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It's the end of the week! It's also Audio Draft Time, and this might raise a little bit of controversy. It's Matt and Kim, an Indie pop band from Williamsburg, New York City. Nope this isn't Justin's pick; it's Wilson's. Strange, no?

We check out their tracks "Daylight" and "Yea Yeah." We apologize beforehand for the overdriven audio. It may not be your cup of tea, but Wilson assures us they are great in concert and just lots of fun. On a further note, they will be touring with Weezer in the coming days.

On today's show, we check out an outrageous iPhone app, where you actually have to lick the screen to play the game. The premise of the app is to lick off the food on your plate. Without getting too detailed, we come up with a couple of other apps that might take advantage of this lick-touch-screen idea. Just be sure to wrap up your iPhone before you partake.

We also check out a study that says HDTVs are mostly a placebo effect to most users. Now, we admit this study didn't compare a SDTV next to a HDTV, but we know plenty of people who think that composite video looks just as good as 1080p. After that we get to plenty of voicemails, and yes, we have two--count 'em--two voicemails from women!

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The Financial Decoder Jill Schlesinger back on the show today. Yeah, yeah, it's not technology, but we do mention online banking, so we guess that counts. Anyway, we talk about how credit card companies are like drug dealers, and how to break the habit.

Congress recently passed legislation that would prevent some of the bad practices that credit card companies engage in, but Jill reveals to us that for the most part it won't prevent much. Credit card companies will just have to tell you how they are screwing you. Be prepared for your credit cards to have annual fees and higher rates in the interim.

After the break, Jill warns us to stay away from the credit consolidation, negotiation or settlement companies. According to her, you don't have to pay some lawyer to do what you can do already, by calling the credit card companies yourself or writing them a letter. If you are in the endless debt circle, ask them for a break on the interest rate for a year or two. Keep in mind that the companies want something instead of nothing.

Finally, we talk about how the experiences of growing up in Jewish and Chinese households share so much in common. Namely, our love of mahjong. So much so that we all flip out when we see an automated mahjong shuffling table! Send in your feedback as usual to the404 [at] cnet [dot] com. Jill and Wilson might make a weekly date of their financial and economic talk. Let us know if that might interest you. Look out for Jill's recommendations for credit cards and checking accounts later.

UPDATE: Check out Jill's blog post on MoneyWatch about credit card companies. Plus she gives us a little love.

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"Oh man, I was hanging out with this girl and we walk into her bedroom and she has this BEAT UP old Compaq computer connected to a freakin' CRT monitor there! So I just made up a lie about not feeling well and just left." That's a deal breaker, ladies!

On today's episode of The 404 Podcast, we talk about some of the tech-related dating faux pas that would be ultimate deal breakers in a potential relationship. Wilson, of course, would never date a girl that wasn't fully committed to Apple and all its family of products, Jeff could never hang out with a non-gamer, and I'm pretty much open to anything that comes my way. Just kidding, I could never be in a relationship with someone completely obsessed with social networking. Who's trying to go on a dinner date with someone that keeps taking TwitPics of their food?

All of this leads into a conversation about the most commonly used Hotmail password, which just happens to be "123456." I suppose it makes perfect sense that someone who's still riding the Hotmail train would use such an obvious password (why not make it "God," or "money," or "power?"), but that's exactly what 64 out of the 10,000 people surveyed actually use. What do you guys use to keep track of all your passwords? OpenID? Keychain? Moleskin? We want to hear about it!

Next, we get into a conversation about why the Japanese haven't embraced the iPhone as much as we have, and the answer is pretty clear: the iPhone simply can't keep up with modern technology in Japan, where they already have 4G phones that can stream live television, pick kids up from school, and dice potatoes into shoestring fries.

A big thank you goes out to our pal Zen in Flagstaff, Ariz., for sending us this poster in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It's based on the book, "The Men Who Stare at Goats"; Jeff and I have both read this hilarious novel, and we suggest you read it, too, before the movie comes out.

Enjoy the show and have a great Wednesday!

It's only been about a week since the release of Sony's PSP Go, but hackers are already ahead of the game, despite Sony getting rid of the removable battery in an attempt to stop the siege. We don't have a link to the actual game you have to use to release the exploit, but hackers are using it as a proof-of-concept for future homebrews and pirated gaming. As usual, these guys are ahead of the curve, as we've seen before in Sony's previous PSPs. Of course, you can always get free games if you can somehow get a job reviewing them for a big Web site...right, Jeff?

