Amazon edged out Apple to become the most reputable company in the U.S., a new study suggests.

Harris Interactive interviewed over 14,000 members of the general public for its 2013 Reputation Quotient, which measures corporate reputation among the "most visible" companies in the U.S. The market-research firm assessed businesses based on six criteria: social responsibility, emotional appeal, products and services, workplace environment, financial performance, and vision and leadership.

Amazon ranked in the top five in five of the six criteria, leading in emotional appeal, as well as products and services. The ecommerce retailer beat its competitors with an "RQ score" of 82.62. (Any scor…
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More About: amazon, apple, Google

You never get a second chance at a first impression. The Internet has changed many things, but not that old bit of wisdom. First impressions can be as indelible when made online as in real life, and in the era of social media, profile photos can play a major role in making them.

Having a great profile photo on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn or Twitter may impress the social media friends you already know, but it can be even more important for your flagship shot to make the right impression on ones you don't know yet — especially when they might be deciding whether to hire you.

We asked Marjorie Kase, a solutions consultant at Adobe Social, and Tony Gale, a New York-based commercial…
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More About: linkedin, photography, profile pic, profile picture, social profile

LG has revealed the design of its upcoming 5.5-inch smartphone, the Optimus G Pro.

The Korean company has posted an image of the smartphone, which features a curvedglass screen, on its Facebook page.

The device will feature a quad-core processor and a full HD (1080p) display. It will also be available in black and white.

The Optimus G Pro's exact release date and pricing have not yet been revealed, but LG says it expects the phone to be available in February. We're hoping to get a better look at the device at the upcoming Mobile World Congress, which will take place in Barcelona from Feb. 25 to 28.

What do you think of the Optimus G Pro? Tell us in the comments, below.

More About: LG, LG Optimus G Pro, Optimus G Pro, smarpthone

For Apple fanatics who crave accessories and attachments for their beloved iProducts, one website acts as a hub for successful Kickstarter projects that provide additions to devices from the Cupertino, Calif. company.

Described as a "one-stop shop," BiteMyApple.co showcases some of the most successful Kickstarter projects that offer accessories for the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and MacBook Air, among other products.

The website has a grid-like layout that includes a thumbnail photo of each product, as well as its name and price. Clicking on the thumbnail leads users to a more in-depth description of the product, and the option to add it to their cart.

SEE ALSO: Why Companies Are Ou…
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More About: apple, kickstarter

1. Ancient Metropolis

"The Golden City" lives on a collaborative server (we assume in Creative Mode) where players are committed to extremely ornate architecture. Spires, temples, fountains and even hot air balloons punctuate this ancient cityscape. Check out the album for the full scope. Image courtesy of Sanakan_Soryu.

Click here to view this gallery.

Even if you haven't played Minecraft, it's likely you have a child, friend or online pal who's obsessed with the creative building game.

Since 2009, there have been two kinds of Minecraft players: those who simply enjoy exploring and building in its blocky, procedurally-generated worlds; and those who create monumental works of mind-blowing art and machinery -- many of which go viral in online gaming communities.

SEE ALSO: Coders Combine 70 'Minecraft' Servers Into Massive Online Game

Some purists are only interested in "legit" builds; those completed in Survival Mode, where every block must be mined, processed and placed by hand. Others feel more free in Creative Mode, where every…
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More About: features, Gaming, minecraft, video games

With those mournful puppy-dog eyes, man's best friend may be conveying more than just a desire for table scraps. As it turns out, Sparky could be empathizing with you.

A new study suggests that domestic dogs are capable of understanding a human's perspective. Researchers found that when a human forbids a dog from taking food, the canine is four times more likely to disobey in a dark room than in a well-lit room; this suggests dogs "take into account what the human can or cannot see," according to Science Daily.

"That's incredible because it implies dogs understand the human can't see them, meaning they might understand the human perspective," said Juliane Kaminski, one of the study'…
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More About: dogs, Science, study

This Valentine's Day, convince your nerd crush to go for a Tumbl that will give your heart a kernel panic.

Skip the romantic LinkedIn endorsements and re-gifted Klout perks because these pickup lines will most definitely get you poked. Plus, it will get you out from behind your computing device of choice. Well, unless you start dropping these charming pickup gems on Snapchat. (Don't do that.)

