Its a new year!

You now have the opportunity to get fit like you were supposed to last year, get more organized, and have more fun.

Stick to your guns and stay on track with these 13 apps.

Obstacles XRT will help you get in shape, anywhere

Start off the year by getting in shape.

Obstacles XRT is an exercise app that you can use from the comfort of your home, hotel room, or pretty much anywhere you have a clean surface to work out.

The app creates obstacle courses for you to follow along with. The exercise routines are fairly short ranging,from 20-40 minutes.

Price: $2.99

Available on:iPhone

Camera Awesome will helps you to become a better photographer with little effort

Camera Awesome is available for the iPhone and iPad. The app helps you to take striking photos quickly.

And besides just helping your photos to stand out, Camera Awesome is packed with features like focusing the lens in one place and setting exposure in another. 

We also love the video time travel, which captures video 5 seconds before you hit the button, and the 1-Tap awesomize feature, which works to automatically fix dark spots, blurry photos, and more.

Price: Free

Available on:iOS

EasilyDo will help you to get organized and stay on track

EasilyDo's goal is to make your life simple. It alerts you with time to go and time to leave texts so you're always on time, merges duplicate contacts, and helps you file emails.

If you connect EasilyDo to your social networks it will even tell you when a friends birthday is and allow you to send a gift all without leaving the app.

Price: Free

Available on:iPhone

Please follow SAI: Tools on Twitter and Facebook.

Morgan Creek Capital Management, an investment management firm with offices around the world, released its 2013 market outlook, entitled "Peering Over the Precipice."

The presentation was delivered at the North Carolina Bankers Association yesterday.

The slideshow presentation focuses on the three big risks facing the market: the Euro crisis, possibility of a downturn in China, and fallout from the Fiscal Cliff.

Of these three, the firm is most bearish on the U.S. economy -- to the point of predicting a recession starting in April. Morgan Creek believes that U.S. equities are overvalued, and notes that bear markets generally perform poorly in a post-election year.

The team is most bullish on precious metals and the Nikkei. In particular, they believe monetary easing will boost the Japanese market, and have a short-term target of $2,000 for gold.

Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.

Sometimes friendship crosses species boundaries

An episode of Nature on PBS explores odd animal friendships, including animals that would normally attack each other in the wild, like a cheetah and a Labrador retriever.

"Each inter-species pair challenges the conventional wisdom that humans are the only species capable of feeling compassion and forming long-lasting friendships,"according to the documentary. 

The unlikely friendships are a sign that, like humans, animals have emotions.

Kasi, a male cheetah, and Mtani, a female Labrador retriever, have been raised together since they were just weeks old. They have grown to depend on one another and can be seen playing together at Busch Gardens in Florida.

Watch the full episode >

This male goose has partnered with a female tortoise for the last four years. He protects her, attacking anyone that gets too close, and always makes sure she eats enough before anyone else can get to the salad bar.

Watch the full episode >

Atlas, a Gibbon monkey, at Monkeyland Primate Sanctuary in South Africa is only interested in developing friendships with capuchins instead of monkeys of his own species. He even protects the juveniles while they eat.

Watch the full episode >

Please follow Science on Twitter and Facebook.

2013 looks set to be a fantastic year for new cars.

Here are 10 exciting models due in showrooms this year.

Alfa Romeo 4C

The beautiful 4C will be powered by a mid-mounted, 1.8-litre turbocharged petrol engine.

With a kerb weight of less than 1,000kg thanks to the use of carbon-fibre in its construction, performance should be excellent.

Price: Approx £45,000

Launch date: Autumn

Porsche 918 Spyder

By combining a race-bred 4.6-litre V8 petrol engine with pair of electric motors, Porsche has created a supercar that can travel from 0-62mph in 3.2sec and yet still return 94mpg in EU Combined tests.

Other astonishing figures include a 199mph top speed and CO2 emissions (again on the EU Combined cycle) of 70g/km.

Price: £624,000

Launch date: September

Renaultsport Clio

A five-door body housing a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine and paddleshift gearbox mark a new era of Clio hot hatches.

You can also expect a launch control system and handling tuned by Renaultsport's experts, who have an excellent track record.

Price: Approx £18,000

Launch date: May

Please follow Getting There on Twitter and Facebook.

Is this what sibling rivalry looks like when a few hundred million dollars are thrown into the mix?

