Author: Josh Wolford

Google has just given you the ability to make your emails much cuter or much more annoying, depending on who you ask.

Gmail has just added over 1,000 new emoticons for your smiling, frowning, and winking pleasure. Before the big influx, Gmail only offered about 150 emoticons. Now, that total is closer to 1,300.

“Ever want to make an email just a little more fun? Maybe you’re creating an invitation for a party you’re throwing this weekend, or trying to get your team at work excited for an offsite. Make sure to explore all of Gmail’s emoticons now available in the New Compose and tell us which is your favorite,” says Google.

Here’s what the emoticon icon looks like in Gmail’s new compose box, which has been rolling out to users over the past few months.

[h/t The Next Web]

As of right now, you have just under 10 days to place your bid on one of the most fascinating collections of video games, consoles, and accessories that has ever been offered on the internet.

One eBay user has put up their entire life’s work, over 30 years of collecting, for sale. And the bidding starts at $550,000.

Yes, that’s over a half a million for some video games and some consoles. But that description doesn’t quite do it justice. Included in the set – over 6850 games, over 330 consoles, over 220 controllers, and 185 accessories.

“After a life spent collecting video games I decide to sell off my entire collection. I just have too much things and the space to store them is finished long ago… also I realized that if I want to play at least half of my games, I should live two or three entire human life. Just to give an idea of the huge amount of items present in my collection, I spent the last two months of my life taking pictures and making lists, working about eight hours a day just in order to make an inventory and to figure out what I have. Even now after all the time spent checking things I’m not sure to have included all in the lists,” says the seller.

According to out seller, they wish to sell the entire collection in one piece. They could possibly be persuaded to split it up by type (PC, dreamcast, SNES, etc.), but that’s not the goal.

Here’s what he has to say about the games collection:

I focused on the series, so I have all the games about Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, Castlevania, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Sakura Wars, Super Robot Taisen just to make some example. Also I focused on some type of games, like the Shooters or the RPG: I have about all the shooters for the Megadrive, Saturn, Dreamcast, PC Engine, Playstation 1 & 2 and so on, and also I have about all the RPG, and I have to specify that the shooters are japanese but the RPG are the english version (which are for sure most collectable and valuable than the japanese). Of course there are about all the classic rare games, from Dracula X Rondò of blood (three copies, one sealed), Radiant Silvergun (two copies, One sealed), Magical Chase (two copies, one sealed) and then two copies of Ginga Fukai Densetsu Sapphire, and many many other… Hundreds of games, especially for the later consoles, are still brand new and sealed, and in many case, especially for the rare or good one, I have two copies, one to play and one sealed. I included in this auction either a nice collection of pcb board, with classics such as Burger Time, Wonder Boy, Rygar, Splatterhouse, Ghosts’n Goblins and Ghouls’n Ghosts, and much more, and also rarities like Osman/cannon dancer.

Assuming this isn’t some sort of elaborate (and impressive, nevertheless) scam, holy hell. Maybe some super-rich dad out there will decide to give his kid the best birthday present in the history of birthdays.

Here are some amazing images from the collection:

[h/t Kotaku]

Facebook has just released an update to their Pages Manager for Android app that brings new features to make the app a lot more useful to page owners.

Pages Manager for Android arrived in the U.S. early last month after being available on iOS for quite some time. When it launch, it wasn’t as feature-rich as the iOS version – it really only allowed page owners to post updates and view insights.

But today, v.1.1 brings some much-needed functionality to the app.

With this update, page owners can now promote posts inside the app, as well as schedule posts for a later time and date. Android users have also received the ability to create events from their Pages with the app.

Here’s the full list of additions shipping with v1.1:

What’s in this version:
• Promote your Page posts to get more people to see your them in news feed
• Schedule your post to be published on a future date
• Create events from your Page

You can snag the update today on Google Play. With v1.1, Facebook Pages Manager for Android gets closer to being as robust as Pages Manager for iOS. Still to come, hopefully, are features like being able to post offers from the app, something the iOS version of Pages Manager got back in October 2012.

The White House will be forced to respond to its first online petition since upping the signature threshold to 100,000. Created on January 24th, the petition has crossed the 100,000 signature mark in just two weeks.

So, what does it concern? Marijuana? Secession? Drones? Gay Rights?

Nope, a Russian-born political activist. The petition, “We ask American Congress to make The Act of Alexander Dolmatov to punish all Dutch officials responsible for his death,” asks this of the White House:

On the 17th of january, russian political activist Alexander Dolmatov has died in the Dutch prison. He came to Netherlands to get the freedom but found his death. We ask American Congress to make The Act of Alexander Dolmatov which will include «Dolmatov list» to punish all Dutch officials responsible for the death of Dolmatov.

