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Start-up goes fishing for biofuels

LiveFuels, an algae biofuel start-up, announced a pilot project on Thursday to grow and harvest algae biofuels in open waters with the help of naturally occurring activities in the ecosystem.

The approach is different than other attempts at algae biofuels, in which algae is grown and harvested in a closed environment.

The LiveFuels algae pilot farm, set to cover 45 acres of saltwater ponds in Brownsville, Texas, will consist of algae already native to the region.

Algae is known to bloom in salt water that has been polluted by the lakes, rivers, and streams that feed into it and are … Read more

Shooting the boss (and getting paid for it)

To thank him for letting them spend the last two hours of their workweek playing video games on the company dime, Kevin Grinnell's employees often single him out and shoot him in the head.

To be fair, the employees at Grinnell Computers aren't firing real weapons at their boss but are instead releasing the stresses of their week in a multiplayer online game known as Combat Arms.

Most Fridays for the last couple of months, the six employees of the Beaumont, Texas-based company have been encouraged to spend from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. blasting away … Read more

This week: Awesome police chase videos!

As you probably know by now, I'm a sucker for videos full of fast cars. And as you may have noted a couple of weeks ago, I'm also a fan of the show "Jesse James is a Dead Man" on Spike TV. In a recent episode, Jesse takes his custom-modified muscle car on a chase through the desert, with the object being to see if the police can actually catch him. Apparently, real police officers from Orange County were used in performing this stunt, and sure enough, the police finally catch Jesse when his tires give … Read more

Xbox 360 exclusive gaming rundown

One of the biggest decisions when choosing a video game system has to be the exclusive games. Console manufacturers go to enormous lengths to tie up deals with developers and their publishers in order to claim one console's superiority over another.

Numerous titles and franchises are only available on Xbox 360 including Gears of War, Halo, and Forza MotorSport.

Now that E3 2009 has come and gone, let's take a look at some more 360-only titles that are scheduled for release in the coming months.

Stay tuned for our PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii exclusives slideshows, both coming … Read more

Two new Super Mario Wii games among those announced at Nintendo E3 press conference

Now that the Nintendo E3 2009 press conference is behind us, let's take a look at some of the game announcements for the Wii. While we saw a few titles we were expecting, there were a couple that came as total surprises.

Right out of the gate, we got to see a brand-new 2D Mario Bros. game for the Wii. New Super Mario Bros. will allow for four-player co-op playing and will feature new game characters and power ups.

Wii Fit Plus, the successor to Wii Fit, will arrive in the fall and come bundled once again with a … Read more

The 404 354: Where we three cover day one of E3 2009

Yesterday was the first time that I've ever seen Jeff doing actual work at his cube, so I relent for once and let him and Wilson talk about E3 2009. Video games, video games, video games on today's show, specifically about the new XBox 360 Project Natal, Halo sequels, new Metal Gear Solid, the Beatles: Rock Band, and even Facebook and Twitter! Wake me up when it's over.

Yesterday's Microsoft press conference at E3 2009 unveiled some pretty exciting video game news, even for an antigamer such as myself. First up is the new Project Natal, the company's new motion-sensing bar for the XBox 360 that allows the gamer to control gameplay with motion, sound, and even 3D movement. As exciting as it sounds, unfortunately Microsoft didn't mention a release date, so we definitely won't see it in stores for Christmas 2009, which Jeff and Wilson think is a bit of a tease.

Aside from a few big game announcements, the big release news comes by way of everyone's favorite British gentlemen, with Beatles: Rock Band. Paul, Ringo, and even a few surprise visitors were there to kick off the game, and although Jeff is decidedly negative about the rise of plastic gaming, the game looks pretty cool. Check out the slideshow for pictures of Christopher "McLovin" Mintz-Plasse and Dhani Harrison taking a crack at the game.

