Opinion

Chances are, you've sat through a few Siri commercials. A man gets instant traffic updates in his car. A boy gets the news that it's going to snow. A teenager pulls together a garage band rehearsal and gets Siri to call him "Rock God."

In real life, Siri sometimes takes awhile to think of an answer. Sometimes, it doesn't understand what the user is trying to say. Strong accents can be a challenge. Sometimes, its answers are wrong. Sometimes, it works just fine.

One iPhone 4S buyer in California was disappointed and frustrated enough recently … Read more

The iPad reviews are in, and today we'll take a closer study of the common complaints made by tech pundits around the Web. Collective criticisms run from the lack of FaceTime over LTE to longer charging time and juice for the larger battery to a 7 percent thickness increase over the previous model.

It's not all about Apple, though. We'll also tell you about how a home-energy monitoring Android app helped a father bust his teenage daughter's secret Project-X house party, show off a laser un-printer that could help save the trees, and examine a Kickstarter campaign to fund an iPhone case with a built-in wall plug!… Read more

QR codes were effective when there was no context surrounding them. If you saw one subtly stickered below an enigmatic poster, there was an incentive to do some research and figure out what was going on. It was like a secret game. Now QR codes are no longer cool. They're everywhere. Corporations have stripped them of their street cred and now they're the advertorial equivalent of getting a "like" from your grandmother on Facebook. … Read more

A worldwide zombie invasion is the perfect hypothetical setting for survivalist tips, and Jeff and I can't help but explore a few of them after watching this week's episode of "The Walking Dead."

After we get that out our system, the rest of today's rundown consists of AOL laying off the majority of its AIM unit, waving goodbye to the printed Encyclopedia Britannica, and a city in the U.K. shaming away loitering youth with pink lighting that exposes acne.… Read more

We're able to peel CNET television Editor Ty Pendlebury's eyes away from the Sharp 80-inch smart TV he's reviewing right now to sit down with us for a show about language translation apps, overused QR codes, Batman impersonators, and more.… Read more

The sun is starting to show itself to the East Coast, which means you probably won't see Jeff outside without a hat, sunglasses, and industrial-strength sunscreen.

Joseph Kaminski hangs out in the studio with us this morning and helps us with the rundown that includes rumors about the next Xbox, a review of Mass Effect 3, and homeless 4G hot spots at SWSW 2012.… Read more

On today's show, you'll learn how Apple is manipulating the naming devices of network technology to convince users they're getting "4G" speeds, the final sale of the original house in the "Home Alone" movies, and how something called "The QWERTY effect" can spot nuances in language.

We're also giving away five codes for the game Mighty Switch Force for the Nintendo 3DS. To enter, just add The 404, Jeff, and Justin on Twitter and tweet us your favorite 404 episode from 2012 with #4043DS. We'll select five winners at random on Monday!… Read more

What did you think of the new-iPad announcement? Impressed? Confused? Uncertain? Sure, the unveil may not have had the bells and whistles of previous Apple keynotes, but when your company is trading at more than $500 a share, you don't want to fix something that isn't broken. … Read more

Apple announced the new iPad yesterday in San Francisco, and with the reactions ranging from disappointment up to stores already running out of stock, Ty Pendlebury joins us today to give his take on the amped-up display, the updated nomenclature, and a rundown of the new iOS 5.1 features.

We'll also talk about Netflix coming out of your cable box, a new Sim City announcement, and a quick review of The Simpsons: Tapped Out.… Read more