Parenting is tough to begin with, but add a smartphone-using, texting, emailing and Internet-surfing teen on top of that, and there's a whole new set of digital rules that apply.

Keeping tabs on your kids at home can be done through communication, Internet filters and other PC-based tools (hopefully), but it becomes a little more difficult when they venture outside

Tracking your kids with GPS is definitely a debatable topic. Some parents want the reassurance of knowing where their kids are, if they have arrived at their destinations and if they are where they say they’ll be. Other argue that using GPS to track your kids shows that you don’t trust them. Where can you find a balance? Read more...

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'Tis the season for summer camp. Can you smell the sunscreen and chlorine?

For every child who's pumped about spending time away from home, making new friends, and engaging in crafts and Capture-the-Flag fun, there's another kid who's less-than-thrilled about being at camp.

These letters of homesickness (or just sick of camp) tell all. They're mostly adorable, but we've also included a few, ahem, less cute — but largely hilarious — bonus letters at the end

1.

Image courtesy of Instagram, Matthew Lush.

2.

Image courtesy of Imgur, gotmitch87. Read more...

3.

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As more and more apps utilize the cloud's file-storing and -sharing capabilities, remote team collaboration becomes even easier

There are hundred of apps that claim to "increase productivity" and "optimize company workflow," but how many apps actually do? We've selected a list of 8 apps that actually make your workday easier, and team collaboration more enjoyable in the process

Did we miss any of your favorite team collaboration apps? If so, please let us know in the comments section below.

1Dropbox

Dropbox is the quintessential app for file-sharing and document collaboration. Through Dropbox, you can share PDFs, files and folders. When you star a file, you can access it offline later on. Read more...

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If you're struggling in summer's stifling heat, but don't want to compromise your cool desk aesthetics for the sake of mundane creature comforts, we can help

We have found seven table fans for your desk that are gloriously good-looking, so will help you keep your cool without sacrificing your chic

Take a look through our stylish selection in the gallery above. How do you keep cool in the summer heat?

Homepage image courtesy of Vornado Read more...

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Apple is on a hiring spree to solve iWatch design issues, Financial Times reports citing people familiar with Apple's plans

The iWatch is a rumored name for an Apple smartwatch, which would likely connect and interact with iOS devices

According to the report, Apple is "aggressively" hiring engineering talent, which could mean that the iWatch project is real and not just an endless string of rumors. However, being an entire new product category, the iWatch reportedly poses "hard engineering problems," which Apple is now trying to solve. There are now several dozen employees dedicated to the device's development. Read more...

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A Canadian engineering team has finally captured the long-elusive Sikorsky prize — awarded to the "first successful controlled flight of a human-powered helicopter" — 33 years after it was established.

Atlas, created by Toronto-based AeroVelo, made its historic flight on June 13. The helicopter stayed airborne for 64.11 seconds, reached a 10.8 feet (3.3 meters) peak altitude and drifted 32.1 feet (9.8 meters), according to the team's site. In order to win the Sikorsky prize, an "aircraft using only human power" had to fly for at least 60 seconds, reach a height of at least 9.8 feet (3 meters) and hover over a 32.8-by-32.8 feet (10-by-10 meter) area, according to a release. AeroVelo won $250,000 for its achievement Read more...

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Parents tend to throw away their baby's dirty diapers without hesitation — after all, they're unpleasant and useless after being worn. But a new kind of digital diaper may cause moms and dads to pause before taking out the trash

Created by New York-based startup Pixie Scientific, Smart Diapers are designed to keep track of a child's health by assessing his or her urine. Using a mobile app, parents must scan the QR code on front of the diaper — whenever it's wet — for "diagnostic testing" to begin.

Here's how it works, as explained on Smart Diapers' Indiegogo page: Read more...

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Mark Zuckerberg may take credit for the modern-day social network, but recent findings show that the "Like" button can be traced all the way back to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. OK, not really...

In this Sunday comic, Maria Scrivan imagines that in a time, way before Facebook, there was still social networking

Comic written and illustrated by Maria Scrivan. Published with permission; all rights reserved. Read more...

