Crave

Randall Bennett, co-creator of The 404 and now the host of TechVi, joins us on today's show to talk about his journey around the globe, a few of his new projects, and how he's saving the world one post office box at a time.

(Credit: Randall Bennett)

We've had Randall on the show before, but this is the first time we've seen him since he moved back to New York from his brief but productive stint on the Left Coast. What the heck has he been doing this whole time? Well, Randall is a man of many many talents, and he tells us that he's been using those talents for projects including Tech Vi (pronounced vee), a constantly updated tech news outlet with frequent guests that include industry pundits from Engadget, Popular Mechanics, and a couple of lame dudes that have no idea what they're talking about.

Randall also lets us in on some big news in the works for TechVi that actually involves the CNET departed, so be sure to listen closely to hear it first!

Per usual, the second half is all about the latest news in the world of silly tech and beyond. Following up on yesterday's story about the young woman falling through a manhole while texting, we discuss an even worse occasion: a different woman has twittered through a bank robbery! How is that possible? Well, mainly because the trackball on her BlackBerry smartphone fell off, rendering her incapable of doing anything on her phone but twittering out asinine messages like "cant figure out how to call work without a trackball... police just arrived. maybe theyll let me go now." Me, I probably would've twittered something useful, like "OMFG call the cops frealsies, there's an effing gun in my face."

Be sure to listen to the entire episode to hear Randall's hilarious story about how he saved the lives of countless Netflixers by stopping a man from burning down a post office box. New York needs more good Samaritans like you, dude! Also, feel free to leave us a voicemail (a clean one we can actually play on the air, sans caviar) at 1-866-404-CNET!

It's back to the regular news stories on today's show, and we start off strong with talk about how the iPhone 3.0 may give sex toys a run for their money. See what happens when you give developers control over the vibration functionality?

This isn't going to end well.

(Credit: Amazon)

Microsoft has announced it won't be making Money anymore--the software that is--but who actually used that program anyway?

Next, we discuss how the Internet is successfully turning the English language into nothing more than a bunch of incoherent misspellings of words with numbers in them. "n00b" is now a real word? We're starting to regret this whole Internet thing.

A Stretch Armstrong movie? Really? This isn't going to end well.

There won't be an episode tomorrow, but fear not, we're going to feed you with a classic 404 from the past that's sure to tickle you. See you Monday!

EPISODE 361

Nokia Messaging comes to the Nokia 5800 in May

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)

In conjunction with the Web 2.0 Expo and shown in action at CTIA 2009, Nokia announced that it has added Windows Live Hotmail support to Nokia Messaging.

Nokia Messaging is a free, downloadable application that lets you access up to 10 personal e-mail accounts on a Nokia device, all of which organized under a single icon. The app also supports Yahoo, Gmail, and AOL Mail, among others.

In addition, the Hotmail integration, the company also said it will add Nokia Messaging support to the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic starting in May. Currently, the app is available on 20 Nokia models worldwide, including the Nokia E71, Nokia E65, and Nokia N79, and will work on the upcoming Nokia E55, Nokia N97, and Nokia N86 8MP.

Update: The Palm announcement pertains to the Pre SDK--no additional details on pricing or availability.

You got to love when Palm preannounces an announcement for its Pre smartphone.

That's exactly what it's doing with a tantalizing teaser on the official Palm blog. And it claims no April foolery.

The post states: "We thought about running a harmless little April Fools' Day prank on the blog today...but instead, we thought we'd give you a heads-up (for reals) to check back later today (or follow palm_inc on Twitter) for an update direct from the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco."

Everybody, of course, is hoping for pricing or a release date for the much-anticipated Pre, a Sprint exclusive. But there's also a high probability that Palm will simply announce the free, general release of the Mojo SDK.

Naturally, we'll bring you the news, large or small, whenever Palm does provide details.

(Via the official Palm blog via Engadget).

SAN FRANCISCO-- While most of this week's Web 2.0 Summit has centered on trying to find business models that work in today's slumping economy, two of the most exciting ventures are also the least affordable--at least for now.

