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Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- The Audiophiliac's top music tracks for testing speakers and headphones.

- Pick up Steve's mixtape, Chesky Records' Ultimate Demonstration Disc.

- Before you buy a sound bar speaker, read this..

- Are the Beatles groovy again?.… Read more

Simple, slightly addictive, and quite competitive, this app reminded us of Pong, the game that revolutionized arcade gaming in the early 1970s. Even though Air Hockey Deluxe resembles Pong in style of gameplay and is in general quite fun, it shows some imperfections that could easily be fixed by the developer.

Interface of Air Hockey Deluxe offers no advanced options or specific game settings. It simply provides you with one-player and two-player options. The one-player option will put you against an AI, while the two-player option lets both players play on the same screen. The controls of the game don'… Read more

This is a follow-up to last week's "Before you buy a sound bar speaker, read this" post, but this time I'm setting my sights on expensive, $400-plus iPod and Bluetooth speaker "docks." They have built-in limitations common to all single-speaker systems. They might have two sets of speaker drivers housed in a single cabinet, but when the drivers are just a few inches apart, "stereo" sounds more or less like mono. In the quest to make these speakers as sleek and lightweight as possible, bass and dynamic range capabilities are limited, compared … Read more

Some products are never graced with memorable ads.

Perhaps the products speak for themselves. Or perhaps their manufacturers are dowdy conservative folk, who just want to do something basic.

Then along come the macabre minds at air-conditioner manufacturer BGH. They got together with their ad agency in Argentina to create something that may leave you with, well, chills.

For here is a man who hates summer.

He stays at home. He is regarded as something of a psychopath. Perhaps he merely grew up in New York, where summer offers a full exposition of the perfect hell, leaving many with strange … Read more

Google is again taking aim at Apple in the mobile space, setting its sites on developing an AirPlay challenger.

The Web giant is working on an alternative to Apple's wireless feature and hopes to attract the interest of device and software vendors with the effort, according to a GigaOm report. A Google representative declined to comment specifically on its plans for the features, saying "Stay tuned to see this feature coming to more devices and screens in the future."

Google offered an early taste of what it has planned with the debut last week of a new feature for YouTube … Read more

I was going through the app listings the other day and came across LocalScope, a unique local search tool that helps you find things near your current location. Obviously, many people already use Google Maps (no current version for iOS) for this purpose, and the Yelp-powered Apple Maps gets better every day, but after looking at LocalScope (reviewed below), I went on a search for other apps that tailor their results just for what is right around your area.

This week's collection of apps is all about searching for services around your location. The first gives you tons of listings and a surprising bonus feature for finding your destination. The second offers a slick radial interface and tons of categories to pick from. The third is LocalScope, and uses social data to find places, videos, and images from people around your location.… Read more

For those of you who own one of Apple's new MacBook Air or MacBook Pro systems that were released in June, Apple has made a software update available. The update is around 127MB in size and includes bug fixes and performance enhancements for the systems' graphics, and their ability to communicate with some USB devices.

While Apple didn't reveal the specific problems addressed by this update, recently a few owners of the new MacBooks have reported noticing flashing displays when waking the system, washed-out or high-contrast colors when using external displays, and odd graphical artifacts when using some … Read more

Amazon has kicked off its first mobile game, and one that can be played on both Android and iOS devices.

Taking to the skies today, Air Patriots lets you command a squad of planes by moving your finger around the screen. Drawing paths on the screen manuevers the planes to the right spots to defend your territory and battle the enemy.

You can outfit your fleet with 13 different types of planes. The game offers 28 levels and 7 different maps (the first 3 maps are free). The more victories you score, the more gears you collect, which can unlock … Read more