3D printing has been hailed as the future of manufacturing as everything from chocolate goodies to jawbones have been created with the newish technology. Add one more item to that list: Guns.

Amateur gun makers are already at work on 3D-printed guns and at least one top 3D printing company, Stratasys, is using its technology to help manufacture weapons. The company is "working with some of the world's top firearms-makers" including Knight's Armament Co. and Remington Arms, according to Wired. Stratsys has also been a regular exhibitor at the annual Shot Show in Las Vegas, a forum for firearms companies.

As further proof, Wired cited the two-year-old video above, which shows a chas…
Continue reading...

More About: 3D printers, guns

Facebook has officially reached one billion active users, Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has announced.

"This morning, there are more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month. If you're reading this: thank you for giving me and my little team the honor of serving you.

Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life. I am committed to working every day to make Facebook better for you, and hopefully together one day we will be able to connect the rest of the world too," wrote Zuckerberg in an official blog post.

Facebook had 955 million active users in July 2012, and though gaining 45 mill…
Continue reading...

More About: Facebook, mark zuckerberg, trending

Windows 8 is set to hit the market later this month, and with it will come an assortment of new computers, tablets, and accessories.

While you might not be able to pick up the latest Windows 8 tablet quite yet, starting Thursday you can buy a new wireless speaker, the Aris, designed to work along with the operating system and Windows "Play To" feature.

Aris claims to be the first "certified compatible with Windows 8 speaker system;" however, it can also work with a Windows 7 PC.

Similar to how AirPlay works for Apple products, the speaker can play tunes from any Windows device -- computer or tablet -- connected to the same wireless network. The feature was already avail…
Continue reading...

More About: Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8

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.

Google Launches Wallet for Web Content

Google has launched a micropayments service, enabling publishers to charge small amounts of money for web content.

The service gives users the ability to sample the content (e.g. text or image) before they buy, which can be done with a single click. Those who are not satisfied can get their money back within 30 minutes. Of course, Google has safeguards in place to prevent users from abusing the refunds to get free content.

As the o…
Continue reading...

More About: Gooogle wallet, Samsung Galaxy S III, features, first to know series, mashable

First there were "save-able" banner ads -- now there are pinnable ones.

Gucci unveiled this week a banner ad with a small "Pin it" button on the bottom left-hand corner. The ad is part of Gucci's Fall/Winter 2012 digital campaign, and will run on five sites: WSJ.com, Polyvore, Style.com, Lifestyle Mirror and New York Magazine's fashion blog The Cut, a Gucci spokesperson wrote in an e-mail to Mashable.

Clicking "Pin it," will bring up two images to share on Pinterest: A full-size image of the ad, and a product shot of the shoes it features (see below). On Pinterest, both pins link directly to Gucci's e-commerce site.

The ad was developed in collaboration with Triple Point, whose anal…
Continue reading...

More About: Advertising, banner ads, display advertising, fashion, gucci, pinterest

Griffin - Otis James Dapper Sleeve

Available in several color and pattern options. All sleeves are handmade in Tennessee. $75

Click here to view this gallery.

Want to add some pizzazz to your iPhone 4/4S? There are plenty of options from popular case makers such as Griffin, Cellairis and the ever the ever-popular Otterbox. But if you want to truly stand out when you go for your phone, we've rounded up seven cases that will have those around you asking "where'd you get that case?"

SEE ALSO: 7 iPhone Cases That Charge On-The-Go

Click through the gallery and tell us what you think. What's the most funky/silly/outrageous case you've seen?

Let us know in the comments.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr, beaugiles

More About: Belkin, cases, iphone 4, trending

Ever want to find Instagram photos taken in a certain location? Worldcam lets you do just that.

The service, built on Foursquare, Instagram, Geonames and Geoplugin's APIs, lets you search for Instagram photos of a specific location in any city in the world.

We tried looking for Mashable HQ in New York City and voilà -- we got a stream of Instagram photos taken in our office. As Gizmodo notes, the entire service could also be described as an easy way to look inside any building, since Instagram users often take photos indoors.

While that may be true, however, we prefer to look at the service as a nifty way to browse through images from Instagram. Since Worldcam sorts phot…
Continue reading...

