Let's say it straight: Yahoo Answers can be a little, well, inane at times. It's a spelling and grammar disaster area that would send your Language Arts teacher heading for the hills

All technicalities aside, there is something special about the Yahoo Answers community — its users really care.

Navigating the stormy seas of the heart is no easy task, and these users are there to share their expertise and provide solace for the broken-hearted. And if they have no answers, they're right behind you with a "hey girl, he doesn't deserve you." Sometimes that's all you need. Read more...

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Among the millions of clips uploaded to Instagram since the app added its video features on Thursday is a call-to-action snippet from comedian Louie Anderson

Anderson — who created the animated Life with Louie, hosted the revived Family Feud, and most recently, competed on ABC's reality show Splash — is using Instagram video to find an opening act for his Las Vegas stint of standup comedy shows.

People who submit an Instagram video with hashtag #open4louie will be eligible to become his opener. Anderson's social team told Mashable that Anderson plans to pick one or more opening acts for his Vegas shows, which start July 10 at the Plaza Hotel and Casino Read more...

More about Entertainment, Celebrities, Crowdsourcing, Comedy, and Jimmy Fallon

The beauty of organization is efficiency, especially when it comes to product. At close to 1 million offerings, Apple's App Store is full of great inventory, but with most of it hidden in the store's setup, developers and consumers are missing out

OttoCat is an automatic categorization system looking to reinvent the way we search and find apps. The new service uses a language analysis system to categorize the entire App Store. A patented computational linguistics and information retrieval system organizes the entire store, making finding apps as easy as browsing the aisles of a well-organized supermarket. Read more...

More about Apps, Apple, App Store, Tech, and Apps Software

After receiving secret court orders, Google handed over data from the Gmail accounts of two former Wikileaks volunteers to the U.S. government. The orders, revealed on Friday by the two targets, are a snapshot of the rumored federal grand jury investigation into Wikileaks and its founder, Julian Assange

The targets of the court orders are Smari McCarthy and Herbert Snorrason, both from Iceland. McCarthy is an Internet activist and computer programmer who worked for Wikileaks until 2010. Snorrason helped manage the whistleblowing's website chatroom for two months in 2010

Read more...

More about Google, Wikileaks, Us World, Us, and World

Once again flexing his enormous reach on social media, pop star Justin Bieber this weekend became the first Instagram user to earn 1 million Likes on a video post

Instagram owner Facebook confirmed to Mashable that Bieber's first Instagram video (click here to watch), which he posted June 20 when Instagram added video capabilities to its popular photo-sharing app, was the first to reach the 1 million-Likes milestone

The Instagram video shows a giggling, shirtless Bieber informing his online fans about Instagram's new features. Bieber, who was the first Instagram user to hit 1 million followers in March 2012 after joining in July 2011, now has more than 9 million Instagram followers Read more...

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Just before the start of this year's LeMans race on Saturday, Nissan revealed the ZEOD RC, the world's fastest electric car. The company has been invited to enter the 186-mph electric race car in next year's 24-hour LeMans race.

The Nissan ZEOD RC (Zero Emissions On-Demand Racing Car) prototype is part technology demo and part publicity stunt for the Japanese automaker. The car uses the same lithium-ion batteries as the Nissan Leaf electric car, and Nissan is touting the fact that race-car technology often finds its way to cars driven on the street

Read more...

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Grunting, dead-eyed and stiff — this is how Nokia portrays iPhone users in its latest ad.

Posted to YouTube on Friday, the video shows a horde of zombies that look suspiciously like overexposed flash photos (complete with pallid skin and red eyes) moving past our soon-to-be victim

Eventually, he walks on to encounter one member of the living dead (a.k.a. the Apple fanboy) mindlessly taking photos with its iPhone 5. At this point, it's too late for our hapless victim to escape, and viewers can only assume that he also falls prey to overexposure

Read more...

More about Iphone, Apple, Zombies, Nokia, and Iphone 5

Are you looking for a special wedding gift for a socially geeky pair? There are some awesome social media-themed presents out there that are just perfect for clued-up couples into their online networking

We have found 10 terrific social media-flavored presents to give the happy couple. Take a look through our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram-themed items in the gallery above. Let us know in the comments below which items you'd consider wrapping

Homepage image courtesy of Etsy, Blushface Read more...