Days after 28-year-old Formula One heiress Tamara Ecclestone was reported to have listed her London pad for $32 million, celebrity real estate blogger The Real Estalker reports that younger sister Petra has put her own London home on the market with a $52 million price tag.

And this isn't the only real estate rivalry between the two. A year and a half after Petra made waves for spending $85 million on the famed Spelling Manor in Los Angeles, it came to light that Tamara was eyeing an even more extravagant mansion in the same neighborhood, listed at $125 million.

Petra's London home, listed with Knight Frank, certainly fits Petra's design tastes. As she revealed to W Magazine last year, “I’ve got quite masculine taste ... I don’t like a lot of pattern. [The living] room is the only light room; everything else is very dark and kind of sexy, with, like, a boudoir feel to it. You’re not scared if you stain something."

The townhouse is located in posh Eaton Square in Belgravia.

It has eight stories; six above ground and two below. The kitchen is modern and minimalistic.

The dining room incorporates Petra's love for dark shades.

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.

House Speaker John Boehner is once again front and center today, holding on to his speakership in the 113th Congress despite some Republican Party infighting that led up to the vote.

The spotlight is a familiar role for Boehner, the Ohio congressman who has spent more than two decades in the House of Representatives and currently leads one of the most divided caucuses in recent memory.

But Boehner is more than just your average Beltway political hack. Here's a look at the path that got him to the top of Capitol Hill. 

He got his start working at his father's bar in Ohio.

Boehner's parents were Democrats and owned a bar in Reading, Ohio, where the future congressman worked with his 12 siblings. 

In high school, Boehner played linebacker under future Notre Dame University coach Gerry Faust. After graduating, he enlisted in the Navy during the Vietnam War, but was discharged eight weeks later because of a bad back. 

Boehner spent seven years at Xavier College before graduating, because he had to pay his own way through school. While he was working one of his multiple jobs — as a night shift janitor at a chemical plant — he met his future wife Debbie, who worked in customer service at the company. 

Boehner graduated with a degree in business administration. He earned a sales job at Nucite Sales, a plastics distribution company, and went on to run the company after the owner died. 

He made his first foray into politics during the early 1980s, as a trustee for Union Township in southeastern Ohio. He was first elected to the Ohio state legislature in 1985. 

Source: Biography.com, New York Times

In 1990, he picked off a vulnerable incumbent and was elected to Congress.

In his first congressional election in 1990, Boehner beat Democratic incumbent Donald Lukens handily, after Lukens was accused of paying an underage girl for sex. 

Boehner and six other freshman congressman — including future Pennsylvania Senator and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum — formed The Gang Of Seven, which rallied against corruption in the House. 

The group exposed the House banking scandal, uncovering several House members who had welshed on money owed to the House Bank.

Source: Biography.com

Boehner was a key ally of Newt Gingrich.

Boehner served as a pivotal ally to Gingrich during Gingrich's rocky tenure as Speaker, and was involved in the authoring of Gingrich's Contract with America. 

Specifically, Boehner helped author the Congressional Accountability Act, an aspect of Gingrich's Contract with America. It forced Congress to comply with several specific laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and other laws.

Source: Official Bio,Office of Compliance

Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook.

Family vacations are as much about spending time together as they are about getting away from it all. The "Mr. Ed" is the perfect yacht for a family vacation — and it costs under $1 million.

It is not a huge yacht at 97 feet long, but there's plenty of room for eight guests and a crew of three.

Built in 1991 by Maiora, an Italian yacht firm, it was refit in 2009.

The "Mr. Ed" is listed for $875,000 by International Yacht Collection.

The yacht is 92 feet long.

It is powered by a Detroit Diesel 16V92TA engine.

It cruises at 18 knots (20.7 mph), and can hit a speedy 22 knots (25.3 mph).

Please follow Getting There on Twitter and Facebook.

Less than a decade after she started a fashion brand in her kitchen, Tory Burch is officially a billionaire.

Her eponymous fashion line, which includes high-end handbags and Reva ballet flats, is ubiquitous.

The designer's bags, sunglasses and shoes are flying off the shelves at Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom and Saks. She's competing with more established brands like Coach, Michael Kors and Kate Spade—and winning.

Burch's company is now valued at more than $3.5 billion. 

