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If you're going to do the paper and pen routine in this modern day of tablets and smartphones, you might as well make your pen worth carrying around. The Monteverde...

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New 22-minute documentary tells the story of the Barkley Marathons, the “world’s most difficult and bizarre sporting event.”

The Colorado-based company 5Owls builds “personal shelters.”

We review an expandable-design First Ascent backpack. Made for climbers and guides, our reviewer put the $499 pack through a tough test on a 100+ mile wilderness trip.

It’s an ad campaign for a shaver company, but we can’t help but love the union of facial hair and, er, feral animals. Look close, these are not your average beards.

We've all dealt with it before: you hand someone your phone to show them a photo, and the jackass swipes forward and/or backward to look at your other photos. That's a huge no-no, but unfortunately there are still people out there who didn't get the memo (or are just too damn rude to care). Fortunately, there's a way to keep this scenario from happening ever again.

It's a simple app called Focus, and it basically puts other photos under a PIN code, so when someone tries to swipe left or right, they're greeted with this message:

There are two versions of Focus: an ad-supported, free variant; and a paid version that costs a dollar.

Tired Of People Swiping Through Your Photos Without Permission? Check Out Focus was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

See past editions of Android Wallpaper

Let’s be honest, we’re all a “fanboy” of something. It could be a favorite phone, operating system, app, movie, burger, or actor. There is nothing wrong with being passionate about your favorite things. In the Android world there are a lot of people who get called “Google Fanboys.” This is usually a derogatory term, but in today’s edition of Android Wallpaper we are celebrating it.

We have selected five wallpapers that will look great on any Google-lovers phone or tablet. Don’t hide you allegiance anymore. Wear it loud and proud with these wallpapers. To get one of these on your phone, tablet, or PC simply tap or click the download link underneath each image. On the next page you can right-click or long-press to save the image to your device. We hope you enjoy these wallpapers as much as we do. Let us know which one is your favorite!

Push new Android Wallpaper to your Android device with this IFTTT recipe.

Google Icons

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Chrome

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Google Now

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Sunrise at El Goog

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Google Lights

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With a 104-87 blowout in Game 5 last night, the Spurs became the most dominant NBA finals winners ever.

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You might have noticed ABC's audio cut out during the handshake line following last night's NBA Finals game, just as Heat assistant coach Ron Rothstein approached Gregg Popovich. The reason? Rothstein said something to Popovich that included "fuck you."

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Scientists have discovered vast water reserves near Earth’s mantle, a finding that could reshape our understanding of where Earth’s water came from.

According to a new study by a group of U.S. geophysicists, a reservoir of water three times the volume of all of Earth’s oceans has been discovered inside a layer of blue rock 440 miles deep

Geophysicist Steve Jacobsen of Northwestern University, who coauthored the study, says it’s evidence the planet’s water bubbled up from somewhere underground.

The water is thought to be trapped in a layer of ringwoodite, a rock with a crystalline structure that acts like a sponge, to attract and trap the hydrogen and oxygen atoms that comprise water Read more...

More about Earth, Us World, Us, World, and Climate

According to a new exclusive from Forbes, Google is working on preparing a service called Google Fit. Forbes says the service will aggregate and manage health and fitness data collected from sources like wearables and fitness trackers, and it will offer new APIs to developers for integration with the service.

According to Forbes, it's unclear whether Google's HealthKit competitor will debut with the next version of Android, but evidently the company is set to unveil the service, along with new partnerships with wearable manufacturers, at this year's I/O conference (which for those keeping count is just under two weeks away).

Forbes: Google Prepping 'Google Fit' To Collect And Manage Fitness/Health Data was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Android design has been rapidly evolving ever since Ice Cream Sandwich was released almost three years ago. What used to be an ugly and unorganized OS is now much cleaner and more focused. Google is never done tinkering with things, and if a new rumor is true it could mean big changes for the way Android and Google apps look.

Sources familiar with the situation have revealed information about a new initiative at Google to unify design across its apps and platforms. They are calling it “Quantum Paper,” which sounds more like a Bond film than a software redesign. The goal is to make all Google apps have the same user interface and experience on the web, Android, iOS, and any other platform. This new design can be seen in leaked screenshots of a new Gmail app and the Gmail web version.

Quantum Paper is about more than just Google apps. The new design language will be available to developers, and Google will encourage them to integrate the new elements into their own apps. Simply put, Google is trying to unify applications across the internet. It’s a bold venture, but right up Google’s alley. Quantum Paper will start showing up in Google apps first. You can already see some elements in the most recent version of Google+ for Android.

What do you think of this new design? Yay or nay?

