Flickr have updated their iOS application adding the ever-so-important hashtag support. Flickr for iOS users can now add a hashtag to not just the photo's title or description, but they can also run a search to find all photos using that term, which comes in handy.

With Flickr boasting over 6 billion photos, Flickr users would know that searching for photos for a specific event of occasion might come up with some weird results. People prone their photos with tags of all of the same thing, regardless of whether the tag is suitable for that particular photo or not. Flickr's news comes just after Facebook talking of adding hashtag support, something that Twitter have enjoyed for quite a while now.

Dropbox announced they were acquiring Mailbox last week, but didn't disclose the amount they paid for the company. Sources familiar with the deal have said the amount paid for such an early-stage company was high, with its price ballooned up thanks to interest from some well-funded companies.

GigaOM and TechCrunch have both claimed that Mailbox was acquired for a price "well over" $50 million, with a bunch of stock that pushes the deal closer to $100 million. Dropbox are worth somewhere between $4 billion to $5 billion, which makes their acquisition of Mailbox for the reported $50 million not sound so large for the cloud storage company.

Portal is one of those games that really took off, surprising most people - but then you play it, and you totally understand. Now we have an actual live-action look inside the Portal world, with a Portal 2-inspired web series from Wayside Creations.

The new web series' first outing is Aperture R&D - Episode 1, which takes you deep in the labs of the research facility following some scientists as they try to earn the distinction of Lab Team of the Month. Losing a team member to a turret laser doesn't stop these protagonists from going after that Lab Team of the Month award. The first episode has some great references to the series, which should have fans having a laugh or three.

Google are shutting down Google Reader on July 1, which is causing users to flock to other services, with over 500,000 users jumping over to Feedly. I'm a big user of Feedly, and noticed it was going up and down with the Google Reader shutdown news, which now makes sense - hundreds of thousands of new users were jumping onto the service.

Feedly have noticed this growth obviously, and are said to be increasing their bandwidth by 10 times, as well as adding additional servers. The developers have also said that their main goals going into the next 30 days is to keep the service running, to take in suggestions from new users, as well as to continue adding new features on a weekly basis.

I know many of us are saddened by Google's choice to close down the Google Reader product. Many of the TweakTown staff use it daily. However, some good news has come out of the decision: new competitors are stepping up and developing new products or improving existing ones.

A petition was started on Change.org that asks Google to rethink its plans regarding shutting down Google Reader. Impressively, the petition has already surpassed 100,000 signatures. The Google Reader closure was announced just two days ago. For comparison, it took nearly 30 days for the White House petition regarding cell phone unlocking to gain a similar count.

We're not sure that this petition will have any effect on Google's stance. A Google spokesperson said in a statement, "We've given an overview of our reasoning and plans on our blog posts on the Official Google Blog and the Google Reader blog, and we'll be communicating directly with our users as we make these changes."

That doesn't mean that you shouldn't sign the petition, available here. The more signatures that are put on the list, the better the chances of Google Reader sticking around, at least for a year or two. My name's on the list. Is yours?

Bringing you doom and gloom seems to be my job today. Nintendo's Wii U appears to be selling in underwhelming amounts. According to a Macquarie Capital analyst, Nintendo only managed to move 66,000 Wii U consoles in February, though 70 percent of those were the more expensive Deluxe Set.

According to NPD Group, Wii U sales actually went up in February by roughly 40 percent. However, this doesn't account for that many extra units as January's sales numbers were also low. The Wii U's price is likely to blame as it costs as much as, or more than, competing consoles that have extensive game libraries.

It's important to note that the Wii U's February sales numbers are lower than the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360's numbers from any month within the last seven years. Nintendo needs to repeat the success it saw with the 3DS after they dropped the price by dropping the price of the Wii U to a more competitive level.