Those two companies are Tesla Motors and Shai Agassi's Better Place. The two have completely different business models, but are joined by the idea that gasoline vehicles are something that will not last. Tesla, which is the creation of PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, is creating expensive sports cars that run off nothing more than electricity--and a large bank account to afford the six-figure cost of the vehicle. Meanwhile, Agassi's Better Place is aiming to change the paradigm in the automobile industry to the point where everything is electric; instead of filling up at gas stations, we'll simply be getting our batteries swapped out in less time than it would take to go through a car wash.

Both Musk and Agassi, who spoke at separate sessions Friday at the conference, face huge financial hurdles on the way to seeing their visions become as ubiquitous as the business models they're trying to replace. In Musk's case it's infrastructure as much as it is improving the actual technology.

Tesla's current model, which is a two-door roadster, costs consumers in excess of $100,000, and the company cannot produce them fast enough. The waiting list, which is currently at a little over 1,200 people, matches that of Tesla's current yearly production. "We're making 1,200 a year," said Musk, "and eventually 1,500 a year."

While Microsoft, Nokia, and others paid untold sums of money to have the biggest and brightest booth at the Web 2.0 Expo, in a quiet part of the show floor, one of my favorite DIY sites Instructables.com essentially stole the show.

Ignoring boring pamphlets or forgettable swag, the company brought a laser etching machine and offered up free custom-designed laser etching to anyone who brought a laptop, iPhone, or other portable device that they were willing to have burned with warranty-voiding goodness.

Word spread like wildfire around Blogtropol.us' blogger lounge that this was going on downstairs, the geek equivalent of hearing that there's an ice cream truck outside on the hottest day of summer. Throwing caution to the wind I had my iPhone etched with the Webware logo, no doubt solidifying my nerd cred while simultaneously destroying any sort of warranty I had from Apple in case of the need for repair.

Oh well, it was totally worth it.

I grabbed the video below off my digital camera, so I apologize for the noisiness--but I hope it captures the awe and wonder of having an electronic good customized in one of the coolest ways possible. Don't forget, if you're at the Web 2.0 Expo tomorrow, Instructables will still be there.

If you can't remember the URL of a site you've once visited, what do you do? You can either scour your history, willing the evasive address to remain listed, or you can search in Google by the keywords you remember and hope the site you want floats near the top of the results.

The latest version of Opera Software's 9.5 Beta browser, released Thursday for Windows, Mac, and Linux, makes fishing for past Web addresses much easier with a new feature called Quick Find.

Can't remember a URL? The Quick Find feature pulls up suggestions based on keyword.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Quick Find essentially bundles the keyword search directly into the Opera browser's address field. Typing in a few keywords produces a list of URLs from your past. Simply clicking the selection opens the Web page. I tested it out, and so far it works as advertised--as a fast, useful time-saver that gives your brain license to forget specific URLs.

Those familiar with Opera Mini will recognize Quick Find as the sister to the "find in page" feature in Opera Mini 4.1.

There are other updates to the beta build, but Quick Find remains the only new feature that users will engage with directly. The official Opera announcement also unveils faster e-mail rendering for its built-in client, support for EV (extended validation) SSL certificates, and more complete antiphishing protection thanks to collaboration with PhishTank and NetCraft's databases.

Then there's the unofficial announcement, leaked by Huib Kleinhout, Opera's desktop team manager, on Opera's blog. Through Opera Link, users will soon be able to synchronize notes in real time between Opera browsers for desktops, mobile phones, and devices.

That feature is in development, an Opera representative contact confirmed, and has not been released in this morning's build. For now, Opera Link behaves as it has been, populating each Opera browser you use (desktop, cell phone, Wii) with bookmarks added from any other.

If I had to describe LightPole in 10 words or fewer, I'd call it an interface for accessing location-aware services from mobile phones. More than anything else, LightPole's downloadable application offers a listings and mapping format that many location-based services, such as Yelp and Yahoo Local, can squeeze into to gain more visibility or avoid creating their own rich cell phone applications.

