Written by Whitson Gordon

We love both Android and iOS, but the open nature of Android just means it can do things others just can’t. Here are our favorite Android apps and features that you won’t find on its Apple-clad brethren.

We didn’t hold anything back in this list: rooting, jailbreaking, editing system files are all fair game. If there was some way to do it on the iPhone, we left it out. So, while there are a lot of great things about Android that don’t come out of the box on the iPhone—like free turn-by-turn navigation or pull-down notifications—there are still ways to get those features on the iPhone. So here’s our list of the ten features you just can’t get, no way, no how, on a jailbroken or non-jailbroken device.

A note on flame wars: We love iOS, and obviously it has many of its own things going for it. This post isn’t meant to flame or troll the iPhone; it’s more of a "If you’ve decided to go Android, make sure you’re taking advantage of these awesome exclusive features, since they’re part of what makes Android great" post. Please keep the flame wars to a minimum in the comments.

10. Alternate Keyboards

From text predictors like Swiftkey to theinnovative like Swype and the downright adventurous like 8pen, you have a lot of different keyboard choices on Android. Typing on a tiny phone keyboard isn’t anyone’s idea of fun, so it’s great that Android provides so many options to make it as painless for people as possible, and super easy to install. The iPhone has other keyboards, but they’re usually separate apps that require you to import text to another program—it’s just the kind of system-level functionality that’s hard to get around.

9. Automation

One of the most powerful, useful Android apps around is Tasker, the automation program that lets you turn your phone into a superphone. You can turn settings on and off for certain applications, by location, time of day, and pretty much any other condition you can think of. With the right commands in place, Tasker can access the deepest and darkest settings on your phone, which is something you just can’t do on other platforms. Be sure to also check out our second list of Tasker setups, three handy Tasker profiles from our readers, and how to roll your own "Find my iPhone" for Android. Similar apps like the battery-saving JuiceDefender would also fall into this category.

8. Custom Home Launchers

While iPhone users can customize their home screen quite a bit if they’ve jailbroken, they don’t allow the kind of customization that you can get on Android with custom home launchers. Third party launchers can add all sorts of extra features to the home screens of your device, like gestures, different kinds of shortucts, and even low-level settings that can help speed up an older phone. Whether you’re using the super-fast LauncherPro or the insanely customizable ADWLauncher, third-party launchers add a ton of configuration to your device.

7. Widgets

Sure, they take up a bit of space, but there’s no substitute for the convenience of having a big weather widget right on your home screen, or a music widget to show you the currently playing track. Even more useful are the to-do list widgets, that take an "in your face" approach to productivity, which is not only effective but necessary from people, as they don’t require you to actually look for your to-do list—they’re always reminding you of what you need to do. If you’ve jailbroken, you can get widget-like apps for the iPhone, but you can only put them on your lock screen—not the actual home screens that you’re always swiping through.

6. Removable Storage and Battery

It isn’t part of the Android software, necessarily, but Android’s open nature allows for quite a few hardware advantages too—namely the ability to take out, swap, and upgrade your battery and SD card. If you find that you’ve maxed out the storage on your iPhone, you’re pretty much out of luck, whereas with an Android phone you can pop in a new SD card and have gigabytes more storage to play with. Similarly, you can swap out a spare battery for longer trips or even get an extended battery that’ll help your phone go longer without charging. Photo by Hiroyuki Takeda.

5. Wireless App Installation

Browsing for and discovering new apps should be fun, not challenge to make it through a tiny app store with your sanity intact. The App Store and Cydia App Store aren’t exactly fun to browse on your phone, but you either have to download apps on your phone or plug it into iTunes to sync them all over. With the new Android Market, or with third-party sites likeAppBrain, you can find a cool app, hit the install button, and it’ll be on your phone the next time you pick it up. It doesn’t get much more convenient than that.

4. Custom ROMs

While there are a lot of third-party apps that give you advanced features on Android, one of the coolest parts about the entire OS being open source is that people can take it, tweak it all over, and install their version instead of the one that comes with your phone. Whether it’s the feature-filled CyanogenMod or theinterface-overhauling MIUI ROM, there’s little limit to how much you can tweak your Android experience. As with launchers, these give you a lot of system-level tweaks that you just wouldn’t be able to get this easily on other platforms—and it puts them easily within users’ reach. Whether it’s tweaks that speed up your phone or features like FM radio, custom ROMs are without a doubt one of the biggest advantages to Android’s openness around.

