trent reznor

Beats' curated music service heading for summer launch

DANA POINT, Calif.--Jimmy Iovine has worked as a producer with everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Lady Gaga over his 40-year career, and is currently chairman of Interscope Geffen-A&M. As a second, or companion, act he cofounded the popular Beats by Dr. Dre headphone company in 2006 because he thought the iPod earbuds were terrible.

"If Beats did anything, it got kids interested in audio again. We turned an entire generation on to sound," Iovine said in conversation with Walt Mossberg at the AllThingsD Dive Into Media conference here.

But his third act is even bolder … Read more

Trent Reznor: Zuckerberg no genius like Jobs

We all need geniuses to aspire to, just as we need fools to decry.

Yet we each have our own criteria as to who might climb our personal genius pedestal and who might merely wipe it for hallowed feet to have a clean surface.

Trent Reznor, once of Nine Inch Nails and now co-composer of the score to "The Social Network," is clear about Apple CEO Steve Jobs being a genius and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg being a wiper.

"When I see the media heralding Zuckerberg, putting him up on a pedestal of genius and mentioned in … Read more

Radiohead loves Web but sees shortcomings

Colin Greenwood, bassist for British rock band Radiohead, has opined on the state of digital music since the unprecedented Internet release in 2007 of the group's album, "In Rainbows."

Greenwood makes clear in a blog post that Radiohead members, famous for such hit songs as "Creep" and "Fake Plastic Trees," remain fans of the Web's ability to connect artists directly to audiences while cutting out traditional middlemen, such as music labels, radio stations, and journalists.

But Greenwood also argues that at this stage of development in digital music, technology hasn't effectively … Read more

The 404 617: Where if you can't stand the heat, get into an air-conditioned broadcast studio (podcast)

Ace reporter Caroline McCarthy of CNET's The Social blog joins The 404 today, while Justin is apparently out on a road trip with his little brother and jumping out of airplanes. We have a (chill) blast with her on today's show, because we are not outside! It's one degree colder today in New York City than it was yesterday, but it's still a balmy 99 degrees outside!

Caroline surprises us with the FitBit, which apparently is "clipped to that thing." The FitBit is a sleep and activity monitor that clips on to the user. … Read more

Trent Reznor composing score for 'The Social Network'

The powerful array of talent behind "The Social Network," the upcoming movie about the origins of Facebook, continues to grow larger: Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor has announced that he is composing the film's score.

"It's really f***ing good. And dark!" Reznor wrote in a post on the Nine Inch Nails Web site on Friday. "I'm happy to tell you we're nearing the completion of this and I couldn't be happier with how it's turned out. The level of excellence that (director David Fincher) operates on … Read more

Trent Reznor is a Twitter quitter

When a pioneer of social networking turns his back on a social network, is this the beginning of a creeping social apocalypse?

Trent Reznor, frontman of Nine Inch Nails, Webby award winner, and generally interesting chap, has closed his Twitter account.

In June, Reznor declared that as far as social networking is concerned: "I'm out."

And though he briefly returned to microblog about the final, ultimate, totally farewell Nine Inch Nails tour, he has now shut the doors to Twitterdom.

Certain fans, he declared on the NIN blog in June, were driving him out: "Looks like … Read more

Trent Reznor: 'So you want to make money on the Web'

For those who have yet to grok the Open Core business model, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame will sing it to you. In a series of forum entries, Reznor explains exactly how to build a music business on the Web and, in the process, classically defines Open Core, the primary business model for open-source software, too.

Reznor writes:

Forget thinking you are going to make any real money from record sales. Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY. As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth … Read more

Trent Reznor on social networking: I'm out

For Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, social networking is not working.

Which might seem strange to hear from a man who was presented this week with a special achievement award at the Webbys.

Still, in a blog post written Wednesday, Reznor seems to have come to an emotional fork in the road with Web 2.0. And he's decided to stick the fork in it.

"I will be tuning out of the social networking sites because at the end of the day it's now doing more harm than good in the bigger picture and the … Read more

Reznor nails his way back into App Store

Well, Apple has finally approved an update to the official iPhone app for industrial-rock band Nine Inch Nails, after previously rejecting it due to objectionable content pertaining to the band's 1994 album "The Downward Spiral." No changes were made from the rejected version

Maybe Apple relented just to shut up NIN frontman Trent Reznor, whose bloggy rant against Apple was pretty much the equivalent of trashing Steve Jobs' hotel room. Not only did he tell Apple to "think your policies through and for f***'s sake get your app approval scenario together," good heavens, he … Read more

The 404 335: Where we get a wet rub from the Food Dude

It's been almost a year since our favorite chef, the Food Dude Kevin Roberts, has graced The 404. Kevin has once again brought us the magic that is Frank's Red Hot and shows us the tech behind perfectly saucing a batch of chicken wings.

We chat with Kevin about some tips on eating well during these tough times and how shockingly easy it is to save money at the grocery store. Kevin also dishes out some of the dirt on his new sponsors and how his own show is in the works.

The second half of the show we dedicate to some questionable applications on the App Store. Trent Reznor is calling Apple the new Wal-Mart because of its questionable censorship practices regarding a Nine Inch Nails application. Next, we laugh at the idea of Sarah Palin on Twitter and Justin explains how your high school yearbook photo tells a lot more than just what was in style at the time.

We're still accepting Star Trek Photoshop submissions for a chance to see the film a day earlier with us in NYC! We've had a lot of great ones so far, so check out the competition below and be sure to send all of your creations to the404 [at] cnet [dot] com. As always, leave us a voicemail, 866-404-CNET.

EPISODE 335 Download today's podcast | Subscribe in iTunes | Subscribe in RSS… Read more