SEE ALSO: 10 Stupidly Funny Questions About Love on Yahoo Answers

Happy Valentine's Day! Or, shall we say "01001000 01100001 01110000 01110000 01111001 00100000 01010110 01100001 01101100 01100101 01101110 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100101 00100111 01110011 00100000 01000100 01100001 011…
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More About: humor, relationships, valentine's day, viral videos, Watercooler

An experimental demo website by a Croatian designer could solve the problem of microscopic font.

More About: glasses, graphic design, reading, responsive design, typography, web typography

Marco Rubio just really, really needs a glass of water. OK, guys?

More About: GIF, marco rubio, state of the union

You don't hear this one everyday: a skydiver parachutes onto a rugby field during the middle of play. See it to believe it.

More About: Sports, Watercooler

Why didn't anyone tell us Grumpy Cat got an invite to this year's State of the Union address?

Wait, he wasn't there? It was Speaker of the House John Boehner, you say? No! The resemblance, some say, is uncanny.

Much of Twitter agreed: Johnny boy put on his best grumpy-puss face while U.S. President Barack Obama outlined his plans for the future. The Republican sat crotchety-ly behind the Prez, barely flinching at the jokes, squirming during the touchy-feely parts and managing to stay in his seats during virtually every standing O.

Grumpy cat just got out irritated.

This is John Boehner as Grumpy Cat during the #SOTU. twitter.com/JuanSaaa/statu…— Juan (@JuanSaaa) Februar…
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More About: barack obama, grumpy cat, president obama, state of the union, Twitter

The Launchpad is a series that introduces Mashable readers to compelling startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

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Name: Nomi

One-Line Pitch: A platform that lets retailers track and analyze customer data across multiple channels, including in-store, online and mobile.

Why It's Taking Off: Bringing shopper analytics to bricks and mortar.

Online retailers know a great deal about their customers. Even without handing over their identification details, retailers know where they came from, what device they used, what items they looked at, how long they shopped for and whether they visited sometime in the past month. What if brick-and-mortar retailers could have the same information about their customers -- and combine it with what they know about their online and mobile sho…
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More About: nomi, retail, shopping, The Launchpad

Between Two Ferns: Oscar Buzz Edition Part 1 from Zach Galifianakis

The long-running Funny or Die video series, Between Two Ferns, returns from its hiatus with a special Oscar edition.

Zach Galifianakis sits down with this year's leading nominees including Silver Lining's Playbook's Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, Lincoln's Sally Field and Zero Dark Thirty's Jessica Chastain. The comedian and host wastes no time jumping into hard-hitting questions, like whether or not Field appreciates the penny more since her nod-worthy role.

SEE ALSO: Oscars Poster Commemorates 85 Years of 'Best Picture'

On a more serious note, we're pretty much watching the entertainment that com…
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More About: Between Two Ferns, Oscars, Oscars 2013

U.S. President Barack Obama wants high schools in America to focus more on high-tech. In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Obama called for American schools to "create classes that focus on science, technology, engineering and math – the skills today's employers are looking for to fill jobs right now and in the future."

Obama mentioned two models, one abroad and one at home. Overseas, he praised Germany, where students graduate "with the equivalent of a technical degree from one of our community colleges." In America, Obama singled out schools like P-Tech in Brooklyn, where a collaboration between the New York Public Schools, the City University of New York, and IBM gives stu…
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More About: barack obama, education, high school, state of the union, STEM

U.S. President Barack Obama called for a level of science and technology research "not seen since the height of the space race" during his State of the Union address Tuesday.

Obama credited several innovative companies and new technologies, including Apple and 3D-printing, with helping to spark growth in the American economy.

"There are things we can do, right now, to accelerate this trend," Obama said in his prepared remarks. He continued:

"Last year, we created our first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio. A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D-printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way w…
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More About: barack obama, Politics, state of the union, US

It's too soon to tell if the various bizarre 30-second versions of "Harlem Shake" have what it takes to be 2013's answer to "Gangnam Style." But to the delight of everyone who enjoys getting jiggy in dorm rooms and offices, the Harlem Shake meme has taken off fast enough to get some serious credit from the powers that be at YouTube itself.