Burch started her career a fashion copywriter. After her ex-husband, retail tycoon Christopher Burch, gave her $2 million, she began designing clothes in her kitchen. Before long, she had an important celebrity endorsement and soaring sales figures. 

We mapped out how Burch became a fashion billionaire. 

Tory Burch grew up in Philadelphia.

Her mother is a former actress, while her father was an investor. She graduated high school and attended the University of Pennsylvania. 

Burch had a series of writing jobs before starting her fashion line.

She worked for Vera Wang, Ralph Lauren and Harper's Bazaar. 

In 2004, she launched her New York City flagship boutique.

It's located in the retail mecca of NoLita. Pictured is her Madison Avenue store.

Please follow Retail on Twitter and Facebook.

You're a great employee.

You whiz through tough work projects and shine during performance reviews. Too bad your shoulders are slouchy (from sitting at your desk too long), your skin is splotchy (lunch, smunch—the break room's greasy potato chips will kill hunger), and your sleep is shoddy (you didn't finish that last work project until 4 a.m.).

To help you recognize professional choices that compromise your overall health, here's a list of the most unhealthy work habits.

1. Your Footwear

You have a huge office presentation or an important board meeting, so you match your power suit with the perfect power heels. But by the workday's end, you could be trading new-found confidence for some newly formed corns. If you're going to sport your spikes to the office, Dr. A. Holly Johnson, chief of foot and ankle orthopedic surgery at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital, suggests bringing in a fall-back pair of shoes.

"The key to everything in health is moderation," she says. "Wearing a high heel all day at work, whether it's two inches or four inches, is probably not a good idea. If you're going to be sitting in your office all day, then you should have some flats at your desk. It's fine to wear those heels for a couple of hours, though."

Another way to combat possible foot strain and pinched toes: Make sure to wear shoes that actually fit. Johnson says many people underestimate the size of their feet. "Wearing the wrong shoe size is going to exacerbate any problem you have," she says. "When you're going to buy new shoes, have the salesperson measure your foot or measure your own foot at home. Over time, a foot gets progressively wider and longer."

2. Your Commute

It's a good thing you packed that spare pair of comfortable shoes for the work commute, because chances are, you're going to be travelling for awhile. The average commute is just north of 25 minutes, according to a 2009 report from the American Community Survey. Experts say excessive traffic could lead to stress and reduced sleep, while lengthy car, train, and bus rides result in longer sedentary time and therefore, a higher body mass index, waist circumference, cholesterol, and blood pressure. Over time, a hassled commuter could grapple with heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and even kidney failure.

If you live close enough to your office, you might want to swap your bus pass for some sneakers and walk to and from work. Commuters who can't avoid their long and sedentary travel times should also aim to squeeze more physical activity into their daily routine.

3. Pulling All-Nighters

Sometimes it takes longer than an eight-hour workday to complete an assignment, which could cause us to revert to an all-nighter à la school days. And while occasionally missing sleep is more of a nuisance than a serious health concern, it can become an issue if it happens consistently.

"We talk about acute sleep deprivation and chronic sleep deprivation," says Dr. Lawrence J. Epstein, the chief medical officer for Sleep HealthCenters in Boston and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. "There are some clear effects that go along with not getting enough sleep, and the longer you go, the sleepier you get. Acute sleep deprivation could immediately affect work performance." 

"But as you miss more sleep, your cognitive functioning drops," Epstein continues. "You won't be able to think clearly and you won't be able to learn as much. The effect of 24 hours of sleep deprivation on performance is the equivalent of having a blood-alcohol level of 0.10." According to him, one of the dangers of chronic sleep deprivation is that people lose the ability to judge their level of sleep impairment. Receiving one or two hours here or there might make a sleep-deprived worker feel rested temporarily, but ultimately, he or she could still make poor decisions, like getting behind the wheel of a car.

According to Epstein, the only remedy for missing sleep is to sleep, so consider using your lunch break to get some shut-eye. "The best times to be asleep are in the middle of the night, and then 12 hours after that, so in the middle of the afternoon," Epstein says. "If you didn't get enough rest at night, it's easiest to try again at your next peak of sleepiness."

Please follow Careers on Twitter and Facebook.

Hotel minibars have a bit of a naughty reputation. After all, they tempt and tease world-weary travelers with salty-sweet goodness at all hours of the day, and then come with a double-digit price tag to boot.

