relationships

In Jeff's absence, Wilson takes the reigns as chief engineer for the show...and runs it in to the ground. Just kidding! Today we invite host of The Green Show and longtime 404 friend, Mark Licea, to join us in a few stories about a handy iPhone app, traveling water bottles, Facebook jealousy, Internet addiction, and a hilarious Calls From the Public!

Hot on the heels of Motherboard and Laserjet comes Earth's newest superdefender, G-FORCE! A big thanks goes out to our buddy Hayato Shimizu for Photoshopping Wilson into this robotic Megaman-looking superhero that fights crime with two cameras and still has time to highlight his hair. We've actually received a lot of really talented Photoshopped images of The 404 hosts recently, so click through the slideshow below for all the images.

Jeff's away on vacation and Wilson surprises us all by stepping up to the board, so bear with us through this episode. With some help from our good buddy The Intern Formerly Known as Mark, we navigate our way through a bunch of newsworthy stories from the Internet, including an iPhone app that tells you the best time to cut out of a movie to use the bathroom, the recent popularity of Internet addiction rehab camps, and how Facebook is trying to ruin your love life. All that, plus a new character on today's Calls From the Public!

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MB Horoscope Compatibility provides a simple way for two people to tell if the stars think they are a good match. By entering some basic information, users will have fun reading the results.

The program's interface is very intuitive, consisting mostly of a well-labeled main screen asking for data in open boxes. The answers are easily read, even if one doesn't understand astrology, but also provides enough detail for experts. The Help file is so basic it is best ignored. Getting a reading is very simple, providing you have specific information about both parties. Users enter one person'… Read more

MB Karmic Astrology gives users an analysis of their life situation and personality based on their birth date. Although the program does provide results, we're not sure that it functions exactly as it should.

The first screen of the program is cluttered with ads for Mystic Board, the program's publisher. On the next screen users enter their name and date of birth, and the program then provides the analysis. (It's worth noting that this part of the program features yellow text on a pink background, which is both hard to read and gross.) The program explains that … Read more

Social crises come upon us like paparazzi down the alleyways of Hollywood. In what seems like a flash, we turn around, smile, and see what we have become.

So it is imperative that I warn you of a deeply concerning trend that may well be sweeping the world: the use of laptops and mobile devices in bed.

A company called Credant Technologies, which appears to specialize in something called endpoint data protection, suspected that the world was heading toward something untoward between the sheets. So it commissioned a survey to discover whether workaholia was causing melancholia.

The results will numb. … Read more

Relationships are difficult. They have their ups. They have their downs. And they have their outs.

As was recently discovered by Antonio M., that rare Italian with a romantic streak. Antonio has a Facebook page. He is proud of that page. So much so that he posted a picture of himself in partying mode.

Atlas liked to party with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Antonio's partying mode, on the other hand, seems to include staring at a camera while two naked breasts are placed on his head.

Now it isn't for me to judge how … Read more

"Does the money make me more attractive than I really am?"

I know those are words have pummeled the lips of many of you out there, bursting to be heard. You swallow them with your pride, just in case the answer might be, well, yes.

So perhaps you might be one of the 300,000 who populate Seekingarrangement.com, a site that tries to bring together those who have money (and are, by virtue of the virtues of capitalism, older) and younger things who wish to earn money in exchange for being, in the site's immaculate vernacular, … Read more

It's a venal world.

People scrambling over each other to reach that muddy dollar lying on the sidewalk. And uncontrolled competition to secure a lover who will make others envious of our powers of seduction.

Researchers at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff wanted to believe differently. Or, at least, I want to believe they wanted to believe differently.

They showed women pictures of the same man in two different cars: a silver Bentley Continental and a Ford Fiesta (think small, dinged, possibly driven by an academic). Women aged 21-40 expressed a vast preference for the gentry in the Bentley.

I wanted to weep when I read this. Every profile I have ever read on Match.com tells me that women want a sense of humor, not a sense of Beemer. But no. It seems that a purring motor is the way to make a female turn feline.

Your faith in humanity may well be restored when you discover the researchers tried the same ruse with men--with very different results. The men couldn't give a broken sprocket if the woman was driving a stolen Lada. All they were interested in was...oh, go on, just guess. You know the answer.

This information drove the researchers to some brutal and depressing conclusions. The Institute's Dr. Michael Dunn told the "Telegraph": "Females focus on questions of wealth and status because if the male possesses those, that male would be in a better condition to rear healthy offspring."

You may consider a little purple pill when you hear that even when women make more money and have extremely attractive, um, cars, they still seek out men with even greater status (and, presumably, Mercedes) than their own.

Dr. Dunn, clearly a brave and happy man, even ventured to declare that women are the shallower sex. "Let's face it--there's evidence to support it," he said. … Read more

When the heart hurts, the blood boils, and excessive reddish mucus emerges from the nostrils, there seems to be only one recourse: stalk the ex online.

A, undoubtedly deeply scientific survey by people search engine Yasni.com--yes, the folks who encourage you to "Find Yourself On the Web!"--concluded that 50 percent of British people have followed the world of an ex on Facebook or some other self-advertising site.

Because people always tell the truth in surveys (it's a relief to be able to tell someone the truth, after all), I can tell you that 57 … Read more

This one is for mature audiences only.

The whole of Britain is aghast and, quite naturally, deeply interested in the story of Alfie Patten, a 13-year-old boy who has just become a father for the first time. Yes, he and his maybe girlfriend, 15-year-old Chantelle Steadman, are celebrating the birth of little Maisie.

And they're toasting their bliss like every other newly-blessed couple- with a touch of PlayStation.

In these wonderful, touching pictures, baby Maisie rests in Alfie's lap, while he fights off fatherhood's lack of sleep by fighting a bunch of drug dealers in Stilwater Prison. … Read more