Movie fans can vote using Instagram photos and hashtags — for the first time ever — in the MTV Movie Awards' Best Hero category leading up to and during the April 14 ceremony

MTV launched the Best Hero category last year, but the live social voting only accounted for votes coming from Twitter. This year, people can vote on both Instagram and Twitter

Vying for the Best Hero title are Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (#VoteBilbo), Snow White from Snow White and the Huntsman (#VoteSnowWhite), Iron Man (#VoteIronMan), Batman (#VoteBatman), Catwoman (#VoteCatwoman) and Hulk (#VoteHulk). Read more...

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A snippet of code from the latest beta version of OS X Mountain Lion indicates that Apple's upcoming Macs will support the new 802.11ac wireless standard, also called 5G Wi-Fi.

The code, which is present in Mountain Lion 10.8.4 beta but not the previous version, 10.8.3, seems to confirm a previous rumor which claimed Apple has struck a deal with Broadcom to include that company's 5G chips in its computers

For users, this mean super-fast wireless data transfer (theoretically, speeds go up to 1.3Gbps,) lower power consumption and extended Wi-Fi range

The 802.11ac standard is still under development, and is expected to become commonplace in 2015. However, Broadcom and other manufacturers have already launched routers that support the standard, and some upcoming cellphones, such as Samsung's Galaxy S4, also support it Read more...

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Days before T-Mobile begins selling the iPhone 5 in stores, the mobile carrier is luring customers with an offer that lets them trade up from an iPhone 4 or 4S — at no cost upfront.

"Our message to iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 customers is simple: Bring in your device and trade up to iPhone 5 on T-Mobile," Mike Sievert, the company's chief marketing officer, said in a release

The "$0 down" promotion, which continues until June 16, also comes with a credit of up to $120 (depending on the trade-in value of the device), which can be used on monthly payments, an existing T-Mobile bill, or buying another phone or accessories Read more...

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A new trailer for the upcoming science fiction film, Elysium, is out, and it's a treat for fans of the genre

Matt Damon and Jodie Foster are starring in the movie which depicts a future (year 2154, to be exact) in which the rich inhabit a dream world called Elysium, while the rest of humanity is desperate to leave Earth, which is ravaged by crime and poverty

The first teaser trailer was part of a viral campaign focusing on the fictional Armadyne corporation that controls Elysium, their tagline being "It's Better Up There".

The new trailer reveals a lot more about the film and really shows both the beauty of Elysium, a haven for the privileged, and the harsh reality of future Earth Read more...

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Rehtaeh Parsons was just 15 years old when she was allegedly raped by four boys at a friend's home in 2011. She was just 17 when she hanged herself in the bathroom of the family's home in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Between those two extremes of extraordinary violence, Rehtaeh lived as a perpetual victim — of her rapists, who took a photograph of that night and made sure it spread virally among Parsons' classmates, and of the Canadian Mounted Police, who never filed a single charge in the case.

Rehtaeh's case is yet another sad reminder of the power of social media to stretch a moment of sexual violence into a years-long ordeal that destroys a teenager's life. In 2012, another Canadian teen, Amanda Todd, committed suicide after a tormenter coaxed her into flashing her breasts on a teen videochat site, then harassed and blackmailed her for years by sharing X-rated images of her across the Internet. And in Steubenville, Ohio, the rape of a teenage girl by two local football stars was chronicled and shared in real time via Instagram and Twitter last August. Read more...

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Forever alone? Fear not — Japanese students from the University of Tsukuba have developed a "girlfriend coat" to keep you company.

The device looks like a normal coat except for its neon-colored belt, which users fasten around the waist. A machine then winds the belt to simulate the feeling of being hugged from behind. To top it all off, users also wear headphones, which blare out stereotypically girlfriend-esque phrases such as "I'm sorry! I'm late!"

"The concept of this device is everyone can get the feeling [of] having a girlfriend," hardware engineer Hikaru Sugiura said in a YouTube video. Read more...

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"There's no one like Jack Black," comedian Bob Saget said at an event honoring — and skewering — Black's multifarious career in the TV, movie and music industries.

"I'm sorry, I read that wrong. What I meant was, 'No one likes Jack Black.'"

"I'm sorry, I read that wrong. What I meant was, 'No one likes Jack Black.'"

The Friars Club, known for its vulgar celebrity roasts each year in New York City, recently honored Black. The 43-year-old funny man made a memorable entrance, dropping trou on the red carpet as Saget watched in confusion

The star-studded roast came on the heels of Black traveling to South by Southwest to promote his 12-episode web series Ghost Girls, which will be streamed on Yahoo Screen this summer. The comedy follows two females trying to solve paranormal mysteries Read more...

