dead

Despite a bleak economic outlook, 2009 saw the release of some incredible new Web services. But every year--recession or no recession--there are always a few sites that close their doors.

We've highlighted 15 sites that ceased operations over the course of the year. A number of them came from big companies like Google and Yahoo--the latter of which did some major restructuring in 2008 that left it with new leadership and a leaner, meaner mentality towards cutting things that just weren't working. Others were simply ideas that needed a little more time and money, but couldn't get … Read more

If you've ever sat around with friends and mourned the death of the mixtape, you'll certainly appreciate the first half of today's episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast. While Jeff was at home for the break, he stumbled upon a a collection of old cassette tapes including the Cool Side/Awesome Side mix you see up there. It's got a solid collection of '90s hits including "Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows, Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun," and, of course, "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

I spy "Crazy" and something that starts with "Livin...," which I can only assume to be Britney Spears and Ricky Martin. Just kidding, Jeff, but seriously--we've all pulled some pretty embarrassing stunts in a pathetic attempt to win a girl's heart, so stick around to witness the humiliation.

Speaking of death, we're (kind of) sad to see the demise of the CrunchPad. The brainchild of TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and Fusion Garage, the CrunchPad was supposed to be an aluminum tablet computer with a 12-inch LCD screen running Ubuntu Linux and Webkit browser. Unfortunately, Arrington reported today that the CrunchPad project is officially dead. We're disappointed that we'll never be able to test the product ourselves, but we're sure that Arrington has something else up his sleeve.

We imagine that a lot of you guys will be traveling by plane for the holiday season, but what if you were forced to hand over your iPod to security agents to check it for pirated music at the airport? Sounds like a nightmare, but Wilson tells us that the Australian government is apparently proposing a plan to search iPods and other MP3 players for illegally downloaded songs, punishable by heavy fines or even jail time!

From a technological stand point, we're not even sure how the government plans on checking for purchased vs. bootlegged music. At the end of the day, it's always comforting to know that you'll NEVER get busted for listening to The 404, and isn't that the most important thing?

Earlier this week, Asus unveiled a 15-inch laptop with Nvidia's 3D Vision technology built in. The $1,699 Asus G51J 3D has a 120Hz LCD panel, an Intel Core i7 CPU, and a high-end Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M GPU, and comes bundled with a pair of Nvidia's active glasses and the USB-powered IR emitter required to make the glasses work.

We've just had a chance to take the system for a test drive, and came away largely impressed with the results, especially compared with Acer's Aspire 5738DG, a 3D laptop that uses a pair of passive … Read more

Last week's launch of a certain game may have eclipsed the first-person shooter landscape for some time, but there are other gripping, visceral shooting experiences to be had at the tail end of 2009. Last year's Left 4 Dead found Valve adapting its skill at multiplayer online gaming to a co-op grindhouse-style horror genre, one in which cooperation played more of a factor than lone-dog competitiveness. While the original Left 4 Dead had only four campaigns and was a chiefly online experience, it sustained some criticism for being too short and for not having more multiplayer modes.

The new Left 4 Dead (we played the Xbox 360 version) has only five campaigns--one more than the original--but they proceed through much larger, far more interesting zones, all set in the deep South. Heavy thunderstorms, a bizarre carnival, and lots of swampy backwaters add great environments. On top of that the game features additional infected zombie types, weapons, and items to acquire, all of which make the game more unpredictable and diverse--our one complaint with the original was that it started to get a little repetitive over time. Shoulder-riding Jockeys are the best of the new, while fast and cruel Chargers seem to pummel too quickly. The new Infected can also be controlled in Versus mode, adding new playable characters.

Also new are a collection of chainsaws, frying pans, and other hard-core bludgeoning weapons. They aren't always the most efficient tools, but they feel great to use and can cut through Left 4 Dead 2's zombie swarms better than rifle-butting. There are also new items like the adrenaline boost to speed up play.

We had as much fun, or more, playing the sequel than we did the original, although the graphics and general feel don't fall far from the zombie tree.… Read more

Russ Frushtick from MTV's Multiplayer blog joins us on today's episode of The 404 Podcast to give us the rundown of this month's upcoming video game releases, but first we have to give a quick head nod to the Yankees for winning the World Series and, of course, Matsui for coming through with the MVP of the series.

Also, were you as annoyed with the lame tech commercials during the game as we were? Between James Cameron's upcoming flop "Avatar" that looks like a 2-hour video game cut scene, the new Droid phone ripping Apple apart, and the rather malicious new Mac ads practically lying about past versions of Windows, we could barely watch the game!

Next, we run down a list of near-extinct tech that just won't seem to go away. The list includes items like the landline telephone, Twitter, vinyl, fax machines, Windows XP, and Sonic the Hedgehog, and although we agree with most of them, how are people supposed to send sandwiches to loved ones without a fax machine?

