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Hewlett-Packard's new back-to-school campaign, dubbed Declare Yourself with HP, isn't your typical laptop sales promotion. It probably could be used instead as a case study of how members of Generation Y tend to gravitate toward products that inflate their egos.

The online campaign, which rolled out this week in partnership with Viacom's MTV Networks, enables users to "declare" their goals with one-line summaries. HP is "hoping that this promotion will help (students) set obtainable goals that will help further personal growth."

Obtainable goals, eh? Let's check out some of the goals my generation has declared: "I will meet the Jonas Brothers," "I will eat more cheese," and "I will be on the red carpet."

Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that.

(Credit: Screenshot by Sharon Vaknin/CNET)

With its large presence on the Internet, Generation Y has changed the way consumer companies like HP market their products. Even domain names have seen a change: YouTube, MySpace. Apple, too, has caught on to Gen Y's "me, me, me" trait, naming its digital-music player the iPod and rebranding its .Mac service MobileMe.

But back to the HP campaign. After users publish their goal, they can browse through the declarations of others and give them a thumbs-up approval rating.

Sound familiar? The concept of posting one's thoughts and receiving positive feedback isn't anything new. The Facebook feed works in a very similar way, giving users the option to show that they "like" their friends' status updates.

To be fair, let's cut the Gen Ys some slack--there are many declarations on the HP site that relate to volunteering, caring for others, and being a better person. However, it's the declarations like "I will destroy the competition" and "I will become famous before 2012" that leave me feeling pessimistic about the millennials' future.

(Credit: Jacky W. Chen)

The 404 Podcast crew scored tickets for an advanced screening of JJ Abrams' new "Star Trek" movie! We had a lot of fun interviewing all the hard-core "Star Trek" fans, and even battled a few overzealous Enterprise crew members.

Will we successfully stump the Trekkies with our in-depth knowledge of Borg cube transwarp conduit projections, or will they overpower us with a temporal chroniton field? Watch the video below to find out!

Don't forget to check out our live videocast every morning at 11 a.m. ET or head over to CNETTV.com to watch past episodes.

Lightsaber sold separately. Wait, what?

(Credit: thumbsUp!)

Command your own fleet of nerds with this replica of the original Star Trek communicator, and guess what? It also happens to double as a VOIP phone, meaning you can use it to actually talk to another human being using Skype, AOL Instant Messenger, iChat, etc...

Bad news, though: unfortunately, the device does not have built-in Wi-Fi, so you must use USB for connectivity...worst. communicator. ever. Good news, though! Whoever designed this replica had the foresight (and the fear of vengeful Trekkies everywhere) to include buttons that play sound effects from the original series and a real mesh flip cover, just like the original!

Since I'm not cool enough to make a relevant joke about the authenticity of this device, I asked a co-worker for his thoughts and he scoffed in my face, telling me he'd rather wait for a badge communicator from TNG (The Next Generation) that works as Bluetooth speakerphone. Transport beam should be available for $20 more.

The Star Trek USB Communicator is available now for $75.

Kirk to Enterprise: Can you hear me now?

Wilson's out slaving for CNETTV at the Amazon Kindle DX unveiling, leaving Jeff and I to man the show sans laughter...we'll let you judge the outcome. Today we veryveryvery briefly touch on the biggie Kindle, and also discuss the dangers of gaming to the death, Apple's new iPhone replacement policy, Oprah's free chicken giveaway, and more!

Click thumbnail for full size.

(Credit: Jacky W. Chen)

We'd first like to thank Randall Bennett, former host of The 404, for having us on his new show Tech VI--check us out!

One story from today comes from our brothers in the East, and by "our" I mean "me and Wilson," and by "East," I mean "China." Soon, China will be the first country to approve a male contraceptive shot. Users will inject a monthly shot of testosterone into their body, which will limit the amount of sperm produced, and they're saying it could be as effective as a condom. Strange to think that prior to this, listening to The 404 was the only way to prevent a woman from getting pregnant. Be sure to listen to today's Calls from the Public for more on how our show is contributing to the the U.S.'s rampant overpopulation problem.

