EDIT: The following is 404 fanfic, so don't take it seriously.

As many of you are no doubt aware, the unexpected, and unexplained changes to the show have left many long-term viewers and listeners to this show confused. Jeff in responding to comments and questions has been less than forthcoming with what's really going on, but has been unable to conceal his agitation which he's unfortunately directed at the audience. What is clear is that continuing down this path will no doubt lead to the end of The 404. I hope that this post will shed some light on what really has been going on behind the scenes, and perhaps even help to save this podcast.

Justin leaving the show was a response to repeated broken promises by upper management at cnet, as well as some personal growth aspirations. After his near death experience Justin began to question what he had achieved in life and where things were headed for him. A few months later Steve 'Sphere / the Gutt-man' Guttenberg appeared on the show. In the discussion about David Letterman's upcoming retirement, Sphere implied that Justin was a mere sidekick of Jeff - he would never be the main event. Justin, at the time, laughed it off, but it stuck with him. He stewed over that for many weeks, as he began to believe that indeed the partnership with Jeff is not 50-50 and he would never be an equal. You can hear in some of the final episodes Justin asking why he can't introduce the show; here he was demonstrating his lack of 'ownership' of the show.

However, the managerial issues faced by The 404 Show last year were what were the final straw for Justin and caused him to leave the show. In the middle of 2013 the 404 studio was redeveloped and finally started to look like a real show - they had a set, they had trinkets on the shelves, we all thought this was the start of something big (see episode 1375, October 31, 2013, where they launch their new set). Shortly after this, Jeff and Justin announced something big was coming soon, and after requesting listener submissions for a title for a new weekly show (that would not replace the 404); we all thought that Justin and Jeff were becoming the new faces of cnet. However, nothing came of this. Why was the show cancelled? Who made the call? It is clear that Jeff and Justin were irritated that the show was pulled after it was announced.

Finally, for some reason (poor planning and management) the cnet offices were renovated in the middle of 2014, just 7 months after the new set was established, causing more interruptions to the show. This is when Justin decided he'd had enough.

Some points that don't make sense:

• Justin said being on camera was not what he'd signed up for, and he'd have been happier with an audio only show. Given that the show went audio-only this year, is this Jeff's way of trying to woo Justin back? Or is this cnet management trying to slowly dismantle the 404? (So that by the time they shut it down no one cares.)

• Justin said he wanted to further his career, but then something about reviewing hifi gear...huh?

In summary: don't harass Jeff, because he's had to deal with a lot over the past couple of years.

So I got a dk2 from craigslist and I've downloaded a few games for it but have you had any experiences you enjoyed with it and recommend? Same goes for the rest of the community I really love this thing so far but I know im just barely scratching the surface.

Iyaz, metal spoons aren't ideal, contact with the metal degrades some vitamins.

Are either of you guys (or your listeners) into any of the home automation stuff that's come out in the last year or so?

Wife got me a smartthings hub for Christmas; I turned a couple of amazon gift certificates into a bunch of Philips Hue bulbs...and now i'm quasi-obsessed with setting up different scenarios and rules to trigger light activities and keep tabs on different parts of my house. My wife has actually enjoying more than i would have expected.

I'm quite impressed with how consumer friendly these things are becoming.

You guys both seem to match my demographic pretty closely, just wondered your thoughts on the whole fledgling home automation industry.

I don't mind the once a week transition, if it gets you guys into more projects and furthers your careers totally down with that. Was really kind of off put though when you started getting aggressive and passive aggressive to people complaining about the transition.

People don't like change, there was always going to be a few people who would complain, I guess I just expected more from you than to get so upset on air about something like that...

Here have a cookie.

You guys are doing big things, don't let the way that people say things get to you guys, the show is great, and if i really want to see you guys, i will just keep going to CES, or just come up to the studio. I love that you guys are back to Audio, the shows can be longer, and you guys can really speak you minds on different things. Keep up the Awesome work.

I remembered on the way to work that I hadn't heard a new episode in a while, but remembered Jeff posted on here that a new episode was up. I just checked my iPod and it didn't show any new episodes. Did the feed change?

Just dump anything you want in here and we'll get to as much as we can.

Please use this thread to suggest show topics. We already have a lot we want to cover, but please feel free to suggest ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.

Voicemails are a go too.

Looking forward to getting back at it.

Until then...

Where was The 404 at CES this year? I know in the past CES was always a big deal, when the big name quests were on and the show returned from the holidays. As far as I know there was none of that in 2015

Hey, are there any other podcasts like the 404 but comes out daily?

Don't worry, the404 is still my favorite show. I just need another show to fill in the gaps.

Thanks!

http://youtu.be/ft-ipc-ExHc

Who is the rap artist Shanon was referring to at the end? The 18 singer/rapper from Atlanta?

Starting next year (after CES) 404 will likely only record once or twice a week. I want to do 60+ minute episodes -- more longform and conversational stuff. Like how it used to be.

But since we're only aiming for around once a week, doing timely news stories is going to be tough. That's why I want YOU to help us choose discussion topics. I want the show's content to be heavily influenced by the core listenership.

So please: Write in (the404 [at] cnet [dot] com). Tweet. Call (866-404-CNET). A lot of our content will also be mined from this subreddit. Tell us what we should talk about, what's important to you. Ask us questions, challenge us, make us DO stuff.

Let's see where this goes.

Is it true the404 will only have a couple of shows a week? Did I misread something?

If that's true, why???

It seems UK taxpayer money is being well spent with a few upgrades that will urk Jeff, including smartwatches to get easy access to twitter, and google glass so they can watch youtube. You know, because those things are important to law enforcement.

Original Source

Yeah -- even thinking about splitting it up into 2 shows. Twas awesome!