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Inside CNET Labs 27: Year of the Ox

Dong and I waste no time getting right to some serious business by tackling San Francisco's homeless problem, or more our problem with the homeless--not all homeless, of course. Well, just check it out. It's very un-PC, although maybe not in the way you'd expect.

Then it's the Year of the Ox! Happy New Year, um again. This time it's the Chinese and Vietnamese New Year. Dong seems to think the Chinese and Vietnamese are one and the same, but he's very close-minded when it comes to cultures and honestly, a little slow. I … Read more

Inside CNET Labs 26: The Return

OK, that was kind of a longer break than we expected. Sorry about the whole no warning thing. We're back on at least a weekly schedule now, and because we've been away so long we're giving you over an hour of content even your mom would enjoy. If your mom's cool, that is.

First up, we have a little semi-impromptu discussion about one of our favorite shows Firefly. The nerds know what we're talking about. All of you who believe you're not nerds, first of all, wake up, then, get on board while the … Read more

The 404 260: Where you can take it two ways

Major props to Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III of U.S. Airways Flight 1549 for ditching the plane in the Hudson River after a double-engine failure and flying over the George Washington Bridge. Jeff Bakalar remains frightened for his life by flying.

In addition, the Watchmen movie debacle is settled between Warner Bros. and Fox, giving Justin Yu an early birthday present. Speaking of which, Wilson Tang will be joining the soon-to-be 25-year-old Mr. Yu for an Asian karaoke lovefest. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Rickrolls the Interwebs about a year and a half way too late, but … Read more

The 404 256: Where we celebrate good juju, bad juju

If you were wondering why our past two shows have been so squeaky clean, rest assured that our third day broadcasting live from the CNET stage at CES 2009 is definitely when we get back into the nasty groove. Today's show is filled with more goofy and perverted gadgets from the showroom floor, Watchmen movie news, idiots bandits, and another appearance from Ms. Heavenly Tech! Spicyyyyy

Be sure to catch us live again tomorrow from the CNET stage at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.

EPISODE 256 Download today's podcast

FLASHBACK!: Gadgettes 77: The Songs Of Gadgettes Episode

That's right! You too can own all of the best songs from the critically acclaimed podcast sensation, Gadgettes. Order yours today by calling 1-800-750-2638, or email us at gadgettes@cnet.com. We're waiting patiently for your call, so call NOW!

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 77

No links today... just a bunch of random clips.

Applying movie ratings to Web sites is a dumb idea

The British secretary of state for culture, media, and sports, Andy Burnham, told The Daily Telegraph recently that he thinks "cinema-style ratings" should be placed on all Web sites to grade them based on their content and decency.

According to Burnham, the Web is "a dangerous place" and we need to do a better job of ensuring children don't make their way to the wrong sites. He believes that by using the ratings system already imposed on films, it could do the world a great deal of good.

He's kidding, right? How can anyone expect a "cinema-style" ratings system to work in an environment where individuality and "user-owned" content are coveted above all else? Oh, and what about the whole enforcement of such an idea? Should we hire pimple-faced teenagers to check IDs before your 13-year-old decides to surf to HowardStern.com like they do at movie theaters?

The idea that anyone would want to place ratings on Web sites strikes me as, well, one of the dumbest Ideas I've heard in a long time. It's not that I'm against keeping kids away from questionable content. I simply don't know how a ratings system could do any good.… Read more

Prudery in the cause of cyber-censorship? Hardly

Bobbie Johnson, who blogs for the Guardian.co.uk, has published what may be the silliest post of 2008. But let's not rush to judgment; there are still nine more days, so he still has a chance to top himself.

Earlier today, we reported that Apple's AppStore rejected a book authored by our CNET colleague, David Carnoy, because it said the work contained "objectionable content." The rejection cited a clause in the iPhone SDK that states: "Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, … Read more

CNET.com on your iPhone

Though the iPhone offers one of the best Mobile Web browsers around, surfing through full HTML pages can be a little tedious if you have a slow connection. So for those Goldilocks moments when a full HTML site is too much and a WAP site is just not enough, there's the new CNET iPhone experience.

Optimized for the iPhone classic and the iPhone 3G, the CNET iPhone experience offers all the content you'd find on the regular site, including product reviews, stories, and blogs from CNET News and Crave and videos from CNET TV. But unlike the standard … Read more

Inside CNET Labs 25: Of NAS and mapped networks

Another short, but incredibly worldchangingly (look it up people) awesome episode in the can. First off, we have a very strange deja vu-ish intro that, if you've been listening closely to previous episodes, will sound strange and deja vu-ish to you as well.

After that, we briefly touch on the pseudo-fakery that is Bike Hero and Dong gets illmatic with NAS. LOL, not that Nas all you hip hop fans out there. No, I mean networked attached storage. I can understand why you'd get the two confused--what with the picture used for this episode and all--but seriously, try … Read more