EL

Add lighting effects to your stereo

Adding blinking lights to anything is a surefire way to make it totally obnoxious. For some of you, that's a good thing.

Here are two techniques you can use to add sound-reactive lights to your stereo, boom box, computer, or pretty much anything that makes music.

The first option is to use something like an EL Wire Sound Kit. These are sold online from various places and include some combination of electroluminescent wire, a power adapter, and a special power inverter that drives the wire's power in response to sound picked up by an integrated microphone.

The whole … Read more

The 404 1,080: Where we paint the sixteenth chapel (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Ray Bradbury may soon be honored online with "451" error code for Internet censorship.

- Time Warner Cable grabs patent to prevent DVRs from skipping commercials.

- Twitter to grant Web sites extra characters with "expansive tweets."

- Select audiences at Disney-Pixar's "Brave" will be treated to Dolby's new Atmos sound system.… Read more

Crave 75: Hot for teacher (podcast)

Eric and Donald run though the latest in desktop haptic devices, including a weather forecaster you can feel, and a USB kissing robot cow.

"Tron"-inspired electroluminescence makes a comeback with some neat shades and an eco-friendly charging cable. And in Geek News, we take a longer look at "The Avengers" and a preview of the upcoming "Amazing Spider-Man."

Subscribe in iTunes SD Video | Subscribe in RSS SD Video … Read more

Bag bench shields cases from harsh real world

You got yourself a nice new bag to protect your precious gadget. But how do you protect the precious bag that's protecting your precious gadget?

Enter Workiture's el-BagPed stand, which gives you an elevated place to store your bag away from the icky gook- and germ-ridden ground. My laptop bags have spent years rolling around on office and train floors and have never once gotten a staph infection, but maybe they just have unusually hardy immune systems. … Read more

Asus' new Android Transformer tablet going quad-core

Asus Chairman Jonney Shih unveiled his company's next-generation Android tablet today, a 10-inch model in the Transformer family that will come with Nvidia's quad-core Kal-El processor.

Shih, speaking at All Things Digital AsiaD conference in Hong Kong, said the model will be 8.3 millimeters thick and features USB and mini HDMI ports, but reserved further details for a formal launch on November 9, according to All Things Digital's report. The tablet is called the Transformer Prime, according to Endgadget. … Read more

The 404 892: Where estamos agradecidos de haber sobrevivido el huracan Eirene (podcast)

Hurricane Irene is over, but all we have to show for it is the five extra pounds we each gained from eating non-perishable foods (read: Dominos) all weekend.

The storm left tons of buildings, roads, and trees damaged, but the award for "Worst Irrevocable Damage" goes to Mayor Bloomberg for "trying" to address the Spanish-speaking population in their native language--and the subsequent Twitter parody @ElBloombito: "Go to worko. No excuso!"

CNET's own Sharon Vaknin makes her debut on The 404 Podcast today to replace our co-host Jeff Bakalar, who's currently re-evaluating his decision to live in Hoboken, N.J.

Joseph Kaminski from CNET Labs also joins us to discuss the stories of the day, including an app that lets New York drivers sell public parking spots to the highest bidder, a history lesson on the classic Windows XP default wallpaper, a big corporation making money off the hacker group Anonymous, and a secret list of celebrity XXX domain names removed from the adult market.

The 404 Digest for Episode 892

App lets NY drivers sell public parking spots to highest bidder. Ever wonder where the Windows XP default wallpaper came from? "@ElBloombito Twitter page bites back at Bloomberg's Spanglish. Secret list of celebrity .xxx domains removed from market. Time Warner gets royalties on every Anonymous mask worn on TV.

Episode 892 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Apple to face fast Android tablets

Apple's iPad will likely have to contend this year with new Android tablets sporting the latest high-speed silicon coming off production lines in Asia.

Nvidia is on the record saying that tablets powered by its quad-core Kal-El chip are arriving this year. "Kal-El-powered tablets are coming this fall, and phones around the CES 2012 timeframe," Nvidia said in a statement to CNET on Friday.

It's safe to presume that Nvidia isn't just blowing smoke. Its processors today power all of the most popular Android Honeycomb tablets, including the Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, … Read more

Nvidia touts quad-core chip for Android, Windows 8

Nvidia's CEO boasted about the power frugality of an upcoming quad-core chip, as the company reported better-than-expected earnings today.

The graphics chip supplier swung to better-than-expected earnings in the fiscal second quarter ended July 31, buttressed by revenue from laptop graphics processing units used with systems built around Intel's "Sandy Bridge" processors.

Nvidia reported a profit of $151.6 million compared with a loss of $141 million in the year-earlier period. Revenue surged 25 percent to $1.02 billion. And gross margin--a critical profit indicator--jumped to 51.7 percent from 16.6 percent compared to last … Read more

Diskeeper 2011 defrags with ease

Diskeeper 2011 automatically takes care of hard-disk fragmentation as it occurs, making the manual defragmenters we're all accustomed to a thing of the past. For any Windows users experiencing a lag in hard-disk performance, this hassle-free tool is a fantastic option.

Shortly after installation, Diskeeper analyzes all the volumes on your computer. The data it collects is used as a baseline for the Performance Reports it generates from that point on. These reports let you know how many fragments the program has eliminated as well as how, exactly, it has improved your PC's performance. While most users won'… Read more

Android Atlas Weekly 51: Happy birthday, dear Android Atlas! (Podcast)

Android Atlas is one year old! We celebrate by doing the same thing we do every week, discussing the latest Android news. The new Google Wallet may already have a security hole and malware is becoming an issue for the platform. Meanwhile, game developers say that Android is to PC gaming what iOS is to consoles. Holy fragmentation, Batman! Does that mean that apps should now carry system requirements? In other news, Nvidia shows off its ambitiously named Project Kal-El and we overstep dual cores, going straight to quads! All of that, plus the answers to your Android OS questions … Read more