Crave

The browser wars are heating up again. Microsoft's touting the improved performance and security of Internet Explorer 8, dozens of new Firefox extensions are released every day, and, according to Apple, Safari 4 will be even faster than its speedy predecessor. Meanwhile, Opera just keeps chugging along at version 9.64, with version 10 beta 3 now available.

Just a few weeks ago, Google announced its plans to create an operating system based on Chrome. Considering that the browser itself is barely a year old, such plans may be premature. Then again, maybe not. But for right now, I'll keep looking for ways to make the Chrome browser more useful.

Last June, I described ways to change Chrome's default settings. Here's a look at ways to revamp the browser's interface and access some of its useful hidden features.

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Aside from some technical difficulties today and a giant bug bite, we've got a great show featuring all three of your favorite Web celebrities. Before we get to the stories, we want to remind everyone of The 404 logo contest and of our appearance on our buddy Clayton Morris' FoxNews.com's Strategy Room to talk about all the good tech, video game-related goodness at 2 p.m. EST.

(Credit: Jasper Engels)

On today's show, find out ways that kids now are using abbreviations in text messages to hide things from their parents. Apparently, "RU/18" is something that kids these days are getting on their cell phones. Also, Pfizer is giving away free three-month supplies of Viagra and Lipitor because of the recession, but only if you were on the drugs before you got laid off. We hope Justin isn't itching to get fired for this deal.

In regard to a story about China shutting down a sex-themed park, Wilson gives us way too much information about "the talk" with his mom when he was 15. Justin and Jeff learned everything from "Sesame Street." Speaking of more things naughty, there is a new version of "Star Trek" called "Star Trix", and we can't really say much more about it other than it's totally NSFW.

Finally, showers make you more productive at work. Just be sure to watch out for peephole-size openings at work. Be sure to write in at the404 [at] cnet [dot] com. We'd love to see more of your submissions for our logo contest. See you on Tuesday after the Memorial Day break!

Episode 348

(Credit: Pinnacle Systems)

It's not exactly winter yet, though it feel fairly cold. However, folks at Pinnacle Systems think differently and on Thursday announced a new Pinnacle Theme Winter Pack for the Pinnacle Studio consumer video-editing application.

The Winter Pack is released together with the 12.1 update of the Pinnacle Studio software. The pack offers more than 80 additional winter-themed titles, DVD menus, and Pinnacle Montage templates. It will be included in special Pinnacle Studio Plus and Ultimate Winter Pack Editions at selected retailers until December 31.

The Winter Pack enables people to quickly create movies with themes relating to the holidays. If you already have the Pinnacle Studio 12 software, you can purchase the pack separately for $39.99 from October 30, 2008 to November 6, 2008, directly from Pinnacle Systems.

On the other hand, the 12.1 update is available as a free download for all Pinnacle Studio version 12 users. The update offers support for importing and exporting of the QuickTime file format, expanded support for the latest H.264-based camcorders such as Aiptek H.264 and Sanyo Xacti, and performance improvements.

Does this logo look familiar?

(Credit: ModMyiFone)

The latest third-party iPhone app to draw blogosphere buzz this morning is most definitely not Apple-approved.

The object of hilarity and defamation is VistaPerfection 2.0, a theme by developer Spec-Works that plops the Windows Vista GUI onto the iPhone. To run it, you'll need a jailbroken iPhone (see video), the SummerBoard app, and a wicked sense of humor.

Spec-Works reports that the application took "a couple days" to create and includes more than 90 icons, wallpaper, and sounds, including the Vista log-in and log-off chime and a revamped taskbar.

Your eyes do not deceive--Spec-Works has made iPhone Vista-friendly.

(Credit: ModMyiFone)

Quite a few tech bloggers have been happily jabbing away at the oxymoronic theme. Technabob, for instance, recommends it for those who are "ready and willing to deface [their] glorious chrome and glass iPhone with Microsoft's bloatware user interface."

The general consensus excuses VistaPerfection as a hack created for its own sake, though Zach Epstein of The Boy Genius Report charitably concedes that it might be useful for "a Vista addict [who has] begrudgingly picked up an iPhone but always loathed its clean UI."

It's true that design currents carry the visual style of Apple products into third-party Windows themes and apps, like ReadAir, ObjectDock, and the Macfox Firefox theme, and not the other way around. But that turning of tables is what makes the theme so deliciously amusing. VistaPerfection 2.0 does not come bundled with an installer, and those who want to play with the stuff of Steve Jobs' nightmares should consult ModMyiFone for the installation guide and tips.

