I've had the iPhone since 2008 and I love it.

But, after spending every single day for four years with it, there are a few things that get on my nerves about the iPhone.

(I imagine this is what marriage will be like one day. A lot of love, but too much time together can get occasionally frustrating.)

As a way of venting, I've listed 10 things Apple needs to fix. They're not major, but after fours years with the iPhone, they're starting to add up.

Lack of Customization

My iPhone has a home screen with 16 app icons, and a dock of four icons. The second screen has 16 app icons, and the same dock of four icons. My third screen, well, you get the idea.

If I want to change the look of any of those screens, I'm out of luck. It can't be changed at all. Apple won't let me add shortcuts, widgets, or live wallpapers.

In addition to customization there are no shortcuts.

There is no easy or quick way to switch on and off WiFi, Bluetooth, airplane mode, or the brightness.

This is frustrating when I need to quickly turn down the brightness or see which WiFi network I'm connected to.

Siri is pointless

Siri is a novelty, not a truly useful personal assistant. The other day I decided to ask Siri about the weather. I was on a good WiFi connection. I got no answer. Apple needs to make Siri work, and make it useful.

Please follow SAI: Tools on Twitter and Facebook.

The recent rise in tensions over the disputed South China Sea has drawn attention to the possibility that the conflict is really about natural resources located in the islands of the South China Sea.

With the help of Waverly Advisors we point out that wars over commodities go back centuries.

We re-examine the real motivations behind the Pearl Harbor attack and  the German invasion of Russia. We also consider more current geo-political tensions that are being driven by commodities.

The American Revolution in Europe is seen as a battle between the British and the French for commodities and trade routes

The French participated in the American Revolution when they offered the United Stated naval support in 1778. While the revolution is seen as a patriotic battle in the U.S. to Europeans it was a battle over commodities and trade routes.

From Waverly: "From a European perspective the U.S. revolt was a sideshow to a larger British/French conflict fought mainly over the agriculturally rich East and West indies trade routes. While the British lost to the colonists at Yorktown, the Royal Navy's victory over a French & Spanish fleet at the Battle of the Saintes was bigger news at home as it secured Sugar rich Jamaica as a British possession."

Source: Waverly Advisors

The Battle of Plassey helped establish British control over India and bring it access to the country's commodities and control trading routes

Though the British Raj or the British empire in India only began in 1858, the British had made their presence felt through the East India Company as early as the 1600s with the Mughal's granting them trading rights in the early 1600s.

But as the Mughal Empire weakened and after the British won the Battle of Plassey they wound down the East India Company and took over the nation. Britain's interest in India was driven by the empire's interest in Indian spices, textiles, precious stones, opium, other commodities and control over trade.

Source: The Corporation That Changed The World

The American Civil War centered around slavery but slavery itself was driven by demand for cotton and other agricultural commodities

"While slavery or states' rights are the primary reasons for the conflict according to most scholars, it's important to remember that the southern economies extreme dependence on Cotton and other agricultural commodities was a critical underlying cause of Slavery itself.

During the war, European demand for cotton greatly outstripped supply due to the Union blockade, and the confederacy was able to issue bonds bought by European institutions that had a convertible feature allowing them to be redeemed for gold or a fixed volume of Cotton, making them a favorite of speculative traders. After the war the U.S. refused to honor any Confederate debt, even that issued by individual states."

Source: Waverly Advisors

Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.

Credit Suisse is out with a massive report on the growth of industrial automation. Yesterday we highlighted their favorite seven stocks in the sector.

The most interesting part of the report points out that China appears to be nearing an inflection point that we've already seen in Japan and Korea called the 'Lewis Turning Point'.

Those countries once relied on cheap rural labor to fuel their economies, then reached a point where it dried up, and began to automate.    

China's manual labor force is rapidly declining as the population ages and more people go to school. That trend, and government programs, are pushing up wages. In order to remain competitive, the country is going to have to invest an incredible amount in modernizing its industries.

The size of China, and the fact that it is only now beginning to ramp up its transformation means that there is enormous room for growth. 

The great infrastructure boom in China might be slowing, but the automation boom is just starting.  

