Cory Monteith, the 31-year-old actor best known for his role as Finn Hudson on Fox's Glee, was found dead Saturday afternoon on the 21st floor of the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in downtown Vancouver, the city's police department confirmed Saturday night.

"Mr. Monteith checked into the hotel in July 6th and was due to check out of the room today," Vancouver Police's Acting Chief Doug LePard said during a live streamed press conference. "There were others with Mr. Monteith in his room earlier last night, but video and fob key entries show him returning to his room by himself in the early morning hours and we believe he was alone when he died. Read more...

More about Music, Entertainment, Tv, Us, and Death

To make a great buddy comedy you can use one of two formulas: two people whose solid friendship anchors the movie, or an odd couple thrown together who eventually discover they're more alike than they thought

Instead of developing new characters to form lifelong friendships on screen, future writers and directors just have to figure out what fan fiction writers already know: The perfect pairs exist — they just live in different fictional worlds.

There are obvious barriers that divide them, such as time period and animation. But once you look past that, it's easy to see these characters are best friends that just haven't met yet — and their movies would be sure-fire hits. Read more...

More about Lists, Comedy, Buddy, Gifs, and Watercooler

After a Florida jury found George Zimmerman not guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin Saturday, Twitter reacted with a firestorm of protest and anger.

Zimmerman, 29, a neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot the 17-year-old black teenager last February in Sanford, Fla., was also acquitted of a lesser charge of manslaughter. Zimmerman said he shot an unarmed Martin in self-defense, according to The New York Times. The case and trial spurred a U.S.-wide debate on racial profiling.

Read more...

More about Twitter, Us World, Us, Trayvon Martin, and George Zimmerman

Chad Mureta was in a car accident two years ago. During a lengthy recovery in the hospital, a friend gave him an article about the app market. Shortly thereafter, Mureta began designing and developing apps

In just 24 months, Mureta created and sold three app companies, generating millions in revenue. He developed more than 40 apps with more than 35 million downloads. According to Mureta, 90% of his apps were successful and made money.

Using the The 4-Hour Workweek approach, Mureta built everything with his iPhone — working less than five hours per week. Read more...

More about Iphone App Store, Iphone Apps, Graphic Design, App Development, and Mobile App Development

Here at Mashable, we understand that it's difficult to keep up with the latest in tech news. I mean, after all, Sharknado aired this week (that's a cinematic gem that you just have to make time for). But fear not — we've got you covered

To help ensure that you're still your tech-savvy self, we've rounded up this week's 25 best digital media resources, including customizable Instagram gifts and some adorkable wedding invitations

Editor's Picks

15 TED Talks That Will Change Your Life
Feel like getting inspired, motivated or just looking for a feel-good cry? Look no further.

The Pixar Theory: Every Character Lives in the Same Universe
Jon Negroni spent one year untangling the secret world hidden deep within Pixar films. What he found was a universe to which every Pixar character connects. Read more...

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It's been another big week in the tech world, and we're here to show to you the best of the best in this week's top 10 tech

Nokia unveiled the Lumia 1020 with a 41-megapixel camera. In the United States, the phone will be exclusive to AT&T with a two-year contract.

After raising money on Kickstarter, and shipping it to many of its crowdsourced backers, the Pebble watch is finally available for pre-order for everyone

A new "If This Then That" app arrived for the iPhone. It lets you customize multiple applications to do what you want it to do Read more...

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

DARPA's newest military robotic creation is a little too close to our sci-fi imaginations.

Called "Atlas," the robot is designed to travel across rough terrain, use human tools and climb using its hands and feet. DARPA — formally known as the U.S. Defense Department' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — is currently challenging teams to create new software for the 6-foot-tall robot's brain.

According to the video, above, DARPA plans for Atlas to aid in rescue situations, drive vehicles or even crash through walls. Thankfully, if the robot decides to break free from human control, it can easily be disconnected from its power source. Read more...

More about Video, Tech, Robots, Robotics, and Gadgets

These calorie-burners probably shouldn't replace your daily gym sessions, but it's nice to know that even when you're sitting on the couch laughing at Seinfeld reruns, you're burning some calories. Unless you're eating Cheetos, that is.

Check out the video above to see how you can burn 200 calories in everyday activities

Image courtesy of Flickr, lululemon athletica Read more...

