The moon passed in front of the sun on Thursday, causing a partial solar eclipse visible across North America.
For Stargazers lucky enough to experience clear weather during the eclipse, the sun appeared to take on a crescent shape, as the moon partially obstructed it from our view. This is2014's first partial solar eclipse. A full solar eclipse took place in April.
Although staring directly at a partial solar eclipse can cause permanent eye damage, photographers risked their vision to capture awe-inspiring images of the sun for those unable to see the event live. Check out a few of our favorites, below:
IMAGE: FLICKR
IMAGE: FLICKR,
IMAGE: FLICKR,
IMAGE: FLICKR,
IMAGE: FLICKR,
IMAGE: FLICKR,
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The entire world falls apart when things aren't in order. Order is the meaning of life and anything less is just plain wrong.
Food photographer Brittany Wright knows how to capture food properly — in rows sorted by size and color. Wright'sInstagram account is filled with foods neatly arranged in order and are nothing less than an inspiration to the world.
Check out some of her infinitely pleasing work below.
The entire world falls apart when things aren't in order. Order is the meaning of life and anything less is just plain wrong.
Food photographer Brittany Wright knows how to capture food properly — in rows sorted by size and color. Wright'sInstagram account is filled with foods neatly arranged in order and are nothing less than an inspiration to the world.
Check out some of her infinitely pleasing work below.
Instagram just made emoji posted within the app a lot more powerful. The company updated its iOS and Android apps Monday with the ability to add emoji hashtags to posts along with three brand-new filters.
Previously, Instagram's hashtag feature did not support emoji, so comments or captions with the hashtag symbol and emoji were not searchable. Now, users can add emoji (or a string of emoji) to hashtags and posts that have been previously tagged with the characters will also show up in searches.
"Over the past few years, emoji have become part of a universal visual language," the company wrote in a blog post. "With emoji hashtags, you can discover even more by adding them to your own photos and videos, searching them on the Explore page and tapping on them when you see them in captions."
The new Reyes, Juno, and Lark filters.
IMAGE: INSTAGRAM
Monday's update also added three new filters to Instagram's toolkit: Reyes, Juno and Lark. Reyes is a more muted filter that "brings a dusty, vintage look to your moments," according to Instagram, while Lark emphasizes blue and green tones and Juno " tints cool tones green while making warm tones pop and whites glow for vibrant photos of people."
Instagram also plans to update the app with new filters more often, the company said, noting that two of the filters introduced its last big update, Ludwig and Crema, are among the app's most popular. Those who are worried about their filter tray getting too crowded can choose which filters appear — and rearrange their order — in the "manage" menu at the end of the app's filter list.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook shows off the Facebook app for the Apple Watch in March.
Back in March, Apple gave the world a close look at its first wearable, weeks before the device officially debuted in stores.
Developers worked quickly to equip the Apple Watch with everything from an official Twitter app, to an eBay app and even a Chipotle app, but one app seemingly previewed on stage during the March event remains missing: Facebook.
At the time, Apple prominently displayed the social network working on the Apple Watch.
"You can connect to social media," CEOTim Cook said, as a large image of a Facebook logo-emblazoned notification flashed on the display behind him. The screenshot of the Apple Watch Facebook notification showed an example of a photo-tag notification, and an option to dismiss it. The screenshot looked like an app, but it wasn't. It turns out that it was just a notification screen pushed from the iPhone's existing Facebook app.
Adding to the confusion, both apps mentioned in the same presentation screens as Facebook — ESPN and CNN — have dedicated apps currently available in the Apple Watch app store. But more than a month later, as consumers are finally getting their handson the watch, Facebook's app is nowhere to be found.
"We’re excited for the launch of the Apple Watch," a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable when asked about the app. "We have nothing to announce today, but we’re always evaluating new platforms to build the best Facebook experience for people."
The missing app did not go unnoticed by new Apple Watch owners, who tweeted their surprise at the device's lack of Facebook functionality.
where is the Facebook app for the #AppleWatch and why can't I create a new tweet? #frustrated
Some may speculate that the omission is due to industry politics, but the fact that Facebook's own Instagram app is already available in the Apple Watch store should eliminate these concerns. And despite the odd app omission, based on the prominent placement of Facebook in the March presentation, it's likely that a Facebook app is still in the works.
Additional reporting by Karissa Bell
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If you've ever worried about old tweets or Facebook posts coming back to haunt you — but don't have time to sift through years of posts to manually delete them — a new app may be able to help.
Clear connects with your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts and analyzes your history, flagging posts with potentially inappropriate content. To guess what that is, Clear uses a combination of algorithms and IBM's supercomputer Watson to filter material.
The app was created by Ethan Czahor, who made headlines earlier this year when he abruptly resigned — less than 48 hours after landing the job — from Jeb Bush's campaign after a series of years-old offensive tweets surfaced — some of which included descriptions of women as "sluts" and complaints about being eyed up by gay men at a San Francisco gym.
Czahor says those tweets were "harmless" jokes, relics of his time with an improv comedy group, that were taken out of context.
"I was very well aware going in, [politics] was a one-strike-and-you're-out business," Czahor told Mashable. "I just didn't think i would strike out so soon, and in that way."
Right now, the Clear app identifies troublesome posts based on keywords, such as profanity. It also zeroes on on posts that mention general groups — such as women or gay people. Czahor argues any mention of groups is where you're likely to talk in generalities and stereotypes.
"Whether it’s good or bad, you should probably take a second look at it," he says.
IBM's Watson also uses sentiment analysis, highlighting posts it detects as using particularly negative language. The app then provides a score based on how many posts it flagged.
Clear analyzes your past posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and flags items with potentially offensive content.
It's still up to users to review and delete the offensive content, but the app simplifies the process with shortcuts.
Czahor acknowledges Clear is still "a work in progress," but says the app's accuracy will improve over time. In my testing, the app successfully detected several tweets with less than PG language and highlighted tweets with group words such as "Americans".
Interestingly, the app also highlighted tweets with complaints about specific products — the Motorola Droid 2 I had back in 2010 cropped up several times, for example — though I didn't spot anything worthy of the delete button.
Of course, text updates aren't the only type of potentially problematic posts. Photos and videos can be equally troublesome. Czahor said identifying photos is a feature "on our roadmap," along with adding other social networks. The app currently has a waiting list right now — about 300 people as of this writing — but he says he anticipates most will be able to get into the app within a few days or a week.
In the meantime, Facebook and Twitterboth recently rolled out improved search features — so you can more easily look for potentially embarrassing posts from your past either way.
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