China's supply of cheap manual labor will continue to plummet

There has been massive wage inflation, even through the global recession and Chinese slowdown

The one child policy has lead to a huge demographic shift in the country, further reducing the labor supply

Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.

When you think of celebrities, models, socialites and the like, the word “brainiac” doesn’t always come to mind.

After all, many of these people have made their fortunes based on their looks or acting skills—and certainly not their knowledge of physics or calculus.

However, a little investigating shows that many of these people have a lot more going on in their heads than simply what designer to wear for their next red carpet. In the gallery above, we’ve provided you with ten brilliant celebrities and given them all a superlative based on their unique skill sets. These may not be your first guesses, but trust us, they’re all more than qualified.

Click through the slideshow and let us know what you think — whose brains surprised you most?

Kate Moss has a philosophical mind.

While Kate Moss' most memorable behavior may involve the back of club restrooms and storming the catwalk, according to a renowned physicist named Brian Cox, Miss Moss has a lot more on her mind. Apparently, Moss approached him at a post-Olympics party and was "quizzing him about the origins of the universe." "Kate was asking me some extraordinarily detailed questions about the universe. She really knows her stuff," he said. "She also had some questions from her daughter Lila Grace which were pretty complicated. I was impressed." We are too!

Cindy Crawford studied chemical engineering at university.

While Cindy Crawford may seem like your typical supermodel (you know: gorgeous, perfect, but a little dense in between the eyes), this isn't the case. After being named valedictorian of her high school class, she went on to study chemical engineering at Northwestern University. Not too shabby. 

Courtney Love was a math genius (sometimes).

 Courtney Love says that there was a time when she was an unparalleled genius when it came to calculus -- but it was all because of crack. "The strange thing is, while the crack screwed me up in a lot of ways, it improved me in certain others. I’ve never been good with numbers, but when I was on crack I could do math really, really well. I became a f*cking whiz at calculus,”she said.

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

If you want to find a city that is thriving and among the top places to live, you might want to move to Australia and Canada.

Both topped Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) top 10 most livable cities in the world.

Melbourne, Australia ranked No. 1, followed by Vienna, Austria and Vancouver, Canada.

The annual survey takes into account 140 cities around the world.

Stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure were the factors that helped assess a city's livability (via the National Post).

Australia had five cities in the top 10 on the list and Canada had three.

DON'T MISS: These 10 Countries Have The Highest Quality Of Life >

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

True Religion Brand Jeans co-founder Kym Gold has found her perfect home—and she never plans to leave.

In one of the most exclusive spots in Malibu, Gold purchased the home seven years ago for $10 million.

Gold sold her shares of True Religion after divorcing her husband, Jeffrey Lubell. She now owns Babakul, a company that sells Bohemian chic clothing.

"When guests first walk in, they notice the view," Gold said. "Everyone always comments on how warm our home feels."

Inside, the home has five bedrooms, five full bathrooms and two half bathrooms. The entire house spans about 7,800 square feet.

The house, which sits on two acres of land, has unobstructed views of the ocean and direct beach access via stairs.

"I have to pay people to leave when they come visit," Gold joked.

Welcome to Gold's home above Old Malibu Road.

Gold focused on big couches, so there's always a place to sit and relax in their home.

The beams in the home are all imported from Italy, along with the fireplace.

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.

A Bloomberg reporter got away from numbers for a day, to play inside Lockheed Martin's most pricey video game.

The F-35 Cockpit Demonstrator provides pilots with a good sense of how to handle one of the most lethal birds of prey the U.S. Military has ever launched.

Even fighter pilots have to train before hitting the real thing

Bloomberg recently sent reporter Peter Cook to get some personal experience flying the military's most expensive piece of equipment.

But not even pilots fly an 80-million dollar fighter jet without stepping into one of these first.

The F-35 Cockpit Demonstrator mimics precisely the dimensions and instrumentation of a real F-35.

Bloomberg's Peter Cook steps inside the simulator for the first time

Stepping into the simulator, Cook noticed immediately how tightly designers packed the cockpit.

"I can't even get in!" He said. Then later, once he'd been strapped in completely, he said he felt comfortable.