3. Controlling Your Phone From Your Computer

This one’s a little more out there, but we’ve featured quite a few apps that let you actually control your Android phone from your PC—whether you just want to send texts from Chrome or access any of its other functions right from a web browser. Yes, you can VNC into your iPhone, but it’s not the same as using a separate app that accesses its baser functions.

2. Flash

Say what you want about Flash, but it’s everywhere you go, and when you’re forced to view the web without it, you realize how much you actually rely on it day-to-day. Whether its accessing fully Flash web sites, watching Flash videos, or playing games like the ones on Kongregate, having Flash installed on your phone and tablet let you access a lot of things you otherwise couldn’t have. We may grimace when we hear its name, but it’s too prevalent to go without. It just feels like you don’t have the whole web at your fingertips.

1. True App Integration

Google Voice may finally be available for the iPhone, but the experience will never be the same as it is on Android. Other iPhone apps always direct you to the default dialer and visual voicemail apps, so even if you want to use Google Voice full time, you have to manually navigate it to yourself. On Android, apps like Google Voice integrate directly with the operating system—if you want to make calls with Google Voice, every call you make from the phone’s dialer goes through Google Voice. When you click on a phone number in your browser or in Google Maps, it goes through Google Voice instead of sending you to the wrong dialer. True app integration like this makes using custom phone, SMS, voicemail, and even browser apps absolutely seamless on Android, which is something you won’t find on the more locked-down iPhone platform.

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We do love the iPhone here at Lifehacker, but we also love tweaking and hacking our phones into oblivion, and Android just does it better than any other platform. These are just a few of the many tweaks you can make to an Android phone, but they’re certainly some of the most special. Got any of your own favorites that weren’t featured? Be sure to share them in the comments below.

 

Bonus:Cast away.

Written by Charlie Jane Anders

— Star Trek, in all its various incarnations, has changed the way we see science fiction on television — not once, but over and over. Not only that, but Trek has made us think about human nature in a new way.

No matter which Trek series is your favorite, and no matter where you stand on politics or religion or culture, there are installments ofStar Trek that speak to everyone. This series proved that the final frontier is a lot bigger and deeper than anybody knew.

Here are the 10 episodes, from throughoutStar Trek‘s history, that are the most timeless and mind-expanding.

Sure, trying to pick the 10 greatest installments of Trek, out of 726 episodes total, is as foolish as fighting in a burning house. And there’s no question I’m going to leave out some of your favorite episodes. (Share your own top 10 lists in comments please!)

But here are the ones that have stuck with me:

10) Mirror, Mirror (The Original Series)

I was torn between this episode and “Space Seed,” the episode that introduced Khan Noonien Singh. They’re both great episodes, but “Space Seed” partly gets a lot of its fame from the surpassing brilliance of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. And “Space Seed” is one of a number of “maniacs and fascists try to take over the Enterprise” episodes. In fact, a major pattern in the original Trek is Kirk being faced with another man who challenges his authority: sometimes an actual duplicate Kirk, sometimes just a man who shares some of Kirk’s qualities. But the alternate-universe episode “Mirror, Mirror” is the only occasion where Kirk is faced with a barbaric version of himself and forced to impersonate his double. As Spock helpfully explains at the end, Kirk is a civilized man masquerading as a barbarian. The episode gets to the heart of two key Trek concerns: leadership and the nature of civilization.

9) The Void (Star Trek: Voyager)

Speaking of stories about the nature of civilization… this episode really shows whatVoyager was capable of, and what madeVoyager a Star Trek series rather than just a generic space opera. Voyager gets trapped into a pocket of space where ships get drawn in, but it’s almost impossible to escape. The only way to survive is by preying on the other ships trapped there. The lone Federation ship in the Delta quadrant feels isolated and on a knife-edge, in a way it seldom does in other episodes. The crew loses enough resources to piracy that they seriously contemplate resorting to piracy themselves. Instead, Janeway convinces enough other ships of the benefits of an alliance that everybody is able to benefit, and ultimately escape the Void. This episode is one of the most inspiring and well-realized presentations of Trek‘s famous optimism.