Click thumbnail for full size.

(Credit: Matthew Marley)

I'd also like to personally announce the winners of our Star Trek Photoshop Contest! We asked you guys to Photoshop us as your favorite Star Trek characters for a chance to win a ticket (we have two) to see the new movie with us one day before the official release, and we got some seriously hilarious pictures! Check out ALL the submissions in the slideshow below, but congratulations to Jacky Chen and Matthew Marley for their winning pictures, posted above! We'll be e-mailing you about where to meet us for the showing, but all 404 listeners are welcome to join, here are the deets:

• Star Trek
• Where: AMC Loews Lincoln Center @ 1998 Broadway, N.Y.
• When: Thursday, May 7 @ 7 p.m.

Check out all the submissions for our Star Trek contest!

(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

Captcha, or Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, is a method used by many Web sites to fight against computer-generated input. As computers get smarter, Captchas hves become more of a nuisance because most of them are now tough for us humans to pass.

I recently blogged about a new and more humane way to create a Captcha by using 3D images and the implementation of that method at Yuniti.com. I've just run into a different approach, similar to the Asirra tool revealed by Microsoft in 2007, that seems even easier for humans to pass while remaining impossible for machines to figure out.

It's called Captcha the Dog from a Web site of the same name. Like the 3D-based Captcha, this method uses images instead of text for the challenge. However, the challenge is always the same: clock on the one different object on the screen, i. e., click on the photo of a dog among eight photos of cats.

With Captcha the Dog you are required to do this multiple times in a row. Each time, the position of the dog is changed and if you click on the wrong picture once, the process starts over from the beginning.

Once you have clicked on the right one enough times, all the photos will be those of cats. This is when you know you have passed the Captcha.

As it is currently impossible for a computer to distinguish between these photos, it's virtually impossible for a machine to randomly select the right image multiple times in a row.

This method of Captcha costs $25 per year with customized images. Beyond that, you can get its codes for free. The new method is said to be compatible with any browser (including that of the iPhone) and can be implemented within 15 minutes without the use of cookies.

This seems a simple yet effective alternative to the text-based Captcha that's so popular and so frustrating to use. However, like other image-based Captcha methods, Captcha the Dog doesn't currently offer a way to support people with disabilities. However, the site states that its new version will offer an audio component for vision-impaired people.

Try out the new Captcha method at Captchathedog.com and leave your thoughts in the comments.

Getting chippy: Some bloggers think that the iPod Shuffle's accessory situation is a nightmare scenario for iPod fans.

(Credit: CNET)

In not-so-shocking news, iLounge is reporting that third-party headphones and headphone adapters for the new buttonless iPod Shuffle will require an Apple-licensed authentication chip.

This doesn't come as any great surprise to us because exacting licensing revenue from iPod accessory makers has become a brilliant way for Apple to add to the company's bottom line. But that "Apple tax," so to speak, does get passed on to consumers, and iLounge and others are now assuming that Apple headphone adapters will cost a minimum of $19 and possibly as much as $29. The handful of VoiceOver-compatible headphones that have been announced carry a starting price of $49.99.

The question, of course, is whether Apple has gone too far in requiring you to use only its headphones--or some sort of Apple-approved adapter or headphones for the device. (You can plug third-party headphones into the new Shuffle, and it will play music, but you can't control the volume or navigate songs).

iLounge is calling it a "nightmare scenario" for longtime iPod fans. "Are we entering a world in which Apple controls and taxes literally every piece of the iPod purchase, from headphones to chargers, jacking up their prices, forcing customers to repurchase things they already own, while making only marginal improvements in their functionality?" iLounge Editor in Chief Jeremy Horwitz asks in his review of the new iPod Shuffle. "It's a shame, and one that consumers should feel empowered to fight."

Meanwhile, over at Engadget, Nilay Patel is calling Apple's attempts to "lock down headphones" a sad new low that "makes the lack of physical controls on the Shuffle seem even more ridiculous."

