Ep. 1396: Where we're one step closer to Instabook

-Hey, what's going on, everybody? It's Thursday, December 5th, 2013. Thanks for tuning in to The 404 Show on CNET. I'm Justin Yu. -And I'm Bridget Carey. -I'm Ariel Nunez. -All right. What's going on you guys? Thanks for tuning in to this Thursday episode. How are you doing, Bridget? -The week is going by so fast. -I know. I know it's kind of a sure week. -There's only so many days until Christmas and it's just making me a little panicked. That's all I'm saying. -Although-- -I'm a little short of breath. -Let me say this, it's very refreshing to have a co-host up here with me that's actually into Christmas-- -Oh-- -into the holiday season-- -Oh,-- -'cause, normally, Jeff is here, and I mean, you know, normally, he doesn't really celebrate Christmas too much anyway,-- -Yeah. -but he's also not a holiday spirit type of person, so-- -You have-- -it's nice to hear that enthusiasm. -You have no idea like how much into it I am. -Yeah. -I was one of those kids with the houses that like people stop, get out of their car-- -Uh-huh. -to go look at the lights. Like, I'm a little-- I'm a little too much into it. But-- -Yeah. You're telling us in the previous show that, around this time every year, you start setting your alarm clock to Mariah Carey. -Oh, yeah. -Right? -Oh, I was just saying how much I love the-- -Who doesn't? -all-time best Christmas song ever, "All I Want-- -It's great. -for Christmas is You," and she was-- -Uh-huh. -performing live for the Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting last night. -Uh-huh. -I was watching it. Got goosebumps. She's like, all she can do for the rest of her life is just sing that song, I'll be a happy person. -She never has to record another song again [unk]. -Yeah. I wouldn't ask her to do anything else. She is just-- That's just the perfect song. -Did you actually attend it in person yesterday-- -That's a-- -at the Rockefeller Center or view it on the TV. -That's-- I don't deal with the madness. It's fine to watch it on TV. I heard people were waiting there since like 2 o'clock, but it doesn't end until 9 o'clock. Like-- -Right. -what do they do for the bathroom? Like, okay, I don't want to deal with something like that. -Yeah. I'm into it. Every time, around this time of year, they always do the Union Square Holiday Market over on 14th Street. -Oh, I love the little shoppes. -Love walking it through there. It's the best. -And Bryant Park little shoppes. -Uh-huh. -Yeah, everything's cinnamon flavored. -Yeah. -Love it. -What about you, Ariel? Are you a big Christmas guy? -Oh, totally, man. I get into the spirit every year. -Yeah. -Yeah. -I mean, it's just nice 'cause it's like the only time in the year when New Yorkers are actually kind of nice to each other. -Yes, true. -And-- I mean, not super nice. They don't go overboard or anything, but you could tell. There's like a little bit of levity in the air. -For sure. -I'll tell you why. It's because the cold is still cute. -Yes. -You know, it's like-- -Yeah. -Oh, it's the reason for like the snow and it's nice. And-- -Yeah. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. -And then, by the time, February gets around, it's like-- -Oh, yeah. -like there is no reason-- there is no reason to be jolly anymore. -Yeah. -Yeah. -It's just-- -Kind of hating life. -cold, you know. -Yeah, for sure. -So, like, it gets tiresome. -I actually bought my first regular-sized Christmas tree last week. -Nice. -Yeah, it was cool. -Congratulations. -I felt like so accomplished. -We're talking about a real pine Christmas tree, right? -Oh, not like real, but real-sized. -Oh, okay. -You know, it's fake, but-- -A plastic Christmas tree. -Yeah, yeah. -See, it's hard. -Okay. -Like, there's not any places to store it in smaller apartments. So, I bought my first real tree when I came to New York-- -Uh-huh. -Uh-huh. -because I didn't have a place to store my fake tree. -Right. -And it's harder here. You don't always have a car. We carried ours home from the Home Depot. -Oh, manly. -I mean, there's something really special about that, though, I mean, who's from someone-- -Special, sticky-- -from California, had never done that before. -and yeah, messy,-- -Yeah. -Yeah. -but it is special. -That's great. It's cool. We'll be careful. I mean, I don't know, but our Christmas trees some time present a danger in the house during this time of the year. -Oh, really? -Reports about people's houses burning down, which is a huge damper on my holiday spirit, but-- -Wait. Well, you know, originally,-- -Just be careful. -Christmas trees had real candles on them before there were, like, strings of lights. -Yeah. -That's where it came from. -Yeah. -So, people, I'm sure, always burn down their houses with real candles on their tree. -Yeah. -Yeah. -I always walk by, like, you know, the sidewalk Christmas tree sales-- -Uh-huh. -that they have in the East Village and they always have those like small baby-sized like dorm room-- -Uh-huh. -Christmas trees. -Uh-huh. -I always like kinda wanna buy that, but I'm never sure if it will make my house more festive or more depressing. You know, like, once you get-- -Oh. -to a certain size, it just becomes kind of sad. -No, it's not. -No? -Nothing. -No. -I'm gonna get one. -Do it. -Yeah? -Yeah, do it. -Okay. All right, it's a deal. -Uh-huh. -All right. Well, we do have a really great show today. So, I wanna get right into the stories. We've got stories about the