Users Start Giving Up on Streaming Video If It Takes Two Seconds to Load

The faster the Internet gets, the less patience we all have with even the most insignificant of waits. A new study shows that a mere two second delay is enough for many people to give up and move on.

According to the recent study, based on 2.3 million views by 6.7 million unique users, users will start abandoning "short" videos after two seconds, and that 20 percent have moved on after five seconds. As far as the study is concerned, "short" equals "less than 30 minutes," so you can probably imagine the migration happens even faster when you're talking about a one or two minute clip.

This mass buffering exodus isn't the same across the board however. A user's patience also depends on the type of network they're using. Fiber, Cable, and DSL users are all pretty similarly impatient, but mobile users are far more likely to wait around staring at the buffering animation like a chump, which isn't all too surprising.

Where do you stand on the Internet video waiting game? Does two seconds sound like an instant, or more like an eternity? More here.

VMultra Bundles USB hub, DVD drive, SD slot and 500GB HDD to Form Utimate Laptop Peripheral

The VMultra combines a USB hub, an SD card slot, a DVD±RW drive and 500GB of storage into a surprisingly slim package that connects to any computer via USB 3.0. If you like, you can even fit your own 2.5-inch hard drive in the SATA III bay. 

You'll have to take out the included 500GB HDD first of course. The company intends this to be a "perfect all-in-one peripheral," especially for notebook travelers looking to lighten their luggage; perhaps to make room for things like "clothes." Each VMultra will cost you $199.99 and will ship starting November 12th. More here.

Winter Sucks Less With Marshmallow Snowmen Chillin’ In Your Cocoa

For the longest time Just Born, the maker of Peeps, has been on the forefront of novelty seasonal marshmallow technology. But the company's monopoly ends now, here, with a mug-friendly Frosty marshmallow.

What would you rather have dissolving away in your hot cocoa? A gooey yellow baby chicken covered in sugar, or these adorable snowmen marshmallows sold in packs of five for $5?  More here.

The First 3D Printing Photobooth Is Like a Walk-In Shrink Ray

If you've ever thought it would be cool to have a miniature figurine of yourself—or maybe a loved one—just hanging out on your desk and doing it's thing, your day has come. The first 3D printing photobooth is due to open in Japan later this month.

From November 24th to January 14th 2013, those who wish get themselves a mini-me can go to the Eye of Gyre exhibition space in Harajuku for the procedure. The miniatures come in three sizes, roughly 4, 6, and 8 inches, and cost the equivalent of $265, $400, and $530 respectively, with modest discounts for groups. You can bet it'll still be expensive though. More here.

Giant Smiley Discovered In Mercury

NASA scientists are having a lot of fun with Messenger, the spacecraft now orbiting Mercury. Not only they are documenting the planet at a resolution of 200 meters per pixel, but they are spotting all kinds of fun stuff. A few weeks ago it was the Sesame Street's cookie monster. Today it's a smiley crater. 

It looks like even the craters on Mercury have heard of Bob Ross! The central peaks of this complex crater have formed in such a way that it resembles a smiling face. This image is oriented so north is toward the bottom.

So far, Messenger has taken 88,746 images "and extensive other data sets." After completing its primary mission—and still working like a champ—the spacecraft is going to capture another 80,000 images. More here.

You Might Literally Be Allergic To BlackBerry Phones

As if RIM wasn't already having enough trouble struggling for relevance with BlackBerry phones, there's yet another thing about the handsets that makes them a bit less appealing compared to iPhones and Android devices: you could actually be allergic to a BlackBerry, in the most literal sense.

According to a recent study, around one third of all BlackBerries contain nickel, a metal that causes allergic reactions in 17 percent of women and 3 percent of men. As if that wasn't bad enough, many of these phones also contain cobalt, yet another contact allergen. If you're allergic, symptoms can include eczema, blisters, lesions, swelling, and in extreme cases, using a BlackBerry can literally be a scarring experience. iPhones and Android phones, on the other hand, were found to be free and clear.

While many BlackBerries old and new have the offending metals, flip-phone models are by far the worst offenders, containing nickel a whopping 91 percent of the time. That's a pretty huge margin, but the fact that this hasn't been a huge issue yet probably means BlackBerries aren't out there ruining lives left and right. Still, if you've got a nickel allergy—or have been suffering from itchy, BlackBerry-face—it's just another reason to write off the suffering brand. More here.

LaCie’s New Waterproof USB Key Is Smaller Than Your House Key

The problem with little USB jump drives is that no matter how many you own, you've never got one when you need it. You could've have sworn you tossed one in your bag, but when it's time to pass files around, it's not there. That's why we're tempted to keep LaCie's new PetiteKeydangling from our keychains.