Even though it looks like an uber-nerd's video game chair, real pilots attest to the accuracy of the demonstrator's experience.

They universally report that there's almost no difference between how the actual jet flies and how the demonstrator simulates flight, minus the adrenalin and the g-forces.

And immediately noticed the intuitive nature

Future pilots find a well organized, compact, non clutter-filled heads up display, and learn to steer the aircraft via rudder pedals, at the feet, and sticks located at both sides of F-35's seat.

Controls mounted out of sight but easy to reach maximize bits of information displayed to the pilot during flight. 

"These here are what's going to drop your bombs," said the Lockheed Martin press handler, "and this here," he said gesturing to the screen, "will jettison certain things, so be careful with that."

"Like my ejector seat?"

"Uh, we've removed the handle so you can't go up through the ceiling."

"That's good!" Said Cook, smiling at the camera. "That's important."

Please follow Military & Defense on Twitter and Facebook.

For all the time Mac users spend staring at Finder windows, not enough people seem to know that there are lots of customizable options available for it.

Here are our favorites from this list by Addictive Tips, along with one of our own.

View the file path

If you have trouble remembering where a file or document is stored on your computer, you can tweak the Finder to show you which folders it's buried in.

While Finder is the active window, open the "View" drop-down menu and select "Show Path Bar."

See the number of items and the total spare hard disk space

Need a quick way to see how much space you have left on your Mac?

Also inside the "View" menu, you can turn on the status bar, showing the number of items in a folder and the free drive space you have available.

Change the default folder that the Finder opens to

Out of the box, your Finder opens to "All My Files." If you'd rather have it open to a different location, open Preferences from the "Finder" drop-down menu. Under "General" is a menu for you to select a new default location.

Please follow SAI: Tools on Twitter and Facebook.

Just a few years ago, Alexia Tsotsis got her dream job — a reporter at TechCrunch, one of the top technology sites in Silicon Valley.

Now she's running the show with co-editor Eric Eldon, and they've staffed it up with a ton of new writers.

The tech reporting scene is cutthroat and takes some of the best talent to stay ahead of the curve. But it's often pretty easy to forget that there are still personalities behind those dozens of posts that flood the Internet every day.

So we caught up with Tsotsis to find out what it is exactly like in the life of a Silicon Valley blogger at TechCrunch.

My day usually starts at 8:30am, when I wake up and immediately open my laptop to check email, our company Yammer, Skype, Techmeme and of course TechCrunch (I'm actually wearing a commemorative shirt from the TechCrunch Disrupt where we announced the Aol sale in this pic). My Skype lights up like a Christmas tree the moment I log on.

"One of the most exciting parts of my morning is tracking the tech news our and other East Coast and European tech writers have broken overnight. Sometimes the spin of the tech news hamster wheel is so engrossing that I'm stuck to my computer until noon coordinating the day's plan with TechCrunch co-editor Eric Eldon and our badass team of writers. "

"When I finally get unglued from my laptop, I head to the office. Lots of other startups are infamously housed in our San Francisco office building at 410 Townsend Street, including TC Disrupt winner and recent billion dollar Microsoft acquisition Yammer."

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

It's time for back-to-school shopping, and the National Retail Federation predicts this will be a strong year.

So the retailers are coming out with the promotions full force. It's this barrage of marketing that helps determine what kids and teens will be wearing this fall.

Every store is different, but some key trends include brightly-colored jeans, denim jackets and layering.

We went to all the major websites to see what they're pushing for the back to school season.

Target is having promotions on colored denim, sweaters, graphic t-shirts and button-ups.

For juniors, skinny jeans, flowing skirts and bright sweatshirts are in.

Wal-Mart sells a lot of nondescript clothing that could work for a uniform. They're also promoting t-shirts.

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.

“There are two kinds of people in the world,” chef Mario Batali said recently at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, CO, “those who are Italian, and those who wish they were Italian.”

No wonder: Italian restaurants across America are raising the bar.

Think of all the Neapolitan pizzerias opened in the past decade, the focus on handmade pastas and authentic ingredients, and hip concepts like Torrisi Italian Specialties, which put New York’s Little Italy back on the serious foodie’s map.