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The NHL's Los Angeles Kings beat the New Jersey Devils last June to take home the franchise's first Stanley Cup title

Ten months later, they're still rubbing it in

The Kings released a video Monday called "The Final Minutes," the 12th installment in a YouTube series recounting the team's journey to the title last season. Harmless enough, right? But check out the post they used to share the video on Twitter:

@nhldevils thanks for making this all possible! - ow.ly/jSbpK

— LA Kings (@LAKings) April 8, 2013

That right there, ladies and gentlemen, is some pro-level trolling

If you follow the world of sports social media, however, you'll know this isn't entirely out of character for the Kings, who have set themselves apart in the space by taking a much edgier, more irreverent tone than other sports franchises. (We interviewed the guys behind the strategy last May.) Read more...

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Some may argue that Justin Bieber's songs are masterpieces out of the gate (they would be mostly of the tween persuasion). But Steve Pycroft felt that, while Bieber's songs had potential, one song in particular coud be raised to a new — and baroque — level

Pycroft took Bieber's pop tune "Beauty and Beat" and rearranged it for a performance by the countertenor Robin Blaze and the University of York Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir. The song maintains the original lyrics, but has a whole new feel when slowed down and classed up.

It's a much different type of cover song than we're used to, but it does go to show that any way you slice a Bieber song, it's gonna go viral Read more...

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If AT&T and Google Fiber compete to offer ultra-fast Internet, who wins? The city of Austin, that's who

Residents of the Texas tech hub will soon have not one, but two gigabit fiber networks to choose from

AT&T said in a press release Tuesday that it plans to build a gigabit network of its own in the Austin area. Earlier the same day, a weekend's worth of rumors were confirmed when Google announced that it plans bring its much-anticipated Google Fiber network to Austin

While the Google Fiber news had been expected for days, AT&T's announcement took most tech observers by surprise. The timing of AT&T's release was a bit curious as well — coming on the same day as the Google Fiber news; it appears designed to steal a bit of Google's thunder after Fiber got a lot of coverage over the past few days Read more...

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How do you give people the experience of riding in an electric vehicle without actually sitting in a car? That was the challenge designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec undertook for a project with BMW i, the automaker's electric mobility division

The Bouroullec brothers devised Quiet Motion, a lounge installation for the 2013 Salone del Mobile furniture design fair. The design started with the Bouroullecs identifying some key attributes of the BMW i vehicles, namely their lightweight construction, use of environmentally friendly materials and the quiet driving experience

These were all translated into the design of four seating pods. Each is constructed with essentially the same materials used in the forthcoming BMW i vehicles like the i8. Their structures are made with lightweight carbon fiber, surfaces are wrapped in sustainable BMW i fabrics and the platforms are covered with cork, a renewable material. Read more...

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One hundred and sixty-seven thousand calories, 9,200 grams of fat, 19,000 grams of sugar — these astronomical numbers are reportedly the "nutritional" specs of the 100-pound chocolate bar you see in the above video

Yes, that's right: a 100-pound chocolate bar. It's made from a whole bunch of normal chocolate bars, a melted Easter bunny and more culinary artistry by the YouTube cooking show EpicMealTime. The monstrous confection has become a hit online, racking up some 200,000 views on its first day up

Watch the video for yourself to see how this modern marvel was made Read more...

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As any woman can tell you, shopping for designer denim is a miserable affair. Sizing has long been inconsistent across brands — an Ann Taylor "6" might be a Diane von Furstenberg "10," for example — but in the jeans department, where there is a need for a more precise fit, the inconsistencies are particularly aggravating.

Enter Me-Ality, a self-billed "digital sizing station" recently installed in six Bloomingdales locations: the 59th Street flagship in Manhattan, Roosevelt Field Mall (N.Y.), Chevy Chase (Md.), Santa Monica Place (Calif.) and South Coast Plaza (Calif.). The stations take 10- to 15-second body scans of shoppers, matching their measurements against those of in-store and online merchandise to recommend brands, styles and sizes likely to fit and flatter them best. Read more...

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Apple's iMessage and FaceTime are running normally again after the company reported Tuesday that "some users" were affected by service interruptions.

The Cupertino, Calif. company's system status page indicated that users had been "unable to place FaceTime calls" and "unable to use iMessage" from 3:11 p.m. ET to 8:20 p.m. ET

Over the five hours, Apple users vented their frustrations via Twitter.

My iMessage is down... Now I'm stuck sending normal text messages like a common peasant.

— Chill Quotes (@chilllquotes) April 9, 2013

So iMessage goes down and this happens twitter.com/GingerrGoddess…

— GingerCharlotte (@GingerrGoddess) April 9, 2013 Read more...