The petition references the death of a 36-year-old Russian-born rocket engineer in a Dutch deportation center. The somewhat clouded circumstances of his death (a reported suicide) have led to plenty of theories.

The White House recently increased the signature threshold required to elicit an official response from 25,000 to 100,000. As we reported, the 25,000 signature threshold was simply too easy to meet and was resulting in dozens upon dozens of unanswered petitions. It was also allowing many less-than-serious (but admittedly fun) petitions to qualify for responses.

“When we first raised the threshold — from 5,000 to 25,000 — we called it ‘a good problem to have.’ Turns out that ‘good problem’ is only getting better, so we’re making another adjustment to ensure we’re able to continue to give the most popular ideas the time they deserve,” said the White House.

In all, the White House’s We The People online petition initiative has seen over 9 million signatures on over 140,000 petitions since its creation.

Following an app and mobile update that streamlined search, Twitter has just made another tweak to its search function – on both mobile and web.

Starting now, you can view old tweets in search results. Really old, in fact – months and months old.

Before today, searches on Twitter would only display tweets that were about a week old or more recent.

“As we roll this out over the coming days, the Tweets that you’ll see in search results represent a fairly small percentage of total Tweets ever sent. We look at a variety of types of engagement, like favorites, retweets and clicks, to determine which Tweets to show. We’ll be steadily increasing this percentage over time, and ultimately, aim to surface the best content for your query. For now, enjoy your trip down memory lane!” says Twitter.

So you’re not going to get everything, but you’re going to get more. Any old tweets that you see must be engaging enough (either via retweets, favorites, or another form of popularity) to make the cut.

You can try it out for yourself by searching a hashtag like #SpotTheShuttle. That search finds dozens upon dozens of tweets going all the way back to September 2012.

Jim Carrey went and pissed off the gun-loving right over the weekend with a couple of tweets referencing assault rifles, the Newton massacre, and soulless gun owners.

Many anti-gun control activists have voiced their displeasure with the actor – and some seem to be surprised by the recent tweets.

The fact is, Jim Carrey has used his Twitter account (which boasts nearly 10 million followers) to voice his opinions on guns in America for quite some time.

Here’s what he said on Saturday:

Any1 who would run out to buy an assault rifle after the Newtown massacre has very little left in their body or soul worth protecting. ;^\

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) February 2, 2013

And then here’s his followup on Tuesday:

Yes, i agree with the ppl who argue that cars can be as deadly as guns but a car is a lot harder to get through the door of a classroom. ;^]

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) February 5, 2013

As you may expect, these comments angered some on the right. Fox Nation said that “‘Dumb and Dumber’ doesn’t begin to cover this one” and Red Alert Politics called it a “careless remark…rooted in the shallow, parroted talking points so commonly espoused by liberal elites.”

Turns out, Jim Carrey has a habit of tweeting about gun culture in America – so these tweets shouldn’t really surprise anyone.

Back in December:

The guns in our homes kill more innocent ppl than criminals, by far.In conn. massacre the guns belonged to his mom,who is also dead now. ;^\

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) December 15, 2012

20 mass shootings a yr in America. Are you ok with that? I’m not. ;^\

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) December 17, 2012

The Bushmaster rifle is manufactured by Cerberus Capital Management’s Freedom Group. They are now selling this cancer to some other scum.

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) December 18, 2012

There will always be ppl with mental issues. It’s time to minimize the damage they can do by banning assault weapons. #dotherightthing

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) December 18, 2012

And shortly after the shooting at the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado:

My love to the victims in Colorado. The kid ws sick bt u who can still support automatic weapon sales r the real maniacs in this country.

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 21, 2012

We may not agree on gun control but we can all agree to wish those folks some comfort and healing. That’s all that matters right now.

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 22, 2012

Is 3000 rounds of amo sold online and access to semi auto weapons FREEDOM or HATE? Time 2 let go of r addiction and entitlement 2 violence.

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 23, 2012

The violence within us is being fully exploited by the gun sellers in America.Let’s end r addiction and entitlement to violence. #greedkills

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 23, 2012

If u gave some1 a box full of love, there cld b a billion things inside bt i’m pretty sure an AR-15 assault rifle wouldn’t be 1 of them. ;^\

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 26, 2012

“Bt Jesus, surely u dn’t expect us 2 give up r semi automatic weapons!” “No. I expect u 2 give up all your weapons n don’t call me shirley!”

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 28, 2012

No semi auto guns!Every 2 wks now, another mass shooting.AMERICA allowing this behavior is beneath us!Revise the second ammendment. ;^\

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) August 24, 2012

GUNS GOTTA GO! ;^\

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) August 24, 2012

The FBI does not send unsolicited email.

