  • Episode 82: Cancer Ink

    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

  • Episode 81: The Rumpus Revolution!

    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

  • Episode 80: I Used to be a Podcaster Like You Then I Took an Arrow in the Knee

    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

  • Episode 79: The Stinkiest Chamber Pot on the Internet

    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

  • Episode 78: Outtake With a Grain of Salt

    Due to unforeseen technical difficulties, this weeks episode is replaced with an outake episode.  Enjoy!

    Show notes available at http://wiki.whatstherumpuspodcast.com/078

  • Episode 77: Wonderbread

    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

  • Episode 76: Never go Siri to Mouth

    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

  • Episode 75: The Internet’s Dumping Ground

    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

  • Netflix CEO Addresses Customer Response

    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?”

  • Episode 74: Peepoo’d on the Floor

    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