cnn

News agencies don't race Twitter on bin Laden

Wolf Blitzer and other CNN reporters were digging into whether Osama bin Laden was dead at least an hour before the news appeared on Twitter, an executive from the cable news network told CNET today.

Why should you care? If you value getting the facts straight, you should. Twitter is once again being credited for outracing traditional news sources on a major story. The first published report that bin Laden was dead reportedly came in the form of a Twitter post from Keith Urbahn, a former aide to Donald Rumsfeld, the former U.S. defense secretary. A congressman from Florida … Read more

Soccer star, CNN host in cyberbullying spat on Twitter

Having lived in both Europe and the U.S., I'm often amused by what the different sides of the Atlantic find unamusing.

So I found myself quizzically smirking when I heard that U.S.-based Twitter had allegedly reprimanded Rio Ferdinand, England's (and Manchester United's) often-injured soccer star, for tweeting in a cyberbullying manner.

Here's the funny part. Well, one of them.

The person Ferdinand was allegedly accused of bullying was Larry King's replacement on CNN, Piers Morgan. This is akin to being accused of cyberbullying someone from 4Chan.

It seems the row started in … Read more

The 404 798: Where we refuse to respect embargoes (podcast)

We have Mark Milian as a guest on today's episode. He's a tech reporter for CNN.com, which means he'll spend half of the show fielding questions from Wilson about Anderson Cooper. We also chat about the future of micro-blogging, and, of course, we have to grill him about his "Hottie of the Week" achievement last year.

The 404 Digest for Episode 798

Mark Milian wins 081978's 'Hottie of the Week.' UberMedia said to be planning a social network to compete with Twitter. Final Cut Pro X unveiled. Add Mark on Twitter.

Episode 798 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Mobile payments are, in fact, near

Links from Friday's episode of Loaded...and, no, there are no April Fools' jokes in today's show!

Google denies working on a mobile app that searches faces and uncovers personal info

AT&T offers a new Mobile Protection Pack to locate and insure mobile phones

Samsung and Visa will offer mobile phone payment systems using NFC tech at the 2012 Olympic Games

Amazon.com may be working on a mobile phone payments system as well

Activision announces the next Spider-Man game

CNN at SXSW: All about citizen media, connected TV

AUSTIN, Texas--The horrifying consequences of the recent earthquake in Japan have been yet another proving point for the promises of "citizen" journalism, K.C. Estenson, general manager at CNN Digital, said at an event that the news network held at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW) this evening.

"We now have over 50 people on the ground from CNN, the men and women of CNN who report on these things, there in Japan," Estenson said. "(But) in the 36 hours that led up from Friday through the weekend, we just couldn't get people … Read more

The 404 726: Where Jeff and Scott get dirty together in Vegas (podcast)

The new year is coming up, which means everyone here at CNET is gearing up for CES 2011, including our laptop editor Scott Stein, who joins us to chat about what to expect at next year's biggest technology trade show.

Perhaps the most anticipated event for us at CES 2011 is all the gambling we plan to do in order to make up for last year's financial losses. Jeff and Scott got a little too excited last year and lost some money right when we got to Las Vegas, so this year we'll be sure to avoid the dealers holding flaming skulls and and play by the book!

Google has released its own year end wrap-up for most popular search terms for 2010 in an report called Google Zeitgeist. Turns out that ChatRoulette, the Web site that paired strangers together in a random video chat, was the fastest rising term of 2010, beating out the Apple iPad and Justin Bieber that took second and third place.

Conversely, many search engines fell from popularity since last year, and Google reveals that "swine flu" was the fastest falling search term around the world this year, followed by the bank Washington Mutual and tween favorite Twilight:New Moon. And Michael Jackson, last year's top search query, dropped to the ninth spot in Google's list of falling results.

Google also reveals bizarre sentences queried in 2010 that question if a horse can have OCD, why you can't stand on the sun's surface, and whether or not ninjas are better than pirates.

Protesters in the UK attacked a car carrying Prince Charles and his wife Camilla yesterday, and CNN was on the scene to cover the security breach, but check out this video of a messy programming error halfway through the broadcast.

Someone at the station must have queued the infamous bathroom scene from Dumb & Dumber for another segment, because even the news anchor is surprised at the display and promises to edit out the hilarious mistake from the final broadcast. That being said, expect the video for today's episode to feature many, many cuts to said clip.

Finally, thanks to Austin from Luke that has some fashion tips for me in today's video voice mail. Have a great weekend everyone!

Episode 726 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1343: BOL loves a parade (podcast)

On today's show, we rush you along so we can go watch the San Francisco Giants ticker-tape parade. But in actual tech news, Silicon Valley fails to take over California politics, Google's really sorry about the whole Buzz thing, but not in a "pay you" kind of way, and if you're a Rangers fan, we now have the technology to erase that painful memory from your brain. --Molly

Washington Post writer learns Twitter lesson

The good people at Twitter should send a bottle of champagne to Mike Wise.

Wise is the freshly chastised sportswriter from The Washington Post who was suspended last week for taking his company's reputation too lightly when he intentionally used Twitter to post false information on the Web. When Wise keyed in a phony scoop about Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger--using a Twitter account that identified Wise as a Washington Post reporter--he was trying to show how some journalists and bloggers will republish unfounded rumors without doing any fact checking. He intended to illustrate the weakness of blogs and … Read more

The 404 453: Where the role of Justin Yu will be played by Mark Licea

Justin Yu has finally caught the SARS/swine flu that's been floating around the CNET New York offices. It was bound to happen, considering the number of makeout parties we have here. Filling his petite shoes, we have Mark Licea (aka MTI).

On today's show, we talk about beautifupeople.com, a Web site that is finally coming to the United States, which only beautiful people are allowed to join. That's right: in order to join this dating Web site, you have to be pretty. Users must submit their pictures, then the community decides whether you're hot enough to join. Unfortunately, Jeff and Wilson will likely get rejected. We'll let you know what Mark finds out on the Web site.

After that, we find out that older men who are less educated than their female counterparts are less likely to get a divorce and are generally happier in their relationships. So we guess all those cougar relationships out there aren't going to work out. We also check out a not cool "illegal alien costume." It might have been funny on "Chappelle's Show," but it's likely to get the crap beat out of you immediately.

Finally, we cover CNN's new Web site and we get to some video game news and commentary. The PlayStation 3 finally gets Netflix streaming after Xbox 360 has had it for almost a year now. Took them long enough, but we think this might start to change the balance of power in the video game console war, because it will be free on the PlayStation 3, rather than having to sell out $50 bucks a year for a Xbox Live Gold membership. Plus, Wilson gets close to beating Ghostbusters: The Videogame. His take? It's fun to watch, a little monotonous to play after a while, but a good buy.

Please, please, send in voice mails. We're running a bit low these days, and we love to hear your feedback. Call in at 1-866-404-CNET (2638). Call! (Especially if you're a lady.)

Episode 453 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

CNN news app for your iPhone or iPod Touch

There are already several news apps available in the iTunes Store for iPhone and iPod Touch. Some bring you the headlines, while others bring you video, while still others get you the latest images in the news, but there aren't very many comprehensive news apps that bring you everything. Just today, CNN released its CNN App ($1.99) that not only brings you headlines, video, and images, but also adds other useful tools so you can remain in the know wherever you are.

The CNN App interface is immediately impressive upon launch, with sleek white text on a black … Read more