How would you change iTunes?

iTunes has an impossible job. What started as a music player has grown into stores for entertainment and apps, into a sync solution for iPods, iPhones, and iPads, and now into full blown <a href="http://www.imore.com/apple-music">subscription streaming service</a> as well. That means iTunes has to handle everything media and device management not only on the Mac but ported to Windows as well. Given all of that, what could Apple do to make it better for you?<br/><br/>Saying "simplify!" is easy, but no one wants to give up the features they use and love best, and a lot of people use a lot of different features. Saying "break it up!" is also easy, but how do you do that without introducing whole new levels of duplication, complexity, and inconvenience?<br/><br/>If you make multiple apps on the Mac, what do you do for Windows? If you move to the cloud, how do you keep local sync? If things are glitchy now, how to prevent an even more distributed future from being even more glitchy?<br/><br/>Nothing stays the same forever. At some point the iTunes Store and backend will be off WebObjects and flying high on a modern web platform. iPod sync and Windows support will be distant memories. Our content will live in the cloud and our features will be decoupled from apps so playback, management, sync, and other extensions which just be there when and where we want them and be invisible when we don't. Everything truly will be easier and better. Is that a year from now? Two years? Five? Ten? An <a href="http://atp.fm/">infinite timeline</a>?<br/><div id="InArticle_BTF3-wrap" class="netshelter-ad gpt inline-text"></div><br/>In the meantime, what are the most important features of iTunes for you, what could safely be gotten rid of, and how would you like to see it all improved?<br/><br/>In other words, if it was up to you—how would you change iTunes?

How would you change iTunes?

iTunes has an impossible job. What started as a music player has grown into stores for entertainment and apps, into a sync solution for iPod...

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Sony announces the Xperia C5 Ultra and the Xperia M5

Sony has announced two new smartphones, the Xperia C5 Ultra and the Xperia M5.<br/><br/>The <a href="http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_c5_ultra-7463.php" target="_blank">Xperia C5 Ultra</a> is the successor to the <a href="http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_c3-6488.php" target="_blank">Xperia C3</a> that was optimized for taking self portraits. The C5 Ultra has a 13 megapixel autofocus camera on the front and back, much like the <a href="http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_desire_eye-6715.php" target="_blank">HTC Desire EYE</a>. The front camera also has 22mm focal length to fit more people in and also an LED flash like on the C3.<br/><br/>Other than the camera, the C5 Ultra has a 6-inch, 1920x1080 resolution IPS display with really thin bezels on the side, 1.7GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6752 chipset, 2GB of RAM, 16GB internal memory, microSD card slot, LTE, 2930mAh battery with a promised battery life of up to two days, and Android 5.0 Lollipop.<br/><br/><img alt="" class="inline-image" height="606" src="http://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/news/15/08/sony-c5-m5/-728/gsmarena_001.jpg" width="728" /><br/><br/>The <a href="http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_m5-7464.php" target="_blank">Xperia M5</a> is what Sony calls the 'super mid-range' smartphone, and is quite similar to some of the Xperia Z series devices. It has the same OmniBalance design with metal on the sides and glass on the front and back. The M5 is also dust and waterproof with IP65 & IP68 certification.<br/><br/>The M5 also has a 5-inch 1920x1080 resolution IPS panel, MediaTek Helio X10 processor, 3GB RAM, 16GB internal memory with microSD card slot, 21.5 megapixel camera on the back, 13 megapixel camera on the front, LTE, 2600mAh battery with two-day battery life, and Android 5.0 Lollipop.<br/><br/><img alt="" class="inline-image" height="556" src="http://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/news/15/08/sony-c5-m5/-728/gsmarena_002.jpg" width="728" /><br/><br/>Both the C5 Ultra and the M5 will be available in dual SIM variants in selected countries across emerging markets starting mid-August.

Sony announces the Xperia C5 Ultra and the Xperia M5

Sony has announced two new smartphones, the Xperia C5 Ultra and the Xperia M5. The Xperia C5 Ultra is the successor to the Xperia C3 that ...

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Facebook's new live events feature hopes to take on Snapchat

