| 5 Ways to Backup Your Hard Drive Dec 28th 2012, 19:53  That sleek new laptop or PC you received this Christmas, with all those programs and apps, needs more protection from crashes than just occasionally clicking "save."
To ensure your programs and apps are salvageable in the event of a crash, you might want to consider taking an image of your hard drive or cloning it. Instead of having to reinstall your operating system and your applications if your computer crashes (which takes hours), just recover your hard drive from an external source. This way, you only lose what you have installed after you saved your hard drive. The difference between imaging and cloning is that cloning is usually for when you want to replace your hard drive with…
Continue reading... More About: data, online security, secure  |  | Israeli Lingerie Company Uses Facebook Poke for New Ad Dec 28th 2012, 19:10  It has only been a week since Facebook released its Poke app, a competitor to Snapchat, but at least one company has already tried to put the app to use for marketing purposes.
The ad agency Grey Group used Facebook Poke to film and distribute a short video advertisement for Delta, a lingerie company in Israel. The 10-second video shows a model getting dressed with Delta's lingerie and features a promotional message at the end for a sale on Delta's website. Daniel Barak, who developed the ad for Grey Group, told Mashable that the prompt for the video was to advertise a "one-time sale" on Delta's lingerie. That made it a good fit for Poke because messages can only be viewed once and ar…
Continue reading... More About: facebook poke, Marketing  | | 5 Fun Ways to Learn a New Language Dec 28th 2012, 18:41  For many of us, the start of the new year is the time we often dust off our language dictionaries and workbooks and resolve to learn a new language. We conjure up dreams of communicating seamlessly with locals during our next trip and impressing our friends with newfound skills. But most of the time, as we get caught up in work and life, our plans get shelved along with our books.
But the truth is, learning a language shouldn't be a chore. After all, reading, listening and chatting with others are all great, enjoyable activities and learning should be, too. And it also can be easy—if you approach it in a fresh way. So put down the books, and try one of these other ways of learning…
Continue reading... More About: foreign language, language learning  | | Family Christmas Gift Leaves Dad Speechless Dec 28th 2012, 18:19  Every holiday season, almost nothing feels better than giving someone you care about the one gift he or she truly wants. But sometimes, the right present can completely overwhelm that person with emotion.
While the memories of that moment may suffice, those lucky enough to catch it on video have evidence of that awesome present to look back on annually. This holiday season, we asked you to share your most memorable gift reaction videos, whether they happened this year or in years past. One video, shared by Phillip Hess of New York City, stood out as the clear winner. SEE ALSO: Dad's Ecstatic Reaction to Gift Goes Viral on YouTube Watch the video above to see how Hess' fathe…
Continue reading... More About: Christmas, Gifts, Holiday, holiday season  | | Congress Votes to Let Government Continue Spying on Your Emails Dec 28th 2012, 17:43  The Senate on Friday voted in favor of extending for five years the FISA Amendments Act, which allows the government to monitor American citizens who communicate with foreign citizens when terrorism is believed to be involved.
As part of the monitoring program, the government can get court orders -- which do not require probable cause, like typical search warrant -- to access citizens' phone calls as well as electronic messages such as emails, provided there is evidence those communications involve "foreign intelligence information." Individual FISA orders can cast a huge net, targeting large groups of people at a time, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital priva…
Continue reading... More About: Politics, privacy, US  | | It's Easy to Save Videos From Facebook Poke Permanently Dec 28th 2012, 17:31  Apps like Snapchat and Facebook Poke let users send short messages, photos or videos that automatically self-destruct after a few seconds. However, it's actually very easy for a recipient to save some of those messages permanently -- and without the sender knowing.
Both apps will alert the sender if the recipient takes a screengrab of whatever was sent, of course, but by connecting your phone to a PC or Mac, the messages can be secretly offloaded without the sender knowing -- a possibility first reported by BuzzFeed. For an iPhone, all you'll need is a third-party file manager like iExplorer. For Poke, only videos can be permanently stored in this manner, and only videos that you haven…
Continue reading... More About: apps, Facebook, facebook poke, poke, snapchat  | | Smartphones Will Replace Your Car Keys by 2015 Dec 28th 2012, 17:05  Smartphones are set to replace more than our wallets.
