Looking for an awesome audio dock for your iPhone 5 that offers Apple's latest "Lightning" connector?

We found five striking speaker docks that boast the new-style connector, so your iPhone can charge and play music at the same time

Browse through our superb solutions in the product gallery above. In the comments below, let us know about any other next-gen speakers that have impressed you

Homepage image courtesy of Philips Read more...

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Acer has put a special, Star Trek-inspired edition of its Aspire R7 desktop-notebook hybrid up for auction on eBay, with proceeds going to charity

The device has a Star Trek-esque vibe, with its unique hinged design resembling the series' Starship Enterprise. Acer added even more trekkiness to the auction by including a Star Trek logo on the Aspire R7, a logo-adorned sleeve and other goodies such as aStar Trek Into Darkness poster signed by the film crew

Only 25 of these special-edition Aspire R7s have been created, and only one is up for auction

Even without the Star Trek details, the Aspire R7 is a capable Windows-8 machine, sporting a 15.6-inch, 1080p touchscreen, an 1.8GHz Intel Core i5 processor and a 500GB hard drive (as well as a 24GB SSD for speeding things up). Its regular price is $1,000; we'll see how the Star Trek edition will fare during the auction Read more...

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Insidious: Chapter 2 picks up where its predecessor, 2011 horror film Insidious, left off, following the haunted Lambert family as they try to escape evil spirits that plague them from another realm

A two-and-a-half minute trailer for the sequel, above, reveals ghostly figures, a creepy séance and a bedeviled family member. Fans will recall that at the end of Insidious, father Josh Lambert (played by Patrick Wilson) is possessed by an old woman's evil spirit.

Insidious 2 is slated to hit theaters on Sept. 13. Do you plan to watch it? Tell us in the comments, below.

Screenshot image courtesy of YouTube, joblomovienetwork Read more...

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How often have you wished you could turn your lights off without moving an inch from your comfy couch?

Researchers at the University of Washington are working on making that a reality with a device that interprets your gestures to perform commands for various devices, like pausing music and movies, or turning the lights off

The idea is similar to the one behind the Xbox Kinect— but this device does not require close proximity in order to work, since Wi-Fi signals can travel through walls. The researchers call it WiSee.

Read more...

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We've seen the funny, the angry and above all, the shocked reactions that Game of Thrones fans had while watching Sunday's bloody "Red Wedding" episode

And now, George R. R. Martin — author of the bestselling fantasy novels that spawned the HBO show — has seen them, too. While interviewing Martin on his late-night talk show Conan, host Conan O'Brien showed him clips of fans reacting to the killing spree.

Check out the video, above, to see Martin's reaction to their horror and sorrow. Then tell us what you think in the comments.

Image courtesy of Flickr, David Shankbone Read more...

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Capturing quality motion time-lapses and panoramas have long been feats reserved for the most adept photographers, but two Ph.D. candidates from the University of California, Los Angeles physics department are making the process available to all with a brand-new accessory.

Enter Spinpod, via Kickstarter. Daniel Aharoni and Zhiping Chen last Friday took their product to the crowdfunding platform, where it's currently eyeing a funding goal of $75,000.

According to the pitch video, the Spinpod is a portable photo helper for select smartphones and cameras. "Thinner than a deck of cards," the gizmo grooves with the iPhone 4, iPhone 5, iPod touch and most Android phones, with or without a case. Read more...

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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.

Name: Whistle

One-Liner Pitch: Whistle aims to help pet owners and vets spot early signs that a dog is sick.

Why It's Taking Off: The startup is bringing the big-data health revolution to pets.

When Ben Jacobs was just 8 years old, his first dog — a German shepherd named Bear — passed away from intestinal issues at the age of 5. Although he's had several healthy dogs in the years since, including another German shepherd named Kramer, the experience of watching Bear suddenly get sick and die always stuck with him. Read more...

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Verizon has been providing the National Security Agency with millions of subscribers' telephone records following a secret court order, according to a report.

The order, a copy of which was obtained by The Guardian, requires Verizon to give the NSA the phone numbers, duration, time, routing information and other details for any calls made within the United States or between the United States and other countries. It does not require Verizon to provide a record of actual conversations.

Verizon is specifically prohibited by the order from discussing it publicly. A Verizon spokesperson declined to comment when asked about the order by The Guardian. The National Security Agency, the White House and the Department of Justice also chose not to comment to the newspaper. Read more...