future of Instagram,-- -Uh-huh. -what the malls in the future are gonna look like, and all the crazy stuff you're gonna put on your body, wearable tech that maybe we should rethink. So, it's gonna be a great show today. I wanna get into it. Bridget, tell us about what's going on with Instagram. -I brought something to show and tell. -Yep. -So, today, in the snail mail sent by FedEx, I got a package from the folks at Instagram wrapped in a nice little bow. -Uh-huh. -In the box was a paper invite saying, "Hey, we're having an event next week on the 12th. Come by to hear more about what it is." -Uh-huh. -And included was a 4-inch block of wood. It's about a little over-- a little under an inch thick. -Uh-huh. -And-- -Hold that up there. -Yeah. I'm gonna hold this up here for the camera. But it has a photo printed on it. On the corner, there's like a little Instagram logo. -Uh-huh. -And that's it. That's your hint. You can hang it up. There's a little place to hang it up. -That's so weird. Okay. -But it's a random photo. Another colleague, Ciara, also got one and we were commenting, like, "Okay. So, does this mean that they're hinting that they're gonna start selling a way to print your own photos and-- -Uh-huh. -have a way to present them in the house and both of them were really great quality. -Uh-huh. -Yeah. -Like, it's a little fuzzy-- -Uh-huh. -and I'm thinking, like,-- -I've got one here. -if this is like your time to like shine, yeah-- Yeah, show off another one. -Yeah. There you go. -That's the one that Ciara got. They're odd photos, and on top of that, they're kind of grainy, I would say. -Well, the thing about the grain is I can't tell if it's supposed to be grainy because it's a crappy filtered photo you'd put on Instagram. You know, it's like a filter on it. -Right. -It does sort of look like heffy to me on the wood. But then, I also can't tell if it's that or the actual grain of the wood that's making it bad quality. -I-- Looking at the one I have which is more of a brighter color, I-- -Yeah. -Yeah, you're right. Is it a filter? But still like the people in it are--all the details are just a little fuzzy-- -Yeah. -and I go, "How much would I pay for this plus having a strange little Instagram logo on the corner?" -Uh-huh. -I don't know if that was on just for the press-sake-- -Yeah. -or maybe this has nothing to do with the announcement at all. -Yeah. -There's so many ways to print your Instagram photos. -Printstagram, I've seen a lot of people using it sort of like to [unk] -There was even a story that they-- that you can print it on food, like marshmallows. I mean, you can print-- -Oh. Yeah, we talked about that on the show. -You can do whatever you want. If you have the photo, there's all sorts of ways to get it printed. So, are they getting into this or are they just trying to-- -Yeah. -be cute. Why would they send me a random photo if they're just trying to be cute? I don't know. -Right. -But this could be something that they're announcing next week. I don't know how much would you pay for that. It's 4 inches. -Yeah. -It's not-- -It sort of looks like something a high school kid would make in a wood shop class for his mom. -Oh, you know,-- I mean, I know you can get-- Yeah, you can go to like the drug store and get something on a mug, you know. -Right. Yeah, this is-- -You can get pictures on anything. -Exactly. -I don't know. I don't think I'd pay too much for that-- -Uh-huh. -maybe 5 bucks. I just don't feel like-- -Yeah. -it enhances an art, right? -Right. -Because of the fact that it's not really sharp. -It is a really big industry, though, right? I'll put in your Instagram photos into real life objects. -Uh-huh. -It seems kind of cheesy, but it-- I mean, like, it's kind of something that you'll get for Mother's Day or graduation present. -But why Instagram only? You could just do any photo on anything. -Right. -Like, I remember I went to CVS and they had like a little kid's picture on a plate like a-- -Yeah. -like a dinner plate. I'm like you could do anything. -Right. -But people, I guess, just are in love with the whole, like, "But it's Instagram." -Uh-huh. -Uh-huh. -Well, what do you think that Instagram should do for updates? Because I mean, this plus the fact that they sent the message this morning by FedEx, I think it's safe to assume that, you're right, it's gonna be a print version of your Instagram photos. -Uh-huh. -But I do feel like the actual app, the software, there's a lot to improve there. You know, I would love it if you could, you know, maybe, save photos, right? -Uh-huh. -Or maybe like a Regram button would be really nice so that you won't have to take a screenshot of it. You know, do you have any friends-- -Yes. -that do that? -Yeah. -In order to Regram something that another friend has posted, they'll screenshot it, then crop it, then re-upload that to Instagram,-- -Yeah. -and then they just pick on this like a copy of a copy. -Yeah, yeah. -That's a terrible quality photo. -That's a little-- That's a little awkward. You know,-- -Yeah. -there's been some reports that they wanna do private messaging. -Right. Yeah. -Because of that-- obviously, that's big now. People are using the apps instead of just texting folks' photos, you know. -Sure. -So, that could be something they talk about also, maybe at the same time. -I don't get that. Yeah. There were-- There were some rumors about private messaging coming out for each individual photo,-- -Uh-huh. -so if you like