Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world. Today, we're looking at three particularly interesting stories.

Apple's Patent War With Samsung Heats Up

It's official: Despite Samsung's appeal, the sales ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 stays. It's possible that the same fate will happen to Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, and even its flagship Android smartphone, the Galaxy S III.

This series of setbacks probably won't significantly hurt Samsung's sales, but it's definitely bad news for the company as well as Google, who develops the Android OS. The patent trial is scheduled to start July 30.…
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More About: apple, features, first to know series, mashable, Nokia, samsung, Twitter

1. Case-Mate rPET

Fun, green and eco-friendly. The Case-Mate rPET is made of 100% recycled material. $30

Click here to view this gallery.

Your smartphone cover does so much more than protect the precious phone inside. It's an accessory, a statement about who you are.

Some people prefer the tough, rugged styles, while others prefer the simple touch. You can show your true colors by sporting your favorite team's logo on your case or even a QR code for a quick scan of your contact info.

Whatever the case, we rounded up a few of the newest ones for you check out.

More About: case, casemate, iphone, iphone cases, Speck

Samsung's Android tablet Galaxy Tab 10.1 will not be sold in the U.S. until the patent trial between Apple and Samsung, which is scheduled to start July 30, is over.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, has rejected Samsung's request to lift her June 26 ban on sales of the tablet.

"Samsung is disappointed with the court's decision that denied our motion to stay. We believe today's ruling will ultimately reduce the availability of superior technological features to consumers in the United States," Samsung said in a statement.

While the preliminary injunction does not affect Samsung's updated version of the tablet, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 II, the judge's decision has far…
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More About: apple, Galaxy Tab 10.1, lawsuit, patent, samsung, trial

Please do not unfollow Twitter followers who are inactive, no matter how long it's been. There are many lurkers, searchers and readers who may never tweet, but still have a great deal of value.

What is that value? Well, there are active users on Twitter who dominate the conversation the way some dominate a cocktail party. Then there are those that don't. Although, they tend to stand out in other ways, particularly in numbers. For example, of the more than 100 million active users on Twitter, half log in daily, but only 60% have tweeted in the last month. What this should tell you is that so-called lurkers account for a large percentage of the average Twitter audience.

SEE AL…
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More About: contributor, features, Social Media, trending, Twitter

Google took the wraps off of the latest version of its operating system, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, at its annual developer conference Wednesday.

Set to come to the Nexus series and the Motorola Xoom in mid-July, the OS is being born into a world where its predecessor -– Ice Cream Sandwich -– still hasn't made its way onto most Android handsets.

Technically just an incremental update to the OS, Jelly Bean adds a number of welcome features and enhancements that make Android feel like a whole different animal.

Smooth Operator
With Jelly Bean, Google is incorporating something called Project Butter. Designed to help improve the performance of Android, Project Butter makes ever…
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More About: android, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, galaxy nexus, Google, Nexus 7

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Pathbrite

Quick Pitch: Pathbrite offers students and young job seekers a way to present their accomplishments holistically online.

Genius Idea: The digital platform lets users construct visual portfolios by pulling in representative pieces -- pictures, links and published work -- of themselves into one place.

From online media to search, the web is becoming more visual. Online resumes may be next for a makeover.

Pathbrite is a San Francisco-based startup workin…
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More About: internet, linkedin, online, portfolio

Bike Pooling

Bike Pooling, winner of Best App for Transportation, is trying to make the city more bike friendly by forming "car pools" for bikers. The app helps you connect with others who make similar commuting routes on wheels each morning.

Click here to view this gallery.

New York City sponsored its first sustainability-focused hackathon, Reinvent Green, which brought the local tech community together to code apps with the potential to make the city more green. The apps created during the hackathon are focused on New York, but could be adapted to work for any metropolitan area.

More than 100 developers and designers participated this year, coding to encourage sustainability and promote green initiatives.

"The innovation on display at this weekend's Reinvent Green Hackathon shows just how much we can achieve when New York City's tech community works together," said Rachel Sterne, NYC's chief digital officer. "In two short days we saw the development of p…
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More About: cities, hackathon, new york, Social Good

Sunday night's broadcast of the BET Awards 2012 tops this week's social TV charts, leaving the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship game between Spain and Italy in the dust. We think it was Samuel L. Jackson's impersonation of Nicki Minaj (complete with fuschia wig) that did the trick.

EURO 2012 remained pretty buzzworthy through the last week of the tournament. But now that Spain reigns victorious, there will be room for other programs at the top of the charts.

