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Bonnie Cha, senior editor for cell phones, joins the show today to fill in for Justin Yu. It's one of the few days Wilson and Jeff aren't worried about losing their jobs for something they shouldn't have said. And no, she is NOT Nicole Lee. What better day to have Ms. Cha on the show than following the weekend that the actual Google phone leaks!

Google Nexus One

(Credit: Cory O'Brien)

The Google phone has been rumored for the last three or four years, and since the release of Google's Android operating system, the hoopla has died down considerably for an actual Google-branded phone. In typical Google fare, the company has decided on screwing its partners like Verizon and Motorola over by releasing an unsubsidized GSM phone called the Nexus One. No word yet on how much the unit will cost, but we do know that HTC designed the device. And that Google employees got the units over the weekend. Word on the street is that the device runs Android OS 2.1.

The mobile space is where all the spice is these days, and today is no different. News comes out that the venerable institution that is Playboy is jumping into the iPhone app fray with its own app. Because of Steve Jobs' no-porn rule, however, the app won't come with any outright nude pics. It will come with some scantily clad ladies and their interests. Per usual, it's all about the articles, not the pics.

(Credit: Playboy)

In videogaming news, the Pentagon is buying up 2,200 PlayStation 3s. No, they aren't using it to train soldiers with "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2", while it may be a lot of fun. The military wants to use the gaming consoles to run simulations because the $299 machines can calculate 150 GFLOPS. At The 404, we really have no idea what that means, but it sounds impressive.

Finally, Green Day comes to Rock Band. The Beatles have come already, and while we're generally excited to have one of the best modern bands, we're not really excited to have every dude singing "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" at every single graduation party. This could be a very, very bad thing.

It's been a slow week but we still have quite a bit of cell phone news for you. We hear that Nokia will be slowing down smartphone production, that Android updates are imminent, and that the FCC is asking Verizon some tough questions about ETF. We also chat about our latest reviews and answer your questions.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

News
Nokia to reduce smartphone offering by half in 2010
HTC Droid Eris to get Android update in 2010
Android 2.0.1 for Droid users
FCC questions Verizon over ETF hike
Sprint to phase out Qchat
Check your wireless coverage on CNET

Reviews
Casio G'zOne Rock
Sony Ericsson Aino
RIM BlackBerry Curve 8530 (Verizon Wireless)
Top 10 most popular cell phones of 2009

Upcoming reviews
Nokia N900
HP iPaq Glisten
LG Shine II
Powermat

Kent kicks off the podcast this week by reminding our dear listeners that Verizon iPhone rumors are just rumors. Until Steve Jobs says differently, he's not ready to believe a thing. New New Yorker Bonnie is taking the week off, but Nicole signs on to give her take on Android fragmentation, a costly new LG phone and the quality a Rock for Verizon.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Rumor of the week
Verizon iPhone rumors are just rumors

News
Moto Cliq gets software update
AT&T Voicemail to text
Google Maps Navigation arrives for Android 1.6
Differentiation leads to fragmented, confused Android
Developers want a better Android Market
Project with the powerful LG Expo
Casio G'zOne Rock
Kyocera spills three new handsets
Nokia slides out two new sliders
Motorola's iDEN i410
On Call: All about the Droid

Reviews
Prizefight: Samsung Behold II vs. HTC Droid Eris
Pantech Impact
Samsung Omnia II
Sanyo SCP-6760 Incognito

Upcoming reviews
Sony Ericsson Aino
Casio G'zOne Rock
LG Shine II
Nokia N900

We have special guest Damian Koh from CNET Asia joining us on today's show. He answers our questions about the cell phone market in Asia, and surprisingly, he tells us he actually envies us for the phones that are available only in the U.S. We also discuss the Motorola Droid, Verizon's AT&T-bashing ads, Samsung's Bada, and more.

