The 404 694- Where all kids in the future wear their pants inside out (podcast)

The 404 694: Where all kids in the future wear their pants inside out (podcast)
For example, cops in the 21st century may not have scrolling LED hats, but walk into any mall and you'll see a dude walking around in an LED message belt buckle. Same goes for bar code license plates and modern vehicle identification numbers.Be sure to check to see if your local movie theater is screening the movie tonight at 7 p.m., exactly 25 years from when Marty first went back in time!Halloween is coming up fast, and the holiday wouldn't be complete without the annual American tradition of forcing your dog to wear uncomfortable costumes for the enjoyment of others. On Saturday I attended the yearly Halloween dog parade in Tompkins Square Park, so check out that link to see some of the funnier costumes, like the "Tron" console, a couple of bedbugs, and my favorite: Antoine Dogson.In other nerdly news, 23-year-old Brittney Schnecks just finished rebuilding her 1994 Dodge Caravan to look exactly like the Ninja Turtles van from the comic book/cartoon series!A dedicated fan of the original TV series, Brittney has been building the van since last July using money she saved at her cashier's job. She used a Dodge Caravan instead of a VW due to availability of parts, but the final outcome looks great and even includes fake gun turrets, a spoiler, and hand-painted decals!Finally, thanks to the two Zachs and Jennifer in the U.K. for sending the following video voicemails. We love watching these, so keep them coming by sending your YouTube link to the404(at)cnet.com!Jenny from the U.K. has a message for the dudes.Zach thinks The 404 is the best...we agree!Episode 694PodcastYour browser does not support the audio element. Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) |Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video  Follow us on Twitter!The 404Jeff BakalarJustin YuWilson TangAdd us on Facebook!The 404 Fan PageThe 404 GroupJustin YuJeff BakalarWilson Tang


Now playing- Adobe Media Player 1.0

Now playing: Adobe Media Player 1.0
Clarification: Adobe TV is one of many channels available from the Adobe catalog.Adobe Systems on Wednesday plans to release Adobe Media Player (AMP), a free download for playing Flash-based Web videos on Macs or PCs. (Get it from Download.com for Windows or Mac.)Written with Adobe's AIR, AMP is a hybrid online/offline application that lets people subscribe to different video Webcasts. Adobe has signed on some initial partners including CBS, PBS, MTV Networks, Universal Music Group, CondeNet, and Scripps Networks. (See my colleague Rafe Needleman's review of AMP on Webware.)The videos are either streamed from the content producer's Web site or they can be downloaded. Adobe will host a catalog on its site where people can find videos, including one on Adobe-related content called Adobe TV. Because it's written with AIR, people can be offline or online when they watch.Initially, many of the videos available will have advertising attached to them. Using Adobe's digital rights management server, content producers are able to put controls on their media.Later, Adobe intends to enhance the client software so that different business models can be used, such as paying to download a video or renting videos, said Ashley Still, a senior product manager at Adobe.There are already a number of existing media players, like iTunes.But Adobe thinks that having its own player will be strategic for a number of reasons, Still said.PBS is one of the content partners to use the Adobe Media Player.AdobeAdobe is trying to garner more revenue from online services; the company will be sharing revenue from advertising with content producers.The player complements Adobe's multimedia content-creation multimedia products and Adobe wants to make sure there is a high-quality way to deliver that video to consumers, Still said."This is the first time Adobe is participating directly in the playback of Internet video content," she said.With the 1.0 version, the player will only display Flash content, but Adobe could add support for other formats, Still said.


Facebook Messenger- Reach out to friends, contacts (podcast)

Facebook Messenger: Reach out to friends, contacts (podcast)
Facebook's new standalone Messenger appfor iPhone and Android is designed to help you reach out to Facebook friends or people in your mobile contact list in what Facebook spokesperson Meredith Chin described as a "fast and easy way." Facebook spokesperson Meredith Chin The app can be used to reach out to a single friend or a group of friends but you have to select each member of the group individually. It doesn't support the "group" or "list" functions in Facebook that make it possible to post messages to entire groups on the Facebook Web site. It does, however, allow people who receive messages to add their friends, according to Chin.As an example, Chin (scroll down to listen to the full interview) talked about a group of people wanting to see a movie together. "You can add all these people to a conversation on Facebook Messenger," she said, "and you can coordinate in real time who's going to meet where and where you guys are sitting."The release of Facebook Messenger comes at the same time that some British politicians are asking for the suspension of the use of BlackBerry Messenger in London because of the role BBM has reportedly played in helping coordinate rioting and looting. One concern expressed by some is that BBM messages are anonymous, password-protected, and hard to trace, With Facebook Messenger, all messages are associated with the "real name" the sender used when signing up with Facebook. The messages will only go to the people who are part of the conversation and won't be posted on your Facebook profile, according to Chin. Listen nowYour browser does not support the audio element.Subscribe now:iTunes (audio) | RSS (audio)