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Oh dads, they're always there for us with some extra cash or life advice. Without them, we'd all have a childhood free of cheesy dad jokes and marathon batting practices in the backyard. They've given us so much, so this Father's Day, it's time we thank them properly for their guidance and love with — what else — an e-card

Because nothing says, "Thanks for raising me" like a virtual greeting message. This year, forget the tie and ditch the shiny golf gadget. Instead, opt for these Someecards that really sum up our feelings when it comes to fathers

Read more...

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Back in March, Mashable featured a story about a Midwestern entrepreneur, who is working on setting up his own shoe business on a mobile truck. That food-truck-like concept got us thinking about the future of shoe retail, and the relevance of physical versus online spaces in this digital age of consumer shopping.

When it comes to shoes, Zappos.com remains a major player in the online retail world. The 14-year-old company, now owned by Amazon, has grown to over 3,866 employees. The much-celebrated Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is even planning a revitalization of downtown Las Vegas, the company's soon-to-be new home base. Although Hsieh was not available for an interview, we spoke to Carrie Whitehead of Zappos Labs, the company's San Francisco-based team that works on new experiments. Read more...

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This is hands-down one of the strangest soccer goals in the history of the beautiful game. It comes from a fourth-division match in Italy, according to Fox Soccer, and isn't really even scored by a player.

Watch as the goalie boots the ball high in the air in an attempt to clear it from harm's way. Watch as the ball sails downfield. Watch as the ball catches a strong gust of wind. Watch as it finds its way back into the goal without being touched by another player. Simply amazing

Homepage image courtesy of iStockphoto, mikkelwilliam Read more...

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Here's one reason that Apple may be getting into the streaming music business: to sell ads.

Advertising Age reports that the company is planning to offer "highly targeted ads" via iAd, its mobile ad network. The Cupertino, Calif. company is expected to make the announcement during next week's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, the report says. Reps from Apple could not be reached for comment.

Audio ads are more profitable than banner ads. Apple pays 70% of iAd revenues to publishers who monetize their apps using the service. Apple would share 10% of ad revenues with music-rights holders versus 4% for publishers, according to The Wall Street Journal Read more...

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If you have a killer view from your house but curtains or blinds are cramping your style, installing Wi-Fi-enabled window shades you control with your smartphone could be an option to consider.

Northern California startup SONTE has designed a high-tech alternative to traditional window coverings: it's a Wi-Fi-enabled window film you put on existing windows that can switch from clear to opaque via a smartphone app. This means you can enjoy the view through a window when you want and then get privacy when you need it.

SONTE film can be retrofitted on your existing windows through a do-it-yourself installation. You measure your window, cut the film to size and, using the film's self-adhesive, stick it on the glass. You then add special conducting clips on the film and plug it into the Wi-Fi-enabled transformer. After downloading the companion app (iOS and Android), you can control the film's transparency. SONTE says the film can turn solid by an electric current moving through, changing transparency within a second. Read more...

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The Simpson family is alive and well in Orlando, Fla. A little more than a week after Universal Orlando announced that The Simpsons Ride was getting a Springfield-themed expansion, the area known as Fast Food Boulevard is now open to the public

That means Simpsons fans from around the world can imbibe a Flaming Moe or Duff Beer, and nosh on a Krusty Burger.

Images of the new area hit the front page of Reddit, as Simpsons fans sounded off on the real-life realization of Itchy & Scratchy Land — but this time, without killer robots. We think.

Much of what has opened now are eateries and souvenir shops. Later this summer, a second attraction called Kang & Kodos' Twirl 'n' Hurl will join The Simpsons Ride in this part of the park. Read more...

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In 1838, photography was a crazy new fad, and images of rare paintings were soon widely distributed for people all over the world to see. Sound familiar? Today, images have similarly spread across the Internet

This concept of democratizing art, once put forth by theorist Walter Benjamin, is the inspiration behind artist Lauren Kaelin's paintings — well that, and the Ikea monkey meme.

SEE ALSO: Ermahgerd! Memes Invade Art Masterpieces and School Photos

Called "Benjameme," Kaelin's series of paintings each feature a different meme or viral star.

"When I first saw the Ikea Monkey, I knew I had to paint him. He's my favorite thing that's ever happened on the internet — the jacket, the elevator, just how small he is! Prancercising might be a close second," she told Mashable. Read more...