Facebook wants to be part of the conversation around live events. Just in time for Lollapalooza, the social network has rolled out a new live event feed that serves as a single destination for viewing curated public posts, photos, and videos published from the music festival.<br/><br/>The new feature represents Facebook's entry into a growing market catering to behind-the-scenes, real-time looks at live events around the world. Twitter has long thrived on such live events, and the company is focusing even more heavily on events with <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/18/8805183/twitter-project-lightning-curated-news-platform">a major new feature codenamed "Project Lightning."</a> Snapchat's <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/29/6084221/snapchat-our-story-collective-snaps-from-live-events">Our Story feature</a> similarly capitalizes on the buzz around events happening in real time. All three seek to connect their users with first-person accounts as they happen, instead of relying on traditional media reports.<br/><br/><q class="right">FACEBOOK ENTERS GROWING MARKET TO BRING LIVE EVENTS TO YOUR PHONE</q><br/><br/>The new Facebook functionality is bundled into another feature called <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/29/7929351/facebook-place-tips-pilot-launch">Place Tips that launched earlier this year</a>. Place Tips is designed to surface helpful information and live updates near your location right in your News Feed. Lollapalooza is the first event in Place Tips that users can view remotely, <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/07/31/facebook-debuts-new-live-event-stream-at-lollapalooza/">according to The Wall Street Journal</a>.<br/><br/>A spokesperson tells the paper that the new "Lollapalooza experience is just one of the many ways Facebook is trying to help people get the feel of an event when they’re not there." It's just a test feature for now, but expect Facebook to keep tweaking its formula during future live events.

Facebook's new live events feature hopes to take on Snapchat

Facebook wants to be part of the conversation around live events. Just in time for Lollapalooza, the social network has rolled out a new liv...

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3 Times The ‘Find My iPhone’ App Turned Regular Phones Into SuperPhones

Nothing ruins your day quite like losing your phone. Luckily, iPhones are usually pretty good at telling you where exactly they’ve ended up once you’ve misplaced them. Sometimes, the incredibly useful <a href="https://www.apple.com/icloud/find-my-iphone.html" target="_blank">Find My iPhone</a> cloud app works so well it’s almost creepy.<br/><div id="mediavoice-native-ad-placeholder"></div><br/>Inspired by <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/31/businessman-finds-iphone-which-fell-out-of-plane-during-us-flight" target="_blank">one Texas man’s journey</a> to find the phone he dropped from a plane (From. A. Plane.), here are four times Find My iPhone worked less like a convenient app and more like a superhero gadget.<br/><ol class="listicle-container"><br/> <li><br/><div class="heading-container"><br/><h3 class="heading">That time a guy dropped his phone from 9,000 feet in the air and found it still working on the ground.</h3><br/></div><br/><div class="media-container"><br/><div id="6291ba9c" class="photo"><br/><div class="sharable-media-container"><img alt="WHEELING, IL - NOVEMBER 19: A private jet prepares to land November 19, 2003 at Palwaukee Municipal Airport in Wheeling, Illinois. The General Accounting Office (GOA) - the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of Congress - has expressed concerns with the vulnerability of general aviation airports claiming there are fewer federal guidelines for security at these smaller types of airports. (Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images)" class="js-srcset-img shortcode-image js-srcset-done" data-sharable="{"type":"image","shareURL":"http:\/\/www.mtv.com\/news\/2229668\/find-my-iphone-app-adventures\/#6291ba9c","imageURL":"http:\/\/mtv.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:mtv.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/GettyImages-2744136-1438455898.jpg?width=1800&height=auto"}" src="http://mtv.mtvnimages.com/uri/mgid:file:http:shared:mtv.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/GettyImages-2744136-1438455898.jpg?quality=0.8&format=jpg&width=980" title="GOA Voices Concerns About General Aviation Airport Security" /><br/><div class="share-widget"></div><br/></div><br/><div class="photocredit">Getty Images</div><br/></div><br/></div><br/><div class="description-container">Ben Wilson was flying out of Houston when a pressure change in his plane opened the passenger door a crack. He didn’t notice his iPhone flying out of his pocket, but when he landed, it was nowhere to be found. So he did what any tech-savvy businessman would do: He fired up the Find My iPhone app with one of his employees and tracked the phone to Jacksboro, Texas. After some hunting, they located the phone underneath a tree in a pasture — and miraculously enough, it still worked perfectly.</div></li><br/> <li><br/><div class="heading-container"><br/><h3 class="heading">That time police found a woman trapped in a ravine by hacking her Find My iPhone account.</h3><br/></div><br/><div class="media-container"><br/><div id="f5436314" class="photo"><br/><div class="sharable-media-container"><img alt="" class="js-srcset-img shortcode-image js-srcset-done" data-sharable="{"type":"image","shareURL":"http:\/\/www.mtv.com\/news\/2229668\/find-my-iphone-app-adventures\/#f5436314","imageURL":"http:\/\/mtv.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:mtv.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/GettyImages-183004972-1438456186.jpg?width=1800&height=auto"}" src="http://mtv.mtvnimages.com/uri/mgid:file:http:shared:mtv.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/GettyImages-183004972-1438456186.jpg?quality=0.8&format=jpg&width=980" title="Border Security Unaffected By US Government Shutdown" /><br/><div class="share-widget"></div><br/></div><br/><div class="photocredit">Getty Images</div><br/></div><br/></div><br/><div class="description-container">Last October, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2792923/california-woman-tumbled-mountainside-hospital-17-hours-later.html" target="_blank">Melissa Vasquez tumbled into a ravine</a> in California, and no one knew where to find her. Police searched the area where she supposedly crashed her car, but couldn’t find any trace of the accident — that is, until they worked with her stepmother to hack into her iCloud account and get the GPS coordinates of her phone. Vasquez was retrieved from her car alive 17 hours after plunging 500 feet down the side of a mountain, all thanks to her iPhone.</div></li><br/> <li><br/><div class="heading-container"><br/><h3 class="heading">That time someone outed a thief by making his phone beep awkwardly from his pocket.</h3><br/></div><br/><div class="media-container"><br/><div id="e283da67" class="photo"><br/><div class="sharable-media-container"><img alt="screen-shot-2012-01-06-at-5-07-44-pm" class="js-srcset-img shortcode-image portrait js-srcset-done" data-sharable="{"type":"image","shareURL":"http:\/\/www.mtv.com\/news\/2229668\/find-my-iphone-app-adventures\/#e283da67","imageURL":"http:\/\/mtv.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:mtv.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/screen-shot-2012-01-06-at-5-07-44-pm-1438456283.png?width=620&height=620"}" src="http://mtv.mtvnimages.com/uri/mgid:file:http:shared:mtv.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/screen-shot-2012-01-06-at-5-07-44-pm-1438456283.png?quality=0.8&format=jpg&width=980" title="screen-shot-2012-01-06-at-5-07-44-pm" /><br/><div class="share-widget"></div><br/></div><br/><div class="photocredit">Nikolaus Kakavoulis/Facebook</div><br/></div><br/></div><br/><div class="description-container">Nikos Kakavoulis was in the middle of enjoying some coffee at a Starbucks in Athens, Greece when he accidentally left his iPhone on the bathroom sink. By the time he got back to the men’s room, it was nowhere to be found, and no one had turned it in to the baristas. So Kakavoulis did what any wannabe crime-buster would do — he pulled up Find My iPhone on a coworker’s phone and told the missing iPhone to make a <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/06/when-find-my-iphone-becomes-an-adventure/" target="_blank">really loud sound</a>. The beeping led him to the thief, who awkwardly handed over the phone and split.</div></li><br/></ol>