Facebook Gifts is laid to rest

Facebook Gifts is laid to rest
Facebook already wounded its Gifts service last year when it stopped selling physical goods and went with only gift cards, and now it's letting the entire feature go to the grave. The social network confirmed Tuesday that Gifts will be no more."We'll be using everything we learned from Gifts to explore new ways to help businesses and developers drive sales on the web, on mobile, and directly on Facebook," a spokesperson told CNET.Gifts was launched in September 2012 as a way for users to buy real gifts for friends through the social network. The gifts -- which included items like cupcakes, stuffed animals, fresh flowers, and even a bacon-of-the-month-club membership -- came from more than 100 retail partners. Related storiesFacebook stops peddling physical gifts (no one wants)Send your Facebook friends real gifts through their TimelinesFacebook launches Facebook Card, a reusable gift cardFacebook tests 'buy' button on adsLess than a year after it opened up its gift shop, however, Facebook announced it would no longer sell physical goods. Instead, the social network started filling the shelves of its Web and mobile marketplace with digital gift cards from companies like Starbucks, Target, and Apple's iTunes store.It's apparent the Gifts service wasn't doing much for the company. So, a refocus on helping businesses boost their sales -- rather than being an online marketplace itself -- might seem to make sense. However, Facebook isn't giving up on product sales entirely. Earlier this month, the company announced it was testing a "Buy" button that lets users purchase items through ads they see on their feeds. Instead of sending users to merchants' websites, Facebook will take care of the purchases directly within its network. Facebook's Gifts service is officially shuttering August 12. Those people who have outstanding gifts will still be able to redeem them after that date.


Samsung reigns with 30% of Q4 smartphone shipments

Samsung reigns with 30% of Q4 smartphone shipments
Samsung was the clear leader in the smartphone market last quarter, according to new data from Juniper Research.The research firm today reported that Samsung shipped 63 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, accounting for 30 percent of all shipments worldwide during the period. Apple came in second with 47.8 million sold. Most companies report shipments into the retail channel. Apple, however, reports total sales, which is why Juniper was forced to interchange those measures.Apple and Samsung have easily separated themselves from the rest of the mobile pack. Nokia was only able to ship 6.6 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, while RIM is estimated to have shipped 6.7 million smartphones during that time.Still, the smartphone market as a whole had a huge 2012, according to Juniper, with 671 million smartphones shipping last year. That figure was up nearly 42 percent year over year and includes over 200 million smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter alone.Juniper wasn't the only research firm chiming in on the smartphone market. Research firm IDC reported today that based on its checks, 219.4 million smartphones shipped last quarter. Samsung led the way with 63.7 million shipments and 29 percent market share, IDC said, and Apple nabbed 21.8 percent of the market on its sales. As with Juniper, IDC reported a stellar fourth quarter for smartphone makers. IDC estimates 219.4 million smartphones shipped during the period, up 36.4 percent compared to the 160.8 million that shipped in the fourth quarter of 2011.Meanwhile, Strategy Analytics yesterday reported worldwide shipments of 700 million smartphones last year -- also noting the dominance of Samsung and Apple.


Samsung pulls Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet from IFA booth

Samsung pulls Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet from IFA booth
Samsung has yanked its Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet from the show floor at the IFA consumer-electronics confab in Berlin after Apple received an injunction against the device to go with an earlier ban on sales and marketing of the larger Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany.Intellectual-property blog Foss Patents reported the news of the removal yesterday, speculating that it had to do with the 10.1 injunction or a newly issued ban specific to the 7.7. Bloomberg today confirmed the issuance of the 7.7 ban.The 7.7 had been on display at IFA on Friday bearing a sticker that read "Not for sale in Germany."According to Bloomberg, Samsung representative James Chung said the ban on the 7.7 was issued Friday. "Samsung respects the court's decision," the news service quoted Chung as saying, adding that he said Samsung believes the court order "severely limits consumer choice in Germany." Bloomberg said Apple did not immediately comment.Apple was granted the preliminary injunction on sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 last month by a court in Dusseldorf. The ban originally applied to nearly all European Union countries, but the court later limited the injunction's scope to just Germany, saying it had no jurisdiction over other nations.Apple claims Samsung ripped off technology and design details from the iPad in developing the Galaxy Tab (which Samsung denies), and the two companies have been engaged in a sue-me, sue-you struggle.Foss Patents also reported on Saturday that Samsung had removed the Galaxy Tab 7.7 from its German Web site. And blog This Is My Next posted before-and-after photos showing that Samsung had scraped 7.7-related decals from its IFA booth.Note: This story was originally published on September 3. It has been updated and republished to reflect the Bloomberg report.


