Crave

Of the virtues of travel, Mark Twain once wrote, "The gentle reader will never, never know what a consummate ass he can become until he goes abroad."

Google updated Maps on Thursday with 1,001 places previously not in Street View, from the wildlife of Singapore to the interiors of the concert halls of Canada to, yes, tours of the Mark Twain House and Mark Twain Museum in Hartford, Conn.

The company did not release the full list of new locations, but pointed out highlights that could appeal to hikers, people planning their next vacation, or mere "… Read more

Samsung has occasionally been criticized in the past for sticking with lighter, plastic-y, and presumably less tough materials in even its flagship phones like the Galaxy S4. But the Korean monolith is out to prove that it did its best to torture-test at least the S4 before unleashing it on our harsh, unforgiving world filled with countless basins of water, fumbling fingers, and perhaps worst of all -- curious kids.

The below video shows the gauntlet of Samsung's "reliability" testing that the Galaxy S4 was run through. Apparently the phone had to survive being dropped a few feet onto a hard, metal surface hundreds of times, free-fall from a height high enough to shatter a ceramic mug, and a front-facing impact hard enough to crush a walnut shell.… Read more

Those of you eyeing the HTC One can score the phone for half off the usual price, courtesy of a one-day sale at Amazon.

On Friday, the retail giant will sell the HTC One for $99.99, a hefty discount off the usual $199.99 price tag. Buyers will be able to find the phone through Amazon's Cell Phones & Accessories page. But you'll need to be quick -- the sale itself will last just for the day.

The $99 offer is good for all AT&T or Sprint subscribers eligible for an upgrade. New customers can … Read more

What's in a look? For some, design can mean the difference between embracing or rejecting a product. Earlier this week Apple unveiled iOS 7, prompting plenty of opinions about the dramatically refreshed look of one of the most-used mobile operating systems in the world.

One of the loudest -- well, visually loudest -- opinions can be found at Jony Ive Redesigns Things, a Tumblr run by designer Sasha Agapov. The visual blog hosts submissions of funny Ive-inspired products and logos from wisecrackers around the world, ranging from a seriously simplified dollar bill to a new look for the Apple logo. Browse through our brief gallery to see more.… Read more

Android users who want to see if the grass really is greener on the Apple side of the fence now can try out the new color scheme debuting in iOS 7.

A theme called jbOS7 marries the Jelly Bean version of Android with the iOS 7 style. Its creator, shmogt, used some custom icons and TeslaCoil Software's Nova Launcher home screen replacement app.

"It is more than just a background image with some icons," shmogt said by e-mail. "The theme also has a lock screen as well as two additional screens that act as apps. For … Read more

When it comes to gold-slathered Apple products, there are plenty of options. Most people who buy them sneeze money and think nothing of tossing cash at a gaudy, high-priced accessory like an iPad with diamonds and T. rex bones. Ted Chapanian, however, came by his gold iPod watch through a whole lot of personal hard work.

The AuPod is made from a 6th generation iPod Nano and 18-karat gold. It took over 500 hours to build and cost $2,500 in materials. Considering that a gold iPhone 4S had a price tag of $9.4 million, that's not bad.… Read more

HTC's Butterfly S seems to be spreading its wings courtesy of a few images and other details posted online by VR-Zone.

A follow-up to HTC's current Butterfly, aka Droid DNA, the upcoming S edition will sprout a pair of front-facing speakers, according to VR-Zone. The audio will also get some oomph from HTC's new BoomSound technology, which keeps distortion low even when pumping up the volume at full blast.

The new Butterfly will sport the same 5-inch 1920x1080 pixel display as its predecessor, VR-Zone added. But it will come with HTC's Sense 5, a new interface … Read more

Like rebellious teenagers in bedrooms across the world, it seems Samsung could be about to go through a metal phase. Reports suggest the Samsung Galaxy S5 -- follow-up to the smash hit Galaxy S4 -- could boast the first aluminum body in the Galaxy lineup.

Android Geeks reports the as-yet-unreleased S5 will be encased in an aluminum unibody like the iPhone and HTC One, styled under a new philosophy dubbed "Design 3.0."

Exactly what that involves remains to be seen, but word on the street suggests the S5 will be the first of many high-end Galaxy smartphones … Read more

The world tends not to reward initiative as often as it should. Somehow, creating something new or presenting something different rouses many into fear mode, causing them to suppress with jerking knees.

This phenomenon might well have befallen a Chinese man called Mr. Li, who has been tossed into the clink for creating a stink.

Mister Li presented a mystery. He claimed to have caught an an alien in a rabbit trap and slipped it into his large freezer. He explained that there had been five aliens that descended upon his land. They allegedly came from a UFO.

The Shangdong farmer insisted that this alien -- which, for all the world looked like it was made of rubber -- was the real thing.… Read more