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The 404 388: Where there's a Tesla coil in the room

Somehow we make it past the wild Tesla coil in the room to bring you an awesome (if not kind of late) show! Today we show you how to self-destruct your private data, discuss how 3D is totally lame, and why we think Jon Stewart should run for president.

Sorry for starting late today, live listeners! I think today's show made up for the tardiness, and it all starts with Little Big Planet celebrating one million user-created levels. Since the game's popular release, a level is created every 21 seconds or so, on average, which means that if you were to play all of the levels it would take 5 years to finish them all, and that's only if you're playing 24 hours a day. Wild!

I'm also very excited (big surprise!) about the rerelease of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, dubbed TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled. Who can forget that classic side-scrolling beat-em-up? I logged so many hours at the local nickel arcade next to my house just sitting there with my friends feeding nickels into that machine. Those were always my favorites kinds of games, and there used to be so many titles, too, including Streets of Rage, Final Fight, Simpsons, and Sunset Riders! Ahh, the old days when you actually had to go to an arcade to play a video game...

We also complain about the recent upsurge of all things 3D and how even YouTube is jumping on the bandwagon, offering users the capability to display their 3D videos in multiple formats. Later on in the second half, we analyze Jon Stewart's role as America's Most Trusted Newscaster, according to an online poll by Time Magazine. Should we be scared that America is relying on a comedian to report the daily news? We're not questioning Stewart's credibility here--he's clearly a smart man--but we're wondering how Comedy Central will leverage such a powerful figure.

OK, I have to bring up the Wikipedia page one more time and then I'll shut up: after a brief recess following yesterday's announcement, the page is now in Wiki-limbo. We need users and 404-supportive Wikipedians to populate the page with more details about the show, the hosts, references, guests, etc...since we can't do it ourselves (no, really, we can't), feel free to insert our appearance on "Fox Strategy Room" as well as other blogs on the Internet that mention The 404, even if it's your own! Anything helps, but please remember not to edit the redirection page; only edit the content at the existing address. Thanks, everyone!

EPISODE 388 Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Rumor redux: Apple Netbook coming in October?

We get a lot of e-mails from folks asking us when to expect a Netbook from Apple. Let's make something absolutely clear: despite all the previous rumors, we have no idea if, or when, such a product will exist. But we will let report to you when a new (or recycled) rumor pops in the blogsphere.

The latest: the Mandarin-language publication Chinese Times is reporting that Apple will release a Netbook in October. We tend to put a question mark on our rumor headlines, but there doesn't seem to be any question mark in the reporting here--at least … Read more

Netbooks and touch screens: A good marriage?

Netbooks are helping boost the PC market as it continues to slide with the economy, but it's only a matter of time before something precipitates a market upturn.

Thanks to the announcement of the Archos 9 PC Tablet on Wednesday, there's even more evidence helping fuel speculation that touch screens can transform the Netbook experience from basic computing into multitouch bliss.

Touch screens are undoubtedly popular in the mobile market, but they have yet to break through in the computing space. Will they be as revolutionary for PCs as they have thus far been for smartphones? … Read more

Snow Leopard features hint at Apple tablet

Though Apple isn't saying whether it's working on a touchscreen tablet, the company may have shown its hand at its Worldwide Developers Conference last week.

Of course, the Apple tablet has become the Apple press corps' version of a Bigfoot hunt. Some believe the evidence is overwhelming. Others are, well, underwhelmed. And Apple doesn't discuss products before it's ready to.

However, based on the features demonstrated at the developer conference last week, the newest version of the Mac operating system, OS X 10.6, dubbed Snow Leopard, could turn out to be the most touchscreen-friendly Mac … Read more

Sony's T900 is very good, except when it's not

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T900 is one of those cameras that you pay more for because of its coolness. A camera so small you'll likely forget it's in your pocket, yet it has all the latest "auto" features Sony has in its point-and-shoot arsenal, a 12-megapixel resolution, and captures 720p HD movies.

The T900 may be a good, fast snapshot camera that's very attractive and extremely compact, but its battery life is a little short, its touch screen won't please everyone, and some will find the photo quality unworthy of the camera's price tag. … Read more

Moto Labs screens interactive display concept

A new touch-screen tabletop computer display brings together the unlikely combination of technologies popularized by Apple and Microsoft.

It's called the Scalable Multitouch display, and its touch technology is similar to the iPhone, but it would scale up from handheld device size to dimensions more like those of Microsoft's Surface. The prototype measures just 19 inches right now, but it aspires to cover an entire 50-inch tabletop one day.

The Scalable Multitouch has been in development at Moto Labs in San Francisco for the past two years, and on Tuesday the company released an updated video (below) as a peek of what it's working on.

Like Microsoft's Surface, the Scalable Multitouch display is intended to be used as a group workspace where information on the screen can be manipulated by hand. But Moto Labs CEO Daniell Hebert says what his company is doing is different than Microsoft and others because it does not use cameras or projectors underneath the surface of the display to project images. And by nixing the inner camera/projector, it allows the display to be thin--perhaps some day as thin as the LCD screen you're likely reading this on.

The display instead uses multitouch technology--which means you can use more than one finger as an input device. Moto Labs likes to say that you can use as many fingers to control the device as you want, and that you're only limited by the number of fingers you have on each hand.

The device also employs capacitive touch--same as the iPhone--in which a finger touching a sensor grid (just below the screen) causes a change in signal. That relays exactly where on the screen the finger is. But while the iPhone uses a solid solution known as ITO (indium tin oxide), Moto Labs employs a grid of super-thin wires that pick up on the signals from each finger.

The thin-wire grid is used right now in single-touch displays, but has yet to be used on multitouch, and that's where Moto Labs' work on the inner electronics and the software to take advantage of multitouch comes in. … Read more

Shuttle X50 all-in-one Nettop lands on U.S. shores

Correction: The previous price listed was incorrect. This post has been updated to reflect the correct price of $599.

The company famous for its stylish, small Linux desktops is trying its hand at touch screens.

The Shuttle X50, an all-in-one desktop with the low-power Intel Atom processor, is now available in the U.S. and Europe, the company announced Thursday. The X50 was first announced at CES in January.

It sports a dual-core Atom processor, 1GB of memory, a 160GB hard drive, Windows XP Home Edition, 5.1-channel audio, a Web cam and built-in microphone, 4-in-1 card reader, 802.11 … Read more

SmartTouch puts some muscle into haptic technology

SAN JOSE, Calif.--Artificial Muscle believes that when you touch your computer or phone, it should touch back.

The Silicon Valley company is working on putting haptic feedback in a variety of devices, from laptops to touch-screen phones. Though forced feedback isn't a new concept, the way this company is going about it is different. It showed off some of its technologies at the Interactive Displays 2009 conference here.

Instead of using the vibration motor in a phone to give feedback from a screen, the company has developed and patented an electroactive polymer that expands when it receives an … Read more