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The 404 656: Where we vote yes on virtual girlfriends (podcast)

It's not too late to enter the JetBlue All You Can Jet Giveaway! You only have until 12 p.m. PDT to tweet out this message:

Follow @the404 and RT this for a chance to win 1 of 2 #AllYouCanJet @JetBlue passes. Rules: http://bit.ly/dodRKs #AYCJ

Don't forget that you have to be at least 18 years old and a resident of the United States to enter. We'll tweet a congratulatory message at 3 p.m. EDT today to announce the winners. Good luck!

Apple's yearly iPod and iTunes event goes down tomorrow and we've got plenty of predictions (and dreams) for what Apple will show off. We'll likely see a "Retina display" and a forward-facing camera come to the iPod Touch devices, but Wilson's hoping for a revamped Apple TV that could bring iOS 4, an A4 chip, 1080p playback, 16GB of storage, and a $99 "impulse" price tag.

Check out our Crave poll, submit your own predictions, and don't forget to check back with us tomorrow for official news!

This summer, a hot-springs resort in Atami, Japan, became a vacation destination for men who just can't stand being single. For almost two months, the resort offered players of the dating sim Love Plus Plus a physical location to bring their virtual girlfriends.

Once there, the players visited romantic locations and took pictures next to black-and-white markers on the ground that acted as triggers for the corresponding augmented-reality smartphone app. In real life, it looks like the men posed by themselves, but the app inserted a picture of their virtual girlfriends to simulate companionship. As the only single dude on the show, it's apparently my job to investigate this matter in greater detail, so see you in Japan!

What's with everyone just throwing away animals? First there was the security camera clip of a British woman trashing a cat, and now LiveLinks just posted a video of a young girl chucking puppy after adorable puppy into a river! Luckily, we can rely on the vigilante justice of 4Chan's /b/ thread to come to the rescue in both cases.

The infamous message board is on the hunt to reveal the identity of said puppy-chucker, and they've already narrowed down the location of the river to a city in Croatia; they even found two potential Facebook profiles that match her description, although it could be anyone. She's around 5 feet 7 inches tall, blond, and Caucasian...nevertheless, we're confident that they'll bring the culprit to justice. Just don't hurt us!

Again, there's only one hour left to add us on Twitter (add Jeff, Wilson, and Justin while you're at it) and tweet out the bolded message up there for your chance to win one of two All You Can Jet prizes, courtesy of JetBlue! Good luck to everyone entering. We can't wait to see where you go!

Episode 656 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

What do you want Apple to unveil Wednesday? (poll)

As some of you know by now, Apple is hosting a "special event" Wednesday, September 1, 2010, to unveil something--perhaps several somethings.

According to the rumor mill, Apple might take the wraps off an iPad with a 7-inch screen or a new-and-improved version of the Apple TV--which many people are guessing the company will call the iTV.

Traditionally, September is Apple's iPod refresh month, so the chances are good that we'll see a new Touch, and possibly a new Nano or Shuffle as well. And what of iTunes? Will Apple finally do something with the Lala music-streaming service it acquired last year? … Read more

Amazon releases two free Kindle games

Not too long ago Barnes & Noble added free Chess and Sudoko games to its Nook e-reader and now Amazon has followed suit with a couple of free Kindle games.

Amazon's games, Every Word and Shuffled Row, are word games that are sort of versions of single-player speed Scrabble. Though they're more brainy than action-oriented due to the sluggish nature of E-ink screens, both have timed modes that raise the level of intensity (you use the Kindle's built-in keyboard to input words).

To add the titles to your Kindle, you simply purchase them in the Kindle Store … Read more

Get a 2GB iPod Shuffle knockoff for $9.99

If you like the looks of Apple's latest iPod Shuffle but don't like the $59 price tag, here's a deal you'll love: today only, Daily Checkout has a 2GB iPod Shuffle knockoff for $9.99. Shipping adds another five bucks.

Note the word "knockoff." Although this player (which bears the moniker Shuffle) looks and functions an awful lot like Apple's version, it doesn't have the latter's VoiceOver feature (which I never much cared for anyway). It doesn't sync with iTunes, either.

It does have 2GB of storage (enough to hold … Read more

Get a 2GB iPod Shuffle knockoff for $9.16

Sorry to follow Monday's iPod deal with another MP3 player, but this one seemed too good to pass up.

TigerDirect has the iPod Shuffle-inspired Mach Speed Eclipse 2GB MP3 player for $4.99, plus $4.17 for ground shipping. That's after a $10 mail-in rebate (PDF).

Now, here's where it could get interesting. I received an e-mail this morning with an embedded coupon code that knocks the price to $0 (again, after rebate and plus shipping). I don't know if that'll work for everyone else or not, but definitely give it a try. Best case: … Read more

The iPad's hidden shuffle

The iPod music app on the iPad is an odd crossbreed of Apple's iTunes interface and the playback capabilities of the iPhone and iPod Touch. In some ways, it excels beyond either interface, delivering a lightening-fast version of iTunes or a more jukebox-like version of the iPod experience.

But when Apple spliced the DNA of iTunes and the iPod to create the iPad's music player, it buried one of the most useful features of both products: shuffle.

It seems a little odd that Apple would turn its back on a playback feature so popular--the company named a product … Read more

A 3D classic bar game done right

10 Pin Shuffle Lite is a preview version of 10 Pin Shuffle, a physics-based shuffleboard simulator with polished graphics and a convincing interface.

The interface is simple but subtle: you look down the length of a traditional, barroom shuffleboard table, with a realistically rendered shuffleboard weight in front of you. You have a number of options for positioning and shooting the weight, with left and right arrows that slide the weight laterally, and another pair of arrows that let you rotate your aim to the left or right. You can also just tap and drag the weight into position, and … Read more

Multiple-shot photos and 3D Shuffleboard: iPhone apps of the week

With almost 150,000 apps in the iTunes App Store, it shouldn't come as a surprise that some apps have slipped under my radar. Though it's embarrassing to admit, some of my great app discoveries happened only because I read about them long after their release, or I had a friend pull out their iPhone and say, "You mean you've never tried 'X'?" But I think that's part of what is so fun about owning an iPhone: you virtually never stop discovering new things you can do with it even if the app isn'… Read more

Three more deals to make up for this morning's sellout

I know most of you understand that the very best deals -- like this morning's quad-core desktop for $279.99 -- don't originate with me. They circulate all over the Web, and are therefore quite likely to sell out. Critical mass and all that.

Doesn't make it any less frustrating, though. (Accusing me of bait-and-switch tactics doesn't help, by the way. What exactly am I "switching," here?)

Anyway, I don't want to leave your deal-lust unfulfilled, so here are three more mighty sweet bargains to consider:

1) OfficeMax once again has the splendid … Read more