bad

GameDr destroys recreation of youth

Parents, I've found a device that you will love and your children will hate. Just don't tell them you heard it from me, I have my geek cred to look out for. It's an evil video game timer called the GameDr.

It attaches to the power plug on your kid's console via a combination lock. Then you can program the amount of time left until it kills the power, losing your child's progress, and making him or her resent you. It will give them 10- then 1-minute warnings, so that's something.

Sure, they'll … Read more

What does good sound sound like?

Editors' note, October 3, 2012: This is an update of a poll from May 16, 2009.

I recently visited EarsNova, a high-end store in NYC, and heard one of the best-sounding hi-fis in my experience. The store's big Rockport Technologies speakers, Constellation Audio amplifiers, and dCS Digital gear reached beyond merely reproducing music, and with my eyes closed, the music sounded as close to lifelike as I've heard. The sound floated free of the speakers; it was effortlessly clear. The illusion worked best with orchestral music, but a few purely acoustic singer-songwriter CDs were almost as palpably realistic. And that's the goal: blurring the line between hi-fi and real, live music; that's what great sound sounds like to me. Lifelike rock recordings are harder to pull off, mostly because they almost always are so heavily processed and compressed they can't sound realistic.

You don't need to be an audiophile to hear the difference between average-sounding and great-sounding recordings, but you do have to listen. Really listen.

First try this experiment and set a benchmark: Listen to someone playing an acoustic guitar, in your room. Then play a recording of an acoustic guitar. Notice any difference in the sound quality between the two? Yeah, it's not even close. If your real, live guitar player can sing, next compare the sound of that person's voice to the recording's vocal. The recording's singer will most likely sound small, tonally thin, like the voice is coming out of tiny boxes. It might be hard to tell the singer has a flesh-and-blood body connected to that voice. The live guitar sounds big and clear -- very clear -- without any edge or harshness. Few recordings of guitar sound like the real thing.

My point here is to first establish a standard of what good sound sounds like to me. I like recordings that sound realistic. After all, if the musician on the record is playing a Gretsch Synchromatic 400 Acoustic Archtop guitar, I'd like to hear its unique sound. But if the producer and engineer recorded the Gretsch through a pickup instead of a microphone, equalized its sound, compressed its dynamic range, added digital reverb, and processed it to death -- there won't be much left to the Gretsch's sound. Then it's just a generic guitar, which is why I would describe the sound of the recording as "bad." … Read more

Top 5 Worst downloads

Seth Rosenblatt is a hero. Amongst the editors of CNET's Download.com, only he braved the very dregs of the worst software submitted to Download.com for availability to the public. Through his intrepid activity you benefit in three ways.

One, you can watch the five downloads to avoid in action during the video of our top 5. Two, you also get the chance to win a miniature digital picture frame, to which you can upload pictures. Three, you get a bonus blog post from Seth himself, explaining just why he picked each of these horrible examples of software. … Read more

The 404 315: Where we undo our top button

Yeah, we're not sure what the title of our show means today, but it's what happens when you let the chat room run the show. We think they want us to take off our clothes. Anyway, we're back to our old antics today: Bittr, Wii, Wolverine, iPhone, and pedometers.

As you can see, Slate.com already stole our idea for a skit mocking Twitter. We were going to shoot a video about a one-character status update. Some times, "F" is the only character that describes exactly how we're feeling at the moment.

On today's show, we talk a bit about how Nintendo is almost literally printing money with its Wii console. Apparently, it costs Nintendo 45 percent less to make a Wii than when it first came out. Nintendo is also trying to make more bank by releasing a pedometer, a device that measures foot steps--not an alarm for child predators. Also, we've got some info on a new iPhone app called Bad Decision Blocker that blocks your ability to make drunk phone calls. Seriously, though, if you need an iPhone app to stop you from making drunk calls, you need to 1) stop drinking 2) leave your phone at home, and 3) go see a therapist about your lingering girlfriend issues.

Finally, we get to our favorite "It came from Fox News!" segment. This time around, a Fox News commentator was fired for reviewing a pirated copy of the new "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" movie. Yeah, smart one. Fortunately, Jeff stopped selling DVDs of "Two and a Half Men" a few months ago. And a reminder, please call in with your most death-defying story to win your copy of "To the End of the Death: Our Epic Journey to the North Pole and the Legend of Peary and Henson" by our guest, Tom Avery. Yeah, long, long title.

