poster

The 404 688: Where we give it away now (podcast)

Pardon our dust, 404 video viewers! We're right in the middle of a grand studio makeover! The 404 clubhouse is getting all new gear, including wide-angle lenses and a brand new HD tricaster so you can see our radio-friendly faces in high-definition! Actually, we'll let you determine whether that's good or bad, but bear with us for the next few days as we finish setting everything up.

To make it up to you (and in honor of our favorite holiday), we're giving away original 404 art courtesy of the incredibly talented Blake Stevenson! If you just started listening to the show, Blake is the unofficial artist of The 404 that donated his talents to our official logo as well as many of the posters you see in our studio! He recently created the Halloween poster you see on this page and we're really excited to give it away! To enter, all you have to do is follow Blake on Twitter and RT this message:

"RT this & follow @blakestevenson to get some original @the404 ink! http://goo.gl/1XXG"

...and that's it! You have all weekend to do that for a chance to win some awesome art from your favorite podcast; we'll announce the winners next week--good luck!

Now onto today's stories. The first one is almost NSFW so I'll skip that for now, but the next one raises controversy about the recently released first person-shooter game, Medal of Honor. The EA reboot is a gritty take on the current conflict in Afghanistan, and the prerelease even let you play as Taliban soldiers attacking the U.S. Special Forces.

EA has since renamed the Taliban the "opposing force," but the post-censorship becomes a divisive issue for The 404. Jeff doesn't have a problem with it, Wilson thinks it's just "too real," and I'm stuck in the middle like a preteen begging his parents to stop the madness. Tune into the first half to get the full story!

After the break, we hit another milestone for the show: our first ever listener-submitted VIDEO VOICE MAIL! As you know, listeners usually call in and leave an audio voice mail that we play on the air, but Blazer from Cincinnati had the genius idea to post a YouTube link to show us a skateboard trick he created and named after the show!

It's a no-comply pressure flip that he calls The 404 Flip, and we'll definitely show Tony Hawk when he returns to the show next Friday! In the meantime, we'd love to receive more video voice mails, so upload your best messages to YouTube and send us a link at the404(at)cnet(dot)com. Of course we understand that not everyone has access to a video/Web camera, so audio voice mails will certainly be accepted as well--the number's the same: 1-866-404-CNET. Have a great weekend, and we'll see you back here on Monday for the triumphant return of Ms. Natali Del Conte!

Episode 688 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Poster's remorse common for social-network users

Have you ever made a nasty online comment about your boss and then wished you hadn't? If so, the diagnosis is poster's remorse, and you're not alone, according to Retrevo.

Among the 1,000 or so people interviewed by Retrevo, more than one-third said they've had poster's remorse over an inappropriate comment they made on Facebook, Twitter, or another social-networking site, according to a blog published last week.

The condition was even higher for smartphone users and the younger crowd. A full 54 percent of smartphone users and 59 percent of iPhone users have felt … Read more

The building blocks of science fiction

Long before the Downfall meme there was the periodic table, a format infinitely adaptable to cultural reference and parody. And yes, like Downfall, it's become a bit played out. Nevertheless, every now and then another spark of brilliance appears, or at least enough cleverness to make you LOL.

From the Roddenlucathine group, which includes the Star Trek and Star Wars oeuvres, to examples of how nonincluded works are molecules--2Ol (Outer Limits) + Dr (Dr. Who) -> Torchwood--there's boatloads here to laugh at and argue about with your fellow geeks.

If you like science fiction at all, check it … Read more

Photo gift maker

Fotobook Editor lets you create attractive and modern custom books and calendars in a variety of sizes. However, the publisher is based in the United Kingdom, so users outside the U.K. may not be able to get products as quickly it claims.

The interface is well organized and easy to use. There is a Help file that directs users to Fotobook Editor's Web page, and there is an FAQ and a support request form that you can consult if you need assistance. We tried a few of the book and calendar templates and found them easy to use. … Read more

ZweiPhone stickers give iPhone a serious make-under

You know what I hate? When you bring out your iPhone to make a phone call or text somebody and the person you're with goes, "Ohhhhh look at THIS guy; Jimmy Fallon over here think he's cutting edge with his iPhone." I feel your pain, brothers and sisters, but our friends at ZweiPhone have a simple solution that'll fix our problem: a collection of stickers bearing an image of an obsolete phone designed to mask your embarrassingly commonplace iPhone.

ZweiPhone's motto is "Downgrade Today"--each sticker they sell is a convincing reproduction … Read more

Flexible poster combines OLED, LED

While we're still waiting for OLED TVs to get more realistic prices, a Japanese company is moving on to making OLED-based posters for advertising.

The prototype, pictured above as a poster for Japan's Rakuten Eagles professional baseball team, uses both organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) and inorganic light-emitting diodes (regular LEDs) to create an image that looks like it's animated, according to Tech-On. The poster measures approximately 29 inches by 20 inches, and was created by Dai Nippon.

The LEDs are used for white backlighting behind a printed color image, and the OLEDs to create the text. Light … Read more

Top 10 sellers of 2008--on vinyl

From Nielsen Soundscan by way of the LA Weekly and Rolling Stone, here are the top 10 vinyl sellers in 2008. I've added the years they were originally released, and what I imagine was going through the mind of vinylphiles when they bought it.

10. Radiohead, OK Computer, 1997. Great production, trippy artwork looks great under the lava lamp. 9. Metallica, Death Magnetic, 2008. Maybe the vinyl version won't be overcompressed to death. 8. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes, 2008. Pitchfork likes it, it must be good. 7. Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon, 1973. Remember those posters? … Read more

Daily Tidbits: Carpool to President-elect Obama's inauguration

TripVerde, a company that provides online carpooling services in an attempt to reduce U.S. vehicle mileage by 3 percent to 5 percent in three years, announced Monday that it has launched a new site to connect those people who plan on traveling to Washington, D.C., for President-elect Obama's inauguration in January. According to the company, it will pair up like-minded people from the same region to carpool to the event. In order to be considered, visitors need to sign up for TripVerde's service and fill out information about themselves. Once complete, TripVerde will find individuals with … Read more

Blog via e-mail with Posterous

Posterous is a new blogging tool that forgos some of the traditional dashboards and will simply let you write the post in your favorite e-mail tool. Any photos, music, or videos you attach to your message will show up in a new blog post, which can later be administered on the Web. There's no sign-up, and in fact the first time you send a message to post@posterous.com it'll automatically create your blog and Posterous account for you.

Once registered you'll still get a way to create posts in your browser. There's a simple WYSIWYG … Read more

Where we're not even gonna talk about Miley Cyrus until she's 18

EPISODE 88

Randall Bennett is out today playing his copy of Grand Theft Auto IV. It's for "work purposes." He promises. Meanwhile, Phil Ryan joins Jeff Bakalar and Wilson G. Tang to talk about the New York Times' interesting GTA IV review. Also, Hans Reiser gets convicted of murder, Free Tibet flags made in China, overweight discrimination, iTunes is 5 years old, and The Dark Knight leaked trailer online. All that and more on this jailbait free edition of the 404.

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