digg

The 404 663: Where we learn to 'be like water' (podcast)

CNET's own laptop editor Scott Stein fills in for Jeff today in yet another completely random episode of The 404 Podcast! Today's topics tackle the ongoing Reddit vs. 4Chan vs. Digg hierarchy, the latest Google Instant music video trend, the next evolution of graphing calculators, and a very sultry (and minutely disturbing) reading from the sticky pages of Playboy Magazine courtesy of Houston's independent nonprofit organization Taping for the Blind.

We're excited to welcome Scott back into podcast studio, so much so that we force him to wear the infamous mullet wig for the entire episode. The wig is sort of appropriate for the first story of the day about a nonprofit radio station for the blind in Houston that records complete readings from Playboy Magazine and includes the articles, jokes, cartoons, letters, and--yes--accurate descriptions of the centerfolds.

To help us get a better idea of what that would sound like, Scott reads a few excerpts from the broadcast, and although it doesn't sound quite as sultry as when Suzi Hanks, the host of the show, does it, it certainly helps that he's wearing a wig...and sharing a mic with me...*disclaimer* CNET and The 404 are not responsible for any gag reflexes triggered from listening to this segment.

Google Instant, which arrived this week, can predict your search query and could possibly shave two or three seconds off your search time. Big deal, right? Well, if that doesn't impress you, maybe this music video will.

Google started the trend with a clever video advertisement for the service featuring Bob Dylan, and Whirled Creative jumped in next with an "Instant Elements" video remix, but our favorite is Urlesque's take on Billy Joel's hit, "We Didn't Start the Fire." Enjoy!

Stick around after the break as we spend way too much time gabbing about the latest calculator technologies, a few voicemails warn us about bashing the Zune, and we do a mini review of Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher's latest film, "The Social Network."

Thanks for listening, and have a great weekend everyone!

Episode 663 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Week in review: Apple harvests iPods, Apple TV

Apple has refreshed its iPod line and unveiled a new version of Apple TV.

During Apple's annual music-focused event in San Francisco, CEO Steve Jobs took the wraps off three new iPods: an iPod Shuffle that ditches the previous no-button style in returning to a more classic look; a smaller iPod Nano that now has a touch screen but can no longer play video; and a thinner iPod Touch that has most of the features first introduced on the iPhone 4.

Apple announced iTunes 10, available immediately, which comes with a new logo and a social music service called Ping … Read more

Digg confirms ex-Amazon exec as new CEO

Digg confirmed on Tuesday that it has named former Amazon executive Matt Williams as its next CEO, replacing Kevin Rose, who has been acting chief executive since Jay Adelson stepped down in April.

"After several months of searching, we are excited to announce that Matt Williams will become the CEO of Digg," Rose said in a blog post. "As you know, I have been the interim CEO, while we looked for the right person, and I will still remain actively involved in the product, but am handing over the day-to-day running of the business to Matt." … Read more

Buzz Out Loud Ep. 1298: Forking tired of Android forks (Podcast)

On today's show, Google does us a solid in the ham-filtering department, we wonder whether Paul Allen might have waited too long to sue the Internet, or whether this is just the beginning, and we speculate whether seven inches is, in fact, the perfect size after all. Plus, Internet vigilantes on the loose! --Molly

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The 404 656: Where we vote yes on virtual girlfriends (podcast)

It's not too late to enter the JetBlue All You Can Jet Giveaway! You only have until 12 p.m. PDT to tweet out this message:

Follow @the404 and RT this for a chance to win 1 of 2 #AllYouCanJet @JetBlue passes. Rules: http://bit.ly/dodRKs #AYCJ

Don't forget that you have to be at least 18 years old and a resident of the United States to enter. We'll tweet a congratulatory message at 3 p.m. EDT today to announce the winners. Good luck!

Apple's yearly iPod and iTunes event goes down tomorrow and we've got plenty of predictions (and dreams) for what Apple will show off. We'll likely see a "Retina display" and a forward-facing camera come to the iPod Touch devices, but Wilson's hoping for a revamped Apple TV that could bring iOS 4, an A4 chip, 1080p playback, 16GB of storage, and a $99 "impulse" price tag.

