goats

If you wanted to get your Apple gadget fixed, would Apple let you bring your goat in to keep you company while you waited for a spot at the Genius Bar?

Comedian Mark Malkoff--who attempted to visit 171 Starbucks locations in Manhattan in a single day back in 2007--decided to see for himself, tackling a similar challenge of the Apple variety. Dubbed the "Apple Store Challenge," Malkoff sought to see if he could do anything that would actually perturb the staff at various Apple retail stores around New York (short of anything truly malicious).

As background, Apple retail stores--which turned 10 just two months ago--are well known as places where you can burst into song and record your own dance video with few people even batting an eyelash, let alone getting you kicked out. At least, most of the time.

Malkoff played up the absurd, bringing in the aforementioned goat, ordering a pizza, enjoying a date with dinner and live music, and donning a costume of a certain sci-fi icon while getting iPhone repairs done. I won't spoil anything except to say that Malkoff lived to share the outcome. The video proof, first picked up by Gothamist this morning, is embedded below: … Read more

The name is a fortunate accident, but the fun of skiing with a group of open-source business executives is no accident at all.

The Open Source Goat Rodeo 2010 took place in Utah, February 4 through 6, and included great skiing, wonderful food, and exceptional people--including the first ever appearance by former MySQL CEO Marten Mickos.

As I do every year, I've created a video to highlight the activities and give a taste for the event. It's not a closed event: I hope you'll join us in 2011.

I probably should identify everyone by the color of … Read more

Today we celebrate annual Star Wars Day...well, Wilson and I do. Jeff unloads his typical dump truck of hate on our beloved trilogy and a bunch of other stories, including Google Goats, YouTube birthing, Wiki games, and the new Wolverine movie proving errbody wrong!

To commemorate Star Wars Day, I'd like to introduce you to Sabersegging, thanks to the folks at Vice Magazine for the story. Sorry about messing up the name in our description, I think Cybersegging is something else entirely. Anyway, check out that video and contact your local Jedi Training Center for more details!

Next, we play some inside baseball with Google and reveal their newest HR pursuits: Google Goats. The software giants just hired a bunch of goats to hang out on the lawns at their Mountain View offices and eat/fertilize the grass. PETA, of course, wonders if the goats will receive a proper pension plan and health insurance options, but we have some better ideas...

Lots of pregnancy stories recently! First we talk about a miraculous birth with the help of YouTube. This story is nutso--a couple decided to have a baby in their home, but when the midwife failed to show up, the husband was forced to consult YouTube for basic birthing instructions and found this video that shows you how to deliver a baby in a vehicle. DISCLAIMER: Not for the faint of heart/stomach, even with the bizarre doll they use to roleplay. We also get another super awesome voice mail about another guy that used The 404 to get him through the stress of childbirth. We think that the mother had a little more, but we're happy to be here to welcome the young one on the air! Thanks a million for the amazing voice mail, we love hearing stuff like this.

Finally, all you Trekkies will be happy about our latest Photoshop contest to win a ticket to see the new Star Trek flick with us this Thursday, May 7th @ 7PM. We have two tickets available, so go here, and use one of those pictures to Photoshop us as your favorite Star Trek character! E-mail your submission to the404{at}cnet.com and we'll choose two of our favorites.

The economy is still in shambles, we're all panicking about the bacon fever, and even those bright and shiny "green" initiatives might not be so green. Sad!

But did you know that Google is conserving energy by cutting its Mountain View, Calif., lawns with adorable goats?

Yes, it's true. The company has enlisted an innovative start-up called California Grazing to bring some of the Google greenery a more carbon-friendly, less polluting alternative to lawn mowers. It sounds like the use of goats is confined to peripheral fields where weeds and brush could cause wildfires, so it'… Read more

The Open Source Goat Rodeo did its 2009 edition at Alta and Snowbird, Utah, on March 26 to 28, with a great group of executives from the open-source business community.

The snow was fantastic. The food was amazing. The friends? Even better.

OSGR2009 included the following fine folks: Matt Asay, Alfresco/CNET; Larry Augustin, Investor; Jay Batson, Acquia; Jeff Borek, IBM; Dries Buytaert, Acquia; Fabrizio Capobianco, Funambol; Tom Erickson, Acquia; Lonn Johnston, Page One PR; Paolo Juvara, Openbravo; Matt Mattox, Red Hat; Josep Mitja, Openbravo; Jose Morales, Jaspersoft; Mike Olson, Cloudera; John Robb, Yahoo/Zimbra; … Read more

I wasn't able to blog yesterday, as the Open Source Goat Rodeo kicked off its 2009 edition at Snowbird with amazing snow, bright sunshine, and wonderful people (some of whom can shred snow as if they never actually go to work...Lars/John/Paolo/Bryce, I'm thinking of you!):

The day ended in Salt Lake City with a Mormon Mousse Pie (Don't ask), consisting of white chocolate, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate mousse fillings, white chocolate shavings, and a dark chocolate crust that I improvised early Friday morning.

One great part of the first day for me, … Read more

With so many czars running around trying to solve the nation's problems in tech, auto and drugs, perhaps Sony should consider hiring a common-sense czar.

Is there any major consumer company around that seems to understand basic customer relations less than Sony? Isn't rule No.1 in the CR manual, "Don't spy on customers?" If so, then rule 1-A must be: "Take extra care to avoid spying on customers' children."

The latest example of Sony's disconnect with the masses came this week when the company's music division was fined for surreptitiously … Read more

On today's show: Libe Goad from AOL's GameDaily.com--the life of a female gamer, sucky upcoming games, Wii Music, Resistance, Little Big Planet, and hating on the Madden series...ULTIMATE GAME DAY!

Now you might think that today's show would be a big snore-fest for me, but the fact that Libe Goad from AOL's GameDaily.com is table-poundingly hilarious totally makes up for it, and I'm almost tempted to say that today was one our funniest shows! Libe tells us what it's like to work with a bunch of nerdy dudes all day … Read more

This past weekend some of the open sourcerors descended on Park City, Utah for two days of skiing, discussion, and pie. Somewhere in the midst of the fun we dubbed it "The Open Source Goat Rodeo," or OSGR. Maybe it was our frustrated attempts to get off that massive cornice....

I've been meaning to have a group of open source friends out to ski for many years. In fact, OSBC was originally planned to take place in Park City, Utah. I finally got around to making the invitations, and Larry Augustin (Augustin Ventures), Jeff Borek (IBM), Fabrizio … Read more