3 Times The ‘Find My iPhone’ App Turned Regular Phones Into SuperPhones

Nothing ruins your day quite like losing your phone. Luckily, iPhones are usually pretty good at telling you where exactly they’ve ended up ...

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Livetext app is silly fun, but no Snapchat

Chances are your phone is chock-full of messaging apps already, whether it's Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Yik Yak or something else. Even so, <a href="http://mashable.com/category/yahoo/">Yahoo</a> is hoping you’ll give its latest app, Livetext for iOS and Android, a shot.<br/><br/>Think of Livetext as text-messaging that marries some of Snapchat’s ephemerality with some elements of <a href="http://mashable.com/category/periscope/">Periscope</a> and <a href="http://mashable.com/category/meerkat/">Meerkat</a> live video. But Livetext's live video sports text without sound: You can see the other person, but communication mostly happens by text. Once the session ends, the entire conversation disappears.<br/><br/>Confused? So was I. But Livetext makes more sense once you try it. Here are our first impressions.<br/><br/><figure class="image"><a name="m!6eff"></a><br/><div class="microcontent-wrapper"><br/><div class="microcontent-shares" data-description="" data-fragment="m!6eff" data-image="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA4LzAyL2JmL1lhaG9vbGl2ZXRlLmRjMDkzLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/beaa2790/4c3/Yahoo-livetexts-collage-1.jpg" data-url=""></div><br/><span class="lightbox-expand for-lightbox"><img alt="Yahoo-livetexts-collage-1" class="" data-caption="" data-credit-label="" data-credit-link="" data-credit-name="Yahoo Livetext" data-credit-provider="Custom type" data-fragment="m!6eff" data-image="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA4LzAyL2JmL1lhaG9vbGl2ZXRlLmRjMDkzLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/beaa2790/4c3/Yahoo-livetexts-collage-1.jpg" data-micro="1" data-width="991" src="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA4LzAyL2JmL1lhaG9vbGl2ZXRlLmRjMDkzLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/beaa2790/4c3/Yahoo-livetexts-collage-1.jpg" title="Yahoo-livetexts-collage-1" /></span></div><br/><div class="image-credit"><br/><br/>IMAGE: YAHOO LIVETEXT<br/><br/></div><br/></figure><br/><h3>Finding friends</h3><br/>Livetext officially <a href="http://mashable.com/2015/07/29/yahoo-livetext/">launched</a> in the U.S. on Thursday, and while it’s very early days –- day three, to be exact -– finding people to chat with might be hard to do.<br/><br/>One or two friends may have already downloaded Livetext, but more likely you’ll have to add friends from your address book. Pick a contact, and Livetext shoots them a brief text from your phone with a link to download the app.<br/><br/>Even after doing that, I only managed to have six contacts on Livetext, including two colleagues and two Yahoo employees. Maybe that will change in the coming weeks if Livetext gets some traction with people. Then again, maybe it won’t.<br/><br/><figure class="image"><a name="m!5af8"></a><br/><div class="microcontent-wrapper"><br/><div class="microcontent-shares" data-description="" data-fragment="m!5af8" data-image="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA3LzI5LzNmL3Njcm5zaG90OTcuM2YxYjIuanBnCnAJdGh1bWIJMTIwMHg5NjAwPg/cd08f364/1a4/scrnshot97.jpg" data-url=""></div><br/><span class="lightbox-expand for-lightbox"><img alt="Yahoo LIvetext" class="" data-caption="" data-credit-label="" data-credit-link="" data-credit-name="Mashable, Adario Strange" data-credit-provider="Custom type" data-fragment="m!5af8" data-image="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA3LzI5LzNmL3Njcm5zaG90OTcuM2YxYjIuanBnCnAJdGh1bWIJMTIwMHg5NjAwPg/cd08f364/1a4/scrnshot97.jpg" data-micro="1" data-width="950" src="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA3LzI5LzNmL3Njcm5zaG90OTcuM2YxYjIuanBnCnAJdGh1bWIJMTIwMHg5NjAwPg/cd08f364/1a4/scrnshot97.jpg" title="Yahoo LIvetext " /></span></div><br/><div class="image-credit"><br/><br/>IMAGE: MASHABLE, ADARIO STRANGE<br/><br/></div><br/></figure><br/><h3>Good silly fun (sometimes)</h3><br/>Once you pick someone to start a conversation with, you shift over to a screen where the upper half is a live stream of your friend and the bottom half is a typing field and your phone’s virtual keyboard. What you and your friend type is displayed in large colorful letters atop the video — each line eventually fades and “falls” off-screen.