Check out our Crave poll, submit your own predictions, and don't forget to check back with us tomorrow for official news!

This summer, a hot-springs resort in Atami, Japan, became a vacation destination for men who just can't stand being single. For almost two months, the resort offered players of the dating sim Love Plus Plus a physical location to bring their virtual girlfriends.

Once there, the players visited romantic locations and took pictures next to black-and-white markers on the ground that acted as triggers for the corresponding augmented-reality smartphone app. In real life, it looks like the men posed by themselves, but the app inserted a picture of their virtual girlfriends to simulate companionship. As the only single dude on the show, it's apparently my job to investigate this matter in greater detail, so see you in Japan!

What's with everyone just throwing away animals? First there was the security camera clip of a British woman trashing a cat, and now LiveLinks just posted a video of a young girl chucking puppy after adorable puppy into a river! Luckily, we can rely on the vigilante justice of 4Chan's /b/ thread to come to the rescue in both cases.

The infamous message board is on the hunt to reveal the identity of said puppy-chucker, and they've already narrowed down the location of the river to a city in Croatia; they even found two potential Facebook profiles that match her description, although it could be anyone. She's around 5 feet 7 inches tall, blond, and Caucasian...nevertheless, we're confident that they'll bring the culprit to justice. Just don't hurt us!

Again, there's only one hour left to add us on Twitter (add Jeff, Wilson, and Justin while you're at it) and tweet out the bolded message up there for your chance to win one of two All You Can Jet prizes, courtesy of JetBlue! Good luck to everyone entering. We can't wait to see where you go!

Episode 656 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Buzz Out Loud Ep. 1297: Facebook wants to own your face (Podcast)

We're back from our BOL summer vacation, only to find that Paul Allen is trying to patent-troll the Internet out of existence, Netflix seems to have finally put BlockBuster out of existence, and Foursquare ain't going down without a fight. Oh, and Donald Bell gives us his predictions for Apple's Sept. 1 event. --Molly

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Angry Digg users flood home page with Reddit links

Apparently dissatisfied with a redesign that buries much of their influence, hard-core users of social-news site Digg have been gaming its "Top News" page so that it's dominated by links to rival site Reddit.

The "Digg Version 4" relaunch, following an alpha test, was rolled out to the general public last week.

In order to maintain relevance in a world where users' individual "social graphs" on Twitter and Facebook bear a significant weight on news consumption, the new Digg promises a custom experience for individual users rather than the "old" Digg … Read more

Changes and fixes coming to Digg's redesign

Responding to user feedback following social news site Digg.com's large-scale redesign earlier this week, founder and interim CEO Kevin Rose posted on his personal blog that numerous changes and high-level bug fixes are on the way.

During the move, a number of changes dramatically altered the way users now find stories, as well as where promoted stories end up being seen. And from the looks of things, it appears that many of these tweaks created bugs, or caused longtime users to scratch their heads. "Our top priority is to stabilize the site," Rose said. "Then … Read more

Digg's Matt Van Horn leaving for start-up Path

Matt Van Horn, business development director at social-news site Digg, is departing for Path--the ultra-stealthy start-up co-founded by former Facebook executive Dave Morin and Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning. Van Horn's departure comes right after Digg rolled out its much-hyped "Version 4" revamp to the general public.

Van Horn was a hardcore Digg loyalist, something that comes across in a note he sent to colleagues Thursday announcing the job change.

"When I graduated college in 2006, it was a crazy dream to move to the Bay Area and join a tech start-up. So I took it … Read more

The 404 653: Where we smell a Mo Wood rant (podcast)

Molly Wood is back in New York for a new Web show on CBS called Eye on Parenting, so of course we invite her on the show to chat with us about Gmail voice calling, the new Digg layout, and an ironic Twitter post from Gizmodo's Brian Lam that segues into a live in-person Molly rant!

Google just announced that it's adding the ability to place real live phone calls and send text messages straight from your Gmail window. Internet calling isn't new by any means, but where you formerly had to arrange a specific time to … Read more