8) The Inner Light (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Captain Picard gets zapped by a mysterious space probe that forces him to experience the entire life of a man on a dying planet, as a way for the inhabitants of the now-dead world to live on. There were many episodes of TNGwhich explored the meaning of existence, and the value of an individual life, in a fairly subtle way — but this was arguably the best. Patrick Stewart is superb as Picard and the man he becomes, Kamin, to the point where his return to life as Picard is actually a bit jarring — and he’s no longer quite the man he was at the start of the episode.

7) In the Pale Moonlight (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

When Deep Space Nine is remembered, it’s usually for a couple things: its gritty wartime drama, and its gutsy depiction of the dark side of Starfleet. And probably the best encapsulation of both themes comes from this episode, in which Benjamin Sisko discovers just how far he’s willing to go to convince the Romulans to join the Federation in fighting the Dominion. Like most of the other episodes on this list, it’s an excellent character study, showing how Sisko loses his idealism in exchange for a shot at victory. (I also considered including “The Siege of AR-558,” which shows the cost of war more literally.) It’s also an episode that keeps you on your toes, as Garak’s unscrupulous plan unfolds in a surprising way.

6) The Trouble with Tribbles (The Original Series)

It’s hard to believe an episode about furry little creatures infesting the Enterprise is one of the most beloved Trek stories, which has spawnedtwo sequels and numerous shout-outs — until you actually watch the episode, and then it’s easy to see why. It’s not just one of the funniest Star Trek episodes, it’s also one of the cleverest. Kirk faces two challenges: a Tribble infestation and a Klingon plot to sabotage the Federation’s relations with a key planet, and the solution to both problems dovetails in a nice way. Also, this is arguably the best of the “Federation has détente with the Klingons” stories, where Kirk has to play nice with those ruthless bastards. And in that context, Kirk’s annoyance with the Tribbles is just a furry, purring symbol of the challenge of pursuing diplomacy with people who want to kill you.

5) Darmok (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Captain Picard gets trapped on a planet with an alien captain who speaks only in allusions to epic sagas and religious texts, and they have to learn to communicate before the planet’s ferocious native life form wipes them out. It seems like a fairly extreme way of going about educating someone in your ways, but you have to take some fairly extreme measures when your language is so strange it breaks the Universal Translator. And you have to give this episode major props for serving up a totally foreign culture, one whose entire way of looking at the world is totally at right angles to ours. And the episode’s coda suggests that true nobility always lies in seeking a way to understand each other, and mutual understanding is a goal worth sacrificing your life for.

4) City on the Edge of Forever (The Original Series)

The best Star Trek time travel story is also arguably the best Star Trek romance, as Kirk falls in love with a woman who has to die for history to be set right. It’s a gutsy move making Kirk’s love interest a pacifist on the verge of World War II — a war that was still fresh in people’s minds at the time. But if Edith Keeler survives to lead the opposition to the war, then the relative paradise of the Federation will never come to exist in the future. Seldom have the choices on Star Trek been so heartbreaking. And we get to see Spock wear a pimpin’ hat.

3) The Visitor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

Another beautiful character study — Jake Sisko loses his father in a warp core accident, but the “ghost” of his father keeps following him throughout his life, into old age. Except it’s not a ghost, of course — it’s a subspace thingy, that’s tied to Jake somehow. And Jake basically throws away his life trying to bring his father back, to no avail. It’s a great metaphor for what it’s like to be so consumed by loss that you can’t move forward. And it’s a deeply moving episode.

2) The Best of Both Worlds Part 1 and 2 (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Like we said, a lot of the best TNG episodes have to do with communication, and reaching understanding of other cultures — but what happens when you encounter a culture that there is no reaching an understanding with? What if you encounter a civilization that’s much more powerful than yours, and has no interest in reaching mutual comprehension? Not only is the result one of the most hair-raising Star Trek stories of all time, with arguably the best cliffhanger ever, but it’s also the greatest challenge to the Star Trek vision. In the end, the Enterprise crew wins by taking insane risks — but also by learning to understand the Borg despite the Borg’s best efforts to remain mysterious.

1) Balance of Terror (Original Series)

It’s sort of Das Boot on a Starship, but it’s also more than that. This episode introduces the Romulans, the Original Series’ other big antagonists, and forces Kirk to fight them in a big deep space showdown. Kirk’s forced to use every ounce of strategy and ruthless cunning that he possesses, and even then he almost loses. And for the first time, the Enterprise crew sees a Romulan’s face and realizes that they look just like their own Mr. Spock — because the Vulcans are basically the more civilized versions of Romulans. While the Enterprise crew struggles with its own xenophobia, we learn that the Romulan captain is an honorable man in his own right. Like a lot of the best Trek stories, this episode forces us to understand the “other,” while also showing us the cost of war.

