brick

Lego devotees flock to Seattle

SEATTLE--In one corner of the exhibition hall, hands sift through bins searching for rare pieces missing from vast collections. In another area, a giant Lego person rides in circles atop a brick rendition of the Segway scooter. In between are myriad Lego creations large and small.

It was all part of BrickCon 2009--a four-day festival devoted to Lego, the Danish creation that celebrated its 50th birthday last year.

On display were pieces of Lego art, replicas of real cities and even visions of an apocalyptic future crafted from the signature blocks. For those seeking to build on expansive collections, … Read more

Get your new Windows 7 PC a few days early...maybe

Dying for a new desktop or laptop with a fresh, factory-installed copy of Windows 7 on it? We all know the official start date for the Win 7 era is October 22, but some small custom PC makers are claiming they'll start shipping systems with the new OS as early as October 13.

Puget Systems, a custom PC maker in Seattle, says the following on its Web site:

Customers who place orders for a full personal computer system, and who select Microsoft Windows 7 as their OS of choice, will be immediately placed in queue for shipment which will … Read more

Using coal residue to make a greener brick

Most Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs are more comfortable talking about software algorithms and chips than bricks and concrete. But some of them are trying to reinvent the building industry with green tech.

Calstar Products later this year plans to open a factory to manufacture a brick that uses fly ash--the residue from burning coal at power plants--as an ingredient while drastically reducing the amount of energy used in production.

The company is now in the process of raising $15 million in series C funding from venture-capital firms to help finance the operation, which will be in Wisconsin near a … Read more

The 404 383: Where it's so bad it's good

Maybe we should have used "So bad, but so good" as our show motto instead of "High Tech, Low Brow!" Today's show is a good example of that, and we kick it off with Wilson's brief and spoiler-free review of Bruno. We also talk about the rise of the Twitterns, Apple breaking the Pre-iTunes lovefest, and Jeff meeting Tony Hawk!

Check it out! Jeff was invited to an Activision event last night to preview Tony Hawk's new game, but he was pretty surprised when Tony Hawk himself showed up to show him around! As you can see, the game comes with an actual "skateboard" controller to jump, ride, and pop up to do tricks within the game. Jeff tells us that the game is very realistic, but popping up the board feels more like a snowboard than skating. Check it out for yourself when it comes out on October 13 for $120.

In other news, The 404 has decided to hire a young Twittern to update our Twitter. Social media, whether it's in short or long form, is super time-consuming...anyone out there want to be our Twittern? We're only half-joking...

In more important news, Apple has finally broken up the love affair between iTunes and the Palm Pre: the smartphone no longer works with the popular desktop software. Jeff owns a Pre and figures that the only thing to do now is to refrain from upgrading to the latest software, lest some savvy developer use the latest SDK to somehow crack Apple's padlock.

Also, start getting amped for tomorrow's episode where I, Justin Yu, will debut yet another band in a segment we like to call...deep breath..."The 404 Semi-Weekly Audio Draft Sponsored by Beck's Beer in conjunction with Last.FM, a subsidiary of CBS Interactive and CNET News and Reviews." Jeez.

EPISODE 383 Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Is Google Adsense good for Android?

Last week Google announced the beta version of Adsense for mobile applications. With this new service, developers will be able to better monetize their applications and games. What's more, the revenue generated should be enough to encourage developers into spending more time on their Android projects.

In order to qualify for the beta service, a developer's application must generate 100,000 impressions per day. The developers generate revenue based on the number of people who click on an advertisement they display. The click-through rate, or CTR, is often higher on mobile ad units because they are highly targeted … Read more

Poll: Do you listen before buying speakers?

Buying music or books online makes a lot of sense, but I'd draw the line at speakers.

Maybe there's no place close enough to go to for an in-store demo--a lot of shops closed their doors--precisely because too many people used their service to audition gear, and then bought online to get a lower price.

Nice, so now there are fewer places to hear speakers before you buy them. So even if you're reasonably happy with what you bought online you never had the luxury of comparing one speaker against another and picking the best of your choices. Good enough is good enough.

Over the past 30 years--16 as a high-end audio salesman and 14 as a paid audio reviewer--I've listened to thousands of speakers. My sales experience gave me a deep understanding of how all sorts of people, not just audiophiles, listen to and buy speakers.

Some buyers need to touch the speaker, get a sense of its build quality, and some buyers, even after reading a review, are surprised by the speaker's size or some other quality. It's one thing to read about a speaker or peruse its specifications, seeing and hearing it for yourself is so much better.

I draw upon those experiences when I review speakers, but I still can't predict how each reader will react to their sound. Everyone hears differently, and preferences are all over the place.

Some customers want lots of bass, some just want to play loud, or quietly, some care most abut stereo imaging. One guy plays dance music, another only opera. But most speaker shoppers can't articulate what they want from a speaker. That's the rub, and why reviews, even ones as well written as mine for CNET and magazines, may not be the best possible guide to the right speaker. … Read more

Break bricks in 3D

3D Brick Breaker Revolution Free is a free, eight-level preview of 3D Brick Breaker Revolution, an amped-up, tricked-out take on classic Breakout-style games, with a slick 3D look, an arsenal of cool power-ups, and a "Revolution" mode that literally blows the top off of the game--by letting you move up and down through a "tower" of screens. You move your paddle left and right with touch-screen buttons, or just by touching and sliding the paddle itself, and you pause the game by touching the center of the screen. Different power-ups drop down as you break more … Read more

Netflix's Blu-ray pricing: A boon for Blockbuster?

When Netflix announced on Monday that it has decided to raise the subscription prices for those receiving Blu-ray Disc titles--10 percent of its subscribers, according to the company--the predictable occurred: people lashed out, saying Netflix is gouging customers.

In case you missed it, the new fee structure tacks on $1 per tier of the plan you're on. So if you have a one-film-at-a-time plan (two-movie allowance per month), your monthly cost has risen from $4.99 to $5.99. If you want three films at a time (unlimited movie allowance per month), your cost has risen $4, from $16.99 to $20.99. Fees are up substantially on other plans too.

Predictably, many looked at the announcement as Netflix capitalizing on consumers. Those who are upset with the release say the increase is too high. And since Netflix doesn't need to pay for packaging, and it probably gets a discount on media, given the number of copies it needs, they believe that the company is gouging customers.

I contacted Netflix for comment regarding this contention. A representative responded to me within a few minutes. He said the cost of Blu-ray discs is 30 percent higher than that of DVDs, and more of the company's customers are switching to Blu-ray, generating higher operating expenses. A $1 additional charge for Blu-ray access on all plans wasn't cutting it any longer, he said.

The representative then directed me to the company's official blog post on the matter for more information. So after all that, we still don't know how much Netflix pays.

But regardless of the motives behind this deal or the fact that some people are upset, we can't look at Netflix pricing in a vacuum. Quite the contrary, we need to compare its pricing to the competition to determine if it's still the most affordable option on the market.

Much to my surprise, Netflix might have committed an incredible blunder that it needs to address immediately: Blockbuster brick-and-mortar stores now have the more affordable option for standard Blu-ray rentals.… Read more

Our favorite retail laptops

We've spent the last eight weeks testing and reviewing almost two dozen retail fixed-configuration laptops. Those are the specific models you'll find listed in Sunday newspaper sales circulars and boxed up and ready to go at big brick-and-mortar outlets.

In the entry level category, which refers to laptops under $599, you're going to find systems that are functional, but not particularly exciting. Faster dual-core processors and bigger screens are the main reasons to trade up from a similarly priced Netbook. As long as you keep your expectations modest, an entry level laptop can be good for either … Read more