<br/><br/><a name="taking-sound-out-of"></a><br/><blockquote class="microcontent-wrapper pullquote"><br/><div class="microcontent-shares" data-description="Taking sound out of the equation seems like a strange move" data-fragment="taking-sound-out-of" data-url=""></div><br/><span class="microcontent" data-fragment="taking-sound-out-of" data-description="Taking sound out of the equation seems like a strange move" data-micro="1">Taking sound out of the equation seems like a strange move</span></blockquote><br/><span class="microcontent" data-fragment="taking-sound-out-of" data-description="Taking sound out of the equation seems like a strange move" data-micro="1">Taking sound out of the equation seems like a strange move</span> –- an arbitrary handicap imposed by Yahoo that forces you to text. Sure, it’s a little awkward at first, but in several chats, that actually made for some good, silly fun.<br/><br/>Eventually, the fundamental idea behind Livetext begins to make some sense. A lot of nuance can get lost in plain old text-based messaging. Maybe your friend meant their texts to be supportive, but instead they came across as brisk, almost critical, because they skipped the emoji or you didn’t have more context, like their facial expressions. Livetext offers that.<br/><br/>Because the app just came out, there are bugs. In one chat with a coworker, video was really choppy on both ends for several minutes, even though we used Livetext on Wi-Fi with our iPhone 6s. On her end, she noticed a few lines of computer code pop up in the video feed.<br/><br/><figure class="image"><a name="m!b830"></a><br/><div class="microcontent-wrapper"><br/><div class="microcontent-shares" data-description="" data-fragment="m!b830" data-image="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA4LzAyLzI0L3lhaG9vLjJkODcxLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/1ed9aa68/8a3/yahoo.jpg" data-url=""></div><br/><span class="lightbox-expand for-lightbox"><img alt="yahoo" class="" data-caption="A Yahoo sign stands outside the company's offices in Santa Clara, Calif., Monday, May 20, 2012. " data-credit-link="" data-credit-name="Paul Sakuma" data-credit-provider="AP" data-fragment="m!b830" data-image="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA4LzAyLzI0L3lhaG9vLjJkODcxLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/1ed9aa68/8a3/yahoo.jpg" data-micro="1" data-width="1920" src="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA4LzAyLzI0L3lhaG9vLjJkODcxLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/1ed9aa68/8a3/yahoo.jpg" title="yahoo" /></span></div><br/><figcaption class="image-caption">A Yahoo sign stands outside the company's offices in Santa Clara, Calif., Monday, May 20, 2012.<br/><br/></figcaption><br/><div class="image-credit"><br/><br/>IMAGE: PAUL SAKUMA/ASSOCIATED PRESS<br/><br/></div><br/></figure><br/><h3>What's next</h3><br/>Yahoo has a fun, compelling product in Livetext, but the app must overcome some serious challenges.<br/><br/>The messaging space is already extremely crowded: WhatsApp has over 800 million users, Messenger has 700 million-plus, and Snapchat has over 200 million by some third-party estimates, just to start.<a name="launching-livetext-so-late"></a><br/><blockquote class="microcontent-wrapper pullquote"><br/><div class="microcontent-shares" data-description="Launching Livetext so late in the game won't do the app any favors" data-fragment="launching-livetext-so-late" data-url=""></div><br/><span class="microcontent" data-fragment="launching-livetext-so-late" data-description="Launching Livetext so late in the game won't do the app any favors" data-micro="1">Launching Livetext so late in the game won't do the app any favors</span></blockquote><br/><span class="microcontent" data-fragment="launching-livetext-so-late" data-description="Launching Livetext so late in the game won't do the app any favors" data-micro="1">Launching Livetext so late in the game won't do the app any favors</span> — it makes attracting users that much harder.<br/><br/>Livetext must also overcome Yahoo's own branding. The 21-year-old company remains a force in tech, but it's not "cool," and hasn't been since the early 2000s.<br/><br/>The company instead might want to take a lesson from Facebook. From a pure marketing perspective, Facebook may be the second-most trafficked web site in the world with 1.49 billion users, but as a publicly-traded company and a service also used by mothers and grandmothers now, it's not exactly "hip" anymore. Yahoo and Facebook have that in common, at least.<br/><br/>Which is why Facebook is basically distancing its brand from many of the standalone apps it owns and develops. The social network doesn't want Instagram, Messenger and others to see its growth, particularly with younger users, possibly hobbled by the public's perception of of an "aging" Facebook.<br/><br/>If Yahoo wants to attract the same younger millennials that gravitate to Snapchat with Livetext (which it so obviously does), it's not doing itself any favors by making Yahoo's logo so prominent in areas like Livetext's app icon.<br/><br/>In this case, at least, less really is more.<br/><br/><em>Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.</em>

