bond

You know a car is famous when a mere clone of it can fetch $300,000.

Such may be the scenario when an Aston Martin DB5 that isn't even connected to James Bond's goes online for bidding on March 12.

Liquidation house Eddison describes the car as "identical" in its "metallic silver grey" (ahem, that should be called "Silver Birch") and leather upholstery, which unfortunately is cordovan rather than the correct black. So much for "identical."

But even if this car trades on the Bond legacy like a distant cousin … Read more

There's nothing worse for a spy than being busted just because the voice recorder pen can't be used when the villain tries to sign a check. Which is probably why this lighter/video camera combination might work better--at least you can light a cigarette when you're feeling nervous.

The Lighter DVR from Ajoka is perfect for any Bond wannabe. It records VGA-quality (640x480-pixel) color videos with sound, and the battery can last up to six hours. The microSD slot accepts cards up to 8GB, which gives approximately eight hours of footage. The microphone and lens are hidden … Read more

The 404 had an all-around scattered Turkey Weekend that ended with Wilson getting Justin's deadly disease. With the show once again missing a host, we deflect the quantum of solace and invite MTI to chat it up about free flip flops, depressing holidays, Black Friday, and Japan's largest pseudo-orgy.

Straight up, I had a crappy Thanksgiving. What started off as a healthy month ended with a virus compounded by a upper respiratory tract infection and canceled dinner plans. Instead, I spent the holiday in a random E. Vill. diner with a friend, blowing snot into a trash bag full of tissues and generally wallowing in my own filth. But I'm not one to complain; actually, it was a lot of fun and best of all: no post-cookery dishes to wash! Sometimes things work out for the best, but we want to hear about your spoiled holiday plans. If you can top my depressing Thanksgiving story, leave us a voicemail @ 1866-404-CNET or e-mail it to us @ the404{[at]}cnet[dot]com. If we crown yours the saddest of all, we'll send you a copy of Shaun White Snowboarding signed by the man himself to make up for it! Good luck!

Despite the vaguely technical title, the latest James Bond installment, Quantum of Solace, is almost completely devoid of gadgets.

Gee-whiz gadgets have been a mainstay of the Bond oeuvre, from car ejection seats to lighters that convert into pistols, from watches with lasers to personal jetpacks. But with the "reboot" of the series starting with the last movie, Casino Royale, the filmmakers have dramatically downplayed the use of devices as deus-ex-machina methods of getting Bond out of a jam.

I saw QoS on Sunday night, and the only gadgets of significance that I noted were:

• A Minority … Read more

With Jeff on vacation and Justin dying of stomach herpes, Wilson is left alone to hold down The 404 fort. Mark Licea and Joey Kaminski join him today to talk about Quantum of Solace, Obama's BlackBerry, and ordering pizza from your TiVo.

Unfortunately, Wilson doesn't have the writing prowess of a one Justin Yu, but he'll do his best today to sum up what was a relatively disaster free show. First of all, he actually did pay attention to the chat room. So all you haters out there, Wilson can read. We also wish our second favorite Asian, J-Yu, a speedy recovery. We know we shouldn't have let him go home with that woman. Mark Licea joins the show to talk a bit about the latest Bond-movie and how kick ass it was. Mr. Kaminski chimes in on President-elect Barack Obama's BlackBerry addiction and its threat to national security. People keep on getting lazier, with cell phone airport check-in and ordering pizza from their TiVos. This, in turn, brings up memories of My Half-ton Dad on TLC. (Seriously people when you hit 400 lbs. put down the cheeseburger and see a doctor!)

Finally, the latest trailer for the new J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek comes out today. So for all your Trekkies out there, check your pants. It's already an order of magnitude more exciting than the craptastic Star Trek: Nemesis we got a few years ago. And we pay our respects to ValleyWag and Total Request Live. Only the former deserves our respect.

Among the many other problems with the latest James Bond film Quantum of Solace, I was particularly struck with its seemingly careless stance on technology.

While I know they're just movies, the Bond franchise films--like Ian Fleming's novels--have always been geopolitical snapshots of the time in which they were made.

According to this movie, the British are pinning their hopes on skillful driving and fisticuffs to get the job done, while those dabbling in high-tech solutions to solve world problems are off-the-mark.

As in Casino Royale, there is no Q. Apparently, in this Bond's world, MI6 does not arm its agents with insight and tools from teams of high-tech experts. The few gadgets used are pitifully unimaginative. (CNET News readers wrote in better gadget ideas.)

In Quantum of Solace, Bond has a cell phone he can use to call MI6 and give the name of a potential villain he's met. MI6 can look up the name and send a photo of the guy to Bond's cell phone to confirm it's the same guy. Guess what? I, too, can call a friend, have them look up a name, background, and photo; and have the info sent to my cell phone. So can millions of teenagers.… Read more

The Swedes, it seems, like to add a touch of flair to everything they do. Take Internet service provider Bahnhof's new underground high-security data center built in a former nuclear bomb shelter. Royal Pingdom says it looks like something a Bond villain would have for his headquarters, and I must agree. I think it looks like a combination of all the levels from the N64 game Goldeneye put together.

I want to live here.

Look at the amazing steam waterfall machines! They can be powered by German submarine engines! If that doesn't evoke Thunderball, I'm not sure what else could.

I haven't had a chance to see Quantum of Solace yet as it just opened Friday, but after looking at the amazing photos of the Stockholm structure after the jump, I'm not sure if I have to.… Read more

From tricked-out Aston Martins with passenger-ejector seats to ballpoint-pen grenades and fake nipples (no, really, go watch The Man With the Golden Gun), James Bond movies are known for their gadgetry.

And since Quantum of Solace opens Friday, we got to thinking: what would be the best product placement imaginable for a Bond film? We have a few ideas, but we might not have covered everything, so if you can think of the perfect tech promotion for a Bond flick, let us know in the Talkback section below.

Big thanks to snowboarding and skateboarding phenom Shaun White for dropping into the studio to help us beat up Wilson...verbally. He sticks around to introduce his new video game and tells us what it's like to wear a skin-tight motion-capture suit. He also spills about the perks of being a pro athlete, considers the possibilities of Olympic skateboarding, and recalls fond memories of massive 26 ounce steaks.

Everything that we've accomplished before today's show is total garbage, and now that Shaun White has left the studio, it can only go downhill from here, but we're satisfied to hit our peak at 228 episodes. Just kidding, folks, but we are super psyched to welcome Shaun White to the show! He kicks off the show talking to us about his new video game Shaun White Snowboarding. Jeff actually had a chance to play the game and he definitely gives it his seal of approval, so be sure to check it out! It's not very often we have a professional snowboarder at the CNET offices, so we ask Shaun a few pressing questions: What's his favorite hill? Did he choose the music for the game? Why doesn't he hate Sublime? These are just a few of the hard hitting bangers we throw at Mr. White.

Unfortunately, Shaun's a busy guy so he jets during the break, but we had a great time with him today, as evidenced by our total broner for him after the interview. Keep listening to the show for a chance to win a copy of Shaun White Snowboarding signed by the man himself. After all the dust settles, we finally get into the weekend box office with a lot of talk about the new Bond and the Resident Evil movie. Note that Jeff Bakalar will not be present throughout next week's shows, so prepare yourself for lots of weird Asian news and maybe even a special appearance from THE V.*.G.!

Be sure to stream or download the podcast below for the entire show!