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Nearly one month in, the Mac App Store is still a platform in its infancy. It's not comprehensive, and it isn't as affordable as the App Stores on iOS. Still, there are some great downloads that cost absolutely nothing, for those who are App Store-curious. Here are our four favorites so far, including a pretty good free version of a popular art app. Don't be shy--dive right in.

What are your favorite freebies--or otherwise--on the Mac App Store thus far, assuming you've been using it?

Remember the dream of the Concorde? It was that supersonic passenger jet that would ferry passengers from New York to London in less than 3 hours, but supersonic travel never took off because of the loud sonic booms that the planes would generate as they broke the sound barrier.

NASA is working on new technology that would dampen or eliminate those booms, and the space agency is hoping that this will usher in a new era of supersonic travel.

Early experiments add a 24-foot-long spike to the plane mounted on the nose of the aircraft that creates three smaller shockwaves to greatly reduce the noise as the aircraft hits Mach 1. It could mean shorter travel time for consumers, but Jeff is more excited to wean himself off the sleeping pills he takes every time he boards an aircraft.

In less exciting historical innovations, New Yorker Till Krautkraemer is touting a beverage that offers a new way to supplement your protein intake: drink it! MeatWater is intended as a meal supplement with flavors like Peking Duck, Beef Stroganof, and Fish'n Chips; but the liquid contains zero animal byproducts, so vegans and vegetarians are encouraged to consume it for their daily dose of protein.

This is not a joke. According to the Web site, MeatWater has 22 amino acids that aid in performance recovery and decrease body fat when ingested with liquids, and it's recommended that you drink MeatWater warm, as the flavors and aromas are heightened this way.

And while we're solving first-world problems with technology, check out this double USB concept that hopes to save precious microseconds and the frustration you experience from "plug rejection."

Finally, Intel is following in the footsteps of Polaroid and Lady Gaga by introducing its own celebrity employee: Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am has been appointed director of creative innovation, a role that places him as an ambassador to the company and collaborator in "new technologies, music and tech advocacy."

There's not much to say about this should-be joke, so we're just waiting to hear the BEP single that samples the Intel Inside chime. Wait, he's already doing that.

Don't let the four seats fool you: this is not your average family car. The Ferrari FF (or Ferrari Four), has four seats and four-wheel drive.

The FF, which will replace the 612 Scaglietti four-seater, boasts a 12-cylinder, 6.3-liter direct-injection engine that produces 651 horsepower with 504 pound-feet of torque and can accelerate from zero to 62 mph in 3.7 seconds.

With electronic dynamic control system and the company's first-ever four-wheel drive system, 4RM, the FF promises to deliver sporty, high-performance handling in a wide-array of terrains and road conditions, according to the company.

The 4RM … Read more

The rising popularity of Four Loko, a party beverage both beloved and reviled for its unique and sometimes dangerous mix of alcohol and caffeine, was finally quashed when several states banned it and the Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters to its manufacturers.

The FDA and other authorities were concerned about caffeine's potential to make the effects of alcohol less noticeable and ultimately worse--as well as the brand's popularity among underage drinkers.

So what to do with all the leftover booze? According to an Associated Press story, one company in Virginia is turning it into car fuel.… Read more

For its latest addition to the PEN ILC line, Olympus makes a few design and feature enhancements to its E-PL1 Micro Four Thirds camera, resulting in the subtly--but not significantly improved, E-PL2.

The most obvious functional differences include a larger LCD, multiple variations for come of the Art Filters, support for the new accessory connector and redesign of the buttons. It also supports an extra stop of sensitivity, up to ISO 6,400.

Our apologies to the listeners who waited patiently for us to fix the live stream this morning--CNET Live has a brand new layout and we're still working things out, so thanks for your patience and understanding!

Today's topics include a new generation of Four Loko alternatives, social-networking shoes, and Wilson's struggle to jam a big tip into a small ear canal.

New manufacturers are springing to life to fill the void left by Four Loko and Sparks, and one of them infuses alcohol into an aerosol spray of whipped cream. It's called Whipped Lightning, and it's the newest way to get alcohol poisoning thanks to its 30-proof, 15 percent alcohol content.

But if you really want to end up in a hospital, try whipping it onto a glass of 40-proof chocolate milk, the new newest Four Loko substitute coming soon to Minnesota, California, and Arizona.

Remember the Boba Fett Adidas sneakers we first saw on our buddy Peter Ha's feet back in September? Those looked pretty cool, but check out these new concept designs for a new pair of Adidas Superstars designed to look like Facebook and Twitter.

Luckily they're only concepts (for now), but with fools paying more than $1,000 for an official Facebook hoodie, it's not hard to imagine them arriving at Foot Locker in the near future. And while you're there, be sure to look in the clearance bin for The 404 Adidas Superstars as well. Thanks for the image Ddawg!

Tune in after the break as we advise Wilson how to properly insert the tip of an in-ear headphone like the Monster Turbine into his tiny canals. Be afraid--it's just as terrifying as it sounds.

