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Are you ready to rock?!...and learn some fundamentals about music?

There is no Guitar Hero or Rock Band game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. There are other rhythm games like Tap Tap Revenge andDrummer available, but what do these games really teach you about music?

Well, I wouldn't know personally as I've not played Drummer orTap Tap Revenge. I do know this, though: you may be making straight As playing those games--if by "straight As" I mean enjoying playing them--but let's face it, you're only living in the dumb daze--if by "dumb daze" I mean "did you catch my clever … Read more

Upstart JumpTap takes on Google

Mobile search and advertising start-up JumpTap has received an additional $26 million in funding and has expanded its relationship with U.S. operator AT&T, the company said Tuesday.

JumpTap, based in Cambridge, Mass., provides search technology and advertising services for mobile operators such as AT&T and U.S. Cellular. The company also provides advertising for carriers and content owners such as NBC Universal and Fox Mobile.

JumpTap, which works with 17 mobile operators around the world, competes against search and advertising heavyweights such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. The new funding, which completes the company's … Read more

The 404 143: Where it's talking to you

Per usual, we push the envelope in the preshow today and it starts to leak into the beginning of today's episode, but we quickly (maybe not so quickly) seal it up and get into our story rundown. We criticize our sue-happy country and its propensity for stupid T-shirts, speak to the potential power of iPhone gaming, introduce a new S&M Barbie doll (therapy not included), and snap our way through this year's Emmy nominees. EPISODE 143 Download today's podcast

Where our show turns up to 11

EPISODE 84

Today the 404 boys talk about the new art of reverse airbrushing, filling up an imaginary car with gas, and "Osama, Obama?" on a church sign--Hmmm, which one of these stories isn't in the South? We'll tell you. Also, Allen Stern of CenterNetworks joins us for the podcast for some good old fashioned Internet fun.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

vTap launches recommended video feeds

vTap, one of my personal favorites for video search, has a new feature that I think video junkies will find immensely useful. It's a new recommendation service that will pull in videos related to whatever keywords you give it, and maintain them in a simple feed that's updated constantly. As a user you can keep tabs on new videos that pop-up on the feed either through vTap's site, on your mobile phone, or social networks such as Facebook and MySpace.

Best of all is that adding keywords to your feed is natural. Since the service revolves around … Read more

AP: Drugs in your drinking water

We take it for granted, mostly, that the water that comes into our homes is safe to consume. Sure, we may run the tap for 30 seconds or so to clear out rusty sediment or traces of lead, and every once in a while there's an E. coli scare. Many of us, too, filter the water, either at the tap or in a container for the fridge.

But now there's something new to worry about. After an in-depth, five-month investigation, the Associated Press is reporting that the supply of drinking water in many U.S. metropolitan areas--accessible to … Read more

Best Mac software of 2007

The year 2007 might be one of the biggest years for Apple in recent memory. Certainly a lot of great products have been released over the years, but none had the anticipation or the media fervor as did the iPhone. The new iPod Touch, the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and the funny Mac vs. PC ads we're seeing these days only added to the hype with more people starting to "Think different" than ever before. With Macworld just around the corner and promises of new Mac hardware on the horizon, the future of … Read more

GameTap comes to Mac

I'm a software reviews guy by trade, but I've mentioned before I'm also an avid gamer. I grew up in the era of "classic" arcade games and with all the advancements over the years in technology, graphics, and the birth of new and exciting game genres, I've never stopped. But even with today's advanced games, I sometimes long for the games that required only a joystick, a fire-button, and a pocket full of quarters.

The Mac gaming community knows all too well there is often a significant amount of lag time between when … Read more

Apple updates Tiger with Safari 3, security fixes

Apple is taking Tiger to 11.

The company released a major update to Mac OS X 10.4 on Wednesday that delivers several improvements, fixes some bugs, and patches several security holes identified in recent months. Mac OS X 10.4.11 is immediately available through Software Update, or it can be downloaded from Apple's Web site.

Listing every feature contained in the new update would probably set a record for wordiness in this blog, so I'm not going to do that, and instead will point you here to an informational document on Apple's site. A couple … Read more