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HTC Tattoo

(Credit: HTC)

After playing peek-a-boo for the past few weeks, HTC officially introduced its latest Google Android handset on Tuesday, the HTC Tattoo.

Formerly known as the HTC Click, the Tattoo, we presume, gets it name from the customization options it offers and is being advertised as an Android phone for all. It's the second phone from the company, after the HTC Hero, to use the HTC Sense user interface, which provides up to seven home screen panels that can be personalized with various widgets, shortcuts, and wallpapers.

The phone itself is pretty compact at 4.17 inches tall by 2.17 inches wide by 0.55 inch thick and 3.99 ounces. The HTC Tattoo features a 2.8-inch QVGA resistive touch screen and comes with a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, a microSD expansion slot, and a 3.2 megapixel camera. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are also onboard. Of course, as an Android phone, you get access to Google's various services, including Google Maps, Google Mail, and the Android Market.

The quad-band HTC Tattoo will be available in Europe first (of course), starting at the beginning of October. According to HTC, the smartphone will roll out to the rest of the world in the following months. Pricing was not announced at this time, but we're thinking a sub-$100 price point would be pretty sweet, especially for something that's marketed for such a broad audience.

HTC Tattoo photos

We're all still in shock about receiving a tweet from one @LesMoonves, but we get through it to bring you an awesome Monday show. Today's stories cover Twitter getting hacked and why it does (and doesn't) matter; a guy who got a Palm Pre tattoo; and Kazaa making a (paid) comeback!

(Credit: Icon Designer/Flickr)

Per usual, there's a lot of Twitter news today, including a story about employee data getting hacked. According to TechCrunch, which broke the story, a hacker calling himself "Hacker Croll" managed to steal a Twitter employee's e-mail password and access to users' personal information and even some documents that exposed Twitter's inside business practices. Within this story, though, are two hidden stories. First of all, why is TechCrunch even posting about this? Instead of just reporting the information, they actually posted some of the stolen information...is that a smart thing to do?

My other question is, even after gaining access to Twitter's business notes, has anyone figured out how that site is going to make money, if at all? I'm sure Biz Stone is living comfortably, but what about the admin assistant that got his or her e-mail account jacked by the hacker? What about the little people!?

In other ridiculous Twitter news, check out this video of a guy getting a Palm Pre tattooed on his arm for PreCentral.net's "What would you do for a Palm Pre?" contest. I know we've seen this before with the guy who got a Microsoft Zune tattoo, but this is getting ridiculous. A lifetime of permanent artwork for a device with a two-year relevance, at most! It might be even shorter if people can't figure out a way to sync a Palm Pre with iTunes. Wilson actually found two ways to sync your Pre to iTunes, but neither of them are free or work with Windows, so PC users should still stick with the previous version.

Also, get ready for the resurgence of Kazaa, but this time it's a paid service. Is anyone paying attention to what happened to BitTorrent and Napster?

This week's episode is inspired by Natali's incredibly appropriate (if not unintended) comment from last week's episode. Really, if you haven't heard it, check it out. Then listen to today's show where we discuss a wide array of chairs on which to sit. That's right, chairs are the "it". Why, what were you thinking?

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Episode 143

Divided Salli saddle chair

Street Sign Chair

MUR-01 speaker chair

Patio furniture for eating in the pool

Spray can caps make for unique chairs

Chair Socks: The 1970s flatter your furniture

Acoustical resonance massage chair

F-4 Phantom Ejection Seat office chair is the perfect way to dramatically exit a meeting

Hot Asian gadgets
Barista Bot

It’s about time
Cool, infuriating watch

Gender gap
Go plate (Thanks Tyson!)

Pretty
Terranium – Interactive installation

Tool time
Sleeve Tattoos – Slip On Tattoo Sleeves

Kill me
A prop for your boobs

The 404 flirts with disaster almost every morning, but today we take it to new levels of destruction. That's right, folks, phone-smashing day is UPON US! Watch today's show to see Jeff's old phone rest in pieces. We also find out exactly how the Internet is ruining the nuclear American family and offer tips on teen tattoos.