something, but then somehow have a comment that you wouldn't want publicly displayed-- -I'm not gonna-- -and you send the message? -I'm not gonna-- I'm not gonna go through all that trouble. If I got a-- -Yeah. -private photo, guess what? I text it. -Yeah. -It's what-- I mean, I know people love snapshot and all these things, but-- -Right. -I'm just gonna do the quicker thing. I'm sorry. -Right. -And it just seems to me, like, Instagram is kind of becoming a little too much like Facebook. You know, like, maybe, they'll have-- -Well, they are Facebook. -Yeah. Maybe, they'll have private messaging, and then after that, there'll be a way to have clickable links in your Instagram photo-- -Yeah. -or maybe they'll have, you know, media that you can post instead of just photos. And then, it will just become Facebook. -Well, you-- -What are we really doing here? -And you gotta wonder, okay, people love it when it comes to like the old fashion about it and it's-- -Uh-huh. -kind of fun to print photos, but will this take off? Remember, Apple cards? -Yeah. That's right. -That didn't do so well, but I love-- -Oh, I hate that. -the concept. It was a really easy way of sending a postcard or a-- -Uh-huh. -or a greeting card. If you're out somewhere, you take the photo and type your message and it gets mailed with a stamp and address and everything to that person. -Uh-huh. -I mean, what a great thing to do if you're on vacation or if you forgot a birthday and you wanna do something fun. -Right. -But it didn't take off and they cancelled it. So, people still aren't really into taking the time and maybe to spend enough to make it worth it for this companies. -Right. You know, I think a lot of times, they just don't know how to, you know, maybe, manipulate the photo or do something to make it look good. -Uh-huh. -You know, a lot of times, people that aren't photographers obviously are gonna be on Instagram. And if their pictures don't look great, then-- I don't know, it just seems like there's a lot of-- a lot of holes to get through before we get there. -Yeah. -Wasn't there a way that you can print out photo albums through iPhoto on Apple? -Yes. Yes. They still have that. You can use the software on your computer to like do all that stuff when it comes to like making books-- -Uh-huh. -and you could still make cards that way too. I just meant like, when it came to the app itself,-- -Right. Kind of sloppy. -so, they have a lot of options for books definitely. And there's still other apps out there that do the card thing. -Uh-huh. -And I can't think of it right now. I think I'll do a little Google search and see it. I know it's a card app that just as postcards,- -Uh-huh. I kind of like that. That's cool. -yeah, you know, it's definitely-- that's the kind of stuff that I think is kinda neat when you're on vacation. -Right, right. All right. So, if you wanna-- -Ink Card. It's called Ink Cards. -Ink Cards. Okay. -Yeah. -Go and check that out. So, the Instagram event, I don't know if either of us will be there, but we'll certainly be reporting on it. -Oh, yeah. I got-- I got an invite on that. -You're gonna be there? -Yes. -Okay. -So, I'll be there along with Ciara on our news team and-- -Okay. -Yeah, that's on the 12th in the morning. So, we'll find-- you'll find out by the time you do the show. -Okay. Yeah, maybe, we'll have you back on the show when that day rolls around. All right. So, that's what's up with Instagram. I wanna also talk about the mall of the future because Donna Tam-- -The mall of the future. -This is a great-- I mean, I kind of like this article and it shows sort of how maybe future holiday shopping will be. -I hate this article. Come on. -You hate this art-- okay, all right. -I hate this article. -So, this will make a good segment, a little point/counterpoint thing. So, CNET's reporter, Donna Tam, she sort of profiles this new store concept inside the Westfield Shopping Mall. You've been in there,-- -Oh, yeah, for sure. -in San Francisco, right? -Uh-huh. -In downtown San Francisco. -Uh-huh. -And the idea is that eBay will soon open up these digital storefronts with these giant touchscreens. So you could see Donna interacting with that. Oh, I'm sorry, that's not Donna. That's a different woman. But she's interacting with this giant touchscreen on the window of these new storefronts that let you sort of virtually browse products. It looks like a giant tablet or iPhone screen. And of course, it's touchscreen. There's gonna be cameras on top of the actual ad. Those are Kinect cameras and they'll point at you and sort of determine what types of ads attract the most people as they walk by. Kind of scary. -Kind of stupid. -But-- Kind of stupid in Bridget's opinion. -Kind of a gimmick. -Okay. What do you think? -All right. First off,-- -It'll seem like a backwards concept, right? -It's absolutely backwards if you're at the mall. If you got your butt off the couch and went to the mall, you wanna touch the products in person. But what these are? To put a little more perspective, I looked more into it after first just being, you know, annoyed with the whole concept. -Sure. -They're big ads. -Yeah. -And so, they'll be flying by products, and if you get close enough, they're gonna want you to like touch to learn more-- -Right. -and to order. -Uh-huh. -Now, that part-- I don't think anyone's gonna be ordering. But-- -Yeah. -I could see how a giant screen that's as big as a wall is gonna get your attention because