Livetext app is silly fun, but no Snapchat

Chances are your phone is chock-full of messaging apps already, whether it's Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Yik Yak or somethin...

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Cecil the lion and endangered species glow on the Empire State Building

One of the most iconic symbols of metropolitan life brought a little nature to New York City Saturday night when filmmakers projected images of <a href="http://mashable.com/category/endangered-species/">endangered species</a> on the Empire State Building.<br/><br/><a href="http://mashable.com/category/cecil-the-lion/">Cecil the lion</a>, whose death sparked international outrage, was included in the display along with eagles, leopards, monkeys and manta rays lighting up the Manhattan skyline.<br/><br/>Louie Psihoyos, director of the Oscar-winning film exploring dolphin hunting in Japan<em>The Cove</em>, conceived this project, which serves as a companion to his upcoming documentary <em>Racing Extinction</em> airing on The Discovery Channel in December. More than 160 animals were featured, according to <em><a href="http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/NYC-Empire-State-Building-Light-Show-Endangered-Species-Projection-320398192.html" target="_blank">NBC New York</a></em>.<br/><br/>"There's only 3,500 wild male lions out there. The gun lobby keeps them from being on the list but they are endangered," Psihoyos told <em>NBC</em>. "Cecil — I mean what a — at least there are other lions left. I've photographed some species where it's the last male of a species, like the Rabbs' Fringe-limbed tree frog."<br/><br/>The projection was the first of its kind on the classic skyscraper, taking up 33 floors.<br/><br/><img alt="Baldeagleempirestatebuilding" src="http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA4LzAyLzI4L2JhbGRlYWdsZWVtLjFiYjFiLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTg1MHg4NTA-CmUJanBn/92cef320/0fe/baldeagleempirestatebuilding.jpg" /><br/><br/><img alt="Empirestatebuilding" src="http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA4LzAyLzM1L2VtcGlyZXN0YXRlLmU0NzNiLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTg1MHg4NTA-CmUJanBn/23149c8a/f5b/empirestatebuilding.jpg" /><br/><br/><img alt="Empirestatebuilding7" src="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA4LzAyLzM1L2VtcGlyZXN0YXRlLmI0OWM5LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTg1MHg4NTA-CmUJanBn/df04b85b/67d/empirestatebuilding7.jpg" /><br/><br/><img alt="Empirestatebuilding3" src="http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA4LzAyLzM1L2VtcGlyZXN0YXRlLjhhNWIwLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTg1MHg4NTA-CmUJanBn/41de66b2/173/empirestatebuilding3.jpg" /><br/><br/><img alt="Empirestatebuilding5" src="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA4LzAyLzM1L2VtcGlyZXN0YXRlLmEyNzg3LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTg1MHg4NTA-CmUJanBn/b787050f/dbd/empirestatebuilding5.jpg" /><br/><br/><img alt="Empirestatebuilding6" src="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA4LzAyLzM1L2VtcGlyZXN0YXRlLmQwODhmLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTg1MHg4NTA-CmUJanBn/0ed13e02/a3b/empirestatebuilding6.jpg" /><br/><br/><img alt="Empirestatebuilding4" src="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA4LzAyLzM1L2VtcGlyZXN0YXRlLjQ0NzY4LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTg1MHg4NTA-CmUJanBn/1449e736/6d1/empirestatebuilding4.jpg" />

Cecil the lion and endangered species glow on the Empire State Building

One of the most iconic symbols of metropolitan life brought a little nature to New York City Saturday night when filmmakers projected images...

