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The 404 1,104: Where we forget the dial tone (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- New technology lets students cheat more than ever.

- America's hottest late-night club is Applebee's; photographic evidence.

- Crazy message left on a broken airplane wing.

- Homosexual gamers to hold a "Gaymer" convention.

- Not having a Facebook profile now makes you "suspicious."

- Panasonic ErgotFit headphones cost $5, sound like $50.

- Bathroom break video: Everybody hurts.

Episode 1,105 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video  

The 404 Show Special: Jay Chandrasekhar and Kevin Heffernan

The 404's Jeff Bakalar had a chance to sit down with Jay Chandrasekhar and Kevin Heffernan, two of the members of the comedy group Broken Lizard (Super Troopers, Beerfest). The duo has a new film out called "The Babymakers" in select theaters, iTunes, and on-demand August 3rd.

In addition to a discussion about "The Babymakers," Jay and Kevin talk to Jeff about a sequel to "Super Troopers," getting "Potfest" off the ground, and what else is in store for Broken Lizard.… Read more

The 404 1,093: Where we're monitoring that scan you just interfaced (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 show:

- Guy gets butt kicked for wearing digital eye glasses inside McDonald's.

- Burger King employee stands on lettuce, gets busted by Internet.

- This is how you paint a 150-foot Batman.

- Does this photo of yesterday's storm in New York deserve an Instagram filter?… Read more

Facebook engineer blocks Imgur by mistake, apologizes on Reddit

A Facebook engineer took to Reddit late Monday to apologize for inadvertently blocking Imgur, one of the most popular image sharing sites on the Web, from the social network.

Users were prevented from posting any Imgur links to their profile pages and timelines on Monday, and were greeted by a Facebook error message telling them the links were being "blocked for being spammy or unsafe."

The false positive may have gone unnoticed by Facebook's estimated 950 million users late on Monday night, but the block was enough to provoke a backlash from users of Reddit, the hugely … Read more

Can Digg make a comeback?

Digg's painful downfall has finally hit rock bottom. Does that mean Digg can only go up now?

As you've probably heard, the once-mighty social news Web site has sold to Betaworks for a paltry $500,000. The total price of the acquisition was around $16 million, if you include The Washington Post's acquisition of the team and LinkedIn's acquisition of the patents.

That price is still a far cry from the $200 million that Google was ready to spend to acquire Digg in 2008. And those numbers seem paltry in comparison with the billion dollar deals … Read more

The 404 1,088: Where we get the short end of the shtick (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Jeff, unimpressed with last night's Macy's Fireworks display, left his own message in the sky.

- San Diego fireworks fail ends as quickly as it starts.

- Dear Interns: Think twice before tweet-talking your coworkers.

- Men are from Reddit, women are from Pinterest.

Bathroom break video: Anaheim from Daniel shows us how to output 404 shirts using an mPower garment printer!… Read more

The 404 1,079: Where we ban all the skinnies (podcast)

On today's 404 episode, we'll solve the mystery of phantom cell phone vibrations and why we're so often tricked into thinking our phones have a mind of their own. One psychologist from the University of Sydney thinks that it has to do with electrical currents running through parts of the body surrounding the phone, while another professor of psychology believes it's in ours heads, that our addiction to technology has made us paranoid about e-notifications.

Walking around New York in this heatwave is enough of a workout for anyone these days, but some gym-goers in Canada are so sick of skinny people making them look bad that they've issued a ban on anyone that can't be described as "plus size."

According to the NY Daily News, Body Exchange gym in Vancouver claims to be a "safe haven" for overweight people that feel scrutinized when they work out next to those without an addiction to food. Unfortunately, we'll have to defer to Richard to comment on this story, as neither Jeff nor I have ever been inside a gym.… Read more

The 404 1,074: Where it's not you, it's us (podcast)

The new Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display announced earlier this week just got an Editors' Choice review on CNET, but some die-hard tinkerers are upset about the lack of upgradeable components inside. According to iFixit.org, the latest MacBook Pro is the least reparable Apple laptop to date.

For starters, users are locked into the amount of RAM they choose at the purchase date, as the memory is actually soldered to the logic board. The proprietary solid-state hard drive is staying put as well, and watch out for a couple of booby traps concealed underneath the lithium-polymer battery! The laptop certainly remains incomparable in terms of display, I/O ports, and chassis, but keep in mind that your upgrade options down the line are severely limited if you go with this model.… Read more

Reddit anti-spam sweep snares The Atlantic, Business Week

Reddit is taking aim at some media heavyweights to reduce spam on the site.

The popular link-sharing site has banned a half-dozen prominent sites, including TheAtlantic.com and BusinessWeek.com, according to a recently created subreddit. Other banned sites include Phys.org, ScienceDaily.com, and GlobalPost.

Reddit users who try to submit links to these sites are greeted with a message that informs them that "this domain has been banned for spamming and/or cheating."

The site announced a crackdown on spammers last week but only specifically mentioned that it would now employ link shorteners:

Some domains are … Read more