That’s the simple message behind a press release just issued by the government agency. They were forced to put out this release because many residents in the state of Mississippi have received a scam email which claims to be from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The FBI says that they don’t send out these types of emails and that clicking on any embedded link could result malware, phishing, or any number of headaches.

Here’s what the email in question looks like:

From: FBI ALERT

Date: February 2, 2013, 5:47:06 p.m. CST

To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Reply-To: FBI ALERT

We have an information for you regarding the person you are transacting with online. You need to see this yourself. Contact us immediately for this is very important to you. Keep it to yourself and contact us, get back to us immediately. There is something you need to know about this person or you might end up loosing everything you ever worked for. Stop e-mailing until you hear from us. Contact FBI secret service with the e-mail below [email protected] FBI secret service.

Other than the fact that it sounds like total horsecrap, you should be tipped off by the ibgen.com.br address. And what the hell is the FBI secret service?

Anyway, the advice here is the same as with any scam email. Don’t reply with any personal information and don’t click anything. That’s the surest way to maintain your safety.

And in the future, know that the FBI will never send you unsolicited emails. It’s that simple.

[FBI via Forbes]

I know you hate you job, but at least you’re probably doing it better than Mirza Teletović did his on Wednesday night.

The Bosnian Brooklyn Nets player had a pretty rough 40-or-so seconds in last night’s game against the Detroit Pistons. On three consecutive trips down the floor, Teletović airballed a shot. Check it out:

Everyone has bad days – even Kobe Bryant. We worked out the calculation and Teletović still made about $500 in that 40-second span of airballs. So, you know, we really are the peanut gallery.

Fresh off the instant success of their first big-budget series House of Cards, Netflix may already be lining up another series to expand upon their position as a true content provider and alternative to traditional cable.

According to Deadline, Netflix is eyeing a new project called Narcos, a series centered around Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Like House of Cards, Narcos’ first season would be 13 episodes. Apparently, Netflix is shooting for a 2014 release.

The series would be created and helmed by Brazilian director Jose Padilha.

Padilha, who is best known for his 2007 film Elite Squad and the 2010 film Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, will make his break into big-budget American cinema with 2014′s Robocop remake.

Netflix would be partnering with Gaumont International Television, the American wing of the French studio Gaumont. Launched in 2001, Gaumont International Television has already worked with Netflix on Hemlock Grove, a new original series from horror master Eli Roth which is slated to drop on April 19th.

Is Florida Senator Marco Rubio the savior of the Republican party? That’s debatable. But according to Rubio, he is not the savior of anything.

That title belongs to Jesus – at least that’s what a recent tweet suggests.

“There is only one savior, and it is not me. #Jesus,” tweeted Rubio early Thursday morning.

There is only one savior, and it is not me. #Jesus

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 7, 2013

Rubio is undoubtedly responding to a new TIME magazine cover story that labels the junior Senator “The Republican Savior.”

The tweet is a bit vague, however. Either Rubio is simply speaking out against the use of the word “savior” in a non-biblical fashion, or he’s implying that Jesus is the savior of the Republican party.

Damn those hashtags. They can be a bit opaque in their meaning.

TIME has responded to Rubio:

@marcorubio Point taken, but we just said you’re the ‘Republican savior.’

— TIME.com (@TIME) February 7, 2013

The internet mourns the passing of Mymains Stewart Gilligan (Stewie) the cat, longcat of all longcats. The Guinness World Record holder for longest cat alive has just died at the age of 8.

The cat, who was a staggering 48.5 inches when fully stretched, passed on Tuesday after a battle with cancer.

“Stewie was always very social and loved meeting new people. He has touched many lives, and for that I am grateful,” said Stewie’s human, Robin Hendrickson.

RIP Stewie.

[Guinness World Records via The Daily What]

Netflix has undeniably shook up the game with its release structure for the original series House of Cards – mainly that there was no release structure. Netflix simply dumped the entire first season (all 13 episodes) into our hungry mouths on February 1st. It was an invitation to binge, in fact it was a mandate to marathon.

No more waiting till next week. No more structure. Just you, on your couch, with a bottle of wine and a couple of boxes of take-out Chinese. And 3, maybe 4, maybe even 5 of 6 hours of lip-smacking political intrigue. I’ll admit, I ate it up. It took me approximately 72 hours to blow through season one of House of Cards.

But the problem for me (and millions of other marathoners out there) has to do with spoilers. When you watch a week-to-week cable series, everyone is on the same page. As long as everyone is caught up on the latest episode, you don’t have to worry about ruining the ending to your pals. People who write about it don’t have to worry about ruining everything for their readers. The rules are set.