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Cecil the lion's brother Jericho is not dead

Jericho, the brother of Cecil the lion, is in all likelihood alive and well, according to conservation workers in Zimbabwe.<br/><br/>Trevor Lane, of the Bhejane Trust, a Zimbabwean conservation organization, confirmed to <em>Mashable</em> that as of two hours ago, Jericho was still moving around based on GPS signals coming from his tracking device. The GPS device sends a signal every hour. Lane said that he had spoken to the researchers at Oxford who are tracking Jericho. They said he was seen in the company of a lioness and the pair were presumed to be mating.<br/><br/>There is an ongoing investigation into the death of another lion in the park, which was killed in early July, Lane said, but that lion is not Jericho.<br/><br/>"I think someone jumped the gun," in regards to Jericho's death, Lane said. "I don't know how on earth Jericho came into the picture."<br/><br/><em>The Guardian</em> also reported that the researcher who put the collar on Jericho, Brent Staplekamp, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/01/jericho-not-dead-cecil-the-lion-zimbabwe?CMP=twt_gu" target="_blank">said the lion was doing fine</a>.<br/><br/>Cecil, the famous African lion, was <a data-crackerjax="#post-slider" href="http://mashable.com/2015/08/01/cecil-the-lion-cost-55000-in-the-trophy-hunting-economy/">killed</a> by Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer during an illegal 40-hour long hunt in early July — an opportunity Palmer paid $55,000 for.<br/><br/>Palmer, who has gone into hiding since the incident, initially attempted to defend his actions by claiming he was unaware the hunting operation he paid thousands for was illegal. People mourning Cecil's death by Palmer have turned the dentist's Bloomington, Minnesota offices into a sort of <a data-crackerjax="#post-slider" href="http://mashable.com/2015/07/29/cecil-the-lion-dentists-office/">memorial</a>, leaving stuffed animals alongside a sign that reads, "You are a coward and a killer," in blood-red paint.<br/><br/>"Both the professional hunter and land owner had no permit or quota to justify the offtake of the lion and therefore are liable for the illegal hunt," the Zimbabwe National Parks <a data-crackerjax="#post-slider" href="http://mashable.com/2015/07/28/cecil-the-lion-killed-by-dentist/">previously said</a>.<br/><br/><em>Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.</em>

Cecil the lion's brother Jericho is not dead

Jericho, the brother of Cecil the lion, is in all likelihood alive and well, according to conservation workers in Zimbabwe. Trevor Lane, of ...

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Selfie app Frontback comes back to life thanks to mysterious new 'partner'

Frontback has made a miraculous recovery. After <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/24/9030797/frontback-selfie-app-closes">announcing last week that the company was shutting down</a>, the selfie app is taking a 180 — literally. It turns out the service isn't going anywhere: late on Friday, the company announced that it had "signed an agreement with a partner," keeping the app alive.<br/><br/>The app first launched two years ago, and it's based on a simple idea. Instead of simply taking a picture of yourself, why not share a single photo that shows you and what's going on around you? Frontback uses your phone's front and rear cameras to take two photos at the same time. They're then stitched together for easy sharing on Frontback's network or elsewhere.<br/><br/><q class="right">FRONTBACK TAKES A LITERAL 180</q><br/><br/>The app quickly <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/22/4544982/frontback-app-for-iphone">gained attention</a>, funding, and over 2 million users, but founder Fredd della Faille said last week that it couldn't build up a large enough user base to make the business work. He wrote <a href="http://www.frontback.me/">in a blog post</a>, "After discussions with our team and investors, we realized that we couldn't reach the critical numbers that would make Frontback a sustainable social network."<br/><br/>Friday's surprise announcement, posted on Frontback's website, doesn't explain who the mysterious new partner is nor does it reveal what kind of agreement was signed. It merely states that the partner "believes as much as we do that there’s something incredible with Frontback," adding, "This partner is fully committed to make Frontback an even better place to share your moments." It sounds like there will be some changes though, as the announcement continues on to state, "we were impressed by how much they understand the platform and we will help the new team to make the transition as smooth as possible." The partner also apparently has "fresh ideas" for the future of Frontback.<br/><br/>Founder della Faille <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/frontback-the-once-hot-startup-that-rejected-a-40-million-twitter-acquisition-is-back-from-the-dead-2015-7?op=1">tells </a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/frontback-the-once-hot-startup-that-rejected-a-40-million-twitter-acquisition-is-back-from-the-dead-2015-7?op=1"><em>Business Insider</em></a> that the new partner "will introduce themselves at the right time." For now, he notes, "We're very happy we found a solution for our community." The lifeline also gives Frontback a second chance to prove that it wasn't wrong to pass up a rumored $40 million <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/29/buzzy-photo-app-frontback-shuns-twitter-interest-raises-millions-instead/">acquisition offer from Twitter</a>.