In a post titled "The Harlem Shake is Exploding," YouTube trends manager Kevin Allocca reveals that more than 12,000 Harlem Shake videos had been uploaded by close of business Monday. Collectively, they have been watched more than 44 million times in a week.

This chart showing the frequency of those uploads gives you a sense of how fast the meme is…
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Typographical techniques can be traced back to ancient times. But nowadays, with the ability to choose fonts from a drop-down menu, typography can seem like an obscure art.

SEE ALSO: More Comics on Mashable

In this comic, Grant Snider of Incidental Comics gives us his pachyderm-inspired take on Robert Bringhurst's book, The Elements of Typographic Style.

Snider's comics are available as prints through his poster shop.

Comic illustration by Grant Snider, Incidental Comics. Published with permission; all rights reserved.

More About: comics, humor, Incidental Comics, typography, Watercooler

U.S. President Barack Obama issued his long-awaited executive order on cybersecurity Tuesday, mere hours before heading to Congress to deliver his fifth State of the Union address.

Obama's order directs federal agencies to notify private businesses of cyber threats in an unclassified and "timely" fashion. The order demands those federal agencies share information in a way that protects individuals' civil liberties, and that they conduct regular public reviews of their civil liberties and privacy practices.

The executive order also commands a federal agency that sets technological standards to develop cybersecurity best practices -- what the White House is calling a "Cybersecurity Frame…
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More About: barack obama, CISPA, cybersecurity, Politics, US, White House

Michelle Obama might have bangs now, but she's still no Zooey Deschanel.

Barack Obama's State of the Union address takes over network television Tuesday, preempting shows like Fox's New Girl. The POTUS' SOTU seizing of the airwaves hasn't pleased fans of the show on Twitter.

1. not only are we paying higher taxes, but there is also no "new girl" tonight because of Obama. #political #protest #fb— Vanita (@vanitajoines) February 13, 2013

2. Why Obama... I mean the state of the Union is making me miss New Girl and the Mindy project. #notcoolobamanotcool— Leslie Hales (@LeslieHales) February 13, 2013

3. Seriously Obama no New Girl cause of you!??? Just one more reaso…
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More About: barack obama, conversations, state of the union, Watercooler

The President's State of the Union address on Tuesday night will likely lack comedy and wit, because there's nothing funny about the nation's laundry list ... or anyone else's, for that matter.

That's why the brilliant collective minds of Twitter comedy, WitStream have accepted the challenge. While you listen to Obama's first SOTU speech of his second term, follow along with the embed below as professional wise-crackers crack some wise. (Don't worry, all of the jokes will be better than that.)

SEE ALSO: The Many Faces of Barack Obama

The speech starts at 9 p.m. EST, but if you're late to the party, just scroll back at the bottom of the widget and catch up on the show.

Mashab…
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More About: humor, state of the union, Twitter, US

As the Christopher Dorner manhunt raged on Tuesday, law enforcement asked reporters to stop tweeting because it was "hindering officer safety." But how?

More About: law enforcement

Ok, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is seriously starring in everything these days. He's even found his way to Sesame Street.

But it's cool because there's just so much cuteness happening in this video. Alongside Muppet Murray, Gordon-Levitt teaches us all about the word "reinforce."

SEE ALSO: Watch 'Sesame Street' Hilariously Parody 'Downton Abbey'

We learn a lot, and ultimately this video reinforces our love of all things Muppet -- and, oh yeah, JGL. Cue swoon.

BONUS: 10 Adorable Clips of Sesame Street Satire

Video and image courtesy of YouTube, SesameStreet

More About: sesame street, viral videos, Watercooler

Cut the Rope Toys

Cut the Rope's little monster Om Nom had a big appearance at the 2013 Toy Fair, with cute plush that transform into candies and stars from the game. The plush also have a link on each tag to unlock an augmented reality game on iOS mobile devices, which brings Om Nom into our world. The game allows players to swipe to toss candy into Om Nom's mouth.

Click here to view this gallery.

Merch is big business for video games, and toys are no exception. Now more than ever, video games are being leveraged as products fans can play with, hug close or display proudly.

