sweetness

The 404 1,225: Where the first issue is a gateway drug (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Baauer of "Harlem Shake" sued over unauthorized samples.

- Surprise hit "Harlem Shake" was a shock for artists heard on it.

- "Sweet Brown" sues Apple and radio stations for unauthorized interview.

- SXSW: Marvel to give away 700 first-issue digital comics.

- Marvel giveaway crashes Comixology's servers.… Read more

Judge tosses some shareholder suits over Facebook's IPO flop

Things may be looking up for Facebook in the dozens of lawsuits it's facing from peeved shareholders over its botched initial public offering.

U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet ruled in favor of Facebook today and dismissed a group of these cases, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The social network became embroiled in this extensive legal battle shortly after its $16 billion IPO last May. The company's stock opened on the Nasdaq priced at $38 a share and, aside from a slight uptick right at the start, proceeded to plummet in the days and weeks following. Defendants … Read more

Use your voice to control your Android device with Sweet Suzy

Voice-recognition applications have been becoming more prevalent in the past few years due to the popularity of Siri and Google Now. Sweet Suzy is the latest application to market this technology, and it makes an attempt at some novel features. While it claims to be the most advanced application of its kind, most users will find quite the opposite is true.

One-click installation makes setup very easy for all users. However, it should be noted that the vast majority of Sweet Suzy's functions require a data connection of some type. If the data connection is slow, this may adversely … Read more

OpenCandy brings the bucks to desktop software

LAS VEGAS--If you want to make money off of apps, you must develop for mobile, right? Wrong, says SweetLabs' Chester Ng, who points to his company's success with its OpenCandy project to help developers earn a living.

The problem is both cultural as well as logistical, Ng said in an interview outside the Las Vegas Convention Center. Desktop software, especially on Windows, has a long history of being developed as freeware. But pitching a secondary software purchase to the user during the installation process had been poisoned, he said.

"The problem is that developers don't like the … Read more

Sweet Android High--smartphone wars get the manga treatment

Google's Android operating system comes to life in a new manga comic that turns leading handset makers into--no joke--Japanese schoolgirls.

Resting firmly in the Japanese-dominated pop culture territory that lies somewhere in between totally awesome and totally creepy Sweet Android High-school chronicles the soap-operatic goings on among a group of students who just happen to be anthropomorphic representations of huge corporations.

The gang includes "international students" Moto-Laura-chan, Sam-Sung-chan, H-T-Syee-chan, Elle-G-chan and Soni-Eri-chan. See what they did there? That last one is a particularly clever play on Sony Ericcson. There are also characters representing some of the Japanese makers, including Sharp, Fujitsu, and Casio.

The latest scandal at Sweet Android High, of course, is that a teacher named Google has married Moto-Laura-chan. While it's tough to translate the panels, there doesn't seem to be any sign that a headmaster named Trade-Commission-chan opposes the marriage, but Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus clearly make appearances. Funny--I never envisioned that the first Android 4.0 phone would be so buxom.

See if you can make any sense of the below panels for yourself:… Read more

One freezer pop at a time

It is easy to become overwhelmed by the number of treats that can be found this time of year.

It starts innocently enough with the giving out of Halloween candy, but that is just the start. As we progress through the remainder of the year, we will soon find our houses inundated with goodies associated with upcoming holidays. It's no wonder Halloween candy seems to last well until the new year.

When it is time for a single treat from the freezer (aside from all those individually wrapped pieces of candy that end up there), the Zoku Single Pop Maker … Read more

The 404 924: Where we open the pod bay doors (podcast)

iOS 5 reviews are coming in from around the Web, but the Siri voice control application is grabbing everyone's attention with a clever answer to nearly any question you throw at it.

Apparently it'll tell you everything from where to hide a body to how to secure paid company for the night, and explain the meaning of life. Strangely, it seems the only thing it won't do is call the police. Siri needs to get her priorities straight!

Today's 404 features CNET's Scott Stein and Bridget Carey; read on for the news highlights.… Read more

CNET's sweet spot home theater

Somewhere between entry-level and high-end is the sweet spot for buying home theater components. You don't want to go so cheap that you end up being unhappy with the purchase, but you also don't want pay for bogus features or performance gains that have diminishing returns.

CNET's sweet spot home theater is our roundup of products that deliver that perfect mix of design, features, performance, and, most importantly, value. We already have separate lists for the best home audio and home video products, but consider this to be a single-page cheat sheet of the home theater we'd put together if we had to start from scratch.

Sweet spot 5.1 speaker system: Energy Take Classic 5.1

Skip the sound bars and the home-theater-in-a-box systems. They're decent options if you're on a tight budget, but the real sweet spot is a true 5.1 speaker system, which can be less expensive than you might think.

The Energy Take Classic 5.1 ($400 street price) is our Editors' Choice and the hands-down best overall speaker system we tested in this price range.

While most budget speaker systems we've reviewed have trade-offs, the Energy is seemingly without compromise, with excellent sound quality, a compact and elegant design, and a $400 street price. It's one of the best home theater values we've ever seen and it's an investment likely to last you at least 10 years--much longer than your average gadget purchase.… Read more

Frozen bananas without (or with) the chocolate

When it comes to specialty appliances, there seems to be a couple of reoccurring themes. Not surprisingly, some of these buzzwords happen to be "sweet" and "healthy." Rarely, however, do the two intersect. When they do, it's a fortunate circumstance that entices potential buyers emotionally and sensibly at the same time. This seeming paradox can be resolved when one adds one more buzzword to the party: natural.

The natural sweetness present in healthy bananas is the allure that the Yonanas Frozen Treat Maker uses to attract the gadget-buying public. Taking it a step further, the … Read more