First noticed by reader BenAmirault, the lack of home button on the iPad shown in the invitation has been the primary focus of attention. While many leapt to the conclusion that Apple may be getting rid of the home button (Steve Jobs famously didn’t like buttons at all), others quickly pointed out that the iPad could just be in in landscape mode. However, some other clues may prove it’s not that simple…

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In case you’ve been living in the analog world for the past few days, Apple sent out invitations Tuesday to an event to be held next week. And the Internet exploded, right on schedule.

Apple, true to form, has not said anything about what products or services it’ll unveil next week, or if it’ll unveil anything at all. Nonetheless, based on past history, a nonstop cavalcade of rumors, and third-party sources, Apple is all but guaranteed launch the next iPad, aka the iPad 3, at its March 7 event.

That much was effectively confirmed by Apple’s invitation, which shows a picture of a finger reaching out and touching what can only be an iPad screen, along with the words, “We have something you really have to see. And touch.”

That’s all we have to go on, at least officially. That’s when we turned to you, faithful Mashable readers, to see if there were any clues in the invitation that might not be obvious. It wasn’t much to work with, but that one image and those 10 words prompted a frenzy of digital forensic examination the likes of which could only be matched by an entire season of CSI.

SEE ALSO: Forget the iPad 3 — I’d Still Buy an iPad 2

From the wording to the visible apps to the pattern of droplets on the screen, readers extracted clue after clue as to exactly what the iPad 3 might be. Keep in mind that all of this is highly speculative, that Apple could have easily Photoshopped the image extensively, and the company is notorious for its misdirection over rumors.

Still, the invite is real, and it really came from Apple. Here’s what our readers were able to extract. Feel free to share any more theories in the comments.

More About: apple, ipad, ipad 3, itv, tablets, trending

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A selection of Allview devices.

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BARCELONA: Although most manufacturers were focused on smartphones at this year’s Mobile World Congress – and we’ve seen some amazing ones, such as the HTC One X or the LG Optimus 4X HD – there was no shortage of tablets in Barcelona.

The problem with tablets, of course, is that they all look the same, so some manufacturers tried to ruffle things a little bit. Fujitsu showed a waterproof tablet, for example, while LG introduce an smartphone/tablet hybrid called the Optimus Vu, featuring a 5-inch screen with an unusual 4:3 aspect ratio.

However, this year’s conference – perhaps more than ever – showed that, when it comes to smartphones and tablets, it’s what’s on the inside that counts. With most major manufacturers having access to similar technology, such as Nvidia’s Tegra 3 chip, it’s the software and the apps that make the difference.

There’s another interesting point that I’ve argued during the conversations with the journalists and the developers at the MWC – the simplicity of today’s smartphones and tablets may be a good thing, as it makes manufacturers focus on the details. Having a device that’s just a little lighter than the others, or is slightly better built makes a difference, which ultimately results in very polished, almost perfect smartphones and tablets.

We’ve created a gallery of the tablets we’ve encountered at the Mobile World Congress this year. Now that the iPad 3 is around the corner, we’ll soon find how well these stack up to the current king of the tablet market.

More About: fujitsu, Mobile World Congress, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Tablet, tablets, tegra 3, ViewSonic

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Have you ever looked out the window while flying 30,000 feet in the air and wondered where the heck you were? Well, with FlightTrack Pro, an app that works in airplane mode, you are able to pull up a map of your location and see where you are, how fast you are going and how high above ground you really are. On the flip side, if you want to make sure your loved one lands safely, you can track specific flights and get push notifications and information about where they are and when they land. The app also has the capability to notify the flyer of gate changes, flight delays and advance weather forecasts of your destination.

Cost: $9.99

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In a sea of free iPhone apps, a few paid options stand out from the crowd. With everyday conveniences based on where you are and what you’re doing, here’s a handful that will get you going. Don’t worry, sometimes it’s OK to splurge just a little.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, gianlucabartoli.

More About: apps, features, iphone, Mobile, Tech

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Hackers have used a security flaw in Microsoft’s Windows operating system to infect computers with the the Duqu virus, Microsoft has admitted.

“We are working diligently to address this issue and will release a security update for customers,” Microsoft said in a statement.

The Duqu virus, which was discovered in October by Symantec, is thought by some experts to be the next big cyber security threat. It shares some of the code with Stuxnet, a malicious worm which targeted Iran’s nuclear program, but Duqu is specifically created for gathering intelligence data from agencies and corporations.

Microsoft’s statement did not include any additional details, but Symantec discovered that Duqu was initially infecting systems through a compromised Microsoft Word document which installs the malicious software after it’s opened.

Duqu infections have currently been confirmed in several countries, including France, Netherlands, Switzerland, India, Iran, Ukraine, Sudan and Vietnam.

[via Reuters, Symantec]

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, goldmund

More About: Duqu, microsoft, virus

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Computer giant Microsoft’s official YouTube channel appears to have been hacked Sunday morning. All of the official videos, including recent ad campaigns, have been removed from the account. In their place are short clips soliciting advertisers, not surprisingly, as the channel has some 24,000+ subscribers.

As of 1:30 p.m. ET, four videos have been uploaded to the account, all time-stamped within the past two hours. A fifth video, most recently uploaded, seems to have been removed. The video, “Garry’s Mod – Escape the Box,” featured what appeared to be an animated gunman shooting at the inside of a construction box.

The channel’s description reads, “I DID NOTHING WRONG I SIMPLY SIGNED INTO MY ACCOUNT THAT I MADE IN 2006 :/.”

More About: hacking, microsoft, YouTube

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However, when you hit a roadblock with CSS, take it up a level by using JavaScript (JS).