More about Video, Health, Exercise, Calories, and Watercooler

A new watch on Kickstarter is designed to help wearers — including the blind and visually impaired — tell time through touch rather than sight.

Instead of traditional watch hands, time on "The Bradley" is indicated by two ball bearings: one on the top denoting minutes, and another on the side denoting hours. Here's how it works, as explained on Kickstarter:

"These two ball bearings are connected, with magnets, to a watch movement beneath the watch face.The magnets make it so that even if the ball bearings are moved when touched, they spring back to the correct time with a gentle shake of your wrist." Read more...

More about Visually Impaired, Blind, Watch, Kickstarter, and Dev Design

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 we found an app to help you find the perfect pair of glasses, as well as one that lets you customize your own jewelry.

A popular calling app made it even easier to remember to keep in touch with Mom, and another popular service brought automation to the iPhone, helping you connect the functions on your phone with some of the web apps and services you use most often. Read more...

More about Apps, Iphone, Android, Tech, and Apps Software

If you're planning to check out Pacific Rim, the summer blockbuster featuring giant robots fighting other-dimensional monsters, you might want to know that not all the robotic inventions you see in that movie are science fiction.

Sure, humans may be a long way from building gigantic mechs like the Jaegers in Pacific Rim, which are piloted by two people linked telepathically. But inventors are creating astonishing devices that can aid humans by supplementing our own bodies or help us in our work.

YouTube put together some videos to honor our real-life robotic helpers. Check out the gallery above and be amazed at how far we've come. Read more...

More about Robots, Robotics, Tech, Dev Design, and Gadgets

Once upon a time, there might have been a valid argument that Apple had no hope for a bright future. But considering all the fanboys who own more Mac products than they can count on one hand, we'll just make the assumption that Apple is in the clear (for now)

In this comic, Krishna Sadasivam of PC Weenies makes it clear that Apple has no reason to worry

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

More about Comic, Comics, Iphone, Apple, and Humor

Sixty three light-years away in a constellation called Vulpecula lies a planet called HD 189733b. While its name may sound unremarkable, astronomers proved this week that HD 189733b is, indeed, special: It's deep-blue in color and covered in clouds of liquid glass.

HD 189733b is an exoplanet. Located outside of our solar system, it's just one of more than 900 similar planets we've identified. However, scientists estimate there are at least 100 billion exoplanets — and that's just in the Milky Way Galaxy alone.

The science world is buzzing this week about HD 189733b because, for the first time ever, we were able to identify an exoplanet's color. However, HD 189733b's characteristics coincide with what we already know about these types of planets: It's similar to Jupiter and orbits a host star Read more...

More about Space, Nasa, Science, Us World, and Us

One of the wonderful things about weddings: Because it's your special day, you can customize everything to suit you perfectly

You can even commission a clever artist to create custom-made wedding cake toppers — mini-me versions of you and your partner to sit on top of your wedding cake

We've taken a look at 10 terrific Etsy shops offering such cool customizations. Have a browse through our selection in the gallery above. In the comments below, let us know how you'd top your wedding cake.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Ellen Read more...

More about Gallery, Shopping, Features, Home, and Weddings

For small-business owners and bootstrapping startup founders, it's tough to completely retreat from work. If you’re an entrepreneur, you may feel there’s too much on your plate, no one to take over, and that any downtime will lead to lost business. It's not easy to decide when to take a vacation.

However, even a tiny vacation is critical, both for your personal health and sanity, as well as for your business. Studies show that as leisure time decreases, we experience more negative emotions, more stress, more health problems and lower life satisfaction. Even if you love what you do, you can’t live on work alone. Taking time off is essential to recharging your batteries and avoiding entrepreneurial burnout Read more...

More about Startups, Features, Business, Entrepreneurs, and Contributor

We all know what gaming laptops are supposed to look like: big and bulky, complete with gaudy Christmas lighting and enough air vents to make a Cylon cringe. That's what you get if you want desktop power in an itty-bitty frame, and even then it's going to cost more than a few ha'pennies.

That's how it used to be, and not just for gaming laptops. Then Apple came along and made a unibody design, component prices and sizes dropped, and it became possible to fit more in a laptop for less. But laptop makers have only recently started to adapt, and all the while Mac sales have gone through the roof. So leave it to a gaming company to come up with a proper competitor. Read more...