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One of the most coveted superhero powers is psychokinesis, or the ability to move objects without moving a muscle. In works of science fiction and fantasy, the mind has appeared often as a weapon infinitely more powerful than a sword or lightsaber — and rightly so. Its capabilities seem endless, as neuropsychologists continue to learn more and more about how, exactly, the human brain functions.

At the University of Minnesota's College of Science and Engineering, a team of researchers have focused a study, specifically, on the ways that the human mind can be used to control other objects.

Read more...

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President Barack Obama is no fan of patent trolls, calling them extortionists who "hijack somebody else's idea" during a Google Hangout earlier this year. Tuesday, Obama announced five new executive actions taking aim at patent trolls across the board. Advocates for patent reform say one of his orders should have software patent trolls in particular running for the hills.

The second of Obama's five executive actions on patent trolls issued Tuesday targets functional patent claims. Functional claims grant patent rights to a device that performs a certain function, rather than over how that function is actually performed Read more...

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People attending Wednesday's CMT Awards, the fan-voted awards show honoring country music videos and live performances, will have a difficult time forgetting the ceremony's official hashtag throughout the night's festivities in Nashville

The #CMTawards hashtag will be prominently displayed on signs at the entrance, on cups, in big lights on the side of the building, on the back of seats, backstage and even in bathrooms.

These decals in Bridgestone Arena's bathrooms will cleverly encourage people to create a different type of stream, so to speak — online and not just in the toilets.

"There's 11,000 people in the building tonight and they have the best view of everything, so we want to mobilize them to create content," Chris Nelson, director of social marketing at CMT, told Mashable hours before showtime Read more...

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If you grew up playing Pokemon, any JRPG, and/or adore Kanye Omari West, then you'll immediately be enamored with the new viral-released video game, Kanye Quest 3030.

According to Phenix, the game's creator, Kanye Quest 3030 is a "hip-hop-themed science-fiction 2D role-playing game." The plot starts with Kanye throwing out the trash and subsequently falling into a wormhole. When he lands on the other side, he realizes that the year is now 3030

During this beautiful, dark and twisted journey, Mr. West faces a variety of tasks, such as destroying a town infatuated with the word "swag," infiltrating clone labs and dodging lasers. He also fights the clones of today's most influential hip-hop artists, such as Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Nas and more. However, we're unsure of how Kanye will get home if he defeats all of his foes. Other hip-hop characters in the game included DOOM, GZA, RZA, Mos Def, LL Cool J, Nicki Minaj, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eminem Read more...

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Newsweek and The Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown announced Wednesday afternoon that Baba Shetty, who became CEO of The Newsweek Daily Beast Company just nine months ago, is leaving the company.

In an internal memo circulated to staff, Brown wrote that Shetty is "taking the summer off to spend some time with his family" — though we suspect the departure has little to do with Shetty's family and everything to do with Newsweek's pending sale (pending because Newsweek hasn't yet secured a buyer).

"[Shetty] has presided over a terrific nine months of product development and digital growth here, during which time he has brought in and cultivated a dynamic digital team, led by Mike Dyer," Brown wrote in the memo. "We wish Baba great success in his future ventures." Read more...

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No matter how much we domesticate our beloved cats, dogs and other pets, their true animal souls will eternally remain in the great outdoors

Which sometimes makes the great indoors — and mirrors, in particular — a bit much to handle

That difficulty is captured to hilarious effect in a compilation video recently posted to YouTube and embedded above. Watch as cats, dogs, lizards, birds and even a peacock completely lose it in front of their own reflections

And if that's not enough, here are 10 animals walking like humans:

Homepage image courtesy Flickr, Ma1974 Read more...

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Just in case people started to forget the danger of malware threats on social networks, an old string has recently resurfaced on Facebook.

Zeus, a global malware program, finds your machine through a phishing email and remains hidden away until you log into a bank site. From there, according to reports, the malware steals your passwords and drains your account. It sometimes takes things a step further, asking users to put in details — such as social security number — before logging into a bank account

Zeus isn’t a new program — in fact, it's about six years old. The attacks began again in February of this year and have been on the rise ever since. Read more...

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Nothing like a good ‘ole hockey rivalry — on and off the ice.

The Boston Bruins beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-1 in Game 2 and took a commanding lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. Fans in Beantown have a lot to celebrate, and they certainly want Pittsburgh supporters to know it. After the win, a few Bruins fans called a Pittsburgh sports bar and asked for "Owen," and hilarity ensued.