It's looking as though Microsoft's expedition into the tablet market might not be paying off as much as the company expected. According to people knowledgeable about Microsoft's sales, the company has reportedly only sold around 1.5 million Surface devices, meaning Surface RT and Surface Pro sales combined.

Bloomberg reports that only about 400,000 Surface Pro units and just over one million Surface RT tablets have been sold. This is in stark contrast to Microsoft's expectations which had the company moving two million Surface RT tablets in December alone. The company ordered around three million, so there is quite a bit of stock left.

Part of the problem is the high cost of the Surface device. Another issue is Windows RT. There has yet to be a compelling argument for the operating system. Intel continues to push x86 as a viable tablet chip and it's capable of so much more. Microsoft's Surface advertising certainly hasn't helped, either.

Microsoft still has a chance to turn it around, but I don't think they will be able to unless they cut the pricing by at least 20 percent.

This is one of those "happy Friday stories" that you always see. For once, the House didn't win. A foreign high roller managed to scam $32 million from Crown casino by using hijacked cameras to gain an advantage over the house. Full details of the scam are not yet known, but we do know the player has been banned from the casino. I wonder why...

The person in question was occupying one of the expensive villas with his family. He managed to gain remote access to the casino's security cameras, which he then used to spy on the dealer's hand. He had someone watch the cameras and somehow relay the information to him so that he could make intelligent bets.

His scam was uncovered over the course of eight hands. He and his family were then kicked out of the villa in the middle of the night and instructed never to return. While the casino believes it is likely they will be able to recover most of the $32 million lost, in all likelihood, the player has already returned to his country of origin.

I imagine that many of our readers tuned into the Samsung Unpacked 2013 event last night. If you didn't, you might have been following our coverage of the event. But, if you were just following our coverage, you missed out on quite the show. You missed out on the ridiculousness that was Unpacked 2013. Check it out for yourself:

We all know the basic story line that press conferences follow. Some big player will come up on stage and tell you about their new product. Some try to deviate from this basic story line by bringing up celebrities to endorse their products. Last night, Samsung deviated far from this basic story line to some success.

While I found the whole show quite contrived, it did have several funny moments thrown in. The humor didn't come naturally, but it still managed to get the occasional laugh. If you've ever been to Disneyland's Innoventions Dream Home, you'll probably understand what I mean by that.

I understand that Samsung wanted to keep people's attention. They had to try and make the show entertaining, especially since they allowed basically anyone to attend. They managed to play to both audiences by having the master of ceremonies say something simple: "The new phone looks and feels awesome." A person they called an "elaborator" expanded upon what he said: "That's because its slimmer, yet stronger."

The scenes that rose from the floor were somewhat entertaining. They did this as opposed to pre-recorded videos.

People have quite a bit more time to speculate on just what Motorola might be planning for the X Phone now that Samsung's Galaxy SIV has been detailed publicly. Again, we're hearing some incredible claims about what Motorola will be doing with this rumored iPhone-killing X Phone.

Like we warn with nearly every rumor, none of these details have been confirmed so don't take them for cold hard facts. However, the claims we are hearing now aren't so far-fetched. The Nexus 4 retails for $300, pretty cheap as far as phones go, especially considering that it comes without a contract.

The new rumors are saying that the X Phone will launch with an extremely low price point, possibly as low as $199. This low cost helps to explain why the device is said to only be coming with a Snapdragon S4 Pro, 2GB of RAM, a 4.65-inch display, and a 2,200mAh battery. It's not a bad phone in terms of specs, but it isn't the best.

It's actually really attractive, though, when you consider the rumored price. We'll probably hear more about this device at Google I/O. Oh, did I forget to mention that it's rumored that there will be multiple models? According to the rumor, we can expect a range of devices to launch under the brand of X Phone.

Facebook has announced that Mike Schroepfer will be the company's new Chief Technical Officer. Schroepfer was formerly the VP of Engineering for Facebook. "Mike Schroepfer's new designation as Facebook's CTO reflects the unique and important role he plays across the company," Facebook said in a statement.