More about Reviews, Windows, Laptops, Razer, and Tech

When Yahoo shut down AltaVista on Monday, it reminded us of the golden days of 1996 websites with their 8-bit graphics and primary color schemes.

When the Internet was still a novelty, 1996 was a big year for new developments. Hotmail was released commercially, Netscape 2.0 (remember that?) was released as the first browser to support JavaScript and Yahoo had only been incorporated for a year.

In memory of the Web 1.0 sites of the '90s, we rounded up ten 1996 websites to take you back to your nostalgic dial-up days, when you had to wait more than 30 seconds for your AOL homepage to load. Which sites of the past do you nostalgically miss? Tell us in the comments below. Read more...

More about Internet, Web Development, Web Design, Features, and Tech

Although the Fourth of July has come and gone, this week was still filled with photogenic events. Travel around the world with us as we show you these noteworthy, emotional and downright incredible moments, captured in 28 photos

Islamic countries across the world begin fasting from dawn to dusk for the holy month of Ramadan, upholding such abstinence to cleanse the soul and strengthen spiritual bonds. Several museum exhibitions, featuring objects ranging from fish tanks to medieval armor, have opened this week, drawings hordes of visitors.

Yorkshire farmer Tom Pearcy breaks a world record with his York Maize Maze, the world's largest image of a Dalek, or a cyborg encased in a robotic shell. The Japanese star festival, or Tanabata, is celebrated across the country, and New York City opens a hotel bar constructed completely from ice. And in Pamplona, the Running of the Bulls Festival, made famous by Ernest Hemingway. continues for nine days. Read more...

If there's one thing you don't mess with, it's people's coffee. As this controversial infographic proved, trying to simplify coffee drinkers' personalities is as complicated as their drink orders. That story was the most lively source of our top comments this week.

Though some agreed the provided depiction matched their personality, many commenters were shocked to see plain black coffee and other drink orders omitted. But as one reader pointed out — aren't we so much more than our coffee orders?

SEE ALSO: 9 Neat Ways to Make Coffee on the Go

Game of Thrones has become synonymous with shocking and unexpected twists. But even the most simple GOT revelation had fans talking. Turns out the HBO version of the Iron Throne was not exactly what George R.R. Martin had in mind. The conflicted opinions of fans reflected a common occurrence when it comes to film or TV adaptations — no one ever gets it right. In the opinion of some readers, neither did the guy who invented the story Read more...

More about Space, Nasa, Starbucks, Coffee, and Media

An intern was blamed for incorrect — and racist — names airing on a Oakland local television on Friday

On Friday afternoon, Oakland, Calif. Fox affiliate KTVU broadcast what it thought was a list of the flight crew for Asiana flight 214, which crashed while landing at San Francisco's airport Sunday afternoon, killing two passengers immediately and putting 10 others in critical condition. A third passenger has since died from injuries.

What was so strange about KTVU's broadcast was the names attributed to the flight crew. Each was a phonetically spelled-out phrase meant to look like a name. You can hear the anchor read each on the video above. Read more...

More about Local News, Tv, Us World, Us, and Us And World

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have accomplished a stunning architectural feat using silkworms. To construct this "Silk Pavillion," 6,500 live silkworms were guided via computer, creating a 3D print of the domed structure

The vast majority of 3D printing is done with plastic (although liquid metal may not be too far away), but MIT's Silk Pavillion project is the first 3D-printed structure made out of 100% natural materials

According to Wired, Neri Oxman, the creator of the project, calls the hybrid fabrication method CNSilk. It constitutes part of her interest in "biomimicry," a new science that uses designs and processes found in nature and applies them to human problems. Read more...

More about Science, Mit, 3d Printing, Tech, and Dev Design

Email has become the primary way we contact people — whether we’re looking for a job, trying to land a freelance client or simply working to expand our network.

So why do so many people write terrible emails?

The good news is whenever most people do something terribly, the field opens up for you. And because so many job seekers, networkers and freelancers write terrible emails, you’ve got a great opportunity. All you have to do is write an email people will actually want to read — and you’ll no doubt get where you want to be, faster.

Here are a few tips to increase the chance of getting a positive response to your emails. Read more...

More about Email, Careers, Job Search Series, Business, and Jobs