the 404 show

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- The Valve Steam Box is coming.

- How HBO will tackle "Game of Thrones" piracy.

- The Last of Us has a unique plotline with clicking mushroom people.… Read more

With Justin Yu still under the weather, The 404 Show once again experiments with Joe Kaminski filling in. We consider ourselves very lucky to have a guest with super-powers on our program. The first power is his knack for going on obscenely long tangents about the most meaningless of topics. The second is the ability to give spoiler-free movie reviews, more specifically of The Amazing Spiderman, which was just released.

Next it's off to a discussion on Android and the fact that only 10-percent of those devices have Ice Cream Sandwich running on them. What's even more confusing is that Jelly Bean (ICS' successor) was just released last week. It's arguably the most annoying Android reality, so we weigh its pros and cons.

Finally, we touch on EA's recent statement that the company will soon be distributing games 100-percent digitally. This shouldn't be much of a surprise, since EA already goes out of the way to combat used game sales (see EA Online Pass).

But perhaps the most exciting news of the day is the introduction of the official 404 trucker hat (pictured above). These bad boys will be available should you come and hang out with us at ComicCon 2012. All the info you need is here. We also highly recommend participating on CNET's ComicCon Twitter Contest for your chance to win a game console. … Read more

Filling in for a Justin Yu who thinks his air conditioner got him sick is the wild card Joey Kaminksi, a man who can apparently talk about -- in painfully great detail -- tipping etiquette in and around New York City. We love Joey for his tangential speaking habits, but also because he lends us his unique skew on the important matters of the day -- that and the fact that he brought us a Google Nexus 7 tablet for us to play with.

Do you have a game plan if you ever left your phone behind in a cab? Our producer Ariel Nunez tells the tale of such a predicament. Does Ariel get the phone back? Or is he forced to plop down $500 on a new device in addition to non-defective shorts?

The 404 crew also dishes out the dirt that saw multiple Web sites and services go down over the weekend including enormous time-suckers Netflix, Instagram, and Pinterest. How did planet Earth go 45 minutes without commenting on a sepia-filtered photo of your dessert? Find out inside!

Make sure you start your holiday week on the right foot by listening to these stories and so much more on today's show! … Read more

Wilson is out today. He's supposedly covering the New York auto show for CNET TV, but we suspect that he's at home still trying to get the Cheeseburger Doritos flavor off his tongue from yesterday's episode. We aren't mad at him either, because Natali Del Conte steps into his shoes to sort out a few stories on today's episode, starting with a short explanation behind that "PC Load Letter" message you've probably seen on your office printer.

Immortalized in the classic scene from Office Space, Michael Bolton probably wouldn't have been so pissed if CNET's prestigious printer Editor Justin Yu was around to show him that "PC Load Letter" means you have to load letter-size paper into the Paper Cassette. It's that simple, now put the bat down.

The next story might not be so easy to explain. "Security experts" suspect that terrorists have plans to smuggle explosives onto planes using bombs in fake breast implants. Since you can apparently hide up to five ounces of pentaerythritol tetrabitrate (yes, from "Die Hard 3"), airline officials will likely start more "in-depth" examinations of women that have undergone breast augmentation surgery. No, this is not a ploy by Wilson G. Tang to make some money on the side, but we're still wondering if it's possible to feel the difference between silicone and pentaerythritol tetrabitrate..."Oh my!"

Some people just can't have a conversation online without punctuating their thoughts with a silly emoticon. In fact, as Natali tells us, there's even a new emoticon out now that conveys sarcasm! Theo Watson adds his own twist on the funny faces with a new Auto Smiley program that uses a Web cam to automatically insert a smileycon into whatever program you're using. You can download the app and source code here and enjoy your hands-free smiling!

Keep the e-mails and voice mails coming everyone! Call us up at 1-866-404-CNET or send a message to the404(at)cnetcom and let us know what's on your mind. We're starting to read listener e-mails on the air now, so make them good! As always, sticker pictures are appreciated as well, and don't forget about Steve Guttenberg's ongoing "Audiophillie" awards--we've already received submissions but you still have plenty of time to send yours in before the April 12 deadline, so get to work!

We usually scold Wilson for eating while we're on the air, but today we're making an exception so that we can taste test  Jeff's horrific supermarket find: Cheeseburger-flavored Doritos! Who knew that harnessing the sinewy flavor of cooked beef and artificial cheese would be such a catastrophe?

