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After a very relaxing three-day weekend, we're back for a fresh start and a hilarious show. Today, we recap our appearance on Fox News and our weekend exploits, debut a few excellent logo submissions, and reveal Wilson's secret shame.

Sick camera face, Wilson

(Credit: Justin Yu/The 404)

Welcome back, everyone! Hopefully your weekend was as relaxing as ours was, although sometimes a three-day weekend can be more tiring than a whole week of work! Let's just say that seeing the sunrise as you go to bed can be beautiful and tragic at the same time. We kicked off our Memorial Day weekend with an appearance on Fox News' "Strategy Room" with our buddy Clayton Morris. Most of you have already seen it, but check it out if you haven't and let us know what you think. Were we too serious for our own good? More bathroom humor, perhaps? I'll try harder next time.

In related 404 news, Wilson discovers that Dave Matthews Band is using the REMIXED version of our theme song in a promotion on its Pandora channel. What the crap is that all about, DMB? We're calling you guys out on stealing the song from our buddy Jamie Lewis, and we're extra protective since we consider him the unofficial voice of the show, so expect that subpoena in the mail immediately. And Jamie, if you're reading this...we'll be looking for our commission check soon, too.

Aside from us tearing apart some d-bag that broke the Rock Band 2 world record, we also have a hilarious call from the public and show off more submissions for our "Design The 404 Logo" competition. Watch the video for today's show to check them out, or see the slideshow below for high-res shots. Send your high-res submissions to the404[at]CNET[dot]com and we'll show them on the air for the chance to win a gigantic prize package that includes a copy of "The Back Book," Anna David's "Bought," and more!

The 404 Logo Submissions

The 404 crew goes to see the new "Star Trek" film by director J.J. Abrams. It's a reboot of the venerable Star Trek television series that most geeks grew up watching. Our good buddy and Photoshop contest winner Jacky W. Chen came with us, along with Edouard, our new bouncer.

(Credit: Jacky W. Chen)

We try to keep the show spoiler-free today, but in case you didn't know from the movie poster, Tyler Perry is in the movie. Overall, we think it's a great, fun film, but there are some deep plot holes you could fly the Enterprise through. Check out our video wrap-up from the opening here in New York on CNET TV.

On today's show, we find out the origins of the name Twitter. Apparently, its etymology is whale-based. The Natural History Museum Whale also follows us today. In more crazy news from the Web, "DJ Hero" comes out soon to ensure that the next generation of children will not know how to play a single real musical instrument.

In more video game news, Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier is rated T for teen, but on the box, it contains "alcohol references, fantasy violence, mild language, partial nudity, and suggestive themes." We wonder what you have to do to get a M-rating now. Finally, if you're still living your mother's basement and playing World of Warcraft, we've got a gadget for you that will ensure that you will never get a girlfriend. It is a hut that will let players isolate themselves from the outside world, feed them, and possibly even wipe their butts. We're not sure if the last one is really a feature, but it's definitely in the same vein.

Keep calling into the show at 1-866-404-CNET (2638). We love your voice mails. Next week, we've got Molly Wood joining us on the show along with the equally lovely @LizMoney from the Gadget411 and Anna David!

(Credit: Design Museum Shop)

Press Windows + R, then type "calc" and enter. That's how you can quickly bring up the calculator application on your Windows computer. This is also the reason many of us do not need a physical calculator around as there's always a PC nearby. But if you are going to have a calculator, here's one worth getting--the 10 Key Calculator created by U.K. designer Sam Hecht, as seen on Boing Boing.

It doesn't really have only 10 keys, but this calculator looks very much like your computer's numeric keypad. You no longer have to bear with the squishy keys on a regular calculator with this. It even has a USB connector so you can use it on a computer screen or, if you'd rather not, you can use the built-in LCD display.

One gripe--the "0" and "+" keys aren't double-sized as they are on a standard keyboard number pad. Also, it's ridiculously expensive at about $88 from Design Museum Shop.

(Source: Crave Asia)

The legendary Museum of Modern Art in midtown Manhattan just got a bit more...modernized.

MoMA announced Monday that it has installed a museum-wide Wi-Fi network so that visitors can access a mobile Web site on handheld devices with HTML browsers, which basically means Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. They can then load up audio tours and commentary; content is available in eight languages as well as in specialized versions for children, teenagers, and the visually impaired.

It's not clear whether the museum Wi-Fi will also let visitors access the Web as a whole, or just the internal museum site. Requests for clarification were not immediately answered.

Additionally, MoMA has put its library of audio and video programming into podcast format for Apple's iTunes Store's iTunes U education section: current and past audio programs, content from panels and lectures, and video clips from exhibit installations and artist interviews.

Museum visitors who are particularly information-hungry can also now use "interactive kiosks" in the form of a number of Apple's iMac computers stationed around MoMA, featuring detailed museum information, artist biographies, events listings, and e-card services.

On Thursday afternoon I was back at the Computer History Museum. The Honda Research Institute was hosting its tenth Technical Horizon Symposium and announcing this year's Honda Initiation Grant awards.

