The 404

Today's episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast features a pink Ouija Board, the newest Facebook meme, search engine profiling, and Google's latest mapping feature that waves good-bye to your shopping privacy. (Credit: Derrick Chen/The 404) The infamous Ouija Board is still just as popular as it was when Hasbro first unleashed it in 1967. In fact, it even got extra publicity with a flaming cameo in last year's horror flick Paranormal Activity, but angry Christians aren't happy about Hasbro's latest idea for a Pink Ouija Board. Who knew that a pink square of cardboard and a magnifying glass could get so much controversy? Please let this actually happen. (Credit: Facebook) First there was Doppelganger Week, then Urban Dictionary Week, and now we finally have a Facebook meme that The 404 Podcast can get behind: Can this pickle get more fans than Nickleback? In less than a week since its genesis, the Facebook group already has more than 100,000 members, but it still needs your help to get beat out Nickelback's 1,392,481 (and growing) fans. This next story might make you think twice before ducking into the back room at your local video store. Google's latest "Store View" is as yet unconfirmed (but not outright denied), but the service will ideally let users check out the inside of any participating retailer through Google Maps. Imagine browsing the Web for a supermarket and then virtually inspecting the interior for the best way to route yourself through a grocery store and you can see why we don't quite understand the point of Store View. Those stories and more on today's 404, plus a meaty Calls From the Public and more of your sticker picture submissions! Keep sending them to the404(at)cnet[dot]com and we might just feature it on the show! Much thanks to Derrick for sending us a pic of the cubicle dressing you see up top. EPISODE 515 Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video loadUniversalPlayer({playerType: 'ces2010-small',lumiereQueryType: 'id',lumiereQueryValue: '50083424',useCurrentPageUrl: true,relatedVideo: false,preRollAd: true,hideLeftTab:true,wrapperFloat:'none'}); ...

Send your 404 sticker pictures to the404{at}cnet[dot]com! (Credit: George/The404) Wilson might be the only host on The 404 who watched the entire big game Sunday, so we don't spend too much time talking about the actual game and instead stick to the commercials. Ads this year included Google's first Super Bowl ad. Also, HomeAway revitalized the Griswold family from National Lampoon's "Vacation", and Motorola aired a commercial with Megan Fox selling something...we just don't remember what it is. We also have a story about Comcast changing its name to Xfinity. Starting next week, its cable television, telephone, and Internet services will feature the rebranded name in 11 markets. In what seems like an effort to give a sharper edge to the brand name, the change is taking heavy fire from sites like The Consumerist, which claim that the new Xfinity name has an X-rated/pornographic/stupid/energy drink connotation. Finally, we run down a list of the 10 most needlessly perverted mainstream games. Follow along as we chat about some of the most revealing games in console history with titles like Dead or Alive, The Sims, and Bayonetta leading the scandal. Oh my. Speaking of which, we hate to be the ones to report it, but Microsoft is no longer offering online support for original Xbox games like Halo 2 and Counterstrike. Bummer! EPISODE 514 Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video loadUniversalPlayer({playerType: 'ces2010-small',lumiereQueryType: 'id',lumiereQueryValue: '50083357',useCurrentPageUrl: true,relatedVideo: false,preRollAd: true,hideLeftTab:true,wrapperFloat:'none'}); ...

A More Perfect Union (Credit: Schneids/The 404) If you've ever petitioned Facebook to add a "Dislike" button to the site, you might get a kick out of a new antisocial networking site that lets your friends anonymously rag on you from the privacy of their homes. Failin.gs is currently in beta, but soon you'll be able to hit your friends up for anonymous comments about your mundane status updates. No, it doesn't integrate with Facebook itself (thankfully), but hopefully it'll force you to think twice about telling everyone what you had for dinner last night. After 30 years of the same boring design, Heinz finally wised up and redesigned its ketchup packets. Fans of fast food will be treated to a new packet that opens up on BOTH ends: the top features the same tear-off perforation, but the new bottom opens to reveal a section for dunking your fries, which happens to be one of the most popular applications for the condiment! Check out this video on CBSNews.com for more details and look for the new packets coming to fast food joints near you! Doppelganger week! (Credit: The 404 ) Last week's viral "Post your doppelganger to Facebook" meme might violate Facebook's terms of service, but we're featuring our own celebrity photos on today's episode anyway...with a twist. Check out our cartoon doppelgangers above and let us know what you think: does Wilson really look like the Asian kid from "Up?" Does Jeff turn into a green-faced ogre at night? And should I seriously consider growing a goatee? Sound off by leaving us a voice mail at 1-866-404-CNET or send an e-mail to the404(at)cnet{dot}com. Have a great weekend, everyone! EPISODE 513 Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video loadUniversalPlayer({playerType: 'ces2010-small',lumiereQueryType: 'id',lumiereQueryValue: '50083267',useCurrentPageUrl: true,relatedVideo: false,preRollAd: true,hideLeftTab:true,wrapperFloat:'none'}); ...

