date

Rockstar Games debuts 'Pass' with L.A. Noire DLC

In keeping with today's trend of gaming pay services, Rockstar Games has announced L.A. Noire Rockstar Pass, a one-time DLC preorder that will lock in all the game's current and upcoming DLC.

L.A. Noire is a massive 17-hour or more undertaking, but players will now have the option to take on additional cases, challenges, and unlock new suits today and throughout the summer.

Until June 14, the L.A. Noire Rockstar Pass will be discounted ($10) on both the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network. Afterwards, items return to their normal individual prices.

Click through for a breakdown of each DLC item's release date and price.… Read more

Back to basics

Calendar software is ubiquitous, with options for everyone no matter how simple or complex your needs. As the name suggests, Classic Calendar falls more into the simple category, with the features you would expect from a traditional calendar and not much else.

The program's interface is plain and easy to navigate, consisting of a basic-looking calendar and an Options menu at the top. The calendar's color scheme is highly customizable; users can select the colors for the main background, date boxes, empty boxes, calendar text, and highlighted days. Users can also select the font they want to use … Read more

It's a date

You have 55 days to file a form: what day is your deadline? A bill is due on the first of June: how many days do you have? With Date Calculator from SJW Computer Resources, you'd know in a few clicks. It's a free tool that calculates the difference between two dates, or what day it was or will be on a certain date.

Date Calculator is portable freeware that requires no installation and can be run from a variety of locations, but it does come zipped. However, it remembers its screen position when you close it and … Read more

Lebowski finally coming to Blu-ray

Mark it August 16, dude.

Yes, after a long wait, "The Big Lebowski" is finally coming to Blu-ray on August 16.

Here's the quick skinny on the Limited Edition release:

Available for a limited time with an all-new 28-page companion book featuring an exclusive interview with Jeff Dowd--the real-life inspiration for The Dude--Jeff Bridges' personal, on-set photography, a film timeline, trivia and much more, The Big Lebowski Limited Edition Blu-ray is a must-own addition to any collection. In addition to all-new features exclusive to the Blu-ray release, The Big Lebowski Limited Edition Blu-ray also offers a digital … Read more

The 404 821: Where the water's polluted with germs (podcast)

After a 26-day service outage, Sony finally kickstarted its PlayStation Network, allowing users to resume online gameplay. It turns out the original server hack was hosted on Amazon's EC2 Cloud Computing network, but the outages aren't over yet--the servers crashed again after being flooded for password resets.

In other news, the Internet organized a mean prank victimizing online daters in New York on Friday, so to make all you single dudes out there fell better, we go around the room telling our favorite pranking stories. Let us know if you have a good one!

The 404 Digest for Episode 821

Hiccups dog PlayStation Network restoration. Internet organizes cruel, but kind of funny, online dating prank.

Episode 821 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more

Adding a birthday calendar to Google Calendar

Remembering birthdays or other personal holidays can be difficult without use of a calendar or date book. If you're already using Gmail and Google Calendar these dates can kept on hand at all times. To take the pressure off yourself to remember important dates, just follow these steps:

1. Log into Gmail and choose Contacts from the menu in the upper left corner. It will look something like this:

2. Add birthdays to your individual contacts that the calendar will be able to use. Save the contact info and then open Google Calendar.

3. Save the contact and then … Read more

Macs that await refreshing: 2011

We're several days into May, and another Mac has gotten upgraded to 2011 Intel processors. MacBook Pros, check. iMacs, check. Now that two of Apple's most popular lines have gotten necessary upgrades, it's time to look at which Macs still haven't gotten updated...and wonder when those updates will occur.

In order of our best guess as to when they'll be refreshed, here are the Macs we're still expecting.

The white MacBook (last updated: mid-April 2010) Apple's lone white laptop has survived for years, and now that white's the new black in … Read more

Hulu Plus hits Xbox Live April 29, free for a week

Xbox Live users can rejoice tomorrow--not just because it's still working--but because Hulu Plus will be hitting the console. Even better, the normally $7.99-a-month service will be absolutely free for an entire week thanks to a spicy sponsorship by Jack Link's.

The initial promotion will available to all Xbox Live subscribers both Gold and Silver, but once it ends only Gold members will be allowed to subscribe on a monthly basis.

Hulu Plus on Xbox will also feature Kinect compatibility, so you can speak and wave your way through content from ABC, Comedy Central, Fox, … Read more

What happens when you try for a Cloud Girlfriend

For those at CNET who tug on my leash, I am sometimes a guinea pig.

However, when they ordered me to get a new girlfriend, I was a little disturbed by the personal nature of the request.

Weren't there laws against this kind of thing? Politely, they explained to me that I needed a girlfriend who didn't actually exist, but who would satisfy me at a virtual--and therefore more profound--level than any terrestrial being.

Feeling deeply relieved--as anything other than a virtual woman would most certainly cause intractable problems--I set about testing Cloud Girlfriend.

This was launched in a flurry of hype-nosisRead more

Match.com sued after alleged sexual assault

You never know whom you are meeting on dating sites.

Now, one California woman is trying to get a court to declare that you actually should be told the bare minimum: whether your potential date is a convicted sex offender.

The woman, identified in legal papers as Jane Doe, is suing Match.com, according to ABC News.

Her attorney, Mark Webb, held a press conference this week to explain the philosophy behind the suit. He said his client had no reason to believe that the man she met through Match.com had previously been convicted of sexual battery.

Criminal charges … Read more