Honda's Asimo robot

(Credit: Peter Glaskowsky)

The grants are part of the Institute's efforts to stimulate collaborate research between Honda and the academic community. Since 1997, Honda says it has awarded 75 grants totalling "several million dollars" to universities in the US. This year, Honda received 300 proposals; it chose seven. This year's awards (listed here along with those of past years) cover research in safety, efficiency, emissions control, and user interfaces.

Also on hand for the event, which attracted an audience of some 300 people, was Asimo, Honda's famous robot. This Asimo is actually the second-generation model, and there were also three generations of prototypes. Over the years, Honda's been able to reduce the size of the necessary motors, power supplies, and control systems; the current Asimo is a cute little thing, just 4'3" (130cm) tall. Although it conveys the impression of solidity and weight, it's actually just 119 pounds (54kg). At this size, Asimo is big enough to interact with humans without posing much of a threat in case it bumps into someone or--as it can do if the power fails suddenly--falls down.

Honda put Asimo through its paces for us-- walking around the stage, balancing on one leg, kicking a soccer ball, traversing a set of stairs, and even running. The latter skill involves a peculiar loping gait; it's almost impossible to tell that Asimo is actually running, but Honda assures us that both feet leave the floor for about 80 milliseconds, during which time the robot moves about 2 inches forward. I was surprised to learn that Asimo is controlled by just four microprocessors, only two of which manage balance and locomotion.

In the audience were several members of the local Homebrew Robotics Club and the founders of Anybots, which I wrote about back in September. Asimo is far beyond the accomplishments of Anybots and other developers of autonomous robots... but then, it should be; Honda has poured untold amounts into its development. I'd guess the total amount must be in excess of $40 million, but Honda isn't saying.

Anyway, it was interesting to get a close look at Asimo. It's an impressive accomplishment, but it has a long way to go before it's ready for commercial sale. I suspect Honda's investment to date is just a drop in the bucket compared to the work that still remains. I can't begin to guess whether Honda will ever recoup its investments, but I'm glad it's doing the work.

I had a great time over the weekend at the 10th Vintage Computer Festival, which took place in the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif.

A LINC system in the home of programmer Mary Allen Wilkes in 1965

(Credit: Courtesy Mary Allen Wilkes and DigiBarn)

In addition to the exhibits of vintage computers--including the largest collection of Radio Shack Pocket Computers I've ever seen--and the marketplace, where I managed to avoid buying any slide rules, Vectrix video games, or Cray supercomputer circuit boards--there were several notable presentations.

On Saturday, Tim McNerney spoke about his work to reimplement the Intel 4004 microprocessor, which led to a 130x-scale working model of the chip composed of individual transistors on a large circuit board exactly duplicating the layout of the original integrated circuit. Pretty cool.

On Sunday, two talks were especially interesting to me.

Phil Lapsley presented a history of phone phreaking--using tone generators called "Blue Boxes" to make long-distance phone calls without paying. Several key players in the computer industry were introduced to engineering and computer science through phreaking, including Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Woz's friend John Draper, who wrote EasyWriter, an early word processor for the Apple II.

Draper was on hand for Lapsley's presentation and offered his personal insights on some of the key events Lapsley described. For example, Lapsley talked about the 1971 article in Esquire magazine that brought phreaking to broad public awareness. After the article was published, criminal prosecutions of phone phreaks (usually for wire fraud) soared, then began to taper off again five years later when AT&T introduced new telephone switching systems that were immune to the techniques described in the Esquire article.

Draper was able to explain the origin of the Esquire article: a fellow allegedly selling Blue Boxes to the Mafia got caught phreaking because he was using relatively insecure methods. Several phreaks called him to chastise him, which annoyed him enough to spill the beans to the Esquire reporter.

Also according to Draper, phreaking remained technically possible until relatively recently, particularly in towns with small, independent phone companies--but calls in and out of these places are routed through modern switching systems that would cut off any attempts to exploit this potential vulnerability.

However, some international phone systems may remain vulnerable today. An audience member mentioned a 2004 article in Wired that described a trio of blind brothers, Palestinians living in Israel, who were convicted of telecommunications fraud after a "six-year spree of hacking into phone systems and hijacking telephone time" in the 1990s that allegedly yielded $2 million.

And the first shall be last--the final big presentation at VCF X was a 45th anniversary celebration of LINC (Laboratory INstrument Computer), which some say was the world's first personal computer. No less an industry luminary than Gordon Bell, for example, was on hand to make that claim.

The celebration was organized by Bruce Damer, founder of the DigiBarn Computer Museum, a private computer museum in the Santa Cruz mountains currently open by appointment only (apart from occasional open-house events; see this recent CNET article about the DigiBarn collection), and Severo Ornstein, an engineer of the original LINC and author of Computing in the Middle Ages.

Although LINC systems were generally purchased and used for professional rather than personal reasons, it otherwise qualifies as a personal computer. They came with keyboards and displays that could show text or 256x256-pixel black & white graphics, and could be operated from a single AC power outlet. LINCs could be used for biomedical laboratory scientific research, document processing, simple graphical games, and even, in a limited way, digital photographic imaging (according to an anecdote related at the event).

