In the age of iPads, flying cars and space rovers, some gadgets that were once confined to the science-fiction world are quickly becoming commonplace 21st-century commodities

Star Trek, which aired its first episode more than 40 years ago on NBC, stood at the forefront, dazzling its fan base for decades with such high-tech gizmos as phasers and tricorders in the exploration of the final frontiermusicMagpie just launched a fully interactive Star Trek Navigraphic (above), which takes a look at some of the series' iconic technology. The experience doens't just to give a nod to the saga's creative minds, it also evaluates just how many light years away we are from futuristic gear. Read more...

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Edward Snowden might finally get what he's been looking for: a safe haven to avoid facing justice in the United States. On Friday, the Presidents of both Venezuela and Nicaragua said they could offer the NSA whistleblower asylum.

After fleeing Hong Kong, Snowden is believed to be holed up in Moscow's Sheremyetevo airport. Since arriving on June 23, and with the help of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, Snowden has applied for asylum in 27 countries with no success. Now, Venezuela and Nicaragua seem to be warming up to the idea, according to multiple news reports

Read more...

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The new CulCharge USB phone charger gets right to the point with no unnecessary frills, and it's compact enough to carry around in your pocket.

The CulCharge is a simple charger made of flexible silicone that has a USB plug on one end and a connection to a phone on the other, as explained in the video above. There are versions with connectors for both iPhone and Android devices: lightning (for iPhone 5), 30-pin (for iPhone 4), micro-USB and mini-USB.

The 6-cm-long USB charger can also handle data transfers, in addition to juicing up your phone. The little cable really is flexible, since it can bend more than 180 degrees — nifty for those hard-to-access USB slots. Read more...

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If gymnastics doesn't pan out, Shin Soo-ji could have a future in baseball.

The South Korean rhythmic gymnast took the mound to toss out a ceremonial first pitch for the Doosan Bears on July 5 and wowed even the professional ball players with her unconventional windup. Think Gumby meets a windmill and does a flip

Not quite descriptive enough? Check out the move in repeat GIF form:

She might not have the speed of Justin Verlander or power of Bartolo Colon, but when was the last time either of those big leaguers flung a leg over their head? Read more...

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Photographer Jon Uriarte was having a conversation with friends about the generational changes in relationships between men and women when he had an idea.

He wanted to take pictures that not only showcased these differences, but also expressed the confusion that the men were now experiencing.

"It all started with conversations with my male heterosexual friends talking about how the relationships between men and women had changed, and how the models of our parents are not working anymore," says Uriarte

"We are happy that finally women had given a step forward, but at the same time, we have a sense of lostness that I thought was worth it [to] show." Read more...

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Yes, this is another shark movie

The channel that brought you made-for-TV classics like Sharktopus and Jersey Shore Shark Attack is adding one more shark-themed film to its arsenal

Syfy released a teaser trailer for its latest original movie, Sharknado, a disaster flick about — you guessed it — sharks and tornados. The teaser shows a succession of sharks being thrown around Los Angeles by a tornado, and the chaos that ensues.

While Syfy unveiled the Sharknado movie poster in June, this is the first clip from the film to be released.

The movie premieres July 11th, and stars 90210 alum Ian Ziering as a man trying to save his family from a tornado of sharks, with Tara Reid playing his ex-wife Read more...

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Listen up — Apple may be working on its own noise-cancelling earbuds.

A recently discovered patent application filed by the company shows a pair of headphones that adjust their output based on how they fit in a person’s ears.

Noise-cancelling earbuds are often affected by how they fit in the ear. Earbuds that fit tight inside the ear can sound great, while those that don’t fit snugly often sound less clear.

According to the patent, which was filed by Apple in February, the new earbuds would measure the ambient noise coming into the headphones using a small microphone, and adjust based on that reading to deliver the best sound quality possible. Also detailed in the patent application is a system that would alert users through a push-notification if the headphones have a poor seal. Read more...

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WARNING: Video includes Game of Thrones season one spoilers.

Game of Thrones, you so crazy. Not only are you hopelessly addicting, but as soon as a character finds his or her way into our hearts, you go killing them off. It's an emotional roller coaster ride only George R.R. Martin could take us on.

In this video, parody duo Not Literally puts the tribulations of Game of Thrones fans to the tune of Gotye's ultra-viral hit "Somebody That I Used to Know."

Check out the video and reminisce about the Westeros citizens who kicked the bucket. Oh, and this video only covers season one. But it can't possibly get any worse, right? Right? Read more...

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Never one to hold her tongue or suppress her thoughts, Madonna used Instagram to respond to recent criticism about a photo she posted. The image showed the pop superstar wearing a chainmail mask that some people say resembles the face garb worn by Muslim women

The caption accompanying the chainmail mask photo (see at bottom) read, "The Revolution of Love is on...Inshallah." In Arabic, Inshallah means "God willing."

