We love having guests on the show, but it's always good to get back to our bread and butter: making fun of silly tech news! Today we cover several stories that've slipped through the cracks, including the new "Alice in Wonderland" movie, a new autotune iPhone application in the works, a new Queen of Text Messaging, and a huge Calls from the Public.
Johnny Depp as a ginger Mad Hatter.
(Credit: Disney)I hadn't heard about this, but Jeff shells out some news about the upcoming "Alice in Wonderland" remake, directed by 404-favorite Tim Burton. Check out the video below to see the pictures and hear our comments, but so far we're pretty impressed with the CGI and makeup used on Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, and Matt Lucas. Wilson, film buff extraordinaire, has a healthy dose of skepticism based on Burton's recent disasters, but we'll have to wait until March 2010 like everyone else to see how it all pans out.
We also have more news to report about Autotune. Turns out T-Pain is in the process of developing his own Autotune application for the iPhone. Expect the usual dose of hatred from Beff Jakalar, but I'm personally a huge fan of autotuning no matter how much it's overdone. How can you listen to this and not want to get up and dance?
Thanks to everyone that's been leaving us voicemails. Rest assured that although we've had a long string of guests, we'll play all of them in the coming weeks. If you want to hear yourself on the radio, give us a call at 1-866-404-CNET and tell us how much you love/hate the show. You can also e-mail us at the404{at}cnet(dot)com. Check us out on Twitter and Facebook as well!
EPISODE 368
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Hien Nguyen and her trusted love communicator: the Sony Ericson S500i.
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CBS Interactive)Editor's note: CNET editor and Crave contributor Dong Ngo is spending the month of December in his homeland of Vietnam and plans to file occasional dispatches chronicling his impressions of how technology has permeated the culture there. Click here for more of Dong's stories from abroad.
HANOI, Vietnam--Love, or the lack thereof, is an ongoing global issue. I offer no solution, but if you want to look for the one here in Vietnam, a word of advice: learn to text and know your emoticons.
While online dating services are rampant in the States (personally, I believe many young Americans aren't really sure what to look for in a partner and being impatient as usual, think spending money somehow helps solve this), things are a little different in Vietnam--in the big cities that is.
Here, there are no dating services (at least none that my friends and I can spot), and young people still mostly meet the traditional way--through friends, school, family, work, and so on. Those who do meet online most often become friends through blogging, forums, or online social activities.
(In small villages like the one in Ha Nam where I was born, dating hasn't changed much in the past 50 years. Kids are sort of matched up at an early age, oftentimes jokingly, by relatives or friends. When they grow up, if neither goes away to find a job elsewhere, chances are they will marry each other.)
But it doesn't matter how a relationship here starts; it seems all of them go through something I'd call the "@ phase of love," in which the courtship continues via cell phone texts and Yahoo instant messaging. Unlike in the States, where couples tend to move in together, people in Vietnam generally only live together once married. In between, they rely on cell phones and the Internet to stay close.
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Poor little keys :(
I guess I know nothing about Italian culture. Why is this appealing again?
From the "how is it that this is coming out of Italy and not Japan" part of the Web comes the Emoticon Keyboard, or as it's formally known, "Bajca: The Emotional Communication."
This is basically a keyboard that plugs into your USB slot and can be used to type emoticons. I mean why waste time typing out carats, colons, dashes, and parentheses when one button from the emo keyboard can do it all for you?
Also, depending on how sturdy these things are, you could even smash your emotions out if said emotions call for it.
Also, in a crazy, quirky, multipurpose turn of events, each emoticon ball can be removed from the keyboard and used as jewelry. From the pics, it looks like you'll be able to wear the little guys around your neck, wrist, or finger.
Seriously, this was made in Japan and just licensed by an Italian company, right?
I mean check out this quote from the press materials. "Is the essential object, that should already exist. The need has always been there, just not realized. We'll exchange feelings, live and tell stories about our lives. Now our new dictionary, our way to live and tell will be with small touch buttons of plastic. What an emotion!!!"
Every quirky Japanese company out there should be suing these guys.
(Credit:
i-Buddy)
It should have been obvious that the "Nabaztag" was having some emotional problems when it turned to graffiti, let alone self-defacement. The Wi-Fi rabbit had apparently grown quickly from its innocent beginnings into precocious adolescence, perhaps accelerated by instant fame.
Yet it's not too late to set it straight: All it needs is some positive companionship to avoid following Britney to UCLA Med Center. And that's where "i-Buddy" comes in.
It would seem to be a perfect match for the troubled bunny, recognizing specific acquaintances when they sign onto MSN Messenger and then reacting to certain emoticons accordingly--shaking, twisting, changing colors, and flapping wings, according to Chip Chick. It wouldn't, however, be a good sign if its face turns red during an encounter with the 'Tag. But fear not, the i-Buddy won't pose much of a threat because, at just 3 inches tall, it's only about a third of the rabbit's height.
(Credit:
Symantec)
Editors' note: This blog initially misstated the last day for submitting photos. It is October 15.
Ever thought (or were ever told) that you resembled one of those emoticons you see in e-mail or IM? Me neither. But for those who have had that experience, Symantec has launched a worldwide emoticon look-alike contest.
Now through October 15, contestants can upload their best resemblances to an emoticon for a chance to win a grand prize of $10,000 cash, or one of five first place prizes of $1,000 each. Anyone who enters will receive a 15 percent discount on the purchase of Norton 360 or Norton Save and Restore.
This is not the first time Symantec has gone off the marketing deep end to promote one of its products. Last summer, the big-yellow security vendor created a rock band in support of its Norton Confidential. What rock music has to do with computer security, let alone identity theft, remains unexplained.
(Credit:
Drivemocion)
Most drivers have desired at one time or another to send messages to other drivers with more content than they can manage with hand gestures. And various solutions have been tried. It's probably good that no solution has been overwhelmingly successful, as incidents of road rage could catapult. The latest car-to-car communication solution, called Drivemocion, has an LED module that can show up to five different messages. The messages consist of emoticons such as a smiley face and a frowny face. It can also show text messages, such as "Thanks," "Back off," and "Idiot." The driver gets to pick the message using a wireless controller, a nice little bit of technology that makes the device easy to install.
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