Oh, and to fans of Star Trek: Enterprise: I spent ages trying to think of an Enterprise episode that would be good enough to bump one of these others off the list, in the interests of balance and fairness and all that. But after poring over the Enterprise episode guides and reliving the show’s best moments, I just couldn’t find one particular outing that would stand up to these other 11 hours of television. No disrespect to Archer and crew intended.

Screencaps via Trekcore.

Bonus: Emotions…Nailed It

Written by Parents.com

Helping your child master these simple rules of etiquette will get him noticed — for all the right reasons.

By David Lowry, Ph.D.

Your child’s rude ‘tude isn’t always intentional. Sometimes kids just don’t realize it’s impolite to interrupt, pick their nose, or loudly observe that the lady walking in front of them has a large behind. And in the hustle and bustle of daily life, busy moms and dads don’t always have the time to focus on etiquette. But if you reinforce these 25 must-do manners, you’ll raise a polite, kind, well-liked child.-

Manner #1

When asking for something, say “Please.”

Manner #2

When receiving something, say “Thank you.”

Manner #3

Do not interrupt grown-ups who are speaking with each other unless there is an emergency. They will notice you and respond when they are finished talking.

Manner #4

If you do need to get somebody’s attention right away, the phrase “excuse me” is the most polite way for you to enter the conversation.

Manner #5

When you have any doubt about doing something, ask permission first. It can save you from many hours of grief later.

Manner #6

The world is not interested in what you dislike. Keep negative opinions to yourself, or between you and your friends, and out of earshot of adults.

Manner #7

Do not comment on other people’s physical characteristics unless, of course, it’s to compliment them, which is always welcome.

Manner #8

When people ask you how you are, tell them and then ask them how they are.

Manner #9

When you have spent time at your friend’s house, remember to thank his or her parents for having you over and for the good time you had.

Manner #10

Knock on closed doors — and wait to see if there’s a response — before entering.

Manner #11

When you make a phone call, introduce yourself first and then ask if you can speak with the person you are calling.

Manner #12

Be appreciative and say “thank you” for any gift you receive. In the age of e-mail, a handwritten thank-you note can have a powerful effect.

Manner #13

Never use foul language in front of adults. Grown-ups already know all those words, and they find them boring and unpleasant.

Manner #14

Don’t call people mean names.

Manner #15

Do not make fun of anyone for any reason. Teasing shows others you are weak, and ganging up on someone else is cruel.

Manner #16

Even if a play or an assembly is boring, sit through it quietly and pretend that you are interested. The performers and presenters are doing their best.

Manner #17

If you bump into somebody, immediately say “Excuse me.”

Manner #18

Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, and don’t pick your nose in public.

Manner #19

As you walk through a door, look to see if you can hold it open for someone else.

Manner #20

If you come across a parent, a teacher, or a neighbor working on something, ask if you can help. If they say “yes,” do so — you may learn something new.

Manner #21

When an adult asks you for a favor, do it without grumbling and with a smile.

Manner #22

When someone helps you, say “thank you.” That person will likely want to help you again. This is especially true with teachers!

Manner #23

Use eating utensils properly. If you are unsure how to do so, ask your parents to teach you or watch what adults do.

Manner #24

Keep a napkin on your lap; use it to wipe your mouth when necessary.

Manner #25

Don’t reach for things at the table; ask to have them passed.

Bonus:Promptly Deleted

Collected by tvsquad

‘Stargate Universe’ (Mon., May 9, 9PM ET on Syfy) and ‘Secret Diary of a Call Girl’ (Thurs., May 26, 10:30PM, Showtime) air their series finales this month, but it’s the end of ‘Smallville’ — which flies off into the TV sunset after 10 seasons (Fri., May 13, 8PM ET on The CW) — that got us thinking about the memorable ways some of our other shows have bid TV land adieu.

Our top 10 series finales list includes a couple of polarizing picks (you either loved or hated that Journey-blarin’, onion-ring-noshing ending for a certain family of New Joisey-ans), a couple we’re pretty sure you’ll agree are gems and a number one pick that we’d argue is the most clever, most unexpected TV series finale ever.

