You Can Trade In Your Old iPhone For A 5S (There's Just One Catch)

Looking to buy a brand-spanking-new iPhone 5S on the cheap? Your best bet might be to go somewhere you haven't been in a long, long time: a RadioShack.

The struggling electronics chain has a new promotion in which you can trade an eligible iPhone 4S for the fancy 5S. Crazy, right? It's not exactly straightforward, but here's how it works.

Normally, an iPhone 5S with a new or renewed contract costs $199. Starting Friday, RadioShack is knocking $100 off the price of a 5S with contract. Then, if you own an old 4S in working condition, you can get a $100 credit if you trade it in at RadioShack, which brings the price of that iPhone 5S from $99 to $0. Compare: If you were to buy an iPhone 5S without a contract, it would cost $549.

Of course, there's a catch. And of course, it involves your cell phone contract.

To take advantage of the deal, you must be eligible to start a contract with AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. That means you must either start a new two-year contract for the first time with one of those companies or you must be eligible to renew your current contract for two years with one of those providers.

You can take advantage of this promotion in person or online, though it's not clear how long it will last. RadioShack seems to be desperate to get people into stores, especially since the company announced last month that it would close up to 1,100 of them.

Rear-view cameras to be included in all new US cars

In what has been described as a long overdue move, the U.S. Transportation Department has issued a rule that will require rearview technology in all new cars and many light trucks.
The decision has been made in an effort to reduce deaths and serious injuries caused by backup accidents.
The final rule will require all new vehicles under 10,000lbs (22,000kg) and built beginning May 1, 2018, to meet the new rear-visibility standards.

The rule, issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), includes buses and trucks, but  motorcycles and trailers are exempt.
The rearview cameras can be mounted on many different parts of the vehicle somewhere on the rear of the car.

They must give drivers a field of vision measuring at least 10 by 20 feet (3 to 7 metres) directly behind the vehicle.
The system must also meet other requirements including dashboard image size, lighting conditions and display time.
Backup accidents involving light vehicles cause an average of 210 deaths and 15,000 injuries a year, and victims often are children and the elderly, the U.S. government said.
Children under five years old account for 31 per cent of the deaths each year, while adults 70 years of age and older represent about 26 per cent.
NHTSA said the new rule, required in the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act, will save between 13 to 15 lives per year and prevent as many as 1,125 injuries annually.
The measure, signed into law in 2008, was named for a two-year-old Long Island boy whose pediatrician father backed over him in their driveway in 2002.
Although Congress passed the measure with strong bipartisan backing, delays in researching and writing the rules pushed the federal mandate past a number of deadlines.
Critics charged that the government was reluctant to put additional financial burdens on the auto industry already crippled by an economic downturn, even though some manufacturers had started to install rearview technologies like sensor systems.
In the U.S, 44 per cent of 2012 models came with rear cameras standard, and 27 per cent had them as options, according to the automotive research firm Edmunds.
'This day has been a long time coming, and we urge automakers to move quickly to beat the 2018 deadline,' said Ellen Bloom, senior director of federal policy at Consumers Union.
The government estimates that a rearview system will cost between $132 (£79) and $142 (£85) per vehicle.
For vehicles that already have a dashboard display screen, upgrading it to comply with the rule will cost less, about $43 (£26) each.

The technology will be phased in by manufacturers starting in May 2016, before it becomes mandatory two years later.
'Today's decision will save lives and save money for consumers,' said Jackie Gillan, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.
'Every make and model will be required to meet this new safety standard and every family will benefit.'
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, started looking into the problem in the 1990s after noticing toddlers showing up in hospital databases of injured child pedestrians— many of them hurt or killed by vehicles backing out of home driveways.
In 1993, the NHTSA sponsored several studies that noted the disproportionate effect of backup accidents on child victims.
One report explored sensors and cameras as possible solutions, noting the accidents 'involve slow closing speeds and, thus, may be preventable.'

Advantages of online universities

You have a job, a life, and responsibilities - but you also have the desire to earn the degree that will advance your career through training and educational credentials. Whether you’re looking to earn your first degree, advance in a current career or change careers completely, online education puts you in control of your future. Online students can simultaneously earn a high-level of online degree and maintain a challenging, full-time job. For thousands of busy student professionals, online education is an empowering and accessible road to career advancement.

If you are beginning or returning to school, you need an education which gives you the freedom to pursue your goals and live your life. Online universities allows you the flexibility and convenience that you need to earn online degree. Online degree programs work within the confines of your busy schedule by offering access to faculty and resources in a way that ground schools cannot.

