Unison lets employees communicate through virtual rooms organized around specific projects to help boost collaboration and productivity.

More About: The Launchpad, startup

Griffin Technology's first Lightning connector accessories are expected to launch at retail locations beginning on Dec. 3.

More About: accessories, griffin technology, iPhone 5, lightning connector

If you've been spending way too little time with your tablet because it's usually in the hands of your kids, it may be time to think about getting them one of their own. Plus, like it or not, a portable tablet is a great way to keep kids entertained on a plane or a long car trip if you're travelling this holiday season.

These tablets come pre-loaded with educational content, (you can purchase more, of course) built-in accelerometers for gaming, and most of them have cameras. They're built with kids in mind, so you don't need to worry about watching your iPad screen shatter if it's dropped. These are built with hard plastic that enables a firm gr…
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More About: Kids, holidays 2012, tablets

A UK architecture firm is constructing an "amphibious" home near the River Thames to better prevent damage from flooding.

More About: England, Newsy, architecture, flooding, videos

This year, holiday shopping can be as easy as scrolling through an app and clicking "Gift It." The best part: You won't have to worry about shipping.

Sesame is a gift-giving app [iTunes link] launched this week by Sincerely -- the makers of Postagram.

The gift sets are curated by industry experts. Lick My Spoon blogger Stephanie Hua filled the "Snack Attack" box with delectable Fuckychunky Chip-Zel-Pop, chocolate toffee and brownies, plus black truffle and white cheddar popcorn.

"Sesame makes it easy enough, within three clicks, to send a gift," said Matt Brezina, Sincerely cofounder.

SEE ALSO: 12 Holiday Gifts That Give Back

There are 13 gift sets available for $29 or $4…
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More About: Gifts, apps, holiday gifts

The Wandant dog pedometer, developed by electronics maker Fujitsu, is a specialized pedometer made to keep track of your pet's health.

More About: dogs, pedometer, pets

Ever have trouble finding your iPhone or iPad? Now there's an app that hides your iDevice on purpose.

Meet Chameleon Clock, which uses the rear-facing camera on your device to blend it in to its surroundings. The clock displays what's behind it on the screen along with the time, making your device appear to disappear.

The time can be toggled between white and black to match your device or to blend in further with your surroundings.

SEE ALSO: 7 Apps You Don't Want To Miss

For those locations that might not be the most aesthetically pleasing, you can go into Chameleon Mode, and have the clock simply pick a color from behind it, blending…
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More About: iOS, ipad, iphone

1. Kony 2012 (Invisible Children)

Most Americans had never heard of Joseph Kony, the head of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, before. This March video from advocacy group Invisible Children changed that.

Click here to view this gallery.

Is Kony 2012 an ad? If so, it was the most-viral ad of the year. If not, it was just an extremely effective advocacy video and a Belgian video for cable network TNT was actually the most-viral ad of 2012.

Unruly, which keeps tabs on viral video activity, thinks Kony is, so it tops this year's list. Indeed, Kony's numbers are pretty staggering -- 10 million shares and 94 million views on YouTube make it the Gangnam Style of charity videos. Not bad for a 30-minute film that doesn't have a cat in sight and doesn't introduce a new dance move.

Speaking of which, there are two tributes to Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" on this list. There are also a few examples of borrowed equity, incl…
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More About: Advertising, kony 2012, viral videos

Every wonder how Santa keeps track of who's been naughty or nice?

According to a new Windows Phone ad, there's an app for that. In the video above, the Naughty or Nice Live App helps Santa watch out for who's been bad or good, delivering that information directly to a live tile on his bright red Windows Phone.

Unfortunately for Santa and company, that means he has to cancel the holiday pool party when the nice number spirals upward, so the elves can make more toys.

SEE ALSO: You Need These 12 Windows Phone Apps

Santa isn't the only North Pole resident using Windows Phone. Earlier this week Microsoft posted a video of the Abominable Snowman using Windows Phone while at…
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More About: Windows Phone 8, microsoft

Bridget Hughes' quest for her lost hat -- which belonged to her mother before she passed away from cancer -- has the Internet searching with her.

More About: Facebook, Newsy, Social Good, videos

In the scope of a couple of days, several people -- including Mashable staffers -- have seen their Facebook cover photos disappear without explanation. The issue appears to be a move by Facebook to aggressively crack down on images that are considered promotional.

