Best summer job ever? Backpacker Magazine is sending a team of two out to explore our National Parks and report on their experiences all summer long.

Throw it down, big man! Just throw it down a bit closer to the basket.

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Don't be so surprised if some weird business goes down tonight in Stiverne-Wilder, and it already is. They got some MMA in my heavyweight title fight!

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Marshawn Lynch has already been fined for crotch-grabbing , but it appears Beast Mode doesn't care.

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After a game like that, I don't think it's possible for anything to seem weird. A Seahawks DE commandeering a police bicycle, and pedaling triumphantly down the sideline and across the CenturyLink turf, feels entirely normal!

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While Packers-Seahawks provided tons of drama, the other game did not. The Patriots scored 31 unanswered points on their way to a 45-7 demolition of the Colts.

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Fox Sports 1 cut away early from Conor McGregor's middle finger to Dennis Siver before their UFC Fight Night featherweight bout, but our friends at Fox Deportes stuck with the gesture. In McGregor's defense, Siver wouldn't touch gloves.

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On the other side of the Seahawks' disbelieving delirium is, necessarily, a whole lot of Packers feeling individually shitty about something they did, or failed to do, any one of which might have been enough to ice this game for good. Settling for a pair of field goals from the 1-yard line comes to mind, as does Morgan Burnett sliding after picking off Russell Wilson with five minutes left and a 12-point lead.

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The first Lamborghini Huracan crash happened in Hungary last September. Now there's video showing how it went down, recorded by the passenger with a mobile phone and released by the police.

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The controversial film about North Korea's leader finally made it to theaters, and the damaging email leaks have ceased (for now), but the story of the Sony Pictures hack hasn't ended yet

A Sunday report in The New York Times, citing, in part, a new NSA leak from Germany's Der Spiegel, claims that the U.S. government's quick decision to lay the blame for the infamous hack attack at the feet of the North Koreans has its roots in an NSA operation that dates back to 2010

The NSA's own operation reportedly allowed the agency to place malware to track the movements of North Korean hackers. Additionally, newly revealed documents (which are reportedly part of the Edward Snowden archive), reveal South Korea's involvement in accessing North Korean networks and the NSA's deep interest in such Read more...

LONDON — The wealthiest 1% of the world will soon own more than the rest of the planet's population, according to a new report from the charity Oxfam.

The study shows that the proportion of the world's wealth owned by the richest 1% increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% in 2014, and Oxfam says it expects that to increase to more than 50% by 2016.

The news comes just days ahead of the World Economic Forum, which sees political and business leaders from around the world convene in Davos, Switzerland.

Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam's executive director, is set to co-chair the event, and wants to use the charity's role to highlight inequality and demand action. She said the scale of global inequality was "simply staggering" in a statement. Read more...

Tony Verna, a television director and producer who invented instant replay for live sports 51 years ago, has died. He was 81.

Verna died Sunday at his Palm Desert home after battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia, daughter Tracy Soiseth said.

CBS used instant replay for the first time in the Dec. 7, 1963 Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia, after Verna developed a method to cue the tape to pinpoint the play he wanted to immediately air again. He said he was looking for a way to fill those boring gaps between plays during a football telecast.

The concept was so new that when Army quarterback Rollie Stichweh scored a touchdown, announcer Lindsey Nelson had to warn viewers: "This is not live! Ladies and gentlemen, Army did not score again!" Read more...

PASADENA, Calif. — Zachary Quinto may not be coming back for NBC's Heroes: Reborn, but they've found another Zach from the network family to bring the franchise back

NBC announced Friday former Chuck star Zachary Levi will lead the forthcoming 13-episode miniseries, which will premiere later this year

Network chairman Bob Greenblatt declined to give details on Levi's character, but NBC and creator Tim Kring have said in recent months that Reborn will largely focus on new characters

The exception to that, of course, is Jack Coleman's Noah, who signed on to the show back in June 2013 Read more...

Marisa Inda's upper body strength could put The Rock to shame. And her fancy footwork while dangling on a pull-ups bar is a Beyoncé-level feat

Prepare to feel like an uncoordinated weakling in 3...2...