More About: foursquare, instagram, worldcam

Wednesday night's U.S. presidential debate in Denver, Co. was the most-tweeted-about event in American political history, dwarfing records set by this year's Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention.

Tonight's debate was the most tweeted about event in US political history, topping the numbers from the RNC and DNC.— Twitter Government (@gov) October 4, 2012

In total, the debate between U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney generated 10.3 million tweets in 90 minutes -- a political-event record, revealed @gov, the Twitter feed for the microblogging service's government and politics team. The following chart, pr…
Continue reading...

More About: Twitter, U.S. presidential election, presidential debate, trending

There it is again, that nagging feeling as you park your car at the train station. You're on your way to work and remember that you forgot to plan anything for dinner.

You won't have time to stop at the grocery store before getting home and your kids will surely be in an uproar about leftovers again. Now you can use the time you spend waiting at the train to pick up some groceries.

Peapod by Stop & Shop offers a virtual shopping experience for those of us who are always on the go. All you need is a smartphone and two apps.

First, use a QR code reader to download the PeapodMobile app available for iOS and Android. Once downloaded, you use your phone to scan the items that are d…
Continue reading...

More About: Tesco, peapod, virtual shopping

Mitt Romney labelled electric carmaker Tesla Motors a "loser" during Wednesday night's U.S. presidential debate.

The Republican candidate took a jab at Tesla while discussing tax breaks to energy companies. He criticized U.S. President Barack Obama for providing "$90 billion in breaks to the green energy world."

"Now, I like green energy as well, but that's about 50 years' worth of what oil and gas receives," Romney said. "You put $90 billion -- like 50 years' worth of breaks -- into solar and wind, to Solyndra and Fisker and Tesla and Ener1. I mean, I had a friend who said, you don't just pick the winners and losers; you pick the losers."

While Solyndra and Ener1 went bankrupt…
Continue reading...

More About: Mitt Romney, Tesla, U.S. presidential election, presidential debate, trending

About More Than a Map

More Than Maps, a new series, highlights the work of developers around the world using the Google Maps API to improve their communities, start businesses, or save the environment. Weekly segments will be showcased on MoreThanMaps.com and Google's Geo Developers Blog.

Click here to view this gallery.

Google launched a new project Wednesday,

More About: Google, Google Maps, Social Good, dev and design, trending

Raspberry Pi, the $25 computer that can fit in your pocket, has gotten a lot of press for its low cost and small size. What you may not know, however, is that the pint-sized PC is also great for learning how to program.

This week, Broadcom put the computer in the hands of middle school students -- many of whom had no background whatsoever in programming -- and taught them how to make a game.

All of the students who participated were finalists in the Broadcom MASTERS program, short for Math, Applied Science, Technology, Engineering and Rising Stars. Originally a science fair-type competition between 1,500 middle school students, the Raspberry Pi event was held in D.C. from Sept. 28…
Continue reading...

More About: Broadcom, Raspberry Pi, trending

In case you missed the first round of presidential debates Wednesday night, here is a basic recap of what happened in GIF form -- minus the audio, of course.

Some of this narrative was actually exaggerated, but since you'll need to check out the archived livestream or find another way online, you might as well get the spiced up version.

SEE ALSO: ROFL the Vote! Make the Political Debate More Fun

(Big Bird could not physically make the debate, but he was there in spirit, so we've included him in this roundup.)

Via gifwich

Via unpopularcoworker

Via gifwich

Via gifwich

Via gifwich

Via gifwich

Via gifwich

Vi…
Continue reading...

More About: GIFs, US politics, Watercooler, humor

Ricky Gervais has a new endorser for his voice on social media app Just Sayin'. It's not a Hollywood celebrity or a sports star. It's a talking guinea pig named Rory.

In a hilarious ad posted to YouTube, Rory complains about how nobody takes him seriously on the Internet because of his unruly hair. "That never points the same way twice!" he complains in the video. "For us guinea pigs, everyday is a bad day."

After reading a few of the jokes commenters made on his video blog, Rory announces that he has a found a solution: Just Sayin'.

SEE ALSO: 10 Cute YouTube Clips of Animals Playing Dead

Just Sayin' is an app that lets users share voice, text, photos and video (or any combin…
Continue reading...

