Crave

A young Wilson G. Tang celebrates his 68th birthday.

(Credit: CNET/The 404)

Wilson G. Tang is happily celebrating his 25th birthday tomorrow, so we take a few minutes at the beginning of today's episode of The 404 podcast to congratulate the man on making it this far. Can you believe this fool has only been on Earth 25 years? I always assumed you could tell Wilson's age by counting the highlights in his hair, but the consensus is that Wilson is certainly an old soul.

He also brings in a very special birthday present that he got from his boo-bear this morning: a brand new Apple Mac Mini to add to his Apple museum brewing at home! Don't tell Wilson, but we've also arranged for a naughty Steve Jobs look-alike to pop out of his mooncake later tonight.

iMEvil iPhone Soundboard App

(Credit: TechPad Productions)

Speaking of scary things, just because Halloween is over doesn't mean you can't still creep out your friends with this new iPhone app from TechPad productions called iMEvil. On today's episode of The 404 Podcast, Jeff manages to get his hands on a free copy of David Sobolov's (the voice talent behind Halo Wars, Call of Duty 4, Diablo III, Unreal Tournament 3, and more) soundback app that has 32 hilarious lines like "Prepare yourself to serve me" and "I'd buy that for a dollar."

Since we're all about giving here at The 404, Mr. Sobolov and Tech Pad Productions were nice enough to provide our listeners with 5 free codes (normally priced at $1.99 in the iPhone App Store). If you'd like a free download, e-mail us at THE404{AT}CNET[DOT]COM and put only "iMEvil" in the subject and we'll pick five random winners to announce on Monday. Good luck!

In the spirit of all things Apple, we present to you the typical dating profile of the average iPhone user. A new study from Retrevo reveals the absurdity behind what makes iPhone users tick. Among other things, one in five iPhone owners has admitted to watching "adult material" on an Apple gadget, which happens to be twice as many as the average BlackBerrian. And well...judging by Wilson's constant fixation on his iDrone, we ain't too surprised.

Many more stories to get to that won't fit into this blog post, stuff like this Twitter-only handset and the most impractical, irresponsible, and dangerous accessory ever for your laptop, so be sure to check out today's full episode.

Have a great weekend, everyone, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILSON!

Carmine Gallo joins the show to unveil some of the Steve Jobs secrets from his book "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs"

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Episode 49 of the Digital City, where we find out why Microsoft's Steve Ballmer tried to stomp a co-worker's iPhone; check out the first Windows 7 TV ad; and lament that Steve Jobs had to drag himself onstage at the latest Apple event to basically announce nothing (and that the purported Beatles/iTunes deal never materialized).

We also check out EA's Madden for the iPhone, find out why Batman: Arkham Asylum is such a hit, and fondly remember the 10th anniversary of the Sega Dreamcast.

Related links:
>>iPhone NFL Kick off
>>Arkham Asylum: best of '09?
>>Happy 10th anniversary, Sega Dreamcast!
>>Hands on with The Beatles: Rock Band
>>Microsoft's first Windows 7 TV ad
>>CNBC: Ackerman on Apple

>>Watch the Digital City live every Friday at 3pm EST on CNET Live!
>>Subscribe to Digital City on iTunes
>>Join the Digital City Facebook fan page
>>Need more? Follow Dan on Twitter!

Apple's dropping bombs all over CNET in the form of brand-new iPods and a freshly updated iTunes. You know what that means: harried editors scrambling to get you all the freshest details. This week's podcast has all you want to know about iTunes 9 and the updates to the iPod Shuffle, Nano, Classic, and Touch. Plus, we have plenty of video demonstrating the fifth-generation Nano's many new features.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

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Palm Pixi with aftermarket stylus

(Credit: The Reagan Wing)

If you thought the Palm Pre had a lame name, then consider their newest fumble: the Palm Pixi. Can you imagine walking into the nearest Sprint store and asking for the latest smartphone to hit the market, only to have the clerk bring out the Pixi? Well, names aside, the phone looks pretty cool. It's basically a stripped-down, simpler version of the Pre. It replaces the sliding keyboard with a fixed QWERTY keypad. The screen is a bit smaller, but still retains the 8GB of memory and GPS.

