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The 404 1,193: Where we take the number 2 train (podcast)

Welcome to today's show, where we're finally analyzing the food photography trend for what it is, with the help of this article in the New York Times that profiles restaurateur David Bouley and the creative tactics he's come up with to stop the dining room distractions.

The way we see it, the problem with food photography is that we've collectively lost our shame and sense of subtlety when it comes time to dine. Instead of snapping a quick 3-second iPhone pic, we've seen folks stand on chairs, use tripods with a giant dSLR, and even ask the restaurant to adjust the ceiling lights to suit the mood of the picture.

The fact is that there's really no better way to prove you're eating above your budget than to take a picture of it. Argue all you want, it's just a tacky move and plenty of restaurants agree. Check out today's show to hear some places are doing to avoid the awkwardness.… Read more

Terminate hanging processes and programs with ProcessKO 64-bit

Most Windows users will probably agree that it's frustrating when you can't close a malfunctioning application or process, even with the Task Manager. ProcessKO from Nenad Hrg is a free tool that can terminate nearly any running process or app, forcibly if necessary. Because it's often the same culprit that causes trouble, you can create Favorite KOs to target specific processes quickly. ProcessKO is for experienced users like developers and admins. It's easy to use, even for beginners, but that's the problem: if you're not sure what you're doing, you can kill the … Read more

How to make your iPhone 4 or 4S Apple logo glow

A Chinese manufacturing company is producing replacement back panels for your iPhone 4 or 4S that include a thin light strip and a transparent Apple logo that will make your iPhone's logo glow, similar to Apple notebook computers.

K.O Gadget claims the hardware hack can be done in 5 minutes, at home, using the $42 kit it supplies.

Editors' note: At the time of writing, the regular site was downed by heavy traffic; a substitute purchase link was posted on the company's Facebook page.

A hardware hack done in 5 minutes seems a little unreal, but the … Read more

More top execs to depart Yahoo

The executive turmoil at the very top of Yahoo continues, with the company poised to announce the resignations of three top execs, including U.S. head Hilary Schneider, according to sources close to the situation.

The other execs also leaving, which Yahoo is planning on revealing Friday: U.S. Audience head David Ko and, as BoomTown previously reported, VP of Media Jimmy Pitaro.

Sources close to the situation said that Schneider, who presides over media and advertising sales at Yahoo, has wanted to leave the company for a while, but was convinced to stay on by CEO Carol Bartz.

Schneider … Read more

Quick kill

When applications hang or freeze up in Windows, the common solution is to open the Task Manager and terminate the offending program, but sometimes that's not enough. Nenad's ProcessKO is a small utility that can quickly kill a running process or application, especially when Task Manager can't.

At just under 50KB, ProcessKO is about as small as functional Windows software gets in this time of terabyte disks. It downloads as a self-extracting ZIP file and runs as soon as you click the executable file, which makes it completely portable; you can install it on a USB flash … Read more

An emergency scanner and challenging cartoon boxing: iPhone apps of the week

As announced a few months ago, the iPhone has officially made landfall in China. But even with such an enormous potential market, Apple may still have some problems selling the device. Apparently, due to issues with Chinese carriers, iPhones in China have no support for Wi-Fi. To add insult to injury among Chinese users, the price of the iPhone comes in at 4,999 yuan, or $730. If you buy the smartphone without a contract it comes in at a whopping $1,024, according to the Wall Street Journal. Fortunately, a ban on Wi-Fi by one Chinese carrier has been … Read more

Find concerts easily and enter a boxing ring: iPhone apps of the week

I went to Portland, Oregon, to visit my parents last week and had a great time spending time with my family and checking out the local breakfast spots. I even found new places to explore (thanks to my trusty iPhone). One thing I knew going up there is that my father and his girlfriend had already bought two iPhone 3GS phones and I would not be hearing the end of how much better theirs were than my year-old iPhone 3G. But my mother and stepdad live up in Portland too, and once they saw how cool and fun my iPhone … Read more

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