With unlimited accessibility and classes around the clock, online collage caters to those students who have demanding careers or hectic schedules; students who can’t or don’t have the time for pre-determined class schedules at a ground school. Online education provides busy students with a flexible, accessible, and personalized way to learn, on their own time and at their own pace.

Online education is the answer for those students with the desire and drive but not the time. Let University Bound work with you, by providing clear-cut facts and the most straightforward information available, to help you choose the right online degree program and online school that will prepare you for successful professional career you've always wanted.

Spectacular View Of Mars Mountain Revealed In New NASA Curiosity Rover

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has taken some dazzling new photos of the Red Planet landscape, showing in sharp detail where it's been and the long road that lies ahead.

One of the new images, which the 1-ton Curiosity rover snapped on Feb. 19, depicts rows of rocks in the foreground and the towering Mount Sharp looming in the distance. The base of the 3.4-mile-high (5.5 kilometers) mountain is Curiosity's ultimate science destination, and mission scientists hope to reach it by the middle of this year.

"Images taken from orbit and used in planning the rover's route toward lower slopes of Mount Sharp had piqued researchers' interest in the striations on the ground that are formed by these rows of rocks," NASA officials wrote in a description of the image, which was released Wednesday (Feb. 26). "This particular outcrop is called 'Junda.' Similar striations are apparent on other patches of ground along the planned route." 

When Curiosity reaches Mount Sharp, it will climb up through the mountain's foothills, reading the record of the Red Planet's changing environmental conditions that is preserved in the rocks there. Mission scientists hope to gain a better understanding of how and why Mars shifted from a relatively warm and wet world billions of years ago to the cold, dry world it is today.

The rover, which touched down on Mars in August 2012, will do some science work on the long trek to Mount Sharp. It will study, and perhaps drill into, rocks at an outcrop dubbed Kimberley, which lies along the route and also features some Junda-like striations, researchers said.

Sun Releases Biggest Solar Flare of 2014

The sun's period of peak activity may be beginning to fade, but our star doesn't plan on moving out of its 'solar maximum' quietly. 

At 00.49 GMT this morning, a huge sunspot released a massive X4.9-class flare - the biggest of 2014.

Because of its location on the sun's southeastern limb, the flare is not expected to impact satellites or radio communication, scientists claim.

'If such a fast-moving cloud did strike Earth, the resulting geomagnetic storms could be severe. However, because its trajectory is so far off the sun-Earth line, the CME will deliver a glancing blow, at best.'

The flare follows a newly-released image of the strongest solar flare to be pictured by Nasa's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (Iris) since it launched in the summer of 2013. 

On January 28, an M-class flare -- which is the second strongest class flare after X-class – erupted from the sun, sending light and x-rays deep into space.

Iris peers into a layer of the sun's lower atmosphere just above the surface, called the chromosphere, with unprecedented resolution.

However, the probe can't look at the entire sun at the same time, so the team have to anticipate where they will see the most solar activity. 

Earlier in January, the sun unleashed a massive solar flare seven times the size of Earth from one of the largest sunspots seen on the star’s surface.

The stunning X1.2-class flare, the first major one of the year, peaked at 6:32pm GMT on January 7th and followed on the heels of a mid-level flare earlier in the day.

Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Their energy travels at the speed of light to reach Earth in just eight minutes.

At Earth, a part of the atmosphere called the ionosphere absorbs it.

Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground.

However, when intense enough, flares can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. 

This disrupts the radio signals for as long as the flare is on-going, anywhere from minutes to hours.

The latest flare already delayed the launch of a private cargo ship to the International Space Station which was due to lift off today.

The sun is currently in an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. The current cycle, known as Solar Cycle 24, began in 2008.

In November, the sun fired off a similarly huge solar flare causing a wide-area blackout of high frequency signal.

Man Stole Sound System, Then Came Back For Remote

A New Jersey man accused of stealing a sound system was arrested because cops say he returned to the crime scene 30 minutes later to grab the remote.

Police in Haddon Township, N.J. arrested Carlos Ruiz, 42, on Thursday and charged him with burglary, theft and criminal mischief, stemming from the Feb. 4 incident.

Surveillance cameras captured the suspect pulling up to a home in an SUV at around 9 a.m.

Police said he broke into the home and walked out with the sound system and other valuables less than 10 minutes later, NJ.com reported.

Ruiz left the crime scene only to return 30 minutes later, this time to grab the remote to the sound system, police told TheDailyJournal.com.

During his brief time in the house, Ruiz found time to feed the dog, the Burlington County Times reported.

According to police, Ruiz was committing the crimes to fuel his heroin addiction.

Ruiz faces an additional burglary charge in connection with a Feb. 7 burglary in Cherry Hill, N.J., CourierPostOnline reported.

