How Did an Obscure Emoji Take Over the Internet? Shrug. The entire internet is feeling pretty ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ today. In case you've been under a virtual rock lately, the "smugshrug" symbol (also known as the "shruggie") has nonchalantly taken over. Although the unconcerned expression is nothing new, it's hard to scroll through Twitter or Facebook today without seeing someone expressing or relating with

It's time to update your passwords to various sites affected by the Heartbleed bug. Credit: Mashable composite. iStockphoto, SoberP An encryption flaw called the Heartbleed bug is already being dubbed one of the biggest security threats the Internet has ever seen. The bug has affected many popular websites and services -- ones you might use every day, like Gmail and Facebook -- and could have quie

The revamped tweet stream is also a departure from its signature look. There is a greater focus on photos and content cards. It moves away from a strictly vertical timeline too. Click the image below to enlarge. It's common for Twitter to quietly test new features and design updates before tweaking or rolling it out to a larger user base. Experiments typically go out to a small, random pool of use

You had better enjoy anime legend Hayao Miyazaki's next film, The Wind Rises, because it'll be his last. The news comes courtesy of Koji Hoshino, one of the heads of Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli; this is what he said at the Venice Film Festival, where Miyazaki's eleventh and final film screened: "Miyazaki has decided that Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises) will be his last film, and he will now retire." Mo

Google Maps to Unveil Brand New Interface, Report Says UPDATE: When reached via email on Wednesday, Google declined to comment. Google is set to debut a new interface for its Maps app, according to a report. Google Operating System, a blog that provides unofficial news about the search giant, said the update will get rid of Maps' current sidebar, and will display location information in pop-ups th

Pebble, the smartphone-friendly watch that raised over $10 million on Kickstarter -- $500,000 in the first day alone -- will be at CES 2013. The Pebble is the most successful Kickstarter project of all-time, with nearly 69,000 backers -- myself included. Users were drawn to the promise of the product, a wrist watch that syncs with your iPhone or Android smartphone. The idea is that you can receive

It's time once again for the International CES. Taking place in Las Vegas from Jan. 7 - 11, thousands of companies -- big and small -- will be showing off their latest products as well as prototypes of the future. CES is a big event. In person, trying to navigate the Las Vegas Convention Center -- not to mention the many off-site parties and events -- is an exercise unto itself. For those followin

How Microsoft Re-Invented Office for Touch, Social and the Cloud In tech, apps come and go. Anyone working in publishing in the 1990s and early 2000s saw Aldus PageMaker give way to QuarkXPress, which eventually ceded to Adobe InDesign. No matter how good any app may be at a given time, technology doesn't stop advancing, which in turn changes people's needs. That opens up opportunities for more ni

L.A. Restaurant Gives Discount for Staying Off Your Phone What would it take to keep you off your phone for the duration of a meal? Would a discount help? A Los Angeles restaurant is hoping a 5% from your meal will keep you off your phone while you eat. Patrons interested in the discount must check their tech at the door before being seated at Eva Restaurant on Beverly Boulevard, reports the KPCC.

There's a lot of shouting on the Internet. Sometimes it's a heated political debate. Sometimes it's a nerdy discourse on the lore of Babylon 5. And sometimes it's Nana sending you an email in all caps "BECAUSE I CAN SEE THE LETTERS BETTER THIS WAY." Bless her heart. In the plain text world of SMS and Twitter, capital letters have become a de facto volume dial. But it wasn't always this way. The fo

Do You Suffer From Social Media FOMO? [INFOGRAPHIC] Do you know FOMO? That's not some fancy latte -- it's Fear Of Missing Out, and something that's become a recognized thing by many social media users these days. You're probably familiar with the concept, if not the name. Here's an example: It's been a long workweek and you really just want to spend Friday night at home watching a movie. But then

Unlike traditional Instagram photos, which are comprised of original works of photographic art, the "#lol" tag stream is full of already-popular viral hits and memes. Users pull from traditional comedy sources -- Tumblr, Reddit and 9gag, among others -- to curate their own favorite jokes. Here's a roundup of 15 funny photos from the comedy stream on Instagram. What's your favorite photo? Let us kn

A new trailer for the upcoming Dark Knight Rises movie, the third installment in Christopher Nolan's Batman series, is now available for your viewing pleasure. Fans were able to "unlock" the trailer early by participating in an elaborate viral campaign, but now Warner Bros has made it available to everyone, and you can see it below. The new trailer (see the previous one here) puts emphasis on the

The company, which disclosed the figure in its Twitter feed Monday morning, didn't say how the release compares with previous title launches. However, according to reports, Rovio's last major Angry Birds release, Angry Birds Rio, hit 10 million downloads in 10 days, more than three times as long. The latest game was released for various formats, including for the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Andro

Exhilarating Film Takes You Through 11 Countries in 1 Minute [VIRAL VIDEO] Take a look at what director Rick Meriki did last summer: a spectacular one-minute video he made with two of his pals as they traveled to 11 countries over 44 days, walking us through a dazzling variety of cultures, locations and images. "Move" shows actor Andrew Lees strolling toward us in perfect sync, surrounded by a min

The People's Republic of Twitterstan had quite a year indeed, what with record-breaking tweet surges, a growing active userbase and some serious celebrity brouhaha. But despite those peaks and valleys, the things people talk about on Twitter over the long haul remain fairly consistent (read: Justin Bieber). As we have seen in our previous coverage of top Twitter trends, celebrities, sports and hol