This Week in Tech Episode 73, Hello Armenia: Host Leo Laporte and his crew discuss ethics: John Dvorak's wife's penchant for purchasing CDs in lieu of "sharing" music, how nobody appreciates Microsoft's attempts to make sure everyone pays for Windows Vista (set to release on Oct. 25), and ABC president Anne Sweeney's wishy-washy stand against piracy: "Hard to compete with free, but not impossible."

• You can only install Vista once to a computer. After that, you'll need to buy a new one. And you can only re-sell the application once. And for good measure, if you aren't validated with WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage), your entire system will shut down after an hour and Vista will lose all capability. TWiT member Jerry Pournelle claims that it allows for a more "graceful shut down" but Leo doesn't buy it.
• Pournelle, sci-fi author and TWiT veteran, reacts to Microsoft's latest paranoid maneuver to ensure that Vista gets the most money from its users, the honest, dumb ones at that: "Back in the day, when Bill Gates was 18 and selling Basic application tapes, people would pay him per tape ($20/each) and then go home and make copies and re-sell for cheaper. Smoke would come out of Gates' ears."
• CNET CEO Shelby Bonnie resigns and the action causes tech pundit John Dvorak to employ the euphemism "tit in the ringer."
• "The government should butt out of corporate activities and just have to pay a fine," say Leo's cohorts. HP is a victim of ex-chair Patricia Dunn, that is.
• John Dvorak begrudgingly defends his proclamation that Google didn't really buy YouTube, in theory/principle anyways. YouTube's new multi-millionaire Chad Hurley would beg to differ.
• Leo's comment on YouTube: Hard to believe that a website which features guys getting kicked in the groin is worth 3X more than MySpace. Um, has he seen MySpace?
• Internet gambling and terrorist funders are one-in-the-same, at least according to the U.S. government.
• A French consultant outsourced by Apple found that employees are much more productive on 30-inch monitors than 17 or 19 inch. Leo implies the inch talk could go south, but it doesn't.

In this week's Netcast (Ready, Clench), Leo talks to the gang about Windows Vista, MySpace, Chinese Bloggers, and why Google won't buy YouTube. (Oops!)

• Paul Thurrott, a Microsoft suit, plugs the final test version (called RC2) of Windows Vista. How's it different from the first version? One new icon and some minimal cosmetic stuff, but hey, Microsoft is offering a free RC2 download right now for a limited time. To be expired very soon with the release of Vista, which should be in stores some time before the holiday season.
• John C. Dvorak, a frequent TWiT panel member, says the Google buy-out of YouTube rumors are "bogus." It's like the Friendster story about the site being in talks to get bought out. Score: Dvorak 0, reality 1.
• The World Trade Organization demands that Russians adhere to the legal distribution of mp3s. Russian Reaction: Hell no! And according to Dvorak, the Russians can get away with it that because they have all the oil in the world stored there. So, wait, why are we in Iraq again?
• 17.5 Million Bloggers in China and 90% of Koreans have blogs. Yeah, ok. Remind me why we care who has a MySpace page?
• Leo Laporte has a MySpace page. Tee Hee.
• Forget the hype. Leo is NOT in fact trademarking "netcast."

Tomorrow, Gottfried the Intern will fill you in on all the snark included in the podcast. Our favorite bit so far is when Harris references Microsoft exec J Allard's big Zune blooper: "We made sure it played mpg 4 cause it's a popular format people like to rip their dvds to." You go, piracy boy!

This Week in Tech [Official site]

5:30: Cranky pundit John C. Dvorak brings up that old cat vs. ceiling fan video. Cute, Dvorak, but as old as "America's Funniest Home Videos."
11:50: Rocketboom creator Andrew Baron says that vlogging frees us from watching just a few movies and TV shows. Because of vlogging — "now we get to see a lot of sucky stuff," says Dvorak.
14:00-20:00: Skip it, unless you're really into defining the word "vlog." Feel the bored pain in Dvorak's voice.
23:00: Calacanis makes a funny — "Oh, it was on Techmeme and Digg, so it must be true!" Is this what everyone calls obnoxious? Or are they mad because Jason's right?

28:00: Talk soup.
30:00: Andrew Baron doesn't understand polls. God, Andrew, not to be mean, but if you don't have anything to add...
33:00: Old-school blogger Dave Winer gets on stage and goes zero-to-self-obsessed in 30 seconds.
40:00: Thank God, they brought in the ninja. Unfortunately, they make him share the stage with the eight talking heads. Come to think of it, instead of listening to this, watch Ask a Ninja.
48:30: Jason's idea of the best job ever is working in underwear. Little known fact: Jason's heros are all underwear models.
54:00: Aw, shout-out to the boss. Thanks, Andy Baron.
55:00: Andy talks about ads in Rocketboom. Hey, remember when part of the indie-ness of the Internet was that no one had to sell out and stuff the content full of ads? Good times.
57:00: Jason to Andy about Rocketboom: "Just because you're first doesn't mean you'll be the best." Does Andy have a second show? Yep, he just launched a kids' show.
59:00: Skip the rest. Skip everything before now too.

Conclusion 1: On this show, Calacanis is more smart than annoying.
Conclusion 2: Can we just get Calacanis and John C. Dvorak in a room? Call it TWiT: Witty troll edition.

TWiT: Vloggercon [Official page]
Photo: twitSF10W [Jachbla on Flickr]

Diggnation 3/18 (on iTunes, not on web): Hosts Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht started sober again. What the hell, guys? Gets funny around 16 minutes in, when Kevin says about a digicam, "And it's uh...fuel-cell powered." Alex: "What?" Kevin: "Nope, made that up."

Om and Niall Podsessions 3/14: Ten seconds in, Niall Kennedy and Om Malik actually talk about the weather. Then, Web 2.0 leaves Om "wanting more" — careful what you wish for, Om! The rest of the show is VoIP and IM and mobile. It'd make decent lunch conversation, but does it make a good show? (Hint: Not this week.)

TalkCrunch 3/19: In this social-networking-centered episode, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington goes all Yellow Submarine and runs his voice through the left channel only. Some of the phone-in guests have a great alien echo-voice going on, and it's the usual slow-paced talk show vibe, but points to Michael for doing the best thing a podcast host can: get out of the way and let the experts engage each other. Caveat: by the end of this show, the voices are distorted to distracting levels. Can't Michael get some sponsored VoIP equipment?

This Week in Tech 3/20: Can Patrick Norton and crew hold it together without regular host Leo Laporte? Well, they can be meaty — if you actually want to learn about the last week of tech news, this is worth your hour — but they're just. not. funny.

Well, until the Gillmor Gang takes a public speaking class, here are three better tech podcasts:

Diggnation: Digg's Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht discovered the magic ingredient to podcast excitement: alcohol. On each weekly podcast (or vidcast), Kevin and Alex drink beer and cover the week's top stories from their bookmark community.

Buzz Out Loud: It's just ten minutes. What can you screw up in ten minutes? CNet Hosts Tom Merritt and Molly Wood take phone calls and e-mail from listeners to mix things up.

Om and Niall PodSessions: Not roll-on-the-floor funny, but a decent 22 minutes and rich with insider info, not just opinions.

This Week in Tech: There's no way to oversell this show. TWiT deserves its title of "the world's most listened to podcast" thanks to John C. Dvorak's "friendly curmudgeon" attitude, great guests like Kevin Rose (yes, podcasts are as incestuous as blogs), and Leo Laporte's silliness as a ringleader.

Gillmor Gang [Gillmor.podshow.com]
Scoops of vanilla perception [Tinfinger]