Some people may find it hard to believe that a private mission will succeed in landing four astronauts on Mars in 2023, but several state-run media outlets in China are targeting the project with even harsher terms like "hoax" and "hype."

In addition to scoring rumors about the low-cost iPhone on Thursday, Japanese blog Macotakara also published the latest news on the fifth-generation iPad, which it says will likely launch after Apple releases the iPhone 5S in September and will feature a rear microphone located directly next to the camera, similar to the design of the iPhone 5. AppleInsider notes that early prototypes of the iPad mini also had a rear microphone but that this design was apparently ditched for the final version of the product. Earlier rumors have indicated that the fifth-generation iPad will take more design cues from the iPad mini, such as having thinner side bezels.

The iconic Ring Nebula may seem like just a stunning circle of wispy interstellar gas, but new images from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal it to be more like a deep-space jelly doughnut, scientists say.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Two men accused of killing a high school freshman who refused to let go of his iPad were like wild animals ambushing a weak victim, a prosecutor said Thursday.

By Michelle Sierra NEW YORK (Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management Inc have initiated talks with banks and asset managers to line up commitments for as much as $7 billion in bridge loans to back their leveraged recapitalization proposal for Dell Inc, banking sources told Thomson Reuters LPC on Thursday. Jefferies & Co is leading the deal. Icahn and Southeastern are looking to lock in the financing before Dell shareholders meet in July to vote on a rival take-private offer from CEO Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners. ...

Doesn't Ashton Kutcher know what happens to people who complain about how terrible Twitter has gotten since the good old days? They're shamed with the following adage: Twitter is what you make it, bro. Meaning, it's not Twitter's fault if you hate your feed, it's you and your bad taste in Twitter followers. And that's exactly the reaction the bygone Twitter darling is getting after blaming the media for "screwing" up Twitter. "Twitter's experience has changed for me, pretty drastically. ...

A new report suggests that Apple is preparing to begin testing its long-rumored low-cost iPhone sometime next month. According to Japanese website Macotakara, the handset will be available in a variety of colors, including Navy, Gold-Orange, White, Gray, Pink, Green, Blue and Yellow-Orange. Only 1,000 units of the low-cost iPhone will reportedly be produced for field tests in June, with consumer production slated to take place between July and September. Earlier reports claimed Apple would offer the device for as little as $99 or $149 from retailers. It has also been suggested that the cheaper iPhone would feature a shell made of polycarbonate plastic to bring the price down.

Learning a lesson from Facebook, Twitter has realized that the more it knows about us, the more valuable its ads can be, which is why it's working on a "custom audiences" tool that uses email addresses from retailers to serve more "relevant" ads for marketers, sources tell Bloomberg's  Douglas MacMillan and Jon Erlichman. In an attempt to move beyond standard promoted tweets, Twitter is trying so hard to legitimize its business model that, well, you're about to find out just how much Twitter really knows about where you shop. ...

By Poornima Gupta and Padraic Halpin SAN FRANCISCO/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Apple has operated almost tax-free in Ireland since 1980, welcomed by a government keen to bring jobs to what was then one of Europe's poorest countries, former company executives and Irish officials have said. Chief Executive Tim Cook faced criticism from a Senate subcommittee in Washington on Tuesday over the iPad and iPhone maker's tax practices, which had been shrouded from full view behind secretive tax-exempt Irish-based corporate entities. ...

It’s no surprise that AIM and Yahoo Messenger are collapsing, with unique visitor counts declining by about 30-40% year on year, according to comScore. But it is fascinating that Skype (-12%) and Google Talk (-15%) are now losing ground now. There is no doubt that Facebook’s messaging system is one major factor in the desktop messaging decline. Yet it’s hard to avoid the notion that the rapidly multiplying messaging apps on smartphones are the biggest headache for Skype right now. Onavo’s engagement data also shows Skype stalling when smartphone usage is measured. The share of iPhone users actively engaging with the Skype app slid from 16.7% to 16.5% in five months. In contrast, the WhatsApp engagement moved up from 7.6%

Get ready for a busy and possibly "extremely active" hurricane season, said forecasters who today (May 23) unveiled their predictions of the number and intensity of storms expected in the Atlantic Ocean basin during the 2013 hurricane season.

While strong early sales for the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One have been making news lately, the real story for Android may be how well it does with lower-cost handsets in emerging markets. Barron’s points us to a new note from Nomura Equity Research analyst Stuart Jeffrey, who thinks that many consumers in emerging markets will start upgrading to smartphones primarily because of “the increasing affordability and improved distribution of ‘good enough’ Android phones.” But Jeffrey thinks that what’s good for Android vendors is likely bad for non-Android vendors and notes that Nokia could find the emerging market transition from feature phones to smartphones particularly challenging. “With a leading 23% feature phone market share and just 2.8% smartphone market share,

Cockroaches are outsmarting our efforts to kill them by evolving to avoid the taste of sugar traps, a study reveals.

Despite racking up respectable license sales, Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system has done little to help struggling PC makers regain their footing. Microsoft will look to reverse the souring user sentiment later this year when it launches Windows 8.1, codenamed “Windows Blue,” which will reportedly see Microsoft’s Start button return along with an option to boot and log in directly to desktop mode. In the meantime, however, the damage has been done. According to this year’s American customer satisfaction index report, Microsoft’s customer satisfaction rating has now fallen to its lowest level since Windows Vista launched in 2007. Microsoft’s customer satisfaction rating slid to 74 out of 100 in the new ASCI report, just one point higher than it was following Vista’s launch.

By Alistair Barr and Tanya Agrawal (Reuters) - ChannelAdvisor Corp shares soared more than 40 percent in their market debut on Thursday as investors bet the e-commerce software company will benefit from the rapid global spread of online buying and selling. The company's shares opened up 25 percent, after its initial public offering of 5.8 million shares was priced at $14 per share, the high end of its pricing range. ChannelAdvisor shares were trading up 40 percent at $19.54 on the New York Stock Exchange. They touched an intraday high of $19.73, valuing the company at about $400 million. ...

Marc Cieslak discovers how far time has come since the tower containing Big Ben was built

Wallabies in captivity carry antibiotic-resistant gut bacteria, which they could potentially transmit to wild populations, a new study finds.

Clear skies and a passing space station combined for an extraordinary view of Alaska's erupting Pavlof volcano on May 18.

It's likely that the new H7N9 bird flu virus can spread through the air on a limited basis, according to a new study that looked at how the virus spreads in animals.

Game developer Bungie has teamed up with Iron Man director Jon Favreau and Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito to release another teaser trailer for its upcoming game Destiny. Little is known about the lore behind the new science fiction first-person shooter, however expectations are already sky-high for the new game since Bungie was the studio responsible for the first three smash-hit Halo games. Destiny will be released for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One in 2014. Bungie is planning a “worldwide gameplay reveal” during Sony’s E3 press conference on June 10th. The teaser video follows below.