What do you guys think? If the report is correct, is Apple going too far, or is this just a smart business move?

(Source: iLounge via Engadget)

Update: Gizmodo's posted a story going back and forth on whether the chip is an "authentication" chip or a "control" chip that's required for approval as part of Apple's "made for iPod program." It appears "control" is the correct description, but that hasn't been confirmed by Apple.

CNET tends to review products from the outside looking in (see Donald Bell's full review of the new Shuffle). But the good folks over at iFixit make it habit to start right from the inside. In the case of the third-generation Shuffle teardown, like with all recent iPods, Apple doesn't make it easy to crack the case. And although only one screw had to be removed, iFixit describes how it had to insert a "metal spudger into a crevice between the rear cover and the rest of the Shuffle" to get the device open. As you might expect, things are pretty simple--and tiny--under the Shuffle's hood.

There are a couple more pictures after the jump, but the full dissection (with lots more photos) is available at iFixit, where one unsatisfied reader writes:

"Have you disassembled the headphones with remote yet? Have you figured out, how the buttons work? Do they work by connecting two lines with a resistor? Is it possible to add such a remote to other headphones?"

As always, feel free to comment.

(Source: iFixit via Gizmodo)

See more pics after the jump. ... Read more

I recently trashed the third-generation Shuffle in a blog post, saying it was "a disaster." Well, I meant it. A button-less, tiny, entry-level MP3 with special "VoiceOver" features just seems so unnecessary. But then a reader made an interesting point to me. What if the lede got buried in Apple's Shuffle announcement?

Is Apple's small talk really a precursor to big interface changes across its entire line?

(Credit: Apple)

While everyone was harping about how the thing's really small (I say too small), requires an adapter for you to use your own headphones, and has a voice-over feature that doesn't seem to really add much (we know what our favorite songs are, right?), the real story may be that Apple's getting ready to launch all this voice stuff across its whole line of mobile products.

The reader, Charles, who e-mailed me, asks this question: "Would you have thought to design a 'voice report' plus device-decentralized 'hard controls' into an $80 music player appliance?"

No. So, why do you do it?

"Well," he goes on, "if you were testing consumer acceptance of a new product module...you'd probably do well not just to tweak but educate your adopter audience on the sensory essentials of your new interface. Technology is best delivered in metered morsels to be digested."

Read the full column.

Scosche's upcoming VoiceOver compatible earbud line.

(Credit: Scosche )

Apple said it would have third parties developing accessories for the new third-generation iPod Shuffle, and sure enough, they are. First out of the gate: Klipsch and Scosche. And by the end of the week--if not the end of today--we should be hearing about more.

As Engadget notes, Klipsch's press release was pretty weak--the company only said that it would have VoiceOver-compatible Shuffle 'buds by summer and that they would cost $99.99.

Scosche was a lot more specific. It plans to have three earphone models--the IDR350M, IDR450M, and IDR650M--that feature an integrated control surface and range in price from $49.99 to $99.99. Interestingly, the release also notes that a miniature microphone built into the back of the control surface will allow users to record voice memos on the latest iPod Touch, iPod Nano, and iPod Classic 120GB.

Scosche has a VoiceOver-compatible headphone adapter in the works as well.

(Credit: Scosche)

Scosche is also developing an inline control adapter kit that will allow you to use "any standard set of headphones and enjoy all of the advanced features of the third-generation iPod shuffle." The inline control will also allow you to plug your third-generation Shuffle into any vehicles' auxiliary input and maintain full control of the iPod. No word on how much the dongle will cost but we have a call into Scosche's public-relations agency, and we'll let you know if Scosche gets back to us with a price (apparently, the dongle was literally designed in the last couple of days).

As I said, we expect to see a lot more companies announcing just these types of headphones and accessories--so stay tuned.

Anybody else think this is kind of ridiculous? Why couldn't Apple just equip the new Shuffle with a VoiceOver headphone adapter of its own? Oh, yeah, it probably collects a licensing fee from these guys. Genius.

Via Engadget.