pit bull

The 404 1,206: Where we pick our own product placement (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Bridget checks out the tech side of Toy Fair NY.

- "Disney Infinity" receives new "Monsters University" images.

- Ubooly is soft, squishy and smart thanks to the iPhone.

- Barbie gets a digital makeover at Toy Fair.

- Buy Griff's "Back to the Future II" hoverboard for $13,000.

- Microsoft's Xbox Entertainment Studio working on interactive TV.… Read more

Knol and void: The day I became a published Google 'expert'

I'm an expert on pit bulls! Really.

I just wrote a knol, a Web article akin to an encyclopedia entry, using Google's new Knol publishing platform launched publicly on Wednesday.

With Knol, Google is encouraging people to create more authoritative content that can be indexed by its search engine and monetized with ads. Unlike blogs, which tend to be casual and opinionated in tone, knols are supposed to be fact-based, informative, and well-sourced articles on a specific subject.

Google is dismissing the notion that Knol is its Wikipedia killer, but both operate under the premise that Web users … Read more