Credit: Justin Bare

After months of teaser videos and revealing details, yesterday I finally got to look through the other side of Google Glass. Yes, I finally got my $1,500 Google Glass Explorer edition.

Glass is, of course, those Google glasses, which overlay digital information in the real world. You can take photos, search Google, get directions all by putting on the glasses and starring into a tiny screen.

So what does the future look like? It looks like this — a lot of people taking photos of you. In the last 24 hours, I’ve had tons of people give me deep stares and snap photos of me wearing the digital spectacles.

Yes, the future is looking into not one but two pieces of glass. The pictures below were taken by me with my Google Glass with just a touch to the frame.

Don’t worry, we will have some more serious impressions of what looking through Glass is like soon!

Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Speculation is rampant about what visual changes Apple may be working into the latest version of its mobile device software, iOS 7, set to be announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, June 10-14.

Sources familiar with these alleged changes in the software that powers the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch have said Apple is moving away from a realism look – the way elements and apps have been built to replicate real life with three-dimensional layering and faux texturing – and introducing a simpler, “flatter” design, according to Bloomberg. A report by 9to5Mac corroborates this report, citing sources that said the new elements in iOS 7 will be moving in the direction of Microsoft’s Windows Phone “Metro” UI.

Image credit: Apple

The event invitation for WWDC is even being sniffed for clues. “Apple’s WWDC 2013 logo, the art for the conference in which iOS 7 will be announced, has sparked speculation about flat interface design with its modern, lightweight text and other elements,” 9to5Mac posted.

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, a known Apple speculator, has also commented on an “apparently rather significant system-wide UI overhaul” for the newest version of Apple’s mobile OS. He posted that Apple employees have been asked to use polarizing filters on their iPhone displays, making it difficult for observers see the design changes ahead of the iOS 7 announcement.

READ: Microsoft’s New Ad Pokes Fun at Apple-Samsung War

These purported software changes are attributed to the new oversight of software design by Jony Ives, Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design. Ives, head of the team responsible for the lauded iPhone and iPod hardware, has been given extended influence over mobile software design after the Apple Maps blunder and exit of former senior vice president of iOS software Scott Forstall, Bloomberg reported.

The general look and style of Apple’s iOS has remained the same since being introduced in 2007. Since then, Google’s Android has been visually revamped a number of times, most recently under the supervision of Palm WebOS convert Matias Duarte. New designs have also been brought to market by Microsoft with Windows Phone offerings and by Blackberry with the latest line of Blackberry 10 devices.

Image credit: weather.com

The interns over at the Weather Channel seem to be having a whirlwind of a time.

To celebrate Tornado Week, the Weather Channel has placed its interns into an indoor Twitter-powered tornado. The winds are sustained by Twitter mentions of the hashtag #TornadoWeek and will  increase to “a full-blown EF-5 tornado,” or somewhere above 200 mph, inside the Weather Channel offices  if the number of public mentions reaches 1,000,000, according to the Weather Channel website.

Don’t worry, though, this isn’t a form of hazing. The Weather Channel says putting the interns’ desk in a high-powered windstorm was actually the interns’  idea. Talk about taking an active interest in your work …

The Weather Channel is live-streaming the whole event from now until 8 p.m. Friday, May 3,  and the interns are available to chat at the Twitter handle @TornadoWeek.

Tuesday afternoon, the Effective Wind Speed (EWS) in the Weather Channel offices was up to 120 mph, but as more #TornadoWeek tweets come in, the number of fans and force  of the winds will increase.

And it’s not just the interns.  The whole staff at the Weather Channel seems to be getting involved. Here’s a tweet from anchor Maria LaRosa:

We need 2500 more tweets for another fan. #FanUp #tornadoweek What will it take??

— Maria LaRosa ☼ (@twcMariaLaRosa) April 30, 2013

Worried about the dangers involved in re-creating a 200 mph tornado in an office? Don’t be.