[Via The Boy Genius Report]

In an age of reality television, I mourn the death of the TV theme song. I miss the glory days of the 1970s and 1980s where programs like The Jeffersons, Diff'rent Strokes, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show gave us catchy tunes that were almost as enjoyable as the shows themselves. Of course, YouTube has become a great way to get your theme song fix, and today I saw something really cool.

Though Hawaii Five-O's theme music never had lyrics, I consider it the best TV theme of all time. The great music by Morton Stevens, combined with the excellent visuals, particularly that awesome wave at the very beginning, made for a fantastic viewing experience. Even today I have to watch it every now and then. And naturally, when you find something you love, you get a little protective of it. YouTube is littered with awful remakes of TV and movie themes so I was a bit anxious when I came across a clip that combined the theme music of Miami Vice with the visuals of Hawaii Five-O's opener. After all, Hawaii Five-O was the better program.

But as it turned out, I had nothing to fear. Jan Hammer's synthesized instrumental music may scream the '80s, but the music perfectly matches the Hawaii Five-O visuals. Everything comes at just the right time in the music, from the wave, to Jack Lord turning around on the Waikiki balcony, to the rotating police siren careening through the streets of Honolulu. I was impressed.

Though the two shows took place in very different time periods--the drug-fueled violence of South Beach and Crockett's pastel shirts would have looked out of place in Oahu in the 1970s--they do have a few things in common. Both involved cops and bad guys, evil mastermind villains, women in distress, a little skin, and tropical locales. Cheers to TheDuchy, the clip's creator, for making this happen.

Microsoft started it. And this time we can all give thanks.

The Seattle giant's search for a sleek, cool iPod competitor produced the Zune, and the Zune's youth culture appeal produced Microsoft's Zune-flavored desktop theme. Couple that with the Firefox Zune theme created by the prolific theme meister Brett Bodine--also known as Bodizzle--and you've got yourself a bold, sleek screenscape in orange and black gradations, with just enough strokes of white for emphasis.

XP with a trench coat and shades.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

(Credit: Amazon)

In case anyone was wondering, the ringtone craze is officially out of control. Well past their cell-phone roots, custom tunes for home land lines are just one example of a phenomenon that has even extended to doorbells. But its application in car horns are clearly the worst of the bunch.

And accessories such as the "Wolo 485 Star Trek Air Horn," we fear, may indicate that the trend is gaining in popularity. For better or worse, this device blares only one tune with its five air trumpets--the theme from the final frontier--similar to the custom old-school horns that played the likes of the opening notes of The Godfather theme.

Given universal obession with all things Star Trek, however, the Wolo 485 has the potential to go where no horn has gone before--at 118 decibels the whole way, according to Geek Alerts. If alien life forms were to launch an attack in retaliation, their actions would be perfectly justified.

Well-built software that can inspire projects and streamline productivity is powerful indeed, but ill-conceived programs, too, can haunt your dreams. In this week's, CNET Top 5 video (also see below), editor Tom Merritt shares five terrifically bad apps you'd most likely encounter in a dark alley of your computer's recycle bin. This Chuck Norris Facts Widget is particularly chilling.

Plenty more ghoulish and gleeful downloads are standing by to ease you into the Halloween spirit. Three skeletons in pointed hats boogie down by moonlight (and UV lamplight) in Halloween Dance 3D Screensaver, a personal favorite. Your browser can also get into costume. Developer Ed Hume has updated his bewitching Halloween Firefox theme, where broomstick-borne hags replace the "forward" and "back" arrows and bat icons adorn the tabs. Responsible pranksters can also find five joke downloads for spooking friends into thinking their computer's been possessed.

And for those who still aren't sure which costume to call their own this All Hallow's Eve, this slideshow suggests ten freaky tech-geek getups. Yes, you too can make the RIAA quake in their boots as a rough 'n' tumble software pirate.

So let the festive fall season begin with a howl! Which is your favorite holiday download?

(Credit: Electronic House)

Its media gear may not be state of the art, but we're just happy to see a home theater that, for once, doesn't have a Star Wars or Star Trek theme. The designers of this Raiders of the Lost Ark theater were commissioned to spend more time on ambience than technical specs, if that's not obvious from the photos. That means special attention was paid to such props as torches, hieroglyphics and Indiana's trademark hat, jacket and whip, as well as the original idol from the movie's opening, according to Electronic House.

The room, which measures 18 by 12 feet in its owners' Canadian home, is bath in a Lutron Grafik Eye theater lighting system for maximum dramatic effect. It also features an NEC HT1000 projector and Control4 Home Theater Controller. But no snakes.