Schroepfer has been with Facebook for just shy of five years, so he has plenty of experience with the company. Prior to joining Facebook, he worked at Mozilla as VP of Engineering for three years. He will likely continue to push for Facebook's "mobile first" strategy. We wish Schroepfer the best in his new position.

Last week I reported on a comet that was set to make an appearance in our twilight skies and even though it has dimmed past naked eye visibility, those with binoculars, telescopes and DSLR's can still view the spectacular Comet Pan-STARRS. Astronomers, astrophotographers and photographers across the US have captured some stunning images during it's week long visit and I want to share them with you.

First up is an image taken from Sumter, South Carolina by my good friend and fellow astrophotographer Hap Griffin (source #1). He captured the image which includes Pan-STARRS and the crescent moon in a single frame as they set behind a tree line near his home.

Up next is a breath-taking shot of Pan-STARRS that was taken by photographer Chris Cook (source #2) at First Encounter Beach, Massachusetts. The shot features Cook and his son standing on a hill gazing in wonderment at such a beautiful scene.

It seems like it's been forever since I covered an Apple rumor, but today I am going to break that trend. Apple Insider is reporting that the Cupertino company will be keeping some old and bringing some new features to the table on it's upcoming budget model iPhone.

Analysts are saying that Apple may release the cheaper iPhone with the same 4-inch Retina display featured in the current generation iPhone, and that it's half millimeter thick plastic case could come in as many as six different colors in addition to the traditional black and white.

That sounds like a very thin, very easy to break case, but it is reportedly reinforced with glass fibers which makes it as strong, if not stronger, than current phones with plastic cases. The colors will be similar to those found in iPod's and should appease the mass of teens who will flock to the cheaper device.

The Galaxy S4 is the most full featured smartphone that Samsung has ever built, and as such, the phone has some dedicated "Smart Accessories" to match. Today, the Korean company has listed all of the official accessories on its Galaxy S4 micro site.

First up we have the S Band which is a fitness band that records your steps, calories burned and distance walked. It is followed by the Body Scale, which is a traditional but smart weight scale. It reports back to the Galaxy S IV via Bluetooth and can store date for up to four users. Both of these new accessories work in conjunction with the S Health app to help keep you in shape.

Up next is HRM or heart rate monitor which is a real-time heart rate tracking device. It sends heart rate data to the Galaxy S4 via Bluetooth, which is then displayed by using the Running Mate app. Another official accessory that is useful to those who run is the Head Set. It features two speakers in each ear bud and has a volume control pod built into the cable.

Samsung has designed and released several external protective covers for the Galaxy S4, of which one really stands out. The S View cover is a flip cover style case that includes a window cutout that lets you see text messages, time and other features without ever opening the cover. A pouch, standard flip covers and hard cases are also available for the S4.

Samsung's Galaxy S IV has been making major news all morning across the web, and as with such things, people are beginning to notice things that may allude to an upcoming new device. Engadget came across an interesting little tidbit of information while browsing the Galaxy S IV microsite.

One of the official accessories for the upcoming Galaxy S IV is a game pad that features a sliding clamp that secures the phone to the game pad. That's pretty awesome by itself, but what others failed to take notice of is the mention that it supports up to a 6.3-inch device.

Call me crazy, but I do not think that Samsung would include support for a larger device than it's flagship phone unless it were planning on releasing a device in the future that featured a 6-inch class screen. There are rumors that the next Galaxy Note phone would feature a screen in the 6-inch range. What do you think? Is this Samsung's way of leaking information about an upcoming device, or is it just a number on a screen that we should not worry about?

Every year Glassdoor.com releases its Top 50 CEO list which is compiled from the results of a survey that hundreds of thousands of employees from all industries across the country complete. The recently released 2013 list saw some major changes in who is considered the best boss.

