Justin is sick today, so Demetrius Wren and Christina Ghubril join the show to talk about their new film "Streetball." It's the story of a group of homeless South African kids who try to break out of the cycle of poverty by competing in the Homeless World Cup. After some calls about "1984" and convergence, we talk a bit about some unusual uses of bacon flavor.
The most amazing part of "Streetball" was that it was entirely written, shot, edited, directed, and produced by two people! It's a full-length transcontinental movie made possible with only a couple of laptops and some prosumer cameras that have really leaped toward professional film cameras. Demetrius points out that it would not have been possible to shoot their film with a huge camera crew and big pieces of equipment.
The movie is a really fascinating look at how South Africa has changed and not changed since the end of apartheid. The pair says the film is on track for a June-July 2010 release, so be sure to check it out. (Side note: "Streetball" is sponsored by the From Us with Love charity. Be sure to donate!)
After the break, we get to some voice mails about how George Orwell's dystopian future may already be here. That means it may be a normal thing this time next year for Big Brother to know exactly what you purchased at Wal-Mart and that you spend way too much time at the bar down the street.
Last story of the day is about bacon--oh, that delicious food of the gods! Jeff the Hypochondriac thinks bacon-flavored envelopes just might be enough to get him to lick his envelopes closed again. Meanwhile, an intrepid live listener of the show shows us some bacon-flavored chapstick along with some bacon-flavored...personal...lubricant. Yeah, the show ends on that note today.
Side note: We changed the way we're naming our shows in the blog. This is probably going to result in some confusion and backlash. It was done to please the Internet gods.
EPISODE 470
Listen now: Download today's podcastSubscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video
... Read more
Here's a novel idea: Use crowd-sourcing to make the world a better place. That's DoGood in a nutshell.
Have you done your good deed for the day? I understand: You're busy. You forgot. You couldn't think of anything good to do. Enter DoGood, a free app that suggests and encourages good deeds, crowdsourcing-style.
The app recommends a new "DoGood" every day: give someone a hug, turn off some lights, thank an old teacher, and so on. Once you've done the deed, just tap "done" to record it.
DoGood keeps a running tally of how many people acted on the daily deed, and lets you post and read stories about it. There's also a Statistics screen so you can monitor DoGood history and an Old DoGoods page that lists previous entries.
The app can integrate with Facebook and/or Twitter, so your friends can follow your DoGood activities. (What's the old debate? Is it better to perform good deeds anonymously to avoid drawing attention to yourself, or to make your actions known so others might be encouraged to do likewise? Discuss.)
At the risk of coming across all touchy-feely, I love this app. I love everything about it: the idea, the execution, the price--and the fact that it was created by University of Michigan students. (I'm a Spartan myself, but good deeds know no rivalry.)
Every once in a while, my black and shriveled heart is momentarily warmed by a piece of news coming from a tech company. Today is one of those rare occasions. I received an e-mail from Nextar informing me of the company's decision to donate a shipment of its MA715 MP3 players to the One Media Player per Teacher (OMPT) program.
It's always nice to hear about an act of generosity, but I was even more pleased to be made aware of OMPT. The innovative program provides portable-media players, speakers, and solar chargers to teachers in remote areas. The devices contain audio and video lessons recorded by some of the top educators in the rural teachers' respective nations (Nextar's donation is being sent to Southern Sudan). One player can contain an entire year's worth of math lessons, as well as training programs for health care, agriculture, and sanitation. This allows children who are far from an Internet connection to be afforded the same opportunities as those living in more developed areas.
The Nextar MA715
OMPT's goal is to provide 10 million teachers with PMPs by 2015. As someone who firmly believes that education is the key to a successful future on this earth, I applaud the program's efforts. Unfortunately, it does not appear that OMPT accepts device donations by individuals, becuase the program has conducted studies to identify particularly successful products and product combinations.
A mere $39 buys you 9 great Mac apps--and possibly a 10.
(Credit: MacHeist)Calling all Mac users! Now's your chance to score some first-class software on the cheap and help charity at the same time.
It's called the MacHeist 3 bundle, and here's how it works: For $39, you get nine full, unlocked, commercial Mac apps (which have a combined value of $621.75).
