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The 404 123: Where DUCK! It's a defective thong!

Would you believe that the 404 gets a little serious on today's show? We push the buttons of the Texas Republican convention, pick apart militant veganism, complain about the PS3, and blow off Jeff's bout with Empathy Deficit Disorder. Don't worry though, it's not all serious--we also introduce a ridiculous new segment in the second half of the show. EPISODE 123 Download today's podcast

Where blazers, T-shirts, and flip-flops are great

EPISODE 81

Natali Del Conte, star of CNET's hit show Loaded, joins the boys of the 404 to talk about Jeff's visit to see Shigeru Miyamoto, digital copy of Juno, and movies coming up this weekend.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Wii virtual console releases for this week

Two classic NES games are available for download this week on the Wii virtual console. Choose between a classic baseball-arcade sim and a puzzler inspired by everyone's favorite dinosaur sidekick.

Yoshi's Cookie (1992, NES, 500 Wii points): Nintendo really tried to cash in on the whole Tetris era by developing many Nintendo-branded spin-offs. In Yoshi's Cookie, you'll take on 100 stages of cookie-themed puzzle action. Bases Loaded (1988, NES, 500 Wii points): A true classic, Bases Loaded brought arcade-style baseball into the home. Great gameplay combined with innovations, such as the first-ever view from the pitching … Read more

The exoskeleton in MIT's closet

The 21st-century beast of burden could be you--if the exoskeleton fits.

It would work something like this, according to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Rather than simply strap on a backpack, you'd step into a pair of boots that are connected to the backpack by metal tubes and joints and springs and "a damping device," strap the tubes to your legs and flip on a small external power source.

It sounds like a lot of work, at least to get started, but the MIT exoskeleton can handle 80 percent of an 80-pound load. I'm … Read more

iLoad marks the height of gadget iNsanity

OK, so I get the iMac, the iBook, the iPod, iTunes, and even (grudgingly) the iPhone. Apple thought up the moniker, so we can't begrudge them for expanding on the very successful franchise. But the iTrip, the iRiver Clix and Cowon's range of iAudio products tested the limits of my patience. And I could have held my tongue if BMW's iDrive had been the end of iOpportunism.

But when I noticed the iLoad--a device for ripping CDs and DVDs to iPod without a computer--on Senior Editor Donald Bell's desk this morning, I felt the need … Read more

iLoad now rips DVDs direct to iPod. iPhone incompatible.

I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of the Wingspan iLoad. Until recently, the product's only claim to fame was that it enabled you to rip CDs directly to your iPod without having to involve your computer. It was a handy tool for iTunes-haters and Luddites, but at $300 it wasn't a terribly compelling product. Just this past month, however, Wingspan published a firmware update that allows the iLoad to rip any DVD movie directly to an iPod. We've tested it, and it works (although not with the iPhone). In fact the video quality … Read more