Podcast - This Is Only a Test

Episode 65 – Everything Is Content – 5/12/2011

On this week’s show, Gary complains about retcons, Will gets cranked up about Chromebooks, and Norm has no idea why Microsoft bought Skype for eight BILLION dollars. All that, plus the latest from Google I/O on Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, and ChromeOS and a heaping serving of fake outtakes on this weeks episode of This is Only a Test.

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30 thoughts on “Episode 65 – Everything Is Content – 5/12/2011

  1. HypoXenophobia just replied to your comment:

    2. The lobby shootout is still an incredible action scene. “

    This, the only thing I thought about close to it with saving the puppy scene in Equilibrium, (melee from hell)

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  2. Why WOULDN’T Microsoft buy Skype for 8 billion. Microsoft loves making products worse and buying companies instead of being innovative.

  3. Wow.  This thing’s really become a monster, hasn’t it?  I remember when Will would edit these down to tight, little 45 minute episodes.  Ah, what silly days. 

  4. Norm: Who uses MSN messenger? 

    Everybody in Europe!  I would imagine that worldwide user numbers would see that MSN (or Windows Live Messenger as it is now called) destroys AIM, though I imagine Facebook is the dominant IM platform these days, or if not it will be soon.  
  5. Why did Norm think Ebay sold skype for $200m in 2009?  It was $2 billion for the majority share valuing the whole at $2.75 billion.  That was about what ebay initially paid for it so they made a small profit at the time – a bigger one now MS totally overpaid as they retained 35% (although ebay had to give some of that share back to the original owners when lawsuits were threatened over the 2009 sale).


  6. Norm: Who uses MSN messenger? 

    Everybody in Europe!  I would imagine that worldwide user numbers would see that MSN (or Windows Live Messenger as it is now called) destroys AIM, though I imagine Facebook is the dominant IM platform these days, or if not it will be soon.  

    I was wondering the same thing when and that. I don’t think I ever saw anybody use AIM here in Quebec. Everybody uses MSN, it’s been like that for over 10 years!

  7. Number 1 or number 2….ha ha priceless!

    You have to rent “Electric Dreams”!  It is a bit cheese, but very interesting to see some tech stuff that was made fun of has turned into real technology these days!
  8. The discussions about t-shirts always amuse and baffle me. I haven’t seen anyone care about the relevancy of their t-shirt and it’s “expiration” since the hipsters in college and teen girls obsessed with what people thought of them. I’m not accusing you guys of being hipsters/teen girls, it’s just what it reminds me of.
    Then again I still have shirts that are possibly even ten years old and I just wear them because I like them and they are funny, not because they are still relevant to anything in popular culture.

    Edit: Also, angry Gary is always the best. I always lose it whenever he gets pissed off over something simple like Star Wars. Him getting angry at that, admittedly stupid, book was HILARIOUS.


  9. Norm: Who uses MSN messenger? 

    Everybody in Europe!  I would imagine that worldwide user numbers would see that MSN (or Windows Live Messenger as it is now called) destroys AIM, though I imagine Facebook is the dominant IM platform these days, or if not it will be soon.  

    I was wondering the same thing when and that. I don’t think I ever saw anybody use AIM here in Quebec. Everybody uses MSN, it’s been like that for over 10 years!

    Yeah but don’t forget, anything outside the US doesn’t exist. Or at least, it doesn’t count. /sarcasm

    I also think there’s no way we hear of a new Xbox at E3 this year. Even if dev kits are at places like EA (and that’s a big if, that whole rumour started from a conveniently unnamed source), current generation console games take 2-5 years to make and that’s estimated to go up significantly in the next generation. If they’ve just started with the kits now, the majority of launch titles are at least a couple of years away. That combined with the continuing strong sales as they’ve said gives Microsoft no reason to announce this year, new Nintendo platform or no.

  10. I have to stop listing to the podcast in bed before going to sleep because I keep falling a sleep and lose my place. 

  11.  Can
    I ask, why the coverage of all Linux devices happens only when Google
    announces something or when it’s to compare, or in some cases merely to
    use as direct comparison. While I have been unable to get the total
    number of Mac, Windows and Linux I do believe Linux on desktops has been
    a major success, internationally at least. In 2010 it is estimate 8% of
    all desktop sold where Linux ones. This is a hard to ignore number.
    Chrome OS changes nothing for Linux on the desktop as it’s user base
    continues to grow and it’s public knowledge increases. The biggest
    change will be the developer base, if everything become web based more
    thing will work on Linux. I would like to see more articles related to
    Linux, more so than the more generic Ubuntu X.xx release, rather the
    more in-depth ‘This week we take a quick look at Gnome 3’ something that
    would surely be very interesting for a lot of users.
       