“Our legal team would certainly not allow us to create actual 200 mph winds within our offices. Instead we are trying to re-create the ‘feeling’ of these wind speeds by close proximity placement of the fans to the interns,” a Weather Channel spokesperson told ABC News.

Check out the live stream below while it’s still up and keep the #TornadoWeek tweets coming.

Credit: Microsoft

While Samsung and Apple battle it out, Microsoft’s message is “Don’t fight. Switch.”

The ad is set at an Apple and Samsung wedding. No, the two companies aren’t getting married, but on the bride’s side you’ve got iPhone owners and on the groom’s Galaxy S users. During the wedding, an all-out fight erupts between the two sides of the aisle.

Yes, even a man with an Apple chest tattoo appears to defend his beloved iPhone. In the middle of all the fighting, two Windows phone owners – Nokia Lumia 920 owners, to be specific – ask themselves, why everyone is fighting?

Apple and Samsung have been duking it out both on store shelves and in the courtroom in the past few years. Apple has sued Samsung for patent infringement and attacked Samsung’s recent Galaxy S4 smartphone, and Samsung ran a series of ads last year poking fun at Apple users who were waiting in line for the next iPhone.

RELATED: Microsoft Windows Phone 8 Details: New Home Screen, Turn-by-Turn Navigation, Skype Integration

While the two leaders battle it out, though, Microsoft’s Windows phone continues to vie for market share. Android holds 70.1 percent of the market, Apple’s iPhone 21 percent, and Microsoft’s Windows phone is down at 2.6 percent, according to analyst firm IDC’s latest numbers.

But perhaps some clever marketing can help with that. Microsoft’s message is clear: The iPhone and Samsung phones won’t love you unconditionally, so you should switch to Windows phone, if only to avoid the brutal fight.

Credit: Budweiser

Budweiser doesn’t think grabbing some beers at a bar is quite social enough. Or at least not social network enough.

The company’s Brazil team has come up with the Buddy Cup- a cup that when tapped with another one of its kind allows the two cup holders to become Facebook friends. That’s right, no need to put down the beer, take out the phone, search for a name and then send a friend request.

So, how does it all work?  Similar to other connected objects, Manuel Rangel Macchiavello of Budweiser Brazil said. A computer chip with what Budweiser calls a “bump sensor”  is integrated into the bottom of the cup. Also on the bottom of the cup is a QR code, which works with a Budweiser app to link the cup to your Facebook account. When two people clink glasses, the friend request is sent from one to another.

“The Buddy Cup brings together the in-bar experience with Facebook, the most used social media channel for our consumers,”  Macchiavello told ABC News.

RELATED: Heinz’s Musical Fruit Now Includes Musical Spoon

The Buddy Cup joins some other connected food utensils. HapiLabs came out with its connected HapiFork at CES earlier this year. The fork pairs with your phone and warns you when you are eating too fast by vibrating. And in March, to promote new flavored varieties of their popular baked beans in the United Kingdom, Heinz released special spoons outfitted with tiny MP3 players.

But before you get excited about being able to make friends all over the bar, the prototype cups are just that, prototypes. However, Macchiavello told ABC News that a pilot event was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, that it was an “instant success” and that the team is looking at taking this to bigger events in the future.

As for U.S. Bud and Bud Light drinkers, the company said this is a Brazil-only program for now.

Credit: Robert Scoble

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has said himself that there might be some places where it might not be best to wear Google Glass — Google’s connected glasses, which overlays digital information in the real world. But a well-known technology and social media personality Robert Scoble has found that his personal shower is not one of those places.

Scoble, who received his $1,500 Explorer version of Glass two weeks ago, has been documenting his time with the wearable device on Google+. When he shared that his pair survived a serious rainstorm, some doubted that the Glass could be that water resistant.

“You thought I was kidding when I said I would never take them off,” Scoble wrote on his Google+ page. “Yes, they survive being wet. I had them full on soaked in my shower this morning.”

