Ugly Craigslist ads may soon be history, with the development of a new tool.

A San Francisco-based team has developed "Beautiful Craigslist Ads," a free online wizard that makes each post simple and sleek, it says. The classified ad website is notorious for its bare-bones layout and few formatting options.

Users fill in information, such as details about rent, neighborhood and lease term, which the tool then organizes in an optimal way, according to its Kickstarter page. Check out the video above for more.

The team aims to raise $3,000 by the end of August on the crowdfunding site. So far, it has only received a little over $500.

Would you…
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More About: ads, craigslist, kickstarter, trending

Are you one of the millions who draw home inspiration from Martha Stewart's many social media accounts or apps?

A commanding voice on all aspects of baking, decorating and crafting, Stewart is also a whiz with her social media strategy. With more than 2.5 million followers on Twitter and more than 418,000 Likes on just one of her Facebook pages, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is an influential social media force.

Stewart told a huge crowd at BlogHer 2012 that she prefers Twitter to Facebook. Twitter, she said, just makes sense. She can reach more followers in less time. She told Mashable she does most of her own tweeting. In fact, Twitter is one of the top five ways Martha Stewart's…
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Gamers, beware: The stakes were just raised for messing up in a video game. Two Frenchmen, who go by Dyak and Furrtek, rigged a shock collar to a Sega Genesis. It sends a jolt to users when they make a mistake during gameplay. They call the homemade peripheral, Genezap, which has the catchphrase, "There's no pity for bad gamers."

You can find their instructions, tools and code to design your own shocking system here -- though we don't advise it.

Check out the video above to learn more about Genezap, and to see it in action.

[via The Verge]

More About: Gaming, hacking, sega genesis, trending

A new "Simon's Cat" video hit the web Saturday, and this one gets into the competitive spirit of the Olympics ... with a snail race. Check it out above.

For the uninitiated, "Simon's Cat" is created by English animator Simon Tofield, who regularly uploads new short films to YouTube. He animates each frame by hand. Twelve to 25 drawings are required to create just one second of a "Simon's Cat" film.

Revel in some more hand-drawn kitty-cuteness in the slideshow below.

More About: YouTube, cats, trending, viral videos

AT&T is ending its 2G, or second-generation wireless network, in five years, making room for its next-generation 4G network.

The American telecom company revealed its plan in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday.

"We expect to fully discontinue service on our 2G networks by approximately January 1, 2017," the filing said. "We intend to redeploy spectrum currently used for basic 2G services to support more advanced mobile Internet services on our 3G and 4G networks."

The change is part of ongoing efforts to improve network performance, AT&T added. The telecom giant is facing "significant spectrum and capacity constraints" on its wireless network in certain market…
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More About: 2G, 3g, 4G, ATT Wireless, trending

Writing the great American novel? Penning the next transformative self-help book? If you're in the midst of developing one of the more than one million books that are published every year, it's time to start thinking about how you're going to market your book … because in today's publishing environment, it's up to you to build and sustain momentum for your work.

"Publishers launch many titles per year, and when a book is considered a new title, it is at the forefront of the minds of the marketing staff … but the slate of the next season's titles is never far down on the publisher's to-do list," Darius Himes and Mary Virginia Swanson write in Publish Your Photograph…
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More About: features, mashable, open forum, social media marketing, trending

It can be tough to keep up with all the new apps released each week. But you're in luck: We take care of a lot of that for you, creating a roundup each weekend of some of our favorite new and updated apps from the week.

This week we found an app that turns your city into a virtual Monopoly board. Another app helps you find a seat on your next flight, and yet another gets to know you and will make recommendations such as where you should grab dinner based on what you've done previously.

If you want to keep up with the latest news, we found an app this week that will send the latest headlines to your handset, as well as another that uses a special language processor to read through…
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More About: App, android, iOS, iphone, trending

Can't attend the Lollapalooza Music Festival? YouTube's got you covered.

The video-sharing website partnered up with Dell to live stream free coverage of the annual alternative music fest, which began Friday and ends Sunday. Lollapalooza takes place Chicago's Grant Park.

Fans won't have access to all the acts online, but can still enjoy performances by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Florence and the Machine, in the comfort of their own homes or on their mobile devices. Lollapalooza's YouTube page includes a full list of webcasts that visitors can add to their iCal or Google Calendar.

In addition to its live stream, the music fest is tapped int…
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More About: Facebook, Lollapalooza, Twitter, YouTube, dell, instagram, trending

1. Deep-Fried Kool-Aid

Image courtesy of cuttlefish

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State Fair season means millions of people perusing prize-winning livestock and handicrafts while noshing on tasty bits of high-calorie goodness on a stick. Each year, states up their impaled-food game with offerings more fried and bacon-wrapped than the year before.

The Iowa State Fair just released its list of the 50 foods on a stick attendees can indulge in when the festivities kick off Aug. 9.

Chocolate-Covered Chocolate Chip Cannoli - NEW in 2012
Chocolate-Covered Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pop - NEW in 2012
Fruit (with yogurt dipping sauce) - NEW in 2012
Double Bacon Corn Dog (a hot dog wrapped in bacon, deep fried, dipped in bacon-bit enriched batter and deep fried agai…
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More About: Food, Watercooler, trending

Will Facebook one day give you the ability to edit your status updates? The quick and easy answer: It seems likely, yes. The answers to the more complicated questions of exactly how and when this might happen are less clear.

At a journalism conference this week, a Facebook program manager reportedly implied -- or provided enough of a hint publicly that others inferred -- that the ability to edit status posts is forthcoming. A New York Times reporter in attendance sent the following tweet, quoting Vadim Lavrusik, who runs Facebook's journalism program (Disclosure: Lavrusik is a former Mashable employee.):

.@lavrusik: "You can edit comments and captions. You can infer what we will…
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The techno-advances this week could have filled a decade not long ago -- astounding us with new ideas and new ways to approach some of our era's most promising technology.

