morris

The 404 Podcast, and the CNET office in general, hasn't been the same without Natali Del Conte around, so we're all super psyched for the long-awaited return of NDC Thursdays...well, everyone except Wilson; he's at home waiting for the perfect time to interrupt today's show.

Although she describes the difficulty in leaving her newborn son at home, the self-proclaimed domestic diva is back in the office after her maternity leave to make her son proud!

Oh, she also tells us what she did on her lunch break yesterday, but that's no big deal...!!!! Don't miss the first half of today's episode, and be sure to send your congrats to the new Mrs. Morris!

At Apple's Mac OS X event yesterday, Steve Jobs unveiled both an update to Apple's MAC operating system, now called Mac OS X Lion (now with FaceTime,) as well as a refresh to the Macbook Air line of portable, and pricey, laptops. The new Airs are much smaller than the originals and now benefit from ultralong battery life and instant-on functionality thanks to the integrated solid-state drives.

Prices range from $999 up to $1,599 based on screen size (11.6-inch or 13.3-inch), processor type, and storage capacity. We're all still waiting for the next iPad to drop before we run to the nearest Apple Store, but keep an eye on CNET.com for benchmark scores in an upcoming review.

We're also rolling out our first batch of VIDEO VOICEMAILS today and since they're just YouTube links people send over, check them out for yourself!!

Jeremy has bad news about "Back to the Future."

Aaron has good news from Hawaii.

Ben has nice things to say about The 404!

Michael has a deadly gift for Natali and Justin!

If you have something you want to say about the show, record a YouTube video and send the link to the404(at)cnet(dot)com and we'll play it on the air! As usual, audio voicemails are also welcome, and the number to dial is 1-866-404-CNET (2638).

Tune in tomorrow when TONY HAWK will once again join us in the studio to chat about skateboard, video games, and more!

Congratulations to frequent guest and friend of the show Clayton Morris for reaching 100 episodes of his own podcast, The Grizzly Bear Egg Cafe!

Clayton joins us on The 404 this morning to chat about podcasting, backyard wrestling, and the tornado that hit New York last night!

We invited our buddy Clayton Morris of Fox and Friends to help us celebrate our 404th episode, so we're returning the favor for the 100th episode of The Grizzly Bear Egg Cafe, a podcast he does with Chikara founder and pro-wrestler Mike Quackenbush.

Girl Scout Weekly describes the show as "an omnibus podcast of pop culture, news, and tales from two rather odd lifestyles..." and Clayton tells us the origin of the name, because bears apparently do not lay eggs, which is news to all of us.

To celebrate his 100th episode, Wilson also cooked up a brand new logo for the show with a semi-embarrassing story to go along with it- apparently it's kind of difficult to purchase a single egg in New York City! We're also chatting with Clayton about the ins and outs of running a successful podcast and he even gives us a preview of some of GBEC's upcoming guests that include veteran artist Stan Bush and David Byrne from The Talking Heads!

Finally, join us after the break for Calls From the Public which features an appearance by one of our new favorite callers that sounds like the bastard child of Bill Cosby and Harry Caray.

There's also another voicemail ripping into yours truly for missing out on Shawshank Redemption, but I'd rather watch stuff like this anyway. Thanks to Clayton for waking up early to Skype with us this morning, and look for his physical being on a very-near-future episode of The 404! Have a great weekend everyone!

Song samples are no trivial matter, say researchers from Robert Morris University.

Consumers are more likely to buy songs if allowed to sample the music for about 60 seconds and if provided access to a "high-quality" version of the music, said professor Min Lu and assistant professor Yanbin Tu.

"Our empirical tests show the current stingy online digital music sampling [of 30 seconds] is not optimal," the researchers wrote in their in their 28-page report.

Apple is expected to announce, during its media event on Wednesday, that it will boost the length of iTunes' music samples, … Read more

Morris County, N.J., plans to install 3.2 megawatts of solar panels on county property roofs with the help of some creative financing, the Morris County Improvement Authority (MCIA) announced Wednesday.

Self-dubbing it the "Morris Model," county officials said in a statement that the project was funded with a unique two-prong approach. Part of it will be paid for with $30 million in county-guaranteed bonds. The rest will be financed in conjunction with the energy utility Tioga Energy, which qualifies for federal solar tax incentives through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

The incentives … Read more

On today's episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast, the guys share the mics with longtime friend Clayton Morris of "Fox and Friends" and co-host of the Grizzly Bear Egg Cafe.

Anyone who listens to our show on a regular basis knows that very little preparation goes into each episode, but we always have a great time with Clayton, and today we spend the first half of the show talking about Jeff's appearance on NPR's All Things Considered, where he spent some time speaking with host Robert Siegel about his concerns over racism in multiplayer video games. After Wilson spends some time drooling over Siegel's baritone radio voice, Clayton tell us about his humble beginnings in the broadcasting industry and even does a few spot-on impersonations of New York's local television anchors.

After the break, Clayton tells us about his brief but educational sojourn into the armpit of the Internet that is Chat Roulette. Acting as the illegitimate child of Omegle and Skype, the site uses your Webcam to pair you up in a video chat room with a stranger on the Internet.

Clayton and the three of us attempt to describe the most common shared experience on CR: what might seem like a completely innocent Web site used to create new friendships across the world quickly falls flat on its face as you're faced with the worst the Web has to offer. Racism, misogyny, nudity, and pornography are just a few of the scenes you'll witness, so enter at your own peril, and don't forget to breathe...it's just a Web site.

The FAA has asked Boeing to prove that its new connected airplane isn't so connected it can connect hackers. We also discuss why folks think women aren't as good at math when all the women we know are great at math. And we hash over some Apple tablet rumors. I mean, how could we not? We also have special guest host Clayton Morris from Fox News, and Ryan Shrout from PC Perspective.

OnLive responds to bad press, more beta testers … Read more

You'll know we're recording this episode from the stage before the show has actually begun because of the loud machinery crunching away in the background as vendors ready their booths. In the meantime, we cover Google's official introduction of the Nexus One, a 3D network arriving on your TV, and Microsoft's tablet computer. You heard me right: Microsoft.

CES Unveiled http://ces.cnet.com/

Sling unveils a quartet of new devices http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10426064-269.html

Microsoft … Read more

Vevo, the new music-video site operated by Google (which owns YouTube) and co-owned by three of the four major labels (EMI, Sony, and Universal; Warner Bros. not participating), launched on Tuesday to some fanfare in New York. Big music celebs rubbed elbows with Google and label execs in the kind of self-congratulatory bash that only the entertainment industry can pull off.

Maybe that's too harsh, but I visited the site on Wednesday and I quite honestly can't figure out who or what it's for. It's got music videos, but only from three of the four majors … Read more

NEW YORK--Eric Schmidt's presence at a swanky music industry gathering was an illustration of how far digital technology has come and the power it has amassed.

A decade ago, the film studios and top record companies dismissed Northern Californians as a bunch of bearded dweebs who liked electronics. Five years ago, with illegal-file sharing spinning out of control, the entertainment industry looked on techies with fear and loathing, invaders to be repelled before they made off with the treasure. It wasn't that long ago that some in Hollywood considered Google a "rogue company."

Pfft. That's … Read more