RELATED: Google Chairman Didn’t Wear Glass in NKorea

Scoble told ABC News that the photo was staged — his wife took it — but he did want to show everyone that the device is water-resistant. “I knew they would survive, they were in a rainstorm last week. I just figured that it would be a hot talking point.  I thought what would be a way to show that off, so I put them in the shower,” Scoble told ABC News.

Scoble says that while no one asked him to talk them off in the shower, there have been other places that he has been asked to take off the glasses, including in a casino and at airport security.

Google, however, does not suggest putting the device in water. “Don’t let the Glass device or battery come in contact with liquids. Liquids can get into the electronic components, leading to corrosion,” Google writes on its Glass FAQ page.

With that, we’d say Scoble got pretty lucky. He says his pair works as if nothing had happened. Lucky for him — that would have been $1,500 right down the drain.

Credit: Facebook

When Facebook released its Facebook Home software, which replaces Google’s Android homescreen with Facebook photos and updates, many wondered how Google itself would react to its software being reshaped for the social network.

However, the chief of Google’s Android design now joins Google Chairman Eric Schmidt in praising Facebook’s software designers.

“The new Facebook Home shows an incredible amount of polish and attention to design detail, and that didn’t come from a hardware manufacturer,” Matias Durate, Google’s director of Android Operating System User Experience, told ABC News. “With the Home experience, they did a nice job expressing the Facebook experience, but so much of the Google design experience with Ice Cream Sandwich [Android 4.0] was in there as well.”

Duarte said the fact that the Home software replaces a lot of the Android homescreen experience didn’t bother him and stressed that the openness of Android allows phone makers to customize the design of the software. With Home, the front of the screen is taken over by Facebook’s Cover Feed and there are some added messaging features, but below that is a clean version of Android. The HTC First, the first phone to ship with Facebook Home, also ships with a clean or stock version of Android.

RELATED: Facebook Home and HTC First Review 

Other phone makers like Samsung choose to put their own design touches on the underlying Android software. For instance, on Samsung’s latest Galaxy S4, Samsung has redesigned all parts of the software with different fonts and app icons. Duarte wouldn’t comment directly on Samsung’s Galaxy S4 software design, but said that he is generally excited “about a trend where people have more designers involved in their customizations of Android. The work we do with the Google apps fits more seamless with it.”

Today Google released its Google Now service for the iPhone and iPad, which brings some of the new clean design elements from the latest version of Android to Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Google is expected to preview the next version of its Android operating system at its Google I/O conference next month in San Francisco.

Image credit: ZeptoLab

App Name: Cut the Rope: Time Travel

Price: $.99 (iPhone,  iPod Touch, and Android), $2.99 (iPad)

Available Platforms: iOS, Android, and Nook

What does this app do?: Om Nom is a hungry monster with an insatiable sweet tooth. He also has deep curiosity about his family roots. At least, that’s what ZeptoLab, the makers of the popular game “Cut the Rope” are saying with a new game they launched earlier this month, “Cut The Rope: Time Travel.” The newest incarnation of this game takes the well-loved premise of “Cut the Rope,” originally released in 2010, and adds new characters and levels based on eras in history, such as the Middle Ages or Ancient Egypt. In this newer version, players not only have to find candy to feed Om Nom, they also have to do so for his relatives.

This is a puzzle game and one that gets progressively more difficult as users complete each level.  At each stage, pieces of candy hang from ropes while Om Nom and one of his ravenous relatives wait, hungry for their tantalizing treat. Swipe to the left or right to cut the rope and watch as candy falls into their wide-open mouths. As players progress, they encounter more and more obstacles, such as bombs and bubbles that will send candy flying and floating away, or chains that you must  slice with a blade.  With each piece of candy you feed the monsters, you collect stars, the equivalent to points. The more stars you collect in a particular level, the more bonus points you earn toward other features, such as super powers you can use to assist you with your strategy.