In other news, Facebook can now measure what they're calling the GHP, or the Gross National Happiness. The popular social-networking site is using text analysis software to index how its users are feeling based on positive or negative words in their status updates. You can see on this chart that there were major spikes last year around November 23rd for Thanksgiving, as well as in December for Christmas and New Years. Check out the podcast to hear Jeff's reason why Hanukkah is nowhere to be found.

It's also time again for the Beck's Beer semi-weekly Audio Draft! Jeff's pick for today is an oldie but a goodie, The Rx Bandits! Jeff and I are huge fans of the bands from when we were wee lads. They're rooted in Seal Beach in Southern California, and while their ska sound grew popular in the early '90s, they have successfully pulled out those roots and progressed into a super eclectic alt/prog/rock/reggae sound. They just released another full length entitled Mandala, which also includes one of today's featured tracks, "Bury it Down Low." Here's to many more years with the Rx Bandits!

Oh yeah, everyone's password got hacked.

All the 404 listeners out there will be very happy to see our own Natali Del Conte in the hot seat today. Our favorite guest just returned from a trip to the U.K. and, of course, Wilson is indulging himself in a bottle of Beck's Beer, so we foolishly decide to guess Ms. Del Conte's actual body weight. This sounds like a recipe for disaster, but I'm not one to let things spoil, so you'll have to watch the video below to witness me, Jeff, and Wilson making idiots of ourselves.

And of course, since Natali is here, we have to make things as uncomfortable for her as possible, so the first story of the day is about an LA sperm bank offering celebrity lookalike donors to their exclusive clientele. Each donor goes through an extensive scanning process to determine the celebrity they resemble the most, and the clients certainly love it: the service has been available for only a week and their Web traffic is already up 50 percent! We grill Natali for a second about which celebrity she would choose, but now that she's gone big time, she manages to weasel her way out of it.

After a few more stories that let Natali shake off her BOL-shackles, Jeff poses an interesting question to the group, by way of Reddit.com: When we get to be the age of our parents, will our generation be just as technologically inept, or will we retain our tech-savvy? This conversation actually stemmed from a rather painful iTunes tutorial that I overheard Jeff giving to Big Lou, and it's the perfect diving board for our show. All of us have varying opinions, but the general consensus is that because we've actually grown up with technology and computers (unlike our parents who were forced to adopt it later in life), we'll always have those building blocks to help us navigate through newer technologies, whatever they may be. Or we might just be bitter old luddites pecking away on our Jitterbugs, bemoaning a time when 140 characters ruled the world.

TGIF!TGIF!TGIF!TGIF!TGIF! Before you take off for the weekend, be sure to check out today's episode of The 404 Webcast, where we're reintroducing the Semi-weekly Beck's Beer Audio Draft! Today's featured artist is Family of the Year, an up-and-rocking folk(ish) band from Los Angeles. The sextet mix together Fleetwood Mac-style rock guitars with a tinge of country that make for a perfect end of summer soundtrack, and we're very psyched to help them promote their new EP release called "Where's the Sun."

The two tracks on today's show are titled "Let's Go Down" and "Psyche or Like Scope," both available as a streaming preview on their MySpace page.You can buy it on their Web site at a sliding scale, meaning you can throw down however much you want. Give $1, $5, whatever you can afford, but keep in mind that all the earnings will be put toward the expenses of their upcoming CMJ tour. You can also buy a signed postcard from the road with a personalized inscription from the members themselves! Give them a listen, buy the album, and check them out in a city near you. Who knows, they might even stop by The 404 studio the next time they're in town...*hint* *hint* *nudge* *nudge*

Plenty of stories to get to today as well, including a story about some fool trying to extort money from David Letterman for a little fling he had several years ago with his assistant. In our eyes, the king of late night can do no wrong. It's not like he's, oh I don't know, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES; can we all just let the guy live? Keep doing what you're doing, Dave, and if you want to come on The 404 for an exclusive interview, we'll be more than happy to oblige.

We also have a quick story about 3.4 million or so phallic pictures crashing AT&T's servers last week, but there are also a ton of movie-related news stories to get to, including a list of 8 movie franchises that must die, a "Kill Bill 3" in the works, a Spore adaptation, and ugh- a new "A-Team" movie. Can we run through all these stories in time and still not bust over the 45-minute mark? Check it out and find out!

Have a great weekend everyone!

We're very proud and excited to welcome Beck's Beer back as our official show sponsor for the month of October, as you can see by the advertisement over yonder. You know what that means, right? All month long we'll be bringing back the Semi-Weekly Audio Draft Pick, sponsored by Beck's Beer in conjunction with Last.fm. That's a lot to say, so if you can think of a better title for the segment (maybe even a funny acronym involving beer), shoot us a line at the404(at)cnet[dot]com. Just like in July, we'll be introducing you to some of our favorite musicians and playing their music on the show every Tuesday and Friday for the next month, so be excited, and if you have any suggestions, well, tweet us.