WARNING: In case you’re still catching up with some of these shows on DVD … there be spoilers ahead.

10. ‘The Wire’
Episode: ‘-30-‘
Finale date: March 9, 2008
The big finish: Carcetti became governor, fabulist Templeton won a Pulitzer, Michael continued on his path of crime, promising student Dukie spiraled into a life of drugs and recovering addict Bubbles remained clean and was invited to dinner with his family. But the best moments of the finale came during the wake mock for soon-to-be former Baltimore detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), one of the most complicated, hilarious, devoted and sometimes corrupt cop characters in TV history, from one of the most complicated, compelling and sadly underappreciated dramas in TV history.

9. ‘Seinfeld’
Episode: ‘The Finale’
Finale date: May 14, 1998
The big finish: Sure, we know, it’s a polarizing episode, and some fans thought it was an ending unworthy of such a classic show. But we say it was a perfectly appropriate way to go out, as the “show about nothing” saw the four famous friends head off to the hoosegow precisely because they did nothing. Failure to do anything while they witnessed a man being robbed got Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer slapped with jail time after being convicted of criminal indifference, but it also provided the perfect opportunity to bring back a sea of the show’s famous guest characters, from the Soup Nazi to nutty David Puddy and every Babu, Low Talker and Poppy in between. Not to mention the judge: Arthur Vandelay.

8. ‘Arrested Development’
Episode: ‘Development Arrested’
Finale date: Feb. 10, 2006
The big finish: ‘AD’ devotees are still bummed the show lasted just three seasons, but at least we got a proper series finale and the show ended on a high note. Bluth family martyr Michael (Jason Bateman) finally decided to put himself and his son, George Michael (Michael Cera). ahead of his greedy, self-obsessed relatives, so he scooted off to Cabo and left his fam to deal with their self-created messes. In Cabo, Michael awoke to find his father had followed him. And, in one of the show’s best meta moments, underage studio exec Maeby, Michael’s niece, pitched a story about her family to a big Hollywood producer: Ron Howard, an ‘AD’ producer and the man behind the show’s voiceovers, who cheekily tells her the Bluths would inspire a better movie than TV show. PS — We’re still waiting on that movie, Opie.

7. ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’
Episode: ‘The Last Show’
Finale date: March 19, 1977
The big finish: When new owners took over WJM and wanted to boost the station’s ratings, they fired everyone competent — including Mary (Mary Tyler Moore), Mr. Grant (Ed Asner), Murray (Gavin MacLeod) and Sue Ann (Betty White) — and kept on Ted Baxter (Ted Knight), one of the main reasons the evening news was so low-rated. Most of the staff took the news in stride — Mr. Grant flew in Mary’s old pals Rhoda (Valerie Harper) and Phyllis (Cloris Leachman) to cheer her up — but in what has become one of the most memorable scenes in TV land, the pals all bid each other farewell in the newsroom with a teary group hug that included a group shuffle to the tissue box.

6. ‘Cheers’
Episode: ‘One for the Road’
Finale date: May 20, 1993
The big finish: The ‘Cheers’ finale showed us once and for all whether or not sitcom super-couple Sam and Diane belonged together; they did not. Sam, as pal Norm pointed out, would only be at home with his one true love, the place where everybody knows your name.

5. ‘M*A*S*H’
Episode: ‘Goodbye, Farewell and Amen’
Finale date: Feb. 28, 1983
The big finish: The only thing more shocking than Klinger’s decision to remain in Korea after the war? The real reason behind Hawkeye’s (Alan Alda) meltdown in the iconic show’s series finale, one of the most-watched TV episodes ever. As the clip below shows, Alda (who earned an Emmy nomination for directing the series finale) turned Hawkeye’s usual flipness into a full-on breakdown as his psychiatrist forced him to remember the crushing death of an infant, a death he blamed on himself. Fortunately, the episode ended on a lighter, yet still emotionally powerful, note, with Hawkeye discovering the special “Goodbye” his BFF Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell) had left for him … spelled out in rocks.

4. ‘The Shield’
Episode: ‘Family Meeting’
Finale date: Nov. 25, 2008
The big finish: Oh, Shane. Mr. Vendrell and his family’s demise is still so shocking and heartbreaking that it’s made better only by the fact that Shane’s portrayer, the incredible Walton Goggins, is now making his case for an Emmy on another great FX drama, ‘Justified.’ The Vendrell family was but a sample of those whose lives were ruined by the wily, completely corrupt Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), who, in the end, was on the receiving end of the most satisfying bit of karma in TV history: a desk job.

