Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world. Today, we're looking at four particularly interesting stories.

Yahoo Reports Q2 Revenue of $1.22 Billion, Leaves Questions Unanswered

Yahoo has reported revenue of $1.22 billion for Q2, $461 million of that coming from search. The company also reported a 7% decline in display ad revenue and a 17% decrease in search, but left many questions unanswered -- for example, we don't know what will happen to Yahoo's interim CEO Ross Levinsohn.

PayPal Acquires Card.io

PayPal has acquired San Francisco startup Card.io, which provides developers…
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More About: Yahoo, card.io, features, first to know series, intel, mashable, paypal

1. Search for Events

LinkedIn offers a robust "Events" section. While the site automatically suggests events that might be of interest to you, it also allows you to search listings by keyword. To access the events section, click the "More" option on the top navigation menu on your LinkedIn profile and select "Events." From here, you can browse all the public event listings or narrow down results by location and industry type. If you do carry out a keyword search, you'll have the option to sort results by date or relevance.

Click here to view this gallery.

LinkedIn isn't just a digital destination for your resume; it's a vibrant online hub offering all kinds of useful information, tools and functionality.

If it's been awhile since you explored the site, check out this list of five things you might not know you can do on LinkedIn.

SEE ALSO: 10 Facebook Tips for Power Users

Take a look at our pointers in the sideshow above. Let us know in the comments below how you find LinkedIn a useful tool.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Sheila Scarborough

More About: How-To, Social Media, features, linkedin, tips and tricks

Approximately three quarters of the world's population now has access to a mobile phone, according to a new study from the World Bank.

The number of mobile phone subscriptions has skyrocketed over the past 12 years. Less than 1 billion mobile subscriptions were active in 2000, while there's six billion subscriptions active today. Last year alone, mobile users downloaded more than 30 billion apps.

Additionally, the vast majority of today's mobile subscriptions (5 billion) are in developing countries, a sign of mobile technology's importance in countries which haven't gone through the expensive and difficult process of building land-based communications infrastructure.

"Mobile communi…
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More About: Mobile, Social Good, World, cell phones, development

Nelson Mandela, the first black South African president, is celebrating his 94th birthday -- no small feat for a man who spent 27 years as a political prisoner in a country torn apart by apartheid for decades.

To commemorate the occasion, Prezence Digital Production created an information-packed but easily digestible video detailing the events of Mandela's life. The four-minute video is a quick tour of Mandela's timeline, told through a combination of hypothetical Facebook status updates, tweets, Instagram photos and Foursquare check-ins. It contains archival photos and actual quotes from Mandela, relatives, friends, political figures and media outlets.

For instance, a Facebook…
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More About: Nelson Mandela, Video, apartheid

Name: Brass Monkey

Quick Pitch: Play video games with less hassle.

Genius Idea: Uses devices most people already have to create a gaming system.

Brass Monkey takes everything you know about gaming and throws it out the window. Gone are the days of jumbled cords and miscellaneous equipment (unless you're a collector, we get it).

Chris Allen and his friend were playing with a remote control helicopter and wanted a more reliable controller. Their solution was to make one with their iPhone. From there they sold the technology to other developers and started building a gaming system.

TrenchRun was the first game they developed for Lucas Films to use on StarWars.com. From…
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Don Herbert shared his love for science with millions of kids in his 40 year stint as the experiment-loving, knowledge-wielding Mister Wizard.

Children of the 1980s and 90s probably remember learning a lesson from Herbert on the popular Nickelodeon show "Mr. Wizard's World." Three days a week, Mister Wizard made complex science concepts more digestible with the help of a young assistant. Turns out his delivery may have left a few of those scientist wannabes with a case of stress-induced indigestion.

YouTube user tryfail stitched together snippets from classic Mister Wizard moments that make Herbert look like the lab's biggest Scrooge.

More About: Science, YouTube, viral videos

Here at Mashable, we can't get enough of Batman, as we anticipate the Dark Knight release July 20. If you're as psyched as we are, you'll love this timeline, showing 12 different Batman incarnations.

Ben Zhang at the New York Film Academy created this timeline, chronicling the evolution of Batman during the character's 70-year career.

SEE ALSO: Warner Bros. Releases 13-Minute 'Dark Knight Rises' Featurette

Which is your favorite Batman from the list? Let us know in the comments which image of the iconic superhero stands out in your mind.

More About: Film, batman, enterntainment

Sports Illustrated readers are used to seeing beautiful, iconic images in the storied legacy magazine -- they're just not used to seeing those shots come in Instagram form.