something's flying by and-- -Uh-huh. -you know, that makes sense. Cool. Use the screen for a cool ad. I've seen that done in the malls like-- you know, in New York too. -Yeah. Uh-huh. -But how far are you really going to go, "Oh, let me see what kind of sweater I want,"-- -Right. -you know, and there's an example from Sony. Sony has one. And then to go pick up your order, you go downstairs to the actual store. -Right. -Just go to the store. You know, like-- -Yeah. -and it feels like how awkward is it when, like, you know, you're in a hurry, there's a lot of crowds, like, "Are you really shopping on your screen like in front of everyone?" -Right. -You know, on some of them, when it gets to that point, if you really do wanna buy it, if you're that crazy, you have to type in your phone number and you-- -Yeah, if you eventually get to the ordering process. -If you get to that part. -Yeah. -You type in your phone number on the screen-- -Uh-huh. -and then it sends like a link to your phone so you can go and put your credit card information in private, so you're not-- But-- -Right. -Okay. I think it's cute when these big screens do things to get your attention. I saw some kids playing with one where it uses face recognition software in a camera. -Uh-huh. -So, you stick your face and then it's like a mirror screen and it puts sunglasses on you and you're like, "Oh, what do these look like on me?" -Yeah. -And then, it's a funny thing to think about and it stays with you 'cause you laughed about it and you walked away. -Right. -It's sort of like a photo booth type, you know. -It's-- Exactly. -I could see that-- I could see that catching up on it. Actually, these kiosks don't actually have that dressing-- virtual dressing with function built in which they should. I mean, that's a great idea. -They should have motion in some ways. -Yeah. -Like, one of them-- -Augmented reality, maybe. -One of them did say that-- -Uh-huh. -the items follow as you walk. -Right. -I thought like-- -That's a little terrifying. -No. That makes sense actually. -You like it? -It's an ad that's interactive, but don't give me the whole, like, "You can go shopping at the mall on the screen." -Right. -That's called at your phone already. -Yeah. -I'm just like-- like I just think these things are just a waste of space. -To be clear, they also say that they're gonna be putting these screens in places like bus stops and train stations and places outside of the mall where you don't typically have stores which kind of seems like a good idea, but shopping for stuff is a very private experience, you know, and trying something on virtually is an even more private experience. I don't know if people want to be doing this, you know, and-- -No. -what kind of stuff would you be shopping for when everyone else can see what you're looking at especially if you're in a phone. -Shopping isn't the thing. It isn't browsing for like-- -Yeah. -let me just sit and browse. No one's sitting and browsing. -Yeah. -You know, they're playing games with the-- maybe, they're interacting with something silly, maybe-- -Right. -maybe they wanna pull up a quick fact about something-- -Uh-huh. Uh-huh. -like, those screens where you can get news or quick direction somewhere,-- -Uh-huh. -but they're not spending time going, "Oh, I wanna get those pairs of shoes. They look so nice." -Yeah. -No. -Yeah. It's sort of funny. I mean, like, we've sort of started seeing pop-up shops come up for websites. -Uh-huh. -Like, a couple of months ago, we talked about that store, Bonobos or Bonobos. I don't know how to pronounce that. -I think I've heard it. Yeah. -But they're of eBay-- Oh, I'm sorry. They're a virtual store only. -Uh-huh. -So, you can only get to their marketplace online. They don't actually have a physical store, but a couple of months ago, they opened up a pop-up shop in New York and it was kind of a tease because they had all the products that were available online, but if you wanted to buy it, they'd be like, "Oh, you like it? Well, you can't have it right now, go home and then order, and we'll ship to you in a few days," which totally kind of negates the idea of shopping online in the first place. -Isn't that like that 40-Year-Old Virgin scene -Exactly. -where like you're at the eBay Store,-- -Exactly. -you can actually buy it from there. -Yeah, yeah. Exactly. -Oh. -I mean, I could see how, you know-- it will make sense for online shoppers that wanna try things on that they wouldn't wanna just order online first without actually seeing it in person. Like,-- -Uh-huh. -for example, Warby Parker, you know,-- -Uh-huh. -the online glass store. They had a pop-up shop so you could try on their glasses,-- -Yeah. -which is kind of smart. -Yeah. I will only buy things like that in person. -Yeah, for shoes where sizing discrepancies are an issue. Maybe, you don't want that. -All right. I don't wanna deal with returning. I'd rather do it in person. -Right. -I won't feel pressured to go, "Well, I guess it's good enough. -Right. -I won't go through the hassle of returning it." That's not-- That's not how I roll. I can't do that. -Yeah. -You know what? It's like cute extra thing to a digital storefront, but let's-- let's be real and not call it a shop. -Uh-huh. -That's all I'm saying. -Yeah. -Let's all be honest with ourselves. -I can also see that being a security issue too, because if you're wealthy enough to at least shop on a giant tablet screen in the middle of the city on public-- -And