Mashable combed Toy Fair 2013 in New York City to find the coolest official video game toys. The range was vast; a lot of toys are based on classic games we're nostalgic for, but increasingly, we're seeing mobile games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope dominate the space.

SEE ALSO: Lego Unveils Geeky New Sets For Star Wars, Lone Ranger Fans

Check out the gallery of cool products found at Toy Fair, and let us know which you'd love to add to your collection.

Photos by Mashable, Chelsea Stark

More About: features, Gaming, toy fair

In a controversial move, wrestling was axed from the Olympics despite being among the Games' oldest sports. More than 10,000 people have since signed online petitions to save the sport.

More About: olympics, Sports

The anarchic hacker collective Anonymous brought down a government website last month -- and now it wants to do the same for President Obama's State of the Union.

"There will be no State of the Union Address on the web tonight," read a post on the collective site Anon Relations. "We reject the authority of the President to sign arbitrary orders and bring irresponsible and damaging controls to the Internet ... we will form a virtual blockade between Capitol Hill and the Internet."

How exactly the disparate group intends to do that wasn't mentioned, but presumably a denial of service attack on the official White House stream is intended. Even less clear was whether the other live streams…
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More About: anonymous, state of the union

A new app called Travelgram attempts to spruce up the standard vacation shots you take on your iPhone by automatically adding location stamps.

Simple to use; date, time, and location information is automatically added to shots you take with the app. Time and date information is optional, so you can remove it if you want to keep any part of your photo-taking adventure a secret. The app has six different style options for the location stamp, so you can customize it to complement your shot.

A number of built-in styles and filters let you take photos to the next level, and give them a polished final look. As far as filters are concerned, you're given just five options. Not quite what you…
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More About: App, iphone

Florida drivers are offering free rides for owls, whether the birds want a lift or not. Well, at least that's one way to understand this hoot of a story.

Sonji Coney Williams' SUV collided with a Great Horned Owl in central Florida last week, trapping the bird in the vehicle's grille. Williams didn't realize the owl had survived until a day later when another motorist flagged her down and pointed out the big yellow eyes staring out.

SEE ALSO: Happy Superb Owl Sunday!

Florida Fish and Wildlife freed the trapped bird, which didn't appear too traumatized from its unexpected journey through the Sunshine State.

Image courtesy of YouTube, TheBrandNewWorld

Image courtesy…
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More About: cute animals, Florida, Watercooler

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange took the first step toward becoming a senator on Tuesday when supporters handed his electoral enrollment application to the Australian Electoral Commission in Melbourne, reported Australian daily The Age.

We already knew he wanted to run and we already knew it was going to be hard for him to even be considered eligible, let alone win the seat. But now we know he's indeed going to try.

A group of supporters, including his father and John Shipton, a Sydney architect who's been actively involved with the newly formed Wikileaks Party, filed the paperwork. Shipton noted that this is just "a first step."

Graeme Orr, a professor at the University of Queens…
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More About: australia, julian assange, wikileaks, World

The fourth season of Arrested Development is scheduled to arrive exclusively on Netflix in May. But it may one day be available to watch on DVD or iTunes, Ted Sarandos, chief content officer and vice president of content at Netflix, said at AllThingsD's media conference Tuesday.

That's because Fox still owns the rights to Arrested Development as a whole -- and once Netflix's license on the season it ends, it will be able to release it through other channels.

Sarandos declined to say how long Netflix would have exclusive rights to the show, only saying it was "longer than the typical license."

Until that day, the only way Arrested Development fans can watch the season is by streamin…
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More About: arrested development, Fox, netflix

President Barack Obama will be delivering his fifth State of the Union address at 9 p.m. EST Tuesday. Looking for a way to watch online? Aside from networks' basic online streams and mobile apps, Mashable has rounded up the following unique options for your Internet viewing pleasure:

1. WhiteHouse.gov

WhiteHouse.gov is offering an "enhanced version" of Obama's speech with charts, graphs and data to back up the president's arguments and claims. Immediately following Obama's speech will be a live panel with White House staff, to which you can submit questions via Twitter on the hashtag #WHchat.

Trying to catch the State of the Union on the go? Download the White House's official mobil…
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More About: barack obama, congress, Politics, state of the union, US