addiction

BOL 1047: Stab it out

Rafe Needleman and I get in a fight over Windows 7's loose activation policy. Brian Tong suggests we hug it out. Rafe and I seem to prefer stabbing it out. We also take Flickr to task for censoring images and wonder why the Internet addiction center is so expensive.

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Windows 7 runs free without activation for 120 days with simple command http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/21/windows-7-runs-free-without-activation-for-120-days-with-simple/

Yahoo deletes anti-Obama image from Flickr http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-deletes-anti-obama-image-from-flickr-2009-8

Twitter … Read more

America's first Internet addiction detox program

When stars need to wean their bodies off an excess of alcohol or drugs, they waft off to the Betty Ford Center or the Priory in London.

Now those who have allowed gaming or the Web to take over their lives have their own place of salvation in the United States.

Heavensfield Retreat Center in the kindly named Fall City, near Seattle, claims to have the first Internet addiction detox program in the States. Called ReStart, it essentially offers a 45-day detox from the need to socially network and game until your mind and fingers are more numb than a … Read more

The 404 400: Where we wear short shorts

In Jeff's absence, Wilson takes the reigns as chief engineer for the show...and runs it in to the ground. Just kidding! Today we invite host of The Green Show and longtime 404 friend, Mark Licea, to join us in a few stories about a handy iPhone app, traveling water bottles, Facebook jealousy, Internet addiction, and a hilarious Calls From the Public!

Hot on the heels of Motherboard and Laserjet comes Earth's newest superdefender, G-FORCE! A big thanks goes out to our buddy Hayato Shimizu for Photoshopping Wilson into this robotic Megaman-looking superhero that fights crime with two cameras and still has time to highlight his hair. We've actually received a lot of really talented Photoshopped images of The 404 hosts recently, so click through the slideshow below for all the images.

Jeff's away on vacation and Wilson surprises us all by stepping up to the board, so bear with us through this episode. With some help from our good buddy The Intern Formerly Known as Mark, we navigate our way through a bunch of newsworthy stories from the Internet, including an iPhone app that tells you the best time to cut out of a movie to use the bathroom, the recent popularity of Internet addiction rehab camps, and how Facebook is trying to ruin your love life. All that, plus a new character on today's Calls From the Public!

EPISODE 400 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video

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Addicted: When gamers become gamblers

A new study suggests that video games are highly addictive, with game addicts showing more than half of the same traits as those addicted to gambling.

Researchers at Iowa State University and the National Institute on Media and the Family studied 1,178 American children and teenagers, aged 8 to 18, and found that addicted gamers played video games 24 hours a week, twice as much as casual gamers.

Some gamers have shown similar symptoms to those suffering from gambling addiction, including:

Lying to family and friends about how much they play games Using the games to escape their problems … Read more

Study: 'Leisure browsing' increases productivity

Updated at the end with response to some reader comments

Here's some good news that you should forward to your boss.

A study conducted in Australia found that people who engage in "Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing" (WILB) are more productive than those who don't. Workers who "surf the Internet for fun at work--within a reasonable limit of less than 20 percent of their total time in the office--are more productive by about 9 percent,"* according to the study's author, Professor Brent Coker, from the University of Melbourne's Department of Management and Marketing.… Read more

The video game that lets you slap a Wall Street CEO

You know you want to. You've wanted to do it for some time now. No, not tell Pink and Sandra Bullock they have terrible taste in men, but slap a Wall Street ignoramus.

AddictingGames, the site that brought you the ecology sniper game evocatively entitled "Shoot The Bastards," now brings you "Trillion Dollar Bailout."

It's a simple affair. You have a New York skyline, against which various chaps in suits stand, asking for cash. The Stank of Bummera, for example. Or Crysalot Motors. With one slap, you can send them to a dark hole … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 871: Pirates on the paradigm ship

In today's show, horrible ship-related pun-crimes are perpetrated and we learn that in Russia, emoticons wink at you and try to charge you for them. Also, we bash a ton of gadgets, like the still-overpriced Sony PlayStation 3, the $99-with-contract Acer Aspire, and the Android phones running apps that turn on roaming and data use without your knowledge. Then we bring it on home with puppies. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 871

Chrome breaks outta beta http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10120965-2.html

Nintendo Wii outsells Xbox 360 more than two-to-one http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/peripherals/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212500018&subSection=All+Stories… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 861: Ice blue and the hot breaths

We've got a host of Black Friday news today, like Apple retail stores matching online promotions; Sony still refuses to lower the price on the PS3, but they will let you get a PlayStation credit card and a $150 discount (along with whopping interest rates, of course, so pay that sucker off right away, mmkay?); and Nintendo has a couple of new DS Lite bundles on offer instead of the DSi. At least one of them comes in ICE BLUE. Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 861

Apple retail stores will match reseller prices http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10107987-37.html… Read more

If you snort coke, blame your Dad

It is said by those who know (and those who merely have a sniff of the facts) that cocaine is quite a popular entertainment for many a technical mind.

I am told that it provides a temporary feeling of invincibility, one that can be useful when networking, selling a less than watertight notion or attempting to persuade a member of your target sex that you are, indeed, a person worth sharing combining notions with.

Now the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany has found good reason for coke users to toss aside their guilt and let their parents … Read more