Laptops

Following a trend with laptop screens, TV manufacturers are opting for reflective rather than matte screens--making it harder to find a TV that's easy to view in a well-lit room.

Some ideas are so obvious that when announced, one's first reaction is to ask, "Wait, weren't we already doing it that way?"

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



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Originally posted at The 404 Podcast

(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



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Originally posted at The 404 Podcast

Like just about everyone else on the planet, you broke down and purchased a Netbook. Somewhere along the way, the thought creeps in--maybe I can find some games that'll run on this wimpy Intel Atom processor and integrated graphics...

One of the CES announcements we were most excited about, at least in theory, was Intel's Wireless Display technology.

Sporting an edge-to-edge keyboard, Core i3 or i5 processor, and a 15.5-inch screen, the Vaio E looks like be a bold and affordable multimedia laptop.

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This week, we debate the pros and cons of Apple's iPad touchscreen tablet, as well as Intel's new Wireless Display technology; plus, there's some good news for fans of DRM-free

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Originally posted at Digital City Podcast

Take a dash of Adamo and add massive corporate IT appeal, and you have a formula for a very attractive business ultrathin.

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 <3 The 404!

(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



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Originally posted at The 404 Podcast

Boot Camp 3.1 betters the functionality of a MacBook Pro running Windows 7, but it doesn't improve the battery life. pOriginally posted at a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31012_7-10431386-10355804.html" class="origPostedBlog"Windows 7 Insider/a/p

In the market for a desktop replacement? Office Depot and Staples have two nearly identical models, each packing considerable horsepower, for cheap. pOriginally posted at a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13845_3-10444958-58.html" class="origPostedBlog"The Cheapskate/a/p

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



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Originally posted at The 404 Podcast

Apple's new iPad tablet is generating a fair amount of excitement, but it could have been so much more than a giant iPhone.

In a new deal with classic gaming Web site Good Old Games (GOG.com), game publisher Activision will shortly announce it is re-releasing many of its classic titles in a DRM-free format.

Long before Apple unveiled its tablet device (officially the worst-kept secret in the history of technology), we had been giving serious thought to whether such a device should be called a computer or not.

Sure, we'd all love it to be $99, but the reality is Apple's soon-to-be-unveiled new product will probably cost a pretty penny. How much is too much? pOriginally posted at a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10441444-233.html" class="origPostedBlog"iPhone Atlas/a/p

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There is no joy in Jet-ville, as Scott aptly demonstrates. Sure, he's still wearing his Jets jersey and hat, but a brave face can't hide the pain. Of course, he points

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Originally posted at Digital City Podcast

The MacBook line of laptops are a big part of the company's product mix, and though we're generally very fond of the last several generations of Apple laptops, there are still a few missing features that should be added.

I thought this Ballmer autograph on a Macbook Pro was fake, but according to this video of the big man scribbling it, it's not.