Sunday 6 January 2013

Mashable: Latest 16 News Updates - including “iTheater Turns Your iPhone Into a Personal Cinema”

Mashable: Latest 16 News Updates - including “iTheater Turns Your iPhone Into a Personal Cinema”


iTheater Turns Your iPhone Into a Personal Cinema

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 08:57 PM PST


While the iPhone 5's retina display offers sharper images, its screen remains a mere 4 inches in size. For cinephiles who think bigger is better, one Michigan-based designer has developed a way to turn your iPhone into a personal movie theater.

The iTheater, developed by Mike Enayah, is a hands-free holder connected to headphones that is "fully adjustable for size and optimal vision distance."

Users simply insert their iPhone 5 into the slot, and then enjoy a close-up view of whatever's on screen. Although the iTheater isn't the most fashionable smartphone accessory around, its portability may be a strong selling point. Check out the video, above, for more.

Would you wear the iThea…
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More About: films, Headphones, iphone, Movies, theater

Watch This Robot Cover Band Play Motorhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 08:02 PM PST


Compressorhead, a cover band that consists of 3 robots, has performed several heavy metal classics, the most recent of which is Motorhead's "Ace of Spades."

More About: robots, Video

For Sale or Lease: Space-Shuttle Facilities, Contact NASA

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 07:00 PM PST


In what would make the most epic Craigslist ad ever, NASA is selling and leasing out facilities used by its space-shuttle program.

So if you're in the market for a launchpad or venue to assemble rockets, contact the space agency, which is holding a going-out-of-business sale.

Since its final shuttle mission in July 2011, NASA has been clearing out the Kennedy Space Center launch site, according to the Orlando Sentinel. As part of the cleanup, it is advertising facilities and equipment that are available for use, lease or sale, the newspaper said. These include: the Launch Pad 39A, where shuttles were launched and the Vehicle Assembly Building, which was used to put together Saturn V-…
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More About: NASA, space shuttle

Library of Congress Has Now Archived 170 Billion Tweets

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 05:57 PM PST


The Library of Congress is just weeks away from finishing the first stage of building a Twitter archive, but there are still technological challenges ahead.

More About: Library of Congress, Twitter

‘Hashtag’ Declared 2012′s Word of the Year

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 04:55 PM PST


The American Dialect Society has named "hashtag" as the word of the year, beating out "Gangnam Style," "YOLO" and "fiscal cliff," among others.

More About: Twitter

Teen Thrown in Jail After Boasting About Drunk Driving on Facebook

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 03:58 PM PST


People use Facebook to spread news about job promotions, marriages and pregnancies, but one Oregon teen took sharing to a new level by boasting about his drunk driving.

Jacob Cox-Brown, 18, posted a status update that exposed his New Year's Day crime.

Earlier that day, at around 1 a.m., police in Astoria, Ore. found evidence that two cars had been in a collision, according to local reports. Later on, police received a private message from one of Cox-Brown's Facebook friends that "got this case moving," the Astoria Police Department said in a release. Officers then went to Cox-Brown's house, and found a vehicle that matched the damage inflicted during the early-morning crash.

"…
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More About: Facebook

10 Vintage Photographs of Snowflakes

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 02:59 PM PST





Photo courtesy of Flickr, Smithsonian Institution.

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If for some reason you didn't believe no two snowflakes were alike, here's your proof.

In 1885, Wilson A. Bentley successfully photographed over 5,000 snowflakes by attaching a camera to a microscope (and in turn honing the field of Photomicrography). His photographs supported his and others' beliefs that all snowflakes were unique.

Bentley become fascinated with snow as a child on a Vermont farm. He later spent time experimenting with ways to view individual snowflakes and their crystalline structure, which eventually came in handy when he had to be quick enough to capture a flake in a picture before it melted.