That all changes this week with the publication's July 23, 2012, issue, which hits newsstands Wednesday.

Sports Illustrated commissioned a series of shots from contributing photographer Brad Mangin, which will appear in a six-page feature in the magazine's Leading Off section (those are the first and second pages, above). Leading Off traditionally features notable photos from around the sports world, but this is the first time in Sports Illustrated history the magazine has printed images that were processed us…
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More About: Sports illustrated, instagram, sports

We've all heard about the endless possibilities around big data. How this unimaginably enormous repository of information holds the key to every revolutionary marketing technique we've ever imagined. In several ways, it's true. And that's where data scientists come in.

Data scientists bring a unique -- and exceptionally valuable -- set of skills to the table. They are experts in both statistical analysis of big data and interpreting and communicating findings. A data scientist, for instance, would not only break down the stats on a massive inventory of tweets, he might also show a marketer how demographics information harvested from that data set can help target a certain gro…
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More About: Marketing, contributor, data sharing, features

iRobot, the company behind the popular Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners, builds other machines that operate in places a bit more dangerous than your living room: the front lines of combat, radioactive danger zones and hostage situations.

More than 4,500 of iRobot's "Packbot" and other military-grade robots have been used by military and police around the world to assist in detecting and disarming roadside bombs, testing the structural integrity of the fallen World Trade Center towards after September 11, 2001 and doing reconnaissance in radiation-spoiled areas around Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactors.

iRobot's Packbot military hardware has proven…
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More About: US, military, robots, roomba, technology

That sound you hear is the shattering of the glass ceiling once again, and not because former Google exec Marissa Mayer has taken over as CEO of internet giant Yahoo, but because she is taking on that role while pregnant with her first child.

While the debate will continue over whether she'll be able to turn the struggling company around, there are many who will also wonder how Mayer will be able to juggle the incredible demands of a challenging new position and a newborn.

The fact is, not many women at her level are faced with this dilemma, and either one on its own is tough enough.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, herself the mother of two young children, had been outspoken ab…
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More About: Facebook, Google, Sheryl Sandberg, Yahoo, marissa mayer, marissa mayer pregnant

Good news for those of you itching to get your hands on a 7-inch Apple tablet or an Apple television set -- one of the industry's top analysts expects you'll see both within the year.

Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray told attendees at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen that an iPad Mini was "highly likely," and that he had talked to manufacturers in Asia who are already supplying Apple with components for what we're still tentatively calling the iTV.

"The TV thing is real," Munster said. "It's just a function of time. Some suppliers are more open in talking about it than others."

His best guess on that timing for iTV? Probably by the end of 2012, possibly launching in…
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More About: Apple TV, apple, itv, trending

Google's taking on an ambitious global initiative -- using technology to expose, map and disrupt illicit networks of drug smugglers, arms dealers and human traffickers.

The tech giant is hosting its second annual summit, this time called the Illicit Networks: Forces in Opposition (INFO), in Los Angeles on Tuesday and Wednesday. The INFO summit will focus on how technology can expose and disable these illegal networks. In attendance will be tech leaders, Googlers, government officials and survivors. Google says it's been working with frontline fighter groups to gain an understanding of how these criminal trades function.

The summit is part of Google Ideas -- the "think/do tank" the…
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More About: Google, Social Good

For some of the athletes competing at the Summer Olympics later this month, certain rules about what they can and cannot share over social media from London feel stifling and overbearing.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) generally encourages social media use by participants and fans, yet only allows tweets, blogs and posts to other social networks in "a first-person, diary-type format," according to the IOC's official guidelines. Sharing video from the Olympic Village is also forbidden, and athletes are required to obtain permission from their peers before posting photos they snap of other athletes.

These rules are in stark contrast to the robust social and digital strategy t…
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More About: Facebook, Social Media, Twitter, olympics, sports

There are several companies, such as FreshDirect and Tesco, that are reinventing the grocery shopping experience in an effort to make procuring food a convenience, as opposed to a time-sucking errand. But even though most would agree they don't care for the weekly trip to the grocery store, 98% of groceries are still bought that way.

This may be why companies are using new technology to make the shopping experience better at traditional supermarkets. Here's a look at some of the creative ways they're doing this.

1. Locating Products
Aisle411 empowers anyone with a mobile phone to find products within retail stores. Easily find the in-store aisle location of a single item or rout…
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More About: Marketing, contributor, ecommerce, features

Neither Yahoo's new CEO, Marissa Mayer, nor Ross Levinsohn, the interim CEO she just replaced, were on the line for Yahoo's second quarter earnings call Tuesday evening -- and what lies ahead for the two executives' plans remains largely unknown.