At the same time, you get to a choose a charity to receive 25 percent of that $39. Action Against Hunger, Humane Society International, Save the Children, and Save Darfur are among the 10 available charities.
Already, it's a win-win proposition. But wait, there's more. If the contribution tally reaches $400,000 (it's currently at about $371,000), MacHeist unlocks a 10th app--and makes it available to everyone who already purchased the bundle.
You can see the app list at the MacHeist site. It's a terrific mix of stuff: games, image editors, recording utilities, and even a $300 3D animation builder.
I was going to hold this post until Monday, but MacHeist has only three days left, and I want to encourage as many folks as possible to support it.
Anyone know if there's a Windows equivalent? If not, I may just have to rally the Cheapskate troops and create one myself. In the meantime, even if you're not a Mac user, consider supporting this admirable promotion. I am.
Thanks to CNET's Brian Cooley for letting me know about this when I was a guest on CNET Live earlier this week.
Justin calls Wilson out for being happy with his life, so they decide to name the show after the popular '80s song Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. Meanwhile, Justin hates his life because New York City ruined his evening. Stay tuned for that story on today's The 404.
Jeff talks about a dangerous e-mail chain letter about entering your PIN number in reverse to call the police during a robbery. Too bad, it ain't true. You might just get stabbed in the stomach if you try this one. Speaking of your health, you can help stop the spread of the flu this year with Twitter. We also suggest not licking the subway poles, but hey--to each his own.
Also, Apple quietly introduces data tethering to the iPhone OS 3.0. Apparently, it takes a little minor hacking, but you'll be able to tether your iPhone 3G to your computer over USB. Bluetooth support is a few more hacks away. Hopefully, you don't take down the entire AT&T network when you BitTorrent the latest "Battlestar Galactica" over your iPhone 3G connection.
Microsoft releases the latest version of Internet Explorer 8 for download. The tech community gives a collective yawn (except for IT managers), while we get creeped out by a Japanese robot model.
Finally, our tagline contest is coming to an end, and before we decide on an official winner, we'd like you to chime in by taking our poll. Click here or look up and to your left. Jonathan Coulton had to reschedule but will make his appearance in the coming weeks, so hold onto your horses. Be sure to support our very own Natali Del Conte's Smackdown for Charity!
EPISODE 302
|
Download today's podcast | |
Subscribe in iTunes | | Subscribe in RSS |
... Read more
(Credit:
Tonic)
Good: You're in an up-and-coming band. Bad: Hurricane Katrina comes along and destroys all your gear. Good: A charity, Music Rising, is set up to try to raise money. They're doing this by auctioning off iPods that music celebs like Gwen Stefani, Faith Hill, and The Britney have loaded with their favorite playlists. Sounds like a win for everyone involved, but it might be too good to be true.
Don't get me wrong, as a former musician and survivor of my own environmental catastrophes (no, not my messy bachelor pad), I understand the need for relief. I fully support what Music Rising is trying to do and I wish them the best of luck. You should definitely check out the current auctions--Mariah Carey's iPod was in the lead at the time of this writing.
But I can't stop thinking of the RIAA. It has long maintained that distributing playlists--on burned CDs, iPods, smoke signals, whatever--is a massive and egregious type of copyright infringement. Will Tonic, the group putting on the auction, have to pay royalties to the very artists who are donating the playlists and iPods?
We hope the RIAA lets this one slide, though that's not normally in its nature. This is a way to help those that it claims to represent, musicians.
Sometimes the line between virtual world and real world is blurry. It's been known that Chinese gold farmers make a real living out of the WoW gold. On Friday, Sanrio Digital, maker of the Hello Kitty Online game, for the first time turned the in-game food to real money for a good cause.
(Credit:
Sanrio Digital)
The company announced the conclusion of the first Hello Kitty Online charity event called "Food for Friends." The event was held in the final week of the Hello Kitty Online closed beta.
Players created and submitted 344,965 in-game food items. Based on the number and value of items submitted, Hello Kitty Online will donate $12,000 to Unicef and the Asian Youth Orchestra.
The Hello Kitty character turned 34 years old on November 1, and the "Food for Friends" event kicked off immediately following the in-game birthday party.