Ruiz was also found to be a fugitive in a fraud case in Pennsylvania and is wanted by the Camden County Sheriff’s Department for failure to pay child support.

Ruiz is currently being housed in the Camden County Correctional Facility on $100,000 cash bail.

He's not the only alleged robber who suffered a memory lapse.

In November 2013, Derek Codd left his cell phone on the kitchen counter of a burglarized home in Palm Beach County, Fla. Police were able to track him down when his mom called while they were investigating.

And in February 2013, accused wallet thief Stephen Eric Maxwell, 47, was arrested in Broward County, Fla., because he forgot his own wallet at the scene of the crime.

Harvard College Gets Largest Gift In School History

The billionaire founder of the Citadel hedge fund management company has given Harvard College the largest gift in its history, $150 million.

Harvard University announced alumnus Kenneth Griffin's gift Wednesday. It says the money is mainly for supporting its financial aid program, which Griffin calls "an investment in the next generation of leaders."

Harvard says Griffin's gift will impact up to 800 undergraduates a year.

Griffin started his investing career from his Harvard dorm room. He graduated in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in economics and founded Chicago-based Citadel the following year. He says the goal of his gift is to help ensure "Harvard's need-blind admission policy continues."

Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust says Griffin's "extraordinary philanthropy is opening Harvard's gates wider to the most talented students in the world, no matter their economic circumstances."

Scientists Solve Stonehenge Puzzle

Scientists have found the exact source of Stonehenge's smaller bluestones, new research suggests.

Samsung launches new smart watch

 Samsung launched Sunday a new smart watch, the Gear 2, after a first version won over few critics, adding new features and ditching Google's Android in favour of its own operating system.

The South Korean electronics giant revealed the new watch in an unexpected announcement on the eve of the February 24-27 Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

Samsung is unveiling on Monday its new flagship smartphone, almost certainly the Galaxy S5, and it had been expected to show off the new watch at the same time.

Besides an array of features including sports tracking software and a heart rate monitor, the Gear 2 marks an important and widely rumoured step towards independence from Android.

The watch, available in two models -- the Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo, which has no camera -- will be powered by the Tizen operating system developed by Samsung with various partners to break free of the Android dominance.

Android powered 78.4 percent of smartphones worldwide last year, according to technology consultants Gartner Inc., making it easier for users to switch phones and harder for manufacturers to build customer loyalty. Apple's iOS system accounted for another 15.6 percent of smartphones.

The Gear 2, available worldwide from April, has a 1.63-inch screen, a 2.0 megapixel camera that can take high definition video, a heart rate sensor and pedometer, audio that can work with a Bluetooth headphone, remote control for devices such as televisions, and an alert system for incoming text messages and emails. The wrist strap comes in black, orange and brown.

The first Gear, launched last September, was criticised by many for being unfashionable and unwieldy.

Samsung, like other device makers, is banking on smart devices to boost revenue as sales of smartphones slow in the mature, and most profitable markets.

Though smartphone sales surged 42.4 percent to 968 million units last year, according to Gartner, the growth came from developing markets like Latin America, India and China while mature markets such as western Europe and the United States hit the brakes.

"We will see all of the handset companies responding to slowing growth in the smartphone market and the difficulty of making money," said Ian Fogg, senior principal analyst of electronics and media at research house IHS.

"They are going to launch a number of smart accessory devices including wearable devices that will give them opportunities in new markets to generate revenues and growth."

Despite perceived difficulties in selling the first watch to a broad audience, Samsung appeared confident in its latest version.

"With the Samsung Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, we have enhanced everything consumers love about the Gear to offer unparalleled smart freedom in their everyday life," JK Shin, head of the mobile division at Samsung Electronics, said in a statement.

The new watch has been designed to be compatible with a variety of Samsung devices including the Galaxy range of smartphones.

The South Korean group sold 300 million smartphones last year, 31 percent of the nearly one billion sold globally and double archrival Apple Inc's 15.6-percent share, according to US technology research house Gartner Inc.

The Galaxy S5 is variously rumoured to have a fingerprint scanner on the home button; a 5.24-inch, full high-definition display; a water and dust-proof case, possibly metallic, and a 16 megapixel camera.

Why Americans eat the same boring meat over and over

Sure, Americans chow down on about 280 pounds of meat each per year, compared to the 181 pounds in your average developed country.

But chances are those 280 pounds come from the same three or four meat-producing animals: Chicken, beef, pork, and maybe a little turkey.

While North America has long had plenty of edible land animals, ranging from deer to squirrels, that doesn't translate to much in the way of menu choice for carnivores.

The reason for that has a lot to do with the history of the meat industry in the U.S., Lauren Davis explains at io9.