More About: Watercooler, animals, cute animals, youtube videos

Name: The Swizzle

Quick Pitch: Save your inbox from e-mail overload and engage with your favorite brands.

Genius Idea: The Swizzle cleans up commercial e-mails from your mailbox and combines the e-mails that you want to keep into a daily e-mail digest.

Just because you purchased an item months ago doesn't mean that your mailbox should be filled with e-mails from the store you bought it from.

The Swizzle, a service that launched this week, lets you easily and securely unsubscribe from commercial e-mails and combine any e-mails you do want to keep into a daily digest. The goal of The Swizzle, which is owned and operated by Adkeeper Inc., is to eliminate the e-mails y…
Continue reading...

More About: Startups, bizspark, bizsparks

The British Film Institute, as part of its five-year "Film Forever" blitz to revitalize the UK movie industry, will digitize 10,000 titles from its massive vault of 450,000 film cans by 2017. The goal? To offer them on-demand.

BFI says it will crowdsource which 10,000 titles will be digitized, and those films will then be made accessible on TV channels, a mobile app and a new video player dubbed BFIPlayer.

"Film Forever is founded on a renewed commitment to the future -- the future generation of audiences, the future generation of filmmakers and the opportunities presented by digital technologies," BFI CEO Amanda Nevill said in a statement. "We are investing where we think we can…
Continue reading...

More About: Entertainment, Film, Movies, United Kingdom, World, digital media, technology

An insensitive tweet poking fun at President Barack Obama's late grandmother -- posted on KitchenAid's official U.S. account -- caught the eye of many Twitter users Wednesday night during the presidential debate.

"Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! 'She died 3 days b4 he became president'. #nbcpolitics," @KitchenAidUSA posted to 24,000 followers before quickly deleting the tweet.

Obama had mentioned his grandmother, Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham, during the debate. She died Nov. 2, 2008, just before Obama was elected president.

KitchenAid immediately issued this apology:

Deepest apologies for an irresponsible tweet that is in no way a representation of the brand's opinion…
Continue reading...

More About: 2012 Presidential Election, Twitter, brands

Don't mess with Big Bird, Mitt Romney. That's the message the Internet sent Wednesday night when the GOP presidential candidate confirmed that he "loves Big Bird," but would cut subsidies for PBS.

The zing had amateur Photoshoppers working in overdrive to defend the beloved Sesame Street character.

The comment also generated 17,000 tweets per minute for "Big Bird" and 10,000 tweets per minute for "PBS," according to @gov. Within minutes, parody Twitter accounts began popping up, including @FiredBigBird and @BigBirdRomney.

Romney will fire Big Bird and Cookie Monster and replace them with the replacement refs #bigbird— Big Bird (@FiredBigBird) October 4, 2012

…
Continue reading...

More About: 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney, Watercooler

'Tis the season for candy corn, jack-o-lanterns, witches, skeletons and adorable children made even cuter by precious costumes.

The father of a boy named Carter, who is featured in the above video, wanted to make sure his son had a normal Halloween -- despite the fact that he uses a wheelchair. Carter has spina bifida, a birth defect that can cause paralysis and other congenital defects.

So, the inspiring father built Carter a costume that works with the wheelchair -- an ice cream truck, complete with music.

Best dad ever? Maybe, but either way, it's sure to tug at your heartstrings.

More About: Halloween

Apigy just made its Lockitron keyless entry technology smarter, letting you unlock your door from anywhere in the world, or having it automatically unlock when you walk up to it.

More About: Lockitron, apigy, keyless entry

When AT&T was forced to scuttle its bid to acquire T-Mobile last year because of regulatory roadblocks that stemmed from consumer concerns, an executive from T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom publicly said, "There is no Plan B." Today, Deutsche Telekom announced it was going ahead with its plan to acquire a majority stake in MetroPCS and merging its operations with T-Mobile's.

Well, we finally know what Plan B is.

Deutsche Telekom appears to be really making a go of it with T-Mobile by acquiring MetroPCS, adding its 9 million subscribers to T-Mobile's 33 million. Besides that, the spectrum both carriers use is very similar, meaning the merged carrier won't have as many he…
Continue reading...

More About: LTE, MetroPCS, T-Mobile

If those melting highways and crumbling buildings in Apple's Maps app seemed like something out of Salvador Dali's oeuvre, there's a reason for that -- according to this short mockumentary on YouTube.