Kanye West, Jay-Z, Beyonce and Chris Brown were the big winners at the BET Awards — each took home two awards. Of course, the real winner of the evening has to be Blue Ivy Carter, who proudly repped mom, pop and Uncle Ka…
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More About: Entertainment, infographics, Social Media, social tv, social tv charts, Trendrr, TV

Come fall, the glossy book jackets of every new Simon & Schuster hardcover and trade paperback will feature a QR code in an effort to bolster newsletter signups.

Scanning a code will send consumers to an author's mobile page on S&S's website. There, they are encouraged to sign up for email alerts, browse the author's other publications and, when available, watch a video interview with the author.

It's designed as a low-budget marketing technique, says Ellie Hirschhorn, executive vice president and chief digital officer at S&S.

"The QR code is a way to use the distribution of our physical books as a means to build our [subscriber] database. This direct-to-consumer relationship then…
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More About: books, QR Codes, Simon & Schuster

Twitter released its first transparency report Monday -- but the takeaway may not have been exactly what the company hoped for.

The report focused on several matters relating to users' freedom to post what they want: how frequently governments around the world ask for Twitter users' account details; how often Twitter complies with those requests; and how many copyright complaints it receives and grants to content-owning companies.

Twitter has responded to requests for 1,181 users' information thus far in 2012, the report reveals. The vast majority of those were inside the U.S. Overall, in 63% of cases, some form of user info was handed over. (In U.S. cases, that rose to 75%.)

T…
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More About: law, Occupy Wall Street, trending, Twitter

And now a public service announcement: don't post photos of your debit or credit cards online. That might sound like an incredibly basic security rule, but it's one dozens of Twitter users are breaking -- and now one handle hopes to hold them to account.

@NeedADebitCard pillages the Twittersphere for unsuspecting users who posted completely legible photos of their credit and debit cards on the web. Its sole purpose: to shame those foolish enough to post Twitpics or Instagrams that contain their credit or debit card information.

"Please quit posting pictures of your debit cards, people," reads the account's bio. It has posted 55 pictures and gained more than 2,000 followers since f…
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More About: debit card, finance, needadebitcard, Social Media, trending, Twitter

If you know someone with an insanely stupid email signature (maybe even yourself), this video is for you.

Just in time for Independence Day, College Humor spoofs the U.S. Founding Fathers and the Declaration of Independence in this parody riddled with email faux pas. Culprits include signatures that are too long or too colorful and include tacky quotations or unrelated attachments, among other common annoyances.

SEE ALSO: Overly Attached Girlfriend Returns With Medley of Stalker Songs

Thomas Ian Nicolas from American Pie, Jim O'Heir from Parks and Recreation and Mark Deklin from TV are featured in this comedic skit.

More About: college humor, Entertainment, fourth of July, Holidays, humor, viral, viral videos

NOTE: The language in the video above may be NSFW.

From Louis C.K. to Mitch Hedberg, comedy's most famous standup acts have been remixed, thanks to YouTube's Official Comedy channel.

The channel has subtly revealed what's hiding up its digital sleeve, introducing a slew of web series earlier this week. The video above is just one of its special projects.

More About: comedy, humor, Louis C.K., mashup, remix, viral, viral videos, YouTube

Looking forward to that July 4 holiday? Of course you are. But be honest: what are the chances you're going to sneak a look at your work email at some point during the day, just in case?

A new survey from mobile security firm Good Technology confirms what we already knew -- that Americans' work-life balance is going from bad to worse. The stats read like a depressingly familiar roll call of what's wrong with our hectic connected existence.

Some 68% of us check work email before 8 a.m., with half of us doing so before our heads leave the pillow. (The average check-in time of the 1,000 randomly-selected respondents: 7:09 a.m.) At the other end of the day, 69% of us can't slip into slumb…
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More About: workplace

Earlier today, English rock band Blur used Twitter to livestream two new singles. The songs, "The Puritan" and "Under the Westway" are also available for download on iTunes. The band has also released lyric videos for both tracks on YouTube.

The songs were written for the band's upcoming Hyde Park concert on August 12, 2012. The concert will coincide with the closing ceremony of London's Olympic Games.

Band member Damon Albarn explained the decision to debut the tracks on Twitter to Channel 4's Matthew Cain.

"From my perspective, not having a Twitter account and not being very savvy about things like that the chance of just playing your new music and then for it to be out im…
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More About: blur, music videos, Twitter, YouTube

When Facebook switched your primary e-mail address with your @Facebook.com address last week, it may have affected the email addresses listed in your phone contacts too.

Some Facebook members who sync their mobile devices to the social network's app have reported that email addresses in their phone contacts have been replaced with @Facebook.com addresses. Although the company said its application programming interface (API) is working properly, a bug is pulling the last email address added to the account to mobile devices rather than the primary email address.