3. ‘The Fugitive’
Episode: ‘The Judgment’
Finale date: Aug. 29, 1967
The big finish: For four seasons, Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) had been on the lam, trying to clear his own name in the murder of his wife by tracking down the real culprit, the One-Armed Man. Every episode of the series was a gem, full of action and suspense, and it all paid off in the series ender, as Kimble finally cornered OAM at an amusement park, cleared his good name and reputation and even shook hands with Philip Gerard, the lawman who had been hot on Kimble’s trail throughout the show.

2. ‘The Sopranos’
Episode: ‘Made in America’
Finale date: June 10, 2007
The big finish: Sure, everyone was yelling at their TV screens when it aired, and it was only with a bit of perspective that we came to appreciate the brilliance of this ending: Even when half of his friends had been whacked and he was potentially facing some serious jail time, life went on for Tony Soprano. Or, maybe it was about how he never saw the end of his life coming. Again, that’s the brilliance of the hotly-debated, ambiguous ending, which series creator David Chase has only commented on vaguely in the years since the finale aired. We’re choosing to believe Tony survived, though this incredibly comprehensive counter-argument could sway us to the other side.

P.S.: We’ve been to Holsten’s and have sampled those onion rings … killer.

1. ‘Newhart’
Episode: ‘The Last Newhart’
Finale date: May 21, 1990
The big finish: It was all a dream! But not in that Bobby Ewing–in-the-shower kinda way (actually, a lot like that, except hilarious … intentionally so), as Chicago psychiatrist Bob Hartley — the character Bob Newhart played in his otherclassic sitcom, ‘The Bob Newhart Show’ — woke up in bed with his wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette), meaning the entire series of ‘Newhart,’ in which the titular star played Vermont innkeeper/do-it-yourself book author Dick Loudon, was all a dream. Yes, even Larry, his brother Darryl, and his other brother Darryl.

Did your favorites make the list? Are you ready to duke it out in the comments if not?

Bonus: kitten vs a scary thing (really scary;)

Written by good.is

It’s been a rough week for those of us who still harbor childhood dreams of a career in outer space. NASA is about to launch its second-to-last shuttle mission and isn’t even accepting applications from aspiring astronauts. Plus the hunt for extraterrestrial life is on hold due to budget cuts. But if you still think space is the final frontier, let this flowchart be your guidance counselor:

Bonus:Never retreat. Never surrender.

Collected by thenextweb

We watch thousands of videos every month to try and get the amazing content that we share with you and I wanted to share 10 of the best social media campaign videos that we’ve spotted so far this year. You can use these for inspiration for your own campaigns or just to see what is happening in the industry.

There really has been a huge rise in social media videos and it seems that every agency and brand makes a video to highlight the great work they have been doing. Not only are social media videos great to show off the work you are doing internally within the company but they also are starting to take on their own life with coverage for the best ones on blogs and websites like this. Some of these are big budget campaigns but there are also smaller simple campaigns where the idea is the star and hopefully you’ll be able to take some inspiration for your own social media campaigns from these videos…

Ben & Jerry’s – Fair Tweets

Ben & Jerry’s have been quick to embrace social media since the start and their latest campaign allows you to use up the spare letters in your tweets to send fair trade messages via a handy little browser plugin.

Fiat Street Evo » The app that evolved streets forever

With QR codes and location based services all the rage at the moment Fiat decided to tap in to both those trends and create a little bit of marketing genius of their own by turning the world’s road signs in to an interactive game.

Your Delft blue portrait on a real KLM plane!

KLM have been in to social in a big way for the last couple of years with lots of innovative campaigns and this latest one tapped in to Dutch culture by allowing you to customize your own photos on Facebook and then have them added to a giant plane.

Lynx Excite Angel Ambush London Victoria

Augmented reality has been on the rise and this campaign from Lynx spiced up the commute in one of London’s busiest train stations by allowing passers by to interact with their angels on a giant screen.

Renault connects Facebook to the AutoRAI with RFID

Facebook is great for interacting and sharing in the online world but Renault decided to bring that in to the real world using RFID tags to let uses at a motor show tag the cars they liked most and push that info back on to Facebook in real time.