Selfie app Frontback comes back to life thanks to mysterious new 'partner'

Frontback has made a miraculous recovery. After announcing last week that the company was shutting down , the selfie app is taking a 180 — l...

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Cecil the lion cost $55,000 in the trophy hunting economy

Farmer Mick Jameson grew up hunting in Nebraska, and travelled to South Africa for a trophy hunting expedition last year where he shot plain game like deer and ampala. And he’s planning another trip this year.<br/><br/>“I took 700 pictures — mostly of wild game that I didn’t shoot it,” Jameson told<em>Mashable</em>. “I love animals, and through hunting, I get immersed in that kind of environment just full of them. And I get to see more of them than those who are against hunting.”<br/><br/>But trophy hunting has come under fire in the past few days, after Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who allegedly <a data-crackerjax="#post-slider" href="http://mashable.com/2015/07/28/cecil-the-lion-killed-by-dentist/">killed </a>the famous Cecil the Lion, reportedly paid $55,000 for the opportunity to shoot a lion.<br/><br/>The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force says now that the hunt wasn’t legal, but Palmer <a data-crackerjax="#post-slider" href="http://mashable.com/2015/07/28/cecil-the-lion-dentist-speaks/">insists</a> he relied on his guides to make sure the hunt was legal. All are now facing legal charges.<br/><br/>That $55,000 isn’t out of the ordinary. Trophy hunting, which sends many hunting-enthused tourists to Africa to hunt and allows them to bring back animal parts as "trophies," is a highly lucrative business in low-income countries in Africa. And it’s also entirely legal, unlike poaching, so long as hunters have the proper permits from animal trade organizations.<br/><br/>Google ‘trophy hunting’ and you’ll find a slew of businesses that offer trophy hunting packages with price tags in the thousands. Smithsonian <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/should-trophy-hunting-of-lions-be-banned-155657735/?no-ist" target="_blank">cites</a> figures that say 600 lions, 800 leopards, 640 elephants, and 3,000 buffalo are slain by trophy hunters each year.<br/><br/>The values placed on these animals seem random and arbitrary: <a href="http://wildafricahuntingsafaris.com/" target="_blank">Wild Africa Hunting Safaris</a> — which take place in the Limpopo province, which have the highest poverty rates in South Africa — charges tourists $4,500 to hunt a giraffe, $2,800 for a waterbuck, $1,800 for a zebra, and $350 for a porcupine. <a href="http://www.namibiahuntingsafaris.com/" target="_blank">Namibia Hunting Safaris</a> charge $600 for an ostrich, $800 for a honey badger, and nothing for birds.<br/><br/>Jameson, who works as hunting consultant for Wild Africa Hunting Safaris, tells<em>Mashable</em> that these prices are all determined by supply and demand.<br/><br/>“Each of these places has to put a value on the animal,” Jameson says, noting that factors that may lead to the variance in pricing include how hard the animals are to hunt and how much it costs for the concession to take care of the animal.<br/><h3>Price lists for animal life</h3><br/>The gold of the trophy hunting economy is clearly the Big Five: the elephant, the buffalo, the leopard, the rhinoceros, and lions like Cecil. <a href="http://www.luxuryhunts.com/" target="_blank">Luxury Hunts</a>, for instance, charges $49,000 for a lion-hunting package, $20,000 for a package to hunt an elephant, $16,500 for a package to hunt a leopard, and $11,999 for a package to hunt a buffalo.<br/><br/><figure class="image"><span class="lightbox-expand"><a name="m!9d9b"></a></span><br/><div class="microcontent-wrapper for-lightbox"><br/><div class="microcontent-shares" data-description="" data-fragment="m!9d9b" data-image="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA3LzMxL2U0L2VsZXBoYW50LmQ2YjFkLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/c83033d4/161/elephant.jpg" data-url=""></div><br/><img alt="Elephant" class="for-lightbox" data-caption="An African elephant takes a mud bath in March 2015." data-credit-link="" data-credit-name="Rex Features" data-credit-provider="AP" data-fragment="m!9d9b" data-image="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA3LzMxL2U0L2VsZXBoYW50LmQ2YjFkLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/c83033d4/161/elephant.jpg" data-micro="1" data-width="640" src="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA3LzMxL2U0L2VsZXBoYW50LmQ2YjFkLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/c83033d4/161/elephant.jpg" title="Trophy hunting protests" /></div><br/><figcaption class="image-caption">An African elephant takes a mud bath in March 2015.<br/><br/></figcaption><br/><div class="image-credit"><br/><br/>IMAGE: REX FEATURES/ASSOCIATED PRESS<br/><br/></div><br/></figure>Jameson says that these prices are good for the low-income countries that are home to trophy hunting concessions, which he said are plentiful. “That’s kind of their farms,” Jameson said.<br/><br/>“I take care of my cattle so they make me the most money,” Jameson said. “And that’s the way that the people over there live too — they take care of their animals, and they’ll make the most money.”