"Following the changes to the email visibility settings, we have received reports that certain phones are syncing their add…
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More About: Facebook, Social Media, trending

1. Abercrombie & Fitch, "Call Me Maybe"

As if original "Call Me Maybe" leading man Holden Nowell weren't blush-worthy enough, YouTube buzzed over the chiseled bods of lip-syncing A&F models from all over the world. With male models from New York, London and Paris, this video is a veritable geography lesson — though most viewers seemed more interested in anatomy.

Click here to view this gallery.

YouTube's 10 most-shared ads of June prove that the web will eat up just about every kind of spectacle. Prepare yourself for some seriously diverse entertainment as you thumb through these advertisements for technology, cleaning products and gravity-defying senior citizens. Wait, that's actually an ad for Pepsi.

June seemed to be a month of heart-racing marketing campaigns. Whether you're into globe-trotting male models, high-speed car races or a sassy spokeswoman who scares the living daylights out of grown men, there's bound to be something in the mix that'll get your pulse going.

SEE ALSO: Dadvertising: 10 Most-Shared Ads for Dads on YouTube

Thanks go out to our friends at Unruly…
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More About: Advertising, Business, features, trending, Video, YouTube

The food must really be bad ... oh WAIT ... chest explosion. Known as the "chestbuster" moment, the iconic scene in Ridley Scott's science-fiction flick Alien from 1979 has reached a new generation.

The young guns of Kids Swede Movies reenact the scene in which Executive Officer Kane struggles with what looks like massive heartburn or a seizure, but instead an alien rips through his chest.

The spoof involves drawn-on facial hair, a dirty sock, a hair clip and spoons!

SEE ALSO: After Emmy Win for Viral Video Series, 'Kids React To' Creators Eye TV

We Don't Give a Frak have had the kids parody other movies, too, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail and The Big Lewbows…
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More About: alien, Entertainment, films, humor, Kids, parody, trending, viral videos

The games industry is full of derivatives. One moment it spawns unique ideas, the next it generates zillions of copycats.

Yet one company seems to perpetuate more unoriginal games than the rest: Zynga. It may dominate the social games space, but Zynga isn't necessarily known for inventing innovative game play or bringing new ideas to the table.

This isn't a new statement. Zynga's entire history has been rife with accusations of copying previous game ideas. SFWeekly interviewed several former Zynga staff members who anonymously said CEO Marc Pincus asked them to steal ideas from other companies and package them better.

SEE ALSO: 7 Fantastic Celebrity Portraits on 'Draw Something'…
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More About: Entertainment, farmville, features, Gaming, Zynga

When it launches this fall, upgrading to Windows 8 Pro will cost just $39.99. This aggressive pricing isn't limited to recent Windows owners -- it will be available for PC owners who are currently running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7.

Downloadable from Windows.com after launch, you'll also be able to add Windows Media Center for free from the "add features" option within Windows 8 Pro after you download the update.

Customers who are looking to purchase a new computer in the coming months can opt to take advantage of a slightly different upgrade offer which will allow them to get the same update for $14.99.

SEE ALSO: Windows 8 Release Preview Unleashes the Power of M…
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More About: microsoft, trending, Windows 8

Building a brand isn't solely about numbers and figures. It's about attracting an audience that will be an asset throughout your brand's lifetime. Unfortunately, for a brand to be successful today, it has to distinguish itself amid the noise of thousands of others vying for attention on the same platforms.

SEE ALSO: 5 Strategies for Marketing on the iPad

With venues like Twitter and Facebook already flooded with brand marketers, how can you ensure that any outreach you do on behalf of your brand is actually working? Here are five ways to measure and monitor your brand's effectiveness online.

1. Are You Engaging Your Fans?
Marketing is no longer about shouting in a cr…
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More About: brand marketing, contributor, features, Marketing, online marketing

A 36-year-old bipolar man has spent the past four years without real human contact, outside of family. He took comfort Sunday evening in a Reddit AMA, or "Ask me Anything," a casual way for users to interact with celebrities, or someone with a unique condition or uncommon role in life.

The interview came after the man, who is an avid Reddit user himself, responded to an earlier post about how other users were affected by technology.

"Being online has saved and transformed my life; it's been my window on the world and given me a voice and opportunities that I never would have had otherwise," he wrote in the thread, noting that he'd hardly left his room in the past year.

"If no…
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More About: AMAs, reddit, trending, viral

Apple has developed its own mapping application for connected devices, and now Amazon may be about to do the same.

According to GigaOm, Amazon has acquired 3D mapping application UpNext for an undisclosed sum. UpNext has already developed a detailed mapping application designed specifically for the Kindle Fire, as well as the iPhone and Android smartphones.

UpNext could not be reached for confirmation.