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For many consumers, Yahoo is a brand that's strongly associated with the first dot-com era in the 1990s, and has managed to remain in the first tier of Internet media companies only through consumer inertia.

Since Marissa Mayer became CEO of Yahoo last July, however, the company has worked hard to change that perception. The most notable change is the $1.1 billion Tumblr acquisition, which gives Yahoo and its advertisers access to a younger, hipper demographic. But that's not the only difference

In April, Yahoo rolled out its own brand of native advertising, Yahoo Stream Ads. Henrique De Castro, Yahoo's COO, calls these and other native advertising units "tweeners," meaning they sit somewhere between advertising and editorial content. For De Castro, the former vice-president of Google's worldwide Partner Business Solutions group, such ads represent a future in which Yahoo's advertisers can better exploit the company's targeting and scale Read more...

More about Yahoo, Media, Advertising, Business, and Cannes Lions

R.I.P. Vine.

The farewell address to everyone's favorite short-form video-sharing platform could be found all over the internet after Instagram announced at a Facebook event on Thursday that they're supporting videos

The split between Team Instagram and Team Vine swept Mashable's comments. Instagram's 130 million users were impressed with the advancements: video filters, front-facing camera functionality and 15 seconds to record versus Vine's six-second clips. Meanwhile, Vine supporters defended the platform and the possibilities of a shorter recording time. In an attempt to keep the peace, a small handful pointed out that each had its merits, and people were free to choose either one or both. Read more...

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Procrastination: It happens all the time, it's hardly ever justified and it's almost always your own fault. But what if you actually owned up to it, and blamed yourself — that is, your future self?

In this comic, Josh Mecouch of Formal Sweatpants shows us one scenario of this procrastination technique. Unfortunately, it may not work out for your current self or your future self.

Comic illustration by Josh Mecouch, Formal Sweatpants. Published with permission; all rights reserved. Read more...

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It can be tough to keep up with all the new apps released every week. But you're in luck — Mashable takes care of that for you, creating a roundup each weekend of our favorite new and updated apps.

This week, a popular Android personal assistant got a makeover, and Disney's Mickey Mouse made his way onto several platforms — including Windows Phone — in a new game

What's more, Porsche released a new app to help driving enthusiasts hone their skills behind the wheel, and Instagram saw a huge update that will forever change how people use the service.

Check out the gallery, above, for a look at this week's highlights. Read more...

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Google's acquisition of the popular social traffic app Waze is under review by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which wants to make sure the deal doesn't go against U.S. antitrust regulations

Google confirmed the FTC antitrust review on Sunday, according to The Wall Street Journal. The search giant acquired the social traffic startup from Israel on June 11 for $1.1 billion, and rumors of an antitrust investigation have been swirling around since then.

Despite the review, antitrust lawyers contacted by the WSJ don't think the FTC will break up the deal, unless the agency is able to uncover clear evidence that the acquisition will hurt competition in the mapping market. For that, they'd need to prove that Waze was on its way to become a Google Maps competitor, or that Google only bought the company to prevent other tech giants, such as Facebook or Apple, from buying it Read more...

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It's been another busy week in the tech world. For those of you who've been too busy planning this weekend's Summer-Solstice party to keep up with the news, don't worry — we've got you covered

Check out our list of 25 digital media resources, below, including a touching tribute to a lost sister and a how-to on embedding those new Instavids you keep making

Editor's Picks

How the 'Biggest Scam in Kickstarter History' Almost Worked
Last week, Kickstarter cut funding on a project at the last minute; it was reportedly a scam

Cancer, the Video Game: A Story of Hope
That Dragon, Cancer is a biographical video game about a child with cancer and his father's journey. Read more...

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Samsung made a splash this week when it unveiled the first interchangeable-lens camera with 4G LTE: the Galaxy NX. We also got our hands on the Galaxy S4 Zoom, a half-camera, half-smartphone device that looks similar to a Galaxy S4 Mini, and the Galaxy S4 Active, which is the water- and dust-proof version of the Galaxy S4 smartphone.

With all these Samsung devices set to hit the market, Mashable editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff, tech editor Pete Pachal and senior tech analyst Christina Warren joined a Google+ Hangout on Mashable's Google+ page to review the products and share their opinions Read more...