signs up for expensive stores like-- -Yeah. -cameras, like-- -Yeah. -like, I wanna get this $500 headphone set. -Yeah, exactly. -Oh, I'm gonna go downstairs to the Sony shop and get it. And they're like, "I'm gonna follow you." -Yeah. -Yeah. -If hackers don't take your credit card information, then real-life thieves definitely will. -Yeah. You're definitely a target. -Yeah. So, we'll see. And it's funny 'cause-- I mean, in this article, Donna actually got a quote from eBay's vice president of innovation and it talks about how the goal is basically "Minority Report." And I just wanted to bring that up like quickly as a side note as I feel like every time we talk about how the future is gonna be, "Minority Report" gets brought up. -Yeah. -I mean, there's gotta be of-- "Minority Report" is kind of a-- it's a few years old now. It's like a decade old. -It's a decade-old. [unk] -Yeah. There's gotta be newer-- -You know why? -movie that displaced that. -Because we don't-- I think it's the only movie where it's about like touching-- -Yeah. -and having hovering hands. -Yeah. -So, that's all we think about it. And in "Minority Report," the thing that stands out to me that's related to this-- -Uh-huh. -is having the ads talk to you when you walk by 'cause they stay on your eyeballs. -Right. -But it was always like, "Hey, don't you want this jacket?" -And there's-- -or like, "Hey, come in to the store." -there's just something ironic about, you know, real-life stores in modern days talking about how they wanna be like "Minority Report" which is basically a dystopia. Right? -Right. -I mean, that city is a model for how disconnected we need to be. -Right. How horrible that would be? -Right. So, why are we basing innovation of that? It doesn't make sense to me. That's kind of a side note. -Uh-huh. -But I like 40-Year-Old Virgin better and so a better reference. -Yeah. -All right. So, let's move on to a handful of examples for why wearable tech is a pile of garbage. -Now-- Right now, wearable tech is mostly fitness trackers you put on your wrist. You got the-- -Right. -You got the Google Glass. -We actually had a meeting this morning that we're using to plan CES-- -Uh-huh. -and everyone was kind of predicting that wearable tech is gonna be a huge thing this year. -It was kind of starting to crop up as pretty big last year. It's gonna be even bigger now, definitely. -Huge, huge. But I'm hoping that we get to see some of these ideas in action at CES. You wanna tell us about the first bad idea? -All right. All right. So, let's put this one up. So, Microsoft-- -This picture is so ridiculous. -Uh-huh. -Microsoft has teams-- -Woow. -that investigate a lot of things-- -They're back. -including a smart brassiere. -Brassiere. -And here on the screen, we have a-- -A lady with-- -lady with a bra. It looks like a normal bra, but it has sensors in it-- -Uh-huh. -to detect times of stress. -Uh-huh. -There's kind of EKG sensor in it? -Yeah. And that's a nice stuff you like track for like, you know, your heart rate, if you have like arrhythmia, you'll wear something like that or-- -That makes sense. -you know, and it also has a couple other, I guess, sensors in it too-- -Uh-huh. -that will kind of give you a head's up when you're giving your analysis. Like, you might have been stressed overeating. -Yeah. -It could tell like when your heart rate is up and when you're eating. It could-- like, it's able to sense a couple of factors and go, "Oh, you don't-- you're stressed out now. Think twice about going to the fridge." -Right. -Okay. That fact that they wanna test for over-- emotional overeating seemed a little like, why you gotta point out women's bras like-- -Yeah. That was-- Exactly. -There are so many things you can test with an EKG. -Uh-huh. -But we're going to the overeating because I was thinking about Ben & Jerry's. -Yeah. No. I completely agree with you. That was the big problem I have with these stories and it's sort of-- it's all marketing. It's marketing to women, and obviously, women are the only ones who get stressed out and not all women when they get stressed out overeat. -I rather put on my bra 'cause I know I'm not gonna behave today. -Yeah. And how do you even measure overeating? I mean, it does have an accelerometer in it, but-- I mean, this is just like that spoon, you know, that measures-- that has an accelerometer. -Yes. The HAPIfork. -It tells you when you're eating too much. -The HAPIfork is actually still kicking-- -Yeah. -because people, you know, I guess, have ordered enough for them to still stay afloat. -Yeah. -Right. -Well, if I were a woman, then I think I would be really offended by something like this. Why-- Why can't this just be a clip that you put on yourself? You know, like that you can clip on your-- maybe your shirt or something like that. -Absolutely. -I mean, they kind of have advertised it as needing to scratch in it. That's why they have it as an undergarment. But really, it doesn't need to be female specific. -Well. -They should just be anyone who gets stressed out. -I'm gonna-- I'm gonna throw something out there. -Uh-huh. -Okay. A lot of the wearable techs, some of them for workout,-- -Uh-huh. -they're like these bands you have to put around your whole entire, like, it's right under your bra. You gotta put them in for guys. It's around your chest for like detecting your heart rate when you're working out. Adidas had one a long time ago and so does Under Armour. -Yeah. -And I can