clothes

The 404 704: Where having kids only makes you hotter (podcast)

Whether it's the dude showing off his abs or a co-worker inviting you to happy hour drinks at Dave and Busters, we all have friends on Facebook we wouldn't mind disappearing. Wave bye to these faux friends, because November 17 is National UnFriend Day, where everyone is invited to trim the friend fat...on Facebook, that is.

The creator of the new holiday is late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who recently declared war on all Facebook friends you don't actually care about in "real life." Genuine friendships are sacred, according to Kimmel, and he thinks social networks like Facebook that let you "friend" anyone are cheapening the sentiment.

On the other hand, if you're curious to know who's unfriended YOU on Facebook, well...there's an app for that. It's called UnFriend Finder, and it's a new extension for the Firefox Web browser that tells you which of your friends are being unfaithful and exactly when the online break-up occurred. Just be sure to install it prior to November 17, because it won't retroactively show you ex-friends from the past.

Hopefully Natali Del Conte won't unfriend The 404, or else we wouldn't have opportunities like today to invite her on the show to tell us more technical details than we ever thought existed about diapers, including her 30-day cloth diaper challenge...don't feel left out if you don't have a kid, we're planning a similar diaper competition among ourselves.

After the break and a video voice mail from Kentucky From Neil, we want to warn all of our male listeners using laptops about scrotal hyperthermia. According to an experimental study on 29 healthy male volunteers, varying the position of a laptop won't help the issue, although the conclusion does recommend a laptop pad and/or adjusting your seating stance to prevent long-term damage. Safety first on The 404!

Episode 704 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

The Twitterati very much mind the Gap

You never really know what will get social-media marketing chatter going. Film directors getting kicked off planes, for one, or that Old Spice Man sensation. This week, it was when retailer The Gap--which has lately been getting loads of positive digital press for its use of Groupon and Foursquare--unveiled a complete revamp of its iconic logo, and everybody freaked out. More specifically, they seemed to think it was the worst idea since New Coke.

"Gap" became a trending topic on Twitter, as design- and branding-savvy Twitterers (as well as those who just like to voice an opinion … Read more

These clothes voice your fashion sense--literally

Back in the days of the CNET News Daily Podcast, my co-hosts and I liked to joke that we had "sexy podcast voice" whenever a cold left us sounding gravelly. Well, thanks to a German company that's turning voice patterns into knitting patterns, we can now wear our SPV™ on our sleeve.

Berlin-based Trikoton "transfers voices into clothes" by creating fashion that converts the frequency bands of audio messages into binary code for custom knitting patterns.

Customers record their voice message online via a Flash interface (it just takes a sec), and Trikoton incorporates the … Read more

Yahoo Pulse

Ah, Stevenote day! I am usually lined up outside the Yerba Buena Center by now when Apple CEO Steve Jobs takes the stage but today I am comfortably observing from my New York City office.

I both love and hate the hysteria that goes on around an Apple event. Part of me wonders why we can't all hold our horses and just see what happens. But no! We must speculate, rumor hound, pontificate! This is the bloggosphere, darnit! We must work ourselves up over this, by God!

So be it. We will have a summary of today's Apple … Read more

eBay runs with designer fashion store

eBay is now in the fashion business.

The online auction company officially launched its Fashion Vault site on Monday where it's teaming up with fashion retailers to offer designer clothes at healthy discounts for short periods of time.

To attract price-conscious customers who crave designer labels, the site will rely on "flash" sales lasting from 48 to 72 hours. Rather than bid for the clothes in a typical eBay auction, interested shoppers will use the Buy Now option. Shipping is thrown in for free.

eBay said it assures that all the items in the Fashion Vault come … Read more

ModCloth crowdsources vintage fashion

Most online retailers keep a safe distance from their customers (unless they're asking for credit card information). ModCloth, an e-retailer of vintage women's fashion founded in 2002, is deviating from this model by creating a community of fashionistas included in almost every part of the company.

