draft

Are iPads and slates trying to forge a new territory between reading and writing?

I've written a screenplay or two in my life, and have as such become a fan of Final Draft screenwriting software. That's why my last trip to the company's Web site caught my attention: a Final Draft app is in the works for Apple's iPad.

I became somewhat excited and interested by this news, because it suggested a possible functionality I can't currently easily get with my laptop: a screenplay reader with the ability to casually edit.

Final Draft sent me … Read more

You may have noticed a minor change here at the ol' Cheapskate blog: I'm now posting later in the day.

Before now, I'd usually publish my daily deal at around 10 a.m. ET--only to routinely watch it sell out at around 10:43. That's pretty frustrating, especially for West Coast readers who aren't even awake yet.

Thus, I'm experimenting with a later post time, usually in the neighborhood of 12-2 p.m. ET. So far, this has resulted in fewer sold-out/expired deals. Let me know if you like, don't like, or don'… Read more

When you compose a new email message, Mail will frequently save drafts of the message in the "Drafts" folder. Messages will also stay here if you save them to work on later. Some people have found that these draft email messages will persist in the Drafts mailbox despite them having completed and sent the message.… Read more

FanDraft - Fantasy Basketball Draft Board provides all the tools for holding your own fantasy draft, but it falls short of the competition on several different levels.

We were initially very excited about this program, thanks to its professional-looking interface. We needed to visit the Help file's dictionary to understand all the various terms and elements, but we got on track after a few minutes. We got a good feeling from this program during setup, as it let us organize our teams, draft order, and even draft sounds via a helpful setup Wizard that eliminated any guesswork. Unfortunately, this … Read more

Kenley Bradstreet and Mark Licea join the show today because Justin Yu is still battling with SARS. We wish him a speedy recovery, but in the mean time, we welcome the presence of two beautiful people. Plus, it's just fun to watch Kenley rock out to today's Audio Draft pick.

On today's show, we recant what we said about Sony yesterday. The company managed to botch up a feature that would have leveled the playing field with the Xbox 360. For those of you who didn't listen, Sony and Netflix announced the arrival of streaming on the console. Sounds great? Not so fast. Apparently, you'll need to plug in a BD-Live disc every time you want to watch Netflix. We know it's only temporary, but come on! It's accessible from the dashboard on the Xbox 360, and you don't need no stinkin' disc.

It's Jeff's pick today for the Audio Draft, and while traditionally we usually pick smaller bands or unknown acts, Jeff has decided to go the other way and picked Rancid. They've been around for a while, and released a couple of albums. According to Mr. Bakalar, their latest is turning heads. We play "The Bravest Kids" and "L.A. River" from their latest album. Stay tuned for the last Audio Draft pick of the month on Friday from Wilson! It won't be country music this time.

To round out the show, we talk talk a little bit about Droid from Verizon, the company's first Google Android phone. Wilson still thinks the phone is a pretty ugly design, but that it may change the market around considering it's the first non-BlackBerry-Storm smartphone on the network. Still, Apple seems to be the one still innovating in the smart phone market.

In other news today, Kenley tells us that it's the 15th anniversary of the birth of Internet advertising. That's right on October 27th, 1994, Hot Wired ran the world's first banner ad, and surprisingly, it was pretty effective! Mark gets excited about the Tekken 6, while Wilson can't really tell the difference between Tekken 5 or Tekken 6. Jeff adds snidely, "Tekken 4." Think it's hot that Kenley likes to watch guys play videogames? Well send her a message as usual through voice mail at 1-866-404-CNET (2638).

… Read more

If you weren't in The 404 live chat room this morning, you missed an insanely '80s dance party! It turned out to be a blast, so we're going to start doing it every Friday. Don't worry if you missed out this time, just be sure to check us out next Friday for more Starship, Outfield, Buggles, etc...

Last week we reported on a story about Pepsi's "Amp Up B4 You Score" iPhone app that offered "helpful" pickup lines targeted at a very specific type of girl. For example, if you choose the "political girl," the app offers several jokes about stimulus plans, global warming, etc...you can use your imagination to figure out the rest. Unfortunately, if you didn't download the app you're out of luck, because Pepsi removed the app from the iPhone store.

All this talk about iPhones brings us to the first big topic of the day: DROID. The TV commercials for the new Verizon phone running the Google Android OS mock the iPhone and its fans, making claims that Android's open architecture and physical keyboard will draw unsatisfied Apple fanboys to its camp, but we're hesitant to jump onboard after the G1 flopped.

If you're currently in the market for a new smartphone but can't decide between an Android phone, the iPhone, a BlackBerry, or Palm Pre, this is the perfect episode for you! For more Droid info, check out this episode of Dialed In, another awesome CNET podcast with Bonnie Cha, Kent German, Nicole Lee, and Jason Howell!