PepsiCo Social Vending

Soft drink vending machines have not changed in nature for some time now but Pepsi decided to release a new social vending machine recently which allowed users to interact and gift drinks to their friends.

Volkswagen – Fox no Planeta Terra – Twitter Zoom – English

This is one of the most innovative Twitter campaigns that we have seen as it tapped in to a youth market via a music festival and the race around a Brazilian city to find the hidden tickets via an interactive treasure hunt.

Heineken Star Player

Fantasy football games are nothing out of the ordinary but Heineken have taken things to a new level with an interactive app that turns every single action within a Champions league game in to an experience. Unlocking treats and competing against others makes this a great interactive experience.

Mercurial Superfly: The Machine

When one of the world’s top footballers adds a camera to his back and allows you to play a game where you can control his actions via Facebook you know it’s not just any small local campaign. This is genius marketing from Nike and submerged the user in a whole new way.

Bonus:Why i can never be cool

Written by Matt Patches

Solid relationships are built on compromise. Meaning, when your boyfriend or girlfriend tells you they want to go see Something Borrowed or Thor this weekend and your gut reaction is “I’d rather have an eagle bite out my liver every day for an eternity than see that movie,” well, you have to suck it up. Not just because you’re trying to keep the two of you together, but because the movie may actually turn out to be your cup of tea. Open minds, people.

I’ve been the “movie buff” in many a relationship, but this weekend’s line-up reminded me of the many discoveries I’ve made thanks to the differing opinions and interests of past significant others. For every sappy mother/daughter road trip drama (Anywhere But Here), fairy tale relationship come true (The Prince and Me), or by-the-books rom-com with a song for a title (Sweet Home Alabama), my girlfriends took me to a movie that — gasp — continues to resonate in my memory, challenge the way I watch films and remind me that I should get over myself once in awhile.

Pretty impressive. I hope one of them felt that way when I sat them down to watch Jet Li’s The One.

As a reminder to myself and to all that we don’t ever really know what we’re going to enjoy the heck out of, here are eight movies I would probably never have seen on my own volition. And then I turn the table on you: what movie did someone twist your arm to see that actually turned out to be solid? I gratefully ask you to share your stories in the comments!

My Neighbor Totoro

The Pre-Judgment: My Neighbor Totoro was a movie my high school girlfriend’s dad recorded off TV on to a Hi-8 tape and required us to watch off a video camera. Starring what appeared to be one of those creepy, grinning stuffed animals that’s always peering at you from the other side of a room, I imagined successfully sitting through Totoro would earn me some sort of boyfriend medal of honor.

The Judgment: Hayao Miyazaki’s simplistic, charming animated film was my gateway drug to the world of Studio Ghibli, and even more importantly, the world of animation. My Neighbor Totoro was fantastical art — even in crappy, lo-fi quality. There was a potential to this form of filmmaking I hadn’t seen before, a magic that could only be captured through the colorful, whimsical eye of an animator. My girlfriend loved it because the Totoro song is the most adorable thing ever created by man, but I was just happy to have alternatives to Disney flicks and Dragon Ball Z.

Down with Love

The Pre-Judgment: A throwback to the crack-up sex comedies of the 1960s, chock full of retro styles and wink-wink gags delivered by one of the more irksome actresses of modern day: Renée Zellweger. It was like my girlfriend asking me to read back issues of Vogue while getting our nails did. Guess I didn’t see the hilarious appeal of beehive hair-dos.

The Judgment: As far as rom-coms go, Down with Love doesn’t just step outside the box, it breaks it down, tapes it back together and fancies it up with a stylistic gift wrap that is practically unheard of in Hollywood. How did this movie get made? Mystifying, but watching Zellweger, Ewan McGregor and director Peyton Reed embody the whirlwind of an old fashioned romance (not mock it) makes for a truly lovely time. Which is why the movie made $0.

The Lion in Winter

The Pre-Judgment: The Lion in Winter stars the legendary Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn and won several Oscars when it was released in 1968 — but there are few things less appealing on a Friday night than a heavy drama set in medieval France. Medical studies have proved that cinematic play adaptations concerning European history are the second most effective sleep drug under Ambien.

