Super heroes are the very definition of cool. The secret identities, the triumphant rescues, the skin-tight Lyrca outfits that show off every defined muscle and curve

Yes, super heroism is a lifestyle we could all get used to

Luckily for you, the following eight super powers don't even require mutated genetics or a Kryptonian birth certificate, thanks to modern technology

1. Invisibility

Until recently, only boy wizards enjoyed the power of invisibility. Those “cloaks” that did exist were either too bulky or too small to fit over anything larger than a petri dish. But no more

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This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

There’s been a lot of talk around Yahoo and Best Buy making unpopular decisions about employees who work from home. While we all have our opinions on the subject, it’s important to realize these decisions impact the companies that made them and no one else

As a result of the bad press telecommuting has received, the flexible work benefit has been getting a bad rap. It’s unfortunate because flexible work and telecommuting aren’t the same thing. Telecommuting is working from somewhere other than a centralized office, whereas flexible work is when schedules have opportunities for flexibility –- employees can come in early then leave early or they can work four 10-hour days instead of five 8-hour days. Read more...

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BuzzFeed reporter and a Rolling Stone contributor Michael Hastings has died in a car crash Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 33

BuzzFeed's editor in chief Ben Smith posted a statement about Hastings' death on its site

"We are shocked and devastated by the news that Michael Hastings is gone. Michael was a great, fearless journalist with an incredible instinct for the story, and a gift for finding ways to make his readers care about anything he covered from wars to politicians," he wrote.

Rolling Stone also posted about Hastings, praising his profile of General Stanley McChrystal, his piece on America's drone war and the interview with WikiLeaks' Julian Assange. Read more...

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Will Ferrell fans, take notice: the first full-length trailer for Anchorman: The Legend Continues is out

In the trailer, Ron, Brick, Champ and Brian (played by Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, David Koechner and Paul Rudd, respectively), are back, but the setting has changed

The '80s have replaced the '70s, and the team has moved from San Diego to the Big Apple. Their mission, to quote Ron Burgundy, is to have "salon-quality hair and read the news."

SEE ALSO: 'Anchorman 2' Announcement Takes the Internet to Pleasure Town [VIDEO]

The movie, directed by Adam McKay, has a huge list of star cameos, including Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Vince Vaughn, Sacha Baron Cohen. It hits theaters Dec. 20 Read more...

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Fab, a two-year-old online store for design goods, is laying the groundwork for further global expansion. The startup announced Tuesday that it has raised $150 million in a partial series D round from investors including Tencent, Atomico, Andreessen Horowitz, Itochu, Menlo Ventures, RTP Capital, Pinnacle Ventures, Lars Hinrichs and Docomo Capital.

The e-tailer, which is headquartered in the U.S., has already made significant headway into Europe. The region now accounts for approximately 40% of sales, founder and CEO Jason Goldberg told Mashable in a phone interview Tuesday. With the help of new investors Tencent, which operates some of the largest web portals and online messaging systems in China, and Itochu, one of Japan's largest holding companies, Fab has set the stage for its move into East Asia and India. Read more...

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Facebook has pushed back the introduction of video ads in its News Feed until the fall, according to a report

Advertising Age cites a "source familiar with the product" as saying the launch, originally set for the spring and then summer, is now being delayed another season. Facebook declined to comment on the matter.

A source told Mashable that Facebook is still trying to convince advertisers of the merits of the ad units, which will fetch around $1 million, though they could go for as high as $2.4 million, according to AdAge Part of the issue is that video is an unproven format on Facebook. Measurement is also an issue. The 15-second ads, which would start automatically without sound, would count as an impression even if consumers don't watch them. Facebook is also holding off on Black Friday inventory, presumably because such ads could go for more than $1 million Read more...

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In our never-ending quest to find you the very best case for your smartphone of choice, we've taken a look at what's available for the Google Nexus 4

We have found 10 very different cases, with materials ranging from neoprene to shiny aluminium. With levels of protection varying from light to triple-layer, super-shields, we think you'll find a cover to suit your favorite Android device

With prices starting under $10, all the cool covers we're highlighting are available now. Take a look through our hand-picked selection in the image gallery above. Have we missed a case you love? Then link us to it in the comments below Read more...