[via AP, Geek]

TV manufacturers constantly compete to have the biggest consumer TV on the market, showing their plus-size wares at CES. But when it comes to custom one-off models, the sky's the limit. Case in point: the Titan Zeus.

The aptly named Zeus is a TV so large, one struggles to find the right adjective to describe it. Colossal? Gargantuan? Unearthly? At 370 inches diagonal — or more than three times the size of most "gigantic" TVs — the set is truly in a size class of its own.

So far the UK-based Titan Screens has sold only one of these kaiju TVs to a buyer who wants to remain anonymous, according to Engadget. Little wonder: The behemoth costs about $1.6 million, and that doesn't include the arena-size living room for which you'd need to house the 26 x 16-foot panel. Read more...

More about Tv, 4k, Tech, Ultra Hd, and Uhd

Audiences at last year’s E3 conference got the first eye-catching glimpse of Tom Clancy’s The Division. It had all the trappings of a solid shooter: a post-apocalyptic setting, mobs of scary bad guys and an interesting multiplayer experience

This year, Ubisoft offered a closer look at what turns out to be a unique open-world RPGThe Division wasn’t available yet for hands-on access, but the company did show us some real-time gameplay to give a better sense of how much strategy and personalization will be a part of this game

The story premise is more horror than anything else. A mysterious virus is unleashed upon New York City on Black Friday, and the holiday cheer quickly takes a turn for the worse. As pandemic sets in and the urban infrastructure fails, residents descend into chaos and some well-armed and anarchic factions form. The agents of the titular Division need to work alone and together to bring order and save the city Read more...

More about E3, Ubisoft, Entertainment, Gaming, and E3 2014

There are more than a couple Gears to choose from these days, but not that long ago, there was only one. That awkward piece of tech is more affordable now, though it still hasn't dropped down to the price many people would like to pay for it. That makes now a good time to pay some attention to Best Buy. Today the retailer has refurbished versions of the original Galaxy Gear going for just $89.99, a price that's on the better side of $100.

[Deal Alert] Refurbished OG Galaxy Gears Are Currently Just 89 Bucks At Best Buy, Recently Converted To Run Tizen was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Going to Google I/O this year? Not going, but want to pretend you are? Either way, the official I/O 2014 app is now in the Play Store. It's packed with some nifty features:

  

Grab it below.

Official Google I/O 2014 App Hits The Play Store was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Ready wants to reinvigorate the part of your phone that, in ye olden days, was all that mattered. That's right, it wants to improve how you make phone calls. Rather than gutting out your home screen and replacing it with something quirky, it tackles your dialer instead.

The Ready developers have tasked themselves with making contacts easier to see and communicate with. The app does so by not only tweaking how contacts are presented, but by creating useful shortcuts as well.

[New App] Ready Is A Beautiful New Caller And Contact List Experience, Out Now In Public Beta was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Facebook's official Android app got an update today, bringing it to the nice, round version 10.0 mark. The update doesn't include any clarity for the app's interface (which, in many ways, is not dissimilar to a plate of spaghetti), but it does pack a few handy new tricks.

First up, the new app will allow users to "like" posts, photos, and pages without an internet connection. So if you're scrolling through your stream but don't have a data connection, no worries - just hit the "like" button and forget about it.

Facebook Updated To Version 10.0 With Ability To 'Like' Things Offline, Remove Tags, And More was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Amazon is launching a music streaming service for Prime subscribers today. This service, simply called Prime Music, is trying to compete with the likes of Spotify. Current Prime subscribers get access to over a million songs for free, others can get access with a free 30-day trial. With so many streaming services available you may be wondering what Prime Music has to offer.

Amazon appears to be focused on playlists, like Beats Music is trying to do. There are already a number of curated playlists available to stream. Prime Music doesn’t have a lot of new releases available for free streaming, and songs from Universal Music are not included either. So while you do get access to over a million songs, they may not be the songs you want. Prime Music apps will be coming soon for Android, iOS, PC, and Mac, but for now you can explore the library with the link below.

EDIT: The Amazon MP3 app has been updated to “Amazon Music.” Download here.

Are you a Prime subscriber? Are you interested in this streaming service?

Amazon Prime Music

The revised Nexus 7 has been available for the better part of a year, and we've featured innumerable sales and discounts on the tablet. If you don't have one by now, it's probably because you don't want one. That said, if you're one of the last people in the US or Canada to get on the trolley, an eBay vendor is offering the basic 16GB WiFi model at a significant discount today.

[Deal Alert] eBay Has A New 32GB 2013 Nexus 7 For $189.99 ($80 Off) With Free Shipping was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

There’s no doubt Netflix knocked it out of the ballpark with the release of their exclusive new show, Orange Is the New Black. We’re sure by now you’ve heard all the hype. A intricate drama/dark-comedy about life for a woman in the big house, the 2nd season aired only a few days ago.

