eBay is re-inventing itself, borrowing elements of Pinterest to emulate a store-window experience for its users. At the same time, it still has to deal with the same old buyer and seller disagreements.

How does eBay deal with unhappy users, especially buyers who are wary of fraudulent deals, and sellers who experience deadbeat buyers? Devin Wenig, president of eBay Marketplaces, explains what the site does about its bad apples in the video.

SEE ALSO: eBay President Reveals How the Site Will Get Social [VIDEO]

What else could eBay do to improve its experience? Share your ideas in the comments.

More About: ebay, mashable video, online auctions

Source: Mashable!

1. Hitcase Pro

Coming in mid-December, the Hitcase can withstand everything other than a .50 cal. With a wide-angle attachment lens, you can film the end of the world while being sure that even if you don’t, your iPhone will remain intact.

Coming soon for the iPhone 5

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Let’s face it, if Mayan predictions are true we better start thinking about the end of the world. Which is to say we need to start thinking about protecting our tech and adapting it to the post-apocalyptic world we’ll be living in.

Sure, you could spend $24,000 on an apocalypse kit, but the most vital connection to survivors will be your smartphone.

SEE ALSO: 7 iPhone Cases That Charge On-The-Go

Apple sold 5 million iPhone 5s in its first opening weekend, so it wouldn’t surprise us to see many floating around after the lights go out on Earth. Take a look at the gallery above to find five iPhone 5 cases that’ll help you make the transition to dystopia smoother.

More About: Apocalypse, Apple iPhone 5, apple, iphone cases

Source: Mashable!

Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and other politicians across the country are constantly asking followers to pitch in money to their campaign — but do those pitches actually work?

According to Twitter, absolutely.

The company commissioned a study from data research firm Compete and found the average Twitter user is 68% more likely than the average Internet user to visit a campaign donation page. Meanwhile, 97% of Twitter users exposed to political tweets are more likely than other users to visit a campaign donation page.

That increase in likelihood to donate may be because Twitter users inclined to follow politicians and political news are also already inclined to contribute fina…
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More About: 2012 presidential campaign, Politics, Twitter, US

Source: Mashable!

RockMelt, the social web browser, released its first app for the iPad on Thursday, which blends web search functions into a news reader application.

More About: RockMelt, ipad, ipad apps, web browsers

Source: Mashable!

Geometric Windows

Albert called this shot “Looking out through the geometric windows.”

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What makes patterns so captivating? Maybe because it is stunning to see the fundamental organization that underlies our chaotic lives. What we look like, where we live, what we eat and how many hours we sleep: all of these are predetermined by patterns. Much of our lives are composed of invisible patterns that we can’t see with the naked eye — or that we could see, if we ever took the time to look for them.

This week for the Mashable Photo Challenge we asked our readers to stop, examine and photograph the patterns that make up the world around us. We received a stunning collection of submissions that ranged from the patterns of the natural world to the patterns that have emerged from hum…
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More About: Mashable Photo Challenge, Photos

Source: Mashable!

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-reader is a great deal at $119, but take a look at the Txtr Beagle Read|Only, undercutting it by more than a C-note.

More About: Txtr Beagle, e-ink, e-readers

Source: Mashable!

1. Lady Gaga

You can’t read my Zombie Face.

Image used with permission, Rob Sacchetto

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Celebrity-packed eateries like Nobu, The Ivy and wherever else famous folks stuff their bellies might want to add brain to the menu because a zombie invasion lurks in the shadows of the Hollywood sign. Brain kabobs, Lo Brain, brain on a stick — the menu items really make themselves. But, we digress — or is it digest?

SEE ALSO: Zombie Disney Princesses Seek Prince Charming — and Brains

Artist Rob Sacchetto gets a head start on the zombie-fication with a series of gory undead portraits featuring Lady Gaga, Clint Eastwood and other brrrraaaiiin-hungry celebs. Grab a pitchfork and your running shoes and take a look through the gallery above for our favorite notable cranium nibblers.…
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More About: Lady Gaga, Watercooler, art, celebrities, clint eastwood, trending, zombies

Source: Mashable!

Election Day is less than four weeks away, and with the debate season in full-swing, voters’ minds are focused on Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and the most important issues facing the nation.

Google Politics & Elections decided to take a look at what’s on Americans minds, across all states. To do so, they mapped search trends of seven usual suspect hot-button political issues — national debt, social security, tax cuts etc. — across the country.

Some of the findings are unsurprising. Florida, home of many retirees, is worried about social security, for example. But how about New York being one of the five states with the most searches for “abortion?”

Other findings are almost shockin…
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More About: 2012 presidential campaign, Google, US, US politics

Source: Mashable!

A new mobile app helps the visually impaired count dollar bills with the help of a smartphone camera.

IDEAL Currency Identifier can ID three generations of U.S. bills starting in 1993. Just hold the camera in front of the dollar bill and the camera captures it in a frame — without even pressing a button. The denomination is read aloud by a Siri-like voice within the app. At first glance, you might wonder how a visually impaired person could use this, but the frame is pretty large, so it’s easy to capture the dollar bill in the frame if you just wave your phone over it.

SEE ALSO: Android App Makes Smartphones Accessible for the Blind

The app is available for Android devices and…
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More About: Social Good, android, apps

Source: Mashable!

If the college football season ended today — and if Facebook buzz, not wins and losses, was the measure of a team’s worth — Florida and Georgia would meet in the BCS National Championship Game. Alabama and Oregon, the nation’s top two teams according to voters, wouldn’t even crack the top 10.

Not surprisingly, however, these rankings don’t have a ton to do with how good a team actually is. Each week, Facebook counts and weights total mentions and percentage increase for key terms associated with college football teams to produce its power rankings.

So, while Georgia lost its first game on Saturday, it did so in thrilling fashion on a last-second play — hence the high buzz ranking.…
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More About: Sports, college sports

Source: Mashable!