The shape of things to come

(Credit: Flickr/Caffeineguy)

You're going to have to wait until the second half of the show to see the smashing, but that's OK, because we have a bunch of excellent stories in the news to talk about. First up is Wilson's revelation: the Internet is singlehandedly destroying family as we know it.

All right, we admit that this isn't exactly news, but it offers a great jumping-off point to a conversation about when and how Jeff will have a baby. Just kidding, but Jeff brings up a great point, that Facebook is not only destroying the way we interact with our families, but how we interact with high school classmates. He offers that high school reunions are becoming a thing of the past thanks to Facebook; social networks as a whole make it all too easy to find out where your old chums are living, what they do for money, their marital status, etc...do we even have a reason to go to a reunion anymore? Would you have gone to a high school reunion anyway, or are you still friends with the people you actually care about? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

All right, enough random news talk--let's get to the smashing. Jeff's HTC Mogul has been on the fritz for a while now, giving him a huge headache with constant freezing, hardware malfunctions, lagging OS, etc...so when he finally bought a Palm Pre, we collectively decided to put the HTC out of its misery in what we think is the first-ever on-the-air phone smashing. If all goes well (you'll have to watch to see how it turns out), we might even start a "Smash Club," wherein we'd take obsolete and frustrating tech (read: printers) and essentially "Office Space" it to death. Today was a lot of fun, but Jeff and I are a little worried about Wilson...it looks like had a little too much of a good time with the hammer. Smash it up, psycho!

Wilson breaks some Sprint and Palm Pre information, based on an interview he did with CNET News reporter Maggie Reardon and Sprint CEO Dan Hesse. This makes Jeff infinitely jealous, because Wilson got to hold a Palm Pre before Jeff did.

(Credit: Jitterbug)

Dan Hesse denied that Verizon and AT&T would be getting the Palm Pre in six months time, saying that the reports had the facts wrong. Wilson thinks that Sprint probably has the option to extend its exclusivity in six months. Wilson also thinks that the Palm Pre is a little too small and a little too thick. Reminds us of something we'd rather not say or write.

In more phone news, Jitterbug has released a new version of its Jitterbug cell phone. Remember the one last week that couldn't even dial 911 in some cases? Well, Jitterbug has added text messaging to this new model. Yeah, we don't really think that grandma is going to be really into T9 text messaging.

Plus, we think Jitterbug is opening up itself to the worst deluge of tech support calls on the planet by having direct tech support access built-in to the cell phone. Our grandparents drive us crazy enough when they ask us to set up their VCRs. Imagine if that was your job!

Grandpa:
Why doesn't my son call me any more?

In more puzzling economic recession news, we find it pretty interesting that the tattoo removal business is booming. Apparently, that face tattoo was a great idea when the economy was booming. Now, you'll be hard pressed to find a job doing much of anything that doesn't require a face mask if you've got one.

Finally, in the big news of the day, we let the world know that musician and inspirational speaker, Andrew W.K., will be coming to guest on The 404 on June 18. Be sure to get your iPods, Zunes, iTunes, and RSS readers all fired up to check out this interview. For those of you who don't know, check out any party scene in a movie released in the last decade for his hit "Party Hard." He'll be on to promote his new show on the Cartoon Network, and Justin will be dedicating his life to the man. We're serious. We think Andrew W.K. should bring bodyguards. Take care and have a great weekend everybody!

Jeff, Wilson, and Justin recover from their hangovers with ace reporter Caroline McCarthy. We chat about Wilson's drunken debauchery and Caroline's bacon tattoo.

(Credit: University of Wisconsin)

Some days on The 404, there isn't much news to report, so we do something we like to call "milking," and boy are we good at it! It's not for lacking of trying. We spend as much as 10 minutes every day looking for stuff on the Interwebs to riff on, and while we could talk about hackers taking apart Safari in seconds, it's really not that funny. And it's not 404-esque material. See how much text I've written, and really I haven't said anything!

