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Where we're taking candy from strangers, psych!

EPISODE 70

Rachel Thebault from the impeccable Tribeca Treats joins us to help dissect NBC's idiotic fall lineup. Yes, SNL is coming to Thursdays, no joke. Plus, Dwight is spinning out of The Office, and this just in from the future, The Office has been renewed, Psych! Listen up, it's a little cupcake of awesome.

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Web 3.0 belongs to those who control personal profile infrastructure

Dave McClure is becoming the Web version of a streetwise ghetto talker. In his latest post, Dave makes some good points, amid the street talk, in his attempt to define Web 3.0 and identify the winners in the race to colonize the Web.

In his day job, Dave is an investor and adviser to Web start-ups, and the more mild-mannered conference chair for Graphing Social Patterns, and a co-chair of the Web 2.0 Expo, which takes place April 22 through 25 in San Francisco.

I agree with Dave that the entities managing personal profile infrastructure, such as user … Read more

Where you'll want to chase today's show with a dose of penicillin

EPISODE 50

We're giving away a copy of Super Smash Brothers Brawl, one of the most hotly anticipated titles for the Wii. Listen up so you can win! Click here for more pictures and instructions and how you can win an autographed copy of Super Smash Brothers Brawl!

In the meanwhile, the hosts of the 404 talk about: Tina Fey being cute, but not so funny; Sarah Silverman and Amy Winehouse looking exactly alike; Ben Stiller's new movie featuring Robert Downey Jr. in blackface (?Qu??); terrible airplane movies; and the return of 30 Rock with Will Arnett and … Read more

Hands-on with the Tannoy i30: Loud and proud

No quirky intro for you today: Along with the B&W Zeppelin, Tannoy's i30 is the best iPod speaker system Crave UK has ever heard.

From the minute we opened the beautifully packaged i30 we knew we were in for a treat. The system itself is extremely weighty at just over 7.7 pounds, with a solid and glossy black enclosure, and seductive dark speaker grilles, between which sits your choice of iPod. Around the back is a line-in socket for non-iPod models, along with a USB port for hooking it up to iTunes, composite video out and … Read more

Samsung's tiny trackball mouse

The proliferation of ill-advised combo products has prompted us to adopt a "less is more" philosophy in most cases. And that's even more appropriate for gadgets that seem almost too small to adequately handle even their primary functions--such Samsung's latest mini-mouse.

Its "M30 Duplus Mouse" is "a pocket-size trackballer with a wireless USB connection system, a laser pointer, and remote controller capabilities," according to Everything USB. As we noted more than a year ago, earlier versions already looked too small to be used comfortably, even without such additional features. In the new … Read more

Canon's video Vixia

Late to market with its first SD-based camcorders--Panasonic and Sony both announced third-generation models this week--Canon nevertheless makes up for lost time with a couple of attractively specced models for 2008. They join the modestly revved HV30 HDV model and the currently shipping HG10 and HR10 under the Vixia brand umbrella for HD camcorders.

At the top of the product line, the HF10 incorporates 16GB built-in flash memory--the largest capacity we've heard about thus far--and a slot for SDHC removable flash. According to Canon, it records AVCHD video at a maximum bit rate of 17 megabits per second, and … Read more

Episode 614: CyberCommand is go

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High-tech for Volvo S80, V70, XC70

Five new high-tech features will be available on Volvo's S80, V70 and XC70 models by the end of the year, the company announced Tuesday.

The Swedish company joins the ranks of several automakers who are bringing high-tech features to even the most budget models.

Volvo's most interesting feature may be a new take on monitoring driver behavior.

Driver Alert Control, as Volvo calls it, uses a camera and sensors to monitor a car's general behavior in terms of speed and staying in lane, not the driver's behavior within a cockpit. If, through a combination of factors, … Read more

Volvo C30 to get 52 mpg

Looks like the 2008 C30 from Volvo will offer more to entice young consumers than just an impressive sound system, a hatchback with room for Ikea packages and a wonderfully quirky Web site.

Volvo announced Monday that an "Efficiency" version of the 2008 C30 with a 1.6-liter turbo diesel engine will get about 4.5 liters/100 km (52 mpg).

Additionally, Volvo said that its Volvo C30, S40 and V50 with the 2-liter turbo diesel engine will have a new "Powershift" gearbox that will reduce overall fuel consumption by about 8 percent.

The Volvo C30 … Read more