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Goodbyes are never easy, but it ain't so bad when you're leaving for a three-week holiday vacation to Huntington Beach, Calif. On today's episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast, the dudes celebrate Justin's last show in 2009. To everyone's disappointment, he'll back back in January 2010 for one episode, and then the dudes are off to CES for four shows from the CNET stage!

(Credit: Flickr/Justin_Levy)

It's hard to believe that 2009 is almost coming to a close, but it's been a fantastic year of growth for the show. We're very excited to see what 2010 has in store for us, but this year won't be over until we get through the dreaded holiday shopping season. With Hanukkah starting tonight and Christmas just around the corner, there's not a lot of time left for us to head to the store or order gifts online. Then again, there's always the wonderful gift of debt relief!

We also can't officially wave goodbye to 2009 until we finally see "Avatar." In an unexpected twist, apparently someone at the movie studio leaked the film to a few critics who had surprisingly positive reviews!

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter assures us that "every bit of technology in Avatar serves the greater purpose of a deeply felt love story," which should come as a relief the film's detractors. Wilson also brings up a good point about Cameron's depiction of independent women that reinstates our confidence as well. Plan on watching the movie during the holidays? Let us know what you think!

There's still a full spread of 404 episodes next week featuring special guests Russ Frushtick, Bonnie Cha, Natali Del Conte, and more, but I want to wish everyone an amazing holiday and a super green New Year, see you in Vegas!

The elusive Snow Leopard.

(Credit: Elfwood)

Wilson's back, but we figure everyone is tired of hearing about the Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard by now, so we shift gears and talk about Walmart shoppers instead. Behold: a new blog documenting the People of Walmart. While Wilson "Tennessee" Tang thinks this all looks pretty typical, Jeff and I are straight up spooked. It's humiliating enough to set foot in a Walmart, but what if I just need to pick up deodorant? Now I have to worry about being publicly humiliated on this blog too? And who brought that goat into the store?

After our rant is over, we move on to dissect a few upcoming movies like James Cameron's newest science fiction CGI powerhouse, "Avatar." The weird part is that James Cameron has been planning this movie for 10 years but hasn't been able to make it because the technology just wasn't there. Well, now it's here...and the movie looks like a cheesy cut scene from Halo. Next up on the butcher block is "Cirque de Freak: The Vampire's Assistant." Don't get me wrong, I love me some John C. Reilly, but a convincing vampire he is not. When was the last time you've seen a bloodsucker with curly hair?

The rest of the show devolves into the three hosts doing vampire impressions, which isn't incredibly hard to do, just follow these three steps:

• Talk loudly and open-mouthed
• Raise the intonation of your voice at the end of every sentence
• Don't forget the "AH AH AHHH" at the end

If you're like Wilson and don't have anything to do over the weekend, why don't you give us a call at 1-866-404-CNET and tell us what's on your mind? We're also on Twitter, Facebook, and Meetup as well, so there's really no excuse for falling out of touch. Or, if you have a suggestion for our Weekend Throwback Episode, let me know in a comment below!

Kenley Bradstreet joins the show to fill in Justin's shoes, after he has an unfortunate accident with a missing bike seat. On today's show, Jeff rants about Digg's new ads while he gets new Hoboken Twitter followers. Wilson doesn't feel too hot about James Cameron's new movie "Avatar." Violet Blue starts her own URL shortner. And Kenley brings us a story about a murderous Brazilian talk show host. Yes, it is yet another episode of The 404.

(Credit: Twentieth Century Fox)

(Credit: Kenley Bradstreet)

Before we get too ahead of ourselves, let's explain today's show title. Apparently, there is a blog called "Skanks in NYC," and someone called a Vogue cover model, Liskula Cohen, a skank. Using words like "psychotic," "lying" and "whoring" to describe Ms. Cohen, a judge ruled that the model has a right to know who was defaming her. Beyond the First Amendment questions that this ruling raises, Kenley wonders if this undermines the whole point of the Internet?

James Cameron has been on hiatus for the last couple of years after his massive success with "Titanic." Turns out, he's been working on "Avatar" for the last 10 years, inventing all sorts of new technology to bring his vision to the big screen. While the project has been hyped in Hollywood, The 404 gang remains unimpressed with the blue people with tails. Kind of looks like a cross between a PS3 game and Halo, doesn't it?

Before we leave, we mention the new URL shortening service from Violet Blue, sex educator and columnist. At first, we were a bit confused as to why one would need another URL shortening service, but after a few hints from the chat room, we figured out that it's a warning that the link you're about to click on might be a bit NSFW. Bravo! Finally, Kenley alerts us to Wallace Souza, a Brazilian television host. On his top rated show, he features crime busts. Turns out, he was calling hits on people to get the ratings in the first place. We think the police were tipped off when a Steadicam operator, crane and lapel mic were found on scene.

Everyone have a great weekend! Wilson will be out for most of the week next week, so expect more awesome guests to keep his seat warm. In the mean time, please, please, please call in and leave a message at 1-866-404-CNET (2638) or write to us at the404 [at] cnet [dot] com.

(Credit: Sony)

There may not be many hardware changes inside the PS3 Slim, but each new console will ship with the PlayStation 3 3.00 firmware update. Here's what you can expect:

There are a few minor cosmetic changes to the interface and XMB (cross-media bar). Most noteworthy is a new tab under the PlayStation Network icon called "What's New." It will highlight new featured downloadable content, news, etc., and will also be the first thing you see when powering on your PS3.