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When Mother Nature has something to say, there's no ignoring her. She takes into no account your holiday plans or flight schedules. And she is blind to race, age and economic status

Yet, for all of her wrath and downpours of drama, Mother Nature always returns to us with smile — be it through warm sunshine to melt away the thickest ice, or a drop of rain to quench the thirstiest soil. Its her apology for showing her dark side and a thanks for bearing the brunt

Although her forces are still unmatched be even the most intelligent of man, we've at least been able to document her mood swings. And, perhaps, we even learn a thing or two about how to better understand her next time. We pored over thousands of extreme weather images to find out what Mother Nature had to say. Read more...

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In our professional lives, mentors make a difference. Whether you’re looking for that promotion or need help starting your own business, mentorship can often be the key ingredient to success.

But don’t just take my word for it — statistics also prove the benefit of having a great mentor. Professionals who have mentors make between $5,610 and $22,450 more annually than those on their own. And one of the places mentors make the biggest difference is when it comes to entrepreneurship.

Most entrepreneurs can tell the story of a mentor who offered help at the exact right moment. The wisdom from these smart, altruistic helpers who’ve been there before can be the difference between your venture's success or failure. Read more...

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Moms and dads are inescapable on social media these days, particularly parents on Facebook. Whether it's your mom posting embarrassing old baby photos, or your former college roommate updating about her newborn, parents are monopolizing your newsfeed

But no matter who you are, it's almost certain that the parents in your life fit into one of these categories

From dads who won't put up with your whiny statuses to moms with the cheesiest puns imaginable, your family is sure to fall somewhere in-between.

1. The All-Caps Dad

Image courtesy of Laura Vitto Read more...

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Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, recently told reporters that the long-standing rivalry between the search giant and Apple was finally being put to rest — but it's probably easier said than done.

In this Sunday comic, our friends Nitrozac and Snaggy at The Joy of Tech show us that no matter what Schmidt says, Apple and Google are never going to be the best of friends

Comic illustration provided by The Joy of Tech. Published with permission; all rights reserved. Read more...

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Dr. Amar Bose, founder of audio manufacturing company Bose Corporation, died on Friday at his home in Wayland, Mass. He was 83. His death appears to be of natural causes.

A sophisticated engineer with a knack for classical music, Dr. Bose was known for his revolutionary research in acoustical engineering. He built his unique expertise into the company's products, such as concert-hall-quality speakers and noise-canceling headphones.

He founded the company in 1964 while studying electrical engineering at the postgraduate level at MIT. Unlike most entrepreneurs of the day, he kept the company's financial information private and declined to offer public stock, letting him focus on his research without the burden of earnings announcements Read more...

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Cory Monteith was found dead in his Vancouver hotel room Saturday afternoon. The actor became famous in 2009 as Finn Hudson, the football player turned glee club captain, on the hit show Glee.

Glee producers issued a statement Sunday about the actor's death: "We are deeply saddened by this tragic news. Cory was an exceptional talent and an even more exceptional person. He was a true joy to work with and we will all miss him tremendously. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones," the statement read

Fans were shocked to learn the news of the 31-year-old's death, many remembering Monteith's stellar performances throughout the four seasons of the Fox show Read more...

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A dozen students huddle around a laptop-strewn table crammed with palm-sized circuit boards and unruly rainbows of wire. Each student tinkers with his or her own clear plastic platform, which resembles an Ikea twin bed no bigger than a box of Kleenex. A webcam attaches to the headboard, staring down at a square pool pressed into the bed, illuminated by a single LED wired to the footboard.

The class’s instructor, Geva Patz, unscrews a small jar, sucks out an eyedropper full of liquid and carefully squeezes a few beads into the tiny pool, as students gather around. Patz rotates the webcam’s focus ring back and forth until the student’s laptop screen sharpens with a flurry of what looks like white rice grains, swimming erratically. Read more...

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The mamaRoo is a baby swing that can play music from your personal music player.

Instead of playing stock lullabies, mamaRoo lets parents play their own selection of music to soothe the little ones. And who says that you're limited to music? Maybe your baby enjoys podcasts or audiobooks. That may sound strange, but you can certainly oblige any audio preferences with the mamaRoo.

The swing has an audio line-in that plugs into your headphone jack. However, it does not stream wirelessly over Bluetooth or AirPlay. The speakers are good enough for baby, but this is not room-filling sound we're talking about. Read more...