To help capitalize on the show’s success, the folks at Netflix have released their very first app outside of the official Netflix app, with “Orange Is The New App” now available on Google Play. Really, the app doesn’t offer much outside a few photos to ‘shop yourself into the show. We would have loved to see some 2nd screen functionality of some sort, but Netflix is keeping things simple, allowing fans of the show to promote the show on their social networks and get people talking.

For fans of the show that haven’t finished the second season, we’d recommend holding off. Apparently there are a few small spoilers so if you’re a stickler about that sorta stuff, wait until you’re finished binge watching the entire season in a single sitting (my girlfriend can attest to this). Cheers.

Download on Google Play: Orange Is The New App

It looks like the Google-owned Nest smart thermostat is finally getting some real competition. Honeywell has announced a new smart thermostat called “Lyric.” This is not their first smart thermostat, but the Lyric looks vastly different from their previous offerings. It’s obvious that the Nest has been a big influence.

Like the Nest, the Lyric is round with a circular display and the temperature can be changed by turning the device like a wheel. It also has an extra display and a couple of buttons on the face. Honeywell has named the device “Lyric” because it is supposed to keep your temperature “in tune.” How does it do this?

The big feature of Lyric is geofencing. Through the Android and iOS apps it knows when you leave the house and when you are close to home. It can adjust the temperature to save energy while you’re gone, and then go back to comfort for when you get back. Your home radius can be adjusted in the settings. Lyric will be available in August from Lowe’s for $279. Are you getting one? Do you already have a Nest?

[Honeywell via Verge]

Send stories, photos, and anything else you might have to tips@deadspin.com.

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A five-foot piece of railing on the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris collapsed Sunday night under the weight of "love locks," padlocks attached to the bridge by couples as a display of their everlasting love. Hopefully the couples who attached these locks have relationships stronger than bridge railings.

Although the bridge remains intact, the railing on the section was brought down by what appear to be thousands of padlocks. Luckily, the railing and locks fell onto the bridge and not into the river below. No injuries were reported.

More about Travel, Paris, World, Lifestyle, and Travel Leisure

Live streams have captured some strange scenarios, now including unexpected police surveillance.

An armed robber was caught breaking into a Phoenix, Arizona home early Monday morning by a popular gaming stream, AZ Family reports.

One of the occupants, Nikki Elise, a.k.a Sajedene, was playing an online video game, Defense of the Ancients, while live streaming through her popular channel on Twitch.tv when someone broke into the house.

Elise's webcam broadcast the invasion, shown in the short video above, during which she disappears to investigate and is promptly told to "stay on the ground" by the robbers — one of whom appears briefly, carrying a weapon. Read more...

More about Viral Videos, Gaming, Robbery, Live Stream, and Watercooler

Might as well get your week started off right with some crazy good deals on storage for your devices. Today's Amazon Gold Box is full of SanDisk cards and drives for up to 79% off retail. Of primary interest to us are the microSD cards and microUSB OTG flash drives, but there's something for everyone.

Some particularly good deals are the class 10 microSD cards, which are going for $29.99 for 64GB ($70 off) and $14.99 for 32GB ($55 off).

[Deal Alert] Today's Amazon Gold Box Has Huge Discounts On SanDisk Memory, Including A 64GB MicroSD Card For $30 (70% Off) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

See past editions of Android Wallpaper

Happy weekend! It’s time once again for more Android Wallpaper. This week we are diving into the world of minimalism and “flat” design. These are words that get thrown around a lot these days when it comes to design in technology. Everything gets labeled “flat” or “minimal.” If you want your device to match the trend we have some wallpapers for you.

What exactly deems a design “flat” or “minimal?” Usually these words describe something that is very simple, without textures, gradients, or shadows. We have selected six flat and minimal HD wallpapers that should look great on any device. To get one of these on your phone, tablet, or PC simply tap or click the download link underneath each image. On the next page you can right-click or long-press to save the image to your device. We hope you enjoy these wallpapers as much as we do. Let us know which one is your favorite!

Push new Android Wallpaper to your Android device with this IFTTT recipe.

Tools

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Kite

 

 

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Clouds

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Ripples

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Binary Rain

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Forest Patrol

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Hodor. HODOR. Hodor hodor hodor hodor. HODOR.

With that out of the way, you no longer need iOS 8 to enjoy the best keyboard on Android a Game of Thrones fan could wish for.

 

Hodor.

Hodor: HODOR

This Is A Keyboard You Need In Your Life was written by the awesome team at Android Police.