Geek culture

Smartphone use may make you wussy, says Harvard study

Your reputation as a tough, hard-nosed business go-getter may take a hit if you spend a lot of time using your little smartphone. A study conducted by researchers at Harvard Business School suggests that using devices with small screens can cause people to behave less assertively than those using larger screens.

"Grounded in research showing that adopting expansive body postures increases psychological power, we hypothesized that working on larger devices, which forces people to physically expand, causes users to behave more assertively," reads the abstract of the paper, titled "iPosture: The Size of Electronic Consumer Devices Affects Our Behavior."… Read more

The 404 1,289: Where Alex Winter gets us Downloaded (podcast)

Our guest on today's episode is Alex Winter. You might recognize him as Ted from "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," but you might not know that he's also a documentary filmmaker. His latest project is a story about the rise and fall of Napster called "Downloaded."

It traces the history of the file-sharing service but it also looks at the industry waves it caused in its aftermath, leading up to Spotify and iTunes as it exists today.

We'll talk with Alex about the road to making the movie, his introduction to Sean … Read more

Friday Poll: Now will you buy an Xbox One or a PS4?

A month ago, we asked which next-gen console you were planning to invest in. Over 6,000 people responded and 51 percent threw their money and support behind Sony's PlayStation 4. That left 34 percent planning on the Xbox One, and only 7 percent who were budgeting for both.

A lot has happened since we checked in on your gaming sentiments. Microsoft took some shots over its announced policies of requiring an always-on Internet connection and putting restrictions on the used-game market for the Xbox One. Sony even got in a good video ribbing of its rival's used-game … Read more

The 404 1,288: Where we put our toys on ice (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Tostilocos: Tijuana street food hits the mainstream.

- Sixteen San Diego Comic-Con exclusives that have the Internet talking.

- Microsoft pulls a 180, reverses Xbox One always-on DRM and used games policy.

- Microsoft on Xbox One reversal: Dude, E3 held us up.

- "Sound City" is a documentary directed by Dave Grohl about the fabled eponymous recording studio in Van Nuys, Calif.

Episode 1,288

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'Star Wars' dubbed into Navajo gets film premiere

"Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" is getting a new premiere on July 3 in Window Rock, Arizona, more than 36 years after it first opened in theaters. This version is a little different.

Instead of hearing the voices of actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and James Earl Jones, some lesser-known voice actors are getting a shot. This version will also be in Navajo.… Read more

Mad Max with an American accent? Not so fast

When you think "Aussie sci-fi," you probably think first of the 1979 dystopian action film "Mad Max," starring Mel Gibson in his breakout role. Now, a video game version is on the way, but some fans are outraged to see an American voice actor cast in the leading role.

The upcoming third-person open-world game by Avalanche Studios, due out sometime next year for PCs, the PS4, and Xbox One, made an appearance at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), where Ausgamers was told the developer wanted "someone generic" to play Max.

In fact, Avalanche founder Christofer Sundberg told IGN, "We treated this as a completely new property, and that was really the only way for us to take on a licensed game. It's the first licensed game we've ever taken on. And we wanted to treat it like an original IP. The setting -- where it is in the world -- has really nothing to do with the Mad Max video game. It's really a game to do with the relationships between different people in this world." … Read more

Enjoy all 1.3 billion pixels of this impressive Mars panorama

NASA is going big. Very big. The space agency used technology from panoramic equipment and software company GigaPan to help stitch together a massive image of the surface of Mars that hits 1.3 billion pixels. The interactive view of the Rocknest landscape is courtesy of the Curiosity rover.

It took the rover's three cameras and image collection activities spread over several different days to gather all the visual data. This is the first NASA-produced image from the surface of Mars to top the 1-billion-pixel mark… Read more

Breathalyzer watch puts date, time, drunkenness on your wrist

You've just created a combination watch and breathalyzer. You're sitting around, trying to decide what to name it. Aha, you think, let's call it the Intoxicated Watch. That will get the point across.

The Kisai Intoxicated Watch has just made its debut on Tokyoflash, where it's selling for a limited time at a $99 launch price.

The watch description says the negative-space time display is easy to read, no matter how intoxicated you are. In case you're not sure what level of drunk you've achieved, the watch has a built-in breathalyzer. You open the sensor cap, push a button, and blow into it for 5 seconds.… Read more

After Katy Perry, is dumping by text standard practice?

As one who has been dumped by Skype, registered mail, Pinot poured on bald head, head-butt, intermediary, and sudden marriage to another, I wondered what could possibly remain.

Then I read Katy Perry's plaintive revelation that the very humorous star of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," Russell Brand, had allegedly told her to forget their marriage by text.

I had heard that this might be a method employed in middle school to end what wasn't meant to be.

However, I wasn't aware that those designated as adults might also believe this was appropriate etiquette. … Read more

The 404 1287: Where we just need a green bed (podcast)

Polygon's Russ Frushtick joins me in the studio today to talk about the lighter side of our recent trip to Los Angeles. Best of all, he'll help answer the most-asked question of last week: "What was the best food you had at E3?"

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Enter CNET's "From Old School to Tech Cool" contest.

- What do you think of the new "Anchorman 2" trailer?

- Follow Russ on Twitter.

- Listen to Russ' podcast, The Besties.

- Watch Human Angle on Polygon.… Read more