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Buzz Out Loud 997: Texas Ranger Panda

Vic the Texas Rancher pilot wrote in, but somehow in the twisted mind of Molly Wood his name became Texas Ranger Panda. And now she can't stop laughing at the cute ranger panda writing in about HD makeup. Which Natali thinks is a conspiracy. We also review the DTV transition and help you get a contract-free iPhone.

Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe now: iTunes (audio) | iTunes (video) | RSS (audio) | RSS (video) EPISODE 997

The day after the U.S. DTV transition http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10264369-94.html

When’s your country switching? http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/us-declares-victory-as-dtv-transition-goes-rather-smoothly.ars… Read more

CNET News Daily Podcast: Iranian protests hit social networks

Following the controversial results of Iran's presidential elections, citizens turned to Twitter, Facebook, and other social-networking means to circumvent a government media clampdown and get supporters out to rallies. CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman has more.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Today's stories:

Iran protesters using tech to skirt curbs

iPhone 3G S begins shipping to customers

Microsoft: No iPhone reimbursements for workers

Apple still wants to get Psystar into court

The day after the DTV transition

Does Microsoft's Bing have Google running scared?

Facebook username land grab: Yawn

NASA hopes for Wednesday shuttle launch

The 404 362: Where the 404 goes CNET LIVE

We're proud to announce the debut of CNET LIVE, the new portal for all live shows, including The 404, on CNET. Don't worry, the transition won't be as difficult as DTV. We'll give you detailed instructions on how to tell all your friends about the show! Listen in for all the juicy details on our weekend staycation and why Wilson should never consume liquor again.

So now that the weekend is over, we can talk about our top secret trip...to Atlantic City! It's always good to get away for a little bit, even if it's just for a day, so we packed up our bags and took off to AC for a little gambling and good times. What was supposed to be a relaxing trip turned out to be 24 hours of "The Hangover"-esque partying. We all indulged in our own vices: Jeff hit the blackjack tables like a white bat out of hell, Justin explored the dark crevices of AC's back alleys, and Wilson Tang ate chicken. That's right, you read it correctly: Wilson Tang finally broke his "vegetarianism" and is now an official chicken chaser. Unfortunately, his bout with poultry at Friday's dinner left him with a mad stomach ache and he party pooped his way out of the trip. What a shrew!

Click here for a full set of pictures from The 404's trip to Atlantic City.

Lots of stories to talk about today, namely two big news items from over the weekend: the DTV official transition and the mad rush for Facebook Vanity URLs. Actually, the long-awaited DTV transition went off without a hitch, which makes sense, because it's been in the works forever now, although we're pretty sure someone in Florida tried to eat her converter box. Facebook Vanity also had little to no effect on real life, although there did seem to be a slight flux in traffic on Thursday night as people rushed to reserve their own Facebook URLs. In the spirit of American sportsmanship, some of the landgrabs were a little disingenuous; for example, check out the profile for our own Molly Wood. In fact, my own name got snaked by another Justin Yu, so feel free to add him and let him know how much you love The 404. In the meantime, check out the Facebook profiles for the Real Justin Yu, Wilson Tang, and Jeff Bakalar.

EPISODE 362 Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Iran protesters using tech to skirt curbs

The Iranian government is trying to control the flow of information among protesters of the supposed results of that nation's presidential election, and to and from news organizations.

But, reports CBS News Science and Technology Correspondent Daniel Sieberg, Tehran is having difficulty stopping citizens from using technology to report what's happening, express outrage and get people out to opposition rallies.

There are reports citizens in Tehran have no access to text messaging via cell phones, and opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's Web site has been down.

But Sieberg combed Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and photo-sharing site Flickr, and … Read more

Google readying microblog search?

About a month after saying it was taking real-time search seriously, Google seems to be preparing a microblogging search tool.

Google Operating System discovered a hint that such a feature could be in the works while traipsing through the Google In Your Language site, where Google enlists speakers of languages other than English to help come up with a translation of Google's Web copy that makes the most sense. One of those languages is apparently "Hacker," and one of the phrases that Google asked the Hacker-speaking community to help translate was: "Recent updates about QUERY," … Read more

How one man beat the Facebook vanity clock

There is one thing worse than being Joe Schmo. And that is being Joe Schmo on Facebook.

So Joseph Kitchens, co-owner of Kitchen's Field Services in Hutto, Texas, decided he had to use his technological and deductive skills to become Facebook's one and only Amazing Technicolor Joseph.

Joseph was so happy (but surely not vain) to have achieved the vanity status of facebook.com/joseph that he decided, in a series of e-mails, to reveal the secrets of his success.

It all sounded terribly clever to me. But then it would, wouldn't it?

The first task was … Read more

'#CNNFail': Twitterverse slams network's Iran absence

As the Iranian election aftermath unfolded in Tehran--thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to express their anger at perceived electoral irregularities--an unexpected hashtag began to explode through the Twitterverse: "CNNFail."

Even as Twitter became the best source for rapid-fire news developments from the front lines of the riots in Tehran, a growing number of users of the microblogging service were incredulous at the near total lack of coverage of the story on CNN, a network that cut its teeth with on-the-spot reporting from the Middle East.

For most of Saturday, CNN.com had no stories about the … Read more

Is the Twitpocalypse nigh? Update: Mostly no

The Twitterati are stocking their bomb shelters with Twinkies in preparation for the "Twitpocalypse," the time at which the number of tweets sent passes the 2,147,483,647 mark, which is the maximum value of a 32-bit signed integer (technically, it's one-half of 2 to the 32nd, minus 1). Each Twitter message has a unique identifier based on that counter.

When the total number of tweets passes that mark, poorly-written Twitter client apps that use 32-bit signed integers may fail or crash, as they will be unable to deal with the values.

The Twitter platform itself … Read more

10 widgets for Opera users to sing about

When Opera released its widget software development kit last year, there was little doubt that some cool applications would make their way to the company's browser. More than a year later, they indeed have.

I've been sifting through hundreds of Opera widgets that all work with the Opera browser for your Mac, Linux box, or PC. I've found 10 that stand out from the others. Opera users should definitely try these out.

10 Opera widgets

Brainkrieg Brainkrieg is a fun game that does its best to "exercise your brain." The tool gives you a variety of games to play that test your memory and help you think. The point of the game is to decrease your brain age. It's somewhat similar to Brain Age on the Nintendo DS, but the latter is a bit more sophisticated.

Dotoo Dotoo is a to-do list widget in your Opera browser. You can create a host of to-do lists and access them all from within the widget. Adding tasks is as simple as pressing the "+" button under your list and inputting your task. It's not a sophisticated widget, so you won't be able to track your progress. But if you want to quickly add a few tasks, you should be happy with what you find.

Facebook Notifier Facebook Notifier gives you a listing of all your friends' recent status updates. You can't update your profile in the application, but you can easily access your profile with the links in the widget. It might not be the most useful app, but if you want to see what your friends are up to while you're browsing outside Facebook, it's a fine choice.… Read more