SEE ALSO: DIY a Hoth Winter Wonderland With Star Wars Snowflakes
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More About: snow, winter

10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do With Your Smartphone

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 01:16 PM PST


1. Match Paint Colors




Want to paint your walls the same color of green as your throw pillows? What about making your wainscoting the same color blue as yesterday afternoon's sky? With BEHR's ColorSmart mobile app, you can match the perfect paint color. The app is available for iOS and Android devices.

Click here to view this gallery.


Studies show that the majority of adults in the United States own cellphones. As of September, 2012, the Pew Research Center found that 45% of American adults have smartphones.

SEE ALSO: 9 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do Online

With everything a smartphone can do, those statistics aren't so surprising. Mobile devices keep you connected at all times, whether it's by phone, texting, email or social media. And there seems to be an app for just about everything. But what about all the ways your smartphone can help with non-digital tasks?

We've rounded up 10 handy and little-known ways to use your smartphone in the physical world -- matching paint color, starting your car from your k…
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More About: apps, features, Lifestyle, Mobile

36 Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 12:52 PM PST


Turning the calendar to a new year generally brings both an opportunity to reflect on the past year and an earnest sense of hopefulness that this year will be an even better one.

If your new year's resolution was to become more technology savvy, but you've been laid low all week from too much eating and partying -- you've come to the right place. At Mashable, we've resolved to bring you even more thorough coverage of the latest innovations, both physical and digital.

At the end of each week, we round up our posts with the most tangibly usable information, categorized neatly to facilitate discovery or to help you find exactly what you're seeking. This week you'll find apps to help you…
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More About: Business, features, Features Week In Review, Lifestyles, Social Media, Tech

The 5 Best Games You Should Play This Weekend

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 12:13 PM PST


1. Hundreds




Hundreds is one of the most interesting games to come out of this week's batch of iOS apps. This puzzle game, partially created by the maker of the successful Canabalt, is challenging and addictive. Hundreds' object is to touch the circles on the screen until their internal counters add up to 100. That simple concept quickly becomes tricky when you learn that your circles can't touch each other or anything else while they're ticking upward. Once you're confronted with puzzles filled with bouncing bubbles all over the screen, Hundreds difficulty quickly becomes apparent. This quirky puzzle game comes in a sleek package with beautiful typography that makes it even more enjoyable to play. It's available now for iOS [iTunes link], and is currently on sale for $2.99.

Click here to view this gallery.


The holiday season is over; gaming releases have slowed to a trickle after the tidal wave that is the holiday release schedule.

If you're looking for something different to whet your gaming appetite, or a small weekend diversion, we've got you covered with our list of the 5 best games for the week. There are lots of great games available at bargain prices right now, thanks to big sales on Steam and iTunes. Everything on this list can be played for $5 or less, and two of the games are free.

SEE ALSO: What Does 2013 Hold for a Gaming Industry in Flux?

Check out our suggestions in the gallery above. What are you playing this weekend? Let us know in the comments.

More About: features, Gaming, steam, video games

Windows Phone Doesn’t Support Google Maps Because Google Doesn’t Want It To

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 11:38 AM PST


The situation regarding accessing Google Maps on Windows Phone devices is about vendor choice, not browser capabilities.

Let's try this again. Yesterday, a number of reports surfaced that Windows Phone users were unable to access Google Maps in the browser. Instead of reaching the Maps page, users are automatically redirected to the main Google homepage. This is true both for users attempting to access Google Maps from the mobile or desktop view in Internet Explorer on Windows Phone 7.X and Windows Phone 8 devices.

SEE ALSO: This is Why You Can't Access Google Maps on Windows Phone

Google's official response -- as we pointed out yesterday -- is that the decision to redirect users a
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More About: Google, Google Maps, microsoft, webkit, windows phone, Windows Phone 8

Check Out The First Concept Design For iPhone 6

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 10:57 AM PST


iPhone 6 Design Concept




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It's only been a few months since Apple released the iPhone 5, but one designer already has a vision for what the next model should look like.

Federico Ciccarese, an Italian designer, has come up with a series of stunning renders for the iPhone 6 -- assuming that's what Apple ends up calling the next redesign of the device -- which would represent a significant change to the phone's external design and operating system.