Here's what we learned from Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse, who led the call:

The slight uptick in display ad revenue for the quarter came from the Americas. Display ad revenue from Europe, Middle East and Africa declined 7% due to "global economic conditions."
Search was down 17%. How come? Osama Bin Laden's death last summer caused a temporary search spike, Morse said. (I find it hard to believe that it could be responsible for such a…
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Since Yahoo reported first-quarter earnings, the company has had two CEOs, dealt with an uruly board, and settled complicated transactions with both Alibaba and Facebook. Through the large part of that timeframe, Yahoo's revenues and profits remained relatively flat, the company reported Tuesday.

Net revenue was $1.081 billion for the quarter ending June 30, down slightly from $1.076 billion in the same period a year ago. Net income was $226.6 million, down from $237 million in Q2 2011.

Revenue from display advertising amounted to $534.9 million, up from $523.5 million. Search and revenue marked "other" both declined, down to $460.9 million and $221.9 million respectively.

Yahoo hos…
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After a shooting at a barbecue in eastern Toronto left two dead and 21 wounded, a Reddit user turned to Twitter to figure out all he could learn about those involved in the tragic event and share it with the r/Toronto community, a sub-group for discussion about the city. The post has since gone viral on Reddit and elsewhere on the social web.

(Note: The information below has not been independently verified. As the Redditor himself notes, "none of this is concrete evidence of anything's having happened or anyone's involvement in the shootings.")

Reddit user BitchslappedByLogic claims that the party was hosted by Twitter user @2ToneShorty based on this post:

@OrlyChak well its My part…
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More About: Canada, Social Media, Toronto, Twitter, World, police, reddit, trending

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Tout announced a new partnership last week -- and early returns show it to be a massive success for the video sharing network.

WWE, a juggernaut in the sports and entertainment social media landscape, featured fan-submitted videos during this week's Monday Night Raw show. The promotion helped Tout leap from outside the top 200 of the iTunes App Store to number 116 overall, and from 37th to sixth in the free Photo & Video category immediately after the show, according to Tout and WWE representatives. At time of writing Tout continuing to enjoy the boost at 128th and 9th, respectively.

Tout lets users post 15-second mobile videos and publish them…
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More About: sports, tout, trending

The Guardian wants to aggregate the web's best journalism, and it wants your help.

On Wednesday, the newspaper's U.S. arm plans to launch what it's calling a "pop-up aggregator." After a major news story breaks -- the kind that's bound to be discussed for days, such as Marissa Mayer's appointment as CEO of Yahoo -- a writer will put up a post asking for the best commentary and analysis that surfaces in the following hours and days. Participants are asked to tweet nominations on Twitter with the hashtag #smarttakes.

"We want to showcase multiple perspectives after a big story breaks," Ruth Spencer, community coordinator for The Guardian U.S., explains. "The Guardian can't do them all."…
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More About: Media, aggregation, curation, journalism, the guardian

Battlefield 4 is coming! EA unwittingly let news of the game leak on its pre-order page for Medal of Honor Warfighter.

YouTube megastar Freddie Wong created his own spoof of how the leak occurred -- which you can check out above.

How excited are you for the next Battlefield game? Let us know in the comments.

More About: Battlefield, EA, battlefield 4, freddie wong

Instagram updated its Android app Tuesday, adding support for the Nexus 7 as well as the ability to share photos you take using the app on Flickr.

Previously, Nexus 7 owners were shown a compatibility error message when trying to launch the app on the device. Now people rocking the pint-sized tablet can get full access to Instagram's features, as well as take photos to upload to the service using the tablet's sole 1.2-megapixel forward-facing camera.

SEE ALSO: Behold: the First Ever Instagram Shot

The Android app update also now adds the ability to upload photos from the app directly to Flickr. The app already supports sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Foursquare.

Inst…
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More About: Nexus 7, android, flickr, instagram

Conference panels are often sedate, friendly affairs. But that wasn't the case when Google chairman Eric Schmidt went up against Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder, investor and well-known libertarian gadfly.

The debate at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen Monday night tackled the question of whether technology has improved our lives over the past 30 years. Schmidt argued that it had; Thiel claimed progress had stagnated because tech has largely retreated from the real world into a virtual one.

"Google also has $50 billion in cash," Thiel added. "It has no idea how to invest that money in technology effectively ... if we're living in an accelerating technological world, a…
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More About: Google, eric schmidt, peter thiel, trending

Larry King and his suspenders are back.

