How Facebook Has Changed Since Going Public 1 Year Ago

"Facebook was not originally created to be a company," CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in his SEC Registration letter a little more than three months before Facebook went public on May 18, 2012. "It was built to accomplish a social mission — to make the world more open and connected."

In the year since the Facebook IPO, some things haven't changed: Zuckerberg still sports his trademark hoodies, employees still rate their company and their founder highly, and Facebook still talks about its grand mission to make the world more open and connected. But the era of Facebook operating or being perceived as anything other than a corporation seems more distant with each passing day Read more...

Giant Stop Sign Is Laser-Projected Onto a Sheet of Water

Imagine you're a truck driver. You're coming up to a tunnel that might be too low for your truck to fit under, but you're not sure. Suddenly, a gigantic red stop sign appears to obstruct the road in front of the tunnel entrance, giving you no doubt. Stop!

You're not going to overlook that explicit warning

What is this sorcery? See the video above to find out more about how this remarkable sign is created with a instantaneously produced sheet of water and — you guessed it — frickin' lasers

These pop-up stop signs made by light show company Laservision are part of an experiment that's been taking place in Australia since 2007, successfully preventing semi trucks from suddenly turning into unintended convertibles. This one is in the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, and there are several others installed in the city. Read more...

Top 10 Tech This Week

It was a big week in tech, the week of Google I/O. But apart from the annual Google geekfest that its developers conference is, there was much more. We were in San Francisco to cover Google I/O, but we also kept an eye on the rest of the world of tech for Top 10 Tech This Week

The biggest story of the week — which in turn contained countless big stories — was Google I/O, the company's developers conference. Even though this time nobody parachuted onto the conference building wearing Google Glass, the conference was still full of juicy announcements: new Hangouts, new Google Maps, a 3.5-hour keynote featuring CEO Larry Page and much more Read more...

AOL, Yahoo Were Better Investments This Year Than Facebook Stock

Ah, the benefit of hindsight.

Those who rushed to buy Facebook stock at its initial public offering price of $38 per share on May 18, 2012, are likely a little disappointed with their investment one year later. Though the stock has recovered from its $17.55 September 4 low, the price of the stock today, at a little more than $26 per share, is still closer to its all-time low than its opening price.

What if investors had put their money into other technology or Internet companies? Statistics database Statista looked at how a $1,000 investment made on the day of Facebook's IPO would have performed nearly one year later in the chart below. Read more...

6 Apps You Don’t Want To Miss

It can be tough to keep up with all the new apps released every week. But you're in luck — Mashable takes care of that for you, creating a roundup each weekend of our favorite new and updated apps.

This week Google launched its own streaming music service, and another music service got a new mode designed specifically to be used while driving.

Airbnb's Android app was updated with some new tools for hosts, and Highlight got a little more personal.

Check out the gallery above for a look at this week's highlights.

Still looking for more? See last week's Apps You Don't Want to Miss for more great apps worth a look Read more...