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The 404 727: Where we're breaking snowballs (podcast)

It's the last full week of the 404 Podcast and before we take off for the holidays Mark Licea comes in to help us out with the story rundown that includes a review of 'Black Swan,' a 'Tron'-inspired hotel in Sweden, and what you need to know about the Gawker security breach!

Justin Yu Associate Editor / Reviews - Printers and peripherals
Justin Yu covered headphones and peripherals for CNET.
Justin Yu
3 min read

Watch this: Ep. 727: Where we're breaking snowballs


Natali Portman as the Black Swan http://clatl.com

It's the last full week of the 404 Podcast before we take off for the holidays, and Mark Licea comes in to help us out with the story rundown that includes the weekend box office with a spoiler-free review of "Black Swan," a "Tron"-inspired hotel room in Sweden, and this weekend's Gawker security breach.

Also, be sure to join us after the break when we open a present from a special listener and introduce a new host on the show!

The online Web publisher Gawker Media is the latest victim of a security compromise that exposed the passwords of over 200,000 users last weekend.

The tech news and gossip site told its readers about the security breach in a blog post that urges all registered users to change their log-ins and passwords, especially if they use the same password for multiple accounts online.

A group of hackers called Gnosis took credit for the hack and has made all 200,000 passwords available for download on The Pirate Bay. Their motivations are still unclear, but Gawker may have brought the attack on itself after a blog posted last week mocking the group's hacking skills.

Gawker says it's in the process of improving security to prevent further breaches, but who knows how long that will take. And in other very serious hacking news, be sure to change your e-mail passwords if you subscribed to the McDonalds e-mail list, because that got hacked, too.

U.K. designers Ben Rousseau and Ian Douglas-Jones of Extreme Design are the masterminds behind a "Tron"-inspired hotel room made entirely out of ice and snow.

Located in Jukkasjaviri, Sweden, the hotel rooms look like they're cut directly from the movie, replete with lighting technology built right into the ice to recreate the laser motifs. Rousseau and Douglas-Jones are both "massive fans" of the "Tron" movies, and drew much of their inspiration from the 3D update's unique nightclub scene involving Daft Punk, who also scored the film.

Go see "Black Swan" as soon as you can. The ballet-themed thriller is directed by Daren Aronofsky, who also masterminded "Pi," "Requiem for a Dream," and "The Wrestler," and stars Natalie Portman as a dancer slowly losing her mind from the pressures of her company and a lead role in an updated version of "Swan Lake." This episode is spoiler free, so check out the trailer and see it for yourself!

We're in the process of recording several holiday episodes that will air while we're on vacation, but we need your help for ideas! Shoot us an e-mail at the404(at)cnet(dot)com with your favorite 404 episodes from 2010 and any questions for the hosts.

They can be personal or work-related, or anything else you'd like to know about me, Jeff, or Wilson! We'll send our thanks on the air if we choose your question, but be sure to either write "Favorite 404 episode from 2010" or "Question for The 404" in the subject line to make sure it gets read. Thanks!

Episode 727

Podcast


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