We love our smart phones and tablets - a lot. But the next time you take your phone to lunch, hand it to a coworker to share photos, or bring it to the gym, consider this: Bacteria from a phone can cause flu, pinkeye or diarrhea. Yuck. And people are just as likely to get sick from their phones as from handles of the bathroom. That's according to a physician interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about the hazards of taking your cell phone everywhere - and then passing it to friends to share an... Lire suite

To everything there is a season, and every four years near the end of baseball season comes presidential voting season - which makes it open season for political jabbering, viral videos and passionate blogging about the candidates. First, let's recap this week's thrilling (yawn) debate. The consensus from both sides is that Mitt Romney did better than expected in the candidates' first televised contest to say things that may or may not have any relation to real-life action. Asks New Mexico... Lire suite

"The lights have dimmed in San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, and journo-bloggers have published closing one-liners on their live blogs, uploading final pics of the new longer, skinnier and more powerful iPhone 5," says a journo-blogger at Technorati. "It is time for Apple's annual post-product and OS release ritual, as fan boys (and girls) dance proudly around the fires newly stoked by Apple CEO Tim Cook and crew, while head-shaking iHaters stand just outside the warm,... Lire suite

Two celebrities didn't die this week, despite what the Internet said. But only one of them lives on. Which is not as complicated as it seems. Just stupid. For starters, a bogus outfit called Global Associated News generated a false alarm that Eddie Murphy died in a snowboard accident. The shocking non-news went a little viral. "The alleged accident, of course, occurred in Zermatt, Switzerland, where Murphy has been 'killed' about a dozen times in the past, including last month - twice," says... Lire suite

Conan O'Brien had the funniest wisecrack this week about 101-year-old Florence Detlor, who was introduced to the world as the oldest person to be using Facebook. Conan: "She said 'I'd like to waste what little time I have left.'" Early in the week, Facebook's Chief Something Officer Sheryl Sandberg had tweeted written on her FB timeline that Detlor was "the oldest registered Facebook user." Well, maybe not after all. After Mashable ran a story about that, it followed up: "A commenter on our... Lire suite

Here we go again! A new iPhone is imminent from Apple, and everyone who ever fingered a one-button mouse is wondering what it will be like. "Rumors swirling around the iPhone 5 have gadget watchers dizzy with anticipation. Bigger screen size, thinner display, Siri song-and-dance numbers -- when will the madness stop'!" says Mashable, which links to a "leaked video" that supposedly explains it all but which is in fact a withering parody by adamthinks.com. Folks just love a good Apple rumor, or a... Lire suite

The Curiosity Rover landed in Mars's Gale Crater, with an assignment - as Engadget once explained - of "finally answering Bowie's nagging questions." (Is there life on Mars' Do you remember your president Nixon' Rebel Rebel ...how could they know') But Gizmodo does wonder "why do the Mars rover's images look so bad'" Cripes, don't they have Instagram up there' The answer is "Two words: dust cap. All the cameras onboard Curiosity are covered with transparent dust caps." But soon the images will... Lire suite

It's a sporting event that brings people together once every four years: crying about Olympics TV coverage! "If pissing off the Olympic audience were an event in London, NBC would be winning gold, silver, and bronze, every single night," says Business Insider. "Please don't watch NBC tonight. Or any night," says TechCrunch. The gripes are spewing all over Twitter (because it's the "Twitter Olympics," says CNN Tech.) Wah! Don't cry, Boehner Baby! One guy - a legit-ish news reporter named Guy ---... Lire suite