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YouTube has plans to acquire Next New Networks, a Web video production company known for producing video hits online, according to a report in The New York Times.

The Times says the deal is not finalized and the companies are still in talks. Next New Networks is the home of such Web video franchises as "Obama Girl" and the people who brought us the clip "The Bed Intruder Song."

The Times reported that Google is most interested in Next New Networks' video-production abilities. The two most popular YouTube videos the past year came from Next New … Read more

The Kindle as portable gaming platform? Seems like a misprint, but the number of Kindle games is growing, with a new one, Next, released today, and eight total in the Kindle Store.

The latest include Sudoku, Texas Hold'em Poker, and Panda Poet, a new word game in which words you form turn into pandas and the goal is "grow the biggest panda possible."

Due to the rudimentary nature of e-ink, none of these games are terribly sophisticated, but they're all big hits with Kindle users and some claim they are very addicting. A few games are … Read more

Mainly because of mediocre image quality, the Pico projector market just hasn't taken off as some thought it might. But we're seeing a new trend in mini projectors: go a little bigger and offer improved performance.

That's the idea anyway behind the Aaxa M2, which the company is calling the "world's first" XGA micro projector. It weighs in at a pound, produces a "vivid" 110-lumen image, and has some built-in memory and a media player (you can play files right off the projector). Here are the specs that Aaxa is highlighting (the … Read more

After Barnes & Noble unveiled its Nook Color e-reader recently, I got a few e-mails from folks asking me what I thought Amazon.com was up to and whether Jeff Bezos had some sort of color device up his sleeve. I'd written an article a few months back about a possible Amazon Android tablet and they wanted to know whether they should opt for the Nook Color or wait for an Amazon tablet. Did I know if a Kindle Color was coming soon?

Well, for starters, I don't think we'll see a color e-reader from Amazon this year--or probably anytime soon. I think Amazon really sees the iPad as its color e-reader of the moment. A lot of people are using the Kindle app on the iPad (and iPhone), even though Apple has iBooks. Of course, Barnes & Noble also has a Nook app for the iPad, and Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo want their customers to know they can tap into one of these platforms from a variety of devices and share e-books across those devices. I can't tell you what percentage of iPad owners are using the Kindle app to shop for e-books, but I'd guess it's a fairly large number, judging from my informal poll of colleagues and friends and my own use (I rarely use iBooks and have both Kindle and Nook accounts).

Barnes & Noble has been smart enough to price its "reader's" tablet at $249, which is pretty reasonable. However, while that's half the price of the entry-level iPad, the fact is that Apple is still going to sell a ton of iPads this holiday season and Amazon will be quite content to have those buyers download the Kindle app. After all, it's much easier to deal with software than hardware, and if you have the design geniuses at Apple serving up the hardware for you, it's a win-win. Next April, Apple will have a new iPad--presumably with a better screen--and despite Steve Jobs saying the company wasn't doing an iPad Mini, there's still the distinct possibility of a smaller iPad, perhaps with a 7-inch screen.

So if Amazon appears willing to let others do much of its hardware dirty work for it, what's the road map for Amazon-branded Kindle devices? … Read more

For those of you who like to keep track of release dates, the Barnes & Noble Nook was announced on October 20, 2009. Almost to the day, Barnes & Noble has sent out an invite to members of the media, requesting their appearance at an event next Tuesday, October 26th in New York. We presume--but can't confirm--that this is for the launch of a next-generation Nook e-reader.

We'll be covering the event and will have more details as soon as they emerge. Until then, feel free to speculate on what type of e-reader Barnes & Noble might announce. … Read more

At yesterday's Apple earnings call, CEO Steve Jobs quelled rumors that the company was on the verge of producing a smaller 7-inch iPad to counter the arrival of such mini slates as Samsung's Galaxy Tab. He said that these devices were "tweeners" and would be dead on arrival. He scoffed that normal-size human fingers are simply too big to be able to accurately hit icons on a screen that size.

"Apple has done extensive user testing and we really understand this stuff," he said. "There are clear limits on how close you can … Read more

Despite being an excellent location for bachelor parties, Canada is apparently a laggard when it comes to country-wide tech proficiency. Case in point: it just got Netflix. Our northern neighbors can now sign up for Netflix's streaming service for as little as $7.99 per month, which includes feature films from major film studios like MGM, Paramount, Universal, Sony, and more.

We applaud Canada for joining the streaming game, but the news has a catch: although they can access the content online through a computer, a Blu-ray player, and the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, Canadians still can't sign up for Netflix movie deliveries--it's just streaming, for now. However, they can get the first month free if they sign up now.

Two strange announcements from the world of video games: first, Christopher Nolan revealed that a video game based on "Inception" is in the works. That's all we know for now, but we're looking forward to zero gravity fight sequences...as long as game play isn't as difficult to follow as the film!

Next, the King of Pop is getting his own online game called Planet Michael. The game will be a massively multiplayer online role-playing game like WAR or Guild Wars 2 and will take players through multiple realms, each based on one of Jackson's famous albums.

Even better, Los Angeles-based SEE Virtual Worlds is offering the 3D game for free when it comes out in late 2011.

You still have time to win a pair of tickets to see "The Social Network" with The 404 next Tuesday, September 28. To enter, simply follow us @The404 and RETWEET THIS.

Yes, all you have to do is hit that "Retweet" button OR become a fan of The 404 Facebook Fan Page and you'll be automatically entered to twin. If you're a fan of us on Facebook already, you're already grandfathered in, so good luck!

Just as Apple's iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, Amazon wasn't the first company on the block to release an e-book reader--NuvoMedia's RocketBook and the early Sony Readers all beat the Kindle to market. But it's hard to argue that the online retailer's Kindle isn't the iPod of the e-book reader market. The Kindle has helped usher the e-book reader from gadget curiosity to a burgeoning mass-market device, all in less than three short years.

And now, amid a much more competitive market, Amazon is debuting the third-generation Kindle.

The first thing you … Read more

NEW YORK CITY--Federal agents appeared at a hacker conference Friday morning looking for Julian Assange, the controversial figure who has become the public face of Wikileaks, an organizer said.

Eric Corley, publisher of 2600 Magazine and organizer of The Next HOPE conference in midtown Manhattan, said five Homeland Security agents appeared at the conference a day before Wikileaks Editor in Chief Assange was scheduled to speak.

The conference program lists Assange--who has been at the center of a maelstrom of positive and negative publicity relating to the arrest of a U.S. serviceman and videos the serviceman may have provided … Read more