Pinterest valued at $1.5 billion – as megalithic Japanese website invests

Rakuten (the Amazon of Japan) has led a $100m funding round into Pinterest, which values the online “curation” community at around $1.5 billion. The Japanese ecommerce giant won out over major US venture capital firms who were vying for a piece of Silicon Valley’s new sweetheart, which lets users clip images to a virtual pinboard. The FT spoke …

New App, Leafsnap, lets you identify a tree species by photographing a leaf

If you’ve ever wondered what type of tree was nearby but didn’t have a guide book, a new smartphone app allows users with no formal training to satisfy their curiosity and contribute to science at the same time. Scientists have developed the first mobile app to identify plants by simply photographing a leaf. The free …

U.S. global warming affects Texas, Midwest, and Northeast – the most

The United States recently went through the hottest 12 months ever, since record-keeping began in 1895. National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration said that for the period from May 2011 to April 2012, the nationally averaged temperature was 55.7 degrees, 2.8 degrees higher than the 20th century average. The national average temperature for April was 55 …

Hollywood homes for sale – Ashton Kutcher, Harrison Ford, Meg Ryan, Ben Stiller (+7 more)

Ellen Degeneres sells her Beverly Hills compound to Ryan Seacrest and buys a 1958 Hal Levitt-designed Beverly Hills home on less than an acre.     Meg Ryan lists her classic Spanish-style house, built in 1931, described as having undergone a ‘museum-quality restoration.     Ben Stiller sold a house in the Hollywood Hills for …

YouTube is dropping in monthly views – but gaining in “engagement”

YouTube is getting smaller in a metric that used to mean everything: views. Since December, views on YouTube have dropped 28%, and March views are only slightly above what they were a year ago, startling for a site accustomed to breakneck growth. It’s an intended consequence of the Google-owned site’s shift from…snack-size content to a …

Surfline gives a science lesson – The Anatomy of a Swell

Welcome to the first episode of “Anatomy of a Swell“, Surfline’s new series that dissects the science of swell events and brings the very best footage and photos to your computer, smart phone, or tablet. Our team of forecasters and scientists will break down all you could possibly want to know about a swell, including …

Scientists estimate billions of habitable planets in the Milky Way

Using results from the High Accuracy Radical Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at the European Southern Observatory, the scientists say there are likely tens of billions of planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone that may be able to sustain life. They estimate that one hundred of those planets are in the sun’s immediate neighborhood — …

Flickr releases “liquid” layout – joins “responsive design” trend

We’re releasing a new “liquid” layout. Flickr’s “liquid” design adjusts the photo page and image size based on the size of your browser window. With that your photos will look great on a laptop screen, and look even more stunning on larger screens.  With the new design: The biggest photo size is shown depending on your …