In actual stories today, Caroline McCarthy tells us that there are bacon tattoos at SXSW. We think someone spammed our poll. President Obama makes a terrible, terrible 404-style joke about bowling and the Special Olympics. (We wish he would come on our show.) Google gives you an "Undo Send" feature in Gmail. We think it would be more effective if it had a five-hour, post-hangover undo-send feature. And we're really, really tired of Jason Seigel & Co. movies like "I Love You, Man." But it does bring up fond memories of Jennifer Love Hewitt in that teen classic "Can't Hardly Wait."

Dan Ackerman joins us on today's show to talk about his not-critically-acclaimed album "Tales Out of Night School" and the technology world in general. Be sure to check out his podcast Digital City on iTunes. Also, he give his opinion on digital-music distribution and makes fun of our game of marry/boff/kill with Ms. Natali Del Conte.

On today's show, we talk about the release of the new "Watchmen" movie. The first reviews are mixed. Justin is still holding out hope that the film will be watchable. In other movie and television news, Showtime, a sister company of CNET, is releasing Emmy screeners on iPods. Amazon finally gets the sense to pull a video game featuring rape simulation. The cast of "Seinfeld" rejoins on "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Hopefully, Michael Richard won't drop any bombs on the show. Justin is disappointed that a sheriff in Cook County is finally starting to crack down on prostitution on Craigslist. And Matel releases a Barbie doll in China with a tattoo.

Ace reporter Caroline McCarthy shows us only her tattoo. We promise.

Caroline McCarthy makes her triumphant return to The 404 and shows us her nerdy tattoo. It's way hot! Buzz Out Loud's Natali Del Conte and Justin Yu get back from their sweet honeymoon. Natali changed her name to Mrs. Natali Yu Conte. You'll see this change on her next appearance on the "CBS Early Show".

On today's show, we talk about Facebook's new redesign and how it will take over the Internet. Mark Zuckerberg apparently is not as awkward in person as he is on camera--though he's gotten nothing on Jimmy Fallon when it comes to nervousness. In addition, we've got some guilty pleasures including the "Mac Bong." Listen to today's show to find out why that has nothing to do with marijuana. And Best Buy tries to sell you busted cameras.

As always thank you for your voice mails and e-mails to the public. We're getting flooded with them, and we love it! 1-866-404-CNET (2638) or the404 [at] cnet [dot] com. Major props to brisbanelistener for putting up the Google Knol replacement for our Wikipedia page and for the greatest "Knol is Australian for beer" joke ever. Finally, today is the last day you can call in for our House of the Dead: Overload for the Nintendo Wii giveaway! We're still looking for a show motto, and the consensus is that we're either "The podcast of the future" or "The nerdy dirty." Entries welcomed.

Oh, the angst!

(Credit: Sam Rulz, Two Hands Tattoo)

Back in the day, it was skulls, snakes and Iron Maiden's undead mascot, Eddie. In the post-heavy-metal Internet era, to express your anguish, malaise, or traumatic childhood, you have to get a tattoo of the Blue Screen of Death on your arm. What better to display your frustration with software and your sense of irony than the text that lets you know you've lost an afternoon's work?

The artist, 23-year-old Sam Rulz of Auckland, New Zealand, has this to say: "Paul's tattoo is based on the Windows 98 error code, which is what you see when your pc is f**ed. ... The contrast of something so rigid as pixelated text on a computer screen being translated into something so organic as living human skin invokes a characteristic I so love in art: irony. The tattoo asks you to press any key to continue--an impossible task."

She continues: "Its 1x1mm black pixels mark such words as 'fatal,' 'terminate,' and 'you will lose.' Tough words and statements, much like what many would expect a tattoo to have--fulfilling the assumption that that's what tattoos are for; to look tough, and hopefully get chicks."

Thanks to Boingboing for the heads-up.