I added the CNET News.com channel; the rest are LightPole's.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

It works like this. Users looking for stuff--a good restaurant, happy hour specials, or Internet cafe--can click open LightPole, select a service (MappyHour and Hotspotr are two more,) and can read about the establishment, call the establishment, and map the results.

New customization features, announced Wednesday, make the application heaps more appealing to the masses because it lets users do what users like to do best--add their own content by creating channels online.

From LightPole's Web site, you input any RSS feed or site URL corresponding to geotagged content into the blank field to transform it into a channel. A Google map and Flickr stream are two examples. A few more clicks and a manual phone update later and the content is ready to access. I'll admit that mapping the CNET News.com feed was a little useless (CNET headquarters doesn't move around much,) but I like the flexibility and relative ease of relying on LightPole's partnerships for my most-wanted content.

Two other announcements join ranks with the news of the now-open channels. LightPole's integration with Yahoo-owned Fire Eagle, a nexus for managing your location information. This integration lets registered users of other Fire Eagle-supported location services, Loki for example, post their whereabouts. LightPole will pick it up from there.

In a final enhancement, two of LightPole's partners, MappyHour and Hotspotr, have added functionality that lets users add favorite happy hour lairs and Internet cafes to the communities' Web sites from the LightPole application. There are still some usability hitches (a few too many menus and clicks for my taste,) but these second helpings already make LightPole more useful.

(Credit: Exhibitor Online)

A new study from Nokia predicts that by 2012, a quarter of all entertainment will be created, edited, and shared within peer groups rather than being generated by traditional media.

Jointly conducted with the trend research firm The Future Laboratory, Nokia's study asked trend-setting consumers from 17 countries about their digital behaviors and lifestyles. The company also used information gathered from its 900 million customers as well as views of leading industry analysts.

"From our research we predict that up to a quarter of the entertainment being consumed in five years will be what we call 'circular.' The trends we are seeing show us that people will have a genuine desire not only to create and share their own content, but also to remix it, mash it up, and pass it on within their peer groups-- a form of collaborative social media," says Mark Selby, vice president of multimedia for Nokia. Nokia pinpoints four emerging trends that propel this kind of "circular entertainment": immersive living; geek culture; G tech; and localism.

Selby continues, "We think it will work something like this: someone shares video footage they shot on their mobile device from a night out with a friend. That friend takes that footage and adds an MP3 file--the sound track of the evening--then passes it to another friend. That friend edits the footage by adding some photographs and passes it on to another friend and so on. The content keeps circulating between friends, who may or may not be geographically close, and becomes part of the group's entertainment."

Tom Savigar, trends director at The Future Laboratory, adds, "Consumers are increasingly demanding that their entertainment be truly immersive, engaging, and collaborative. Whereas once the act of watching, reading, and hearing entertainment was passive, consumers now and in the future will be active and unrestrained by the ubiquitous nature of circular entertainment. Key to this evolution is consumers' basic human desire to compare and contrast, create and communicate. We believe the next episode promises to deliver the democracy politics can only dream of."

Of course, you have to take surveys sponsored by big brands with a grain of salt. Nokia's intent is obviously to ride the wave of a powerful current and promote its mobile devices as the venue where that new kind of "circular," convergent entertainment will take place. Moreover, user-generated content (and user-generated entertainment in particular) is neither a breathtakingly new phenomenon, nor is it beyond any dispute that the traditional networks will just sit and watch their dominance wane.

Nokia's study also ignores the fact that the distinction between traditional and "circular" entertainment is becoming increasingly difficult. In times of professional mash-ups, amateur reality TV, and 24/7 life-casting, where does original content end and recycled content start? What if traditional entertainment becomes a micro-format within user-generated entertainment and vice versa? Naturally, the two intermingle, and it may not even be too bold a statement to forecast that at some stage of a highly fragmented and collaborative distribution chain, all entertainment will be "circular" in 2012.