But sometimes, the items up for grabs can at least provide guests with a moment of amusement. Some hotels feature rather surprising minibar offerings — we’re talking walking sticks and 24-karat gold vibrators. It’s enough to make guests pause in their perusal of the candy selection and say, “Wait, what?”

We’ve come across some of the wackiest minibar items during our travels; here are some of our favorites.

Alexander Wang-Designed Condoms at the Thompson Beverly Hills

At the flashy Thompson Beverly Hills, spending the night with that special someone just got more fashionable. Designer Alexander Wang created special packaging for PROPER ATTIRE condoms, which are for sale at all Thompson properties, as well as on the brand’s website. Couples pay $5.99 for a pack of three assorted (which include extra large, ultra-thin, and studded — oh my!) and proceeds benefit Planned Parenthood. 

Detoxifying Spray at Fifteen Beacon, Boston

This exquisite boutique in Boston never lacks for service, so it should come as no surprise that the health of its guests is of utmost importance to management — especially its hungover guests. Minibars at Fifteen Beacon include an off-beat, all-natural sleep enhancer, City Life Detoxer from Sprayology, for $24. Said to flush away urban toxins, this homeopathic, FDA-approved oral spray is supposed to ease breathing difficulties, coughing, sluggishness, and lung and liver toxicity. All we have to say is, another round, please?

3D Glasses and Walking Sticks at the Ace Hotel — Portland

This hipster haven hotel is both stylish and eco-friendly, featuring unique amenities that spill out of the minibar and into the living space as interesting design elements. The Ace Hotel — Portland is certainly the case for the walking sticks the hotel offers guests. The 3D glasses are a bit more circumspectly presented, but their inclusion does not go without notice.

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.

After 27 years, Spin ended its print publication last month. It joins Newsweek and SmartMoney, which also decided to end their print editions last year.

Spin struggled financially over the past few years, being passed off from company to company since 2006. It was most recently sold in July 2012 when Buzzmedia bought the mag, reportedly for less than $5 million.

It was a humbling comedown for a publication that was once the national alternative to Rolling Stone.

In its heyday, Spin featured artists like Nirvana and PJ Harvey on its covers when more mainstream magazines often failed to acknowledge them. As a magazine, it essentially defined the grunge era of the early 1990s.

It was also THE place to advertise and promote new artists.

In early 2012, Spin completely relaunched, with a redesign, and switched from a monthly to bimonthly print schedule.

Even though Spin will no longer be seen on newsstands, its website and Twitter accounts will still be functioning as usual. And according to Mashable, the new owners may consider bringing the print edition back in the future.

"We’ve not ruled out bringing back Spin in print, but we're still determining those plans," a rep for the magazine said.

Lest we forget, we've gathered images of the 20 best covers in Spin's history.

Madonna was the cover model for the first issue of Spin in May 1985. She appeared on Spin's cover six times.

It took a while for Spin to get into its alt-rock groove. Mick Jagger appeared on the August 1986 cover. During the late 80s, the Jagger/Keith Richards feud was at its worst, almost causing the band to break up.

Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain and wife Courtney Love showed off four-month-old Frances Bean Cobain on this December 1992 cover. At this point, Spin was hitting its high point.

Please follow Advertising on Twitter and Facebook.

I recently had the opportunity to get a sneak preview of Flight of the Butterflies, which opens at the The American Museum of Natural History in New York City on Saturday, Jan 5. This movie taught me just how incredible these beautiful and delicate butterflies really are.

In the movie, a group of researchers track the migration of monarch butterflies to see where they spend the winter. Through this study they made several findings, including the great amount of distance the insect can travel. One butterfly traveled 80 miles in a single day.

Butterflies always looked like fragile creatures to me. They weigh less than a penny and it looks like a strong gust of wind can blow them away or even tear apart their thin delicate wings. 

I was surprised at how strong these creatures can be, flying a mile high and migrating from Canada to Mexico. Here are some other amazing facts about monarch butterflies.

It may seem weird that the monarch's caterpillars only eat milkweed, but that actually protects them. The bitter and poisonous plant makes the caterpillar bitter and poisonous, deterring potential predators from making it a meal.

Scans show how the caterpillar turns into a butterfly in the chrysalis (the butterfly equivalent of the moth's cocoon). Its organs change in shape and size, its mouth changes shape to enable the insect to drink nectar from flowers, and flight muscles, wings, compound eyes, and long legs develop.

