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New Angry Birds clone does a lot of things right, but lacks polish

Stay Alight! (iPhone|iPad) is a destruction game that is somewhat similar to Angry Birds, but in this game, you play as Mr. Bulb and it's your job to take out the monster microbes.

Instead of flinging objects like you would in Angry Birds, with this game you're shooting an energy projectile that bounces off walls. So to get the best trajectory and power, you'll need to both think about where your targets are and how the projectile will bounce through the level to hit as many monster microbes as possible. Like many games in this genre, … Read more

Virgin America pays tribute to Steve Jobs with jet name

As the first airline company to offer fleet-wide Wi-Fi and the only one based in Silicon Valley, it seems natural that Virgin America would name a jet after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

The plane, which first flew late last year, is an Airbus A320 and has the popular Jobs' quote "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" stenciled on its nose. … Read more

Should you spend $20 on Orb's PS3 streaming disc?

Back at CES 2011, Orb announced a $20 Blu-ray disc to come in February that would add streaming-media functionality to older Blu-ray players. After several delays, the company has finally released a Blu-ray disc that will work exclusively with the PS3, with the generic Blu-ray player version still "coming soon."

We're familiar with Orb's products from the Orb TV and Orb MP-1, and we took the PS3 disc for full hands-on spin over the weekend.

Right off the bat, the appeal of Orb's software on the PS3 isn't quite as clear as it is on an older Blu-ray player. The PS3 already has several excellent built-in streaming media services, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu, and MLB.TV, without any need to use a disc-based workaround. However, there are still holes in the PS3's streaming offerings and Orb's software can add high-profile services such as free Hulu content (no need for a Hulu Plus subscription), Amazon Instant, and Pandora. … Read more

StayFocusd fights the battle: Facebook versus work...and wins

Time-budgeting throughout the work day is difficult when the Internet's distractions are at your fingertips. StayFocusd is a Google Chrome extension that limits these addicting Web binges to a time span of your choosing so you can be more productive. Whether you want to block a specific Web site, a subsection of the site, or the Internet as a whole, StayFocusd does all of these things in configurations of your choice. Though it is intuitive and easy to use, this extension is very unforgiving; users must be sure about the sites they want to block because they will not … Read more

StayFocusd fights distractions

StayFocusd is a Google Chrome extension that helps Internet procrastinators focus on their work instead of browsing copious amounts of time-wasting material. This add-on is useful when you want to limit how much time you spend on a particular Web site, or even the entire Internet. StayFocusd is customizable and intuitive--it's simple to create detailed Web-surfing guidelines--but beware: this extension is harsh; make sure you really want to block your sites.

After downloading the add-on, a round blue icon will show up on the right-hand side of your address bar. While you are on the site that needs blocking, … Read more

The 404 381: Where we gotta stay positive

We always try our best to keep a positive mental attitude on The 404, so it makes sense that we've chosen The Hold Steady's latest album, "Stay Positive," as today's Audio Draft Pick. We also run through the accidental video game archive, shame the Guinness World Records, and warn our listeners about open manholes, literally.

Today's "Best Web site you've never seen" award goes to Derek Yu's Accidental Video Game Porn Archive that showcases sexual innuendos found in your favorite video games. It's an easy way to waste a few hours at work. They're all hilarious, but this Menage a Kong has got to be one of my favorites, with this Star Fox violation in a close second. I also like that Derek and I share the same last name--this Web site is totally something a Yu would do. Nice job, cuz!

We don't wag our fingers as much, but we have to scold the Guinness World Records for this record-breaking fail. One of the entries on its Web site awards the "Most Individuals Killed in a Terrorist Act" to the terrorists behind the attack on the World Trade Center towers and even invites viewers to "break this record."

Instead of immediately taking down the award, Guinness World Records compounded the fail by threatening legal action on the ICanHaz network for posting a screengrab that features the Guinness World Record logo without proper authorization. If that isn't a case of corporate cowardly B.S., I don't know what is. Daps to Fail Blog for their hilarious response complete with a Rick Roll at the end!

Jeff's pick for today's "Audio Draft," sponsored by Beck's Beer in conjunction with Last.FM, is Brooklyn local band The Hold Steady. In our own words, these guys sound like the aural lovechild of Bruce Springsteen, Social Distortion, Joe Strummer, and Billy Joel. The music combines various instruments (banjos, organ, piano, theremin) to produce a jamming rock theme, and then adds gruff vocals with epic storytelling lyrics to complete the circle.

The band's latest album, "Stay Positive," keeps the party going with a steady balance of hilarious stories from the road ("Sequestered in Memphis") and heartbreaking admissions of love lost, but not forgotten ("Lord, I'm Discouraged"). Check out the entire discography and let us know what you think in the comments!

(Last.fm is a part of CBS Interactive, which also publishes CNET News and Reviews.)

EPISODE 381 Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more

Program prioritizer

Actual Title Buttons aims to help users shuffle through their open windows. With a subtle interface and effective results, the only question is whether it actually improves upon Windows' own window management features.

Users may not notice this program immediately since it embeds itself in all open windows along the upper right corner where commands for closing, minimizing, and expanding a window normally hide. This program mimics those icons, but offers several more choices. Holding the cursor over each box easily reveals its function and should soon become intuitive to users after trying them out. While the program features a … Read more

Take this slow cooker to the party

One thing any real cook likes to do is share. Just try finding a recipe out there that "serves one." It's not going to happen. Consider the egg. A primary ingredient in many recipes, however, you never see "half an egg" called for. It's just easier to cook for more people. Therefore, it is second nature for cooks to want to share; we always have too much food around!

Sometimes sharing requires a little more effort than simply constructing a delicious meal. If there is a party in the planning, a meal has to … Read more

Write without distraction

JDarkRoom is a free, full-screen text editor that's designed to help you focus on your writing by eliminating distractions. When you open JDarkRoom, your screen goes completely black except for a blinking green cursor. By design, JDarkRoom gives you a limited feature set, with support for only basic word-processing functions such as cut, copy, paste, undo, and line and word count. JDarkRoom opens quickly (although not quite as quickly as Text Edit) and offers many options for fonts, auto-saving, and screen and type color. Its interface can take some getting used to (for example, it uses some nonstandard keystrokes, … Read more

App to reduce distraction

Isolator is a small, simple application designed to enhance your productivity by reducing visual distractions. Isolator can blur, cover up, or hide all other application windows and the dock, with a quick keystroke or by clicking on Isolator's icon in the menu bar.

You can set blur intensity, background color, opacity, and fade speed, and you can choose from several options for how Isolator is activated and whether it opens on start-up. The developer behind Isolator has done an excellent job of adding functionality in successive updates (like the blur effect and support for multiple monitors) while making sure … Read more