dead

After yesterday's downer show, we're back and cheerier than ever. Even Jeff is in good spirits after the New Jersey Devils got stomped all over their home ice. We discover today that Wal-Mart really does rock, and not in a good way.

The lesson of today's show is DO NOT BUY ELECTRONICS FROM WAL-MART, unless you're a rock collector, in which case you'll be thrilled, because apparently the company is literally selling Nintendo DS boxes filled with sediment.

We need to get THE BONCH, aka Bonnie Cha back on our show to talk about the Palm Pre. Actually, Palm is offering preproduction review units to Average Joes (and Josephines) in hopes of receiving "true life" feedback on the smartphone. Wilson seems to think that most consumers will frown on the smaller screen size, but we all have high hopes for the brand since this is definitely a last ditch effort in the smartphone market.

In exciting movie news, Jeff is superstoked to hear about a "Drop Dead Fred" remake starring Russel Brand, that quirky English dude that played the hippy beauhunk in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." His brand of piratey humor should do well as a young girl's imaginary friend, right? Oh! We also reveal another popular movie sequel in the works, but you'll have to listen to the show to get the full scoop.

Finally, we touch on the bloated cost of higher education and how NYU students are getting questionable phone calls about their financial aid. Apparently NYU financial advisers are individually calling students receiving significant amounts of financial aid and questioning their decisions to accept the money and attend the university. If I were still in school and someone called me about this, I'd probably just tell them to put the check in the mail and stop telling me what to do all the time.

Today's CFTP is rather heartfelt. Thanks to everyone who called in, and we'd like to personally welcome James Christopher Maximus to the world! You were born today, dude! Hopefully you're reading this in the year 2021, when you're old enough to fully grasp our jokes. We love your dad for breeding future listeners of The 404!

Per usual, don't forget to check out our live VIDEOcast (man it feels good to write that) every morning at 11 a.m. ET. We have a ton of fun in the preshow and you get the inside scoop on how we prepare for the show. And please please please call and leave us a voicemail at 1-866-404-CNET (2638)!

"All I can do is be me, whoever that is."--Bob Dylan

That's the thing about Mr. D, he never stands still. He's always evolving and these four newly remastered CDs, "New Morning," "Before the Flood," "The Basement Tapes," and "Dylan and the Dead," are proof of that.

I'll tell you upfront I've always had a thing for "New Morning," and I was bummed when it wasn't part of the 2003 SACD release collection. Sony put out 15 titles in one big chunk, and they were pretty amazing.

These four new titles were last remastered 20 years ago, so I had my hopes up. The new ones come in Digipak cases (matching the look of the SACD versions) with new photos, but no new liner notes or bonus tracks.

OK, now that I finally have a newly tweaked "New Morning," was it worth the wait? Released in 1970, "New Morning" kicked off the second phase of his long career. There's no big hits, but it's one of Dylan's most consistent albums, not a weak tune in there.

The sound is very warm and natural, and Dylan's vocals sound like he's in the room with you. The new CD sounds so close to the sound of my original LP it's scary. It's interesting, I can hear the analog master tape's hiss more clearly on the CD (it's not obtrusive, but it's there) than the LP (the LP's surface noise obscures the tape hiss). "New Morning" is one of Dylan's forgotten gems.

"Before the Flood" is a live, two-disc album, originally released in 1974. Dylan's vocal style was always changing, and he sounds completely different here. The songs tempos are much faster than the studio versions, and Dylan's almost screaming the lyrics. He's backed up by The Band, and they're terrific. They get to do a nice set of their own tunes. Sound quality is average for a live 1970s set. … Read more

First, there was the Red Ring of Death (RRoD) epidemic. It struck thousands of early Xbox 360s and led Microsoft to announce in 2007 that it would repair all afflicted consoles free of charge and offer an extended three-year warranty on those machines.

The latest XBox 360 bug? The "E74 error," which has become enough of problem that Microsoft has had to announce that it will repair all consoles affected by it--and extend its three-year warranty to cover any potential E74 problems.

Like the Red Ring of Death, it's not hard to figure out whether you have … Read more

Kwiry, "the remind yourself to do a search about something later" company, is closing up shop next week. According to a company blog post, the service is shutting itself down due to "economic realities."

In the meantime, users are kindly being given the next 10 days to grab all their previous searches, which can be saved as a CSV file and exported into other reminder services.

I hate to see the site go, but it was a concept that was a hard sell to casual users. Aimed at users without smartphones (or data plans), it started … Read more

Despite the environmentally friendly idea behind the Shelves for Life, this is a pretty morbid concept. But for the sake of convenience, having your coffin parked in the house waiting for that impending day you kick the bucket, this is actually a cool idea--and much more practical than this casket tech from earlier Friday.

It ensures that come what may, your shelves can be recycled to serve you past the end of your life, particularly if you've grown sentimentally attached to this particular furniture. All it takes is some DIY savvy to dismantle and reassemble the oak-veneered plywood planks … Read more

Look, I understand wanting comfort. I am a glutton for comfort. That doesn't mean I'm going to buy up every Snuggie-like thing I see to achieve my version of comfy nirvana. I don't let it force me to cross the line from having class.

That would include these air-conditioned coffins, currently all the rage in part of Serbia. After I die I figure I'll have more on my mind, like explaining that night in Reno with the Montgomery twins to Saint Peter. If my body gets a little toasty in the cold crypt six feet under, … Read more

The other day we got an e-mail from Jim, a reader in LA, who wrote:

"My question regards the care and feeding of headphones. From the coconut-halves sets of my youth to the in-ear sets of today, I've never failed to kill a set of 'phones within a few months. Even the two Shure sets I bought in the past year (E2C and SE110) and have tried to treat very carefully, have developed cracks and shorts where they loop over the ear."

Ah, Jim, I share your pain. A few weeks ago, my trusty Shure E4Cs developed … Read more

Justin calls Wilson out for being happy with his life, so they decide to name the show after the popular '80s song Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. Meanwhile, Justin hates his life because New York City ruined his evening. Stay tuned for that story on today's The 404.

Jeff talks about a dangerous e-mail chain letter about entering your PIN number in reverse to call the police during a robbery. Too bad, it ain't true. You might just get stabbed in the stomach if you try this one. Speaking of your health, you can help stop the spread of the flu this year with Twitter. We also suggest not licking the subway poles, but hey--to each his own.

Also, Apple quietly introduces data tethering to the iPhone OS 3.0. Apparently, it takes a little minor hacking, but you'll be able to tether your iPhone 3G to your computer over USB. Bluetooth support is a few more hacks away. Hopefully, you don't take down the entire AT&T network when you BitTorrent the latest "Battlestar Galactica" over your iPhone 3G connection.

Microsoft releases the latest version of Internet Explorer 8 for download. The tech community gives a collective yawn (except for IT managers), while we get creeped out by a Japanese robot model.

Finally, our tagline contest is coming to an end, and before we decide on an official winner, we'd like you to chime in by taking our poll. Click here or look up and to your left. Jonathan Coulton had to reschedule but will make his appearance in the coming weeks, so hold onto your horses. Be sure to support our very own Natali Del Conte's Smackdown for Charity!

A bat hitched a ride on the space shuttle Discovery and I think it's going to be a long long time till touchdown brings it down again. Of course, IBM apparently wants to buy Sun too. We also cover the hot new features in the latest software update for the Nokia 5800. Oh, and the iPhone too.

IBM to buy Sun? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/technology/companies/19sun.html?partner=rss&emc=rss http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10198901-92.html

iPhone OS 3.0: What you need to … Read more