lil

The 404 1,003: Where we're all young again (podcast)

CNET's Steve Guttenberg goes by a couple nicknames like "The Gutman," "The Audiophiliac," and "Sphere," but today we'll hear from the more tender side of our favorite audiophile as he tells us the story of how his life changed on this day back in 1972.

After he accepts our challenge to explain leap year in three sentences or less, he'll tell us why he can't stop laughing when hears the phrase "Mastered for iTunes," and we're both surprised to hear that he has a special thank-you message for Jimmy Iovine, Dr. Dre, and Monster Headphones.… Read more

Meat vending machine curbs carnivore cravings

There's more than one right answer to the "Where's the beef?" question. If you happen to be in Odenville, Ala., the beef is in a vending machine at the Lil Mart convenience store.

A meat vending machine may sound like something you would come up with during a bacon-induced fever dream, but it's a very real pilot product from a startup called Smart Butcher.

According to a report in The Birmingham News, the machine accepts $1 or $5 bills as well as credit or debit cards. Pork steaks, sirloin, ribeye, sausages, and other meats are on offer. … Read more

Slice through fruit and race to the finish line: iPhone apps of the week

I'm sure I'm not alone in my anticipation of what Steve Jobs will announce on Monday at the Keynote for the WWDC. With that (the iPhone 4G or "HD") in mind, I've decided to make my iPhone apps post about games this week in the hope that we can all kill some time this weekend before the big event.

To start off, possibly my favorite iPhone game from 2009 went on sale today. Meteor Blitz (99 cents; usually $2.99) for iPhone is a fun and challenging classic arcade-style shooter where you use dual joysticks … Read more

Basic Lil Wayne screensaver

Lil Wayne Screen saver is a basic screensaver consisting of a collection of Lil Wayne photos. While it's not the best screensaver we've ever seen, it does include some options for customization, and fans of Lil Wayne should be happy with it.

The program features numerous photos of Lil Wayne. A lot of the photos aren't quite high enough resolution for this application and appear a bit pixelated, but overall the quality of the photos isn't bad. The screensaver includes a multitude of different effects for changing the images, and users can select the ones they … Read more

Baby sites for the new baby boom

A recent report claims more babies were born in 2007 than any year in U.S. history. Since then, baby Web sites have become all the more important as a tool for parents who want to document and show the world how their little one is growing up.

I've found four baby sites that provide parents with the option to share photos with friends and family. They also let them track milestones in the baby's life. And they're all worth trying out.

Baby sites

BabySpot

BabySpot is a social network for parents to share some of their favorite pictures of the baby in their life.

Once you get to your baby's page, BabySpot lets you upload pictures and tag them. You can connect with others and share your photos. You can even write blog posts, post events, and upload videos of your favorite moments. Think of BabySpot as a Facebook for babies.

One of my favorite BabySpot features is the ability to add applications to my profile. Though there aren't nearly as many apps as you'll find on Facebook, one app, called BuboMe, lets you customize your baby's photos. You can add holiday themes, bubbles, and more. It's a neat tool that will help you add some flair to your pictures.

BabySpot is well designed, has an active community, and creating a profile that's filled with all your baby's special moments is easy.

Lil Grams

Lil Grams helps you secure your memories and send them off to friends and family, no matter where they are.

Once you get to your personal Lil Grams page, you can start uploading pictures of your kids. If you don't have access to the portal, you can add pictures to your profile via e-mail. Lil Grams even has a desktop app so you can drag-and-drop images into your profile without using your browser.

It's a nice touch, but the real value of Lil Grams shows itself when you start sending those images to family members. You can e-mail them a link to view the photos, you can send them an SMS if it's easier to reach them on their mobile phone, or, if you want to send photos to your parents who don't have a computer, Lil Grams will let you create prints and send them through snail mail. I didn't order any prints, but I did share some photos of my cousin's child through e-mail and SMS and it worked beautifully.

Overall, I was quite impressed with Lil Grams. Though you can share images through services like Flickr and Shutterfly just as easily, Lil Grams uses its focus on babies to attract parents.… Read more

The 404 149: Where you can call us now for your free reading

After one of our listeners calls us out on our truly awful Jamaican impression, we try, try, try again--unsuccessfully. It doesn't work out so well, and we slowly start to sound like a Jamaican extradited from Ireland. Anyway...today's episode finally reveals the secret pre-show juice that powers the enthusiasm we bring you everyday: crunk juice! And, by crunk juice we mean orange juice! All this segues into our first story, where we lay the smackdown on 50 Cent for getting a little trigger happy south of the border. Jeff decides to change 50's name to "… Read more

Under the Radar: Your data (and life) in the cloud

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--The second to the last group rounding up Tuesday's presentations at the Under the Radar conference comes from all walks of Web services. There's a tool to post your baby photos, one to have artists and creative types scramble to create something for you, an upcoming video channel surfing app, and one that organizes all your files online and off.

CrowdSpring, a start-up we listed as one to watch, is a marketplace for creative ideas. The site lets you put out a project and get it crowd-sourced. The winner gets cash and potentially a job … Read more

Photos: Burton's iPod-ready beer cooler

How can you resist a beer cooler with an integrated speaker system for under $50? Admit it, it's impossible. We put the Burton Lil' Buddy speaker cooler through rigorous beer testing--overclocking it well past its rated capacity of 12-beers to an outstanding 16 (12 cans, 4 bottles). Want to see what your new best friend looks like up-close? Take a look at our Lil' Buddy slideshow.

Patch your holey jeans with an iPod

Practically every other day we see a new article of clothing that can support the iPod. So why not actually make clothes out of the iPod itself? Apparently someone has finally made a reality out of that logical extreme.

Shiny Shiny happily reports that a company called PodDress is offering several types of iPod Nano patches that it claims are the "first and only embroidered cases" for the ubiquitous music player. The line ranges from "Classic" (black and white) to various neon colors and--of course--the "Swarovski Special Editon." Is there anything that Swarovski won'… Read more