Last year Apple's CEO Tim Cook topped the list as Best CEO in America, but his reign was not to be repeated as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg moved up the list by 14 spots to claim the throne. If you are wondering, Tim Cook fell 18 positions being beaten out by Google's Larry page who sits at the number 11 spot, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos who ranks number 16.

The rankings are based on who has the highest approval ranking among the companies employees. Other noteworthy names on the list are Quallcomm's Paul Jacobs at position 8, NVIDIA's Jen-Hsun Huang who is sitting at number 15, Intel's Paul Otellini who resides at 21, Bloomberg's cheif Dan Doctoroff at number 34, and Dell's founder Michael Dell who comes in at number 48.

In celebration of it's 20th birthday, Duke Nukem 2 will be resurrecting and moving from a PC based shooter to something you can play on your iOS based iPhone and iPad. The side scrolling shooter that many of us wore keyboards out playing is set to hit the App Store in April.

3D Realms and Interceptor Entertainment are working on porting the original 32 levels to iOS, and the game will feature new music and touchscreen support. The developer claims the game will cost just $1.99, which puts it in that sweet spot to sell many copies for those looking for a nostalgic throwback.

Nostalgic games are becoming a major hit on mobile devices recently, with official games like Sonic, Final Fantasty, Doom, and even Duke Nukem 3D being ported over to iOS. If we were to see classics like Super Mario Brothers, Punch Out and Contra, I might consider purchasing an iPad just to play them.

Last night's Galaxy S IV launch event was a major success, and this morning everyone is talking about the new Galaxy as Samsung had hoped. Just hours after the event ended, the Korean electronics giant was already announcing that they will release another high-end flagship smartphone later this year.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Lee Young Hee, Samsung's EVP of Mobile, said that the company will release another high-end flagship smartphone in Q3 of this year. Dubbed Tizen, the phone will not be running Android, but "will have thousands of apps upon launch".

"The Tizen phone will be out in August or September, and this will be in the high-end category," Lee told Bloomberg. "The device will be the best product equipped with the best specifications." Tizen is an Android OS alternative that is being developed by 12 companies including Intel, Sprint and Samsung.

Google Reader will soon go out to pasture, but there are multiple replacements either ready to go, or being made right now. Digg have announced their replacement, where they're building their own rich site summary (RSS) reader.

Digg's new product will offer the best parts of Google Reader, and advance them to meet the needs of readers of today. Digg notes that networks and communities like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and more are great places to find information on the web, but they can be overwhelming, too.

Digg had reportedly been working on their new site, and were going to unveil it later in the year but with Google announcing the axing of Reader, they decided to bring their announcement date forward to now. Digg are asking readers what they want to see in their new reader, what was useful and what wasn't in Reader that you'd like to see Digg's new service include, or exclude.

Both Apple and LG have come out swinging against Samsung before their unveiling of the Galaxy S IV, and now HTC have come out taking a swing. HTC were on the offensive during the Galaxy S IV launch, giving out hot cocoa and snacks to people waiting in line for the Galaxy S IV launch, even showing off their One handset to consumers.

HTC followed this up by offering up the hashtag "#theNextBigFlop", taking a swing at Samsung's slogan of "The Next Big Thing". The mocking didn't end there, with HTC's CMO Ben Ho saying that the Galaxy S IV is just "more of the same", and that his company's "all-aluminum unibody HTC One" with their "original cutting-edge technology, mouth-watering design and a premium feel" is what consumers really want. His full statement:

With a continuation of a plastic body, and a larger screen being the most obvious physical change, Samsung's new Galaxy pales in comparison to the all-aluminum unibody HTC One. This is more of the same. HTC remains the best option for those people looking for the best technology wrapped in premium design. Our customers want something different from the mainstream, who appear to be the target for the Galaxy. Our customers want original cutting-edge technology, mouth-watering design and a premium feel from their mobiles, which is why we created the HTC One.