Open source JavaScript libraries can help you craft responsive web designs (a technique that optimizes webpage layouts for mobile devices), implement fun text effects and more. In this post, we will primarily focus on JavaScript libraries that use modern web typography techniques to underscore and promote current web design best practices.

1. Kerning.js

Kerning.js is an open source JavaScript library that promises web designers complete control of web typography. According to the developer of the project, Joshua Gross, the library is admittedly a “work in progress.” However, by extending CSS, it doesn’t need JS programming outside of referencing the library in your HTML. Simply use Kerning.js’s custom CSS properties such as -letter-kern and -word-color.

With this excellent JavaScript library, you can achieve a variety of type techniques normally associated with print design and desktop publishing, such as perfect kerning and conditional fallback fonts for your @font-face rules.

See live demo.

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Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Punkle

More About: design, dev, features, javascript, typography

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The Occupy Wall Street movement, a series of nationwide demonstrations that opposes corporate greed and social inequality, has caught fire this past week.

Professional unions joined with the protesters last week, including the United Auto Workers, the United Federation of Teachers and National Nurses United. Several political figures have shown support as well, such as Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have both said that they sympathize with Occupy Wall Street protestors’ feelings of anger towards big banks’ role in the financial crisis.

The Occupy Wall Street movement began in July after anti-consumerist group Adbusters called for an occupation of Wall Street on Sept. 17. It quickly gained support from groups like Anonymous, who managed to slow and then shut down NYSE.com from about 3:35 p.m. to around 3:37 p.m. today.

Around 1,000 protesters showed up for the first protest. Over the subsequent four weeks, the protests have gained steam and have drawn the attention of the mainstream media. The protests have also expanded — about 1,400 Occupy Everywhere communities have taken form on Meetup.

The web chatter about #OccupyWallStreet has been significant as well and has been a large part of how the protesters have communicated. The protests were the subject of more than 0.5% of all tweets at its peak on Saturday, Oct. 1 according to Trendistic.

One Tumblr blog, We Are The 99 Percent, allows protesters and sympathizers to upload stories about why they protest, or why they support those who march. Most submissions include stories of financial and personal woes, as well as stories of how “Corporate America” has failed them in some way or another. The protests have even spurred at least one Craigstlist Missed Connection: two people arrested together on the Brooklyn Bridge and were in neighboring jail cells afterwords.

Protester videos and photos have also become widely circulated, most notably a video that quickly went viral on YouTube of alleged police brutality. The protesters have also created their own newspaper, called the Occupied Wall Street Journal. You can see the first edition of the publication here.

Are you there? Please share any pictures you may have with the Mashable community by uploading to the widget below, or tell your story in the comments section.

So you can get a scope of the protest, we have embedded a livestream below.

Livestream: Occupy Wall Street

More About: Occupy Wall Street

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Dungeon Masters, start your engines. Dungeons & Dragons, the original table-top role-playing game, is coming to Facebook.

Atari has created a new social game for Facebook called Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter.” Players can customize their own characters, find loot and fight ghastly, digital beasts.

The app looks much like a top-down strategy game — and somewhat similar to the actual style of the tabletop version.

While the game is known for long sessions and user-created narratives, Heroes of Neverwinter offers short bursts of gameplay and a largely standardized plot from the game’s creators. Fans of the slower, more complex original might decry this as breaking from the game’s root, but it’s probably a smart move to appeal to social gamers which are, for the most part, casual users who play for shorter periods of time.

The game will feature more than 50 dungeons, 40 monsters, 30 skills and hundreds of items. Gamers can play solo, recruit friends, or even become a sort of digital Dungeon Master and come up with their own mini-narratives as side quests.

Heroes of Neverwinter, which is currently in open-beta, joins a group of other games targeted to nostalgic players. Oregon Trail received a social gaming update for Facebook, and The Sims Social has been one of the top Facebook games since its launch at the end of summer.

It’s good to know Heroes of Neverwinter hasn’t foregone the traits that made its tabletop ancestor so popular. But will it be able to attract new users without alienating its base? If a sentence like: “Legions of Halflings, Dragonborn, and Eladrin will sharpen their blades and ready their spells as Facebook players around the world create their unique heroes and set forth for adventure!” appeals, this social game might just have some legs.

Will you gear up for Dungeons & Dragons as a social game? Let us know in the comments.

More About: Facebook, Gaming, social gaming

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Twitter announced Monday that it will soon begin reformatting all links posted to its service with t.co, regardless of length.

Previously, only links that were 20 characters or greater were reformatted with t.co.

T.co is Twitter’s official URL shortener, which is designed to prevent malware and phishing attacks. Unlike other URL shorteners, such as bit.ly, Twitter displays the domain name in full so users know what they’re clicking on. Existing URL shorteners, such as bit.ly, will continue to function as normal, although fewer characters will be displayed.

For example, if you entered this YouTube URL:

It would appear as a shortened version of the original URL:

This same process will now apply to shorter links as well.

More About: t.co, Twitter

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The sound-free video, above, leaked on the Japanese forum AppVV.com, appears to show a 4S being put through its paces. The BrowserMark number is significant as it’s roughly double the number you’ll get on an iPhone 4 running iOS 5 — meaning the iPhone 4S will browse the web at twice the speed of its predecessor.

The site does not explain how the phone was obtained ahead of launch. So how do we know it really is an iPhone 4S? Because Siri appears to be baked right into the OS — note the preferences screen that allows you to select English (in Australian, British or American dialects), French or German. Also note the options to have Siri talk back and to activate the service when you lift the phone to your ear.

Want to learn more about Siri? We have its history, and an interview with the app’s co-creator, here.

[Via Macrumors]

More About: apple, iPhone 4S, siri, Video

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