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Apple plans to make online shopping a little easier this fall. iOS8, the new iPhone operating system that's coming out later this year,  will let you scan your credit card when buying something in Safari . Instead of typing in numbers, you'll be able to hold up your card and have the iPhone automatically recognize the numbers and punch them in for you. Here's what it will look like, with photos courtesy of 9to5 Mac: Apple debuted both the new iPhone and Mac operating systems in San Francisco on Monday. Though you can't get the updates until this fall, a few developers already have access -- and the credit card feature is just one of several changes that are coming to your phone and computer. The company also has plans to make texting easier, and might be changing the font on the Mac for the first time ever. Some apps  like Uber  already use similar technology to the new card-scanning option, allowing you to hold your credit card up to your phone...

In an episode from the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," Ted's firm designs a skyscraper for a bank. The only problem is that  it looks like a giant penis . Architects in real life can't seem to avoid the same aesthetic. Here are 10 buildings that look like penises. Two of them are twins. Feel free to construct your own puns. Nothing moves a list like this along like double entendres. Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images The headquarters of the People's Daily newspaper in Beijing, China, gave people the shaft daily while it was under construction. Sadly, the  finished building became this . Dwight Burdette /Wikipedia The Ypsilanti Water Tower was, ahem,  erected in 1889 , but its builders might not be too thrilled with its colorful nickname. Locals call it the "brick dick," according to Cabinet Magazine, which bestowed the edifice the title of " Most Phallic Building In The World ." Moment Editorial/Flickr Vision/Getty Images ...

occulus rift Now, logging onto Facebook means looking at photos of a friend’s birthday party. With Facebook’s latest acquisition, it soon might mean joining the party itself. Or at least feeling as if you’re doing so. Imagine you slip on a pair of goggles, fire up Facebook and immediately have the sense you’re stepping into someone’s home. When you turn your head left, you see your friend's living room and a half-dozen people leaning against his couch. Take a few steps forward and you’re staring at champagne glasses in the kitchen, listening to Daft Punk pound over the din of cocktail party chatter. At the end of the night, your skin tingles with pleasure as you enjoy a passionate kiss with your date. Yet back in the real world, there's still no one around you. It may sound futuristic, but Facebook’s new deal signals nothing short of Steven Spielberg-level ambitions. With its acquisition of virtual-reality headset creator Oculus VR, Facebook suggests that it hopes t...

Mark Zuckerberg has described VR as the ‘next major computing platform after mobile’, as Notch pulls support for Minecraft. Virtual reality has an unexpected new champion, as Facebook announces it has bought Oculus VR for $400 million cash and 23.1 million Facebook shares, plus another $300 million in potential bonuses. Not bad for a company that first shot to fame with a Kickstarter campaign for the Oculus Rift headset. The obvious question though is what does Facebook want with what was a start-up company aimed primarily at hardcore PC gamers? ‘Mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow,’ said Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. ‘Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate.’ ‘The incredible thing about the technology is that you feel like you’re actually present in another place with other people. People who try it say it’s different from an...

Hundreds of millions of computers running everything from ATMs to the power grid will be vulnerable to hacking next month when Microsoft stops supporting its old Windows XP operating system. Hackers have been holding onto flaws in Windows XP and waiting to exploit them until after the software giant stops issuing security updates on April 8, experts say. Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence at Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity firm, said it was “fairly dangerous” to continue using the 12-year-old operating system because after the deadline “victims can’t defend themselves.” “I certainly wouldn't run Windows XP after the 8th," Meyers said in an interview. Microsoft announced six years ago it will no longer provide security patches or technical support for the out-of-date software. Yet about  one-third of computers  around the world -- or about 500 million PCs -- still run Windows XP. On Microsoft’s website , a clock ticks down to next month’s Windows deadline an...

Flickr/glassguy12345 Juniper released its  top 10 tech trends  for 2014 today. And if the research firm is right, our cities are going to get smarter, our money is going digital, and we’ll be printing a lot more products at home. Here’s a quick overview: Cities will get smarter Cities will get increasingly smart as sensors and cloud-enabled apps connect transportation, metering, healthcare, lighting, and environment data, and make it actionable.See what Sensity is doing,  building a billion-node planetary network of sensors — in street lights . Also, see what  IBM is doing in San Francisco  and  Cisco is doing in Lake Nona, Florida Mobile money will continue to grow — as will “mAgri” Mobile money is enabling banking and financing systems in the developing world via mobile wallets, which should continue to grow both there and in developing countries. And as mobile grows in Africa and Asia, so will the provision of data, including...