Before we get into today's Cyber Monday madness, we're taking a moment to pay tribute to Leslie Nielsen, who passed away yesterday at age 84 from pneumonia complications. His repertoire includes some of our favorites, like the "Naked Gun" series and of course "Airplane"--RIP to one of the most influential comedians of our time.

Today is Cyber Monday, the magical post-Thanksgiving day when online stores slash their virtual prices to give shoppers a hint of what happened in person on Black Friday.

According to Coremetrics, online sales on Black Friday went up 15.9 percent from last year, thanks to social-networking Web sites spreading the instant word on shopping tips and real-time inventory updates. The company also noticed a rise in "surgical shopping," with people focusing on specific products instead of randomly browsing.

Check out CNET's Cyber Monday Gift Guide to stay updated on today's best deals, including $89 Amazon Kindle e-Readers, console and computer games starting at 90 cents, and more.

Wilson also surprises us with a 4Loko that he picked up this morning for breakfast. The FDA actually banned all eight flavors as of this week after several kids died from alcohol poisoning, also called the Four Loko "aftereffects." Think we're kidding? Check out what happens to the dude who goes on a 24-hour Four Loko Diet.

Plenty of voice mails to play today, with special thanks to Blake Stevenson for making us this poster featuring MC TerrorByte and the Yu Tang Clan! Blake became the unofficial 404 artist after winning our 404 logo competition, so be sure to add him on Twitter and fan him up on Facebook!

Congratulations to Caroline McCarthy for completing last weekend's New York Marathon in four hours and six minutes! It's not only an impressive athletic feat for a first-time marathon runner, but a philanthropic one as well.

Caroline raced to benefit Camp Interactive, a program that introduces inner-city youth to technology through outdoor activities. Thanks to contributions from friends, family, and even some 404 listeners, Caroline was able to raise $5,431 for the cause.

Uncle Henry, aka Tapchus in the chat room, also joins us on today's episode with insights on how marathons have changed in the past 20 years. Henry's completed several of them himself, and even tells us about a bizarre race within the staircase at the Empire State building.

Henry ran back when Apple iPods, GPS tracking, automatic FourSquare check-ins, and wristwatch pedometers weren't around, so it's interesting to hear from Caroline and Henry on how running has changed with those inventions.

This year there was no shortage of runners wearing strange outfits for the marathon, and Caroline tells us that superheroes and animal costumes dominated the race this year.

Apparently there was even a guy who ran all five boroughs while juggling three balls--an achievement appropriately called "joggling."

There are also video voice mails today from two listeners: Lila recommends a pair of durable Sennheiser headphones, and Nate recalls a voice mail from two years ago that was featured on last weekend's 404 Throwback episode. Thanks for staying with us, Nate!

If you want to get in touch with the show, upload your video to YouTube and send a link to the404(at)cnet(dot)com. If you're camera shy, you can also leave a message on our voice mail box by calling 1-866-404-CNET as well.

Facebook just launched a new suite of features for Facebook Places that might be the beginning of the end for Web privacy as we know it. Luckily Natali Del Conte is around to calm us down and explain what's really going on with the new location-based deals.

Facebook Places is a service that lets users share their location directly on their mobile phones, but the latest product is called Deals, and it allows businesses to advertise to target customers by offering a special discount for those who "check in" at a location.

Once users activate it, Facebook will share the deal on their walls so others can cash in as well, and business can even offer "loyalty" discounts for members that return to a venue. The FourSquare and Loopt offices must be getting pretty hot right now.

If mobile tracking weren't enough, soon you won't even be able to watch a movie without being watched yourself! In an effort to combat Web piracy, some movie theaters are installing video cameras in front of the movie screens, designed to also monitor crowd reactions to trailers for market research on what audiences prefer to watch.

Even worse, the same company, Aralia Systems, is also planning to roll out infrared scanning systems at the ticket-purchasing stations that scan for recording devices and will sound an alarm to alert management if an illegal instrument is detected. It sounds similar to the TSA's "enhanced" security screenings we've been hearing about recently!

Internet "Captchas" have been around for a while--they're tests placed on some Web sites to determine whether the user is human, and they usually come in the form of a randomly generated word or phrase that you have to copy into a field to gain access.

They're only slightly irritating and require little participation to enter, but a software firm called NuCaptcha is hoping that video advertisement captchas will be the online ads of the future.

Instead of traditional squiggly words, the new system forces users to watch a video advertisement with a short message scrolling across it. After it's done, it'll ask you to identify and retype a part of the message to continue toward your destination, and although it sounds like an annoying process, companies like EA, Wrigley, and Disney have already signed up with hopes that people will actually pay attention to the ads instead of just clicking through. Soon we'll be reminiscing about a time when all you needed was a pop-up blocker to surf under the radar!

Thanks to Natali Del Conte for joining us on this rainy Thursday, and be sure to check us out tomorrow morning with Steve Guttenberg, aka The Audiophiliac!