thebroken

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thebroken

Title for thebroken videocast
Hosting Dan Huard
Kevin Rose
Language English
 RSS QuickTime (Large)
QuickTime (Small)
Flash (Small)
WMV (Large)
WMV (Small)
Xvid (Large)
Xvid (Small)
Updates Occasional
Length ~20-30 minutes
Video format QuickTime, Flash, WMV, Xvid
Debut July 21, 2003
Genre Video podcast
Provider Revision3
Website revision3.com/thebroken

thebroken is a video podcast produced by Revision3, focusing on software cracking, computer intrusion, and other "questionable activities". It was hosted by Kevin Rose and Dan Huard, with Ramzi as a regular comical feature, and geared toward anyone interested in computer security. The show debuted on July 21, 2003. Although the show has no regular timetable it produces occasional episodes, and although it has been a while since the last episode Kevin Rose recently stated in a Pownce post that the show would return.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] History

The show is the brainchild of the hosts, Kevin Rose and Dan Huard. They came up with the idea while employed at TechTV and working on the television show The Screen Savers. In the first year, the show had over 2 million downloads according to Rose. The show and its success led to Rose and crew starting Revision3.[1]

[edit] Distribution

The hosts request that the show be shared over peer-to-peer networks, such as Kazaa or BitTorrent, as a means of distribution. Revision3 had not yet been created and distribution of the show was a little more "grass roots" than the current set up for Revision3 shows.

[edit] Format

Kevin Rose and Dan Huard host thebroken
Kevin Rose and Dan Huard host thebroken

Each twenty to thirty-minute episode focused on several subjects. According to its introduction, thebroken was "a little shady, a little underground, borderline illegal." It featured advice on breaking wireless encryption, cracking Windows passwords,[2] and modding gaming consoles such as the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube. The show also demonstrated social engineering and various methods of piracy.

The third episode featured an interview with Kevin Mitnick about his time spent in prison for computer crimes.[3]

The opening theme song for thebroken is "Dinosaurs Will Die" by NOFX. Each episode of thebroken features a ceremonial opening of a 40 ounce bottle of malt liquor by the hosts. On a 2005 episode of G4TechTV Canada's Call For Help, Rose admitted to CFH host Leo Laporte that thebroken crew never actually acquired license rights to use the song, that they've "just been lucky enough to have never gotten caught [for using the music without permission]."[citation needed]

When the series Systm was announced, many viewers assumed that Systm would be a replacement for thebroken. However, David Prager announced in the July 31, 2005 episode of This Week in Tech that new episodes of thebroken were being produced, along with another new series.[4] Also, on May 17, 2006, Dan Huard commented on Digg that Revision3 was close to being finished with another episode of thebroken.[5]

On September 27th, 2006, over a year and a half after the previous episode, episode 4 of thebroken was released. This was the fourth and final episode of the show. Kevin Rose later announced that the show was canceled.[6]

On Friday, March 21, 2008, Kevin Rose announced via a Pownce note that he would be filming an additional episode of "thebroken".[7]

[edit] Episode list

URL Date Title
Episode 1 July 21, 2003 Welcome to thebroken
Episode 2 September 1, 2003 Lockdown
Episode 3 January 1, 2004 Ep3
Episode 4 September 26, 2006 Ep4
Episode 5- TBD TBD Ep5

[edit] References

Languages