Finally, users of cameras and other accessories need not worry if they are plugging their devices into computers the right way, as the next generation of Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection will be reversible. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group said the new USB Type-C connector will also allow thinner and sleeker product designs and provide a growth path for performance enhancements for future versions of USB. “While USB technology is well established as the favored choice for connecting and powering devices, we recognize the need to develop a new connector to meet evolving design trends in terms of size and usability. The new Type-C connector will fit well with the market’s direction and affords an opportunity to lay a foundation for future versions of USB,” said Brad Saunders, USB 3.0 Promoter Group Chairman. Among the key features of the Type-C connector are: Smaller size, similar to the USB 2.0 Micro-B Usability enhancements, so users need not be concerned about the plug ori...

China – A  couple in China  has been accused of selling their infant daughter in order to purchase an Apple  iPhone . As reported by AFP, Shanghai prosecutors brought a human trafficking case against the couple after finding they placed the child up for adoption online illegally and accepted money for her. Investigators say the mother, whose full identity has been withheld, purchased an iPhone, shoes, and other items with the money received. The couple reportedly claimed to authorities that their intent was to give the girl a better upbringing that their financial circumstances could permit. Reports have not specified the amount of money the couple received for the child. According to online postings, as noted in the AFP report, the request was made for 30,000 yuan and 50,000 yuan ($4,900 and $8,200). This report is provided by Justice News Flash – World Legal News

If  the long lines on Friday  weren't a good enough indication, Apple wants doubters to know the new iPhone is a roaring success. Early Monday morning,  the company announced  that it had sold 9 million models of the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C during the first three days of sales -- calling it a new record high for an iPhone debut. But that's not the whole story. Apple has turned boasting about record-breaking sales into a tradition: Three days after it debuts a new iPhone, Apple puts out a happy press release. In 2012, the company said iPhone 5 sales  topped 5 million . The year before, Apple sold  more than 4 million  iPhone 4S handsets during its first weekend, and the year before that, it sold only  1.7 million models  of the iPhone 4. So with more than 9 million new iPhones sold this year, the iPhone 5S and 5C certainly are record breakers for Apple again -- a nice fact that they can trumpet to weary...

Guard rail turns into a launch ramp, and the world loses a 964 The 964 RSR, driven by Harry Kleinjan, locked its brakes just before a big right-hander, got launched from a guardrail, lost a pair of wheels, then landed in a nearby river on its roof. Which looks precisely as terrifying as it sounds. This   Porsche   911   was racing in the Dutch Rally Hellendoorn in Aadrop over the weekend, and had a bit of an off... Both the driver and co-driver walked away uninjured.   Bet they're glad they weren't in the new 911 Turbo cabriolet...

Shelling out for a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley, or even a Bugatti suddenly seems to make a lot more sense. After all, those exotic cars are at least drivable! This 1:8 scale Lamborghini Aventador model is constructed out of diamonds, carbon-fiber, platinum, gold and a variety of precious stones. ROBERT GULPEN ENGINEERING The world's most expensive model car is expected to fetch a minimum of $7.5 million when it goes to auction later this month. For about $400,000, you could park a brand new Lamborghini Aventador in your garage or driveway. Or if you want to spend an extra $7 million, you could park this model of one in your den. RELATED: COULD THIS BE THE LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO’S SWANSONG? Built by Robert Gülpen Engineering, the model was recently presented at the Frankfurt Auto Show. According to the company’s website, Lamborghini was an easy choice because the automaker’s cars are “exclusive, sensual and challenging, and unmistakably Italian.” ROBERT GULPE...

- Getty Images This weekend marks a new beginning for BlackBerry Messenger (popularly known as BBM) as it becomes available on iPhones and Android smartphones. With an addressable market of a billion users, BBM has the possibility of becoming much bigger than it could have ever been were it to be stuck with BlackBerry smartphones, sales of which have fallen so rapidly that the company is investigating “strategic options” (read going private or a sale). With just 60 million BBM users and increased competition from services like WhatsApp, WeChat, Line and others, can BBM still be relevant? A few things I hear regularly from existing BlackBerry users is how their BBM contacts have shifted to WhatsApp and how most of the conversations have moved on from BBM. Then there are also some users who keep a BlackBerry just because of BBM. “I cannot wait for BBM to come to Android. I want to move from BlackBerry but cannot do that right now,” a journalist friend who works for a newswir...

Android 4.3, an even sweeter Jelly Bean, is available now on Nexus phones and tablets . Restricted profiles limit access to apps and content, at home with your family and at work. Bluetooth Smart support makes Android ready for a whole new class of mobile apps that connect to fitness sensors. Games look great thanks to the 3D realistic, high performance graphics powered by OpenGL ES 3.0. And there's a lot more new in this release: Audio Virtual surround sound - enjoy movies from Google Play with surround sound on Nexus 7 (2013 edition) and other Nexus devices. Surround sound is powered by Fraunhofer Cingo™ mobile audio technology. Dial pad Autocomplete - just start touching numbers or letters and the dial pad will suggest phone num...