In sadder news, Hulu may finally start charging a fee to view its broadcast content online. After that cryptic extraterrestrial commercial that Hulu aired during the Super Bowl last year, we figured that a monthly fee would eventually come, but the site definitely needs to offer more incentives before we bite the bullet. If we decide to support the paid version, Hulu needs to offer the entire back catalog of every show in HD and improve the movie selection...if not, then users might be tempted to simply visit another not-so-legal site. Get it, Hulu? Now get to work.

Today's Beck's Beer Audio Draft is my (Justin's) choice and Jeff is pretty surprised because the band plays a fully orchestrated, instrumental-only version of popular video game music! The band is Konami Kukeiha Club, and it features the composers who worked on original Konami games like Gradius III and Contra.

In addition to releasing several original soundtracks (i.e. Silent Hill), the group also makes original music, and it's great for anything active: gym workouts, bike rides, long distance runs, anything that requires you to get pumped up! The two tracks of the day are "Beginning" and "Bloody Tears" off the album "Konami Battle the Best."

Have a supreme weekend everyone!

Coming from Autodesk, makers for the thousand-dollar-plus AutoCAD drafting software, there's a new and currently free drafting tool for simple architectural drawings. Project Cooper is a simple app for creating 2D floor plans. It's like AutoCAD, stripped down to the bone and then some, and that makes it a lot easier to use. It's also built for Windows 7 touch screen computers, so you can drag and rotate and objects without a mouse or keyboard. (Project Cooper can also be downloaded from CNET's Download.com.)

The idea is that ordinary humans and some pros will use … Read more

Get ready to have your faces melted, because Brutal Legend finally comes out today for XBox 360 and the PS3. To quote Jeff, the game is a "metal fan's absolute fantasy come true." It stars Jack Black as the voice of Eddie Riggs, a roadie for a metal band that must fight off metal-infused demons to save the world. Unfortunately, Jeff has some criticism about the game that might influence your buying decision.

Speaking of video games, though, it just so happens that Uncharted 2 also comes out today exclusive to Playstation 3, although it's already garnering excellent reviews from critics, including our own Dan Ackerman. The game is essentially the male-centric version of Tomb Raider, a take on the Indiana Jones adventure-style franchise. The antihero of the story, Nathan Drake, acts as a treasure hunter and art thief for hire, and it's up to you to navigate him across the world as he battles through firefights and explores virtually limitless environments that add to the overall realism of the game. Can't decide between Brutal Legend and Uncharted 2? Jeff's got your answer on today's show!

Big congratulations goes out to Natali Del Conte for making onto Manolith's list of the 12 hottest geeky girls in tech! NDC joins the ranks of other Internet hotties like Jade Raymond, Jessica Chobot, Morgan Webb, and more, so be sure to take a peek at the list and let us know who YOU think is missing! Don't even think about nominating Wilson...he's booked solid for the next decade.

Finally, it's my turn to choose the Beck's Beer Semi-Weekly Audio Draft Pick! Today's band is Raisinhill, a couple of talented chums hailing from Redding, Conn., who play a modernized version of up-tempo jazz/rock fusion. The trio are all classically trained and use their wide range of talents to create their dancey jams.

We understand that today's generation probably isn't running to record stores to pick up jazz CDs, so we're hoping you'll keep an open mind with Raisinhill and appreciate their instrumental talents. Besides, any band endorsed by Mr. Belding, Ron Jeremy, and Napoleon Dynamite HAS to be pretty good. The songs of the day are called "Nameless" and "The Ridge." You can listen to both songs on their MySpace page. If you like what you hear, you can buy their self-titled album as well. Enjoy!

… Read more

It's the end of the week! It's also Audio Draft Time, and this might raise a little bit of controversy. It's Matt and Kim, an Indie pop band from Williamsburg, New York City. Nope this isn't Justin's pick; it's Wilson's. Strange, no?

We check out their tracks "Daylight" and "Yea Yeah." We apologize beforehand for the overdriven audio. It may not be your cup of tea, but Wilson assures us they are great in concert and just lots of fun. On a further note, they will be touring with Weezer in the coming days.

On today's show, we check out an outrageous iPhone app, where you actually have to lick the screen to play the game. The premise of the app is to lick off the food on your plate. Without getting too detailed, we come up with a couple of other apps that might take advantage of this lick-touch-screen idea. Just be sure to wrap up your iPhone before you partake.

We also check out a study that says HDTVs are mostly a placebo effect to most users. Now, we admit this study didn't compare a SDTV next to a HDTV, but we know plenty of people who think that composite video looks just as good as 1080p. After that we get to plenty of voicemails, and yes, we have two--count 'em--two voicemails from women!

… Read more