The Judgment: What a fool I am, especially as a person who can enjoy a riveting piece of theater, to brush off The Lion in Winter. Every line in this frickin’ movie is delivered with unrivaled ferocity, like Shakespeare interpreted by David Mamet. We talk about the fine, but definitive line between theater and film, but a movie like The Lion in Winter convinces you that there’s room for a hybrid. We can have unrealistic, poetical dialogue in movies. Take a Hepburn classic: “I could peel you like a pear and God himself would call it justice! ”

Me and You and Everyone We Know

The Pre-Judgment: QuirkFest 2005, courtesy of performance artist/writer/mind-controller over the literary-inclined, Miranda July. July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know appeared to be another Wes Anderson-inspired, surface-level indie combined with the unstoppable power of adorable children who say intellectual things. I was very worried for the girlfriend that enjoyed this movie.

The Judgment: July’s latest film The Future solidifies this for me, but even in Me and You and Everyone We Know you begin to realize that she’s something of a 21st century, female Woody Allen. The movie isn’t quirky for quirk’s sake, July’s just the real deal. I could see why a person who authentically enjoys art and the creative process would be enthralled by July’s work — it’s a completely unfiltered vision, an extension of herself, much like Allen’s films. Not necessarily appealing all the time, but genuine.

Amelie

The Pre-Judgment: Ah, the days when I’d head to Blockbuster and watch my girlfriend pick whatever movie had compelling box art. As a young person, I never had a fear of foreign films the way some of my compatriots did (er, still do, I would imagine), but let’s be honest: I had some other priorities while watching movies. Subtitles required my undivided attention and I had serious concerns that this random, schmaltzy French flick would be too…distracting.

The Judgment: Always cross reference the names on the box with your memory bank. Obviously I was too caught up in my own obnoxious behavior to connect director Jean-Pierre Jeunet to films I had seen and loved, like Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children (note: films my girlfriend at the time loathed). Amelie was something even more special than his earlier work, the perfect gel of his style and romanticism. As Amelie and Nino zipped through the streets on their bicycle and the credits rolled, I recalled saying, “why aren’t American films more like that?” To which my girlfriend replied, “Did you like it?”

Save the Last Dance

The Pre-Judgment: Julia Stiles is the queen of movies that girlfriends demand to see in theaters, much to their boyfriends’ dismay. She starred in so many “how can X guy win over Julia Stiles this time?” movies, that I had a strong resistance to seeing The Bourne Identity in theaters. Sad. Save the Last Dance fit that model, mixed with…dancing. Ew, gross.

The Judgment: Few movies take teenagers as seriously as Save the Last Dance. Yes, the whole interracial dance thing is a little trite, but the movie’s about the power of ambition and friendship, letting down one’s guard to find comfort in others. That’s important stuff for the core demographic ofSave the Last Dance and it doesn’t hurt that the hip hop music and dancing is equally as powerful as Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas (what happened to that guy?). Whatever Step Up franchise, the real deal is Save the Last Dance.

John Q

The Pre-Judgment: I vividly recall trying to decide between staying in one night and playing Rummikub or going to see Denzel Washington in John Q. I lost that argument. I don’t even know if my girlfriend at the time wanted to see John Q, as it looked like one of the most sentimental turds in all of movie history. She just really didn’t want to play Rummikub with me.

The Judgment: Well, I wasn’t wrong. I haven’t returned to John Q since that fateful day, but I think about it constantly. It may have been the first movie I flat out hated — HATED! — which makes it that much more important. Everything in John Q stunk to high heaven, and even with “worse” movies in existence, watching the film was a moment of clarity, in which I could perfectly describe why the film was a piece of poop. Everything is flawed and it’s the perfect film to analyze why this happens to a project that is, obviously, someone’s labor of love (in this case, Nick Cassavetes).

Before Sunset

The Pre-Judgment: Watching two people fall in love on screen can be a great experience for couples. Watching people talk about how they were never able to make it work and have lots of regrets and wish they could be together even though it’s impossible…probably not as great an experience. Those are the kind of seeds you don’t want to plant two months into your new relationship.

The Judgment: Off the tip of my tongue, I’d say Before Sunset is the most romantic movie I’ve ever seen. Yes, it’s also the sequel to Before Sunrise, the “one night fling” movie that could also take the title, but watching two former lovers, further down the road of their lives, talking about how things have changed and mistakes they’ve made…that brings you little closer to the things you do have. Okay, girlfriend, you won that round. I’ll pay you back by taking you to Blade: Trinity!

How many movies have you been forced into that changed your life?

Bonus: Presidents come and go, but the Queen sticks around