Crave

On today's show, it's the last day of the Becks Beer sponsorship, so we end on a high note. Joining us in the studio again is Caroline McCarthy, bringing her wit and charm, and we also have Timothy Geisenheimer, who always has something clever to say. So apparently, CNET broke during today's live stream, which is why some people are getting 404 error pages when they visit our Web site. Today's Audio Draft is sponsored by Becks Beer in Conjunction with Last.fm, a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, 5000 XP GTS, is a rising European pop-rock star, Paolo Nutini.

(Credit: MuffinDeluxe/Last.fm)

After featuring mostly Indie bands, we're going to bring in some pop from across the pond. Paolo Nutini has a surprisingly sultry yet mature voice for a boy of only 22 years old! Trust us, you'll get knocked off your feet when you hear a dulcet voice come out of what seems to be a skinny Scottish kid. On today's show, we feature two songs from his album Sunnyside Up. The first is "Coming Up Easy", which is a nice tune about waking up in the morning to your significant other. Rounding out the show, we finish with "Candy," a slow-going song about getting some "sweets" from your lover before they leave. Yes, Paolo Nutini is "geting-down" music.

The Semi-Weekly Audio Draft has become so popular that we're going to list our previous picks so you can find the great, new musicians we're featuring here on The 404:

• Paolo Nutini
• Koufax
• Why
• Priscilla Ahn
• Mayer Hawthorne
• The Hold Steady
• Grizzly Bear
• Matt Pond PA
• The Twilight and the Sound

On top of some great music, we have some great stories on today's show. At the top of the show, we discover the coolest invention ever: the dissolvable bikini! We wonder why it took so long to create this! All this is courtesy of Tim Geisenheimer's German descendants. It might be something you should give your date if you live in New York City! According to Forbes.com, NYC is the best place to live for singles. Caroline really disagrees, but that probably has to do with the fact that women in their 20s outnumber guys by a heavy margin. Wilson loves this, but bemoans the fact that a lot of these ladies are always trying to find the next best one.

In more technology-related news, AT&T and Barnes & Nobles have announced free Wi-Fi in their coffee shops. Sounds like a great idea at first because we've all hated paying $12.95 for an hour of Internet access, but imagine all the start-ups and college students crowding what used to be a nice place for conversation. Also, Twitter and Facebook are coming to Xbox 360, while we don't really have any interest in Twittering while we're playing Resident Evil 5, we kind of hope we can hook up with other gamers through Facebook Connect. Finally, there is a movement that we can all jump on! David Pogue's campaign to bring back the "BEEP", rather than the freakin' 15-second long voice mail message that we all love to hate. If we can call you from our phone, we know how to leave you a message!

Apparently, wireless carriers like aren't feeling a lot of love at the moment. Not only does it have to deal with its ever restless customers, but also it is under fire from members of Congress and rural operators who claim that the major carriers' exclusivity deals hinder competition and innovation.

Though Verizon has agreed to shorten the exclusivity deals to six months, rural carriers like Cellular South still aren't pleased. So now, Verizon is taking its case directly to the American public. On Thursday, the carrier released a letter that its CEO and President Lowell McAdam had posted to The New York Times.

In a classic case of "it's never about what it's about," McAdam doesn't mention carrier exclusivity; rather, he argues that the big, nasty carriers really aren't so big and nasty after all. He also invites government officials and the media to rely on facts when reporting on the industry. ... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

The Samsung Alias 2: You can touch and feel its keys.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)

You know you've arrived when a New York Times writer takes notice of your work, even if it's to make a snarky remark about it. CNET got such an honor Monday when David Pogue, the newspaper's tech and gadget columnist, included us in a tweet about one of his pet peeves.

Here's what Pogue twittered: "CNET writes 'All the keys feel tactile.' HELLO? 'Tactile' means 'You can feel it.' What the hell is a 'tactile feel'!?"

Now, I'm not 100 percent sure, but I'd wager that Pogue was referring to my recent review of the Samsung Alias 2. I admit that "tactile feel" is redundant, and I regret any confusion I might have caused. I'll try to clear that up now.

The quality of a phone's controls are an important factor in CNET's cell phone reviews. We look for keys that allow you to dial without looking at the phone. We examine a handset to see if its keys are raised and if they're separated from each other by a ridge or crevice that you can feel. Either way, we keep the feeling of the keys in mind when figuring the final rating.

At CNET, we try to look for those "little things" that will annoy or please consumers over time. Too many phones have flat, slippery keypads that resemble one big touch pad. We don't think such handsets are easy enough to use so, at the end of the day, we're looking out for you.

It's a clear sign of the continuing evolution of video games when hot titles splurge on big mainstream media ads. The most shocking example we've seen recently has been Tuesday's Election Day New York Times, where Fallout 3 was featured in a full-color, full-page ad (see below), taking up the coveted back cover spot of the paper's "A" section.

That's especially surprising, as Fallout isn't a particularly mainstream brand, along the lines of the Halo or the Rock Band franchises, but a fairly serious RPG that requires a multi-hour investment of time to get into, and offers little in the way of immediate gratification (not that we're not enjoying the game, having just passed the 39-hour mark).

The ad plays up a string of recent "perfect" review scores (a contentious topic we discuss on the latest episode of the Digital City podcast), but we doubt that more than a small slice of the paper's daily readers would be in the right demographic group for a full-page video game ad, especially one that quotes the Official Xbox Magazine or GameSpy.