Chris Roberts knew, in 2012, that he wanted to create a game that he believed had been missing from the gaming world. After a 10-year hiatus to work on movies, the former Wing Commander creator felt there was a need for an epic space game where you could explore planets and battle ships in an endless field of stars.

He also missed games that would test the limits of his PC hardware, which had outpaced the aging Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles at that time.

"There's got to be other people like me with high-end PCs that can do much more than an Xbox can do, and I don't understand why this type of game isn't popular anymore because it certainly used to be popular," he said. Read more...

After officially rolling out for the Nexus 7 (2012) a few weeks back, it seems both the Nexus 7 2013 (WiFi) and Nexus 10 should be receiving Android 5.0.2 any minute now. Google has posted the factory images for each of the devices via their Factory Images page and as it so often goes, a rollout is expected to should follow shortly behind.

Feel free to either download and manually install via the links below (and erase everything on your device), or simply wait for the impending over-the-air update to begin. If you do take the “wait and see” approach (often times updates can cause unforeseen issues on devices), see how others are taking to the update by visiting the Nexus 7 2013 forums or the Nexus 10 forums for further insight.

Download Android 5.0.2 factory image: Nexus 7 2013 (WiFi) | Nexus 10

T-Mobile has some new pre-paid plans to dole out for those who aren’t interested in hopping on the company’s Simple Choice post-paid offerings. The plans start at $40 per month and give you unlimited talk, text and 3G data. 4G data is limited, naturally, but you it’s nice not to have to worry about overages if you run through your allotted amount. Here’s the quick breakdown:

• $40 / month for unlimited data, talk and text + up to 1GB of 4G LTE
• $50 / month for unlimited data, talk and text + up to 3GB of 4G LTE
• $60 / month for unlimited data, talk and text + up to 5GB of 4G LTE

Seems reasonable enough. T-Mobile’s prepaid plans do include support for WiFi calling, though there’s no word on whether you’ll be treated to perks like Music Freedom. The plans will go live starting January 25th, and you can stop into a store, call in or go online to get hooked up with it if you’re interested.

Ever wonder how people get paid to explore the world? National Geographic grants are one way to do it.

I don't need to ramble on for long to explain how having a wall charger with four USB ports is better than an alternative with only one. It's simple math, really. If you have multiple devices on your desk that all plug into a USB port (phones and tablets, generally), or you and co-workers find yourselves scavenging for free power outlets while traveling, a 4-port USB wall charger can ease your struggle.

[Deal Alert] EasyAcc 4-Port 4A USB Wall Charger Only $10 After Coupon Code With Free Amazon Prime Shipping was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Two climbers have made history by becoming the first to ever scale the notoriously difficult Dawn Wall of Yosemite National Park's El Capitan without using ropes and equipment for anything but safety.

Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson reached the summit at 3:25 p.m. PST Wednesday afternoon after nearly 19 days spent on the wall.

The Dawn Wall is nearly 3,000 feet of sheer granite that is almost entirely smooth and completely vertical. The trek is the most difficult route up El Capitan and widely considered one of the most challenging climbs in the world. Read more...

Wondering what the inevitable Guardians of the Galaxy video game might look like? CineFix has you covered with this (appropriately) ‘80s-style 8-bit version of the summer blockbuster

Listen for the tinny arcade versions of the film’s kickass soundtrack — Blue Suede's “Hooked on a Feeling” has never sounded better.

Struggling electronics retailer RadioShack may file for bankruptcy as early as next month, according to The Wall Street Journal.

RadioShack had warned in November that it may need to file for Chapter 11 as it is strapped for cash

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal reports RadioShack is discussing a deal with a private-equity firm to "buy its assets out of bankruptcy." If that doesn't work, the company could go to bankruptcy court, instead. Potential lenders who could fund operations during the bankruptcy proceedings are also in the mix, the Journal states, adding that much is in flux. Read more...