The present version of the game will shut down at midnight EST on Saturday to allow the development team to continue work on the game and prepare for open beta.
Current players will retain their characters and certain benefits in future versions of the game. It's unclear when the open beta will be announced.
(Credit:
Sony Pictures)
Love Spidey? Hate cancer? Of course you do.
Consider this: Stand Up To Cancer [link includes an auto-play video], an organization dedicated to building interdisciplinary teams of experts to focus on solving specific cancer problems, has teamed up with eBay to auction off a number of "celebrity experiences" to raise funds for cancer research.
At the top of the list: a visit to the set of Spider-Man 4 to meet the cast and enjoy a walk-on role, plus a trip to the movie's New York premiere, and designer duds to wear to the show. (At the time of writing, the bid to beat is $5,000.) Or, if you'd prefer, wait until September 5 to bid on a set visit, walk-on role, and tickets to the Los Angeles premiere of Iron Man 2.
Other goodies going on the block in the next few weeks include lunch with Judd Apatow, who will also review your comedy script; a round of golf with Sugar Ray Leonard; and a visit to the set of the CBS Evening News (which is owned by CNET's parent company CBS). Check out the Stand Up To Cancer eBay store for a list of all items in the auction.
All proceeds will go directly to Stand Up To Cancer; consult your tax adviser about tax-deductibility.
Five college guys plan to spend their entire weekend playing Zelda--and they don't even have to apologize to their girlfriends.
That's because they'll be playing the Ocarina and wielding swords with a virtuous goal--raising money for Child's Play, a game industry charity that brings toys and games to children in more than 40 hospitals around the world.
(Credit:
Zelda Universe)
The 72-hour Zelda Marathon, or Zeldathon, kicks off at 7 p.m. EDT Friday and will last through Monday--if at least one team member can keep his hand on a controller at all times. Sean Gonzalez, Pablo Penton, Bobby Martinez, and Andrew Julian will play from college radio station WRGP at Florida International University, where two of the players are DJs.
All the action will be Webcast here via live feed; the marathoners hope viewers will be inspired to contribute to the cause (via the ChipIn service on the donation page)--and not just with rupees.
"We all have free time at the moment and we figured it'd be good to try to raise money for Child's Play while also having a lot of fun," Penton said.
The idea, he said in Hylian (not really), came from other video game marathons, specifically the Super Mario Marathon.
The game guys do plan to get off the couch for bathroom and rest breaks, but say that at least one will always be actively Zelda-ing at any given time. They'll be tackling seven titles in the action-adventure series: The Legend of Zelda, The Adventure of Link, A Link To The Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess.
(Credit:
Apple)
Good news, celebrity charity aficionados: Project Red is going to be providing some music for that Bono-approved iPod Nano of yours.
The high-profile nonprofit, which donates a chunk of profits to combat AIDS in Africa, will be launching a subscription music service this fall.
The as-yet-unnamed service will launch in September, according to The New York Times, and cost $5 per month.
It's structured like a newsletter: each week, members will get an e-mail with two MP3s--one an exclusive song from a well-known act and the other from an emerging artist--as well as a "Crackerjack surprise" (say, a video) and an update on how Project Red's charity money is being put to use. The songs are DRM-free, so you won't have to own a "Red" iPod in order to listen to them. The store itself is powered by PassAlong Networks, which creates music retail stores for clients and has several contracts with record labels in place.
Half the proceeds will go to Africa, and the other half to the artists and record labels involved. Project Red has had roots in the music industry from the start; U2 frontman Bono is a co-founder of the initiative.
It's tough to gauge the success of such a project. It's being spearheaded by Red's president of content, Don MacKinnon, who previously handled music distribution at Starbucks--another program that focused on blending a selection of well-known music with emerging artists. The ubiquitous coffee chain's in-store music project hasn't been a tremendous success, as is evidenced by its decision to scale back its in-store CD sales.
Project Red's music, however, is a digital initiative, which gives it a leg up on anything involving hard copies. (When was the last time you bought a CD?) But with so much focus on ad-supported free music, you wonder who's going to fork over $5 per month for music that they don't get to choose themselves.
Still, it is for a good cause.
This post was updated at 12:12 PM with more background about the technology powering the store.
