pagers

Industrial designer Kotaro Shimogori has taken to crowdfunding site Indiegogo to raise funds for a Bluetooth-powered appliance that functions as a physical extension of your smartphone's notifications bar. But if you lived through the 1990s with me, you probably recognize Dr. Blinky for what it really is -- the resurrection of the pager with a 21st century spin.

In a nutshell, Dr. Blinky connects to an app on your Android phone (the iOS app is in progress) that you can configure to blink whenever you want to be notified of a new call, text, e-mail, or whatever. Dr. Blinky can also be set to blink in different patterns for different types of notifications. … Read more

AutoPager provides an interesting service to those reading Web sites with multiple page links. With simple directions and excellent results, it could change the way people surf the Web.

AutoPager's interface is practically invisible, which we like. It embeds itself within Mozilla's Firefox Web browser. We had to briefly use its command options, but most of its operation is automatic: You can seamlessly scroll through a multipage Web article; the program simply asks you for permission to do so. It comes in handy when reading news stories since it inserts few or no pauses or breaks between pages. … Read more

WindowsPager is quite interesting in concept, but in execution it's not too hot. While we see how it could be useful, the program's interface--or lack thereof--makes it frustrating to understand and use.

The program creates four virtual desktops on a user's computer, which are represented by four rectangles next to the system tray. The first contains everything that was open when the program started, and the rest are empty. Of course, since this is the extent of the program's interface--no options or settings or menus--it's not immediately obvious what's going on, and users may … Read more

Several times throughout today's show, The 404 almost causes the universe to implode. Our Earth-shaking collection of topics today include a story about Viagra missiles, iPhone flaws and young love, divinely drunk intervention, and more Ryan Gosling/Ryan Reynolds confusion...which witch is which?!

One of the more ridiculous stories on today's show is about a man that somehow managed to smuggle a fake, but extremely realistic looking missile into New York with a sticker on the side that proudly read "VIVA VIAGRA." After driving around New York, making stops at Times Square and the Trump Tower, the man ended up in front of the Pfizer corporate building where the company promptly slapped a restraining order and a cease and desist warning on his man-made missile. The craziest part about this story is the fact that one man somehow drove through the Midtown tunnel and several New York police officers with a missile attached to his truck.

Is that all it takes? The man claims that ""New York City cops are smart. They know the difference between a mock-up and the real thing," and that's all well and good, but what about scaring the sh*t out of thousands of New Yorkers? Mass chaos isn't so fun. Do you think The 404 should pull a stunt like this? Clearly it'd be pretty easy to set in motion, and you know we need the publicity! Any suggestions? Leave us a comment and and let us know!