The typical butterfly life cycle takes about four weeks, as they change from an egg to a caterpillar, to a chrysalis, and finally a butterfly. The butterflies usually live for two to six weeks.

Please follow Science on Twitter and Facebook.

Albert Einstein was one of the greatest minds of all time. He profoundly changed the way we look at space and time. But else do we know about the great scientist?

Kara Kovalchik of Mental Floss takes a look back at Einstein's life, uncovering some lesser-known details about the German-born genius' life.  

Did Einstein show any signs of future greatness as an infant?

His first impression wasn't one of fame, no. Born in Ulm, Germany, on March 14, 1879, Albert was the first child of Pauline and Hermann Einstein. And to say the couple was less than impressed with their newborn son would be an understatement; they thought his head was grotesquely oversized.

His parents described Albert to the delivering physician as a "monstrosity". The doctor convinced them that all infant heads appeared larger than normal and that Albert's body would grow to become more proportionate to his cranium.

Of course, once that happened, his grandmother clucked over him and complained to his parents that the boy was "much too fat!"

Was he really a slow learner?

Yes and no. The youngster didn't start to speak until he was two-years-old, but when he did chatter, he skipped all that "mama, dada" bunk and started off using full sentences.

In 1881, Albert's parents presented him with a new little sister, Maria (called "Maja" by family and friends). When two-year-old Albert saw her for the first time, he presumed that she was some sort of toy, and asked "Where does it have its small wheels?"

Despite his original skepticism, Maja and Albert soon became best friends.

Did Einstein suffer from a neurological disorder?

Einstein's primary-school teachers reported that the child had a powerful and lingering distaste of authority. Coupled with his late-developing speech, some medical professionals have suggested this behavior as symptomatic of either autism or Asperger's Syndrome.

Throughout his childhood and adult life, however, Albert did not exhibit any other behavior that would have been typical of such a diagnosis.

He had no difficulty communicating with others, for example. He also demonstrated the emotional capacity to develop both close friendships and passionate relationships.

Please follow Science on Twitter and Facebook.

An Australian designer named Fred Nerby created an entirely new look for Facebook and posted it to Behance.

He gave us permission to rerun it.

It's a pretty interesting look at how Facebook could overhaul its design.

It actually looks like something that would be a cross between Apple and Microsoft's design work. It has Apple's soft human touches and Microsoft's simple tile design.

Each slide that follows has a little explanation of the new design from Nerby on it.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

The S&P 500 booked a nice 13 percent return in 2012.

For 2013, Goldman Sachs' equity strategy team expects the index to hit 1,575 by year-end.

However, they expect some stocks to do better than others.

The firm's recently released "US Monthly Chartbook" includes a list of stocks with the most upside opportunity relative to Goldman analysts' price targets.

Many of these companies highlighted are either in energy production or energy equipment.

The stocks listed offer 24 to 44 percent upside relative to their current prices. We've arranged the stocks from least to most upside.

ONEOK Inc.

Ticker: OKE

Rating: Neutral

Current Price: $42.75

Upside to Target: 24.0%

This oil & gas company is primarily involved with the transmission and distribution of natural gas to over 2 million customers. ONEOK also owns one of the nation's premier natural gas liquids systems.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Stryker Corp.

Ticker: SYK

Rating: Buy

Current Price: $54.82

Upside to Target: 24.0%

This medical device and equipment manufacturer specializes in orthopedic medical technology.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Priceline.com

Ticker: PCLN

Rating: Buy

Current Price: $620.39

Upside to Target: 24.1%

Priceline offers exclusive deals on hotels, flights, rental cars, vacations, and cruises.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.

Just about anything can inspire a movie, but we don't often hear that another movie, and much less events behind-the-scenes, as being the muse for a film.

Our friends at mental_floss have rounded up seven films that were inspired by backstage events from other films.

"Plan 9 From Outer Space" (1957) / "Ed Wood" (1994)

By any standard, Edward Wood, Jr. was not a particularly good filmmaker. His films had highly noticeable continuity errors, backgrounds that wouldn’t stay still, and flying saucers that were clearly made of cardboard. He would have died in obscurity had it not been for the irony that his movies achieved cult status thanks to their sheer awfulness. Film critic siblings Harry and Michael Medved pronounced Plan 9 from Outer Space the worst film of all time, and David Letterman got laughs from his audiences simply by running clips from the film during the early days of his show.

