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Rumor Has It, Ep. 13: Year-end rumor roundup extravaganza! (podcast)

It's the end of the year show! And we celebrate that, and Hanukkah, with a very special Rumor Has It today.

Instead of rounding up the week's hottest rumors, we've rounded up the year's hottest rumors. Bam! And we bet you can guess what's on our list.

We cover the ones that did come true, the ones that didn't, and the ones that were so annoying, we wanted to scream. Why won't some of these rumors ever die? At least they keep us in business.

What was your top rumor that did come true, didn't come true, or annoyed you to death? Let us know in the comments.

We don't have a show next week, but tune back in January 3, 2012 (!), for the first Humiliation Day of the year. Augh! … Read more

DropIt and forget it

Have you ever wished you had a desktop icon that would do whatever you want it to when you want it to? Like saving different files to different folders based on their name or file type? Or creating custom associations that do everything from rename files to run scripts? And enabling multiple profiles? And is widely customizable, on top of it all? Well, DropIt. No, we're not telling you to give up the quest: we're recommending DropIt, a free, open-source desktop app that does all of the above and more.

We like simple user interfaces, but DropIt takes … Read more

YouSendIt debuts on Android, Mac

Popular file-sharing and cloud collaboration service YouSendIt finally brings its services to Android and Mac platforms.

While Android and Mac users have long been able to access YouSendIt through the company's Web site, native apps have only been available on Windows and iOS--until today. With the new Android and Mac apps, you can send files, share folders, and sign documents from outside a browser. YouSendIt for Mac is still in beta, but is publicly available for download now.

If you haven't used YouSendIt, it's an all-in-one suite for managing documents through the cloud. Different from services like … Read more

The 404 958: Where we lied our way into this job (podcast)

Our guest today is Emily Dreyfuss from CNET's newest tech gossip podcast, Rumor Has It!

We're learning all kinds of stuff from Emily, like to how to defeat an oncoming shark attack, the best way to win a burger-eating competition, and the backstory behind the Carrier IQ keylogging controversy.

Leaked from 404 Podcast 958:

How Carrier IQ was wrongly accused of keylogging. Controversy, confusion over Carrier IQ. Congress lifts five-year ban on the sale of horse meat. Thanks Obama! Rumor: Apple TV sets will be mighty pricey.… Read more

How to view the demographics of your Twitter followers

A couple of days ago, we showed you how to map out where your Twitter followers are located with TweepsMap. There's another service that not only maps your Twitter followers, but also analyzes their gender, profession, interests, and more.

The beta service, by Schmap, is called Know Your Twitter Followers. To get your free (when you send a tweet) summary analysis of your followers, go to the schmap.it Know Your Twitter Followers site and click on the "Tweet + Free Analysis" button.

After you authorize schmap.it to use your Twitter account, you'll be presented with … Read more

Au revoir, e-mail! And this from an IT boss

Unlike some, I believe the French are to be admired.

They have a sense of life's priorities. They occasionally snub their noses at gauche Americans. And their foie gras is first-class.

So I will not be stepping onto the philistine bandwagon of criticism which has greeted the news that Thierry Breton, chief executive of Atos SA, hates e-mail so much that he is doing away with it in his company.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Breton would rather people communicate with him by visiting him, calling him or sending him a fluffy carrier pigeon with parchment in its … Read more

Startup puts buildings on energy diet

When it comes to sizing up how efficient a building is, a lot of data and analytical software can be quicker than people.

Retroficiency is one of many startups developing software tools for making commercial buildings more energy-efficient. The Boston-based company today announced that it has raised $3.32 million in a series A round of funding from Point Judith Capital to build up its software and sales. It also acquired Clean Energy Solutions, the commercial efficiency operation of renewable energy project developer Nexamp.

Commercial real estate is a large consumer, and often waster, of energy. The return on investment … Read more

How 3D TV is going to change the look of 2D shows

SAN FRANCISCO--Despite the relative dearth of 3D television programming, sales of 3D TVs are on the rise. But for those who make that programming, the biggest challenge of all may be simultaneously producing 2D versions of the same shows.

On a recent Tuesday, I had the chance to visit the Treasure Island set of "I (Almost) Got Away with It," an Investigation Discovery (ID) channel program about fugitives' near escapes from the law that's made by Indigo Films.

Although most people who watch the show do so in normal 2D, Indigo has recently been shooting a 3D … Read more

The 404 948: Where we're in some deep dish (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 Podcast episode:

Congress is proposing a school lunchroom bill that would allow as little as two tablespoons of tomato paste on a frozen pizza to be classified as a proper weekly serving of vegetables for students. Fries and tater tots also count as vegetables. The U.S. Department of Justice wants to make it a crime to lie on social networks like Match.com, Facebook, and OKCupid--if the fib in question violates other laws outside of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This holiday season, the Salvation Army send its volunteers into the streets with a new way to accept donations using credit card-reading hardware provided by Sprint/Nextel and Square. The program will join Girl Scout troops and The U.S. Army in pushing the next generation of mobile payments. A digital experiment from the artists at Wemakecoolsh.it enables subway denizens on the L-Train to access Wi-Fi and communicate with one another secretly using their self-powered "NOTwork." The enclosed system will run the week of November 14th on L-Trains going in and out of the Brooklyn and Manhattan boroughs. AOL resurrects its Instant Messaging service AIM with new features that even the score with sites like Meebo and Adium, and Jabber that already let you log chat histories, sign into multiple social networking accounts, and view multimedia like video and Twitter messages directly in the message window. An attack on online copyright infringements is in in progress, spearheaded by an initiative called the Stop Online Privacy Act, or SOPA that aims to blacklist sites that allegedly violate existing copyright laws. As of last night, however, the opposition is gaining powerful allies across the Web, including big names like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Zynga. Bathroom break video 1: Star Wars Rogue Squadron - Cheers Bathroom break video 2: Turkish Ice Cream Follow Jeff, Wilson, Justin, and The 404 Twitter pages for a chance to win Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, and Uncharted 3. Check out this post for how to enter.

Click through to stream or download today's 404 podcast episode!… Read more