(Credit: Maahstud/The404) We kick off today's episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast with a fun story about the Nestle Crunch Hotline number. The company's latest viral campaign offers a series of hidden menus within the prerecorded call center that lets callers choose between English, Spanish, and Pig Latin language options. You can also choose to hear prerecorded knock-knock jokes, "funner game options," and the weirdest feature of all, which lets you listen to the sound of bubble wrap. We attempt to call the number during the show, but the line is so popular that we keep getting busy signals, so call 1-800-295-0051 if you have time to waste after listening to our show. Jeff also brings us an amazing deal from Dell for the new Alienware M11x. It won our Best of CES 2010 award and, judging by its size, it's comparable to a gaming Netbook. You get an 11.6-inch display and a 1.3GHz Pentium SU4100 processor inside as well as a battery with 2 hours of gaming play and 6.5 hours of standby time. Best of all, the gaming rig comes in at a base price of $799. No, we're not working on the Alienware payroll, but with portable gaming systems dropping in price, the appeal of PC gaming is bigger than ever and we thought our listeners would appreciate this deal. Check it out! Lots more stories in the rundown today, including a $7,000 talking sex robot, a T-shirt that all predators will enjoy, the new Sonic the Hedgehog 4 trailer, and more! EPISODE 512 Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video loadUniversalPlayer({playerType: 'ces2010-small',lumiereQueryType: 'id',lumiereQueryValue: '50083219',useCurrentPageUrl: true,relatedVideo: false,preRollAd: true,hideLeftTab:true,wrapperFloat:'none'}); ...

King-size thanks to Props Guy Jim! (Click for larger image.) (Credit: Jim Sleeth) All the recent frenzy over the Apple iPad might be too much for the tech nerds of the world to handle. Tuesday, Josh Topolsky of Engadget reported on a disturbingly high volume of "ugly, pointless, and frankly threatening" comments on the Web site and took action by indefinitely closing all comments on the blog. We appreciate Josh's wake-up call, although vocalizing one's opinion through anonymous blog comments is just another extension of the Internet. We definitely empathize with the site's moderators, however, who must be tearing their hair out trying to protect Engadget visitors from trolls, predators, idiots, and all the other lobos on the Web. Good luck with that, guys! In other tech news, TechCrunch gives us a first look at Google's interpretation of a modern tablet device, as imagined by Glen Murphy, Google Chrome's designer. The video you see on the site is just a mock-up, however, so don't get your hopes up! At this point, we'll take just about any tablet that doesn't have an Apple on it. We can't thank our buddy Props Guy Jim enough for making the awesome "The 404 Bunch" poster you see to the left. Jim is the same gentleman who came through with 3k temporary tattoos, so thanks again! Look for a full-size poster coming to a 404 studio near you. EPISODE 511 Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video loadUniversalPlayer({playerType: 'ces2010-small',lumiereQueryType: 'id',lumiereQueryValue: '50083167',useCurrentPageUrl: true,relatedVideo: false,preRollAd: true,hideLeftTab:true,wrapperFloat:'none'}); ...