More About: YouTube, apple maps

All eyes will be on Barack Obama and Mitt Romney during tonight's presidential debate -- specifically, on the factual nature of their arguments.

MTV, for one, will be partnering with FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan research organization, to monitor the debate in real time via Twitter. The partnership is a branch off of Power of 12 -- an existing MTV effort to increase young voter participation.

"We think that there's a great opportunity to make sure our audience has the right information to come to an informed conclusion of who they want to vote for," Jason Rzepka, senior vice president of public affairs at MTV, tells Mashable. "There are 45 million Millenials who are registered to…
Continue reading...

More About: 2012 election, Twitter

Tonight marks the first of three presidential debates between President Barack Obama and GOP candidate Mitt Romney. It's the first time the two men will confront each other head-on about the rumors, issues and platforms from the campaign trail. But both men don't just have each other to fear -- they have the entire Twitterverse to answer to.

Social media has added a whole new, mammoth-sized layer to the way in which Obama and Romney field questions. Years ago, the candidates could fend off comments, re-interpret questions and captivate audiences until the newspapers hit the stands the next day, bringing to light the errs and oversights. With Twitter and the real-time web, it takes on…
Continue reading...

More About: Mitt Romney, Twitter, election 2012, president obama, presidential debates

Even if you're not in charge of the entire nation, just listening to politics can induce headaches. That's why we've got the perfect solution to keep you sane and entertained during the 2012 presidential debate.

SEE ALSO: 8 Ways to Watch the Presidential Debate Online

Whether you swing left, right or neither, this post is chock full of things to at least make you giggle.

From Bingo to drinking games, GIFs, memes and music -- we're putting the "fun" in politics (Editor's Note: there's actually no "fun" in politics) to at least kill time in between the presidential debate.

Presidential Debate Bingo

Drinking Games

Politics can get pretty messy. Which is exactly why yo…
Continue reading...

More About: 2012 Presidential Election, US politics, Watercooler

There are many things we take for granted in our lives. Sometimes it's big things like family, friends, love or good health. Sometimes it's the small things; things we don't notice and don't appreciate because we have what we like to call "busy" or "complicated" lives.

Riding elevators is certainly not something that comes to mind when you think about stuff that can make people happy. But for TJ, a 12-year-old kid who was born with cerebral palsy and survived two critical surgeries before he even was 2 months old, riding elevators provides an unmatched thrill. He loves it.

When he was younger and doing physical therapy, his therapist would let him ride the elevator as a reward on…
Continue reading...

More About: Watercooler, youtube videos

Here's a dramatic Halloween costume idea: A strategically placed smartphone can display what appears to be your beating heart to terrified Halloween onlookers.

More About: Halloween Coscume, android, ideas, iphone

Ever had a video taken down on YouTube because a copyright holder claimed you're using some of their footage without permission? As of Wednesday, you've got one extra shot at appealing that decision.

Previously, if you believed your video did not infringe on copyrighted content, you could file a "dispute" with the video giant. But if the rights holder disputed your dispute, you were fresh out of luck. The video stayed down.

Now YouTube has added a second and third layer to the process -- the "appeal." If a content holder still insists you're using their material without permission after you appeal, they have to go the extra mile and file a DMCA takedown notice. In the meantime, y…
Continue reading...

More About: YouTube, copyright, dmca

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will meet in Denver, Colo., tonight for the first presidential debate of Election 2012, and you'll be able to watch all 90 minutes live right here (starting at 9 p.m. ET).

More About: 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney, barack obama, debate

Apparently sexting isn't the only heart-pounding activity young adults are getting into on their mobile devices. According to a survey from free texting app textPlus, half of young adults surveyed (ages 18-24) say they've discussed the upcoming election on their mobile devices via text message. More than half (56 percent) say they've specifically chatted about the presidential candidates.

The survey of 764 young people showed overall that they want to participate in voting and plan to use text messaging as the main mode of communicating about it.

SEE ALSO: The Rise of Mobile in Election 2012

With an estimated 16.8 million teens and young adults becoming eligible to vote this year…
Continue reading...

More About: 2012 election, election, group SMS, text messaging, vote