mad

The 404 879: Where we remember, remember (podcast)

Today we're exploring the trend of digital vigilantes (aka digilantes) taking to the Internet for crowdsourced criminal identification and cyberjustice. The most recent example is the hacker collective known as Anonymous' YouTube video threatening to take down Facebook on November 5, otherwise known as Guy Fawkes Day.

We'll also fill you in on the London police toying with facial recognition technology on Facebook to identify looters caught on camera, yesterday's 5,000 percent spike in blunt weapons sales on Amazon.co.uk, and a woman who used an airplane to wag a giant finger at Wall Street.

The 404 Digest for Episode 879

Anonymous: Facebook's going down November 5. Will London's police officials turn to Facebook's facial recognition technology to fight crime? Sales of aluminum bats are up more than 5,000 percent on Amazon.co.uk. The USB toothbrush: Philips' device is the "iPod of toothbrushes." Angry Birds makes it onto the cover of Mad Magazine. Airplane banner circles Wall Street: "Thanks For The Downgrade. You Should All Be Fired"

Episode 879 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Swede busted for home-brew nuclear reactor

Some people like to tend to their garden, play video games, or tackle woodworking projects as a pastime. A 31-year-old Swedish man, according to the Associated Press, had a rather unusual hobby. Richard Handl was working on a homemade nuclear reactor.

In Angelholm, a municipality in southwest Sweden with a long sandy beach right outside of the main town, Handl was busy experimenting in his kitchen with radioactive elements radium, americium, and uranium. He opened up fire alarms, which contain small amounts of americium and ordered other elements from companies overseas, according to Swedish news site The Local.

His work … Read more

Windows Phone Mango RTM

Fox delays streaming TV shows on the Web, Mad Men hits Netflix streaming, and Microsoft releases the first major update to Windows Phone codenamed Mango.

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

Microsoft releases Windows Phone Mango Facebook for Businesses Fox limits web access to shows Mad Men comes to Netflix Google updating Chrome for Lion multitouch Xoom owners get 4G in Sept. Subscribe:  iTunes (MP3) |  iTunes (320x180) |  iTunes (HD) |  RSS (MP3) |  RSS (320x180) |  RSS HD

'Mad Men' makes its way to Netflix streaming

The critically acclaimed "Mad Men" is now available on Netflix's streaming service.

According to the company, all four seasons of the show are available for users to start streaming right now. Future seasons of the show will be added each year after they air on the AMC network.

In April, Netflix acquired the rights to stream "Mad Men." At the time, the Los Angeles Times reported that the company paid $900,000 per episode just to get its hands on the show. Netflix never confirmed that report.

The addition of "Mad Men" to … Read more

Netflix counters bad press with 'The Fighter,' 'Mad Men'

At a time when thousands of Netflix subscribers are jeering the company for the lack of selection in its streaming library, here comes "Irish" Mickey Ward and Don Draper to help mount a rally.

Netflix, the Web's No. 1 video-rental service, now has "The Fighter," the Academy Award nominated film, available for streaming and announced that the much honored AMC TV series "Mad Men" will be added to the streaming library on July 27.

Netflix has been getting clobbered by customers who are angry after the company announced a 60 percent price hike … Read more

preGame 54: E3 2011 wrap-up; Alice: Madness Returns

With Jeff back from E3 and Mark a little under the weather, preGame welcomes guest host Wilson Tang to help wrap up the highs and lows of E3 2011.

We'll discuss in-depth each major console manufacturer's presence at the show and what it was like to play with the PlayStation Vita and Wii U. We'll even have some never-before-seen footage of Jeff's hands-on time with Wii U and its tablet controller!

The first week after E3 has certainly had its fair share of controversies, so we'll leave the Duke Nukem Forever talk to The 404 and move on to what we think is this week's sleeper, Alice: Madness Returns.

Finally, we'll check out Nintendo's latest commercial for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D starring Robin Williams!

Be sure to tune in next week when we'll have a live demo of Shadows of the Damned!… Read more

preGame 54: E3 2011 wrap-up; Alice: Madness Returns

With Jeff back from E3 and Mark a little under the weather, preGame welcomes guest host Wilson Tang to help wrap up the highs and lows of E3 2011.

We'll discuss in-depth each major console manufacturer's presence at the show and what it was like to play with the PlayStation Vita and Wii U. We'll even have some never-before-seen footage of Jeff's hands-on time with Wii U and its tablet controller!

The first week after E3 has certainly had it's fair share of controversies, so we'll leave the Duke Nukem Forever talk to The 404 and move on to what we think is this week's sleeper, Alice: Madness Returns.

Finally, we'll check out Nintendo's latest commercial for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D starring Robin Williams!

Be sure to tune in next week when we'll have a live demo of Shadows of the Damned!… Read more

L.A. Noire: Not a simple black-and-white case

Following up what we thought was 2010's best game of the year is no small task, but if there's one developer/publisher powerhouse that can handle the pressure, it's certainly Rockstar Games. From a pairing with Sydney-based developer Team Bondi, L.A. Noire was born, with preproduction dates ranging as far back as 2004.

It's certainly been a long road for the massive title, involving more than 400 actors, more than 20 hours of voice acting, and the invention of a whole new technology to capture realistic facial expressions. Our eyes having been glued to the TV for every waking hour of the past few days, we're ready to share our final thoughts.

First, a little background: L.A. Noire is a crime drama-thriller set in 1940s Los Angeles. Players assume the role of Cole Phelps, a war-hero-turned-cop who is in the process of making his way up in the ranks of the L.A.P.D. In a notoriously violent time in L.A.'s past, Phelps finds himself confronted with an unsettling number of possibly connected murder cases.

Of course, the game borrows its name from the film noir genre, dating back to crime dramas of the '40s and '50s that used stylized cinematography and the high contrast of gritty black and white for dramatic effect. While L.A. Noire is presented in color, players have the option of choosing black and white in the display settings.

Every effort was made to recapture the Los Angeles of 1947, from the painstaking details of a residential kitchen to the historic landmarks on the outskirts of town. Aerial photographs, blueprints, public records--just about every resource available--was consulted in the game's reconstruction of the city and the result is absolutely astonishing.… Read more

A bus driver uses two cell phones, while driving

Please don't try this at home. And please don't try this at work, especially if you happen to be the driver of a means of public transportation.

Because this video, posted by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, projects something that is so stunning and yet so entirely everyday.

Here is a bus driver, talking on one cell phone while making adjustments to his smartphone. The only slight drawback is that he's driving the bus, with his elbows.

Who here assembled has never driven a vehicle with one finger or perhaps two knees?

And yet there is something … Read more