Back in your hole, guy. (Credit: Punxsutawney Groundhog Club) 2010 started off positively: an amazing CES visit, an uplifting State of the Union Address, and an entertaining Grammy Awards show. Yes, 'twas a great January...too bad that filthy, overgrown rat Punxsutawney Phil had to show up and ruin it with a dreary six more weeks of winter, which wouldn't be so bad except that Wilson won't have his iPad for another nine weeks. Unfortunately, it turns out our furry little friend might be an amazing meteorologist, but his texting skills can use some work. It took Phil over two hours to send out his inaugural text message to awaiting subscribers. Phil took even longer to tweet out his prediction. Come on, Phil, are there no tween girls in Gobbler's Knob, Pa., that you can enlist to speed up your T9-ing? Maybe it's time for an upgrade. The 404: Now broadcasting from your horse's assets (Credit: CNET/The 404 ) Unfortunate news aside, we've also got plenty of exciting news to discuss, including this year's Oscar nominations! Of course, Avatar's nine nominations only make us that much more embarrassed about all of our trash-talking prior to watching the movie. But hey, we're big enough to admit our mistakes, however, infrequent. And since that's more than I can say for some directors, we also have to take some time to run down this year's Razzie nominees. Will Transformers 2 take down G.I. Joe for worst movie of the year or Big Momma's House 2 circle back and reign supreme? Listen in to hear our predictions! As usual, we've also got a few sticker pictures, but it's not even close to the number we've sent out so far, so SEND US PICTURES if you got them in the mail! Send all your tattoo and sticker pictures to the404(at)cnet{dot}com- we want to see them all! Finally, today marks the premiere of CNET TV's newest show, preGAME! Hosts Jeff Bakalar and Mark Licea bring you all the latest gaming news plus in-house demos of the hottest games a week before they're released. The show starts today and runs every Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET. Check out all the preGAME action on CNET TV! EPISODE 510 Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video loadUniversalPlayer({playerType: 'ces2010-small',lumiereQueryType: 'id',lumiereQueryValue: '50083111',useCurrentPageUrl: true,relatedVideo: false,preRollAd: true,hideLeftTab:true,wrapperFloat:'none'}); ...

You guys filled up our voice mail box over the weekend with your thoughts on the new Apple iPad, but we have to spread the hate around with a quick chat about last night's Grammy Awards, PETA's robotic groundhogs, and high school reunions. We've also got plenty of your sticker pictures to show off, including one that might be NSFW....big surprise, 404! Keep sending us your sticker pictures! (Credit: Alan ) The Grammy Awards are becoming less and less significant to our personal music tastes, but something has to be said about a show that nominates NICKELBACK for Best Hard Rock Performance. To make matters worse, the show paired together some of the worst collaborations in the history of live performance. To quickly recap the night, all you need to know is that Lady Gaga won two well-deserved awards and performed Speechless with Sir Elton John, Green Day took the award for Best Rock Album, poor Stevie Nicks looked pissed to be singing about locker room romance with 16-year-old darling Taylor Swift, and the live studio audience got treated to a 3D clip from Michael Jackson's "This Is It" while the rest of us settled for 2Ds and a subsequent headache. Kirby (Credit: Lani Nguyen/The 404) Speaking of bad news, we've got some bad news about the Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, the new Broadway musical coming soon to New York. We just found out that the entire musical soundtrack is composed by U2's Bono and The Edge. Don't get us wrong, the three of us all have a special place in our hearts for U2, but their music just doesn't evoke images of a masked web-crawler slinging his way about town snapping photos of criminals and taking down a few in the process. Finally, much thanks to everyone for sending in their sticker pictures! We've sent out hundreds of envelopes so far, so keep them coming; send a photo of where you put the stickers and tattoos to the404(at)cnet(dot)com! EPISODE 509 Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video loadUniversalPlayer({playerType: 'ces2010-small',lumiereQueryType: 'id',lumiereQueryValue: '50083067',useCurrentPageUrl: true,relatedVideo: false,preRollAd: true,hideLeftTab:true,wrapperFloat:'none'}); ...

