scarlett johansson

Celebrity hacker pleads guilty to Scarlett Johansson e-mail hack

Christopher Chaney entered guilty pleas to nine felony counts in federal court today, admitting that he hacked into dozens of celebrities' e-mail accounts, including those of Mila Kunis and Scarlett Johansson, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"Today's guilty pleas shine a bright light on the dark underworld of computer hacking," said U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr., whose office prosecuted the case, according to the Los Angeles Times. "This case demonstrates that everyone, even public figures, should take precautions to shield their personal information from the hackers that inhabit that dark underworld."

Chaney, 35 … Read more

The 404 904: Where it's safe to assume we're being sarcastic (podcast)

Robots are slowly taking over the world, and a startup in Illinois called Narrative Science is targeting journalism as the next profession to go extinct. Well, maybe just the journalists covering local youth sports and number-crunching quarterly earning reports, so we're safe for now, but let us know if they come out with a robot that can podcast and tell dirty jokes.

Not all robots are out to drive humans to obsolescence, though. We'll also report on a Japanese pet robot named Evolta training for the Hawaii triathlon. The little guy is only 20 inches tall and runs on two AA batteries, so officials are giving him 10 days to complete the 140-mile race.

After the break and a couple voice mails quizzing Wilson on high-school chemistry, we'll offer a couple pro tips on how to handle business in the office, inspired by this helpful article on Gawker. Can't give out too many details here, so check out the show today!

The 404 Digest for Episode 904

Journalism is the next victim of AI-assisted robotics. Tiny Japanese robot to tackle Ironman triathlon. Everything is new in Windows 8, including the Blue Screen of Death. Gawker tells us how to poop at work. The 404's daily bathroom break: Longboard fail like a boss.

Episode 904 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

The 404 903: Where the good Lord continues to bless the Internet (podcast)

The Internet caught fire an hour before we recorded today, so our apologies if we're still reeling from the "news" for the first few minutes of the podcast. No clue what we're talking about? Enjoy the show.

In serious tech news, Google is putting more companies out of business with its new Flight Search service that went live yesterday. The tracker takes advantage of Google's other Web products, integrating with Google Calendar, Maps, and Mail to show you special deals and notify you about upcoming flights.

In a related story, Virgin America just partnered with Lufthansa Systems' new BoardConnect platform to roll out the next evolution of its Red in-flight entertainment. Air travel is getting even swankier thanks to Virgin America, and next year all of their planes (Virgin calls them Nerdbirds) will have HD television monitors on every seat back and faster Wi-Fi for connected devices.

Finally, we'll take you on the hunt for the rarest video game ever created: the gold Nintendo World Championships cartridge awarded to the winners of Nintendo Power Magazine's 1990 competition. Of the original 26, only 13 units have been found, and they're valued at around $20,000 by video game collectors. I think it's safe to assume that the other 13 games were sacrificed to the trash gods by the players' mothers.

We want to hear about the valuable junk from your childhood that your parents have carelessly thrown away. Give us a call at 1-866-404-CNET (2638) and tell us about it!

The 404 Digest for Episode 903

Google flight-search service takes off. Virgin America debuts Nerdbird airplane for 2012. The quest for the golden Nintendo game. Your daily 404 bathroom break: Chinese shoe trick.

Episode 903 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Should Scarlett Johansson be banned from calling you?

Still stunned by the tale of a man who called 911 to complain that Subway had left the sauce off his sandwich, I discover another telephony cacophony.

It surrounds robocalling.

Which, apparently, involves some clever and remarkably cost-effective technology that allows millions of calls, many featuring the (scripted, naturally) voices of the famous, to be made simultaneously on behalf of political candidates.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, activists are fighting to regulate political calls in a way similar to the Do Not Call Registry that came into effect five years ago to regulate America's (or, sometimes, Canada's) … Read more

Another look at Imeem

When I first looked at Imeem last December, I was boggled by the site's interface--I couldn't tell if it was a social networking site, a streaming audio and video site, or a library of user-posted content for downloading. At the risk of sounding like Grandpa Simpson or Doug Morris, I dismissed the site as a symptom of widespread attention deficit disorder among the younger set.

Last week, market research firm Compete, which measures Web traffic by compiling and measuring data from various sources, reported that Imeem had surpassed Yahoo Music as the number-one streaming music site on the … Read more

Scarlett Johansson album debuts on Imeem

If you simply can't wait for Anywhere I Lay My Head, the album of Tom Waits covers as sung by sultry actress Scarlett Johansson, you're in luck. Although it isn't in full release until next week, social-media site Imeem is streaming the album live in advance.

You can't actually download it, but you can listen to the whole thing for free, and judge whether she does justice to the Waits classics or just totally botches them. As a Tom Waits fan, I'm curious to find out.

Streaming-music sites have become a hot spot for album … Read more