    I come for the personalities, the news for me is fairly out of date, in
    Europe there’s a time gap, even a tech gap between the ‘average’
    American lifestyle. I have a 42″ TV and I’d consider that plenty,
    however you are running large or meerly adequate sized TV’s. I enjoy the
    Norm and Will panter, I don’t drink coffee and I don’t go away from the
    Coffee videos thinking ‘A nice cuppa’ rather, that was interesting and I
    feel the average user will gain a similar feeling towards being shown
    Gnome 3 ( shell ) or Unity. I may be wrong, but hearing Will’s or Norms
    experiences after running a week of PURE Linux would be fasinating.
       
    Predicting the reply to this as being ‘There’s far better places to go
    for Linux related news’ to which I agree, I don’t want Linux news but
    I’d like it to be treated like a legitimate platform much like Windows
    phone 7, iOS, Android. While performing a search on the site under Linux
    I found few articles relating to actual linux news. How come? It is a
    viable platform, who shares idea with Chrome, it’s light, quick, fast
    and it’s also incredibly well-designed. I know I’m complaining or
    seeming to, but Linux is my distro of choice, by a long shot, it’s
    always there, stable done. Ironically just as pressed space the windows
    updater came up meaning a whole suht and thankfully that would never
    happen on Linux.
       
    As a graphical user interface experiment I ask you to consider it. How
    long has Windows stuck with it’s current set-up? With the close on top
    right, start bottom left… since 95 even 3.1 same with OS X. Despite a
    change in users and a soon to be change in how with control our PC’s. So
    despite a lower knowledge userbase the only difference I have seen in
    the evolution comes from the CPU power meaning we can use extra
    graphics. I mean look at the current windows, huge taskbar. Let’s say I
    have 2 things open with 1 app symbol, I have to put my mouse over and
    look at what pops up, if there 2 text documents I’m screwed and have to
    open each. This doesn’t make sense. PC’s need to look more at the
    phsycology and design technology than graphics. I mean the aero thing is
    plain stupid. I mean do you really need a minimize button really? I
    have never used a button because I can quickly switch. And I mean is it
    really WISE to have two seperate function buttons next to one and
    another? Maximize and minimize, your probably looking at this in your
    MAC now, here’s an experiment to prove a point, use your finger to
    maximize this. 9 times out of ten you’ll maximize it, but that 1 other
    time you’d close it, why? Because no one saw touch screen 20 years and
    putting button sharing feature close to one and another a great idea.
    Now it’s plain stupid. Imagine on your iPhone if the button for save
    document was next to new document that would be stupid design. Gnome 3
    is a new look on this, a new point of view… it removes those buttons.
    Genius, we didn’t really use them and isn’t it just more natural to drag
    the program to the top? One final thing about design proof, is if you
    have 10 pieces of paper with a 1,000 word essay but a separate one on
    each how would you sort
    1. Look directly at the header of each and decide ( XP )
    2. Spread the ten out and stand far back ( Windows 7 )
    3. Spread the ten out and look at the right distance ( Gnome 3 )

    I’d
    also wouldn’t mind a comparison video, 3 near identical machines each
    running a new version of the desktop ( 7, Lion, Ubuntu 11.04 ) and see
    which boots faster, shuts down fast, connects quicker etc.

    I’m
    not complaining, I really love the site, but I’d like a more Linux
    focus, similary to Chrome may only be there to step up the rest, who
    have managed the differenciate themselves without evolving.

  12. FF never crashes for me :S seriously! I’m simply using it because it has better customization options for the interface.

  13. I am in full support of golf equipment coverage on Tested. Would be really cool if Will started picking up golf as a hobby too.

    Golf club quest 2011?
  14. Damnit, this episode was beaauuutiful!.. until you guys started talking about sandwiches and luke warm coffee, you lost me. Everything else was great though!

  15. Yeah, I take the point about the show being US based and US focussed.  If you live outside of the States then you still find yourself tuning into American media for tech/game related news because the quality tends to be better than the local stuff. There are decent UK/Europe based websites and I think the UK does the best games magazines in the world, but I do prefer American coverage, especially the podcasts.   

    I dont know whether its me forgetting that it is an American show or the hosts forgetting they have a global audience (its probably a little bit of both) but some of the glaring oversights are hard to ignore, like the MSN thing.  We see it every year when Madden is released too, coverage about how Madden is the single most important release for EA because its an annual game that everybody buys every season. FIFA seems to sell almost twice as many copies worldwide but is largely ignored. 

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