This week's Apple iPad announcement gives us the perfect opportunity to discuss the future of publishing with Cliff Chiang and Jerry Ma, two graphic illustrators in the comic book industry. They join us in the studio today to talk about their collaborative project, "Secret Identities," a graphic novel anthology of Asian American superhero stories. Cliff Chiang and Jerry Ma of Secret Identities (Credit: CNET/The 404) Growing up as an Asian Americans in the world of comics isn't easy, especially when the only culturally identifiable characters you see are either stereostyped villains or hyper-sexualized women. As comic books quickly gain popularity here (although they are still not nearly as prevalent as in Japan), we're starting to see a shift in the cultural perception of comic books, away from the chiseled, American superhero archetype. The artists behind "Secret Identities" navigate this sea change with stories equally rooted in Asian American history and individual experience. (Credit: Secret Identities) Throughout today's episode of The 404, Jerry and Cliff offer a unique perspective on the current state of the publishing industry and the move toward digital comic creation. As it turns out, neither of the guys are fans of the new iPad, but Jerry raises an interesting point about the practical application of the iPad in the hands of a parent. And although we didn't have a chance to talk to them about it on the show, both are still considering the Modbook, an aftermarket Apple MacBook modified to work as a tablet computer. We also love when guests bring us gifts, so look out for another contest for a chance to win a copy of "Secret Identities" (also available for purchase on BlackLava) that features custom sketches from Jerry and Cliff! EPISODE 508 Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video loadUniversalPlayer({playerType: 'ces2010-small',lumiereQueryType: 'id',lumiereQueryValue: '50082954',useCurrentPageUrl: true,relatedVideo: false,preRollAd: true,hideLeftTab:true,wrapperFloat:'none'}); ...

Let's not get greedy; they can't ALL be good. (Credit: Young Raging Bull) This episode of The 404 Podcast is dedicated to all of our heartbroken comrades out there who were expecting an Apple tablet computer, but got an Apple e-reader instead. Join us as we recap what might be the most underwhelming Apple product announcement since Apple TV. Full disclosure here: This entire 30-minute episode is dedicated to the Apple iPad. We know a lot of you must be exhausted with all the moaning and groaning so far, but we'll take any opportunity to make fun of Wilson. Bear with us as we try to get him to say one bad thing about the iPad. In addition to a healthy dose of polite yelling, we also play a collection of voice mails that drive the stake in even further. We guarantee tomorrow's show to be (relatively) free of Apple talk, and we're also very excited to welcome Jerry Ma and Cliff Chiang of the Asian-American comic anthology "Secret Identities," who will join us in the studio tomorrow to talk about state of the industry, ethnic minorities in the comic genre, and...well let's face it, we want their artistic opinion of the iPad. EPISODE 507 Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video loadUniversalPlayer({playerType: 'ces2010-small',lumiereQueryType: 'id',lumiereQueryValue: '50082900',useCurrentPageUrl: true,relatedVideo: false,preRollAd: true,hideLeftTab:true,wrapperFloat:'none'}); ...

It smells like Apples in here. The day of reckoning is finally upon us and CNET has all your Apple coverage including a live blog to track the news as it comes through the pipe. These kids are way cooler than us. Thanks, Wade! (Credit: Wade Mackey) CNET's The 404 Podcast is also on the job, so check out today's episode for our predictions on what Steve Jobs has in store for the world. It better be good, especially if Jobs stayed awake all night inventing it. Jeff and I are able to approach it with a level head, but Wilson G. Tang is in full-blown Apple fanboy mode with the T-shirt and the Apple lip gloss all ready to go. Before we get into our predictions, Jeff shows us a surprising study that demonstrates pirates are the music industry's most valuable customers. We're a little suspicious that the story comes from TorrentFreak.com, but they bring up a legitimate point that music "sharers" (aka pirates) are actually likely to buy more digital music as opposed to physical media in a store. In either case, the best way to support your favorite bands, signed or unsigned, is to buy a ticket to their live show and spend money on merchandise while you're there. That way, your cash support goes directly into the pockets of the band, instead of the digital music service taking a cut of the profit. Stick local! Clicky click click (Credit: CNET/The404) Next up we've got a story about the worst Facebook revenge, like, ever. It happens like this: teenage girl finds six-pack of beer in younger brother's closet. Brother searches through sister's closet and finds disturbingly detailed "hookup list" and publishes image of said list on Facebook. Wait, it gets way worse: the ultimate fatality is that he also tags every single guy on the list and starts an epic three-way flame war between brother, sister, and a group of guys that all have one thing in common. We end today's show by going around the table and seriously (OK, not seriously at all) dishing out our Apple tablet predictions for the day. Spoiler alert: Jeff is hopeful for a game-centric device, Justin hopes you can connect a printer to it, and Wilson can't even talk with all the saliva pouring out of his mouth. EPISODE 506 Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video loadUniversalPlayer({playerType: 'ces2010-small',lumiereQueryType: 'id',lumiereQueryValue: '50082816',useCurrentPageUrl: true,relatedVideo: false,preRollAd: true,hideLeftTab:true,wrapperFloat:'none'}); ...