See which restaurants made the cut >

Consider the success of Batali himself: his Del Posto is the first four-star Italian restaurant in New York since 1974, and his emporium Eataly teems with both locals and tourists.

Just when you think Italian can’t get any hotter, it does. So what are America’s best Italian restaurants? And should four-star restaurants be considered alongside exemplary pizzerias like Frank Pepe in New Haven, CT, and Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix? Heck, yes. For an Italian restaurant to be considered truly great, it should do what it does best.

At Trattoria Lucca, which opened in Charleston, SC, in 2008, that means dishes that showcase fresh local seafood, from the crudo of grouper to homemade ricotta cavatelli with flounder in a shellfish broth. For a truly special treat, time your visit to the Monday evening family supper, a communal seating during which chef Ken Vedrinski serves a four-course prix fixe menu for $38.

While there’s a charm to old-school places like Bamonte’s in Brooklyn, we skewed to innovative recent arrivals like Trattoria Lucca and to longtime restaurants that have upped their game beyond the red-sauce standards, such as Chicago’s romantic Spiaggia, overlooking Lake Michigan, and San Francisco’s Acquerello, where the tasting menu might include ridged pasta in foie gras and Marsala sauce with black truffles.

Some of our favorite Italian restaurants made their reputations on outstanding wine lists. Others go beyond Tuscan or Roman cuisine to acquaint diners with the pleasures of culinary traditions from, say, Italy’s northeastern Friuli region—the driving influence at Frasca in Boulder, CO, where a visit begins with addictivegrissini, pencil-size crispy breadsticks. 

What’s certain is that each of these 20 Italian restaurants is a destination worth checking off your list. See how many you’ve tried, and then share your local favorites in the comments below.

See which restaurants made the cut >

Related posts:

• Chef's Favorite U.S. Restaurants
• New York's Top Restaurants
• The World's Strangest Street Food
• The World's Top Revolving Restaurants
• America's Favorite Cities

Acquerello, San Francisco

This Nob Hill institution helmed by co-owners Giancarlo Paterlini and Suzette Gresham-Tognetti isn’t just the fine-dining Italian restaurant you go to for special occasions out of habit. It’s stayed consistently great and kept relevant since its 1989 debut, winning a coveted Michelin star for six years and counting. For the best representation, try the classic tasting menu, where you’re likely to sample the ridged pasta in foie gras and Marsala sauce with black truffles or the truffle-stuffed chicken with leek custard with potato gratin and creminis. There’s a seasonal tasting, too, and you can always order à la carte for a more contemporary take on the classic flavors of Italian food using the freshest ingredients California can provide.

Acquerello

Del Posto, New York City

Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich are the forces behind this opulent 24,000-square-foot temple to upscale Italian dining, accompanied by live piano music. It took millions to create, but payoff came with star-studded reviews, notably four stars in 2010, from The New York Times’ then–restaurant critic Sam Sifton—a first for Batali, despite all his restaurants, and a first for the publication in 34 years. And while you don’t eat stars, chef Mark Ladner’s lardo with bread, jalapeño crab pasta, and heavenly 100-layer lasagna make you feel like you’re eating among them. The emphasis on high-end service and preparation should make the French jealous.

Del Posto

Trattoria Lucca, Charleston, SC

In downtown Charleston’s Elliotborough, Ken Vedrinski celebrates family-style dining, paying tribute to his grandmother who grew up in the Abruzzo region. There are imported cheese and salumi, and hand-rolled pastas, but Vedrinski is perhaps best known locally for his commitment to farm-to-table produce and fresh seafood from the waters surrounding Charleston. So you can’t go wrong ordering any of the crudos the chef has put on the menu. Or put your meal entirely in his hands by joining the Monday evening family supper, a communal seating during which Vedrinski serves a new four-course prix fixe menu for $38.

Trattoria Lucca

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.

All this talk about Shark Week has us interested in these prehistoric destroyers, so we decided to see what exactly makes these killers so intriguing.