Madonna is currently dating a man who is Muslim. Even so, some followers believed Madonna was criticizing Islamic countries' oppression of women or homosexuality. She responded as such: Read more...

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Some people are afraid of spiders. Others are afraid of robots. Heaven help the person afraid of both who stumbles upon this creepy-crawly 3D-printed robotic spider from Robugtix.

The T8 is made nightmare-inducing not only by its 3D-printed and somewhat realistic-looking skin but by the preternatural movements that mimic living eight-leggers. According to Robugtix, that’s thanks largely to the company’s “Bigfoot” inverse kinematics engine, which uses math calculations to figure out how the robot-arachnid should move.

Using 26 servo motors and a wireless RF-based connected remote control, the 2.2 lbs robot is not exactly autonomous, but when you send it in a direction, it figures out how to walk that creepy way. Read more...

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If your thumb hurts from constantly browsing Tinder, the addictive dating app, you're not alone — it boasts of a membership of about 20 million.

The service is extremely simple. Cycle through potential partners, and click the green heart on profiles of those you're interested in. Otherwise, click a red "X," and you'll move on to the next profile. If you're a match with someone — meaning you both clicked green hearts on one another's profiles — Tinder will send you a notification and set you up in a private chat

Online dating isn't as easy as it seems — there's an art to it. It's all about the first impression, mainly because people have little choice but to judge you by your photo and limited information listed in your profile. Read more...

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Three university researchers have come up with a model they suggest can predict how popular a tweet will be.

This formula doesn't look at the content of a tweet, but focuses on the behavior of people and retweets on Twitter. "I can't tell you what kind of tweet is going to be big, but I can tell you the minutes of which one [tweet] is going to be big," Tauhid Zaman, assistant professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, told Mashable.

Zaman, along with Emily Fox at the University of Washington and Eric Bradlow at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, came up with a model that's demoed online, nicknamed "Twouija." Twouija is a play on words between Twitter and a Ouija board, a game where you try to predict the future Read more...

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Excuse the slight exaggeration, but everything cool comes from Japan. That's hardly a hyperbole — it's just true. Sushi. Hello Kitty. Karaoke. And now, this video

This compilation of bizarre Japanese commercials is going viral, and it's easy to see why. A commercial for breakfast cereal features disembodied heads on a playground, while an ad for bug spray stars dancers who make Prancerise look totally normal by comparison

If only American ads were this entertaining. (Just a heads up: the thumbnail may be racy, but the rest of the video is safe for work.) Read more...

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Iceland will not help NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden escape his purgatory in Moscow's Sheremyetevo airport by giving him citizenship — at least for now

Yesterday, members of Iceland's Pirate Party introduced a bill to grant Snowden citizenship and thus protect him from being extradited to the United States, which has charged him with espionage and theft of government property for leaking top secret surveillance programs

Today, one of the members of the Pirate Party announced the Iceland parliament's refusal to discuss the bill before its summer recess

Read more...

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Who would have thought Total Recall's prediction of driverless cars or The Truman Show's forecasting of the rise of reality TV would actually come to pass?

But other predictions from futurists and Hollywood visions of hoverboards, flying cars and space colonies don't exist quite yet

We are on the precipice of major innovations, physicist and futurist Michio Kaku told the Los Angeles Times back in 2011. According to Moore's Law, he said, computing power doubles every 18 months.

And it's still true: Hoverboards technically exist, although they're not as cool as Marty McFly's was. We have invisible and driverless cars and spray-on clothingBionic eyes are soon coming to the U.S., and we can print organs in 3D. Read more...

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Darkness brings an exciting challenge for photographers. Once the sun sets, a window of opportunity opens. For this week's Mashable Photo Challenge Guest Series, we want to see your most stunning photos taken after dark.

These might be long exposure shots, a night-time city skyline, photos of the stars or light paintings. Anything taken between dusk and dawn is fair game, so even though shooting in low light can be tough, challenge yourself to stick it out after the sun sets.

Follow the directions below to submit your photo, and our guest curator will select some of the best shots to feature on Mashable. Read more...

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Google wants you to go on a field trip this summer.

If you have Google’s Field Trip app installed on your phone, you can get free admission at 23 of the nation’s best museums and zoos until the end of July. Options include everything from President Lincoln’s Cottage in Washington D.C. to the Bronx Zoo in New York City.

Google originally launched Field Trip last September. Meant to be a guide to cool stuff and hidden treasures around you, the app runs in the background on your phone, and when it thinks you’re around something interesting, it makes suggestions for places to visit. Read more...

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Lady Gaga is egging us on, switching her Twitter avatar to the service's default egg image. The 27-year-old global pop star also updated her Twitter bio, causing fans to panic. The new bio reads: "This interface has been shut down temporarily. Please check back for updates."

The changes have drawn comparisons to her 2011 Grammy Awards appearance, where she arrived inside an egg and later emerged from it during a performance. The stunt is rumored to be for her fourth studio album ARTPOP, which is slated to be released this year

Read more...