By far, the highlight of today's episode comes toward the tail end of the show during our classic Calls From the Public segment, where Jeff is the reluctant receiver of a huge spoiler to his current read, Lois Lowry's "The Giver." If you're planning on reading the book for the first time, you might want to click the mute button for the remainder of the episode, or risk suffering a similar fate. On the other hand, the look on Jeff's face when things get spoiled is too hilarious to miss.

Alive 4-ever is a top-down, double-joystick, zombie-themed shooter with strong RPG elements and rich, gritty visuals and sound. The interface will be familiar to fans of other games with twin "virtual joysticks": you push one joystick to move and the other joystick to shoot, and you can tap touch-screen buttons to reload and swap between your one- and two-handed weapons. The display tracks your score, health, ammo, and time elapsed as you traverse dramatically lit, gore-filled levels, gunning down a variety of zombies--from your generic lumbering brain-eaters to speedy zombie dogs and "special" zombies that many … Read more

T-Mobile's parent company is considering buying Sprint Nextel, meaning we'd have only three big cell phone companies in the US. But in a weird way that could be good for competition? We're not sure ourselves, actually. Also, a rogue ad hits the New York Times and we discover Pirates only see in 2D. Eye-patch FTW!

Rogue ad hits New York Times site http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10351460-83.html http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/what-to-do-if-you-saw-an-antivirus-pop-up-ad/ http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090913/home-delivery-the-new-york-times-serves-up-some-malware/… Read more

During the summer I dedicated my blog to the infamous Baja 1000 race inspired by an episode of "Jesse James is a Dead Man" that aired around that time on Spike TV. The Baja off road races are sponsored by a race organization known as SCORE International, a promotion that sponsors several annual off road race competitions for trophy trucks, and one of their signature events begins today and lasts through the end of this weekend in Las Vegas. This event is called the Terrible's Primm 300.

The SCORE Terrible's Primm 300 is an off road … Read more

Tech blog TechCrunch is hosting the third iteration of its annual startup show next week, where 50 brand new sites and services are slated to be launched. The show was started in early-2007 by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and entrepreneur and Weblogs Inc. co-founder Jason Calacanis as an alternative to the DEMO conference series. Instead of paying to be on stage (once selected) as is done at DEMO, companies selected by Arrington and Calacanis get to present for free.

Next week at the TechCrunch 50 conference, 50 new companies will take the stage and make a pitch, while about a hundred others--some new, some retreads from prior TechCrunch events, fight for attention on a paid show floor called the "Demo Pit."

How many of these companies that launched at a TechCrunch event have gone on to fame and glory? It was hard enough for these companies to make a mark when they were fighting for attention against dozens of other start-ups. It's even harder to continue momentum from a conference after the dust settles. Below are five that have done quite well, and five that haven't.

Mint

Mint made its public debut at the TechCrunch40 in 2007, where it won the audience choice award, netting it $50,000 in cash (that it didn't really need).

The site presents users with a bold option: give us your bank account, mortgage, and credit card information and we'll help you track how you're spending your money and give you tips and tools on how to save.

Since 2007, it's since gone on to raise two additional rounds of funding, bringing the total past $30 million. The site also has 1.4 million registered users. and claims to be "tracking $175 billion in transactions, $47 billion in assets and has identified more than $300 million in potential savings for its users." It's also won numerous awards, including a Webware 100 award in 2009, a "50 best websites of 2009" recognition from Time Magazine, as well a nod from PCMag's "Top 100 websites of 2009"

Postbox

Postbox, a Mozilla-based e-mail client that launched at last year's TechCrunch50 show, has done well for itself inside a year. For one, it's publicly available and fully out of beta--which is more unusual than it should be. It's also a paid and license-based product, meaning the company isn't just giving it away for free.

Earlier this year Postbox won a Webware 100 award in the communications category as voted on by CNET readers. It was also picked as Lifehacker's "Top 10 Up-and-coming products" shortly after its release.

Xobni

Another e-mail utility graduate, Xobni, came from the first TechCrunch show back in late-2007, when there were just 40 companies presenting. The product, called "Insight," was a plug-in for Microsoft's Outlook e-mail software, and could replace Microsoft's built-in search tool, as well as show users details on the frequency of those they were e-mailing with.

In the months prior to 2007's TechCrunch 40, Xobni had picked up a little more than $4 million in funding. The product, however, remained in private beta until mid-2008, after which it was opened up to the public. Then, in early January of this year, the company announced another round of funding, totaling $7 million, including Cisco Systems as one of the investors.

The company also released a paid version of its service in mid-July that costs $30 a year and adds extra features on top of the free product. It remains a product for the desktop version Microsoft Outlook only, although… Read more