paradise

A tropical life

If you've always dreamed of living in a tropical paradise, Tap Paradise Cove can make your dreams a virtual reality. The downside is that you may have to wait to wait longer to reach paradise unless you spend some cash.

Tap Paradise Cove is a city-building game set in the tropics. The interface is well-designed and draws you in from the beginning. There are plenty of areas to explore and new places to conquer as you begin life on an overgrown island and try to start a civilization of your own. If you love to explore, conquer, and build, … Read more

If you build it, they will come

Ever wonder what it would be like to own your own island? Well, with Paradise Island for Android, you can at least simulate the experience. In this "freemium" simulator game, you are the owner of a small sector of a tropical island, on which you work to build a perfect resort getaway. As you build more attractions and entice more tourists, your wealth grows, and eventually (if you're good enough) you can expand your empire to cover the entire island.

With enough money, you can build resorts, restaurants, casinos, hot dog stands, shopping centers, monuments, pyramids, waterslides, … Read more

FCC documents reveal entry-level HTC Paradise bound for AT&T

An entry-level HTC handset with AT&T markings has been spotted in recent certification documents for the Federal Communications Comission. The device, known as the HTC Paradise, features a four-row sliding QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2-megapixel camera, an optical joystick, and the usual support for an FM radio, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. According to the FCC papers, the phone is equipped to handle AT&T's 3G bands. Though it should offer HTC Sense, the actual version of Android remains to be seen.

In the pictures associated with the filing, you can see traces of HTC's later … Read more

The 404 167: Where we're going to Fhloston Paradise

Jeff's better half Stacie Blair and Dan the Mantern fill out Friday's show, where once again, things go awry with the technical difficulties. I'm starting to think The 404 is cursed. Stories for the day include fake iPhone lineups in Poland, facial recognition technology at Dunkin' Donuts, parenting tips from The 404, and our new segment "Girlfriend of a Gamer."

Today's show is suppa greeen! We're very excited to welcome Stacie Blair into the studio! She jumps into the chatroom from time to time, but this is the first time ever in the … Read more

Beware the human pods

Whether it's disguised as a personal spa or an airport nap station, the trend is clear: There's a conspiracy afoot to create human pods.

Until now people might have been lulled into thinking that we actually need these things, letting their natural inclinations get the best of them. But look at the photos accompanying this post, especially the one on the right. How can that be a good thing? Using something called "psychoacoustic stimulation," it's supposedly an advanced sound system and de-stress mechanism "lets the music gently relax your whole body by emitting low-frequency … Read more

The 404 020: Where Jeff looks a little like Heath Ledger's brother

EPISODE 20 We're a little bummed about Heath Ledger's death, and we talk about it at the top of the show. We also talk about Burnout Paradise, which is a pretty nice looking game, and a Mass Effect non-troversy.

First look at 'Burnout Paradise'

The good people over at EA were able to send us a copy of Burnout Paradise an entire week before its release. While we're by no means completely through the game, we've gotten a great idea of what the game is all about, how it works, how it doesn't, and what you can expect.

The biggest news about the latest iteration of Burnout is the new open-world environment you're introduced to just seconds after you begin the game. Known as Paradise City, the town is loaded with destructible areas, jumps, billboards, and hidden paths. In addition, the team at Criterion (the British development house that continues to shepherd the series for publisher Electronic Arts) has decided to drop all menus and car classes in favor of a system that allows you begin an event just by pulling up to various intersections around town. This system works well, but one major drawback is that you won't be able to restart an event via the Pause menu. No, you'll have to return to the intersection at which you began in order to retry the same event. We've noticed ourselves not even worrying about which event goes where, and just beginning a new event at the next available crossroad.

Burnout Paradise is all about leveling up your license,… Read more

Day of Net radio silence

Tomorrow, some of the most popular and prominent Internet radio stations will go silent to protest the imposition of new fees that many Webcasters claim will drive them out of business.

The protest stems back to a Mar. 2007 decision by the Copyright Royalty Board to impose per-song performance royalties on Web radio, starting at 0.08 cents per song (retroactive to Jan. 1, 2006) and increasing gradually to 0.19 cents per song by 2010. The former rules forced Webcasters to pay a minimum annual fee and 12% of their revenues. (Small Webcasters might be able to abide by these old rules … Read more