With some help from Professor Mahmood Shivji, Director of the Guy Harvey Research Institute and Save Our Seas Shark Center at Nova Southeastern University, we found out that sharks have some super abilities you would not be amiss at comparing to those of a comic book superhero.

From super speed to incredibly fast healing, the over 500 species of sharks truly deserve the fascination that we have for them.

However, Dr. Shivji points out that despite these superpowers and the perceived ferociousness of sharks, very few have attacked humans. On the contrary the fishing of sharks for their fins by humans has brought many species to the brink of extinction.

The power to emit light and glow.

Superpower: Glowing bodies

The pygmy shark has light-emitting organs that make its skin glow. This tiny shark only grows to about 8 inches and uses the light as a form of camouflage, lighting up it's stomach to imitate the light that filters down through the ocean from the sun or moon above. Without the lights, it's body would block this light, and that would enable predators to see it from below.

The lantern shark has a similar ability, but uses its  30-minute bursts of light to communicate.

The power to heal remarkably fast.

Superpower: Fast healing

We tend to think of sharks as the ones giving out the damage, but they get injured too. So much so that they are evolved to be incredibly good at healing from wounds. Sharks have been observed to heal from serious external injuries extremely quickly, with major bites and gashes completely healing in just a couple of months.

One reason for this healing proficiency is that sharks constantly shed and replace parts of their bodies including their teeth and fin spines.

According to Dr. Shivji, the shark's ability to "heal very quickly from external wounds is remarkable."

The power of moving while sleeping.

Superpower: The real sleep "walkers"

It is a pretty common myth that sharks don't sleep and as cool as that would be it's unfortunately not true. Sharks need rest like everyone else, but the things that sharks can do while sleeping are pretty amazing.

Some sharks must constantly keep moving, so oxygenated water is always moving over their gills, so even when their sleeping they glide through the water.

Other sharks can lie on the bottom while sleeping, but do some odd things as well. Some of these awesome zombie-sharks actually keep their eyes open while their asleep, which has prolonged the misconception that sharks never sleep, Shivji said.

Please follow Science on Twitter and Facebook.

A beautiful estate known as Buena Vista Estate in Florida is on sale for $10.95 million.

The home sits on a 5.5 acre peninsula with direct access to the Gulf of Mexico.

The house features six bedrooms, six and a half bathrooms and a four-car garage.

Leading up to the house is a private quarter-mile driveway.

Welcome to Buena Vista Estate.

The home has 1,300 feet of waterfront property.

The living room has high ceilings that span two floors.

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.

When you're hunkered down behind a sliver of cover taking heavy fire, there is no more reassuring sound than the twin engines of the A-10 Thunderbolt screaming in from the distance.

That's what you think anyway, until you hear the 30mm Gatling gun that can pound out 3,500 rounds per minute at the guys trying to kill you.

Then you know the most reassuring sound you'll ever hear.

The A-10 is an old plane, that continues to provide massive air support to ground troops with that cannon and missiles that can take out a main battle tank in a single shot.

Sometimes old is good. 

The A-10 Thunderbolt II was introduced in 1977

The A-10 is more commonly known as the "Warthog" or "Hog"

The A-10 has a reputation for extreme toughness and the ability to remain in the air even after sustaining damage

Please follow Military & Defense on Twitter and Facebook.

There is an unassailable prestige that come from being an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) member in the military.

They're as cool as jet pilots, with the hands of a heart surgeon who operates on patients that can detonate and kill everyone within sight.

From what they say there's nothing like it.

We found this Reddit thread earlier in the year by an EOD tech who describes what it's really like detonating bombs meant to kill American troops.

We found it eye-opening and thought it worth sharing again. We hope you agree.

It's not like the movies

[W]ire color doesn't matter one bit, it's just a rubber coating. When we make training devices we use all one color, or multiple for funsies.

I've actually never disarmed a live device with a timer, they're just not that common, most devices are command detonated or victim operated [i.e. set off by the victim of the explosion].

[On "The Hurt Locker"]: You cannot pick up 90lb 155m artillery rounds by the half dozen while they're all connected by detonating cord. While the main character is more of a cowboy style risk taker, real bomb techs are far more tedious, calculated, and safe.