South Korean Hyundai Motor Company predicts by 2015 drivers will be able to unlock car doors and start the engine with a swipe of a smartphone over an embedded near-field communication tag. But, that's not all your smartphone can do. Connected car systems will be able to detect your phone automatically to stream your favorite music, phone contacts and radio station preferences seamlessly. Seat and mirror settings will also automatically change depending on who is at the steering wheel. The best part is your battery will wirelessly charge while it's sitting in the center console, according to Hyundai. The automaker recently dem…
Continue reading... More About: cars, near field communication, smartphone  | | Smartphones at New Year's Eve: More Texting, Less Calling Dec 28th 2012, 17:03  No matter how you plan to celebrate this New Year's Eve, if you have a smartphone, chances are it will be by your side.
Mobile advertising company Mojiva recently conducted a survey of smartphone users in the US and UK to find out how they planned on using their smartphone to celebrate the new year, as well as what their plans were for their digital companion over 2013. Most people in both countries plan on using their trusty smartphone to share photos and contact family and friends while counting down the clock. 57% of US respondents plan to use their smartphone to post on social networks New Year's Eve, and 30% plan on using their phone to find which local restaurants and bars the…
Continue reading... More About: smartphone  | | Full Moon Tonight: Facts About 2012′s Final Lunar Show Dec 28th 2012, 16:45  The final full moon of the year rises tonight to cap a year of amazing lunar sky shows. While the bright moon will easily outshine other celestial objects, there is more than meets the eye to Earth's nearest neighbor.
The December full moon is also called the "long-night's moon" since it is the closest full moon to the northern winter solstice (when the nights are longest). And indeed tonight's full moon will be visible for the longest amount of time. From New York for instance, moonrise on Thursday occurred at 4:17 p.m. EST and the moon sets at 7:12 this morning. So the full moon will indeed be in the sky for a long time: 14 hours and 55 minutes. Moon-Watching Myth Contrary to…
Continue reading... More About: astronomy, moon, space  | | Daring Kitten Escape Caught on Camera Dec 28th 2012, 16:42 
Pumpkin and Squash might sound like Thanksgiving menu items, but you'd choke on a fur ball if you tried eating this duo. The mischievous orange kittens plotted a daring double escape and their human pal caught the whole thing on video. SEE ALSO: Fearless Kitten Takes on Doberman It's not as epic as Shawshank Redemption, but this might be the closest thing we get to a cat playing the role of Morgan Freeman. [H/T Laughing Squid] BONUS: 12 YouTube Clips of Hungry, Hungry Kitties More About: cats, cute animals, viral videos, Watercooler  | | Facebook in 2013: More Growing Pains Ahead Dec 28th 2012, 16:29  We'll get to our Facebook predictions for 2013 in a minute. First, here's a pertinent prediction from 2011.
In January of that year, when Goldman Sachs had just become an investor, Facebook could do no wrong. A financial analyst called Albert Babayev made what he felt was a conservative and sensible prediction about the social network's value, presuming it stopped skyrocketing. By 2013, he wrote in a comprehensive spreadsheet, its market cap will be around $224 billion, give or take. Facebook's market cap this week, as we head into 2013, is $55 billion, give or take. How did middle-of-the-road analyst expectations underperform by anything like $175 billion in corporate value? What…
Continue reading... More About: Business, Facebook, features, Predictions 2013, Social Media  | | It Just Got Tougher to Use the Internet Anonymously in China Dec 28th 2012, 16:26  If you're an Internet user in China, life just got a little bit harder. The Chinese government on Friday announced new rules allowing it to delete posts deemed illegal and requiring Internet Service Providers to give users' information to law enforcement if they violate already established Internet rules.
