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The 404 216: Where no one can hear you scream

Today, Dead Space producer Rich Briggs joins us for the second half of the show to talk about one of the scariest games we've played in recent memory.

But first, we dish out the dirt on video gamer enemy No. 1, Jack Thompson. It seems old Jacky has finally been disbarred from practicing law in the great state of Florida; good riddance. Next, Wilson enlightens us as to why the Internet may be killing our brains and how he knows the guy who can help.

The second half of the show features an interview with Dead Space producer Rich Briggs. We ask Rich all about his terrifyingly good game and what went into making one of the creepiest games of all time. We take live questions from that chat room and see what horror movies influenced Rich and the rest of the Dead Space team.

Finally, our Dan Ackerman contest winner is announced and Zen from Arizona has taken first prize. Check one of his winning submission (Ackerman/Palin), along with some other entries below.

EPISODE 216 Download today's podcast … Read more

Amazon's Kindle obsession: Bury the printed book

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos loves to talk about the Kindle e-book reader. He's even got media mogul Oprah Winfrey pitching the device: "I'm telling you, it is absolutely my new favorite thing in the world," she recently said.

The Oprah endorsement is just the latest marketing scheme Bezos has applied to making the Kindle the next iPod. He has been relentless in promoting the Kindle at the expense of maximizing Amazon.com revenue on the virtual storefront.

Every time I go to Amazon I am greeted with a huge Kindle ad that takes up … Read more

For the unstable: A self-balancing unicycle

A childhood memory, courtesy of my CNET colleague Jeff Sparkman: "My best friend rode a unicycle to school in junior high. At my urging. Oddly, we weren't as popular with the ladies as one would expect."

Well, Jeff, if you and your friend had been riding the electric self-balancing unicycle from Focus Designs, half the girls at Monte Vista Middle School probably would have plastered foxy pictures of you and your bud inside their lockers.

Riders of this 21st century bike don't need to pedal; in fact there are no crank arms, just foot rests. The … Read more

The 404 210: Where who's that chick who just moved in across the hall?

MTI saves the day on a show where Wilson is MIA in northeastern America. Mark chats us about how a new e-card service will tell the one you've loved that they need to get checked out. Also, we read up on who's being a dick according to dickipedia.org (Jeff), and how the PSP firmware 5.0 was hacked in record time.

A big thanks to Clayton Morris today for supplying us with today's most bizarre story. Of course it deals with automobile-related cleaning equipment and human anatomy, but what else would you expect from the co-host of Fox News' Fox and Friends?

Another huge thanks goes out to 404 long-time listener Jamey from Tennessee. He graced us with his new 404 intro theme that we absolutely love and begin the show with today for the first time.

It's just a good-old fashioned Tuesday on the 404; plenty of laughs to help you get through the day.

EPISODE 210 Download today's podcast … Read more

Internet-scale 'man in the middle' attack disclosed

Correction at 3:15 p.m. PDT: This post initially misstated the meaning in this context of ASN. It stands for Autonomous System Notation.

In Black Hat's October Webinar on Thursday, Anton Kapela, datacenter manager at 5Nines Data, spoke about Internet-scale "man in the middle" attacks.

The talk reprised a last-minute substitution presentation he gave along with Alexander Pilosov at this year's Defcon conference in August. During the conference, the two researchers intercepted all conference Internet traffic at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas and ran it through their servers. According to Black Hat founder and … Read more

The 404 199: Where we're losing our religion

Today's 404 is filled with information you can't live without. Apparently, overeating does terrible things to your brain, Americans love talking animals, graphics processes have maxed out, and the Wii may be overrated.

Since Justin isn't here today, we can actually talk about gaming with no fear. MTI was able to take Mr. Yu's place today allowing us to properly converse about the idea that gaming graphics have ultimately reached their full potential. Also, we'll talk about the Wii's shortcomings and what we'd really like to see next time Nintendo makes a home … Read more

The 404 198: Where we put the taint in tainted love

Dan the Mantern is responsible for a majority of the stories in the rundown today, so don't hesitate to burn him at the stake if you don't like what you hear. Personally, I think today's show is hilarious: Craigslist crime, driving exams and racial stereotypes, video game pirates, and the evolution of the Chinese "impossible" space drive. Once again, it's East meets West on The 404!

Big thanks to our buddy Jeff Sparkman for today's show title. We are literally the taint on the massive organ that is CNET.com. Anyway, even though Dan helps us by suggesting the stories for the show, I managed to sneak one by him, and apparently Caroline McCarthy also caught wind. It seems like Craigslist just can't stay out of trouble. This time around, a man used the job listings to post an anonymous ad for construction workers and requested that they show up wearing a blue shirt, yellow vest, safety hat and a blue shirt. The man then proceeded to rob an armored car before stripping his clothing to reveal the exact same uniform, effectively allowing him to disappear into the sea of construction workers. He later reappeared to make his getaway by riding an innertube down the local lake. I love the fact that robbers are getting more creative with their schemes--Jason Bourne over here, did this guy just watch "Ocean's 11" or something? For all that Craigslist has given the internet community (apartments, bikes, jobs, casual "encounters"), I think we can let this one slide.

Episode 198 Download today's podcast … Read more

Bezos, Benioff invest in appointment-booker ZocDoc

There are some big new names backing ZocDoc, a start-up that lets you book doctor's appointments online (currently just in New York). Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has contributed an undisclosed amount to the company, as has Bezos Expeditions, the investment firm run by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos.

In August, the company announced a $3 million Series A funding round led by Khosla Ventures, the firm created by Sun Microsystems founder Vinod Khosla. The Bezos and Benioff investments are considered contributions to that round.

The New York-based ZocDoc currently employs 12 people and said that there were nearly 20,… Read more

The 404 191: Where we're finally on time

Jeff almost doesn't make it into the show today due to this 24 flu bug, but I think his daily dose of Vitamin Backayutang was enough to pull him out of the trenches. After a false start, Wilson gives us a a lengthy review of yesterday's Google Android debut, and I'll let you in on a secret: he's disappointed. I don't think any of us will be trading in our iPhones for this little guy, especially not for something that looks like the T-Mobile Sidekick 1.0.

This is the show where we're finally on time. In case you didn't grasp that subtle sarcasm, we actually start the show a half an hour late only to be interrupted halfway through the show by Jeff messing up the recording...so we start again! This time around, it's better than ever; we've got Wilson' initial review of the T-Mobile G1 with the Google Android OS, Prank VoIP calls, Dark Knight DVD details, and a tasty new Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor. Also, we uncover another huge helping of East Cost/West Coast beef! YUM!

EPISODE 191 Download today's podcast … Read more

The 404 190: Where it's just the two of us

Wilson Tang thought it'd be a better idea to cover the new Google Android phone today, and we can't disagree. So that just leaves myself and a one Justin Yu to fend for ourselves on today's 404.

Today we'll talk about why it's a bad idea for record companies to release albums on thumbdrives, a U.K. family that lives in a pig sty, and how an Xbox Live Survey seems to be an accurate sampling of how the gaming demographic will vote this November.

Also, Justin updates us on his Justin PSYu Foundation campaign, enlightening us with the difficulty he's having in completing God of War--a game my 11-year-old female cousin has finished three times.

All this plus a HUGE calls-from-the-public session on a very personal and intimate 404.

EPISODE 190 Download today's podcast … Read more