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Google has added support for 18 new languages to its Google Drive web app suite. Besides Drive itself, this includes Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.

The newly supported languages are Afrikaans, Amharic, Basque, Chinese (Hong Kong), Estonian, French (Canada), Galician, Icelandic, Khmer, Lao, Malaysian, Nepali, Persian, Sinhalese, Spanish (Latin America), Swahili, Urdu and Zulu

With these 18 languages, Google Drive now supports 65 languages in total

SEE ALSO: Google Offers 15GB Unified Storage Across Gmail, Drive, Google+

To switch to a different language in Drive, users must click the gear icon in the upper-right corner, select "settings" and choose a new language under "general." To change the language in Google Drive for mobile, they must open their device's language settings Read more...

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More than 12 million Americans were victims of identity fraud in the past year, according to a recent study. Twelve million. I was one of them. Against my better judgment, I curiously clicked on a questionable direct message from a friend, and like that, my Twitter account was phished. Luckily, I changed my passwords and implemented damage control before things got out of hand.

What I learned from that experience, and the growing cybersecurity problems gobbling up news headlines, is whether you're a multinational company or a middle school teacher, we all need to do a better job of protecting our private information. And often, social media is the tool used to compromise our data. Read more...

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Oh, cats — those furry little enigmas — we love 'em, but can hardly understand 'em

What exactly are our feline friends up to when we're not around? A joint study between BBC Two's Horizon programme and the Royal Veterinary College answered that question by equipping 50 cats with GPS tracking devices and micro-cameras to monitor their activity away from home

Researchers used the trackers to record the cats' movements over six 24-hours periods, according to the BBC.

Of the 50 felines that roamed England's Surrey Hills for several weeks, 10 were selected to be featured in a Horizon series called, "The Secret Life of the Cat." You can click through each of their in-depth profiles, here; then check out the video, above, for more. Read more...

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Those with a penchant for puzzles will be pleased to know that there's a big crowdfunding campaign in the works. Quite literally, big

Liberty Science Center CEO Paul Hoffman, a friend of inventor Erno Rubik, has launched an Indiegogo project aimed at recreating the world's largest working Rubik's Cube, dubbed the "Groovik's Cube." Originally conceived of as a low-cost model for the 2009 Burning Man desert arts festival, Hoffman and some friends built an astounding 40-foot iteration.

Groovik's Cube was lit from within by LEDs, and could be seen from two miles away; it required three players to operate, with one person controlling each axis. (Yes, revelers solved it — in two hours.) Read more...

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By now you've already survived one Sunday night without Game of Thrones, dear devoted fan of all things Westoros

GoT's epic third season is behind us now, and the wait for season four is sure to feel oh-so-long. But lost amid season three's deliciously gruesome bloodletting, plot twists and betrayals was this: The show dominated social media in a major way over the past few months

Perhaps that's not so surprising — after all, both GoT and social media boast nerd-centric fan bases — but the impressive numbers are worth going over Read more...

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You may be familiar with Legos in block-form, but the popular line of construction toys is entering new territory: motion pictures.

Billed as the "first-ever, full-length theatrical Lego adventure," The Lego Movie follows the story of an ordinary Lego figurine named Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt) who — in a case of mistaken identity — is enlisted to help save the world alongside superheroes

The film features the voices of Will Ferrell (who plays villain President Business), Morgan Freeman (as Vitruvius) and Liam Neeson (as Bad Cop). Elizabeth Banks, Nick Offerman and Alison Brie also lend their vocal talents Read more...

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You apparently can have too much of a good thing.

Ed Carter only wanted to raise $21,000 through Kickstarter to finance a deluxe edition of "Glory to Rome," a board game produced by his company, Cambridge Games Factory. He ended up raising more than $73,000, with pledges from more than 1,600 people.

After that, things started to go downhill for Carter. His Kickstarter campaign had promised supporters they would receive free shipping on their games if they agreed to pick up the games from specific retailers. Carter hoped to develop business relations with these retailers as well as provide an incentive for his supporters. However, shipping the game to 1,600 people isn't exactly cheap, especially when you've received a significant number of orders from Brazil and Australia. Read more...

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Martin Mull famously said, "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." But what if you actually did dance about architecture?