It takes the three of us a few minutes to recover from the explosion of McNausea, but we get it together and move onto the big Apple news of the day: while many Appleheads are still clamoring over the forthcoming iPad release, the rumor mill is also churning about the fourth-generation iPhone that will supposedly be named the iPhone HD for its 960x640-pixel resolution screen. Other features to look out for include a front-facing camera for video calls and an software update that allows for application multitasking. Our own Apple fanboy Wilson G. Tang contributes his own concerns about battery life and network robustness, and also gives us permission to tattoo a half-full hourglass on his face if his predictions are incorrect.

The latest tech trend to hit Japan is called "Ringtone Therapy" that promises the cure for fay fever and obesity by using simple sounds through your phone. Japanese citizens suffering from stuffiness, runny noses, and sneezing from the pollen in the air can call a service that emits noises that supposedly releases the pollen in your sinuses if the user holds the phone up to their nose. You know what else is good for protecting your sinuses? Not holding foreign objects up to your nose.

We can't thank Steve Fatone and Props Guy Jim enough for all the work they've done for the show. Whether it's the Official 404 Temporary Tattoos, NDC's Motherboard action figure, The 404 hoverboard from BTTF, or the Yu Be Gone spray repellent, these guys are a tremendous asset to the show and we're honored to have them as friends. Thanks again, guys! Let us know if there's anything we can do to return the favor, keeping in mind that Wilson is no longer allowed to attend children's birthday parties.

Finally, be sure to tune into the second half of the show for Calls From the Public plus a couple E-Mails From the Public! Keep sending your comments, questions, critiques, and sticker pictures to the 404(at)cnet{dot}com and you might be on a future episode of The 404!

… Read more

It might be thirty years since you've even thought about Pong, the earliest video arcade game, but believe it or not, the ancient two-dimensional tennis sports game is making a comeback in 2010.

On today's episode of The 404 Podcast, we discuss the future of video games and how students at the Imperial College in London are developing a pair of special glasses that allows players to control paddle movement using their eye movements! The new technology holds particular promise for people with physical disabilities that might soon get the chance to join the gaming community. The glasses are fitted with infrared light sensors and a webcam that links a laptop to the player's eyes, and although the hardware only costs $35 to make, the eye movement system itself costs around $36,000, so don't expect to control Modern Warfare with your eyes anytime soon.

The big news of CTIA 2010 is Sprint announcing the HTC Evo 4g, the first available handset to run 4G in the US. Its list of accolades is impressive and blows away the competition: 4.3-inch display, micro-USB port, 8.3-megapixel rear facing camera in addition to a VGA lens on the front for video calls, and perhaps the most impressive--a kickstand! So far Sprint has rolled out its 4g network in 27 cities and plans to expand to NYC, Boston, D.C., SF, and more by the end of the year. The HTC Evo 4g certainly grabs our interests, but Jeff is shaking at the prospect of a phone worthy of replacing his 8th Palm Pre. Could this be the one? We'll get CNET's Cell Phone Editor Bonnie Cha in the studio soon to get the inside scoop.

Both of those stories plus an family-sized Calls From The Public on today's episode of The 404 Podcast!

… Read more

It's been way too long, but CNET's own Molly Wood is back for a special cross-coastal episode of The 404! We chat with Molly about what she's been up to lately, including a new Molly Rants blog on CNET and her recent conversation with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. She also hints at future CNET Conversation guests, so stay up on CNET TV for the latest news.

Molly is a perfect fit for The 404--don't believe us? Check out the latest episode of The Buzz Report for a ridiculous "study" from the U.K. Guardian that links syphilis outbreaks to Facebook! "Professor" Peter Kelly, the director of public health for the town of Teesside, links a sudden increase of syphilis in students to their propensity toward the popular social networking Web site , and that is the only evidence he offers. We're still struggling to draw the connection ourselves, but suddenly MySpace doesn't seem that bad after all.

The latest Burger King ad campaign is blowing our minds--apparently they're sponsoring Digg.com's 404 page with an ad for the $1 Burger King Double Cheeseburger that will appear when users type in a query with no results. The exact message, according to WalletPop reads, "No results for 'Your Search Error' were found. Looks like your search had a typo. Blame it on your tiny hands. The beefy $1 Burger King Double Cheeseburger gives tiny hands some trouble, too." Sponsoring an error page sounds counterintuitive for Digg since we assume that most of its users are tech-savvy. Maybe they'd have more success sponsoring Twitter's Fail Whale page.

