teenager

Audiophile 2.0: The next generation?

Most audiophiles are 40+.

True, there's a small sprinkling of twentysomethings and thirtysomethings who love gear, but are there any teenage audiophiles? They're pretty rare, so when I heard about a 17-year-old with 1,500 LPs and a huge collection of analog tapes I had to talk to him.

David M has it bad.

When he was five, his father had Bose speakers. Maybe they were too big, so his dad tossed them out and little David threw a fit! By the time he was eight or nine he started putting together his own hi-fi.

Like a lot of audiophiles David doesn't think he's one. He said, "I've always loved music, and as I've bought better equipment I found I liked the music more. It cycled from there." He's read audiophile magazines like Stereophile since he was in the eighth grade. David sounds like an audiophile to me.

He's totally into it, "I'm all audio, all the time...I thought I was done when I had a Sansui receiver and JBL 4311 speakers, but I'm still on the upgrade path." He now regularly records concerts at his high school and of his friends' bands. I've listened to some of David's recordings and he's good. But David has yet to turn any of his friends into audiophiles; even most of his musician buddies aren't into sound quality. He said, "They don't care. Some of them have already lost some of their hearing." Yikes!

He has one friend with a decent turntable and a collection of records handed down from his parents, but that guy's no audiophile. David set up his ex-girlfriend with a nice hi-fi, and she's getting into vinyl and tape.

He's not turned on by much new music, or anything that's played on commercial radio stations. He likes folk music and obscure '70s pop, a bit of classical, some jazz. David says he's open to trying anything.… Read more

Ninja Umbrella wards off rain, vanishes without trace

I still plan on living out my childhood ninja fantasies: jumping across thatched straw rooftops, stealing precious family heirlooms in the middle of the night, throwing pointy stars, and honoring my giant rat sensei by ridding the world of mutated rhinos and warthogs. And now I won't have to worry about getting wet in the process.

The handle to this Ninja Umbrella resembles the old samurai katanas of yore, replete with a crossed grip hilt and a cloth scabbard that you can swing across your back when the sun comes out. The umbrella section expands to a 3-foot-long canopy, … Read more

The 404 182: Where Brian Tong bleeds yellow and Jeff has jaundice

With Justin's fellow socks-with-sandals-wearing San Franciscan Brian Tong on the show, things get more giggly than a New Kids on the Block reunion concert. B-Tong and the boys discuss their favorite ninja turtles, a number of fast food related stories and their resentment of Twitter.

Dan the Mantern here. It was a pleasure to sit back and watch the magic happen on today's show. The Tongster brought so much good karma to The 404, a bold decision has made. Uniting West Coast and East, combining Wilson's good looks, Justin's singing voice, Brian's hair and DJ Jeff Mackalar's fresh beats it's Tang Tong Yu - the boy band sensation. Look for their new album, The Love ConNEcTion, this fall, in the Wal-Mart bargain bin underneath a VHS copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III. Cowabunga dude!!!

EPISODE 182 Download today's podcast … Read more

The 404 176: Where we play with Duck Hunt all day long

Our surprise guest today is Bristol Palin, daughter of would-be VP Sarah Palin! We regrettably rescind our drooling over yesterday's picture of the Governess--it's fake! Today's show is chock full of Google goodness, atom smashing, motherfrakkers, and a tried and true geekout on the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie! Special bonus: Senor Space Beer returns to The 404!

And now for a subject near and dear to my heart. After releasing a positively craptastic CGI effort, the folks over at Playmate Toys unofficially announced that the sequel will be a back-to-basics live-action movie! To me, this … Read more

The 404 125: Where Jeff Bakalar: This is your life!

We're all family on the 404: Jeff's dad and girlfriend both called into the 404 preshow this morning! Today we bring you a handful of insane stories from the Internet: Chinese is the new Black, Zohan + Love Guru = Suck and Blow, a man finally conquers his home printer, and rampant underachievement runs wild on our airwaves. To top you off, we also examine the correlation between hobo love and the rising number of teenage pregnancies. Finally, check out this picture of Kratos, Jeff and Stacie's tortoise and God of all Reptilia: EPISODE 125 Download today's podcast … Read more

Source: IAC-MyYearbook acquisition rumors are false

Several sources close to InterActiveCorp (IAC) have told CNET News.com that, contrary to rumors, the media conglomerate is not purchasing youth-oriented social-networking site MyYearbook. The rumor was originally reported by Valleywag on Wednesday.

The misconception arose, one source said, because MyYearbook was one of multiple start-ups that were invited to do "mock pitches" to IAC chairman and CEO Barry Diller as part of a session at this week's exclusive Quadrangle conference (hosted by the eponymous private equity firm) at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan. Essentially, it was like moot court for entrepreneurs.

MyYearbook was founded by … Read more

RIP Bolt.com: Social networking before we knew what it was

Bolt.com, best known as a video sharing site that didn't really catch on, has filed for bankruptcy and shut down. The site had been in acquisition talks with GoFish, which would have been able to cover the $10 million settlement in a copyright infringement case with Universal Music. Earlier this month, the acquisition fell through, and Bolt was essentially doomed.

But it was really MySpace, not YouTube or copyright woes, that struck the first blow to Bolt. Before it shifted its focus to video, Bolt was a teen-oriented social networking site in the days when Facebook founder Mark … Read more

Thank you for voting! Especially all you teenage girls.

User voting for the Webware 100 awards closed this morning. Thanks to everyone who voted!

We will announce the winners next week, on June 18, if all goes according to plan. We're going to use the week to write up the winners and go through our voting database to make sure all the votes are legit.

Meantime, some early observations: There were 489,467 votes cast in the Webware 100. The most popular category was Community, due in large part to the overwhelming number of votes cast for the teen social network, Gaia Online. In the entertainment category, Stardoll, … Read more

Coca-Cola targets teens with cell phone social network

Parents of teens already dread getting their monthly cell phone bill, and it could get even worse. The reason comes from an unlikely source: soda pop.

In the coming weeks, Coca-Cola will bring "Sprite Yard" to the U.S. market, a social-networking site that targets cell-phone-toting teens (is that redundant?), with such features as personal profiles, photo sharing and online chat, according to the New York Times.

Jonathan Sackett, the head digital officer at Arnold Worldwide, makes this observation in the report: "Coke could see trouble if teenagers run up high data charges on their phones using … Read more