Are newspaper ads a smart investment for games? What game do you think will be the next to buy a full page in the New York Times? ... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

'The New York Times' is offering mobile access to Verizon customers at no additional charge.

(Credit: The New York Times)

Verizon Wireless and The New York Times have just announced a joint effort to offer mobile access to NYTimes.com (which is at mobile.nytimes.com) via several of Verizon's own feature phones. As long as you have a Mobile Web subscription (Unlimited Mobile Web is included with a $15 monthly V Cast VPak package) and a compatible phone, you will get access to the content without an additional charge. The NYTimes.com mobile site includes news of the election coverage, opinion pieces, sports news, and more.

(Credit: MUJI U.S.A.)

(Credit: MUJI U.S.A.)

The Chronotebook is Muji's update to the tired paper notebook planner. Where memopads and datebooks have cluttered lines and graphics, the Chronotebook only has a clock in the middle of the page: one for AM, one for PM. Users are free to organize their day around these clocks in way that's similar to a brainstorm. The Chronotebooks will sell in the new store for $4.95, but the first 500 people to step into the Times Square location will get one for $0.00.

The New York Times suggested Wednesday that future versions of the Zune might come with a tiny cop capable of catching digital lawbreakers.

And no, I'm not talking about some sort of bundled action flick.

In a blog, the Times' Saul Hansell said that, as part of Microsoft's deal to get NBC TV shows, it had agreed to look into the possibility of adding technology into the MP3 player that would scan a user's collection for unauthorized content.

The blog cites Microsoft spokesman Adam Sohn as saying that the software maker is exploring antipiracy measures with NBC. Microsoft issued a statement on Wednesday denying that there was any agreement to filter content.

"Microsoft has no plans or commitments to implement content filtering features in the Zune family of devices as part of our content distribution deal with NBC," the software maker said in a statement.

Sohn echoed the sentiment. "We've agreed to work with these guys on a number of issues, but we have no plans or commitment to put filtering technology as part of this arrangement with NBC," he told CNET News.com.

Microsoft launched its Zune video store this week with about 800 TV show episodes, including content from NBC, which earlier pulled its content from iTunes in a dispute over pricing and other issues. Despite the apparent coup with NBC, Microsoft is still lagging Apple badly on the sales front.

Who says print is dead?

Earlier this week, we dropped by an Acer news conference in New York where the company made a pitch for getting into the U.S. market in a big way. We've heard big talk from Acer before, and they're a huge player globally (made even bigger by merging with Gateway), but not the first name you think of when shopping for a laptop domestically.

So while were we all fairly impressed with Acer's plans to introduce new form factors with its upcoming 16-inch Acer Aspire 6920 and the 18.4-inch Acer Aspire 8920, we didn't expect much of a mainstream consumer push. After all--if U.S. buyers know Acer for anything, it's probably the company's overpriced Ferrari-branded laptops.

So imagine our surprise to pick up the New York Times the next day, and see a full-page advertisement for the new Gemstone Blue laptops, right in the middle of the "A" section and specifically touting the new CineDash media console (basically some touch-sensitive media buttons arranged somewhat like a traditional remote control). Even better, Friday's New York Times also had a full-page Acer ad (different image and copy, but for the same laptops).

That seems like a pretty hefty investment (although with Acer touting the "Blue" branding so heavily, they might have sprung for a color ad), so expect top hear more about these two laptops as we get closer to the April release date.

Leave it to the NFL to find an inadequate solution to the problem created by putting big games on its poorly distributed NFL Network.

If you're a football fan, you're no doubt very well aware that tonight, the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers face off in one of the biggest games of the year. Yet, unless you happen to be a subscriber of one of the few cable or satellite services that carry the NFL Network--where the game is being broadcast--you won't be able to watch the game.

The Dallas Cowboys versus Green Bay Packers game Thursday night will be available only on the NFL Network, which reaches a limited national audience. To compensate, NFL.com is offering free access to live 'look-ins' on the game.

(Credit: NFL)

Ah, but if you happened to pick up Thursday's New York Times, you might have come across a full-page ad with a big welcome message: "NFL fans, The National Football League wants you to see tonight's big game between Green Bay and Dallas.

"Despite our best efforts to reach agreements with all cable companies, we were unsuccessful."

The ad goes on to trumpet the new NFL.com Live service which, the ad seems to indicate, will allow fans to watch the game live on the Web or on their Sprint Mobile-enabled phones.

"For fans who don't have NFL Network--introducing NFL.com Live--an exclusive live broadcast covers tonight's game from all angles on NFL.com," the ad continued. "NFL.com Live Thursday Night Football will be anchored by a live, originally produced video program with live game look-ins, complimented by highlights, studio analysis, and exciting interactive applications."

Yes, it's true, the NFL misused the word "complimented."

But that's neither here nor there.

It turns out that what the NFL is offering via its free NFL.com Live service is a very limited set of short "look-ins" on the game. Mostly what fans will see while the Packers and Cowboys bang away on the gridiron will be talking heads in a studio analyzing the game that most fans can't see.

And that's too bad, and emblematic of the shift in attitude by the various professional sports leagues to make it hard for their fans to actually see the games they want to see. And if, by some chance, the NFL had decided to make the entire Dallas versus Green Bay game available online, it would have likely been one of the biggest Web events of all time.

But they would never do that, because giving their fans what they want is somehow not a desirable thing for the league.