Stick around for plenty more stories about the world's hottest chili pepper, cellphone etiquette, amateur snapshots from space, and, of course, we wouldn't let Molly leave without giving us a little taste of her famous nerd voice. Have a great weekend everyone!

404-listener Blake Stevenson heard us fanning out on The Sandlot during yesterday's episode, so he whipped up a 404ified poster for today's blog image. Thanks Blake!

It's almost the end of the work week, so Natali Del Conte is on the show and she's bringing the dirty starting with the queen of filthy pop, Lady Gaga. According to video analytics company Visible Measures, the diva has just become the first artist ever to achieve one billion online video views thanks to her three hit singles: Poker Face, Just Dance, and Bad Romance. If you're new to Gaga fandom, you have a lot of homework to do, because the one billion doesn't even count her live performances, video diaries, and popular interviews--not to mention her upcoming 3D concert DVD. Speaking of which, anyone have extra tickets to the sold-out MSG show in July?

On a completely unrelated note, law enforcement can now expose and track pedophiles by their typing habits. Apparently the typing speed and rhythms of these predators are unique and researching are currently investigating ways to identify the typist's age, sex, and culture within TEN KEYSTROKES! We're fully backing any new methods that put these idiots behind bars, but with no explanation of exactly how pedophiles type, we can't help but be skeptical with their findings. How about casting a smaller net and focusing on the dude asking for a WEP password at Chuck E. Cheese?

Be sure to stick around to hear Natali and the guys debunk 5 myths about the male body, starting with this foolish rumor about shoe size. The days of being too ashamed to ask a shoe salesperson for your size 7 loafers are over!

All this and more stories guaranteed to leave a bitter taste in your mouth, plus a new "E-mails From the Public" segment that forces us to question our potty-mouth promos. Talk to you tomorrow!

If you couldn't tell by the hockey picture and the well-placed Sandlot quotation in the title, today's episode of The 404 Podcast celebrates Jeff's 28th birthday! Wilson and I are fully prepared to light up a string of firecrackers for Bakalar, but our third host is less than enthused about his age, so leave a comment and wish him a very happy birthday, will you?

Most of the stories we talk about on The 404 highlight the absurdity of the Internet, but today is different. We're taking a different approach, starting with a feel-good story about a Mom-made iPhone Pillow.

Lynda Harrison began the project when her son, Drew Olanoff of #blamedrewscancer, began chemotherapy for Hodgkin's Disease. Drew says his iPhone kept him alive and connected during treatment, but we'll take a handmade version of the real thing any day, especially since the fluffy model has a LOLCATS button and a side pocket that fits an iPhone. Don't forget to hug your moms, everyone.

OK, let's get back to our regularly scheduled programming. A new service called GameCrush offers romantically inept gamers a chance to pay for a play date with an "attractive" girl over a Webcam via Xbox Live and games like MW2, GOW2, GTAIV, and Halo 3.

Sony fans, Nintendo addicts, and desperate nongamers alike can still indulge their inner creep with a second option that lets you set up play dates with simple Flash games like checkers and chess. This NSFW gallery on Kotaku shows a few of the options you can choose for your opponent and gives new meaning to "first-person shooter." Also, I'm pretty sure No. 7 is a straight-up dude.

Twitterers will love the next stories because they show exactly how stupid or useful the service can be, depending on the application. SleepingTime.org adds another dimension to Internet stalking--it lets you track the sleep patterns of any Twitter user based on the time when he or she is least active on Twitter. Watch the segment in the video version of the podcast below to see exactly how well this doesn't work.

On the other hand, Huffington Post founder Jonah Peretti found a way to use Twitter creatively by resurrecting one of our favorite books of yore, Choose Your Own Adventure! Jonah's truncated version of the game takes the words off the page and packages the scenarios into 140 characters that you can play online. If you're too impatient to run through all two of the possibilities, just head over to Jonah's Twitter homepage and see the results for yourself.

Thanks for listening, everyone, and keep sending your e-mails to the404(at)cnet[dot]com; we're going to start reading selected messages on the air in addition to playing voice mails. See? We really DO care! Now where's our 404 pillow?