[On "Bomb Patrol Afghanistan"]: [Enemy combatants] are always watching and filming us. Anything on BPA has been scrubbed and approved. The risks are always calculated and there's a lot of lighthearted joking and back and forth, smart ass remarks, and of course quick temper flares.

Source: Reddit

Bomb technicians are volunteers

You have to want it, it's volunteer only. I love blowing s*** up! On a more serious note, I don't have a death wish and this job makes me feel alive. I like to think I'm saving lives and helping the greater good.

One less device is one less kid dead in a landmine is Laos, or one less family without a mom, dad, son, daughter and so on in America or Baghdad.

I'm pushing $75-80k I think. But my benefits are all military so I don't pay for those. The job gives us special pays as well.

There isn't much reward other than personal satisfaction we are hardly in the public eye. The money is nice but you can't use it as a pink mist.

People that burn out usually keep it under control and then they just get out. You volunteer for this job, you can say f*** it I'm done at any time because the Army can't technically make you walk down and disarm a bomb.

Source: Reddit

Bomb suits are awesome (but hardly indestructible)

It is made out of Kevlar and steel plates.

Anything over say 10lbs of pure high explosive is scary because it negates the protective effects of the bomb suit at 0 ft.

Source: Reddit

Please follow Military & Defense on Twitter and Facebook.

You guys, it is hot outside.

I’m talking seriously steaming. (Has anyone tried to fry an egg on the sidewalk yet?) And nothing cools us off quite like a dip in the pool, amirite?

And even though swimming means your hair may look subpar, your cohorts will likely forget if you’re attending one of these wet and wild hotel pool parties.

So before summer slips through your fingers, take an end-of-the-season vacay and get your party hats on—and perhaps your top off.

Rehab Sundays At The Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas

If there were only one infamous pool party, it would have to be the Sunday Rehab affair held at the Hard Rock Hotel—nine years in the making, this wet fest features oil-slathered tan bodies, a scantily-clad waitstaff and what we imagine are tons of bodily fluids floating around those waters. (TMI? But we’ve seen them exchanged.)  

The grotto pool features two sandy beaches and will cost you a pretty penny for entrance alone: $100 for the boys, $50 for the girls. Staying at the Hard Rock? You’re in for free—but don’t think that doesn’t mean you won’t have to wait in the (oftentimes quite long) entrance line. But once you’re in, the party is known to bring in renowned DJs from across the globe including Tiesto (who kicked off the party’s 2012 season), Paul Oakenfold, and Bad Boy Bill.

See more pool shots >

Plunge At The Perry, South Beach

Held on the hotel’s rooftop, RX kicked off in February (because those Floridians are oh-so-lucky with their weather) and has hosted the likes of the Kardashians, party girl Tara Reid, Lil’ Wayne, and Ne-Yo—not to mention a slew of celebrity DJs.

From noon till 8 p.m. on Saturdays, expect the Perry South Beach rooftop’s plunge pool (and namesake club Plunge) to be hopping with a young, hipster crowd. Should you not wanna get wet (not that we really understand that, hang out in one of the shaded daybeds that boast their own flat-screen TVs.

See more pool shots >

Wet Republic At The MGM Grand, Las Vegas

Ladies, this party is unofficially for you: Women get in free to this happening Vegas bash, while the men need to pony up $20 to check out the wild (and we mean wild) scene. Get in early though, as this discount is usually axed by 2 p.m. when the real crowds start rolling in.

And despite the large group the party attracts (keep in mind, the MGM Grand also has the largest number of rooms in Vegas), waitress service is surprisingly speedy—which means you’ll have a piña colada in your hands ASAP. When our reporter visited, there wasn’t only a bikini content underway, but also an electro-pop smash duo LMFAO held a rousing pool-side concert. Did we mention there are cabanas to rent for a little (sexy) privacy?

See more pool shots >

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.

Is a Great White shark's strike strong enough to kill a seal on impact?

Biologists attempt to find out by measuring the power of a shark attack as part of the Discovery Channel's "Air Jaws Apocalypse" episode.  