see a need for-- Okay. Let me get my garment for when I workout or for when I wanna just track this in general or how my heart rate is doing throughout the day. -Right. -I think that it's good to have it, something that I can put into an existing garment. -Yeah, of course. -Yeah. Yeah. Like, you said, let me clip it on, let me buy a bra where I can decide if I wanna like stick it, you know, somewhere. I know some people actually wear their pedometers like when you have a dress and you'll have pants to hook it on to your belt. Some people put it on the back of their bra. -Right. -So, yeah. Okay. Fine. You know, you have tech and garments. Yeah, sure. They can go together. But this particular test didn't seem like-- -Yeah. -it would be something that people would buy. -It's a good idea, poor execution. -Yes. Thank you. -Yeah, totally. If in case you're wondering, though, they are developing a similar garment for men. They're saying that they kind of wanted it to be in the form of mens' underwear, a pair of boxer briefs, but the problem is that the nether region is a little bit too far from the heart to really measure your palpitations if you have them. And-- -It measures something, but how accurate it is-- -There is a joke to be made there. Let's move on before this show gets really dirty. This next-- This next idea is a little scary and it's something that's also wearable, but it's not an article of clothing. This is a smart wig. Sony recently filed a patent for a wearable computing device that you wear on your head and this is what it looks like. This is the actual patent. It's a wig hairpiece with hidden sensors in it. And those sensors emit a tactile feedback in the form of either a vibration or, get this, an electrical shock to let you know when you've gotten a text message or a phone call or an e-mail. It can also shock you when you're heading in the wrong direction too because it has GPS. So, if, you know, say, you're walking around or you have walking directions somewhere using Google Maps, you make a wrong turn, this thing will shock you back into the right direction. -All right. That sounds like a lovely experience. -Yeah. I feel like we're all just becoming human rats, right? Like, I mean, whether it's in the mall, they're directing you from here to there. It's just-- it's becoming ridiculous. -You know what? -It's a giant rat race. -Okay, okay. I'm starting to think of something here. All right. So, they made a patent. It doesn't always mean it's real, but they want-- they wanna-- -Yeah. -kind of secure the rights to the idea. -Yeah. -What did we hear about five years ago? GPS trackers in shoes. -Uh-huh. -Okay. And that actually made some sense for certain cases, like,-- -Yeah. -Okay. You wanna make sure in getting alert if someone with Alzheimer's is wandering off. -Uh-huh. -You can at least go see, "Okay. Where are they?" Or if someone is hiking and in trouble,-- -Right. -and you get instant GPS results of where they are. -Uh-huh. -So, I can see why, all right, something that you wear all the time have a sensor in it. Well, I guess a wig is something you wear all the time and-- -Sure. -there could be a sensor in it. But the whole shocking thing-- Oh, my God. -The shocking thing is crazy. It also says here that Sony sort of talks about how it includes an ultrasound sensor in it as well, and this is, quote, "to warn you're going to hit your head on a branch." -Watch out for that tree. -So,-- -I keep my head-- -this will let you know when you do that or-- -When something like that is happening, you don't have that much warning time. It's more like, "What's that buzz? Boom!" You know, like, I've been on the horseback riding like in a wooded area-- -Yeah. -and when the horse like kind of goes too fast and then, you know, like you kind of-- I lost control and I hit my head on the branch. -Yeah. -I didn't really have much time to think about it, like, I knew it was happening. -Yeah. -We're like ruining our opportunities to see physical comedy in real life, right? -Oh, yeah. -Like, our modern-day Charlie Chaplins where they're-- the people like stepping on rakes around here-- -Yeah. -and like getting, I don't know, like buckets of water dropped on their head when they're walking to a doorway. I mean, what are the-- are people really needing this type of technology? -You know, it seems like it's tech for the sake of tech. -Yeah. -And you hate to see that-- -This is crazy -'cause you wanna see the good potential. -Yeah. -and where it could go. -Keep in mind that not all patents actually see the light of day. -No. -Right? -No. Of course, not. But it's about, once again, like something you have on you all the time-- -Yeah. -and-- Are we starting to get creeped out by always being tracked? We've got this whole NSA thing going on now. -Right. -Do you really want that GPS turned on all the time? -Uh-huh. -I think-- Or are we getting more comfortable and giving up? I think a lot of us are giving up. -Right. Especially 'cause now you're gonna have multiple things that have GPS on you and around you. I mean,-- -Uh-huh. -if they're gonna have these kiosks in the mall, you can escape it really. Last thing I'll say about this is that Sony describes these business applications for it as well. So, in the patent, they have to put used cases for when this could actually come out, who would use it, and they described these business applications where someone in the office -- a corporate head or an employee -- could