EPISODE 315 Download today's podcast |  Subscribe in iTunes |  Subscribe in RSS… Read more

Poll: The most atrocious-sounding music

Iffy sound quality isn't a new problem. Bad sound can't directly be blamed on digital, analog, vinyl, CD, or even MP3. Those are release formats; the quality of the recording itself is what I'm talking about.

Granted, personal taste plays a big part in defining good or bad sound. For every person who says the sound is clear and detailed, there's another who thinks it's ragged and harsh.

That said, the trend of late is toward spitty distortion, the kind that obscures the sound of the vocals and instruments, and buries them in grunge. I'm not opposed to grit that adds an edge to music, but I can't stand recordings made by people who either don't know what they're doing or are too deaf to notice the error of their ways.

Bob Dylan, of all people, agrees with me.

"You listen to these modern records--they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like--static," Dylan said in a Rolling Stone interview with Jonathan Lethem in September 2006.

He's not just referring to other people's records; he included his own record, "Modern Times," in his rant: "Even these songs probably sounded 10 times better in the studio when we recorded 'em." I believe Dylan. That album was a blurry wall of sound. You can hardly hear individual instruments.

The worst recording of 2009 so far--it's still early--is the Heartless Bastards' "The Mountain" CD. It's too bad because I really like the music. It rocks hard, and I love Erika Wennerstrom's strange voice, but there's severe distortion whenever she sings loud.

The distortion was so incredibly annoying that my speakers' tweeters sounded broken. If the distortion just appeared on the hard-edged, bluesier numbers, I might have thought that it was intentional, but the sound was just as ragged on "So Quiet," in which Wennerstrom is accompanied by violin. … Read more

Tail Fins!

Nothing quite says "1950s' excess" like huge tail fins. Well, except maybe for acres of bright, shiny jukebox chrome. And exaggerated bumper bullets. No comparable trick has been used in automotive styling, except perhaps the picnic table-sized wings that were in vogue on cars like the Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo a few years back.

Oversize wings besotted somewhat a smaller number of cars than the fins of 50 years before, but both fashions stem from motorsports. Hey, if it looks like it won on Sunday, maybe it'll sell on Monday...

Today, most varieties of pure … Read more

WiiWare and Virtual Console releases for this week

This week brings us the next episode in the Strong Bad saga, a kahuna part, and a classic arcade racer from Sega. WiiWare Strong Bad Episode 5: 8-Bit Is Enough (Telltale Games, 1,000 Wii points): Is it episode 5 already? The fifth installment of the game based on the lovable flash cartoon characters is ready for download on WiiWare. Big Kahuna Party (Reflexive Entertainment Inc., 700 Wii points): Big Kahuna Party is a family-oriented collection of minigames with a kahuna theme. The game offers more than 100 levels to play through, all with varying difficulty. Virtual Console Enduro Racer (… Read more

Bread Bag makes for warm rolls at the table

I never met a bread I didn't like. From French, rye, or sourdough, all the way through to the mysterious-sounding pumpernickel, bread has been a delicious and nutritious staple in my life. Even that squishy white stuff once had a place in my heart (although I was a kid then).

With a life-long affinity towards grainy goodness, I tend to notice bread-related products when they a-rise. (Sorry). This Bread Bag from Uma is simple in nature, but elegant in execution. With four magnets along the opening, the bag can be closed to keep bread warm at the table. This … Read more

WiiWare and Virtual Console releases for this week

This week brings us the third episode of the Strong Bad games along with a classic title from the 16-bit era starring everyone's favorite platforming earthworm.

WiiWare Strong Bad Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands (Telltale Games, 1,000 Wii points): The third episode of the series of games adapted from Homestarrunner.com puts Strong Bad in a battle of the bands competition. Guide him and The Cheat to rock victory. Art Style: ROTOHEX (Nintendo, 600 Wii points): Twist and turn triangles as they fall from the sky into hexagons. Enjoy two modes of play along with special item … Read more