Made with the last remaining footage of his late friend Bela Lugosi, Ed Wood’s dogged pursuit to make Plan 9 From Outer Space is the subject of Tim Burton’s 1994 movie Ed Wood. Johnny Depp plays the title character and Martin Landau plays Lugosi (he received the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role). Burton paints Wood as not just a sympathetic figure but as the embodiment of a true auteur. Wood’s complete obliviousness to his lack of talent, and his unwavering optimism in the face of it, is seen as his biggest strength; it’s what wins the hearts of those around him and the audience. In fact, the film never allows Ed Wood to learn the reaction to his film: As Wood is walking out of the premiere of his film, he asks his girlfriend to elope with him instead of sticking around to hear critical opinion (which likely would have been negative). Both Tim Burton and Johnny Depp count Ed Wood among their greatest films.

"Nosferatu" (1922) / "Shadow of the Vampire" (2000)

F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, one of the landmark films of the silent era, is the first of a great many films to be based on Bram Stoker’s famous novel Dracula. Without Nosferatu demonstrating the popularity of the vampire genre, we wouldn’t have Twilight, True Blood, or The Vampire Diaries. The film almost got shut down, however, because Stoker’s widow sued the studio over the unauthorized use of her husband’s novel (written in 1897). Murnau persisted with different names for his characters.

The most chilling aspect of the film is Max Schreck’s portrayal of the Dracula stand-in (dubbed “Count Orlock”). Because audiences in 1922 were so new to the horror genre, Schreck’s striking facial features made quite an impression on audiences, and rumors fueled among audiences at the time that Schreck was an actual vampire. It also helped that Schreck didn’t do a lot of acting afterwards (although a closer look at his filmography shows he did do a number of less notable films).

In the 2000 film Shadow of a Vampire, director E. Elias Merhige and writer Steven Katz do a backstage film about Nosterafu with a twist: In this fictionalized account, director F.W. Murnau’s (John Malkovich) film is such a success because he finds an actual vampire to play the role of the Count.

"African Queen" (1951) / "White Hunter Black Heart" (1990)

Many of acclaimed director John Huston’s films were adventure stories that were shot on location, which was something few studios allowed directors to do at that time. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was shot in Mexico, Beat the Devil was shot in East Africa, and The Man Who Would Be King was shot in Morocco—but his most extreme location shoot was for the African Queen. The film, about a missionary (Katharine Hepburn) and a disheveled riverboat captain (Humphrey Bogart) travelling down Africa’s Zambezi River in World War I, was shot in a previously unmapped location in the Belgian Congo.

Pretty much the entire cast and crew got sick from dysentery, malaria, and snake bites. It didn’t help that Huston was a stubborn and strong-willed man who had a penchant for indulging in adventures. “He had a habit of losing interest in a project halfway through, and he indulged his passions for horses, drink, gambling and women as if he had the divine right to be supplied endlessly with same,” wrote Roger Ebert. In this particular case, Huston’s adventure of choice was shooting an elephant. When Huston first arrived in the Congo, he delayed production so he could go on a safari. When he failed to shoot an elephant on that outing, he refused to continue production until he succeeded in shooting one. Hepburn wrote in her autobiography that Huston convinced her to go hunting and inadvertently led her to a herd of wild animals from which the two were lucky to escape alive. She was among a number of people who theorized that Huston signed on to the movie just so he could go on safari.

Among those who got sick was screenwriter James Agee. A German-born screenwriter named Peter Viertel was sent to Africa as Agee’s replacement. Upon witnessing first-hand Huston’s mad quest to shoot an elephant, Viertel was inspired to write a semi-biographical novel about Huston centered around that experience. The novel was made into a movie by Clint Eastwood, who directed and starred as stubborn director John Wilson. Despite the name changes, the film sticks pretty close to the novel.

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

People today are already pretty much inseperable from technology, whether it's a smartphone, laptop, or tablet. 

But that's not stopping innovators and creators from coming up with ways to bring technology even closer to us. 

Google Glass is probably the most well-known wearable tech item, but other examples include a pair of boots that charge your cell phone, and a glove that allows deaf and blind people to send text messages.