But with House of Cards, Netflix has made it hard on us. Since I know everything that happens in season one, any conversation I have about the show is like navigating a minefield of Kevin Spacey references and Kate Mara compliments. Even if I try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, my subconscious will betray me. I know that I’ll end up leaking something, and that makes me that guy.

Netflix doesn’t want me to be that guy. Surely in response to all of the talk about House of Cards and spoilers, Netflix has released a short little ad that tackles that very issue.

Netflix wants you to watch responsibly:

But they’ve made it so damn hard.

Netflix made a show that was designed for marathoning and spoiling. Sure, I’d never seen The Wire until it was already over, and I watched the whole series in a matter of weeks. And though I had a blast flying through episode after episode of that great show, I knew that it wasn’t actually designed for that kind of viewing. House of Cards most definitely is. When Netflix tells you that the “next episode will begin in 20 seconds,” you know it’s not a suggestion. It’s a command.

And then you’re left with the nagging feeling that you’re going to spoil it for all of your friends. Ah, screw ‘em. I regret nothing.

Your House of Cards-watching mania has finally received the hip-hop tribute it deserves.

“I can’t stop watching house of cards – six episodes in like twenty-four ahrrrrrrrs.” That’s all.

Some minor spoilers ahead – but nothing that damaging.

[Adam WarRock via NYT]

Although it may be tempting, you should avoid clicking any links on Facebook claiming to house a leaked sex tape featuring Grammy award-winning artist Taylor Swift. That’s because it’s a hoax that will lead you down the annoying road of a survey scam.

Facebook users are seeing a viral scam message that suggests a page called “TMZ Leaks” has stumbled upon a new Taylor Swift sex tape.

“The famous singer Taylor Swift had her iPhone hacked Monday and a sex tape between her and former boyfriend Harry Styles has been leaked on the internet,” one of the scams reads. “Taylor’s publicists are trying to take down all of the websites hosting it, but we found a working one! Watch the video before it’s taken down! CLICK HERE,” says the message.

If you click the links, you’ll be directed to a series of online surveys – some of which phish for personal information. No sex tape exists at the end of the rabbit hole – instead you may be prompted to download spammy toolbars and other software.

Facebook sex tape hoaxes aren’t uncommon, and you should be aware of the various survey scams that plague the network. You may think that there’s no harm in simply clicking, just to see if this is finally the legit sex tape leak you’ve been waiting for – but don’t do it. That’s how viral hoaxes spread across the network.

Yesterday, we told you about another hoax making the rounds on Facebook. It suggests that Facebook will close for a three day maintenance period – from February 29th to the 31st. If you think really hard (or check a calendar), you should quickly see why that’s untrue.

[Bitdefender via Fox News]

Last month, Foursquare announced a partnership with Voice Media Group, publishers of regional magazines like Miami New Times, L.A. Weekly, and Village Voice. The partnership brings Voice Media Groups’s products like “Voice Places” and “Best of” to Foursquare’s location services.

Today, that partnership goes live as VMG content should now be integrated into Foursquare.

“A couple weeks ago, we announced our partnering with Voice Media Group to bring you a ton of great tips, lists, and tens of thousands of events related to arts, culture, and food in cities across the U.S. Today, you can see those events when you open up the app. To find great goings-on near you, just open up Explore and tap through to your favorite places. You’ll see things like gallery openings and author appearances, along with the movies, concerts, and sporting events we already show you,” says Foursquare in a blog post.

The new data from “Voices Places” and “Best Of” will be seen in over 50 different venue categories spread across 11 different markets. Those markets include New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Miami, Minneapolis, Palm Beach, and Orange County.

So, when you’re browsing Foursquare and come across a venue in these major cities, you may just see some additional info like reviews, upcoming events, and other cool tips.

Is $200 enough money to get you to cease all Facebook activity for a period of just under 5 months?

That’s the deal one dad made with his 14-year-old daughter. Paul Baier, a VP at a Boston-based energy firm has inked a contract with his daughter Rachel that will keep her off the leading social network from now until June 26th. All he has to do is pay her $50 on April 14th and the rest of the money upon completion of the contract.

To make sure that Rachel doesn’t relapse, the contract stipulates that Mr. Baier will have “access to [her] Facebook to change the password and to deactivate the account.

“It was her idea,” Mr. Baier told the Daily Dot. “She wants to earn money and also finds Facebook a distraction and a waste of time sometimes. She plans to go back on after the 6 months is over”

Apparently, she plans to use the money for “stuff.”

Distraction or not, it sounds like Rachel has somehow convinced her dad to pay her to do something she wanted to do anyway. Good on you, Rachel.

Yesterday we told you about a study from Pew that found that one in four people plan on cutting back on their Facebook usage over the next year. Are you one of them? If you still love Facebook and see no real reason to quit, how much cash would it take?

[PracticalSustainability via The Daily Dot]