The concept for the iPhone 6 is inspired by the shape of the iPod Nano, though when applied to the iPhone it bares some resemblance to the Nokia Lumia. At the same time, Federico has re-imagined the look and feel of the operating system with a concept he calls iOSX, wh…
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More About: iphone

The Biggest Tech Controversies of 2013 (So Far)

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 10:35 AM PST


Mom Gives Son a Christmas iPhone -- With Strings Attached




Blogger Janell Burley Hofmann gave her son an iPhone for Christmas -- and it came with a contract. Hofmann's rules went viral, prompting a lengthy discussion about good parenting in the digital age. Griffin Greenberg felt that the rules of smartphone etiquette should be implied and ingrained. But commenter Ben Mordecai responded that this mom's strategy ensured that both parties were clear about the expectations of technology use.

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The apocalypse didn't arrive in 2012, the world kept spinning and we made it to 2013. The top comments of the new year centered on an evaluation of our priorities and a look ahead at what's to come. We're only a week into the new year, but we're already discussing parenting, First Amendment rights and problems arising for LinkedIn.

Will 2013 be the year that every child becomes the owner a smartphone? It was certainly the year that mother and blogger Janell Burley Hofmann decided that her 13-year-old son was ready for an iPhone, but not without a few ground rules. Hofmann gave her son a new phone and an 18 point contract, which quickly went viral online. Some readers though that her rules…
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More About: New Year's Resolutions, top comments

Top 10 Tech This Week

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 10:03 AM PST


1. Samsung NX300 Mirrorless Camera




Samsung's new mirrorless camera flagship is the NX 300, bringing novel features such as Wi-Fi connectivity and the ability to shoot 3D with a special lens. Here's our review: http://on.mash.to/UPbg0W Photo: Mashable

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The air is thick with anticipation of CES 2013, and even though there was a long weekend this week, the past seven days were packed with spectacular technology nevertheless.

It was surprising how much stuff was going on, including an early look at Samsung's newest mirrorless camera, hints about a stronger version of Gorilla Glass, rumors flying about the next iPhone, and a futuristic eye-tracking PC accessory that's about to become available.

SEE ALSO: Previous editions of Top 10 Tech This Week

There's something here for everyone this week, including those who are absent-minded and always losing their keys, outdoorsy types who still want to use their smartphones, and LEGO fans with…
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More About: gorilla glass, iPhone 5s, samsung, Top 10 Tech, Top 10 Tech This Week

Apple Paid $6 Billion in U.S. Corporate Income Taxes in 2012

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 08:50 AM PST


Apple paid more in U.S. taxes last year than most companies made in total, but its tax bill could have been even higher.

The California-based company paid $6 billion in federal corporate income taxes in the 2012 fiscal year, according to a statement Apple provided to The New York Times on Friday, in which it emphasized just how much money it pays back to the federal government annually.

"In fiscal 2012 we paid $6 billion in federal corporate income taxes, which is 1 out of every 40 dollars in corporate income taxes collected by the U.S. government," Apple said in the statement.

That statement came in response to a Times story on a congressional investigation into the accounting prac…
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More About: apple, taxes

Does Anyone Really Believe Advertising Any More?

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 08:05 AM PST


Apparently consumers are taking this old saying to heart: "Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear." Market research firm Lab42 just released a study that revealed that 76% of its respondents think advertisements contain exaggerated claims, and a mere 3% think ads are "very accurate."

According to Lab42's survey of 500 respondents, while 38% wish for more accuracy in advertising, only 17% would like to see more laws in the United States that regulate advertising. In the U.S., advertising is seen as free speech, but that's not the case in other countries such as the UK, where ads are routinely banned for being misleading or exaggerated.

With the Super Bowl coming up…
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More About: Advertising, infographics, Lab42

The Real Reason Your Eyesight Stinks

Posted: 05 Jan 2013 07:11 AM PST


Captchaism: It's like Astigmatism, but less decipherable.

More About: captcha, comics, humor, vision


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