In this comic, Grant Snider of Incidental Comics illustrates a variety of architectural forms and their corresponding dances. Which one is more your style — Bauhaus Bounce or Cubist Shuffle?

You can purchase Snider's comics 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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Physically going out to the ol' ballgame has always been an unmatched sporting experience. More recently, however, fans have flocked to online social platforms to talk trash, post thoughts and generally partake in the fun of spectator sports

Well, fandom's offline and online realms just got married at AT&T Park, home of MLB's San Francisco Giants

The team unveiled its new "@Cafe" this week, distilling the team's online buzz in one physical location for supporters to visit just beyond the ballpark's centerfield wall

The Giants are billing the location as a sports marketing first. It's appropriate the step comes from one of the most digitally creative teams in the world. The team's innovative promotions and social-savvy audience have long led all the major leagues, culminating in the team besting a mid-campaign Barack Obama in Klout cred during its World Series run last fall. Read more...

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Think back to last Thanksgiving. Your meal probably started out normally enough — a few slices of turkey here, a few dozen spoonfuls of mashed potatoes there — and ended with you clutching your food baby while passed out on the couch at 6 p.m. in front of the football game

We don't blame youFood is delicious. Food comas, however, are not. Just like a bad break-up, they leave you bloated, sluggish and miserable. That is, until you bounce back and are ready to dive into your next meal.

While you wait for your stomach to return to its previous dimensions, chew on the 17 stages of a food coma Read more...

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Since banning Viber, Saudi Arabia appears to have its set its sights on another popular Internet messenger smartphone application. This time it's WhatsApp, which could be blocked in just a few weeks unless it complies with local regulations

The country's Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) is considering banning WhatsApp in the coming weeks, probably before Ramadan, which starts on July 9

The ban is being considered both because WhatsApp communications are allegedly harder to monitor, and because the service cuts into local telecom companies' revenue, since it allows users to send messages over the Internet instead of the telephone networks Read more...

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If you watched Superman's life unfold on a white board yesterday, you're aware of his wide range of superhuman abilities. One swipe of his right fist is enough to send you into another dimension.

But imagine if you were on the other end of that punch.

YouTube sensation Vsauce3 gives a scientific breakdown of how much damage Superman could incur on an average human. The video, which has already accrued more than 1.4 million views, uses physics to prove its findings. He even references Big Mac calories for good measure

Image courtesy of YouTube, Vsauce3 Read more...

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If you want to avoid being a terrible person, always tip your waiter or waitress.

You could also make a lasting impression by leaving a tip with a little flare. You have your whole meal to decide on a way to present the money you'll leave, and the possibilities are endless

You could see it as an opportunity to dazzle the waitstaff with your artistic ability, or just see it as a way to make them smile. At the very least it could get you on Reddit

1. Incorporate the tip into your art

Image courtesy of Reddit, rkeyes47 Read more...

2. Or just make the tip itself into art

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President Obama's choice for the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, will likely get the job, if Tuesday's confirmation hearing is any indication.

How can we be so sure? Senate Commerce Committee Chair Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) told Wheeler he was "certain" he would get the job before the hearing even got to several of the major issues facing the FCC. Rockefeller's early nod of approval was particularly significant given the senator previously urged Obama to nominate FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel for the chairmanship.

Read more...

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Facebook now has more than 1 million businesses actively advertising on the social network, the company announced Tuesday.

The "vast majority" of those advertisers are small businesses, according to Dan Levy, Facebook's director of small business, who announced the milestone during an event at Facebook's office in New York.

"The feedback we hear from businesses from all over the world is, 'Just make it simpler,'" Levy said at one point during the event. Perhaps with that in mind, Facebook announced plans to slash the number of ad products in half in order to streamline and improve the experience for advertisers Read more...

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In its latest push against secrecy, Google has asked the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to ease its gag orders and allow the company to publish more data about the requests it receives from the court.

On Tuesday, the company filed a motion (embedded below) before the court, arguing that it has a First Amendment right to publish the total number of requests the court sends it, and the number of users affected by those requests. Additionally, Google argues that it should be allowed to publish the total number of requests because that information is not classified.