In other Palm news, the company has dropped the price of the Pre to a very affordable $150 and someone leaked an early copy the webOS version 1.2. The latest update which fixes small problems like the Select All option in the edit menu of the browser and makes some changes to the GPS.

Of course, we would be remiss if we didn't mention the forthcoming iPod price cuts and the new iPod leaks. CNET News is bringing you full coverage of the event on our live blog, and apparently TechCrunch has already reported that the 32GB iPod Touch has dropped from $399 to $279. Check out the photos and tune in tomorrow to see if our Technodamus predictions actually came true.

For all the breathless pontificating and predicting on the worst-kept secret in tech, the Apple tablet, most pundits have pointed to Apple's traditional September press event as the likely launch point for this new product.

Now, some are saying that Apple's unconfirmed September confab will be primarily about music devices, and any tablet PC will remain under wraps until sometime in 2010. According to Mac news site The Loop:

Very reliable sources familiar with the product have said speculation of the tablet being introduced during the September event are flat-out wrong. The Apple tablet, they said, would not see the light of day until the first part of 2010.

Helping this rumor rise above the ill-informed fray is that it was reported by former MacWorld Editor at Large (and sometimes CNET blogger) Jim Dalrymple. Are we going to have Apple tablets this holiday season? Or will we be waiting until sometime next year? Sound off below!

Not really the Apple tablet.

Hardly a day goes by without some form of feverish speculation gripping the Web about the existence of a tablet computing device from Apple. While most of these echo-chamber blog posts are fact-free excursions into wild speculation, the general zeitgeist points to a possibly 10-inch device that may cost $699-$799, and be released either in September, November, or sometime next year--perhaps on the heels of the similar-sounding CrunchPad tablet.

According to Barrons , an anonymous analyst who claims to have had some hands-on time with a prototype would specifically say only, "It's better than the average movie experience, when you hold this thing in your hands."

With a seemingly blank canvas like that, there's plenty of room for industry watchers to stamp their own wants and needs on this unconfirmed piece of hardware. As long as everyone's speculating blindly, we took the initiative to work up a wish list of hardware and software (see also this previous piece on Erica Ogg's fantasy Apple tablet features) for when or if the Apple tablet is ever released.

Click through to the gallery below to see our wish list detailed. Got something we missed? Let us know in the comments section below.

Our Apple tablet hardware, software wish list

> Need more? Follow me at twitter.com/danackerman.
> We discus the CrunchPad vs. the Apple tablet on the latest Digital City video podcast.

Update, July 30, 10:28 a.m. PDT: The Wall Street Journal has now added a correction to its story: "Correction: It is not clear whether Apple will attend the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. This post previously stated that Apple would attend."

We've heard lots of speculation about the possibility of Apple attending the massive CES trade show in January, but The Wall Street Journal is reporting straight out that Apple plans to attend.

CES is devoting more floorspace to Apple this year. But will Apple attend? The Wall Street Journal is saying it will.

(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET)

If true, this would seem a bit of a schizophrenic move. After all, Apple explained its decision to leave Macworld (which takes place around the same time as CES) by saying that it doesn't need trade shows anymore to get its message across, given its network of retail stores.

We've attempted to reach Apple for confirmation, even given the late hour, but haven't yet received a response.

Although the Journal blog post references a dinner with journalists and Gary Shapiro, who heads the organization that puts on CES in Las Vegas, it doesn't attribute Apple's move to Shapiro. "Apple plans to attend the show's 2010 version, marking the first time in memory the Cupertino, Calif., consumer-electronics giant will be there," the post reads.