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Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling has been unmasked as the author of The Cuckoo's Calling, a crime novel published in April under the pseudonym "Robert Galbraith," the Sunday Times reports

The novel chronicles private eye Cormoran Strike as he investigates the suicide of a supermodel. The book was received with critical acclaim, but reviewers were surprised by the sophistication that came from the first-time author — whose biography on the Little Brown website describes him as a former military police investigator using the pseudonym

Image courtesy of Amazon.com

Read more...

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Free People, Urban Outfitters' bohemian fashion label, released its first mobile app in Apple's App Store two weeks agoThe app, which is largely designed to facilitate purchasing, was downloaded 24,000 times in its first week, logging 100,000 user sessions and accounting for between 7% and 10% of Free People's online sales that week.

The app didn't cannibalize sales on Free People's three-year-old mobile site, Jed Paulson, director of marketing and ecommerce at Free People, told Mashable in a phone interview Friday. "We were expecting our mobile [web] shoppers to migrate to the mobile app, and for sales on the mobile site to drop," says Paulson. "But sales held steady on the mobile site, and we got a 100% boost from the app." Though the app managed to beat the company's first-month sales forecast in the first week alone, Paulson said it hasn't quite paid for itself yet. Read more...

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There was no clear video of last weekend's tragic Asiana Airlines Flight 214's crash landing that killed three passengers, but animation artists were quick to provide crude renderings of the accident. Now a former airline pilot and current forensic animator has created the most realistic and well-researched look yet at what probably happened last Saturday at San Francisco International Airport.

The video was created by former Boeing 727 pilot Jack Suchocki, who also happens to be a talented 3D animator who founded Eyewitness Animations, a company that provides aviation accident reconstruction animations for legal investigations. He told us he used Autodesk's pro animation software 3DS Max to create this super-realistic view of the crash landing. Read more...

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A Florida jury on Saturday found 29-year-old George Zimmerman not guilty of second-degree murder for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last February in Sanford, Fla. He was also acquitted of a lesser charge of manslaughter

Rallies and protests have sprung up in cities across the U.S., from Florida to California to New York, and a handful of celebrities — including Beyonce — have expressed support for Martin's familyA petition to the Justice Department to open up a civil rights case against Zimmerman also appeared overnight

Read more...

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Worn-out breakup lines are tried-and-true treasures: "It's not you it's me," "I really need to focus on my work," and "I'm just not ready for a serious relationship." But now that we're in the 21st century, it's probably time for some digital jargon to make its way into matters of the heart.

In this Sunday comic, we learn how to end things with that not-so-perfect someone in a way that's tailor made for the tech generation

Comic written by Larry Lambert; illustrated by Jerry King. Read more...

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Unemployed, underemployed or somewhere in between? The Mashable Job Board is here to help.

Since 2005, Mashable has been dedicated to providing the hottest digital, social and tech news to our readership of 25 million and counting. Top companies know you excel in the digital world, so they come to Mashable to find the best and brightest minds. New jobs — including ones exclusive to us — are added every day to the Mashable Job Board. Take a look.

Below, we've gathered 10 recently posted positions. Keep coming back to the Mashable Job Board for new openings, and don't forget to read our Job Search Series for advice on how to achieve your dream job. Read more...

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Having siblings is a lot like bullfighting — you know exactly how to get them riled up, but make one false move or get them mad enough and you'll find yourself pounded into the ground.

From food to name-calling, there's a long list of silly things you fought about with your brothers and sisters. (You might still fight with them about a couple of things.)

SEE ALSO: 12 Siblings Who Got the Short End of the Stick

Here are some of the biggest points of contention while growing up

1. Who rode in the front seat.

Image courtesy of Tumblr, hailyowl

2. Where your parents took you to dinner.

Image courtesy of Tumblr, meangirlsgifs Read more...

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Compulsive doodlers like me miss the good old days of paper, pens and white space for random scratches. Laptops, tablets and smartphones have almost done away with the need for handwritten notes — at least in meetings — and have likely decreased the amount of global doodling by half (totally my guess). Platforms such as Paper and Doodle.ly, though, are helping to revive this creative (or time-wasting) impulse

I've been using the Doodle.ly iPad app and social network (you can draw directly on the website) for more than a year. Its simplicity — lack of tools, no zoom, layers, fixed aspect ratio — was part of its appeal. The Doodle.ly sketchpad was the closest thing I had to real pen and paper. Unlike pad and paper, though, Doodle.ly has always offered almost unlimited undos. Read more...

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