China's government also made it more difficult for Internet users in the country to access the Internet anonymously, adding new enforcement options against those who violate previously passed laws requiring Internet users to identify themselves to service providers, according to Reuters. China has become notorious for monitoring the Internet activity of citizens and blocking sensitive…
Continue reading... More About: china, World  | | 5 Best Android Apps of 2012 Dec 28th 2012, 16:09
 This app literally turns the real world into a video game. You choose one of two sides, "Enlightened" or "Resistance," and form cooperative alliances with others playing the game. Price: FREE (Currently in closed beta) Click here to view this gallery.  It was a big year for Google's Android platform in terms of apps. Google Play hit 700,000 total apps last month, bringing it to a virtual tie with Apple's App Store.
Not only has Android caught up to iOS in app quantity, but at last count, the former's market share surpassed 70% globally. SEE ALSO: Google Picks 12 Top Android Apps of 2012 Since the vast majority of smartphone users are toting Androids, developers have extra incentive to keep churning out Android apps. Scroll through the gallery above to view Mashable's choices for the top five Android apps of 2012. Did we leave out one of your favorites? Tells us about it in the comments below. Image courtesy of Flickr, j…
Continue reading... More About: android, apps, features, Tech, Year End 2012  | | NASA Unveils E-books on Hubble, Webb Space Telescopes Dec 28th 2012, 15:48  NASA has just released two free e-books about the Hubble Space Telescope and its not-yet-launched successor, with interactive features that let readers watch a galaxy collision or manipulate a telescope model between pages, agency officials say.
The Hubble Space Telescope launched in 1990 and has a mission lifetime through at least 2013. The space-based observatory has supplied some of the most dazzling visible-light images of distant cosmic objects, which are featured in "Hubble Space Telescope: Discoveries." The James Webb Space Telescope, which will be almost three times the size of Hubble, has been designed to work best at infrared wavelengths in order to study the very distant uni…
Continue reading... More About: ebooks, Hubble, iBooks, NASA, space  | | Report: iPad Still Destroying Other Tablets in Web Usage Dec 28th 2012, 15:43  A whole crop of new tablets rose to challenge the iPad this fall, from Amazon's latest Kindle Fires to the much-hyped Microsoft Surface. However, if a recent study looking at tablet web usage is to be believed, they're not doing so well.
According to online ad network Chitika, for every 100 ad impressions generated by people surfing the web in iPads, only 4.88 come from Kindle Fires. And that's the strongest performer among all challengers -- most others, including Google's Nexuses, the BlackBerry PlayBook and the Barnes & Noble Nook family, serve only about one impression for every 100 served by the iPad. (Full table below.) A couple of grains of salt go with the data: The study looke…
Continue reading... More About: Advertising, ipad, tablet market, tablets  | | Sony to Stop Shipping PlayStation 2 in Japan Dec 28th 2012, 15:33  Sony plans to stop shipping its PlayStation 2 consoles to Japanese retailers, Famitsu reports.
The company has sold more than 150 million units since PS2's launch in March 2000. However, PlayStation 3 has now been out for 8 years and Sony probably decided it's time to retire its most successful console yet. Interestingly enough, even 13 years after the console hit the market, new titles are still being developed for PS2. Square Enix announced the English version of the Japan-only Final Fantasy 11: Seekers of Adoulin expansion will be released for PS2 in 2013. There's no word on when Sony plans to pull PlayStation 2 from other markets, but we're guessing it won't be long, especiall…
Continue reading... More About: playstation 2, sony  | | NYC Releases App to Tell You When the Next Subway is Coming Dec 28th 2012, 15:33  New York City subway riders finally have an official high-tech option to figure out when their train is coming.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the government body that oversees buses and subways for the city, released a free app Friday that provides real-time estimates of train arrivals so riders can better plan out when to show up at the station. The app is called Subway Time and is currently only available on the iPhone, though there are plans to release it on other platforms in the future. Other third-party apps like NextStop and NYC Mate also provide subway arrival time estimates for New York City, but the new Subway Time app has the potential to be more accurate…
Continue reading... More About: apps  | | Fitocracy Turns Workouts Into a Motivational Game Dec 28th 2012, 15:20  With the holiday season coming to an end, chances are you're starting to think about those New Year's resolutions. And like most people, yours probably include a desire to be healthier.