News
Initial Motorola Droid sales look good
New Verizon ad calls iPhone 'misfit toy
Verizon reveals Casio G'zOne Brigade
T-Mobile to phase out MyFaves
Samsung launching its own mobile OS

Reviews and features
HTC Droid Eris
Nokia 3711
Samsung Flight
LG Chocolate Touch VX8575
Twitter Peek
RIM BlackBerry Bold 9700
Motorola Droid vs. iPhone 3GS prizefight

Upcoming reviews
Samsung Convoy
T-Mobile Tap
Samsung Mythic
Jabra Stone

Just before it got out of control

(Credit: Wilson Tang, Justin Yu/CNET)

Now that we've had ample time to recover, Wilson and Justin take a few moments out of today's episode of The 404 Podcast to attempt to retrace the events of Wilson's Friday night birthday bash. The night started with a stomach full of Korean Fried Chicken, which you should definitely check out if you live in New York--it's addicting, for real. After that, Wilson surprised us all (not really) with a night of karaoke, which started off innocently enough with Aqua's Barbie Girl and Enrique Iglesias' "Escape," but quickly turned into a rockstar-wannabe free-for-all as Justin and Wilson laid waste to their dignity and belted out that awfully addicting Black Eyed Peas song "I Gotta Feeling." MAZEL TOV! Check out the show to hear all the details and follow the photo slideshow to witness our humiliation.

(Credit: Facebook)

If you've ever wanted to show a Facebook friend how much you despise their mundane status updates and links, a "dislike" button might be your dream feature come true. French developer Thomas Moquet created a Firefox Extension that adds a dislike button to Facebook pages, but other Facebook users must have the extension installed as well to see the note. If you're not a fan of the open-source browser, there's also a Facebook Group that you can join to petition for the absent feature. The question is, should we really bring that element of negativity to our beloved social network? Listen the entire episode to hear our point of view.

In atypical Monday fashion, we actually dig deep into Internet censorship and the age that kids should be allowed to play games rated "Mature." The conversation is sparked by a very informed 13-year-old who left us a voicemail bringing up a great point about the different maturity levels that exist within a specific age bracket, and we're happy to discuss a topic that raises so many questions about maturity level, parental responsibilities, censoring Web content, etc...it all goes down in the second half of the show, so listen up and leave us a voicemail (1866-404-CNET) or e-mail the404[at]cnet[dot]com to voice your opinion!

BFI = Brendan the Future Intern

(Credit: The 404/CNET)

One surprise guest on The 404 always makes for a great show, especially when it's Bonnie Cha, who's in town apartment hunting for her big move out to New York at the end of the year! We're so excited at the idea of hanging out with her full-time, and even more stoked to welcome our second surprise guest: 404 superfan Brendan!

Our new underage friend took it upon himself to arrive at the CNET offices in the middle of his N.Y. vacation, bright and early at 3 a.m. in anticipation of sitting in on the show. We're more than happy to oblige, because that's some serious dedication. 404 fans rule; thanks for stopping by, Brendan!

In honor of our two guests, we've got a hilarious show today, literally packed full of awfully random stories from the Internet. It's the first day we're all back together as a family, so Jeff takes a second to tell us about his Halloween adventures and his trip to see Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in 3D. It sounds like he might be changing his opinion on 3D, although we're all a little wary about Jim Carrey's upcoming 3D adaptation of "A Christmas Carol."

Wilson's next three months.

(Credit: Toys.IE)

Next, Wilson offers two completely off-kilter stories that he dug from the colon of the Web about a creepy new Wii game that forces you to "cram a Wiimote inside a baby," according to Wilson's description, and another story about a bizarre space hotel that will charge guests $4.4 million for a three-night stay that includes majestic views of the rising sun...15 times a day. No, it's not Fhloston Paradise, it's real life, which is much scarier.

Speaking of movies, check out the official trailer for "Prince of Persia" and this photo of a shirtless Jake Gyllenhaal and tell us you won't be first in line when it comes out on May 28, '10.

Also, Wilson tells us Joss Whedon has issued an open letter to the Terminator owners asking to make a $10,000 bid to continue the popular franchise. The guy definitely means business, and we might be onboard were it not for the fact that he keeps referring to himself as a "legendary mastermind." He does, however, offer a throat lozenge for Christian Bale's John Connor if accepted and even puts in $10k for the Batman series while he's at it, so it's clear that Joss Whedon has lost his marbles. Maybe we should just keep it to blood-suckers and wooden stakes, how about it Joss?

Much thanks once again to everyone who sent in photos for our Halloween costume virtual catwalk you see below. If you'd like to be included, send us a photo of this year's get up to the404{at}cnet[dot]com.

Hope you guys enjoy today's show as much as we enjoyed recording it!