Though it might seem a little pompous, it’s a clever prank that will surely keep fans of both sides clashing heads as the teams prepare for Game 3

Watch the video above, and then let us know in the comments below — did you think the prank was clever? Did it cross the line? Read more...

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Twitter was true to its word: It didn't shut down TweetDeck as many feared it would. (Well, at least not the desktop version). But it has continued to improve and enhance the Twitter dashboard since acquiring it in 2011. And now, it's given the pro tool its most significant interface update in years.

Visually, the change is stunning. Since its early beta versions, TweetDeck has been a dark tool, with a mostly black interface and white knockout text. The new TweetDeck is awash in white, resembling dashboard competitors likeHootsuite and SocialFlow.

Read more...

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Anna Christine's cover of "House of the Rising Sun" is so incredibly soulful and spot-on that it makes you wonder whether she's really only 10 years old

The young girl wowed the America's Got Talent judges and audience on Tuesday night. She's clearly very nervous before taking the stage, making matters even sweeter. But once she gets behind the piano and starts singing, it's all shock and awe

The amazing YouTube video above has been getting shared all around the social web on Wednesday. Check it out for yourself and let us in the comments if you were blown away, too Read more...

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How much do parents know about their kids' Internet activity? Not much, according to a new study from McAfee that shows parents really don’t know what their kids are up to online.

What's even more telling is that 46% of youth acknowledged they would change their behavior if they knew their parents were paying attention. Parents, however, are far from paying attention. In fact, the study says 74% of parents surveyed don’t keep up with their kids' online behavior and hope for the best.

There are a few parents though who do take advantage of password protection of sites and apps, but kids most often take advantage of their parents' lack of tech knowledge. Almost all of the kids who had passwords set on mobile apps knew those passwords. Read more...

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After previewing the next-generation of Thunderbolt at the NAB Show 2013 back in April, Intel officially announced the new version, dubbed Thunderbolt 2.

The original Thunderbolt — which Intel developed with Apple and released in 2011 — is a high-speed connection standard that offers transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps. That makes it faster than the far more ubiquitous USB-3 and ideal for data-intensive tasks such as video editing.

Adoption of the technology has happened relatively slowly (aside from Apple, of course), and accessories are finally starting to hit the market at competitive price points. So does Thunderbolt have a future? Read more...

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You've probably heard a plethora of screaming goats, but now here's Cody the screaming dog, putting them all to shame. At first we thought this couldn't be real, but this happy pup seems to delight in making the most human-sounding noises we've ever heard coming out of the mouth of a dog.

Encouraged to vocalize by his nurturing master, Cody's howling instinct kicks into high gear, emitting a noise that will wake the dead and scare the neighbors. Be sure to warn them no one is in distress here — it's just Cody, the screaming dog.

Is Cody suffering? Judging from his tail that's obviously in continuous wagging mode, no. As a dog owner who was once lucky enough to be friends with a dog who instinctively howled when hearing the sound of a harmonica, I often wondered if dogs' howling was a sign of ear pain. But my dog seemed to delight in the harmonica sessions, and he'd be demonstrably disappointed when I'd put the harp back in my pocket Read more...

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The hacktivist collective Anonymous pledged to support protesters in Turkey by attacking "every Internet and communication asset of the Turkish government." Now they've been joined in their fight by another infamous group of hackers, the Syrian Electronic Army

On Wednesday, both groups scored their first significant victories, successfully hacking two different government networks, and getting access to sensitive data pertaining to Turkish officials

Through a phishing attack, Anonymous got its hands on the email accounts, passwords and phone numbers of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his staff, hacking his official website basbakanlik.gov.tr, according to the hacktivists' press release. A government official confirmed the breach to Reuters. Read more...

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Paris Jackson, the 15-year-old daughter of the late Michael Jackson, posted several cryptic messages on Twitter before she reportedly attempted suicide early Wednesday morning, allegedly in response to not being allowed to attend a Marilyn Manson concert.

One of the tweets included lyrics to "Yesterday" from the Beatles

yesterday , all my troubles seemed so far awaynow it looks as though they're here to stay

— Paris Jacksoη (@ParisJackson) June 5, 2013

Entertainment Tonight broke the news, reporting that Paris Jackson's mother, Debbie Rowe, said her daughter had cuts on her wrists when she was hospitalized. Fire officials have described a 911 call in Jackson's neighborhood as a "possible overdose" call. Read more...

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