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Miss Utah Marissa Powell didn't win Sunday night's Miss USA pageant after botching her interview question, but she did win most viral moment of the evening.

In the interview portion of the competition for the final five contestants, the 21-year-old awkwardly responded to judge NeNe Leakes's question about income inequality. Her response contains the now-infamous phrase, "create education better."

Powell, who finished the evening as third runner-up and Miss Photogenic, was given a shot at redemption on the Today show on Tuesday. In a clip released Tuesday (above), anchor Matt Lauer asks her the question again, to which she replies: "So this is not OK. It needs to be equal pay for equal work, and it's hard enough already to earn a living, and it shouldn't be harder just because you're a woman." Read more...

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Actor James Franco is turning his pockets to the public to wrangle funds for his latest project, Palo Alto Stories, a series of three features that will be adapted from pieces of his 2011 fiction-writing debut.

The 35-year-old multihyphenate has launched a campaign on crowdfunding website Indiegogo, calling for $500,000 worth of backing for the films, which draw on high school experiences revolving around his hometown of Palo Alto, Calif

Franco pledged to donate all profits from the movie sales to Art of Elysium, a non-profit that helps actors, artists and musicians to volunteer their time and talents to work with children battling serious medical conditions. Read more...

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Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei billed its new Ascend P6 model as the "world's slimmest smartphone," during an unveiling event in London on Tuesday.

The Huawei Ascend P6 is 6.18 mm in depth, which is thinner than competitors like the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S4 (7.6 mm and 7.9 mm, respectively). This new model is now the flagship smartphone in Huawei's Ascend P series. Earlier this year, Huawei launched its Ascend P2 phone, which at the time the company called the "world's fastest smartphone."

The new Ascend P6 features a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, a 4.7-inch HD display, a 8-megapixel rear camera, a 5-megapixel front-facing camera and runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, according to Huawei. The phone also boasts "Magic Touch" technology that lets users use the touchscreen even with gloves on. Read more...

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We're always being watched. And a new app lets you know it

Surv combines user input and technology to create maps with detailed descriptions of the locations and types of surveillance cameras. Kaza Razat and Khalid Mills developed the app after realizing how little access to this information law enforcement agencies have.

Formerly game developers, Razat and Mills created a utility app that actually provided the information they saw in spy games and movies. Their gaming experience informed competitiveness in Surv too, with a leader-board and new features unlocked by contributing. They hope to expand slowly through a Kickstarter campaign, but they are currently focused on creating a group of slightly exclusive users Read more...

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The 'Prancercise Lady' has teamed up with musician John Mayer for the most bizarre music-plus-exercise combination imaginable.

By now, you've probably heard of Prancercise, Johanna Rohrback's patented breed of equine inspired exercise. In the original viral video, she gallops to some generic, lyric-less rock music. But in this video, she Prancercises to John Mayer's latest single, "Paper Doll," in perfect harmony

Although this might seem like a hoax or a bootleg mash-up, the collaboration is the real deal. Mayer enlisted Rohrback to "Romancercise" to the first release from his upcoming album, Paradise Valley. His actor friend Jarrad Paul even takes part in the joke Read more...

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Meet Sven and Olaf: a lovable yet unsuspecting duo in Disney's Frozen that gets into a rather sticky situation on an icy lake

Anna (voice of Kristen Bell) joins forces with a hardy mountain man (voice of Jonathan Groff) and his trusty reindeer, Sven, on an epic journey to find her sister Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel). Elsa has trapped the kingdom in an eternal winter, and Anna and Kristoff — alongside the many friends they meet along the way — race to save the kingdom from its icy fate.

The film, an epic 3D musical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen, hits theaters Nov. 27 Read more...

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Today, in horrifying things: A giant yellow snake successfully opens a door.

The video below, which stars a 16-foot albino burmese python, was uploaded two years ago by Vimeo user Jenner. However, the snake, named "Julius," is the latest pet to experience Internet fame.

According to Jenner, when the snake is tired of being in a dark room, "she flips on the light, opens the door and bails."

"This is why we keep doors locked with her around. We don't need her harassing the neighbors," add Jenner in the video description.

Locked doors or not, this enormous snake will certainly be slithering through our most terrifying dreams tonight Read more...

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