And it goes on to talk about how Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Electronics Association, has invited Apple CEO Steve Jobs to give a keynote address at the show. "But nobody from Apple has gotten back to him," the Journal post says, citing Shapiro.

Meanwhile, while other bloggers have followed the Journal piece, Engadget's Ryan Block, who says he was at the same dinner with Shapiro, is challenging the report's accuracy. "At no point did Gary even remotely imply that Apple would be present at a future CES." That sentiment was echoed by Engadget founder Peter Rojas in a comment posted to the Journal story, addressing its author, Ben Charny. Shapiro "was very clear that Apple would not be exhibiting at CES 2010," wrote Rojas, who was also at the dinner with Shapiro. "I'm frankly a little shocked that anyone could have come out of the dinner with a post like this."

CNET Editor in Chief Scott Ard, who also was at the dinner, concurred that Shapiro didn't say anything that could be construed as definitive about Apple and CES 2010. He also noted that the Wall Street Journal story didn't attribute possible attendance by Apple to Shapiro.

"Shapiro didn't say anything at the dinner that could be taken as confirmation that Apple would attend," Ard said. "And it's hardly news that Jobs did not return an invite request."

Ard continued: "Ironically, much of the conversation Tuesday revolved around three topics: Apple's plans, CES 2010, and accuracy in journalism. We'll see how this story shakes out--at this point the Journal's post is hard to evaluate because it does not have any sourcing regarding Apple's supposed attendance."

"The good news in all this," Ard said, "is that Apple will likely have to declare one way or the other what its plans are very soon."

What we do know, however, is that with or without Apple, CES is planning to expand its Apple section from 4,000 square feet to 25,000 square feet. The venue will be called the iLounge Pavilion.

Anyone else having trouble envisioning Jobs in a Vegas lounge, albeit one that starts with the letter i?

This post was updated at 11:28 p.m. PDT with comments from Peter Rojas. It was updated again at 7:04 a.m. PDT on Thursday with comments from CNET's Scott Ard.

Somehow we make it past the wild Tesla coil in the room to bring you an awesome (if not kind of late) show! Today we show you how to self-destruct your private data, discuss how 3D is totally lame, and why we think Jon Stewart should run for president.

(Credit: The Sisyphus Files)

Sorry for starting late today, live listeners! I think today's show made up for the tardiness, and it all starts with Little Big Planet celebrating one million user-created levels. Since the game's popular release, a level is created every 21 seconds or so, on average, which means that if you were to play all of the levels it would take 5 years to finish them all, and that's only if you're playing 24 hours a day. Wild!

I'm also very excited (big surprise!) about the rerelease of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, dubbed TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled. Who can forget that classic side-scrolling beat-em-up? I logged so many hours at the local nickel arcade next to my house just sitting there with my friends feeding nickels into that machine. Those were always my favorites kinds of games, and there used to be so many titles, too, including Streets of Rage, Final Fight, Simpsons, and Sunset Riders! Ahh, the old days when you actually had to go to an arcade to play a video game...

We also complain about the recent upsurge of all things 3D and how even YouTube is jumping on the bandwagon, offering users the capability to display their 3D videos in multiple formats. Later on in the second half, we analyze Jon Stewart's role as America's Most Trusted Newscaster, according to an online poll by Time Magazine. Should we be scared that America is relying on a comedian to report the daily news? We're not questioning Stewart's credibility here--he's clearly a smart man--but we're wondering how Comedy Central will leverage such a powerful figure.

OK, I have to bring up the Wikipedia page one more time and then I'll shut up: after a brief recess following yesterday's announcement, the page is now in Wiki-limbo. We need users and 404-supportive Wikipedians to populate the page with more details about the show, the hosts, references, guests, etc...since we can't do it ourselves (no, really, we can't), feel free to insert our appearance on "Fox Strategy Room" as well as other blogs on the Internet that mention The 404, even if it's your own! Anything helps, but please remember not to edit the redirection page; only edit the content at the existing address. Thanks, everyone!