I first encountered the issue yesterday when Facebook ostensibly removed a promotional still from the TV series Doctor Who that I used as a cover photo. When I attempted to upload another image, I saw this message:

Pick a unique photo from your life to feature at the top of your timeline. Note: This space is not meant for banner ads or other promotions. Please don't use content that is commercial, promotional, copyright…
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More About: Facebook, cover photos, facebook timeline

Three years ago, when the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) was developing its local, national online video platform, the company had a 65-year-old viewer test the user experience. "This isn't at all what I expected from PBS," she said about the radically different design. "It's so modern."

Jason Seiken, the senior vice president of PBS Interactive who oversees all digital services, shared this anecdote with the audience at Mashable's Media Summit on Friday. In a nutshell, this sweet story tells us something very integral about the company's digital initiatives: It's radically changing the way people see PBS, and that's its goal.

In a discussion with Mashable senior tech analyst Ch…
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More About: Entertainment, TV, digital, media summit

When we think about the future, we're inspired by a combination of movies, books and other pop culture references. Among all the fanciful gizmos and gadgets, the flying car is one of the most classic futuristic concepts in sci-fi.

For my entire life, I've been tantalized with the idea that, one day, I could access news on any screen, video chat with friends and cruise across the sky — all during my daily commute.

In the 1960s, The Jetsons predicted many of today's technological advances, and we haven't even reached 2062, the show's setting. Today, we have touchscreens, video chat and even a robot maid, if you count the Roomba -- but where is my flying car?

The truth is, there…
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More About: Tech, cars, features, flight, future

There have been plenty of complaints in recent years that new media outlets have fragmented the news consumption experience for readers, but NPR's Brooke Gladstone argued during an interview at Mashable's Media Summit on Friday that the media has almost always been fragmented.

"What people refer to 'the golden age' was actually a blip. Mostly it's been a fractious, fractured media environment," said Gladstone, who is the co-host and managing editor of NPR's On The Media and the author of The Influencing Machine. "It was just when for a brief moment, instead of technology getting cheaper, technology suddenly got hugely expensive, and required mass audiences to support it," she said,…
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More About: media summit, news media

What would make more than 500,000 Facebook users share one guy's photoshopped picture of a ticket with the winning Powerball numbers? Raise your little pinky, do your best Dr. Evil voice, and say it with me now: one meeeellion dollars.

"Looks like I won't be going to work EVER!" user Nolan Daniels posted to the social network on Thursday night, captioning the fake ticket photo above. "Share this photo and I will give a random person 1 million dollars!"

The numbers were a fairly obvious Photoshop job, and the notion of someone who just won $239 million inviting all sorts of trouble by posting such a picture on Facebook is faintly ridiculous. But to confirm the fakery, as Gawker poi…
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More About: Facebook, powerball

World AIDS Day, celebrated each Dec. 1, is a global day devoted to raising awareness of the disease, which affects millions around the world.

Social media campaigns aplenty are spreading messages of hope across the Internet: As of Nov. 30, before World AIDS Day had officially begun, the hashtag #WorldAIDSDay was already trending on Twitter.

SEE ALSO: ONE and (RED) Launch Digital Quilt to Fight AIDS

Take a look at these three inspiring campaigns from Red, One and Durex. Hopefully you'll find something that inspires you to spread awareness for the epidemic, which could be ended if the right resources are put forward.

Durex's #1Share1Condom

Contraceptive giant Durex plan…
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More About: Social Good, world aids day

Older adults are not immune from the flood of technology in today's world -- and they're eager to get onboard. A growing number of senior citizens, as well as tech entrepreneurs, are seeing technology as a tool to enrich their lives as they reach old age.

Technology plays an increasingly important role in helping older adults maintain and improve mental and emotional well-being. Associate Professor of Psychology T.J. McCallum, Ph.D., of Case Western Reserve University, conducted a study examining technology and socialization among seniors. In a short, three-month study, he found that seniors who engaged with technology have higher self-esteem and greater social interaction compared w…
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More About: education, internet, senior citizens

During this year's U.S. presidential election, it wasn't uncommon for political journalists to watch the debates with two, maybe three computer screens, a mobile device ready for push notifications and, of course, a social dashboard scrolling in the background.

These reporters tweeted, shared, GIF-ed and memed throughout the election, but were they helping or harming themselves?

Because of the speed and constant feed of information, social networks like Twitter have forced journalists to become more witty, critical and generally more interesting in their writing, to compensate for readers who had already already consumed that information via social.

Kerry Lauman, editor-in-ch…
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More About: 2012 presidential campaign, Politics, Social Media, Twitter, media summit

Adobe Flash: Can't live with it, can't live without it, at least for iOS users. But iPhone lovers now have a Flash alternative.

