likes

NASA announced this week that a key piece of gear on its Kepler space telescope has run into trouble. And though the space agency hasn't given up on a jump-start, the mission may well be at risk.

It's already gone well beyond its planned duration, however, and presented us with many fascinating discoveries.

In this gallery, we take a look back at that mission -- at Kepler's intriguing quest to find Earth-like, life-friendly planets among the Milky Way's many stars.

Some subjects, like communism, zippers, and our long absence from the moon, can be a little hard to explain. That's when people turn to "Explain Like I'm Five," a Reddit group dedicated to breaking complex ideas down into understandable terms. While the group has been geared for adult readers, it has now morphed into a video series featuring real 5-year-olds.

The YouTube series kicks off with three entries. The topics covered are Syria, existentialism, and the stock market. If you can make a group of bored 5-year-olds understand these topics, you should be good to go for most adults, too.… Read more

Facebook users' Likes on the social network may be unintentionally revealing their personality traits, sexual orientation, and intelligence, according to a study published today.

By studying the Likes of 58,000 Facebook users on the social network, researchers at the University of Cambridge say they were able to determine users' IQ, gender, sexual orientation, political and religious beliefs, and even substance use, with an accuracy rate of more than 80 percent

Expressions of approval on the social network for things such as photos, friends' status updates, as well as pages for sports, musicians, and books, were analyzed by researchers employing … Read more

Vine for iOS is a new social networking app that revolves around making short 6-second video loops with sound and then sharing them with others.

To get started, you can sign up with an e-mail and password directly with Vine or you can use your Twitter account for quick access. Once signed in, you'll see the Home feed that shows the latest videos from other users. A button in the upper-left corner lets you navigate between the home screen, a place to explore videos from other users, a personal activity section to view videos you've made, and a … Read more

This week, someone with more than a thousand Facebook friends sent me a friend request.

I found this odd. Why, if you already have a thousand friends, do you need more? And yet it seems that in some circles, numeric status on Facebook is all that matters these days.

Along those lines, my emotions have been assaulted by two recent stories, both of which demanded that the only way to reach a happy conclusion was to accumulate 1 million Facebook Likes.

In the first, reported by Mashable, a daddy said to his little girls: "No, little girls, you cannot have a puppy. Well, not unless you get yourselves 1 million of those invaluable Facebook Likes."

No, of course I'm not quoting the assiduously caring daddy of the little girls who created that other, now-famous "Twogirlsandapuppy" Facebook page.

But it took the sisters only two days to please daddy. It was all described as a "simple bet," but there's something deeper that the girls will surely learn: life is about virtual popularity. … Read more

When leaving a comment on an Instagram photo, especially one with a lot of comments, it can be difficult to ensure that your comment stands out in the crowd. It seems a lot of Instagram users think the best way to gain followers is to leave comments on popular photos. I've always said I'll know I've made it on Instagram when one of my photos contains countless comments full of nothing but Emoji and #teamfollowback tags.

Thanks to a post on Tags For Likes, you can emphasize your point or comment by using a bold font on … Read more

Shortly after President Obama won re-election last night, a simple photo of the president embracing his wife was posted on his Facebook page. Just a few hours later, and with apologies to Gangnam Style, Justin Bieber, and adorable kittens worldwide, that shot became the most "liked" photo ever on Facebook.

At the moment, it's been liked over 3.1 million times, and the number is still climbing.

The same photo was also posted to the president's Twitter account last night, and quickly smashed Twitter records for the most retweets. At the moment it's been retweeted … Read more