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The story of the NSA's surveillance programs, most notably PRISM, continues to get interesting, with new information on how the government tries to minimize the data it collects from Americans. Still, many U.S. citizens are worried about their privacy — but don't those concerns sound a little familiar?

In this comic, Krishna Sadasivam of PC Weenies pokes fun at the fact that many of the services we use every day — Google, Facebook and more — collect pieces of data from us.

Comic illustration by Krishna Sadasivam, PC Weenies. Published with permission; all rights reserved. Read more...

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The online petition that asks the Obama administration to pardon NSA leaker Edward Snowden has reached the threshold of 100,000 signatures. According to Whitehouse.gov guidelines, it is now entitled to an official response from the administration.

The "We the People" petition, which aims to pardon Snowden of any crime he may have committed, was launched immediately after he revealed his identity as the source of the documents that exposed the U.S. government's far-reaching surveillance programs

Hailing Snowden as a "national hero," the petition says he "should be immediately issued a full, free and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs." Read more...

More about Barack Obama, Privacy, Surveillance, Prism, and Us World

It has been just about five days since I got back on the grid. I've returned to the barrage of emails, breaking news alerts and information overload. But for about 70 hours this week, I was without any digital device along with more than 300 others, in the middle of the redwood forests of Northern California — and it was awesome.

At The Digital Detox's no-technology summer camp for adults, "Camp Grounded" — which ran June 14 to 17 — I was greeted with great big hugs from "Honey Bear" and the camp's other counselors. After the warm California welcome, I placed my iPhone and Garmin GPS carefully into the provided paper bag to quarantine my digital devices. That was it. The bag was sealed and locked away in a storage room. It was just me, my clothes, a couple paper notebooks and some disposable film cameras. Read more...

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Let’s face it: Looking for a job is a huge hassle. It’s stressful (who really enjoys interviewing?), time-consuming (say goodbye to weekends outside) and can be a blow to your self-esteem (rejection is never good for the soul)

What if there were a way to land an awesome job without ever feeling trapped in some sort of job-seekers purgatory?

Good news: There is. In this new digital world of work, the era of personal branding and social media and online networking, it’s possible to have appealing opportunities fall into your lap — without ever having to beg, er, look for them.

Here’s how to help jobs come to you, rather than the other (stressful) way around. Read more...

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The future of brick-and-mortar retail is fun, flashy and doesn't require a lot of storage space. At least that's the cue from Kate Spade Saturday, the design house's recently launched weekender line, which earlier this month unveiled four digitally enhanced "window shops" in lower Manhattan.

The brand has rented out the plate glass fronts of four empty locations — 154 Spring Street, 7 West 18th Street, 175 Orchard Street and 30 Gansevoort Street — for one month ending July 7. There, passersby can get a preview of merchandise from the new line, which for now is only sold online in the U.S. Next to the merchandise is a large touchscreen where users can browse sizes and colors, and place orders for free delivery anywhere in Manhattan, as well as parts of Brooklyn, within an hour. Read more...

More about Ebay, New York City, Kate Spade, Business, and Marketing

Two big announcements revolved around visuals and Facebook. In case you missed them and all the other tech news of the week, we bring you all that and more on this week's Top 10 Tech.

The big story of the week was video on Instagram. After much buildup and lots of guesswork leading to the Facebook event, Instagram announced it was going to add the ability to produce and share video

Facebook now allows you to comment with pictures. We're still waiting for the company to enable gifs, but we'll celebrate this for now.

And any week that involves a car like the Audi S6 is amazingMashable reviewed the super-sedan, and it's an incredible piece of technology Read more...

More about Tech, Apps Software, Dev Design, Gadgets, and Mobile

Bring Your Pet to Work Day made Friday the furriest, cutest and maybe stinkiest day of the year for workplaces. Despite the inevitable, err, accidents, having puppies everywhere is a foolproof way to make every office environment better

In Mashable's quest to have puppies everywhere, we decided we needed MORE PUPPIES. So the humans over at BarkBox stopped by with three adorable and adoptable mini dogs.

BarkBox co-founders Henrik Werdelin and Carly Strife told Mashable: "Our mantra is 'what would a dog want?'" The boxes come each month stocked with products sourced primarily from local vendors for your best furry friend. So as much as you may like that pink puppy-sized tutu, don't expect to find it in your shipment. Read more...

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