August 8, 2008 1:56 PM PDT

EIC Squared: Olympics, LinuxWorld, and Google cookies

by Dan Farber
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On this week's EIC Squared podcast, ZDNet's Larry Dignan and I talk about the big story of this month--the Olympics. Microsoft and NBC are hoping that their servers and software can handle the load as the Silverlight code (Microsoft's competitor to Adobe's Flash) takes its maiden voyage at NBCOlympics.com. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security is advising that people traveling to the Olympics leave their phones, laptops, and other digital equipment at home. "Somebody with a wireless device in China should expect it to be compromised," said Joel Brenner, the U.S. national counterintelligence executive. The "somebody" includes cybercriminals and Chinese security forces. We also talk about LinuxWorld in San Francisco, which wasn't a big hit, and Google's new opt-out policy, which has merged its tracking efforts with DoubleClick's.

Click here for more stories on tech and the Beijing Olympics.

Dan Farber is editor in chief of CBS Interactive News, which includes CBSNews.com and CNET News. He has more than 25 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. E-mail Dan.
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by henrodon August 8, 2008 4:22 PM PDT
I see that the NBC online Olympics videos aren't available unless you either have a Windows computer or a Mac with an intel processor. If you try with an older Mac (like the one I'm using at the moment) you get the message:

Video is currently supported on the following browsers:
Internet Explorer 6, 7 for Windows
(Vista, XP SP2 or greater and 2003)
Firefox 1.5, 2, 3 for Windows
(Vista, XP SP2 or greater and 2003)
Firefox 1.5, 2, 3 for Mac
(OS 10.4.8 or greater, Intel only)
Safari 2 & 3 for Mac
(OS 10.4.8 or greater, Intel only)
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by dbaechtel August 9, 2008 11:07 AM PDT
ALL of the videos I try on www.nbcolympics.com do not play and say "The video you selected is not loading properly." This is very dissappointing. This is BAD for Microsoft and NBC.
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by benjaminstraight August 10, 2008 3:16 PM PDT
Good podcast.
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by Arthur Belle Dent August 11, 2008 4:40 PM PDT
Isnt it convenient?
Linux is everywhere so let's not talk about it.
Im sure its very, very convenient than to have 'tech' jounalists go out of their confort zone.

The utter silence of the netbook success (a fad it is called) says a lot more about what tech media will and wont cover than it does about the technology.

I'll remember your quote about how a product is ubiquitous and doesnt need coverage/publicity when you get up all in a lather for announcement from the mount.

.
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by OziIan August 13, 2008 1:24 AM PDT
Uh uh ...
Opera browser isn't supported, either.
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About Outside the Lines

Dan Farber is the editor in chief of CNET News. He has covered technology for more than two decades, and he previously served as editor in chief of ZDNet, PC Week and MacWeek. Outside the Lines explores the intersection of business and technology.

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