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“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.“  – Edmund Burke

This week we began with the usual chat about our personal week in tech. My Time Capsule and Gareth’s Drobo are, I’m happy to report, both performing flawlessly. Then I was reminded to tell Gareth of the ‘12 days of Christmas’ app, a gift a day from Apple. A film, several TV shows, some music videos and some very good iPhone games, all for free, and you can’t beat free. Then we talked a little about the imminent arrival of the Tablet, on the 26th, or 27th depending on the rumour site, of January Apple will host an event to unveil this mythical beast. At least they might, maybe, almost definitely will announce it.

Anyway on to the stories…

Psystar have another tilt at the same windmill – Who is paying these guys legal bills? Unwilling to take defeat, Psystar have launched an appeal against being laughed out of court the last time. This time they’d like people to recognise that they, indeed we all, have the right to take software, and use it anywhere we want. It’s a noble ideal, and I think if they really believed in what they say, and weren’t just trying to make a fast buck off Apple’s back. These guys would realise where they are going wrong. The word is copyright. If they took a look around, they would see that some people agree with them, and have indeed, set up a movement to allow them to take software and use it anywhere they want. It’s called Open Source, you dummies.

Google to China “We’re taking our ball home” – Unwilling to play by the Chinese government’s rules any longer. Google have decided, after much soul searching, and not an insignificant amount of hacking, to stop censoring search results in China. They have said that they will discuss with the Chinese whether this will be allowed, and if not, have stated that Google will pull out of China altogether. Larry, Curly and Moe, I mean Larry, Eric and Sergey, must have tripped over their corporate motto, ‘Don’t be evil’, and had an epiphany.

iPhone OS 4.0 delayed by the fabled tablet – As much as I’m looking forward to the Tablet / iSlate / eReader (delete as applicable). I really hope that it’s development hasn’t been holding back any software updates, for my beloved iPhone. Because if it has I won’t be best pleased. I want Apple to concentrate on making the best smartphone, even better. It makes sense to me, they have a huge installed base of enthusiastic customers for the platform, and the competition breathing down their necks. Plus there’s no way I’ll be able to afford a Tablet this soon after Christmas.

Apple and Nokia play patent lawsuit ‘tennis’ – Thwack, Nokia serve up a patent lawsuit, ostensibly to get Apple to cross-licence their technology. Thwack, Apple return with a counter-suit, to stop Nokia in their tracks. Thwack, Nokia attack with a complaint to the ITC, to stop Apple selling ‘infringing’ devices. Thwack, Apple counter with their own complaint to the ITC, to ban the import of Nokia phones into the US. And there we leave it for the moment, with the lawyers earning a fortune. And me with a really, really laboured analogy.

Verizon start a new skirmish in the mobile wars – A little price cut goes a long way in these straightened times. And Verizon has launched a salvo, across the bows of the other mobile operators. AT&T have responded immediately matching the cuts, and the other networks will surely follow suit. There is a catch, a there always is with mobile phone providers. It is now next to impossible to get a phone with out a data contract. They give with one hand and gouge with the other.

Italian class action against ‘pre-installed’ Windows – In a bizzare case of winning the war but losing the peace. Italian consumer groups are to launch another class action to recover the cost of the windows licence, that comes with a new PC. Having already won this case before you could be confused as to why they’re going to fight it all again.  Well it seems the PC manufacturers are demanding that customers return their computers to prove they’re not running windows on them. Costing the customers more then double the 30 – 40 euros they might get back. Strange, I’ve never felt the need to delete Windows off the computers I buy. Oh, that’s right, I don’t have to.

Yeah I know, its’ 2010…

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“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shore of Orion. I’ve seen C-Beams glitter in the dark near the Tenhauser gate.“  – Roy Batty from Blade Runner

We began 2010 with the usual chat about our tech week, or two in this case. Our gifts of tech were indeed wondrous to behold, Gareth’s Drobo and my Time Capsule. Then on to a chat about the Great British weather and the big freeze currently hitting this country, more interesting then the LA weather, with it’s positively balmy 55 degree average in December. Then, on to the really big question, the Dr Who Xmas special, was it awesome, okay, or did it suck.

The Googlephone is here – The Nexus One has arrived. The ultimate Android ’superphone’ is here. It’s going to kill the iPhone, cure disease and bring about world peace. Or alternatively, it could just be the best Android smartphone yet. With all the build up, you could be forgiven for thinking that something ground breaking was coming. Apart from the fact you can only get them online and they come unlocked for $600, to go on the network of your choice, or subsidised on T-Mobile for $180. Guess what, it’s just another droid smartphone.

