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The 404 961: Where we've got a Twitch in our eye (podcast)

There's plenty of live video broadcasting platforms to choose on the Web these days, but today we're chatting with one of the pioneers.

Justin Kan is one of the co-founders of Justin.TV, and he drops by our studio today for a full episode about the origins of life streaming and how the site paved the road to Justin's new project for live video gaming, TwitchTV.

We'll also talk to Justin about his participation in Y Combinator, a start-up incubator that helps green entrepreneurs through the first three months of genesis.

The boot camp gives founders the seed funding they need for general living expenses, allowing them to focus on the business idea. YC also guides them through the media pitching process and how to grab the attention of venture capitalists and seed investors.

Some of the headline-grabbing companies to grow from Y Combinator include Scribd, Loopt, Grubwithus, and Justin.TV itself.

Tune in to hear about how TwitchTV is bringing competitive gaming to a much larger audience, not to mention a few tips on what it takes to earn a spot in the next Y Combinator batch!… Read more

Thai floods drown Sony Alpha cameras

Incessant flooding in Thailand is affecting many people, as well as another area of consumer electronics in addition to hard drives: Sony's upcoming high-end NEX-7 and A65 cameras, as well as some lens kits.

Sony's manufacturing plant in Ayutthaya has stopped production after torrents of water damaged the facility, the company said in a statement. The situation is so bad that the company is shifting production to another Sony factory southwest of Ayutthaya in the Chonburi province. Crave Asia visited the Ayutthaya facility last year and shot several pictures. … Read more

Samsung rolls out wave of new Bada phones

Along with the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Tab 7.7, Samsung trotted out three new Bada smartphones at IFA today, the Samsung Wave 3, Wave M, and Wave Y.

All three of the handsets will run the Bada 2.0 mobile operating system, which brings new capabilities such as multitasking, voice recognition, NFC support, and Wi-Fi Direct, and uses the TouchWiz interface. The trio will also come with Samsung's App store, and the company's new ChatOn cross-platform instant messaging system.

The Wave 3 is the flagship model, with its 4-inch Super AMOLED touch screen, 1.4GHz processor, … Read more

Avoiding the cost of entanglement

Modern IT is very focused on economics. We talk endlessly about cost. We debate capital costs vs. operational costs--CAPEX vs. OPEX, in the lingo. We look at Total Cost of Operations (TCO) and we try to calculate our projects' Return On Investment (ROI). But even with all of these economic metrics, we miss an enormous source of costs: Our long-term entanglement with the products, technologies, and approaches we choose.

Long ago, we had a bright idea. "We could represent the year portion of dates with just two digits--that would save space!" We happily did that for a few … Read more

Lenovo IdeaPad updates across the board

For larger laptops, CES 2011 seems to be more about gradual improvements than whole-scale innovation. Lenovo's newly-announced IdeaPad lineup updates seem to confirm this theory quite well: better processors, improved graphics, and Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0, an engineering tweak that Lenovo promises will offer extremely fast boot times. Though it can be pretty difficult to suss the differences out among the various lines of IdeaPads, we'll give you a rundown.

The IdeaPad Y570 and Y470 lead the pack, with second-generation Intel Core processors, and GPU options including Nvidia's new GeForce GT555 switchable graphics. These laptops have … Read more

Sony takes on MacBook Air with 11.6-inch Vaio

Sony has announced a new 11.6-inch design in its Vaio Y series being sold in Japan that, by all appearances, is targeted directly at the latest MacBook Air.

The 11.6-inch design will be tacked on to its existing 13.3-inch model and will weigh in at just over 3 pounds, about a pound heavier than the new 11.6-inch Air. At its thinnest point, it is just under an inch; at its thickest point it is just over an inch.

But if a little more heft isn't a problem, the Vaio VPCYA19FJ/B model packs a relatively … Read more

The 404 684: Where Blair Butler puts us in a choke hold (podcast)

Jeff and I are a little intimidated by today's guest, Blair Butler, because she not only loves video games and comic books, but also knows a ton about martial arts moves like the rear naked choke, which makes her one of the coolest guests we've had on the show! Blair joins us after a busy weekend at New York Comic Con 2010 to chat about all the news from the show, as well as her Fresh Ink segment on G4's "Attack of the Show."

The Javitz Convention Center here in New York once again opened its doors to the New York Comic Convention, and Blair tells us the East Coast chapter has been quickly catching up to San Diego over the past five years.

Among the many announcements from the show, we're especially excited about AMC's television adaptation of Robert Kirkman's monthly black and white comic series "The Walking Dead." The story is about a small-town police officer (played by Andrew Lincoln) from Kentucky struggling to survive in a world taken over by flesh-craving zombies. Blair is super psyched to watch the series when it debuts on Sunday, October 31, but in the meantime you should definitely check out her review of the comic in this list of the best graphic novels for comic novices on G4TV.

Remember Konami's classic X-Men beat-'em-up arcade game from the early '90s? Marvel revealed plans for an update on Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network that will feature six-player "drop-in" online multiplay, custom matchups, and various difficulty settings. Fans of the original game will enjoy the classic look of the game, and players can use all the original characters including Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Dazzler. Konami plans to release the update later this year.

Tune in for lots more video game and comic news with Blair, including the best and worst costumes, a Pedobear dancing to Michael Jackson, Stan Lee's hockey/superhero mashup "The Guardian Project," and much more from the front lines. Thanks to Blair for an awesome show, and thanks to you for listening!

Episode 684 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more