Technology is helping in that department, with dozens of fitness apps and gadgets on the market aimed at helping us track our progress and reach our goals. Some are strictly to monitor your food and caloric intake, others will track your movement and exercise while others let you compete against friends with similar goals. Fitocracy is one of those apps that's making a difference in people's lives as they strive to be healthier. It was voted the most innovative product in the Health and Fitness categor…
Continue reading... More About: apps, features, fitocracy, health & fitness, Innovation Index, mashable  | | A Hackathon for Happiness Dec 28th 2012, 15:15  What if there were a concrete way to measure happiness and well-being, then use those metrics to change the world?
The H(app)athon Project, an initiative to create digital tools to drive global contentment, aims to find specific ways to use your happiness data, and it wants programmers to help. "Hacking happiness" is the project's primary goal -- using technology to provide the most accurate picture of worldwide well-being possible. Happiness indicators such as life satisfaction, health, community and civic engagement. SEE ALSO: The Connection Between Education, Money and Happiness "Happiness indicators or indexes like the Gross National Happiness Index from Bhutan, reflect a ful…
Continue reading... More About: H(app)athon, Social Good  | | Hot Drupal Events That Won't Let You Freeze in Winter 2013 Dec 28th 2012, 11:00 The blog post highlights the best and the most interesting Drupal events planned for winter 2013. They annually gather Drupal enthusiasts sharing their inventions and contributing into the software development. | | ZTE's Upcoming 5-Inch Smartphone Will Be World's Thinnest Dec 28th 2012, 08:10  China's ZTE plans to break some records at CES 2013, among them being the one for the thinnest 5-inch smartphone.
The ZTE Grand S sports a 5-inch, 1920x1080 pixel screen and a 13-megapixel camera while being just 6.9mm thin. Other specifications haven't been officially revealed, but Unwired View reports the device is likely to have a 1.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 2,500 mAh battery and a ceramic case. The price for the device is rumored to be 2,799 yuan ($449); we'll probably find out if this is true at CES 2013, which is held Jan. 8-11 in Las Vegas. Image credit: MyDrivers More About: zte, ZTE Grand S  | | See MTV's Video Tribute to Amazing Spider-Man Dec 28th 2012, 07:48  Get More:
MTV Shows
MTV Geek has put together this video tribute to Amazing Spider-Man #700, featuring several people involved in the comic (including writer Dan Slott), Stan Lee (of course), Norman Reedus and several of the cast members of Jersey Shore. Well… they are on an MTV show, so that makes sense. Fair warning: Do not watch this if you have not already read Amazing Spider-Man #700. There are going to be spoilers in the comments, too. Basically, if you A) haven't read it or B) don't already know what happens, click away from this story right now lest ye be spoiled. Screenshot via MTV Geek More About: Amazing Spider-Man, mtv  | | Curiosity Rover Spends Holidays at 'Grandma's House' Dec 28th 2012, 05:11  NASA's Curiosity rover worked through the holiday season on Mars by taking a close look at an intriguing bit of Martian terrain, a region scientists have lovingly nicknamed "Grandma's House."
The Curiosity rover is currently parked inside Yellowknife Bay, a shallow depression of odd terrain nestled inside the rover's vast Gale crater landing site. "Grandma's House" is an informal name for Curiosity's holiday spot inside the bay, rover team member Colette Lohr said in a NASA video. "This is a really exciting time for the team because we've started to do what we call discovery-driven planning," said Lohr, Curiosity tactical uplink lead at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.…
Continue reading... More About: Curiosity, Mars, NASA, space  | |