Bono prognosticates – The Irish rockstar has spoken, he has pronounced. And it appears that ISP’s are to blame for file sharing, and they should put up a firewall like China, that great beacon of freedom and tolerance, to protect the hard pressed record companies and millionare rockstars. It’s amazing to see a talented musician disappear up his own ass. But that’s what he’s doing, either that or he’s been wearing those silly sunglasses because he’s blind. Shut up and sing you tax evader you.

CES, 3D everywhere – There were 3D cinemas, video cameras and a shed load of 3D TV’s. Even the 3D Blu-Ray spec was finalised. So we have 3D everywhere, all we need now is content with some real depth.

AT&T want to chuck out the POTS – The Plain Old Telephone System that is. Like the incumbent operator this side of the pond is already doing. AT&T is asking Congress, if they can turn off the old PSTN system, and go over to IP switching. You’d think if they had the huge amount of money required to do this, just lying around, as it were. They’d invest some in improving their mobile network. Just a thought, no pressure.

Must have FireWire – A story from Cult of Mac suggested that all external hard drive sold in Apple retail stores must carry a FireWire port. The story came off a Buffalo spokesman at CES. It’s quickly been proved incorrect, with many people pointing out it was plain wrong. Although it would be nice for Apple to support their own standard. Trust them to get BS from a Buffalo.

Your mobile has been cracked – The algorithm that encrypts the calls of over 4 billion mobile phone users, has been cracked. So now anyone with a few thousand dollars of electronics and the right software can listen to your calls. Just in time the GSMA are rolling out a new algorithm to protect us all again, until this one is broken anyway. But before you start feeling too safe, the Feds have been able to listen in the whole time.

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“A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world!“  -  A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

This week we began with a catch-up, having not done a show for a couple of weeks. And we touched on the important issue of what Santa was bringing us tech-heads. Gareth will be finding a Drobo under his tree. While I, having rescued what I could from my faulty Seagate drive, will be receiving a Time Capsule for being a good boy this year.

And on to our final stories of 2009…

Zune Twitter app censors rude words – Why, who knows. Maybe they’re trying to drum up some controversy for the Zune app store. Is there even a Zune app store yet? Or maybe Ballmer could only just bear to see his baby referred to as a….. F*^$@!g piece of s^%t.

Microsoft admits code theft – In a refreshing change from normal practice, M$ have admitted and apologised, for blatantly stealing the work of others, and passing it off as they’re own. If it wasn’t amazing enough that a few weeks ago, a Redmond exec admitted to copying Mac OS, when creating Windows. Truly, a Christmas miracle.

Android to burst iPhone’s bubble – It’s inevitable that Android will power the best smartphone ever. Google are using the monkeys, typewriters and Shakespeare principal. You get enough manufacturers making enough different handsets, running enough different versions of the OS, with enough different UI skins and enough different screen sizes. Eventually they’re bound to make the best smartphone.

Google dumps Gears for HTML5 – Wanted to write up that important blog post, while the muse has struck. Use Google Docs, so you can share everything between your different devices. But shock, horror, gasp the ‘cloud’ has deserted you in your hour of need. That’s where Gears came in, allowing to use all the Google office services and Gmail offline. But with the advent of HTML5, Gears has become defunct, it is on more, it is a dead service. Okay not quite yet, but you get the idea. HTML5 is seriously going to kick ass. Plus IE is incompatible, so it could kill that as well. It’s a win win.

TechCrunch and Fusion Garage clash over ‘bad’ JooJoo – The Crunchpad has been crunched. And what ever is happening between Mike Arrington and Chandra Rathakrishnan, you can be sure the legal shenanigans will drag on for quite some time. But the Crunchpad renamed JooJoo will be with us shortly. Then everyone can compare it to the best tablet that’s ‘never’ been made. The mythical, nay legendary Apple tablet.

VLC for the Mac might die – The excellent video utility software VideoLan Client, you can chuck practically any video format at it and it’ll run without a hiccup, might whither and die. The open source software is running out of active developers, to drive the project forward. If there are any developers out there, with the time to donate to this software, please help. We cannot let this useful and important software languish. If this software dies, what am I going to use to watch my collection of Xvid porn.