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We have just posted up Episode #4 of Weekly Tech Update.  Below are the show notes and some details on how you can more free stuff.


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Judge orders Microsoft to stop selling Word.
Microsoft knew that they were infringing on i4i's patent and had attempted to make them "obsolete".
The judgment against them totals 280Million.  Would it be better for them to buy out i4i or just pay up?

The Apple Tablet could shake up the Netbook market.
This is rumored to be a 7" - 10" touchscreen device that would hopefully run in the $500 to $700 price range.
This device could take in as much as 1.2 Billion in 2010 and help Apple gain another 3% of market say analysts.

Zune HD Gets The Grand Tour on Video - CNET
GB for GB the Zune HD is priced $100 less than the iPod Touch.  I think that Apple won't drop the price, but they'll advertise and market the iPod as a multi-function device and dump on Zune as being a "mere" media player.
One thing that get's me excited is the Media Center in Your Pocket.

Hate Apple and AT&T?  Shoot your iPhone 3GS and Burn It.
This is a bit of a protest against Apple and AT&T, but I think there are cheaper ways to do this.  At least he killed it before it blew up on him like this randomly exploding iPhone.  Thankfully, he didn't lose an eye.
If you want to love your iPhone again, Wired has posted up 6 reason to jailbreak it.  You'll love it again.

Telus and Bell ready to ditch EVDO?
It looks like it could come sooner rather than later and I'm very interested to see the GSM network that Telus is rolling out.

Microsoft says Firefox's One Billion Downloads is Interesting Math.
To be perfectly fair, the way Mozilla tallied up the one billion downloads is a little questionable, but perhaps Microsoft should have kept their mouth shut instead of drawing more attention to Firefox.

Google Debuts New Caffeine Search Engine.
Google Caffeine is a new algorithm that prevents a lot of duplicate search results and narrows down search - more like Bing.  You can go try out the caffeine over here.

Windows 7 Shapes Up as Microsoft’s Best OS Yet.
It’s weird hearing this from consumers and not just Microsoft and their PR department.  Jason and I agree that it is one of the best, although Jason says Windows 95 had more “wow” factor.
In timed tests, I can boot from the dual-boot screen to a fully functional Windows 7 setup in just under 7 seconds.  XP Mode takes 5 seconds to completely load.

Student Declares Bankruptcy after $675,000 Fine.
How much does he have to pay? Nothing.  How much does the RIAA have to pay in legal fees? Lots.  Who wins here the music artists, the RIAA or the student?  Nobody in the music business.

Upcoming BCCHardware features:
Thermaltake V9 Black Edition Case.
SuperTalent Flash Drives.
NZXT Beta Case.

Reviews since Episode #3:
Back to School Gifts for Every Budget
Crucial CT128M225 128GB MLC SSD

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How can you win some free stuff?
There are a couple of ways: 1) Listen to our podcast and post your feedback here, and 2) send some interesting news links to podcast@bcchardware.com with "WTU" somewhere in the subject line.

What can you win?
NZXT Avatar Mouse Congrats to Krab!!
Sentry LX Fan Controller Congrats to hoargard!!
NZXT Cryo S Laptop Cooler

The contest will run until August 25, 2009 when we release Episode #5.  Good luck and Enjoy!

Hi Folks,

I LOVE it when you two talk about gear I can't afford, like the SSD drives at around the 45:35 min. mark when you're talking about the state of SSDs and your own experience with testing the latest SSDs, pointing out Moore's Law (that all this stuff will come down in price eventually)...because until proliferation happens, folks like me rely on folks like you to inform and really give a thorough sketch of the pluses and the pitfalls of "cutting edge" technology.

When you mentioned that the SSD you were testing had no noise, no moving parts, no heat, and was blisteringly fast, I just wanted to hear more...but I was extremely grateful that you included not only talk about SSD drives, particulars like how once enough "garbage" accrues, it renders the SSD less useful, etc.

Okay, now for the rest of the show: I love that the two of you cover SO MUCH ground in roughly 45 minutes, you never belabor a point, that you segue nicely from topic to topic, and that you get into all the material I wish the guys at Engadget would touch upon in their weekly podcast--meaning you explore a subject, bat around point-and-counterpoint, maybe throw a joke in, and get on with it.  This method actually draws my attention in and makes me come up with points and counterpoints of my own.

Just FYI, I think giving feedback is cool, and what's more I dig that you guys are open to criticism, though it really feels as though both of you have your stuff "together"--the only suggestion I would have would be to possibly field questions that people post on the BCC Podcast Forum...?

As for myself I really enjoy hearing about other people's setup with their computers, what their experiences are like  as regards boot-up, lags, issues, whatever, so whenever anyone talks about their own actual experiences, my ears perk right up!

Thanks again and rock on,
Garth

We welcome questions that anyone might have (or things you'd like to see talked about), you can post them in the forums here, or even email them to us at podcast@bcchardware.com and we will try and answer them during future podcasts if possible.

We really appreciate the feedback, we're still relatively new to the whole podcast thing and any criticism or feedback or suggestions are more than welcome, we want to make it enjoyable and informative at the same time.

Thanks again hoargard for the feedback, and thanks to everyone else who has listened and given us feedback.

MS should just buy out the deal. They have  lots of dough. They'd lose alot of $ if they stopped selling "Word".

Score one for the little guy. I love it when small companies sue the big dogs and win 

Makes you wonder how many little guys have we not heard from that had this happen before and lost. :/