Firmware 3.00 will also introduce new dynamic theme support. These are much more involved than previous PS3 themes, with fully animated backgrounds and even the ability to change themes as the day goes on.

(Credit: Sony)

A status box in the upper right corner will give you a heads-up display of how many friends are online and your current message count. Below it, a ticker shows Sony news and information.

Fans of avatars are in good shape, with 3.00 introducing a brand new batch of selectable icons. There will also be "premium" avatars available for purchase in the PlayStation Store. Lastly, trophy support will now be distinguishable between base and add-ons so you can compare your progress among the two.

Sony plans to release firmware 3.00 soon and it will be available on every hardware version of the PlayStation 3.

As first outlined at the E3 video game industry trade show in June, Microsoft is readying an update to the dashboard software that runs on Xbox 360 game consoles, as well as the Xbox Live online service.

While it's not as radical a change as the fall 2008 dashboard update that added avatars and Netflix streaming, there are a lot of improvements to current features, as well as a few new ones. The dashboard update will be available for 360 owners on August 11th, but we were able to download an early version for a test drive.

Included were notable features such as the Avatar Marketplace, for buying (via Microsoft Point micro-transaction) clothing and accessories for your avatar, and the Netflix Party Mode, for watching a streaming Netflix movie along with online friends.

Missing from our early download, however, were the much-anticipated Twitter and Facebook apps, as well as the Games on Demand service for Xbox 360 games. Currently only older original Xbox games are available (also not available -- any of these Five classic adventure games that need to be re-released as digital downloads).

Click through to the gallery below for our walkthrough of some of the new Xbox 360 dashboard features.

Inside the Summer 2009 Xbox 360 dashboard update

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Now this one, found totally at random, is innocent, right?

(Credit: CC GWire)

How closely does your Mii resemble the real you?

I ask only because it seems that police in Japan decided to dispense with the services of a sketch artist--who knows, perhaps he was too temperamental--and used a Wii to create their own impression of a man they wanted to question.

The Mii feature on Nintendo's Wii video game console allows you to create your own avatarish persona on games such as Wii Sports. So the wise policemen in the Kanegawa prefecture apparently decided they could swiftly create a Mii of a man who may have been involved in a hit-and-run road accident.

There is no word whether the residents of Kanegawa are rushing around their neighborhoods, brandishing this supposed likeness of a young man with long brown hair, glasses, and Heidi Klum's cheekbones. And there is no word that this avatar has been re-created on many thousands of Kanegawa Wiis and is trouncing untold numbers of Roger Federer look-alikes.

But it's lovely to think that such frivolous games are now being used in the serious cause of truth and justice on the Miin Streets of Kanegawa.

On November 19, Microsoft is rolling out its most ambitious Xbox 360 system update yet -- an entirely new dashboard that bears little resemblance to the series of panels users currently use to navigate the gaming console.

Dubbed "The New Xbox Experience," this ground-up overhaul of the system's front-end interface also introduces several new features--most notably an avatar system to represent users online and the addition of streaming video content from Netflix, similar to that offered by the Roku Netflix settop box.

Others have gone into great detail about all the design and functionality changes, so having lived with the new dashboard update for the past week, we'll instead present some initial impressions--the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The new dashboard divides content, settings, and functions into eight categories, each represented by a horizontal row of boxes. The new look is clean, easy to navigate, and aesthetically pleasing, although it all seems designed to push the maximum in Xbox marketing materials and advertising come-ons to the user.

Avatar: the no-more-excuses gaming mouse.

(Credit: NZXT)

It's always been my pet peeve in gaming when the guy on the other side blames the equipment (i.e. "I have bad lag" or "my mouse skips") for his defeat, making my pwnage a little less glorious. Well, get a new mouse, I say.

And not just any mouse, a good gaming mouse.

NZXT, a company that makes accessories for gamers, released on Monday the newest of those mice. Called Avatar, the mouse is designed to provide gamers with significant enhancements in gaming with a few breakthrough features.

First, it sports a 2600dpi optical sensor, providing maximum sensitivity and responsiveness to yield unparalleled onscreen accuracy. To put this in context, most optical mice have a sensor with 1000dpi or less. The Avatar also has an LED dpi indicator that gives the user improved usage and feedback. It also incorporates a four-speed dpi switch that enables you to go from slow movement--perfect for sniping--to quick attack movement in a matter of seconds.

Secondly, the Avatar comes with a great deal of customization. It has seven programmable keys that can be assigned specific functions to accomodate different genres of games such as first-person shooter, real-time strategy, or MMORP all within the macro and profile settings.

Last but not least, the Avatar boasts a very ergonomic design that allows for hours of continuous play. It's also simple to install: all you need to do is plug it into any available USB port.

This sounds like a great gaming mouse. There's a catch though: it's not cheap. You can get the Avatar now for about $60, which is relatively hefty considering you can get a regular optical mouse for one-third the price or even less. However, glorious victories or honorable defeats never come cheap. You should know that by now!

We bet you know someone who does everything online, from banking to making friends, to kicking back. If you're stuck trying to find great gifts for the constant blogger, video vulture, or online socialite in your life, take a look at this virtual gift guide that shows you get it, and you care.