Sifting through thousands of items, we found devices both unusual and profound, including the most spectacular snowmobile ever designed, an Olympic use for a radio-controlled Mini car, a set of the craziest-looking Bluetooth speakers I've ever seen, and a speech-recognition system that's even better than the ones they used on Star Trek.

SEE ALSO: Previous editions of Top 10 Tech This Week

And that's not even the half of it. If you're looking for technology that belongs in a science fiction movie, you've co…
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More About: Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Top 10 Tech, iphone, olympics, trending

Are you an Olympics expert? If you're like the 500 social media users who responded to Lab42's market research, you might be surprised how little Americans know about the Olympic Games.

For instance, is one of the Olympic rings orange? What does the word "Olympiad" mean? Of course, you'll know which sport Michael Phelps competes in, and perhaps you'll be wondering what happened to the 7% of people who had no idea.

SEE ALSO: How the Social Web Is Talking About the Summer Olympics [CHARTS]

Find out more Olympic answers with this infographic, and then let us know how you did. What fun fact have you learned about the Olympics during the past week of broadcasts that you didn't know befor…
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More About: Social Media, infographics, london 2012, olympics

As NASA's Curiosity rover gets closer to its early Monday morning landing on Mars, the agency has released a spectacular simulator that will take you through every detail of the complicated landing procedure.

If all goes according to plan, the spacecraft, officially called the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), will land on the Red Planet at 1:30 A.M. Eastern Time on August 5.

The remarkable web-based interactive animation lets you see precisely where in space the 1-ton, $2.5 billion Mars rover is located at this moment, or using Preview Mode, you can jump forward and backward in time, speeding up events so you can see each aspect of the flight and…
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More About: Curiosity, Mars, Mars Science Laboratory, NASA, Simulator, trending

When you "like" something on Facebook, your name and face can be used in sponsored stories. But that will change, thanks to a court ruling earlier this year. But the settlement attached to that ruling was struck down by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg on Thursday, saying the $10 million amount was not enough.

The year-old lawsuit will give adult Facebook users more control over how they appear in these ads (minors can already opt out). This week, the judge for the case turned down the settlement amount: If a $10 million payout, why not $100 million?, he asked.

U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg declined to approve the settlement that would…
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More About: Facebook, lawsuit

1. Happiness Overload

Gizmo can only take so much!

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If there's one thing we're sure of, it's that the Internet loves the Olympics (and hates NBC). The Olympics provide us with incredible stories, great triumphs and most importantly, some of the best GIFs we've ever seen.

So it's no surprise that when it came to rounding up the week's latest and greatest, images from London 2012 were everywhere. But that's not all! The collection also includes throwbacks to some classic movies, interspecies love and lots and lots of dance moves.

Did we miss any? Whether they're from the Games or not, we'd love to check out your favorite GIFs -- show them off in the comments.

More About: GIFs, Viral, Watercooler, features, humor, memes, olympics, trending

The 2012 Olympics were relentlessly hyped for months as the "world's first social games" -- and, about halfway through, they haven't disappointed. Athletes have shared the Olympic experience as never before on Twitter, Instagram and other platforms, while fans have kept a running dialogue online too. We've covered the action from afar here at Mashable, but wanted to get an added perspective from a social media heavyweight who's on the ground at the Games.

Enter Anthony De Rosa. He's the social media editor for Reuters and a noted expert in the space. On Twitter, he has more than 33,000 followers and is a staple of must-follow lists around the web.

De Rosa is currently in London for R…
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More About: Social Media, Sports, Twitter, olympics

Want to ride an 18-foot-wide, 4,000-pound, six-legged hydraulic robot? If Project Hexapod gets enough crowdsourced donations on Kickstarter, you might be able to.

Stompy, the robot, is a project designed by a team of students and instructors -- who have experience creating commercial and military robots -- in Massachusetts. They launched the Kickstarter page Friday and are seeking at least $65,000. In just one day, they've raised $12,545.

But if the project exceeds expectations and raises as much as $300,000, its creators say they'll "start a company devoted to creating open-source high-end robotic technology, and start developing a zoo's wo…
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"Do" is a productivity site and app designed to help you get things done, and the next-gen of the service is launching in beta this week. Do.com (get it?) lets you create to-do lists and then assign tasks on that list to other people. Used for both individuals at home and businesses looking to streamline how they work, the service can be used to assign everything from bringing a bag of chips to a party to following up with a client to make sure he or she signs contracts on time.

The next generation of the service (it didn't previously include social media contacts, for example) now offers integration into networks such as Facebook, as well as into your contacts list.

If one of y…
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1. @nomadicchick

Followers: 8,800 Jeannie Mark tweets for her blog Nomadic Chick, where she shares tips, photos and videos from the far corners of the globe. She tackles thought-provoking topics on her blog, including whether it is safe for women travelers to couch surf alone and talks about her inspiration behind her travels: her mom.

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Travel is big business. Today, there are more resources than ever for collecting tips and tricks to score the best travel deals, find the most unusual destinations and even make your travel plans green and sustainable. Social media plays a huge role — Twitter can be one of the fastest and easiest ways to stay up-to-date on the latest information, whether you're tracking flight times, booking a hotel room or looking for a way to make your trip a little extra special.

But with literally tens of thousands of Twitter accounts dedicated to travel news, it can be difficult to decipher which ones are actually worth following. So we did the legwork for you and rounded up 15 Twitter accounts yo…
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More About: Twitter, adventure, destination, travel, trending, trip planning