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Whether you're writing a story, making crafts or coming up with a new business venture, a good idea can be hard to find. But with a little ambition, a dash of determination and a pinch of creativity, you'll be well on your way.

In this comic, Grant Snider of Incidental Comics shows us that there's only one way to find out if an idea is good or bad — chase it. When do you get your best ideas?

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

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

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In the past 36 hours, I've spent more time on Facebook than I have in the past three months. I've been liking photos, commenting, and checking in. I'm becoming a real Facebook gadfly. This is all due to the new Facebook Phone, or, more accurately the HTC First, the first phone running Facebook Home.

Facebook Home is Facebook's brand new Android Launcher for Android phones running Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean (Android 4.0 and 4.1 –- no iOS on the horizon for now) and replaces your standard lock screen with an always-active, ever-in-motion, Facebook-centric homepage

That may sound overwhelming, or even like a very bad idea, but in practice it's not. It simply, and very effectively, puts Facebook in front of everything else you might do with your phone, without, somewhat surprisingly, hiding everything else away. Read more...

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NAB Show 2013 kicked off earlier this week, with broadcasters, video professionals and digital media startups gathering in Las Vegas to talk about the future of the big screen, the small screen and the tablet-sized screen.

For the last three days, I've roamed the show floor at NAB Show 2013, talking to technology companies, media groups and broadcasters about the impact that digital and social are having on the industry as a whole.

There's so much to see at NAB, but here are the three most over-arching trends that are on display at the 2013 show.

4K and Ultra HD

If there is any singular buzzword to describe NAB Show 2013, it's 4K — also known as Ultra HD. Read more...

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For seniors who might balk at the idea of upgrading to a smartphone, a Singapore-based company is developing intuitive apps that they hope will ease the transition.

Silverline Mobile, which was developed as a project under sustainable business firm Newton Circus, has already rolled out five iPhone apps targeted toward those 60 or older in the Singapore market. Currently available only for SingTel customers in the Southeast Asian country, the Silverline apps take an intuitive approach to app development.

“We want to create, essentially, a category. We want apps for seniors," said Jason Aspes, co-founder of Silverline. "There’s really nobody leading that charge at the moment.” Read more...

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After weeks of excavation, scientists outside of Mexico City have uncovered one of the most well-preserved wooly mammoths ever found.

Homepage image courtesy of NowThisNews Read more...

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Kids are horrifying. Whether in a classic palm-sweater like The Shining or a straight-to-DVD, "For the love of God, don't open that door!" flick like The House of the Devil, children always up the creepy factor.

Above, we've compiled our favorite videos of kids who act a little ... eerie. They're not all horror film-worthy — most are so creepy they're kind of cute. Take a look for yourself

Any good ones we missed? Share your favorites with us in the comments below.

Homepage image courtesy of YouTube, Lugosiable Read more...

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Yes, Apple ended up paying millions to license the design for a sleek, iconic Swiss timepiece for its clock in iOS 6. But even if you're a fan of Apple's stock clock, why be boring by sticking with the tried and true?

The popular ChronoGrafik iOS app (on sale for $0.99) features unique clock skins that you can sport on your iPhone or iPad, as explained in the video above.

There are certainly a lot of other clock apps out there, but these unique designs could be eye-catching on your phone when it's on your nightstand or desk. You can choose timepiece looks that range from retro to industrial. The app also includes features like the ability to display in landscape or portrait modes, a countdown timer, weather and custom alarms set to your iTunes music. When your alarm goes off, you can even just shake the phone to send it into snooze mode. Read more...

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Spike Albrecht sure knows how to live up his moment

The little-used Michigan guard played the best game of his life in the biggest game of his life on Monday night. Then he woke up the next morning and tweeted some smooth verbiage at supermodel and Sports Illustrated swimsuit covergirl Kate Upton

With Michigan star Trey Burke sidelined by foul trouble in the first half of Monday's March Madness title game against Louisville, Albrecht stepped in to score 17 first-half points on a variety of long jump-shots and kamikaze driving layups

Read more...

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Anyone who's ever listened to the ring of their cellphone while fumbling through a jam-packed purse to try to fish it out, will appreciate the simplicity of the Pursecase. It's a small clutch purse that holds your iPhone and a few essentials. It just got funded through a successful Kickstarter campaign.

Jenn Deese and her partner Kelley Coughlan started Pursecase to make a product that would hold their iPhone, a few essentials, and more importantly, not get lost. They knew they wanted it to have a pocket for a credit card or ID, as well as a place to hold a key

Speck and other companies make phone cases that have room for a credit card, but it's the Pursecase design with the chain handle and built-in mirror compact that sets it apart. That and the available colors; black, pink, purple, white, teal and neon yellow. The yellow actually glows in the dark. Read more...