Later on in the show, we announce the FINALISTS for our 404 logo competition. We received over 150 submissions and while they were all fantastic, we can only choose one for the official logo, so be sure to check out the final slideshow above and vote for your favorite in the comments section! Also, don't forget that even if your entry doesn't win the grand prize, we'll still use it for our mosaic/quilt/poster/sticker/shirt/etc...Thanks one million times over and again to everyone that submitted--you guys rule!

EPISODE 354 Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more

Microsoft E3 2009 press conference: The games

The Microsoft press conference at E3 2009 offered a detailed glimpse into the Xbox 360's video game line up for the rest of 2009 and into 2010 as well. Things started off with a giant Beatles Rock Band introduction climaxing with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr appearing on stage.

Tony Hawk then helped show off the new skateboard controller to be used with Tony Hawk Ride, a new game that abandons the conventional control scheme. Players can use the board to kick, turn, and do grab tricks.

Next, Infinity Ward premiered a snow-covered level of the highly anticipated Modern Warfare 2 (see: Call of Duty) with dazzling graphics and intense action game play.

A very brief combat scene from Final Fantasy XIII was on display, officially removing console exclusivity from the Sony PlayStation 3. This debut wrapped up the multiplatform games that are going to be available for the Xbox 360. In a refreshing change of pace, it was announced that all games shown off from here on out will be available exclusively on the Xbox 360.

Kicking off these titles was the DLC (downloadable content) game Shadow Complex from developer Epic Games (Gears of War)--an action/exploration game very much in the vein of the original Metroid and Castlevania series.

Joy Ride will allow you to race as your Xbox Live Avatar with friends online. The free DLC title looks a lot like a Mario Kart inspired racer where you'll be able to purchase additional tracks for use with friends as well.

The follow up to the open world over-the-top crime-fighting title Crackdown has gotten a sequel in the form of Crackdown 2. Zombie apocalypse fans will be happy to hear that Left4Dead 2 will see the light of day this November.… Read more

The 404 353: Where the Sony PSP Go! at E3 looks like Eric Cartman

This show is getting too many mascots. First Boxxie McFinderberg, then our soon-to-be beta fish, and now a baby panda?! On today's show, we discuss "Terminator Salvation," Asian actors in Pixar's "UP," E3 2009, the Sony PSP Go, and the leaked Palm Pre review on Boy Genius Report.

Sony and Palm are clearly using the same marketing team, because they're both mucking things up with the release of their latest products, the Palm Pre and the recent Sony PSP Go leakage. Jeff and Wilson suspect that they released it early on purpose, but the real story here is how boring it is. None of the internal specs have changed, it's the same screen as the PSP 3000 except for minor upgrades to the onboard memory. The most obvious difference is the sliding keypad. Wilson thinks it's simply useless and just another piece of hardware prone to break over time. Not surprisingly, the dudes think it's a wise move not to include a UMD slot in the new PSP Go. After all, everything is going the way of cloud computing, and you can still put a game on a Sony Memory Stick anyway. Wait a second, what the hell? Why am I even writing about all this gaming garbage? Up until five minutes before the show, I didn't even know what a PSP Go was!

Moving on: if you're running out of toilet paper for the day, print out Boy Genius Report's Palm Pre review and wipe away. BGR unveiled the "world's first review" of the new handheld on Friday, and it also happens to be the "world's most poorly written review" as well. First of all, there's a code of ethics that comes into play here, and BGR still hasn't revealed how or why they decided to leak the review before anyone else. Journalistic integrity, anyone? And come on, dude: if you're going to leak a high-profile review that you know will get a massive amount of hits, maybe spend a tiny bit more time shaping the text. We get that it's a blog, but this review reads like someone wrote it on the pot. Or maybe we're just jealous that we didn't get one first. :)

Finally, thanks again to EVERYONE that submitted logos over the weekend for our contest. It ended today, so don't send any more unless you have one that can seriously compete with the finalists (which we will debut tomorrow). Check out the final submissions below and let us know what you think in the comments. Do you have a favorite out of all of them?

EPISODE 353 Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more