Crave

In Jeff's absence, Wilson takes the reigns as chief engineer for the show...and runs it in to the ground. Just kidding! Today we invite host of The Green Show and longtime 404 friend, Mark Licea, to join us in a few stories about a handy iPhone app, traveling water bottles, Facebook jealousy, Internet addiction, and a hilarious Calls From the Public!

Wilson G. Tang as G-FORCE!

(Credit: Hayato Shimizu)

Hot on the heels of Motherboard and Laserjet comes Earth's newest superdefender, G-FORCE! A big thanks goes out to our buddy Hayato Shimizu for Photoshopping Wilson into this robotic Megaman-looking superhero that fights crime with two cameras and still has time to highlight his hair. We've actually received a lot of really talented Photoshopped images of The 404 hosts recently, so click through the slideshow below for all the images.

Jeff's away on vacation and Wilson surprises us all by stepping up to the board, so bear with us through this episode. With some help from our good buddy The Intern Formerly Known as Mark, we navigate our way through a bunch of newsworthy stories from the Internet, including an iPhone app that tells you the best time to cut out of a movie to use the bathroom, the recent popularity of Internet addiction rehab camps, and how Facebook is trying to ruin your love life. All that, plus a new character on today's Calls From the Public!

404 fans show Photoshop love

(Credit: Wedding Collectibles)

We're tempted to give these to a couple we know but, frankly, their marriage probably won't last anyway and we don't want to expedite the process. But if you know of pending nuptials involving cell phone addicts with a good sense of humor (if that's possible), this might be impossible to resist.

These figurines seen on GeekSugar are made of hand-painted porcelain, which makes us worried that someone might actually use them atop their wedding cake. If that's indeed the case--and you're trying to send a message to one of them--you can even mix and match one of the phone-aholics with another that's sporting a perpetual frown.

Just like it's taken us a while to reckon with the fact that texting or yakking on the phone while driving can be seriously unsafe, it is taking a while to figure out what to make of our sometimes heedless obsession with all things online.

At least one psychiatrist says that, for some of us, online fixation can be serious a problem--a compulsive-impulsive disorder whose sufferers endure gadget cravings, broadband-deprivation withdrawal, increasing tolerance for spending extraordinary amounts of time online, and no apparent embarrassment when they wake up in the morning with a keyboard imprint on their face.

An article in The Ottawa Citizen cites an editorial on the subject in the March issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry by Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at Oregon Health and Science University.

Another set of symptoms typically accompanying online addiction, Block writes, includes argumentative behavior, lying, social isolation, and fatigue. He also notes that Internet addiction typically accompanies other types of mental illness, argues that it should be included in psychiatry's official dictionary of mental illnesses, and points out that it already is considered a serious public health issue in South Korea and China.

Look around you. You probably see at least a few people in need of Net-addiction therapy. Assuming you're not holed up at home, staring for hours at your computer screen.

(Credit: Seura)

For some unfathomable reason, there are apparently more than a few influential product designers who seem to think people just must have mirrored TVs. They've used reflective surfaces to hide LCDs, combined them with computers, and even made them waterproof.

But all of these have assumed that we want the TV concealed when it's not in use. Obviously, their focus groups have missed an important demographic--those of us who stay glued to the tube 24/7. The true addict would want something like the "Seura Television Mirror," which proudly displays the screen at all times while providing the reflection around it.

For prices starting at $3,000, BornRich says, bathroom aficionados can have the option of a 15- or 20-inch Sharp LCD and a choice of finishes including oak, cherry, and maple. You can even decide whether you want the display to be recessed or surface-mounted. We recommend the latter, for easier cleaning.

(Credit: SkyMall)

It was bound to happen: Two gadgets that act as remotes for each other.

That's right, the cleverly named "Find It" remote will locate your lost keys as long as their attached sensor is within earshot. But the opposite is also true (which, in our case, is far more important)--just click a button on the keychain, OhGizmo says, and your perennially misplaced remote will be magically found.

And it makes perfect sense that this latest invention should come from GE, which is apparently trying to corner the remote market with such creations as its "Flip" Phaser wannabe. The next logical step, of course, will be a "Find It" in waterproof form.

The Register has an excellent article today on the compact disc, which was first pressed for commercial release 25 years ago. If you've ever been curious about terms like Red Book or 44.1, or wondered why CDs can hold 74 minutes of music, it's worth a read.

I have little to add. Except: Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms was not only the first CD that was recorded all digitally, but it was also one of the first in which the CD had different, longer versions of some of the LP album tracks. I specifically bought the CD for the extended version of "Why Worry," and it remains one of the only recordings I have in both LP and CD formats. It came out in 1985, and I remember that the DJs on my local rock radio station made a big deal out of playing the special CD versions (especially late at night). A mere five years later, I had to search high and low just to find the LP version of Jane's Addiction's Ritual de lo Habitual, which shows how quickly the format completely conquered its rivals.

By way of comparison, iTunes launched in 2003, and although downloads made up only about 10 percent of all music sales in 2006, it's conceivable that CDs could be all but dead in by 2008--the same five-year window that it took CDs to eclispe LPs.

I also like to think that the back cover of Pink Floyd's 1975 record Wish You Were Here anticipates the development of the CD--that disc that the hollow record-industry "suit" is holding out to the audience is the size of a 12" record, but has the translucent silver color of a CD. Not a bad job by album designers Hipgnosis, given that development of the CD didn't begin for another four years.

(Credit: Fareastgizmos)

The subject of Sony remotes is a painful experience for some of us at Crave. Ever since we purchased what was touted as an uber-remote nearly a decade ago (the "Commander"), we've been scarred ever since. In addition to finding it virtually impossible to program, it has an exceedingly uncomfortable box-like form--it's like carrying around a small answering machine instead of a remote.

So it is with some trepidation that we view this new model on the Japanese market, a table remote that takes another squarish form at 3.8 by 5 inches. Unlike the Commander, at least, the RM-PZ1FD is inexpensive ($17), looks surprisingly simple and even comes in fashionable colors. That's because it's supposed to look good sitting on a dining table, as Fareastgizmos suggests, where it theoretically doesn't need to be picked up as often because it works with three infrared LEDs for "wider-angle cover."

The kicker is that it's waterproof so it has some chance of working even after junior spills his apple juice for the third time in the same meal. But then again, if you need a special remote for the dinner table, you might want to ask whether the family is watching a wee bit too much TV.

(Credit: Impress)

Some of us at Crave are embarrassed to admit that we've yet to play our first game on a Wii. (Not everyone can be Caroline McCarthy, you know.)

But even we, in our extremely limited knowledge, can't help but question the value of a 7-inch Wii LCD like the one from Japan's Century cited by Gizmodo and pictured here. Isn't the fun of the Wii supposed to be doing active stuff like tennis and bowling?

Perhaps it was created for the serious Wii addict who has to carry it at all times. It may have an important ancillary benefit: Playing in such a confined area might cut down on serious injuries.

(Credit: Gizoo)

There's no substitute for direct parental involvement, as we've said many times, but this gadget is worth noting for those moms and dads who simply can't control their kids' TV-viewing habits.

Plug the telly directly into the "TV Timer," and this digital disciplinarian will turn off the tube unwaveringly at the appointed hour. It cannot be bribed and won't succumb to tears or tantrums.

Going where the "Weemote" left off, the timer allows parents to program three viewing slots each day. But be forewarned: It will work just as effectively on spouses.