The PetiteKey comes in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB for $15, $23, and $40. It's waterproof down to 100-meters, scratch-resistant, and tough. There's a two-year warranty, should you want to test that toughness out. But best of all, it's much tinier than its cute-but-not-as-useful ancestor, the iamaKey: The little USB drive weighs 0.25 ounces and measures just 1.5 inches long. In other words, it's smaller and lighter than most actual keys, which means it's actually convenient enough to carry with your everywhere. More here.

A DNA Test Can Predict How Good Beef Will Taste

One cow looks much like another, but some provide meltingly tender meat while others are as tough as old boots. Fortunately, a team of researchers has devised a series of DNA tests that can predict how good beef will taste by the time it hits your plate.

Usually the meat industry takes a bit of a punt on which cows will provides the tastiest steak. Sure, concepts like marbling and hanging method are decent indicators, but a team of researchers from the National Agronomic Research Institute in Theix, France, think they can do better.

That's why they analyzed 3,000 genes involved in muscle biology in order to pick out ones that have an impact on meat qualities like tenderness, flavor and juiciness. Then, having selected genes they thought were important, the team developed a DNA chip which analyzes gene activity in beef samples and can spot fundamental differences in their makeup.

They pitted the chip against a panel of expert tasters and it seems to work well. In fact it was in full agreement, and they found that the genes the device analyzed accounted for up to 40 percent of the variability in tenderness between different samples. The results are published in BMC Veterinary Research.

Of course, the researchers aren't happy yet: the team only uses a handful of genetic markers at the moment, and the test only works with certain breeds of cow. Still, the theory's there, so before too long you might be buying beef based on genetic ranking, not hanging time. More here.

You Can Now Buy Wine from Amazon

Books, hahaha! Streaming video? Whatever. But wine, the blood of Bacchus, harbinger of groping and maybe more? Amazon—get dirt cheap bottles of wino sent straight to your door, you lush.

Starting today, anyone in California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and the District of Columbia can get up to six bottles in one order, with a shipping cost of just $10.

You'll have to get an adult to sign for your shipment at the door, and you can't get bubbly sent to an Amazon Locker yet—it's almost as if the company foresaw the interest of underage kids—but if you're a teen living in an apartment building with a doorman or front desk that signs for all packages, prepare to be swimming in gallons and gallons of cheap wine. More here.

Was This the World’s First Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock?

As long as you don't take the sun into consideration, this 18th century contraption could very well be the world's first alarm clock that uses light as a wake up trigger, instead of sound.

A spring-loaded mechanism triggered by its built-in clock releases a flint-lock that lights a pop-up candle. So if you needed to rise before the sun was up, you didn't have to fumble your way out of bed in the dark looking for a way to light a candle. Brilliant! More here.

Megaupload’s New Website Me.ga Has Already Been Shut Down

Kim Dotcom has been hyping up Megaupload's new website Mega for so long that it seemed like a given that the file sharing site would come back bigger and badder. But it doesn't look likely because Me.ga has already been shut down by Gabon, a small country in Africa that controls the .ga domain.

According to Stuff.co.nz, Blaise Louembe, communications minister for Gabon, says:

Communications Minister Blaise Louembe has reportedly said he had given an instruction for www.me.ga to be "suspended" and that Gabon "cannot serve as a platform or screen for committing acts aimed at violating copyrights, nor be used by unscrupulous people".

Kim Dotcom, ever the obstacle crusher, says they have backup domains to use so it's not a cause for concern. Guess it can't be cleverly named Me.ga anymore though! More here.

This Obama Celebration Is the Most-Liked Facebook Photo Ever

Early this morning, with this simple, joyful photograph, Barack Obama scored yet another victory: the most-liked Facebook photo of all time.

As of now nearly three million people have given the photo—uploaded to Barack Obama's timeline and adorned with a message of "Four more years"—a thumbs up. Between it and last night's most popular tweet ever (same picture, same words), Obama's win has clearly been sanctified by the United States of Internet. Picture is here.

Microsoft Is Killing Off Windows Live Messenger for Skype

The Verge is reporting that Microsoft is trying to nix its Windows Live Messenger client in favor of Skype. That's definitely for the best, and something we've seen coming for a while now. But it also smacks of some missed opportunity for Windows 8 and Windows Phone.

The plan, according to the Verge, is that the backend of Messenger will be moved over to the Skype client. So you still use your Messenger account and contacts, just in Skype. That move's been happening for a while, and apparently 80 percent of Skype IMs are already through the Messenger protocol. Skype is a better alternative for a lot of people than WLM, and consolidating the number of clients under Microsoft's roof is a good thing.

Messenger remains widely used—according to Microsoft's numbers, it and Facebook are the two most popular chat clients. But, honestly, when is the last time you signed into WLM? So Microsoft has been focusing more on the chat functions in Skype—especially with recent improvements to the client's chat interface—and is even integrating it into its People apps in Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 in the near future. More here.