The photo above shows a LINC in the home of Mary Allen Wilkes, who wrote the LINC's system software. I don't know if this qualifies LINC as the world's first home computer, but it has to be pretty close.

It was a big machine; the cabinet on the right side of the picture was roughly the size of a refrigerator, and the cabinet for the operator console and dual tape drives was also pretty hefty. All that hardware combined to offer a 12-bit computer system with 1,024 or 2,048 words of memory. Not bad for 1962...

A LINC machine-- one of several rescued from destruction and stored for years by Scott Robinson--was recently restored by a group of early LINC users who were honored at the celebration along with LINC designer Wesley A. Clark ("not the general," as he says). That machine was up and running in the VCF exhibit area, looking pretty good for a computer almost as old as me!

I've been to a lot of computer conferences over the last 30 years-- my first was the mainframe-oriented National Computer Conference in 1979, and I've probably been to 250 more since then-- but one of my favorites is also the smallest: the Vintage Computer Festival, hosted by Sellam Ismail.

A 1998-vintage collection of Glaskowsky's badges from computer conferences

(Credit: Peter N. Glaskowsky)

Over the years at these conferences (a collection of my badges as of 1998 or so is shown here), and in my own life, I've seen and used an awful lot of computer hardware.

I'm surprised that some kinds of systems that were very popular in the past are hardly to be seen today--low-cost systems designed to connect to TVs, for example. Commodore sold millions of VIC-20 and Commodore 64 systems; the C-64 remains the best-selling computer model of all time... but the closest approach to these products today are things like Apple's Mac mini that don't really serve the same purposes or markets.

The Vintage Computer Festival (VCF) is really the only event that tries to cover the full history of the computing industry. There are usually three VCFs each year; the main one, another on the East Coast, and one in Europe.

The main show, which takes place November 3 and 4 this year, happens at the best place in the world for seeing the history of computer hardware (and some software), the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif.

I spoke at VCF 9.0 last year, describing the many ways in which computer technology has improved by roughly a million to one over the last 30 years. Speakers this year include Albert Hoagland, one of the original developers of the disk drive at IBM; Lee Felsenstein, designer of the Osborne 1 and other milestone microcomputers; Bruce Damer, proprietor of the DigiBarn Computer Museum; and many others.

VCF includes a great exhibition of vintage computers apart from the Museum's own collection. I'm looking forward to getting a good look at some of the more obscure but interesting microcomputers, such as the Canon Cat designed by Macintosh developer Jef Raskin, an IBM 1130 minicomputer, and a recreation in Meccano construction-set components of the Differential Analyzer, a mechanical analog computer from the 1930s.

The other great feature of VCF each year is a small but tightly focused marketplace where you can actually buy, sell, and trade vintage computers, software, and components with other collectors. I've spent significant money at VCF over the years...

Anyway, if you have any interest in this subject at all, and you'll be anywhere near Silicon Valley the first weekend in November, you don't want to miss this show. If you see me, stop and say hi!

(Credit: Crave Asia)

If you visit the National Museum of Singapore, you can get your very own Chinese Companion. Sorry, this one won't make moo eyes at you--instead, it speaks in an electronic voice and is programmed to give visitors access to videos and reading materials on the relevant artifacts and topics in the museum. The National Museum of Singapore claims it is the first and only museum in Southeast Asia, for now, to incorporate an interactive handheld companion to complement its exhibits.

The handheld personal guide, which was developed by Canadian firm GSM, is part of the Companion project which involved around two years of conceptualization and research and up to 6 translators and 35 voice actors. The museum says the device contains more than 9 hours of audio and video footage and covers a period ranging from the 14th century to 1972. Operating is as simple as keying in the numbers found at the various sections in the History Gallery. An English Companion has already been introduced earlier, with plans for Malay and Japanese Companions later in the year.

The device has 32MB of onboard flash memory and 64MB of RAM, running on Windows CE 5.0. Onboard storage can be extended to 4GB via the CompactFlash card slot for a maximum of 250 hours of audio content. The screen is a 4.3-inch, 16bit-color TFT with a resolution of 480 x 272 pixels. In addition to infrared, the handheld also features RF technology that automatically triggers the relevant content via proximity.

(Source: Crave Asia)

(Credit: Da Vinci Audio Labs)

Just when we were about to begin a self-imposed moratorium on highest-end turntables, along comes another one that we simply can't resist.

The luxury edition of the "AAS-Gabriel" from Switzerland's Da Vinci Audio Labs looks more like fine porcelain than a piece of entertainment equipment, accented with 24-karat gold plate. As for its technical performance, Technabob offers this explanation: "The turntable is designed to produce absolutely zero noise or vibration, and goes so far as to completely isolate the pick-up arm from the rest of the player."

Makes sense to us, though that's not really saying much. What we do understand with crystal clarity is its list price of $41,250--which, compared with others we've seen lately, is a drop in the bucket.