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The 404 548: Where we can has cheezburger, chipz (podcast)

We usually scold Wilson for eating while we're on the air, but today we're making an exception so that we can taste test Jeff's horrific supermarket find: Cheeseburger-flavored Doritos! Who knew that harnessing the sinewy flavor of cooked beef and artificial cheese would be such a catastrophe?

It takes the three of us a few minutes to recover from the explosion of McNausea, but we get it together and move onto the big Apple news of the day: while many Appleheads are still clamoring over the forthcoming iPad release, the rumor mill is also churning about the fourth-generation iPhone that will supposedly be named the iPhone HD for its 960x640-pixel resolution screen. Other features to look out for include a front-facing camera for video calls and an software update that allows for application multitasking. Our own Apple fanboy Wilson G. Tang contributes his own concerns about battery life and network robustness, and also gives us permission to tattoo a half-full hourglass on his face if his predictions are incorrect.

The latest tech trend to hit Japan is called "Ringtone Therapy" that promises the cure for fay fever and obesity by using simple sounds through your phone. Japanese citizens suffering from stuffiness, runny noses, and sneezing from the pollen in the air can call a service that emits noises that supposedly releases the pollen in your sinuses if the user holds the phone up to their nose. You know what else is good for protecting your sinuses? Not holding foreign objects up to your nose.

We can't thank Steve Fatone and Props Guy Jim enough for all the work they've done for the show. Whether it's the Official 404 Temporary Tattoos, NDC's Motherboard action figure, The 404 hoverboard from BTTF, or the Yu Be Gone spray repellent, these guys are a tremendous asset to the show and we're honored to have them as friends. Thanks again, guys! Let us know if there's anything we can do to return the favor, keeping in mind that Wilson is no longer allowed to attend children's birthday parties.

Finally, be sure to tune into the second half of the show for Calls From the Public plus a couple E-Mails From the Public! Keep sending your comments, questions, critiques, and sticker pictures to the 404(at)cnet{dot}com and you might be on a future episode of The 404!

EPISODE 548 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video

Can a high-end company make a great $499 speaker?

The MartinLogan Motion 4 answers the question, can a speaker be considered a high-end design if it retails for $499 a pair? Jeff Dorgay at Tone Audio magazine thinks it can!

MartinLogan made a splash with audiophiles in the early 1980s with its electrostatic panel speakers. The clear, 5-foot-tall panels were remarkable for their "see-through" transparency of sound. The company still makes big-panel speakers but has branched out into home theater, and now with the Motion 4, it's making overachieving small speakers.

The Motion 4's tweeter is pretty special; its Folded Motion transducer works by moving air, similar to the way an accordion works. Its low-mass diaphragm "squeezes" air and produces almost 90 percent less back and forth movement than a dome tweeter. The Folded Motion tweeter also has a large surface area; eight times that of a 1-inch dome tweeter. The Folded Motion technology is said to minimize distortion.

The Motion 4 is a small bookshelf design, 5 by 5 inches and just over a foot tall; it has a 4-inch woofer.

Dorgay listened to the Motion 4s with a few different amplifiers: a Naim Uniti receiver, Prima Luna Prologue 1 vacuum-tube integrated amp, and a Denon AVR 3910 receiver. In a small room placed near a corner, the Motion 4s had a surprising amount of bass. MartinLogan concentrated on making a great speaker that only goes down to 75 Hz cleanly, instead of a mediocre speaker that goes down to 50 Hz. Need more low-end oomph? Add a subwoofer to provide deep bass. … Read more

DOE grants $1 million for ocean energy research

The U.S. Department of Energy has given two grants totaling $1 million to Lockheed Martin to determine the feasibility of tapping into the ocean's hot and cold spots to save energy.

Instead of looking at how to harness wave and tidal power, as the Seadog and Oyster projects have been doing, the grants require Lockheed Martin's scientists and engineers to determine if they could take advantage of the ocean's varying temperatures.

The first part of the grant is to develop software and tools for determining which thermal areas of the ocean have the greatest potential for … Read more

Cell phone pioneer Cooper an Android man

Martin Cooper knows a thing or two about cell phones, having placed what is believed to have been the first public call from a portable cell phone and all. And while he's owned an iPhone before, he revealed in a recent interview on C-SPAN that his current handset of choice runs Android. Guess which.

If you said Droid, well done! Apparently--like most of us, in so many situations--he's opted for the popular choice instead of arguably the best one. Or maybe he just likes the physical keyboard.

The entire interview is below and worth watching, but know that … Read more

Martin Jetpack gives you turbines, lets you fly

Since I was young, I've dreamed of being a pilot. I'm still nowhere close to that shining goal as age slowly creeps up on me.

My next target is to cough up $90,000, which again is a near-impossible ambition as I am a poorly paid scribe. At least I can write about it. Humpf.

The Martin Jetpack by New Zealand's Martin Aircraft is the closest thing to bringing my childhood fantasies to life. If I place an order now and put down a 10 percent deposit, it could be mine in 12 months. The problem is … Read more

Olympic notebook: Canada's Brodeur talks hockey, tech

VANCOUVER--Team Canada goalie Martin Brodeur was in Robson Square on Friday at a GE event ostensibly to talk about health and health technology in sports, but naturally the talk quickly turned to hockey and, specifically, the incredible pressure on the host nation's team to win gold.

"I think it's just normal," Brodeur told reporters. "People have been waiting for a lot of years to have these Olympics in Canada...Expectations are high and we definitely are looking forward to the challenge. It's what we do in Canada--we play hockey."

Brodeur, for those not … Read more

Multicar crash at Daytona

I'm sure all of you auto racing fans are looking forward to this weekend, as on Sunday, Nascar presents one of the most famous events in modern racing history: the Daytona 500. The action at Daytona International Speedway is already underway with the Budweiser Shootout practice that took place last week, and if you think it was an uneventful precursor to the big race at Daytona this Sunday, then you were wrong. Why? Because Nascar got a start to its 2010 season not with a bang, but with a crunch as multiple cars became entangled in a nasty bang-up … Read more

Google--not necessarily 'more open than thou'

Google is perhaps the world's largest open-source company. That does not, however, make it the most open. Not even if Google says it's so.

The company is fond of believing itself different. And perhaps it is. For all of its stumbles over privacy concerns, it's still the company that insists it will "not be evil." I give its executives the benefit of the doubt that it really does want to be open, as revealed in a blog published Monday by Senior Vice President Jonathan Rosenberg.

But the irony of Google's position is that it'… Read more

Aston Martin Cygnet is cute as a button

Aston Martin has released photos of its upcoming Cygnet subcompact. We've seen this one before, but now it's completed and ready to roll. The Cygnet is based on the Toyota iQ city car, but with the face and accoutrement of a DB9. Unfortunately, I'm also fairly certain that there will be no power upgrades to go with the visual refresh.

I have to admit, it's a cute little car and the Aston features seem to fit nicely in a Super Deformed sort of way.

Inside, the Cygnet retains, for the most part, the iQ's cabin … Read more

Flippin us off: The car wreck finale at Talladega

My video blog yesterday featured the footage of Nascar driver Ryan Newman in a death-defying blow-over flip from Sunday's Sprint Cup chase race at Talladega Speedway. Well, the excitement didn't end there, as you'll see in today's video clip from the final moments of the 2009 AMP Energy 500 featuring a crazy multicar collision, flips, and even a car fire. Here's the evidence:

What appears to happen here is Kurt Busch's car gets nudged--he'd been testing other cars with a little bangin' and bumpin', and here he comes up on the short end … Read more