Westward expansion allowed the growth of cattle ranching at a time when cities like New York and Chicago needed to feed surging populations.

Meanwhile, European cattle suffered from a virus that forced Europeans to turn to the US for their beef. Packers shipped huge amounts of the stuff to consumers.

Deer ranching, by contrast, didn't take off, and required federal inspections for venison are much harder to come by.

But while pretty much all poultry "tastes like chicken" in the U.S., the Technician notes that the Chinese have included pigeon and quail in their domestic poultry industry; geese and duck are common elsewhere.

Another part of America's diversity problem? A simple lack of recipes that include more exotic meats.

6 Ways to Get a Discount on Car Insurance

Insurance companies are always touting how great their discounts are trying to get your attention. If you are looking for the absolute lowest rate, you need to make sure you have the very best discounts. All car insurance companies offer discounts, but what discounts are the very best? The actual percentage of each discount may vary between insurance carriers; however, these remain the 6 best car insurance discounts among most carriers.

1. Multi Policy Discount is probably the single biggest discount available on a car insurance policy. Car and home insurance packaged together is exactly the type of business many insurance carriers are looking for and they will work hard to get it. Some offer a discount as high as 20 percent. It is rare for someone to obtain cheaper insurance by separating their car and home insurance through different carriers. If you own a home, always try to find an insurance carrier that packages your car and home policies together.

2. Multi Car Discount is also a major player in car insurance discounts. Your overall rate is typically higher when you own two vehicles verse one, but per vehicle you are paying a cheaper rate compared to insuring the vehicles individually. For example, if you own two vehicles and are paying $400 for one and $400 for the other, your rate could go up to $490 on one if you sell the other.

3. Financial Stability Discount is finding its way onto more and more car insurance policies. The difference between the top score and the bottom score can mean a difference of hundreds of dollars each year. Insurance companies have done extensive studies which prove a direct correlation between low insurance credit scores and high claim activity. Therefore, insurance companies reward good insurance credit scores with a financial stability discount in hopes of low claim activity.

4. Good Driver Discount usually applies to drivers that have not had an accident or ticket in the past three to five years. A couple of reasons exist for why this discount is so sizeable. It is almost a combination discount because someone with a speeding ticket not only doesn't qualify for the good driver discount, but they are also surcharged for the ticket. Also, the good driver discount is usually applied per driver. So every driver in the household could potentially receive this discount greatly helping to reduce the overall expense of car insurance.

5. Good Student Discount as its name portrays, only applies to students getting good grades. Usually a 3.0 grade point average or better is accepted. Also, the normal requirement for college students is 12 credit hours or more to qualify. Young drivers often pay higher rates and insurance companies reward good students with a discount. The theory stands that if a student spends a lot of time home studying then less time is spent getting into trouble behind the steering wheel.

6. Homeowner Discount on a car insurance policy may be surprising to some. Insurance carriers often offer this discount to clients who own a home regardless if the home is insured with the same company. Insurance companies reward homeowners because they often have more stability than a renter. A homeowner can double dip with this discount by combining it with the multi policy discount; thereby, receiving two top discounts in one swoop.

Use these discounts to your advantage whenever it is possible. Review your car insurance policy to verify qualifying discounts are listed. Remember to bundle your car and home insurance together to receive the multi policy discount. Keep your credit score and driving record in check. If you are not happy with your current insurance rates, some things are in your control to help improve your rate.

In The Future, We Might All Be Living In Bubbles

Today in the world of very real design propositions that sound like they came from an animated fantasy film, we bring you "Bubbles." The ambitious project aims to create an urban botanical garden, also known as a park, inside -- you guessed it-- a bubble.

Orproject proposed the design as a response to the rising pollution affecting cities in Asia, as a way to filter the air flowing inside parks while controlling temperature and humidity. "Bubbles" takes inspiration from Buckminster Fuller's plot to enclose New York in a dome. Fuller's idea was purely conceptual, but Orproject's could feasibly take shape. The air inside the bubble would be controlled by a ground source heat exchange system, while solar cells in the canopy surface would provide electricity. This controlled setting means plants from all over the world could thrive in the enclosed gardens.

Aside from being "lightweight and affordable" according to Orproject, the giant bubble's texture mimics natural formations, bringing its magical properties to unimaginable heights. The design team explains: "The geometry of the structural system has been generated using an algorithm which simulates the development of veins in leaves or butterfly wings." A butterfly wing bubble? It doesn't get much more "FernGully" than that.

While original plans aim to enclose parks and gardens, Orproject suggests the bubble method could extend to playgrounds, school yards, office atriums and apartment yards. Here's to a bubble covered future! See the mesmerizing plans below and let us know your thoughts in the comments.