jeff

The 404 191: Where we're finally on time

Jeff almost doesn't make it into the show today due to this 24 flu bug, but I think his daily dose of Vitamin Backayutang was enough to pull him out of the trenches. After a false start, Wilson gives us a a lengthy review of yesterday's Google Android debut, and I'll let you in on a secret: he's disappointed. I don't think any of us will be trading in our iPhones for this little guy, especially not for something that looks like the T-Mobile Sidekick 1.0.

This is the show where we're finally on time. In case you didn't grasp that subtle sarcasm, we actually start the show a half an hour late only to be interrupted halfway through the show by Jeff messing up the recording...so we start again! This time around, it's better than ever; we've got Wilson' initial review of the T-Mobile G1 with the Google Android OS, Prank VoIP calls, Dark Knight DVD details, and a tasty new Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor. Also, we uncover another huge helping of East Cost/West Coast beef! YUM!

EPISODE 191 Download today's podcast … Read more

The 404 190: Where it's just the two of us

Wilson Tang thought it'd be a better idea to cover the new Google Android phone today, and we can't disagree. So that just leaves myself and a one Justin Yu to fend for ourselves on today's 404.

Today we'll talk about why it's a bad idea for record companies to release albums on thumbdrives, a U.K. family that lives in a pig sty, and how an Xbox Live Survey seems to be an accurate sampling of how the gaming demographic will vote this November.

Also, Justin updates us on his Justin PSYu Foundation campaign, enlightening us with the difficulty he's having in completing God of War--a game my 11-year-old female cousin has finished three times.

All this plus a HUGE calls-from-the-public session on a very personal and intimate 404.

EPISODE 190 Download today's podcast … Read more

Q&A: Jeff Howe on 'crowdsourcing'

In 2006, Wired magazine reporter Jeff Howe published a story about a phenomenon he'd been following in which the power of large numbers of people was being harnessed to make things happen that hadn't been possible before outside the auspices of corporations or other big institutions.

He called the phenomenon "crowdsourcing," and the term quickly caught on, joining others, like "tipping point," "wisdom of the crowds," "the long tail" as household phrases for the ways that things were changing all around us, often thanks to the democratizing reach of the … Read more

Nvidia conference is all about the other processor

SAN JOSE, Calif.--Nvidia is making a case for the graphics processing unit, the other chip inside the PC, at the Nvision conference that opened on Monday.

In his inaugural keynote--this is first Nvision conference--Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang reminded the audience that the graphics processing unit (GPU) has come a long way. In short, the GPU has evolved from the simple fixed-function graphics accelerator (e.g., the IBM 8514 that debuted in 1987) to the modern graphics chip, a computing engine capable of almost one teraflop of processing power. (A teraflop is equal to one trillion floating point operations per … Read more

Are online advertisers disappointed in NBC's Olympic performance?

NBC President Jeff Zucker has been explaining to the U.S. public just how right the network was to not screen the Olympic opening ceremony live.

"There's no question we did the right thing in holding the opening ceremony to air in prime time on NBC that night," he said on CNBC's Squawk Box. "The excitement that built out of word of mouth that the opening ceremony was the most spectacular thing that people had seen, that China had wanted to make a statement and they made a statement and people wanted to see that.&… Read more

The 404 164: Where we tell the 404, the whole 404, and nothing but the 404

On the show today: Dan the Mantern has his first day as the official 404 stenographer, a dude gets a girlfriend and sells off his entire videogame collection, Jeff finally agrees to give Justin his old PS2, Wilson introduces the worst story ever to infect the show, and a quick discussion of college mating rituals. Disney also has a bad week: Cinderella and Tinkerbell get cuffed in front of a hoard of screaming fans and the Disney fatcats "dive in" to little girls' underwear.

I'd like to give a warm welcome to the newest CNET TV Intern, … Read more

The 404 163: Where Wilson eats scorpions, bears, and sharks, oh my!

On today's show: The honorable Clayton Morris joins us for a hilarious high energy show. We recap our Fox News appearance that never came to be, answer the questions you're too afraid to ask your Doctor, relive this decade's greatest meeting of the minds, and quiver in fear over Boeing's newest air-to-ground laser turret.

Clayton Morris, ladies and gentlemen! That's right, The 404's all-time favorite guest steps into the studio this morning and helps us out of our Olympic rut. That's right, you'll be happy to hear that there's absolutely no … Read more

Killing the cash cow and other acts of media indecency

And I was feeling so good today--that is until I read this memo from The Philadelphia Inquirer's managing editor Mike Leary to his staff, essentially establishing guidelines on how the newspaper intends to commit ritual hara-kiri.

"Colleagues--Beginning today, we are adopting an Inquirer first policy for our signature investigative reporting, enterprise, trend stories, news features, and reviews of all sorts. What that means is that we won't post those stories online until they're in print. We'll cooperate with Philly.com, as we do now, in preparing extensive online packages to accompany our enterprising work. But … Read more

The 404 159: Where Justin burns down the 404 studio

On today's show: In Jeff's absence, Justin takes over the studio and all hell breaks loose. Natali Del Conte rushes in to save the day! Wilson sits back and laughs, and we discuss a few stories about free Olympic condoms, annoying neighbors, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, and lost light sabers.

When Jeff's away, the SPig will play! That's right, Jeff's on vacation in Atlantic City, New Jersey, gambling his salary away, so I decide to take up the reins and jump into the hot seat! And trust me, you don't want … Read more