Without the customer-company separation, ModCloth is more like a best friend who gives you fashion advice, shares her favorite recipes, and joins your book club. Wait, we're still talking about a clothing store, right?

Right. In October 2009, Modcloth launched its "Be the Buyer" program, an initiative that lets visitors vote on clothing samples. If an item gets enough votes, ModCloth will sell it. Sound familiar? Threadless was founded on a similarly democratic principle, but Modcloth is the first to add crowdsourcing as a supplement to a traditional storefront.

ModCloth takes its customers' fashion advice to improve its buying decisions, but it's also about building community. Customers leave comments on clothing samples and vote, but can also share their views with friends via Facebook or Twitter. It results in a group of people who may not know each other, but share in common an interest in fashion and a desire to talk about it.

These fashionistas are a part of a community more complex than garments, though. ModCloth's blog, ModLife, covers everything from fashion to recipes, and provides "cool links" on the Web. There's even a link to a Flickr account where customers upload photos of their favorite ModCloth outfits.

On March 8, ModCloth announced its reading contest, in which users who share the title of the book they're reading on the social-networking site GoodReads enter for a chance to a win a copy of ModCloth's book of the month. It's unclear whether ModCloth has officially partnered with GoodRead, but the partnership represents a significant shift in online retailing.

Online shops generally have a narrow frame of thought, assuming their customers came to them for only their products. But Web 2.0 is about community, and ModCloth was right in assuming that its shoppers have more in common than clothing.

I caught up with ModCloth founders Eric and Susan Koger via e-mail to find out more about the community they've built. … Read more

ShirtsMyWay: Like The Sims, but for menswear

I've been told more than once that skills learned from video games don't really translate to the real world. To those who have told me this, I can only say: neener-neener-neener.

More and more companies are offering customers the choice to customize the products they buy. Vans, among others, allows you to create your own shoes. Heck, I've even seen a build-your-own-toy-lightsaber kit that I really wanted to buy for my son.

But this is a new wrinkle to me.

(Pause for inevitable laughter.)

The folks at ShirtsMyWay have set up a process in which for about $75 and a few minutes of your day, you can design your own men's dress shirt. Why is this thrilling, exactly? I'll tell you why. Have you ever noticed that roughly 99 percent (anecdotal research on my part) of all clothing stores are devoted to women's apparel?

Seriously, if you're a guy, you've got like maybe four colors and two styles of dress shirt to choose from. I'm not quite the average male, I suppose, but I know I would be more inclined to wear a dress shirt without the threat of death if I got to have some say about what my shirt looked like.

This is where those video game skills come in handy. The process goes roughly like this: you go to the ShirtsMyWay site, and you choose from 25 different fabrics. That's just the first part. Via the site's very user-friendly interface, you will then decide on just about every aspect of your shirt's creation.

It reminded me a lot of playing The Sims.… Read more

A necktie for music-loving commuters

Gadgetized clothing isn't the newest thing on the catwalk anymore. We've seen jackets and hats with built-in MP3 players and Bluetooth speakers, for example, as well as a coat with pockets for 12 (count 'em, 12) of your favorite tech toys.

But we're pretty sure we've never seen a tech-inspired hot-purple necktie before.

Lucky for you, Thomas Pink's silk woven Commuter Tie--which doubles as a music player storage device--comes in other colors too, including blue, green, orange, and red, as well as a more subdued gray for the MP3-toting investment bankers out there.

The … Read more

This dress is made of Tetris!

I don't know who you are, Erin, but this Tetris Dress that you made makes me kind of want to marry you. There isn't much more to say about this great garment than that. And sorry, people, but it's a one-of-a-kind, so you can't buy one. But if you're the crafty type you can get the fabric here and make your own fashion tribute to the iconic '80s puzzle game. I really hope this becomes a trend.

Erin, call me?