Drum Machine t-shirt lets you make beats on the go

What:Electronic Drum Machine T-shirt

How it works: The drum pads on the front of the shirt let you tap out a beat using your fingers. The shirt also comes with a mini amplifier that clips on to your pants.

Cost: $29.99

This solar-powered bikini soaks up sun rays to power your smartphone and other small electronics

What:Solar Bikini

How it works: The bikini, which is equipped with photovoltaic film strips, absorbs sun rays to charge your phone and other electronics. It's also waterproof!

Cost: Anywhere from $500 to $1,500

Glove One acts a cell phone, but it's not going to keep your hands warm, unfortunately

What:Glove One

How it works: The glove has a slot for a sim card to make and receive calls. On the underside of each finger, there are numeric touch keys for making phone calls. The speaker on the thumb and microphone on the pinky allow you to mimic the standard method of holding a phone while making a call.

Cost: Not for sale, but you can learn how to make your own for about $340 here.

Please follow SAI: Tools on Twitter and Facebook.

Sir Richard Branson's 74 acre private island in the British Virgin Islands, Necker Island, is known for its luxury accommodations, beautiful views and celebrity guests. But once you get there, there's another element of the surroundings that quite literally jumps out at you: its exotic wildlife.

Necker Island is home to at least 140 different species. On a given day, visitors can see everything from lemurs to tortoises to macaws and even flamingos.

While the island has many creatures that are part of the area's diverse tropical environment, some animals were brought in by Branson as a way to repopulate the Caribbean with species that have become nearly extinct in the region, mostly due to human behavior such as hunting or development.

When we visited the island last year, we got a glimpse of some of the beautiful wildlife of Necker up close.

Disclosure: We were flown out to Necker Island, BVI by Virgin Limited Edition, which covered our travel and lodging expenses.

Ring-tailed lemurs are one of the signature animals of Necker. Branson has brought them to the island as a way to conserve the species that is threatened by deforestation in their native Madagascar.

The lemurs are kept in their own part of the island which is enclosed by an electric fence.

They spend some time in cages...

Please follow Science on Twitter and Facebook.

The Consumer Electronics Show, the biggest event in tech of the year, starts next week in Las Vegas. 

And a lot of companies aren't wasting time teasing or even pre-announcing what they'll be showing off throughout the week. 

We'll be covering the event live throughout the week, but to get you excited we filtered through all the leaks, rumors, and announcements to give you a taste of the most important gadgets you can expect to see.

Samsung has a new Smart TV

Samsung is not keeping its plans for TV a secret. The company has teased its new web-connected TVs several times over the last few weeks, showing a brand new interface for managing your content. 

We don't know all the details yet, but expect Samsung's new Smart TV to be the focus of its big keynote presentation before CES kicks off.

Google will make another big TV push

Google is going to make another big push with its Google TV product this year, starting at CES. The company has already announced hardware partners like LG, Asus, Hisense, Vizio, and more.

The products will be a mix of set-top boxes and full television sets with Google TV built in.

TVs with ultra-high definition

It's tough to imagine how picture quality can get any better, but high-end manufacturers like Samsung and Sony have plans to show off new 4K TVs at CES.

These TVs have 4,000 pixels (horizontally), resulting in the clearest picture standard available today. We saw a few 4K TVs at CES last year, but since everyone is making such a big push in the living room in 2013, expect to see many more.

Please follow SAI: Tools on Twitter and Facebook.

At midnight on New Year's Day, Maryland became the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to allow same-sex marriage.

Seven couples, including two men in their 60s who have been together for 35 years, rang in the new year with ceremonies at Baltimore's City Hall, USA Today reported Tuesday.

But they weren't alone. Following November's election, same-sex couples in Washington state and Maine were also able to tie the knot.

Pictures from the various ceremonies show nothing but joy and love as same-sex couples, many of whom have been together for decades, were able to obtain a marriage license.

In Maryland, James Scales (left) and William Tasker rang in New Year's Day with their kiss as a married couple. The two had been together for 35 years before their wedding.

Source: AP Images and USA Today

Tasker in particular was pretty excited after he and Scales were wed by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

Source: AP Images

In total, seven same-sex couples got married on Jan. 1 at Baltimore's City Hall. Darcia Anthony (left) and Danielle Williams were one of those couples.

Source: USA Today and AP Images

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.