More About: Apple iPhone 5, adobe flash, iphone

At the Mashable Media Summit on Friday, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian joined Mashable features editor Matt Silverman on stage to talk about how to monetize a website while still putting the community first.

By doing so, Reddit hopes that advertisers will recognize the value. Ohanian talked about Reddit's old model of advertising, similar to billboard ads, and how it's becoming less effective.

"In 2005, we thought, 'We're going to get lots of traffic and advertisers will take care of the rest,' " Ohanian said. "Websites advertise like digital billboards. Now we can see click-through data on these ads and we realized: Holy shit, no one cares."

Moving forward, Reddit intends…
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More About: community, features, media summit, reddit

If you have a collection of outdated cellphones hanging around the house, you're in good company.

More About: cellphone, security

Global hunger and poverty organization Heifer International released the first non-profit tablet magazine app Thursday, launching a digital edition of its quarterly publication World Ark. The app is available for free for in the App store for iPads and Google Play for Android tablets.

"We believe the tablet is the ideal format to show the work that Heifer does, since it lets us use video and professional photography to showcase the work we do," Donna Stokes, managing editor of World Ark, told Mashable. "A high percentage of our readers still prefer print, but we really see the digital space as a growth area for us, and it's really important for us to be there as well."

World Ark…
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More About: Social Good, non-profits, tablet magazines

I'll admit, I was skeptical about iTunes 11 before it finally arrived late Thursday. Announced by Apple during the launch of the iPhone 5, it was promptly forgotten, rating not a mention during the iPad mini launch. Promised during October, it only just made it under the wire at the end of November. During a period of extreme executive reshuffle and the flap over Maps, the iTunes delay contributed to a sense that the Cupertino company had lost its way in software.

Like many an iTunes user, I also had diminished expectations from a decade of downloading updates. It had become a dreaded routine -- hold out as long as possible, download only when Software Update reminded me for the…
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More About: apple, iTunes 11, itunes

New York comedy group Blogologues performs a lover's tale between a human and a pumpkin spice latte.

More About: BLOGS, Watercooler, starbucks, viral videos

Are you one of the 29% of people who say they can't live without their cellphones? According to a recent Pew Research study, people have a hard time breaking away from their cellphones -- and their friends don't help stop this addictive behavior.

The study also shows that only 12% of cellphone owners say that people they know tell them when they're spending too much time on their phone. But 39% of cellphone owners say their family, friends and acquaintances will complain if they don't answers calls or texts fast enough.

SEE ALSO: Are You Addicted to Your Smartphone? [INFOGRAPHIC]

The study of 2,254 adults showed that 67% of cellphone owners check their phone for messages…
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More About: Pew Research, addiction, cellphone

1. *cough* *cough*

Click here to view this gallery.

A child can only ask about a chicken's road crossing habits so many times. When the chicken gets fried or no one answers the knock knock door, kids can peruse the Internet for funny jokes.

But not all jokes on the web are appropriate for little eyes and ears. A moderator for a child joke site knows just that and started a Tumblr site to share all the bad, inappropriate or offensive jokes that couldn't be published.

Bad Kids Jokes compiles some pretty terrible, albeit occasionally funny, jokes that didn't make it to a site where they would be looked at by kids (and parents).

Click through the gallery above to get a sample of jokes that didn't make the cut.

BONUS: Yo iPad is so ..…
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More About: Watercooler, jokes, tumblr

When Hearst first launched digital editions for the iPad, it loaded its titles with interactive features -- features, Hearst President David Carey said, readers don't necessarily want.

"We had to find out whether people wanted something all-new and interactive, or if they just wanted the magazine in mobile mode," Carey recounted onstage at Mashable's Media Summit in New York City Friday. "The industry overshot the interactivity early on. What we discovered is that most people just want the product itself," he explained, echoing the sentiments expressed by editors at The New Yorker and Popular Science.

In 2010, Hearst partnered with app developer Scrollmotion to develop richly engag…
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More About: Media, hearst, media summit, tablets

New evidence points to two ancestral canyons, with the western canyon dating back to 70 million years ago.

More About: Dinosaurs, history, united states

Want to buy a specific camera for someone for the holidays, but can't find it in your budge range? Now you can haggle with the price on this new site.

More About: Gadgets, Tech

Silicon Valley's favorite ad man Tom Bedecarre argued at Mashable's Media Summit that publishers should be working to build the next Pinterest or Instagram.

More About: Media, instagram, media summit, pinterest