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While Edward Snowden is still stuck somewhere inside Moscow's Sheremyetevo airport, details about his past keep emerging

In 2010, while working at Dell as an National Security Agency contractor, Snowden earned a certificate as an "ethical hacker," and learned some of the skills that most likely helped him siphon off the top secret documents that have revealed multiple NSA surveillance programs over the last month.

According to the New York Times, Snowden took a course and received a certification from the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) as a "Certified Ethical Hacker." Read more...

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Samsung and HTC just rolled out some holiday-hidden bad news. Is this a sign that smartphones are the new PCs?

That's not a comment on their functionality, but instead what looks like a sudden saturation of the market. Just as PCs once seemed like a category with boundless growth, the smartphone segment is appearing more and more finite. And this has happened in a fraction of the time

The latest proof? Samsung and HTC both reported preliminary earnings estimates for the second financial quarter and both companies missed investor estimates.

For HTC, the 83% decline in profit from this time last year is troubling, but it's still a big improvement over the company's disastrous first quarter results Read more...

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A survey sent to some SimCity players hints the game could be getting the much-requested offline mode in a patch. This counters EA's assertion the game was designed to be played only online by connecting to its servers.

The survey, which popped up on Reddit on Thursday, asks players for their opinions on several patch or expansion ideas. Reddit user bigbrwnbear wrote that he received the survey in the mail, and it started with, "Our records indicate you have played SimCity in the past, and we're interested in learning more about your gaming experience."

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Microsoft invited players to install a beta version of an updated Xbox Live platform on their Xbox 360 consoles on Friday to collect feedback.

Microsoft spokesperson Major Nelson posted the invitation on his blog early Friday morning. Players can log into their Xbox 360s and install the beta from the home hub of the dashboard.

Xbox 360 users must sign non-disclosure agreements before installing the software

Details of the new version of the operating system are unclear, but we can expect even more parity with Windows 8, and possibly even similarity to the upcoming Xbox One operating system. Read more...

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Following in the footsteps of ESPN, which recently announced its intention to curtail its 3D programming at the end of the year, the BBC will do the same, though a special celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who will make it under the wire.

Kim Shillinglaw, the BBC’s head of 3D, told Radio Times that the UK media giant plans to take a three-year break from 3D programming

“I have never seen a very big appetite for 3D television in the UK," she told the publication. “Watching 3D is quite a hassly experience in the home. You have got to find your glasses before switching on the TV. I think when people watch TV they concentrate in a different way. When people go to the cinema they go and are used to doing one thing –- I think that’s one of the reasons that take up of 3D TV has been disappointing.” Read more...

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If you remember the first time you used a telescope or telephoto lens, then you probably also remember the way it made you feel. It is a bit like lassoing things in the distance and pulling them close. Taking pictures with your smartphone often has an opposite effect: Things that appear close to the naked eyed become small and distant in mobile photos and videos

Until the arrival of multi-megapixel smartphone cameras, this was an untenable situation for most photographers. Now, with 8 MP on products like the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S3, you can blow up (or crop) your pictures until achieving a simulacrum of the naked eye Read more...

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Honda isn't turning 65 years old until September, but the company is already starting its celebrations with this video that deftly details some of its greatest accomplishments.

The ad lightheartedly illustrates the highlights as toys manipulated by a man's hands

First the ad shows a nut, which morphs into an engine and then a motorcycle — the product that put Honda on the map. Next, the ad zooms through Honda's first car, a leaf blower, a boat and the NSX driven by legendary Formula One racer Ayrton Senna. Others mentioned in passing include a water-powered car and robots Read more...

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Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world.

Today, we're looking at three particularly interesting stories. It’s not just PRISM — according to the French newspaper Le Monde, France also reportedly runs a secret intelligence-gathering operation that collects and stores information on its citizens. European commissioners predict United States-based Internet services like Google and Amazon could suffer business losses as firms in the EU start looking for safer, more secure replacements. Finally, Twitter released a tool to translate tweets in order to help with the spread of international news Read more...

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Once Memorial Day weekend hits, everyone starts getting really pumped about summer's arrival. We can't wait for the sun, sand and surf

Then, reality gives us a cruel slap on the face

In these comics, Drew at Toothpaste For Dinner illustrates the harsh truths of the season — it's hot and sweaty (and, for the record, not everything is meant to be grilled).

Comic illustration by Toothpaste For Dinner. Published with permission; all rights reserved. Read more...

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Now that you've written your eulogies for Google Reader, it's a good time to remember that Google has an abundance of other resources that may not be as popular but still deserve a spotlight

We rounded up some lesser-known Google tools and applications that could help you cope with the loss of Reader and rekindle your love for Google.

From fun tools like Google Ngram Viewer to useful resources like Full Value of Mobile Calculator, you'll find an array of tools for developers to small business owners to the average consumer. Read more...

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