karaoke

After months of anticipation, singing robot T-Pain has finally unleashed his secret weapon: an iPhone application that gives users the power to make their tone deaf voice sound...just as crappy. But digitized! The iPhone application is called I Am T-Pain, and it might be the end of music as we know it.

Even though T-Pain isn't the first artist to use the Auto-Tuner, this is the easiest and cheapest way to obtain the popular vocoder software that disguises and corrects improper pitch by distorting the human voice.

The $2.99 app is a portable version of the tool that includes an instrumental collection of T-Pain's greatest hits in addition to a "Freestyle" mode to cover your own songs. You can also record yourself singing and easily upload the tracks to various social networks.

I installed the app on my iPhone and it works pretty well, but instead of "Buy you a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" I went for Cher's timeless hit "I Believe" on today's episode of The 404 Podcast. Check it out and let me know if I have a future in the recording industry.

Check out more screenshots of the I Am T-Pain iPhone app after the jump.… Read more

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

Microsoft Research on Thursday is releasing software that gives musicians, both casual and professional, a new way to speed up song development. Called Songsmith, the $29.99 application creates musical accompaniment based on whatever is sung into the computer's microphone.

In order to do this, the software processes the pitch and tone of what's recorded and lets users hear how it might sound if they had a little backup in the form of a virtual piano, drums, and keyboard. Microsoft is expecting them to use the new track either as inspiration for further song development or as a … Read more

GPS vendor TomTom announced Thursday that it has launched an online mapping solution to compete with MapQuest and Google Maps. Dubbed TomTom Route Planner, the free service provides door-to-door route planning options to any address in the U.S. or Canada.

Using TomTom's MapShare technology, the service provides users with continued map improvements made by TomTom users that see flaws and correct them. According to the company, improvements are uploaded regularly to provide up-to-date driving conditions. TomTom's IQ Routes feature will offer more accurate arrival estimates by accessing average speeds for each road instead of employing posted speed … Read more

Mark the Intern joins us for a hilarious show; this time around, we tackle stories breaking in mainstream media including the Mad TV cancellation, Journey greatest song of all time, the Arrested Development movie, and Stan Lee's cutting edge take on the classic superhero story.

There's a lot of music and television show news to report today, so we invite Mark the (former) Intern onto the show to help us discuss what's happening. First off, we get into the one song that can always brighten a dark day: Journey's "Don't Stop Believin." Whether it's in a crowded Karaoke Bar, in a Family Guy episode, or in a solo performance in the pajamas in privacy of my room, that song gets my juices flowing right when I hear that familiar falsetto. So a big congratulations to Journey for hitting the double platinum digital sales mark on iTunes!

Unfortunately, good news always comes with the bad kind too, and we're sad to report that Mad TV is shutting its doors after a 14 year stint on air. I personally loved Mad TV more than SNL all throughout middle school; don't you remember Ms. Swan? UBS Guy? Funky Walker, Dirty Talker? And Stewart! Look what I can do! We'll miss you Mad TV, but at least you're taking down Lipstick Jungle and My Own Worst Enemy with you. Seriously, Jeff says those shows suck.

The world is overrun with bookshelf speaker systems for the iPod, but finding a powerful, portable iPod boom box is surprisingly tough. The Ion Block Rocker isn't the prettiest thing we've seen, but it is one of the most practical and affordable ways to blast your music outdoors.

For better or worse, the Block Rocker also does a damn fine job as a mobile karaoke machine (as I skillfully demonstrate in this video). Along with a few pints of liquid courage and an iPod stocked with pop music, this thing is humiliation on wheels.

To learn more, check … Read more

MySpace announced on Wednesday that it launched a freshly redesigned MySpace Karaoke page. The new service includes better navigation, improved sharing between friends, a dedicated upload manager, and most importantly, video recording.

The MySpace Karaoke recorder allows users to record video in either standard-definition or high-definition formats, with as little as a microphone and Webcam. Once users pick a song they want to perform, they can click on the "Play" button, which will bring them to the Karaoke page for the particular song.

Unlike before, the video player now includes a red "Record" button, which, once … Read more

On the show today: Wilson and Justin do karaoke, box office and various weekend exploits, unhappy subway customers get irate, convicted pedophile sues American Express, and men's tights are the new metrosexual trend!

Hope you guys had a great weekend! Wilson, Linda, A-Rod, and a few other friends got our karaoke on at a place in KoreaTown on Friday! We had a blast singing all the hits; Wilson's going to kill me for telling you guys this, but that fool totally sang "Two Become One!" Trust me, you haven't lived a complete life until you'… Read more

There's going to be an Elvis karaoke contest on MySpace. That is not a joke. I can't seem to figure out whether it's trying to market Elvis to a younger generation or MySpace to an older one--or if it's just for kicks.

The News Corp.-owned social network, best known for attracting a demographic for whom the King has always been dead, announced Monday that it will be hosting an official Elvis karaoke competition for "Elvis Week 2008," which runs from August 9 to 17. It's in partnership with Elvis Presley Enterprises, and … Read more