Happy Birthday: Android Turns Five Years Old Today

Under the guidance of Google, the open-sourced OS has become the darling among some of the world’s most popular manufacturers: Samsung, HTC, LG all make Android devices, and that’s just naming a few. Sure, Android still has a fragmentation problem, but the newest devices are better than we’ve ever seen, and a lot are coming equipped with some pretty phenomenal features: Google Now in particular.

Seeing Android grow over the past few years has been fun (Google Play has seen anenormous uptick as well), and we’ve yet to see the best Android has to offer — compare the T-Mobile G1 to a device like the recently announced Nexus 4. The differences are incredible.

Samsung Galaxy Camera Coming to U.K. on November 8

Samsung’s Android-powered Galaxy Camera is coming to the United Kingdom on November 8, just in time for the holiday rush. It’s expected to cost £399.99 (approx. $637), but Samsung is yet to confirm that price tag — despite the release being just three days away.

That’s the price currently being advertised by camera retailer Jessops, and online retailer Clove.co.uk, which is now allowing customers to pre-order. The Galaxy Camera will also be available from various electronics retailers come November 8, including phone stores like Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U, according to The Verge.

Running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the Galaxy Camera comes with a 16-megapixel 1/2.3″ sensor, and an f/2.8 21x optical zoom lens. It’s powered by a super speedy 1.4GHz quad-core processor, and offers 8GB of internal storage — which can be expanded via the microSD card slot.

The device also has access to the Google Play store and built-in Wi-Fi and 3G, which means you can use all your favorite Android apps to edit your best shots and upload them to photo sharing services on the go. More here.

Skype Launches Prepaid Cards in UK: Available in over 1,400 Stores, Credit Starts from £10

Skype has unveiled a series of prepaid cards for the UK, offering users without a credit card the ability to top-up their accounts starting from £10. A second £20 card will also be available in UK retailers including Asda, Currys, PC World, Sainsburys and bookseller WHSmith, with both denominations redeemable globally through the Microsoft company's online portal. More here.

Apple iPad Mini Sales Hot in New York Despite Effects of Hurricane Sandy

Even despite the lingering presence of Hurricane Sandy, hundreds of people waited in line to pick up the iPad mini at Apple’s flagship Fifth Avenue store; the white models reportedly sold out in mere minutes. It’s unclear how reception has been outside of New York City, but it’s clear people are excited about Apple’s newest member of the iPad family. Apple, going up against competitors Google and Amazon, is expected to sell over a million iPad mini units during launch weekend, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

It’ll be interesting to see what the upshot is once Apple announces sales, which the company typically does the Monday following weekend sales. More here.

Twitter Allegedly Prepping Photo Filters for its Mobile Applications

Twitter is reportedly lining up a new photo filterting feature aimed at taking Instagram head-on. According to The New York Times, the San Francisco-based social media company, which processes just under a billion Tweets every 48 hours, is hoping avid Tweeters will bypass the use of Instagram altogether and instead use Twitter’s new filters when sharing photos. Twittergram?

The update is allegedly landing in the coming months, though people with knowledge of Twitter’s plans didn’t share precisely when. The social network’s scheme was put into high gear following Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram earlier this year, NYT said.

It was said Twitter had planned to purchase a company like Camera+, but those plans seem to have been scrapped in favor of creating its own system — much like the one Facebook launched with its own camera app.

“After meeting with an appraising some companies, Twitter’s executives decided the price tags were not worth the goods, and decided the company could build its own filters instead,” NYT wrote.

Instagram is a pretty formidable social media service in its own right, with monthly traffic supposedly surpassing Twitter. Twitter’s plans aren’t all that surprising; what is puzzling is the fact that it’s taken the company so long to come up with an answer to Facebook’s Instagram purchase. But it sounds like we’ll see something of interest sometime early next year. More here.

Apple Lightning to Micro USB Adapter Available Now for $19

Check this little guy out. If you have any microUSB cables sitting around the house, this Lightning adapter will let you sync your iPhone, iPad or iPod without a problem. It’s teeny-tiny, but it’ll likely appease plenty of people with multiple cables, or even a USB charger. There’s not much else to report, it’s obviously only compatible with Apple’s latest set of products: the iPhone 5, iPod touch 5th gen, iPod nano 7th gen, iPad 4th gen and iPad mini. The Lightning to Micro USB adapter is available now (1-3 business day ship time) for $19.00. More here.

Samsung: 30 Million Galaxy S III Units Sold Worldwide

The company has sold, as opposed to shipped, 30 million Samsung Galaxy S III devices worldwide. That’s quite the impressive figure, and shows a substantial growth of 10 million units in just two months. Samsung’s announcement comes on the heels of news in which the company said 3 million Galaxy Note II units have been sold across the world.

It’s fantastic news for Samsung, and Android as a whole, as we head into the busy holiday season. Samsung revealed just how much time and effort went into the making of its S III, and the numerous rave reviews — and now, sales — show it was all time well spent. With Jelly Bean rolling out to the device all over the world, we can expect sales to only increase during the final stretch of 2012. More here.