The app offers some additional features for players who want to learn more about Om Nom and his ancestry. Tap the camera icon to view animated stories created by ZeptoLab on YouTube. Aside from the additional characters and era-based levels, “Cut the Rope: Time Travel” offers a simple, but delightful design with brightly colored backdrops and energetic sound effects reminiscent of your favorite Saturday morning cartoons.

Is it easy to get started? It’s easy to download and install “Cut the Rope: Time Travel.”  Assuming they already a have Game Center profile set up in iOS, users can start playing immediately.

Should I try it? If you’re looking for some addictive fun to pass the time and you haven’t already tried the earlier version, “Cut The Rope,” then give “Cut the Rope: Time Travel” a whirl. The premise is simple, and, therefore, easy to catch on to, but the game presents enough head-scratching challenges to keep users engaged.  If, however, you already have an earlier release or play something similar, such as “Temple Run,” there’s no need to purchase another one. The game’s draw lies with its additional challenges and vividly rendered graphics but, overall, it fulfills the same need to pass the time as others like it do. Therefore, if you are already playing something else, likely you are getting your fill.

Image credit: Charity Buzz

How much would you pay to have coffee with the CEO of one of the most valuable companies in the world? If you said about the price of the coffee itself, you’re not bidding high enough.

Apple CEO Tim Cook donated a coffee date with himself at the Apple campus to the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Spring 2013 Auction, and bidding has already reached more than a half a million dollars. As of  April 26, 2013, coffee with Cook was at $565,000, with  79 bids so far. The listed estimated value of the lunch? $50,000.

This is the sixth year of the RFK Spring Auction. The proceeds go to the organization, which supports human rights advocacy around the world. According to the organization, previous annual auctions have raised more than $3.5 million for human rights work. In addition to Cook’s coffee date, a lunch date with Francis Ford Coppola and a tour of the SpaceX Center with Elon Musk are being offered  through charitybuzz.com. But Cook’s coffee remains in the lead — the SpaceX tour is locked at $7,500,  and lunch with Coppola at $4,500.

Starting on Aug. 24 2011, Tim Cook succeeded Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple. Before  that he was the COO at the company. Bidding ends on May 14, 2013.  Let’s just hope Cook picks up the cup of Joe when it comes time for the big date.

Image credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Getty Images

Smartphones have finally outpaced feature phones (dumbphones) in unit of worldwide sales this past quarter, so says a new report by the International Data Corp.

Smartphone vendors shipped 216.2 million units in the first quarter of 2013, which accounted for 51.6 percent of the worldwide mobile phone market. These numbers indicate a 41.6 percent increase over the number of smartphones shipped a year earlier, 152.7 million in the first quarter of 2012.

“Phone users want computers in their pockets. The days where phones are used primarily to make phone calls and send text messages are quickly fading away,” Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, said in a statement released with the market report.

Richard Doherty, research director for Envisioneering market research group, told ABC News that he believes  the tip in numbers could also be attributed to many mobile phone operators simply wanting more smartphones. “It’s great for carriers, because smartphones use up more data than feature phones,” he said.

“This is like being an oil company and hearing that cars are going back to 14 miles to the gallon.”

READ: Samsung Galaxy S4 Review: An Android Phone Commitment You Won’t Regret

The decrease in sales for feature phones doesn’t mean they will completely drop off anytime soon, according to Doherty.

“A lot of feature phones get recycled,” he said. “Some people in developing countries are using them second and third hand.” Doherty also said that plenty of smaller countries have yet to develop 3G networks, rendering smartphones all but useless.

But even as the piece of the pie grows even larger for the smartphone market share, Doherty believes there would likely always be niche crowds of those who want inexpensive flip phones or prepaid phones strictly for voice calling.

Data from the IDC report shows Samsung as the world’s leading mobile phone maker with 115 million phones sold last quarter, 70.7 million of which were smartphones. Apple is shown as the third largest phone maker and second largest smartphone maker, with 37.4 million smartphones sold.