After telling the world in 2010 that "it's time to hang up the nightly suspenders" -- subsequently ending his 25-year run as host of CNN's Larry King Live -- he returns this week in a new talk show that will stream on Hulu and Hulu Plus.

On Tuesday, Hulu debuted Larry King Now with a 30-minute episode featuring Ted director and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane (watch above). King's interviews with Meghan McCain and Matthew McConaughey also will air this week. New episodes will appear every Monday through Thursday at night on Hulu.

"Larry King Now is Larry King doing what he does best -- talking with top newsmakers, world leaders and e…
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More About: Entertainment, News, celebrities, hulu, hulu plus, larry king, politicians

"Education is a big problem," says Knewton CEO Jose Ferreira. He's spent his whole life in the education space, starting at Kaplan in 1991. He tried to bring adaptive learning to Kaplan in 1993, but it was hard to do so in a brick-and-mortar situation, an environment in which few people even had computers. Ferreira was ahead of his time, and once technology caught up, he founded the adaptive learning platform Knewton in 2008.

Education might not be the sexiest of industries, but it's a $7 trillion global industry that's ripe for innovation. To date, Knewton has received $54 million in funding to build its Adaptive Learning Platform that helps you learn better by responding to what you do…
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More About: Knewton, Tech, Tech Innovators Series, education, features, mashable, trending

The first 10 episodes of Electric City, an animated web series about a post-apocalyptic world, debuted Tuesday on Yahoo. Electric City is a 20-episode science fiction series starring and created by actor Tom Hanks.

Hanks, a two-time Oscar winner for Best Actor, unveiled the scripted program at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, touting the series as an interactive adventure for viewers.

"Every now and then, storytelling and technology unite in a fun and surprising way," Gary Goetzman of production company Playtone said in a statement. "Electric City brings viewers into a totally unique world through a truly immersive online experience whether they're at home on…
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More About: Electric City, Entertainment, Tom Hanks, Yahoo, animation, celebrities, web series

No one, and we mean no one, can ask a question like Batman. And when Batman asks you something, you answer.

Let's be realistic, if you can stare down that bat mask and lie to his bat-face, then maybe you're cut out for a life of crime.

SEE ALSO: 1960s Robin Crashes 'Dark Knight' Party [VIDEO]

We wouldn't be surprised if the Dark Knight wanders around Gotham City collecting social security numbers and ATM codes. But remember, Batman, with great power comes great responsibility.

And with great parody videos comes great humor.

More About: Movies, Viral, dark knight rises, the dark knight, viral videos

Like Mary Poppins's bag of goodies, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has a similar bag full of endless treats. But the Woz carries his in a backpack -- a backpack that holds 50 lbs. worth of gadgets.

The tech roster is extensive, and includes four iPhones, two iPads, plus some Android devices. While Woz is set for a quick getaway in an apocalypse, he tells Gizmodo that his kit definitely holds him up in airport security lines.

"Sometimes TSA takes a long time unpacking it," Wozniak says. "A couple of times they asked me to take out everything electronic and I asked for seven bins, all of which I filled (only 2 half-size), plus my MacBook Pro, plu…
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More About: apple, steve wozniak, trending

The Internet has spoken: Pitbull is going to Alaska.

As the result of an online prank, the rapper is heading to the most-remote Walmart in the country, which is in Kodiak, Alaska. In the video above, Pitbull accepts his mission without complaint. Pitbull acknowledged that it's "due to someone who thinks he was playing a prank" that he's heading north, but added, "You gotta understand that I will go anywhere in the world for my fans."

The rapper's journey came about after David Thorpe and Jon Hendren of Something Awful hijacked a Walmart-hosted campaign last month for Energy Sheets, the caffeine-infused approximate of Listerine strips. The campaign promised fans whose city got the m…
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More About: Facebook, Marketing, WalMart, pitbull, pranks, trending

Social media management app TweetDeck rolled out a series of updates on Tuesday to give users a more seamless way to navigate through tweets and better handle various accounts.

The updated TweetDeck software for Chrome, Mac OS X and Windows now brings columns into one horizontal row, while an updated menu icon on every tweet gives instant access to actions such as creating a list, deleting a post or reporting a user for spam -- without leaving the main view.

The news comes as Twitter recently overhauled its search functionality, allowing members easier access to finding members, hashtags and mentions. The company also introduced autocomplete, a feature for related suggestions and u…
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More About: Macs, Twitter, apps, chrome, trending, tweetdeck