To determine whether a Great White shark's flying attack is powerful enough to kill a seal on impact, researchers head to Seal Island in South Africa.

Watch the video clip here > 

Nobody knows what a seal can withstand, but the team imagines that the force of a shark's strike from a depth of 100 feet is comparable to a human being hit by a car.

Watch the video clip here > 

The force of acceleration on a body is known as g-force and is measured in g's.

Watch the video clip here > 

Please follow Science on Twitter and Facebook.

Despite record low mortgage rates and an apparent bottoming in home prices, Americans have increasingly opted to rent than buy their homes as the economic recovery remains anemic and uncertain.

We drew on Zillow's newest metric – the breakeven horizon – to identify 7 housing markets where it's better to rent a home than buy one.

The breakeven horizon refers to the number of years after which buying a home is more "financially advantageous" than renting one. So, with a longer breakeven horizon it makes more sense to rent.

Unlike the price-to-rent ratio this metric includes a whole range of possible costs including mortgage payments, property taxes, utilities costs etc.

Note: The list is drawn for the 30 largest metro areas. Median list and rent price are for June 2012.

San Diego, California

Breakeven horizon:
3.6 years

Price-to-rent ratio:
14.0

Median list price:
$369,000

Median rent price:
$1,750

Source: Zillow

Seattle, Washington

Breakeven horizon:
4.0 years

Price-to-rent ratio:
13.4

Median list price:
$290,000

Median rent price:
$1,270

Source: Zillow

Boston, Massachusetts

Breakeven horizon:
4.3 years

Price-to-rent ratio:
13.4

Median list price:
$347,900

Median rent price:
$2,000

Source: Zillow

Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.

Microsoft's Xbox 720 is rumored to be released in 18 months, perfectly timed for 2013's holiday season. 

But the year-and-a-half delay has gotten industry execs flustered—because the year-and-a-half delay is actually an eight-year delay between the release of the last Xbox and the new Xbox. Decades in the world of technology. 

The delay is so drastic it has some people, including Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, claiming that the age of video game consoles has finally run its course, giving way to the faster, more convenient mode of online and mobile games.

So from Atari to the Xbox, we're honoring the consoles of past—the iconic machines that paved the way for Angry Birds and other highly addictive mobile and online games.

Atari Pong

Release Date: 1972

The Console: This early console was certainly not the first of its kind (both the "Brown Box" and "Odyssey" pre-dated the Atari) but Nolan Bushnell's Pong single-handedly defined the video game industry (and its future) with his ping-pong themed arcade game. Named after the sound the ball made on the paddle ("Ping-Pong" had already been taken), Pong marked the beginning of Atari's legacy as a video game legend.

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

Release Date: 1985

The Console: Designed to look like a household appliance (and not like a video game console), the NES was the first console released post 1984-tech crash. The console was sold in the USA with the classic games, Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt, along with the accompanying lightgun, robotic operation buddy (R.O.B.), and original controllers. Reaching its height of popularity during the '80s, the NES paved the way for the Japanese gaming giant.

GameBoy

Release Date: 1989

The Console: When Nintendo's GameBoy first hit American markets, it came pre-loaded with a relatively unknown PC game called "Tetris." During the first holiday season post-launch, Nintendo went on to sell over one million GameBoy consoles. Today Nintendo has sold nearly 120 million GameBoys worldwide, making GameBoy and GameFreak's beloved "Pokemon" franchise for GameBoy an icon in the handheld market. 

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

Nearly a year and a half after a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the coast of Japan, citizens are still dealing the the devastation.

Photographer Aaron Hobson saw the destruction and beauty of the Tohoku region, which was hardest hit, while "touring" hundreds of miles of local roads on Google Street View.

He found that "during these travels it was extremely rare to come across any street view in the region that didn’t have a crew diligently working or small groups of fisherman trying to go about their daily lives," he writes on his website.

Hobson now selling a series of Google Street View images of Tohoku in order to raise money for a trip to Japan to aid a nonprofit in the rebuilding effort. He shared some of the images with us; read more about his project and check out the rest of the image set on his website.

A Crow

Fishermen Gathering

Mickey Mouse

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.