<br/><br/>But where is that money actually going?<br/><br/>That’s a point of debate for conservationists and hunters. Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman for the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, says we’re lacking data on whether that money is being funneled into communities and conservation efforts.<br/><br/>“If we have sufficient animals, then it could help the economy to hunt the older animals but the problem is, we don't know how many animals we have here,” Rodrigues told <em>Mashable</em> in an email. “A proper audit hasn't been done since 1997.”<br/><br/>A highly cited <a href="http://www.africanwildlifeconservationfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Economic-and-conservation-significance.pdf" target="_blank">study</a> from 2006 says that trophy hunting generates $200 million in revenue for African countries annually, and that that money aids conservation and communities.<br/><br/>But <a href="http://www.ifaw.org/sites/default/files/Ecolarge-2013-200m-question.pdf" target="_blank">a report</a> by Economics at Large disputes that figure, and says that money sure isn’t reaching the people in the African communities who need it the most. Another report from the International Union for Conservation <a href="https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/documents/2009-074-En.pdf" target="_blank">says</a> that this money also isn’t going toward conservation at all.<br/><br/><figure class="image"><span class="lightbox-expand"><a name="m!25d8"></a></span><br/><div class="microcontent-wrapper for-lightbox"><br/><div class="microcontent-shares" data-description="" data-fragment="m!25d8" data-image="http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA3LzMxL2M0L3Ryb3BoeWh1bnRpLjU2ODY5LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/70bef991/7da/trophy-hunting-protests.jpg" data-url=""></div><br/><img alt="Zimbabwe-Lion Killed-Protest" class="for-lightbox" data-caption="Protests outside the Dallas Convention Center where the Dallas Safari Club is holding its weekend show and auction, where a permit to shoot an endangered black rhinoceros in Africa was up for bid, in Dallas in Jan, 2014." data-credit-link="" data-credit-name="Tony Gutierrez" data-credit-provider="AP" data-fragment="m!25d8" data-image="http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA3LzMxL2M0L3Ryb3BoeWh1bnRpLjU2ODY5LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/70bef991/7da/trophy-hunting-protests.jpg" data-micro="1" data-width="640" src="http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzA3LzMxL2M0L3Ryb3BoeWh1bnRpLjU2ODY5LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/70bef991/7da/trophy-hunting-protests.jpg" title="Trophy hunting protests" /></div><br/><figcaption class="image-caption">Protests outside the Dallas Convention Center where the Dallas Safari Club is holding its weekend show and auction, where a permit to shoot an endangered black rhinoceros in Africa was up for bid, in Dallas in Jan, 2014.<br/><br/></figcaption><br/><div class="image-credit"><br/><br/>IMAGE: TONY GUTIERREZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS<br/><br/></div><br/></figure>“It is a corrupt business from start to finish,” conservation group Lion Alert said <a href="http://lionalert.org/page/A_socio-economic_analysis_of_trophy_hunting_areas" target="_blank">in a statement</a> published on its website. “Change can come, but it will take a concerted effort by clients to seek out hunting operators who truly are involved with conservation ethics and amelioration of rural community poverty and hunger.”<br/><br/>In the wake of Cecil the lion’s death, some have advocated to get rid of trophy hunting completely for humane reasons, or push other forms of tourism, like photographic tourism, to bring in the bucks. Lion Alert <a href="http://lionalert.org/page/A_socio-economic_analysis_of_trophy_hunting_areas" target="_blank">notes</a> that photo tourism can boost permanent employment 39 times more than the trophy hunting industry.<br/><br/><iframe id="twitter-widget-2" class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" title="Twitter Tweet" width="300" height="204" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><br/><br/>Jameson says that Cecil’s death was unfortunate, but doesn’t agree that ending trophy hunting will solve anything. “The sportsmen are going to stand behind any kind of punishment for what these guys did wrong, and that’s the way it should be,” Jameson says.<br/><br/>And Rodrigues says that he doesn’t believe the industry will undergo any significant changes after Cecil’s death — even though he says it desperately needs it — unless African governments yield to international pressure.<br/><br/>“It is such a lucrative business,” Rodrigues says.<br/><br/><em>Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.</em>

Cecil the lion cost $55,000 in the trophy hunting economy

Farmer Mick Jameson grew up hunting in Nebraska, and travelled to South Africa for a trophy hunting expedition last year where he shot plain...

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