actually touch a button-- a touch sensor button embedded in the sideburns of this wig to sort of help flick through the slides of, say, a PowerPoint presentation. -[unk] that's been going on, like how long-- -And that's how it will be used. -I choose the slides. You know, I thought you were gonna say something like, you know, a business application. So, when your employee misbehaves, they kind of get a zap every once in a while. -Right. -Yeah. -I'm sorry, boss. I'll keep working faster. -Yeah, exactly. This is some clunker going shit here, right? It's ridiculous. They also recommend that cosplayers-- costume players at places like Comicon or whatever. -You have my full attention. -Yeah. -What? -They can actually imitate their favorite characters in comics so they're talking about how not everyone who's bald voluntarily or involuntarily has to use this. People with real heads of hair or that are able to grow hair can also use this to dress up. It doesn't really make sense. -Okay. I certainly know why I need-- I need a sensor to dress up. -Scary. -But sure. -Okay, last thing, last story before I wanna read off some e-mails. This one's great for anyone that has to ride public transportations. So, that's all three of us in this room, anyone in New York or metropolitan cities should listen up. So, you know, we're talking yesterday about subway etiquette, right? -Uh-huh. -And this kind of goes along with that theme and really the only rule you need to know if you're visiting New York is don't make eye contact with anybody ever, right? I think that's the number one subway rule. -And try to have understanding of the rush hours and common courtesy. -Exactly. Yeah, yeah. Stay aware of your personal space-- -Uh-huh. -and other people's too. So, anyway, the touch of human being is-- of other human beings in the subway is inevitable. -It's the worst thing ever. -Yeah. -You get your shoulder touch like, "Oh, god." -You can't avoid it. -Where have you been and where's that shoulder? -Yeah. -Exactly. -You know, exact worst fear and you're like you hold your breath. -Like, unless your muttering to yourself and itching and coughing at the same time, people are gonna touch you regardless of what you're doing-- -Yeah. -on the subway, but this industrial designer named Siew Ming Cheng at the University of Singapore, she has designed this article of clothing that's meant to be worn on the subway to give you way more personal space than you'd ever want or need. -Oh. -And it's called the Spike Away vest. And maybe, we could put this up on the screen. This is the artist herself, Siew Ming Cheng. The Spike Away vest looks a lot like a reflective construction workers' vest, but instead of reflectors on it, there are giant plastic spikes coming out of it to sort of deter other people from standing next to you. As you can see it from this guy's facial expression, he hates it. -Can you scroll down a bit to the virtual model? -Yeah. -I would have to say that it's also good for cosplaying of Shredder-- -Yeah. -Yeah. -like fighting Ninja Turtles. -Totally. -Wow. -Yeah. So, this is it. -I also feel like it's like something from Home Alone 2 like in the Sticky Bandits, like you suddenly get like stuck on thing. -Yeah. -Yeah. Like, oops, I got your scarf now. -Yeah, exactly. -Now, it's mine. -I think those applications are better than this. These are everyday items that you can buy from a hardware store. These giant strips that you see-- -Uh-huh. -with the spikes on them, they're originally meant to keep birds and cats away from your plants. So, the idea is you lie on your plant bed with these and then animals and critters won't be able to get into your garden. So, I don't know. I mean, do you think this would actually work? I feel like New Yorkers are so conditioned to seeing crazy things on the subway and they wouldn't even care. They would-- -It's just performance art. -rather impale themselves on these spikes than actually talk to you or lose space personally. -No. It's still a matter of like a performance stunt. It's very funny. -Yeah. -Yeah. -I would give her credit. -Right. -but obviously, it's not practical to walk around with it. -Of course. -And I feel like that-- like that forced closeness that you have to experience and endure in New York City and, you know, just being around people that you would normally never be interacting with physically or you know whatever. -Uh-huh. -That's something that makes New York City really unique. It makes it one of the most unique cities in the world, right? -I have a-- -Where else are you gonna be forced-- -I have a request for the designer, though. -Yeah. -Can you make one where maybe it's in my like puffy jacket and like hit a button to expand them out? -Oh, yeah, that's cool. -Because that way, it's like only when you need it. -Uh-huh. -You don't think you don't want to prepare. It's like-- -Right. -It's like, "Dude, [unk]." And it goes-- I told you to [unk] and then it teaches them the lesson-- -Yeah. -and you can retract it. -Like, in Beetlejuice,-- -Yeah. -you basically have like a suit-- -Yeah, there you go. -and spikes can come out of it. Oh, that'd be great. -I mean, sometimes, you need something to help you with the self defense. -Uh-huh. -If you're someone like me and you got noodle arms that aren't too strong, you know. -Yeah. -That could help with self-defense,-- -Yeah. -absolutely, I would buy that. -You could have nozzles, like nozzles cleverly embedded into your jackets, so