Samsung plans Apple-OK'd Galaxy Tab Down Under

Samsung plans Apple-OK'd Galaxy Tab Down Under
Apple Inc. filed a complaint with the Federal Court of Australia involving a Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 variant that Samsung Electronics had no plans of selling in Australia. No injunction was issued by the court and the parties in the case reached a mutual agreement which stipulates that the variant in question will not be sold in Australia.A Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 for the Australian market will be released in the near future.This undertaking does not affect any other Samsung smartphone or tablet available in the Australian market or other countries.Samsung will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communication business. That statement obviously does not go into detail about what changes will be made to that device in order to keep Apple from going on the legal offensive once again.Yesterday Bloomberg reported that Samsung agreed to provide Apple three samples of its tablet ahead of it going on sale, which Apple can review to make sure there's no violation of its intellectual property, including patented technology or design and trademark flourishes. The original dispute between the two companies began with a lawsuit filed by Apple against Samsung in the U.S. back in April. In that suit, Apple alleged that Samsung was violating its intellectual property in the design of its mobile devices, specifically the Galaxy series smartphones and tablets, and other smartphones. Samsung later countersued against Apple, saying the company was infringing on multiple patents.


Samsung may have let slip Apple's iPad Mini plans

Samsung may have let slip Apple's iPad Mini plans
Samsung may have accidentally spilled the beans on Apple's plans to sell a smaller iPad. By the end of the year, Apple will release an iPad with a 7.85-inch screen, according to a report from the Korea Times, which cited an unnamed Samsung official. The disclosure comes with Apple just days away from releasing the new iPad, which has an enhanced resolution display, but remains the same 10-inch size as previous models. Steve Jobs had previously dismissed the size and usability of a 7-inch tablet, saying it was too small to be used as a touchscreen tablet device.Still, with the success of the lower cost Amazon Kindle Fire, which is a 7-inch tablet, Apple may look to get into that segment of the market as well. A rumored iPad Mini, which is what it is referred to in tech circles, was among the announcements people had hoped for when Apple announced the iPad last week. Samsung's comments, meanwhile, illustrate the strong ties between it and Apple despite their ongoing legal dispute. The executive said Apple's contract would rise to $11 billion by the end of the year, based on demand for the various components Samsung supplies. Samsung supplies the processor (which Apple designs), LTE chips, and solid-state storage drives to various Apple products. Apple bought $7.8 billion worth of parts from Samsung in 2011, the report says. The bipolar relationship underscores the size of Samsung, whose various units as like separate multinational corporations in their own right. Samsung will also supply new LCD screen technology for the smaller iPads, the report said, and is currently in talks to have its LCDs go into the next iPhone. Hands on Apple's new iPad (photos)See full gallery1 - 4 / 23NextPrev


Samsung loses bid to lift U.S. sales ban against Galaxy Tab

Samsung loses bid to lift U.S. sales ban against Galaxy Tab
A U.S. judge today rejected Samsung's appeal of a preliminary injunction against U.S. sales of its Galaxy Tab 10.1, according to Reuters.U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh granted an Apple request last week for a preliminary injunction against the Android-powered tablet, largely considered a front-runner to challenge the iPad. Samsung had asked the court to suspend the order pending resolution of an appeal.While Apple has already posted a $2.6 million bond as required to initiate the injunction, that doesn't necessarily mean sales of the tablet will immediately cease in the U.S. Samsung has also appealed the injunction to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a Washington, D.C. court that specializes in intellectual property disputes.CNET has contacted Apple and Samsung for comment and will update this report when we learn more.Apple has been trying desperately to secure a U.S. ban on Samsung's tablet since April 2011, when it filed a lawsuit in California accusing the Korea-based electronics giant of copying "the look and feel" of its iPad tablet and iPhone smartphone. Apple scored a win last October when Koh ruled that Samsung's line of Galaxy tablets infringe on Apple's patents. Samsung, meanwhile, has fired back with its own patent-related claims against Apple. In addition to the U.S., the battle has touched down in Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, parts of Asia, France, and Italy. Samsung is also fighting an Apple-requested preliminary injunction against its Galaxy Nexus phone. The company filed an appeal of the order with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that seeks a stay of the injunction for the duration of the appeal.