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If your DVR skipped a beat, you somehow forgot that Season 6 of Mad Men started on Sunday (*shudder*), or you simply want to bask in the glory of 1960s Madison Avenue again, don't worry: you can stop everything you're doing right now and watch.

You know you want to.

We won't spoil it, but here's how AMC describes the season opener: "Don spearheads a new campaign, Roger gets some unsettling news, and Betty takes in a houseguest."

So if you have two hours and seven minutes to spare, why not indulge a little? The full episode is below and available online for a limited time via AMC. And if you haven't had enough after you watch, listen to our playlist of 44 songs from Mad Men. Read more...

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We may see a brand new iPad in just a few months.

DigiTimes reports that production for the next-generation tablet will begin between July and August of this year. In addition to the production timeline, the site claims sources within the Taiwan-based supply chain for the tablet have indicated that the iPad 5 will be both thinner and lighter than its predecessor and will have a slimmer bezel, similar to that found on the iPad mini.

Purported images of the iPad 5 appeared on the web in January of this year. Those images showed a 9.7-inch iPad with an almost identical look to the iPad mini. The device had little to no right or left bezels, with the only area around the screen being that require for the camera and home button. Read more...

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In literal proof to the adage that there's no such thing as a free lunch, the Internal Revenue Service is looking into making employees pay a tax for the gratis meals that have now become a fixture at some tech firms, according to a report.

The Wall Street Journal reports that there is a "growing controversy among tax experts" about how to treat free lunches. The IRS is also looking into the practice. Proponents of a such a tax argue that free food is akin to using a company car, which is taxable. On the other end of the debate, free lunch supporters say it's no different than providing food for workers in remote locations. Such "noncompensatory" meals aren't taxable. While workers at, say, Google's New York office would be hard pressed to make the same claim, tech companies argue that providing lunches helps employees work the type of long hours that have become the norm in the industry and part of its culture. Read more...

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If you don't have a verified account on Twitter, don't feel too bad: neither do Jack Dorsey's parents.

The Twitter co-founder's parents Tim and Marcia Dorsey tweeted this week that they would like to be verified on the service. We're not sure why they didn't go to Jack directly.

Twitter I'm not @verified....Should I be?

— Marcia Dorsey (@marciadorsey) April 9, 2013

@verified you should verify me I'm jack's dad.

— Tim Dorsey (@Tim535353) April 9, 2013

We reached out to Jack's father for comment and to Twitter for confirmation about the authenticity of these accounts, but did not immediately hear back. However, Jack does follow both accounts and has retweeted at least one post mentioning him and his father by their Twitter handles, suggesting that these are the real deal Read more...

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Remembering the passwords for all your sites can get frustrating. There are only so many punctuation, number substitutes and uppercase variations you can recall, and writing them down for all to find is hardly an option

Thanks to researchers at the UC Berkeley School of Information, you may not need to type those pesky passwords in the future. Instead, you'll only need to think them.

By measuring brainwaves with biosensor technology, researchers are able to replace passwords with "passthoughts" for computer authentication. A $100 headset wirelessly connects to a computer via Bluetooth, and the device's sensor rests against the user’s forehead, providing a electroencephalogram (EEG) signal from the brain Read more...

More about Security, Tech, Passwords, Lifestyle, and Health Fitness

Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert died this month after battling cancer, but RogerEbert.com will live on. The website, which is home to his and other critics' movie reviews, unveiled a new look and feel Tuesday

Ebert teased the redesign in a blog post the day before he died, saying the site would relaunch under Ebert Digital, a partnership between his wife, Chaz, and friend Josh Golden

The makeover debuted with an "In Memoriam" as the main element (see above), paying homage to the 70-year-old, whose career as a critic for the Chicago Sun-Times began in 1967. A thumbs-up icon appears at the top left corner Read more...

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As goes pornography, so goes the tech industry. When the porn business embraced VHS over Betamax and Blu-ray over HD DVD, videophiles of all tastes followed their lead. The next big innovation might be Google Glass, a pair of Internet-connected glasses that takes photos, records video and offers hands-free Internet access right in front of users' eyes. Once Glass launches, the porn industry intends to take full advantage of this new technology, say two insiders.

"The way that this will change porn is pretty ridiculous," said Alana Evans, a porn actress and radio host of "The Naughty Gamers Show" on Sirius XM. "It's going to cause a huge drive in POV- (point of view) style production." These videos make the viewer feel like part of the action by filming from a first-person perspective. Read more...

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