The Kindle Fire lacks an official maps app (users must download one through Amazon's Appstore) but then again, without GPS capabilities, it doesn't exactly call for one. The acquisition suggests that the next version of the Kindle Fire could be GPS-enabled.

The price of the alleged…
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More About: amazon, upnext

Exploding Rabbit is making a nod to classic gamer icons in their latest video game Super Retro Squad. The 2D platformer is inspired by old-school characters like Mario and Luigi of Super Mario Brothers fame.

Super Retro Squad will pay homage to the characters with similar game-play features but introduce fresh new environments and settings across 40 levels and eight worlds. The designers promise that the graphics will be a throw back to the classic days of simple, inspired design.

There's also a whole new plot twist in Super Retro Squad. The lovable plumbers from decades past have now become German miners who dig too far and end up in an aspar…
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More About: kickstarter, super mario bros, video games

Microsoft's Windows Phone is shaping up to be the tech equivalent of a Wes Anderson movie: Well-reviewed by critics, but mostly ignored by the general public.

That, at least, is the takeaway from comScore MobiLens's report for the three months between February and May. The researcher found that Microsoft's share of the smartphone market grew just 0.1% over that time to 4%. That's also a 0.4% drop since January. Year-over-year, Microsoft's share fell 1.9%, according to comScore.

The metrics come despite glowing reviews for Windows Phone 7 from Mashable editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff, among others. Microsoft has also given Windows Phone 7 a respectable amount of marketing support, i…
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More About: Marketing, microsoft, windows phone 7

Prolonged sitting makes you fat, sick and dead. Slouching only makes things worse.

Since discovering why sitting too much is so dangerous, we've tried everything to up sit straight at work -- ergonomic chairs and rolled up blankets for lumbar support -- with little success. LUMOback on Kickstarter promises to be the simplest way to fix your posture.

The product was designed in Palo Alto by three Stanford University graduates. Since their Kickstarter debut, they've raised $77K out of their $100K goal from 675+ backers.

SEE ALSO: 5 Ways to Instantly Connect With Doctors

LUMOback is a device that you wear around your waist. The sensor vibrat…
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More About: health, mobile apps, work

Twitter users sent more than 15,000 tweets per second when Spain scored its fourth goal in Sunday's Euro 2012 final, a new sports-related record on the social networking site. Tweets sent about Spain, however, peaked after the team's second goal.

The previous record for a sporting event was Super Bowl XLVI, which achieved roughly 10,000 tweets per second in its closing moments back in February. (The overall record, 25,000 tweets pers second, came during the screening of the movie Castle in the Sky on Japanese television; see our gallery below for details.)

The goal came at the end of one of the most dominant performances ever by a national soccer team in the final of a major tour…
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More About: Euro 2012, sports, trending, Twitter

Internet users, startup owners and free speech activists are banding together to discuss, debate and sign the Declaration of Internet Freedom, a petition released Monday that calls for a free and open Internet.

The petition aims to shift the Internet community from the defense to offense when it comes to government tinkering with the net.

"We believe that a free and open Internet can bring about a better world," the preamble reads. "To keep the Internet free and open, we call on communities, industries and countries to recognize these principles. We believe that they will help to bring about more creativity, more innovation and more open societies."

The declaration has five straight…
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More About: censorship, internet, Internet freedom, net neutrality, stop online piracy act, Tech, technology, US, World

If social networks could cry, they would have last night during Cissy Houston's emotional performance of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" in memory of her late daughter Whitney at Sunday's BET Awards.

The moment helped the broadcast become the third most-popular entertainment event ever on Twitter and Facebook, attracting more than 3 million tweets and 41,000 status updates, data from Bluefin Labs shows.

Pop legend Mariah Carey, often dubbed as Houston's rival, lead off the tribute with tales of their sometimes diva-ish relationship. Singers Monica, Brandy and Chaka Khan also performed some of Houston's hits.

The show's mobile app, which featured gaming elements tied to voting and…
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More About: bet awards, celebrities, Entertainment, social tv, TV, whitney houston

When Microsoft users launch Windows 8 this fall, they'll notice getting started with the OS may not be as familiar. The ever-present Start button, a Windows staple since 1995, is going the way of the dodo.

In a report for industry site PC Pro, Microsoft executives reveal that Windows users have already largely abandoned the Start button. An increasing number rely more on pinning favorite apps to their taskbar or simply using keyboard shortcuts to access frequently used applications. As a result, Microsoft will now present a tiled Start screen as part of the new Metro interface.

SEE ALSO: WINDOWS 8 RELEASE PREVIEW UNLEASHES POWER OF METRO [HAND…
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More About: microsoft, trending, Windows, Windows 8