404 listener Halloween costume parade, Pt. 2!

We get a sneak peek at Microsoft's Project Pink, with leaked photos of a phone that isn't pink at all. We then dish about the Motorola Cliq, the finally released Garmin Nuvifone, MMS coming to the iPhone, and more.

Rumor of the week
Microsoft "Pink" emerges from Danger

News
Motorola Cliq gets official pricing and release date
Garmin Nuvi G60 launching with AT&T on October 4
iPhone MMS is now live
Samsung reveals pricey Instinct HD
Palm WebOS 1.2 released for the Pre
Amazon now offering Palm Pre for $99.99
Wal-Mart offers Palm Pre for $79
Cricket Captr is an entry-level camera phone
Verizon Hub is no more

Reviews
Nokia N86
Nokia 5130 Xpress Music
Samsung SPH-M330
Jabra Halo
Nokia BH-905

Upcoming reviews
Garmin Nuvifone G60
Samsung Instinct HD
Motorola H17 Bluetooth headset

We couldn't get enough of the Bonch on our 404th episode, so we invite her on today to hang out out with us and chat about the death of Saturday mail, Amy Winehouse, "District 9," and "Paper Heart." And stay tuned till the end for Bonnie's very special announcement! You heard it on The 404 first!

(Credit: Bonnie Cha)

The CNET offices in New York just got a little more exciting, because Bonnie Cha is in The 404 studio to brighten up an otherwise sobering Monday morning! She's only here for one more day, but make sure you listen to the end of the show, because she has a very important announcement!

Our rundowneth overfloweth today with quick little news bytes. The first one is about the U.S. Post Office no longer delivering mail on Saturdays! Calm down, the proposition is still in the infancy stage, but we're wondering if this is a real concern for anyone, or if this could just be another point on the board for THE INTERNET. Nevertheless, we're still going to miss our friendly neighborhood mailpeople who face dogs, weather, fatigue, and a million other things to bring us our daily book of ValuePak coupons.

Next up is a little rumor we've heard from TechRadar about Sony releasing an emotion sensor at tomorrow's GamesCon media conference. We're not sure if this technology will ever actually materialize, but we do know Sony has already patented plans for a gaming console that can be controlled by touch, movement, and even emotions including laughter, boredom, sadness, excitement, and anger. Personally, I can do without a box reading my emotions and affecting my gameplay, but what do you think? Could you get into something like that?

We also talk about "District 9" cleaning up the weekend box office, cocaine content of U.S. currency, and watch as Amy Winehouse has a complete mental breakdown, all on today's snapshot episode!

After a ton of hype and much deliberation, we finally get the official Palm Pre review from CNET Editor Bonnie Cha. She lays out all the pros and cons of the device, including the keyboard, app switching, battery life, and much, much more. Also, Jeff finally decides whether or not to buy one; tune in to hear the verdict!

We've been talking about the Palm Pre smartphone for a few weeks now, building up hype and getting excited about the release like everyone else, so we're especially excited to have Bonnie Cha come on today's show to give us her final review. If you have the time, be sure to check out her written review as well. So it turns out that she really likes the software. The multitouch is responsive (albeit with a slight lag), app-switching and push e-mail worked flawlessly, and the contact integration with Facebook, Outlook, etc. all impressed Bonnie, but don't rush out to buy it without hearing the negatives.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)

She also has a few complaints: as expected, the keyboard is pretty tiny and requires a rather long learning curve depending on the size of your fingers. In fact, Bonnie's got pretty small hands and even she had problems typing on it, so be sure to check one out before you buy. Next, the battery life pooped out after only one day of usage, which can be attributed partly to a faulty AIM client, but it's still something to keep in mind.

Overall, Bonnie fully recommends the phone to Sprint customers, including Jeff, who's been calling her at home to get insider's secrets since the phone was first announced. In the end, Jeff finally decides to at least go check it out on opening day, Saturday, but with no guarantees that he'll buy. No matter what phone he gets, we'll still have a great time with a live smashing of his old HTC Mogul on next week's show, so make sure to look out for that as well. Leave a comment below, though, and let us know what you think about the Palm Pre. Are you going to buy it? Is it worth the money to upgrade? Do you hate the phrase "iPhone killer" as much as the Bonch? Let's hear it.

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