press

The 404 1,283: Where we whirlybird this picture disc (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Weird Al Yankovic says next album will be his last.

- Australian scientists uncover "God's bathtub."

- These Blu-ray discs will last 1,000 years.

- You guys, Xanga is about to shut down unless we give them $60k.

- This teenager would rather go to jail than play his Xbox 360.… Read more

The 404 1,272: Where Tumblr takes the cake (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Yahoo confirms $1.1B Tumblr buy, promises "not to screw it up."

- WordPress: 72K blog posts exited Tumblr in one hour over Yahoo deal.

- Tumblr CEO David Karp was on the 404 almost five years ago to the date.

- Australian politician sorry for "liking" Facebook photo of teenager's genitals.

- Nintendo claims ownership over gamer fanvids on YouTube.

Bathroom break video: Smooth McGroove sings an a capella cover of the Chemical Plant Zone music from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.… Read more

WordPress: 72K blog posts exited Tumblr in 1 hour over Yahoo deal

WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg said his company saw a major uptick in Tumblr defections after news of the $1.1 billion acquisition by Yahoo came to light.

Writing on his personal blog Sunday evening, Mullenweg said that WordPress usually imports 400 to 600 blog posts per hour from Tumblr. After news of the deal surfaced, the number of imported posts jumped to more than 72,000 blog posts in an hour.

Mullenweg updated his own blog post on Monday morning. "Some people are reading too much into the import numbers -- I don't think there will be an … Read more

Award-winning photo isn't a fake, say specialists

It's a sign of the times, perhaps, that an award-winning news photo turns out not to have been faked.

Swedish photojournalist Paul Hansen won the World Press Photo of the Year 2012 for his shot of two children in Gaza killed by an Israeli airstrike in November. But Neal Krawetz called the photo a fake on Sunday.

"Hansen's picture is a composite," Krawetz declared, saying that metadata showed multiple photos had been combined into one image, that error level analysis (ELA) showed inconsistencies, that shadows in the scene weren't geometrically plausible.

Photography has always been … Read more

Pixel Press app: Draw, create, play your own video game

Mario's multilevel gaming style has endured for good reasons. It's simple, it's fun, and it's addictive. Once you've conquered the realms of Mario and other similar retro games, where do you go next? How about creating your own custom video game? That sounds great, but you'll need to brush up on your programming skills first. Unless, that is, Kickstarter project Pixel Press gets off the ground.

With Pixel Press, you just need the app, a piece of paper, a pencil, and your imagination to create your own game. No coding required.

Here's how it works. You start by printing out the gridded Pixel Press sketch sheet, along with the instructions. You can design five layers on the sketch sheet using certain elements like terrain, hazards, monkey bars, moving platforms, barriers, spikes, portals, and power-ups. You draw all these out onto the grid, with the aim of designing five progressively more challenging levels for your hero to conquer.… Read more

How Microsoft can avoid the pitfalls of Sony's PS4 announcement

Editor's note: It's official. Microsoft has announced the future of Xbox (and the next console) will be revealed at an event in Redmond, Washington on May 21.

CNET's live coverage of Microsoft's event Tuesday, May 21

Press events are a tricky beast. No one ever said they were easy to pull off. But with Sony casting the first stone in the next-generation console gaming war, Microsoft can learn a lot from what worked and what didn't.

When the lights went up, Sony execs were shaking hands and congratulating each other. But the packed house at … Read more

AP sells first sponsored tweets to Samsung

Standing ovation, football helmet for Clinton as she returns to work after hospitalization: apne.ws/Uw80nt -CC

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 7, 2013 A very old media company is turning to the technology offered by one of the very newest media companies in a bid to drum up new revenue. Earlier today, the Associated Press announced a deal under which Samsung will become the first advertiser to provide sponsored tweets to the news wire's primary Twitter account.

Lou Ferrara, the AP managing editor overseeing the project, said in a release accompanying the announcement that "as an industry, … Read more

LG touts TV lineup, 'smart' devices at CES 2013

LAS VEGAS--Consumer electronics giant LG focused its attention on the home and living room with a series of home entertainment and appliance announcements.

Chief among them was the pricing and dating of its much-awaited 55-inch OLED TV, which first debuted at last year's CES, though was delayed. The company today said it would begin selling in the U.S. in March for about $12,000. It also promised two new sizes of its 4K resolution television sets, 65-inch and 55-inch versions to join the 84" model.

LG spent much of its presentation touting its smartening up of various … Read more

LG's OLED TV to arrive in March for about $12K

LAS VEGAS -- LG's flagship OLED television set will arrive in the U.S. this March, the company announced here today.

The model will cost "about" $12,000 LG's U.S. marketing chief James Fishler said at the company's press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show.

The 55-inch TV set design first debuted at last year's CES and won CNET's highest honor, but was delayed, due to what was rumored to be issues manufacturing the set.

Last week LG said its 55-inch OLED TV model (55EM9700) would arrive in South Korea next month … Read more