Earth is one big and beautiful blue orb and panoramic photography really shows it. If you suffer from wanderlust, these images will make you want to walk into your boss' office, hold all your calls and go on an adventure

For those who don't have the privilege of up and leaving your real-work responsibility, Google Maps will do the trick. These interactive, 360-degree photo spheres span across the globe, from the frozen lunar landscape of Antarctica, to the scorching fringes of a volcano crater in Ethiopia

Nature lovers beware, the travel bug is about to bite Read more...

China's smartphone maker Xiaomi, which recently raised $1 billion at a staggering $45 billion valuation, has launched a new flagship phone — the Mi Note

It's a 5.7-inch device, making it an obvious competitor to the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, but unlike Xiaomi's iPad-like Mi Pad, it doesn't closely resemble an Apple device. Nevertheless, it's a looker, with a metallic frame squeezed between two panes of curved Gorilla Glass 3

As Engadget points out, the company doesn't shy from comparing the Mi Note directly to the iPhone 6 Plus, pointing out at its presentation Thursday that it's both slimmer (6.95mm) and lighter (161g) than Apple's premium offering. Read more...

Mashable hosted its first #BizChats Twitter chat of 2015, to discuss the best job searching tactics for 2015

@Mashbusiness was accompanied by several influencers including: Jenny Foss, Ryan Kahn, Alexandra Levit, and The Muse.

Over the course of an hour, our career experts dissected the do's and don'ts of job searching, as well as the best ways applicants can stand out in the midst of a very competitive job market

Check out some highlights of the chat in the Storify, below:

LOS ANGELES — "Everything is Awesome" was the first Academy Awards nominee announced Thursday morning, for Best Original Song in The Lego Movie. And if you were rooting for Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel or American Sniper, that was certainly the case.

But not everything was so awesome if you were hoping for redemption for director Ava DuVernay or her Selma star David Oyelowo. Both were left out in snubs that were already fueling online dismay over the staggering lack of diversity in the nominations.

Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel led all Oscar nominations with nine each, followed by The Imitation Game, which had eight. Each had Best Picture nominations, along with presumptive front-runner Boyhood, which got six nominations in total, including for supporting actors Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke. Read more...

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Francis said Thursday there are limits to freedom of expression, especially when it insults or ridicules someone's faith.

Francis spoke about the Paris terror attacks while en route to the Philippines, defending free speech as not only a fundamental human right but a duty to speak one's mind for the sake of the common good.

But he said there were limits.

By way of example, he referred to Alberto Gasparri, who organizes papal trips and was standing by his side aboard the papal plane.

"If my good friend Dr. Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch," Francis said, throwing a pretend punch his way. "It's normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others." Read more...

Google Maps is seeing an update in the Google Play Store to version 9.3 and aside from under-the-hood improvements, now allows users to share directions to any given location via Android’s share menu. This could come in handy in the event you’re talking with someone who doesn’t have a smartphone and/or Google Maps installed on their device (perhaps an older feature phone?), allowing you to quickly and easily provide them with directions via text. No mess, no fuss.

You can either wait for the update to rollout to your device in the coming days, or if you simply must have sharable directions right now, you can download and install via the link below. Cheers.

Download: Google Maps 9.3

Sources out of Reuters are reporting that Samsung could be buying BlackBerry in a deal that could reach upwards of $7.5 billion. This would give Samsung access to BlackBerry’s vast patent portfolio and a name that at one time, was synonymous with “smartphone.”

Apparently execs from both manufacturers met last week (during CES) to discuss a possible buyout, with both sides declining to comment. The big question is exactly what Samsung would do with BlackBerry, which not only uses its own in-house OS, but recently launched the QWERTY keyboard “Classic” model.

Could this mean a Samsung Galaxy S BlackBerry Round Classic running Android 5.0 Lollipop is in our future? Only time will tell…

UPDATE: After their stock prices jumped as high as 30%, BlackBerry has issued a statement denying the report saying:

“BlackBerry Limited is aware of certain press reports published today with respect to a possible offer by Samsung to purchase BlackBerry. BlackBerry has not engaged in discussions with Samsung with respect to any possible offer to purchase BlackBerry. BlackBerry’s policy is not to comment on rumors or speculation, and accordingly it does not intend to comment further.”

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