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VIA Motors, PG&E partner on the Chevy Volt of work trucks

San Francisco, Calif.--VIA Motors claimed a "first" today with the delivery of a pair of work trucks for use in California's Pacific Gas and Electric Company's (PG&E) fleet. These were no regular pickups, because although they are based on the Chevrolet Silverado, the trucks that VIA built are extended-range electric vehicles (eREV).

If you are familiar with the way the Chevrolet Volt works, you should have no trouble wrapping your head around the way VIA's eREV trucks function. For the first 40 miles of operation, the eREV truck is motivated solely by … Read more

The 404 685: Where we get the Fflick outta here (podcast)

Our guest on this morning's episode of The 404 Podcast is Ron Gorodetzky, CTO of Fflick.com, a new site that uses Twitter to aggregate public opinion on popular movies. We're anxious to talk to Ron about the new site, but first Wilson grills him about his former position as Systems Engineering Manager at Digg.

Ron is certainly not a newcomer to the world of start-up Web sites. Back in 2004, he was asked by Kevin Rose to be part of a small social news site you might have heard floating around the Internet: Digg. After helping build Digg into the ubiquitous powerhouse it is now, Ron left and joined up with three other former Digg employees to found Fflick.com, a new online tool that uses Twitter to show you instant movie reviews from your online social circle.

Here's how Fflick works: the first step is to log into your Twitter account on the Fflick home page that also shows all the newest movies in theaters and opening soon, and a small percentage rating that represents the public's general sentiment about the film.

If you see a particular title of interest, you can click through to see public tweets and even filter through your friends' posts as well as positive tweets, negative tweets, interesting tweets, and the latest tweets. There's also a convenient menu on top that routes you to information on show times, ticket purchasing, Netflix queuing, and more.

Ron tells us about the team of engineers who work in the background to ensure the site stays populated with opinions, including the learning machine that scans for keywords to help Fflick recognize a title within a tweet and quality it for the site. Not to worry though, as much as it sounds like Skynet, Ron assures us we're safe...for now.

Ron also gives us a quick preview of the long-term road map for Fflick, and while the site focuses only on movie reviews for now, the engine behind Fflick can theoretically be used for scanning the public sentiment for a variety of issues, including political opinions, music reviews, and more. There are lots of exciting things in the works for a company that's been around for less than two months, so start Fflicking and be sure to tell your friends you heard about it on The 404 first!

Episode 685 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more

The 404 611: Where Wilson is a guest star on Miami Rice (podcast)

Wilson's meticulously groomed and highlighted hair is a constant topic of conversation on our show, and this morning we force him to tie it back in honor of so many evil movie villains from the '90s.

On today's episode of The 404 Podcast, we're wrapping up iPhone 4 news from the weekend, including reports of 1.7 million units sold, design backlash from left-handed smartphone users, and a new phone sex service that uses Apple's FaceTime video chat program to connect users to a live show.

Apple announced that it sold 1.5 million iPhone 4sRead more

The 404 277: Where it's too early for Veronica to podcast

Veronica Belmont of Revision3's Tekzillaand PlayStation's Qore rubs the sleep out of her eyes and joins us on today's show all the way from San Francisco. We chew up a little East Cost/West Coast beef, address Justin and Veronica's fleeting encounter at CES 2009, and jump right into our Valentine's Day plans. The three of us discuss our lonely and pathetic V-Day schedules, but we're all floored when Veronica reveals her top-secret wild and crazy plans. I'm not even sure where she rented a crane and a trailer full of Capuchin … Read more

Registration required to test drive this app

Secure, easy to set up, and simple to access are the basic requirements for encrypted virtual drives. Steganos Safe 2008 meets all those requirements, but forces users to register to test drive the software. The app's very simple interface won't take users 30 seconds to study and master. A comprehensive Help manual explains the app to those who want more behind-the-scenes details.

The download link actually opens the Steganos Web site, where users must register with the publisher to receive a link to the demo installation app and 30-day registration serial number.

After program install, you'll create … Read more

Its beauty lies in its simplicity

The beauty of this freeware secure drive space application lies in its simplicity. Steganos Safe One's very basic interface and short wizard make it a snap to quickly create two secure drive spaces of up to 1GB each. Novice users may need the short Help manual, but most will pick up this app with no assistance save from the tooltips.

Operation is quick and to the point: install the app and follow the prompts to create your drive space. The text might lead some users to believe the program encrypts an entire drive, but it is just a space … Read more

Where it's the fiiiiinnnnaaalll countdown

EPISODE 79

Brian Brushwood stops by to ruin our lunches. He did some crazy crazy tricks like sticking a 4-and-a-half-inch nail in his nose, sticking a smaller nail in his eye, and basically taking over the show and making it awesome. The boys of the 404 might talk about iPod Touches, but who are we kidding? Magic! Listen in, or even better, watch the video later today on this post or on CNET TV's YouTube channel. We promise you WILL NOT want to miss this episode.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Tesla sues competitor over design ideas

Electric-car maker Tesla Motors has filed suit against a competitor, claiming the company stole trade secrets and copied design ideas.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in San Mateo County Superior Court in California. Tesla hired Henrik Fisker, CEO of car design firm Fisker Coachbuild, last year to design the body of its all-electric WhiteStar sedan. In the suit, Tesla alleges that Fisker and Fisker Coachbuild Chief Operating Officer Bernhard Koehler accepted the contract "to gain access to confidential design information and trade secrets, then announced a competing vehicle," according to a New York Times article.

Last year, Tesla … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 678: Buzzkill Tuesday

EPISODE 678

It's Official: Hulu Opens Up on Wednesday http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/10/ its-official-hulu-opens-up-on-wednesday/

Ars: Buzzkill http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080311-restrictions-distribution-rifts-may-hamstring-hulus-launch.html

Kentucky lawmaker wants to make anonymous Internet posting illegal (thanks, Jim!) http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080310-lawmakers-attempt-to-criminalize-anonymous-posting-doomed.html http://www.wtvq.com/content/midatlantic/tvq/ video.apx.-content-articles-TVQ-2008-03-05-0011.html

Michael Jackson’s company denies Beatles coming to iTunes http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9890124-7.html

Lionsgate adding iTunes digital copy to some DVDs http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/03/11/ lionsgate-adding-itunes-digital-copy-to-some-dvds

EU clears Google-DoubleClick’s $3.1 billion merger http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080311-eu-clears-googledoubleclicks-3-1-merger.htmlRead more

Where we care more about the camera than coming up with titles

EPISODE 53

Gov. Spitzer.... [insert joke here]. Jeff's Mogul nabs an upgrade, and we reveal the winner of Super Smash Bros. Brawl! Plus, do we really need to be going into space? And If you want to win something, e-mail your best faux Steven Segal movie titles to us (the404 [at] cnet [dot] com). Don't worry about that bumper before the show, it's still us.

Listen now: Download today's podcast