OMGWTFBBQ! The Robsham Theater Arts Center from Boston College is putting on a musical comedy inspired by songs by our buddy Jonathan Coulton! If you didn't hear his live performance the last time he was on The 404, go check it out and get ready for some musical theater. Luke Jorgenson, the associate theater professor at BC, was "taken by Coulton's satire of office life and technology," which inspired him to produce the script. We're very psyched for Jonathan. Congrats, buddy!

Next up in the news, we've got a few iffy Sony PS3 ads to show you guys. The first one is a picture of a stereotypical gamer giving a blood transfusion to someone that looks a lot like Erwin Rommel, aka "The Desert Fox" and a German General in World War II. The other one features the same gamer, but this time he's giving his heart to Joan of Arc. Like, literally giving his heart in a celebratory transplant. Yikes, Sony--what message are you guys trying to convey here?

Next, we play a brief PSA video to kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a subject that is very dear to our hearts. The video is played in jest, and of course we have to make a few jokes about the steamy subject matter, but Breast Cancer itself is very real, so all month we'll be supporting the cause.

Have an awesome Thursday, everyone!

If you're thinking about buying a portable gaming system this holiday season, you should definitely listen to this show before making a decision. After a few weeks of teasing you guys about the new PSP Go, we've got all the details from the man who wrote the CNET review himself and now must defend himself from Sony snipers perched across the office. That's right, Jeff Bakalar breaks down all the reasons why the PSP 3000 is still the best Sony portable gaming device. The Go, on the other hand, didn't fare so well in Jeff's eyes. It costs more than the 3000, has a smaller screen, and an awkwardly placed analog stick, and worst of all: you can't play UMD games or use old PSP accessories! On top of all of that, the games take so long to download that you can probably watch a full length movie while you wait. Save your money and buy the best mobile video game console on the market today...the Apple iPhone.

Speaking of products that sound good on paper but don't actually work in real life, a guy in New York discovered something particularly disturbing about his iPhone: the average iPhone drops 30 percent of all calls. After taking his iPhone into an Apple Genius Bar for multiple dropped calls, the Genius informed him that it was indeed dropping 22 percent of outbound calls, which is actually excellent compared with the 30 percent average in New York. Listen in to hear us groan and moan about AT&T service and why Sprint or Verizon might be in my immediate future.

Finally, we want to give a huge thank you to Debbie from Toronto for sending us the image you see at the top of this blog entry. Deb, a long time listener and special guest of The 404 made a custom hockey jersey and goalie mask for her husband to wear during his Sunday game! Now, Wilson and I are the first to admit our zero interest in hockey, but even we can appreciate the time and effort that must have gone into the cutting and application of the logo onto the uniform. Debbie, you rock, and if there's anything we can do (short of flying up to Canada to thank you personally) to repay your kindness, please don't hesitate to let us know. Everyone else should be carefully taking notes from Deb and sprinting to the nearest phone to leave us a voice-mail. You know the number right? 1-866-404-CNET: GET ON IT!

Today's guest on The 404 Podcast is The Paper Raincoat, a local band of the "experimental rock ambition" genre, as Jeff calls it. Amber Rubarth and Alex Wong have both garnered musical recognition for their individual acts, but only recently came together to form The Paper Raincoat. The release of their first EP, Safe in the Sound, ushered in an international fan following and an impressive list of accomplishments, including the iTunes Indie Artist Spotlight. We're very excited to have them in the studio with us today, and they come bearing instruments for a live acoustic show!

As we talk to more bands, we're starting to understand the long process of dreaming, writing, playing, and touring with your music in the current music business scene. With outlets like Facebook, Myspace, Last.FM, and many more, artists can easily cast a wide net over an audience that would normally require a major label contract to reach. We talk with The Paper Raincoat about the naming of the band, their recording process, their fantastic DIY album art, and their upcoming tour.

In case you haven't figured it out by now, there are a million places to stream their music live, but the best thing you can do to show your support is to preorder a CD. One-hundred percent of the preorder money will go to printing the record, and you can pick between three packages, the highest of which lands you a limited edition CD, two signed posters, a T-shirt, and a custom USB wristband drive with a personalized video "thank you" and exclusive video content from the band. In the meantime, you can also follow the band on Twitter, attend their CD release party at Joe's Pub in NYC, and download their brand new song, "Right Angles."