when you press a button, it'll like square in all directions. -Yeah. -It'd be a good idea too, like an oil slick everywhere. I think we're onto something that kick starter going right. -I think so. -Yeah. But I think, you know, in order to deter people on a subway, the best thing that you can have is a subway face, right? Everyone has their subway face which is basically like-- -Oh, it's-- -you're like mean mugging everybody, right? -Uh-huh. -I mean, do you guys do these too, like everyone just kind of has their like-- -Don't-mess-with-me face. -Yeah. -Like, my legs are horrible. -I'm sorry. I actually make eye contact with the lens because most of the time, when you're looking at someone on the subway, it's like this. -Yeah. -It's just like not pissed necessarily, but like the "don't-F-with-me face." -Yeah, yeah. -Yeah. -Right? And that's really your best deterrent against other interactions. Can you show me your subway face? -Okay, 'cause you have-- -What do you look like when you're on the subway? -Well, I guess I have a little bit of resting B-face. -Yeah. -Yeah. But it's intentional, though. It's-- -Yeah, it's just-- Well, this is the normal-- -Oh, that's not good. -This is the normal-- -I still wanna approach you. -but then it's like-- if it's-- I have to channel my-- -Yeah. Get pissed. -Yeah. -That's not scary. -You look even nicer. -Yeah. -Really? -I wanna ask you for directions. -Yeah, totally. -I could ask directions a lot. -Yeah, you have a happy face. -All right. I need-- I need to go to Justin's school of-- -Yeah. -mean. I never-- I never do the mean face. I'm more like do the [unk] and the) looks. -Yeah. -Like, if you violate the rudeness protocols, then you get the-- like I will be the first to make the face at you. -Right. -Uh-huh. -Like, I will just not hide it. I'll be like, what would you? -Right. -Are you serious? I'll do the serious. And then they're like-- and then they get mad that I gave them the face. -Really? And then like, what are you looking at? Can I have some change? -Ariel, let's see your subway face, man. How are you gonna get one? -Oh, my subway face? -Yeah. What do you look like when you're on the subway? -I'm just-- -Yeah. -arms crossed. -Yeah. Don't make eye contact with the lens, yeah. -And I usually look up. -Oh, you look up. -Yeah. -Okay. All right. Look at the ads, yeah. You have a smile on your face like that? -No, no, no. -Oh, okay. Yeah, there you go. Pissed. I like that. Yes. See, I wouldn't mess with you, man. -It's hard to do, though. -Yeah, yeah. -All right. Of course, everyone has headphones on to when they're on the subway. -Yeah. -Oh, yeah. -Headphones. Sometimes, they look down at the screen. -Yeah. -All right. Well, you've got some homework to do. I want you to practice that. -All right. -Come back later. Too nice, Bridget. Let's get to the e-mails of the day. This one's good. And speaking of Bridget, this one is directed at you. -Oh, really? -Yeah. This is from Enrique in Mexico. He says, "Hey, my name is Enrique from Mexico. I wanna marry Bridget." -Oh. -Wow, right off the bat. -He's so forward. -He gives nice compliments. -Yeah. I like that. Very aggressive. "I love her gestures and I think she adds a lot to the show." I agree. "I used to be a fan of the gadgeteer on the web, but now, I watched your show on my Asus MeMO Pad tablet which is a great tablet. -Uh-huh. -But it replaced my iPad Mini and that's where I watch the show. So, keep it up, guys. Bridget, if you're ever in Mexico--" And that's the end of this e-mail. -Andale, andale! Yeehaw! -He didn't say what he was gonna do if you ever get to Mexico. He just says-- -But just-- is it the [unk]? -if you're ever in Mexico, exclamation point. That's all. He's leaving it open ended, you choose on your adventure, I guess. So, there you go. -Choose your adventure like that. -Yeah. -Well, thanks for watching. -Yeah. You have a little message for Enrique? -Andale? Oh, my-- Oh, sorry. I just keep thinking of Speedy Gonzales. -Yeah. -Yeehaw! -All right. Actually, I was-- I said there were two e-mails. There's actually only one. -Okay. -I didn't put the other one in here, but if you wanna leave an e-mail message for us, you can do that and we'll read it over the air. Send your love letters to Bridget-- -Uh-huh. -or Ariel or myself. -Yeah, come on. Get some. -you know, or if you love podcast. -Yeah. -Send it to-- -Awkward. -the404@cnet.com. We'll like anything we can get. -Yeah. -Or you can leave a message on Facebook or Twitter @the404, Instagram, anything you want. Get in touch with us and go check out our Subreddit. It's the404.reddit.com. We need as many subscribers there as possible. Do you guys Reddit? -You're so cool. -What? You mean, [unk] on Reddit? -I browse the Reddit. -Really? You know, I don't-- -But I'm not like subredditing, like, you're so-- -Oh, we're like several levels-- -You're like-- so mean. -Yeah, we're there. -All right. Well, that will do it for us today. We do have another show coming up tomorrow with the same crew, the Misfits crew, of CNET while Jeff is away. -Uh-huh. -So, Bridget will be back, Ariel will be back,-- -Yeah. -and of course, myself. So, thanks again you guys for helping me out on today's show. I really appreciate it. -But of course. -Of course. -All right. We will see you guys tomorrow then. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Justin Yu. -I'm Bridget Carey. -I'm Ariel Nunez. -It's The 404. It's high tech. It's low brow. Thanks for watching.