For those times when you just want to take a high quality selfie

Canon’s updating their Powershot line of digital cameras, starting with the flagship G model (preferred by gangstas everywhere).  The new Canon Powershot G16 builds upon its predecessor by utilizing some of Canon’s most innovative technologies.  It features a 28-140mm wide-angle lens with an aperture range perfect for shooting in low-light conditions and  it’s equipped with Canon’s HS system, which combines a DIGIC 6 image processor and a 12.1 megapixel High-Sensitivity CMOS image sensor, allowing for enhanced low-light image quality.  The HS system also means that the G16 can now capture 1080p Full HD video at 60 frames per second.  There are a few new shooting modes, like “Star Nightscape”, “Star Trails”, and “Star Time Lapse Movie” that all allow you to better capture images of the night sky.  And to top it all off, the G16 is the first Powershot in the G-series to come equipped with built in Wi-Fi.  That means you can easily share your photos and videos on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr without having to first download everything to your computer.

The PowerShot G16 is scheduled to drop in October for $549.99.

Flip phones are back

Flip phone; or smartphone?  Why choose when you can have the best of both worlds with the Samsung Hennessy.

The Hennessy marries the “retro” (can four to five years ago be retro?) looks of a flip phone with the modern technology of a current smart phone.  It boasts not one but two 3.3-inch 320×480 touch screens, with the outer screen bordered by the same three capacitive buttons found on many of Samsung’s other phones.  The rear of the phone has a 5 megapixel camera.  Inside there’s a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU powering Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) along with the standard assortment of things you’ve come to expect in a smartphone these days: a micro SD slot, GPS, WiFI, Bluetooth, a 1,500 mAh battery, and support for either CDMA or GSM SIM cards.

The Samsung Hennessy will be available in a chocolatey brown color this fall.

MixBit, the new video sharing app from the creators of YouTube

Thought Vine and Instagram had a strangehold on the social video market?  Think again.  From the two founders of YouTube comes MixBit, a brand new mobile video sharing app.

What differentiates MixBit from those other social video apps is that it allows you to shoot as many as 256 16 second clips and edit them into one movie up to 68 minutes long.  You can even splice bits and pieces from other people’s videos and insert them into your own creation.  The other thing different about MixBit?  Each submission is anonymous, and there’s no commenting system either.  That could be a bad thing if you love counting the likes and comments your uploads receive, or it could be a good thing if you’d rather not see hateful vitriol spewed all over your videos.  Remember what happened with that Cheerios commercial?

MixBit is available for iOS free of charge right now, with an Android version coming sometime in the near future.

What happens when you sit a bunch of Motorola designers in front of a white board and ask them to describe the product they want to make?  You get the Moto X, a phone designed with everyday people in mind that can be personalized to your heart’s content.

The Moto X features a 4.7 inch 720p AMOLED screen (which takes up nearly 70 percent of the front face) and a curved shell, which was chosen for the way it conforms to the palm of your hand (how thoughtful).  It measures in at 5.09 x 2.57 inches and weighs a mere 4.58 ounces. On the back of the phone is a 10 megapixel “Clear Pixel” camera with automatic autofocus and exposure that is capable of pulling in 75% more light for faster daytime exposure and low-light performance.  Twisting your wrist twice enables a Quick Capture feature that allows for a sub-two-second-shot-to-shot speed, and it can also record 1080p video.

Inside, however, is where things start to get more interesting.  The Moto X utilizes Motorola’s new X8 chipset, which consists of a 1.7GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro, Adreno 320 GPUs, 2GB of RAM and specialized processors meant to handle natural language processing and information from the X’s myriad sensors.  What this means is that the Moto X is fast.  Apps open quickly, scrolling is buttery smooth, and multi-tasking is a dream.  The unique chipset also controls the X’s special features, like Touchless Control (read: voice control) and Active Display (which turns on the phone’s screen when you pull it out of your pocket or bag, or when you flip it over after being face down).  And, in case you’re wondering, the Moto X comes loaded with Android 4.2.2 pretty much stock.

What’s most impressive about the Moto X, though, may be the ability to customize it using Motorola’s MotoMaker web app.  It’s like Nike ID for your phone.  When the app goes live later this month, you’ll be able to choose from 2 front colors, 18 back colors, 7 accent colors (the buttons, the ring around the camera), and even print a message on the back (“I like big butts and I cannot lie,” perhaps).  You’ll also be able to choose matching Sol Republic JAX in ear headphones or over-ear Soul Republic Tracks HD headphones.  Customization is free, and because each Moto X is being built in the USA (Forth Worth, Texas) you’ll be able to get your phone four days after customizing it.  Best of all, while you wait for your phone to arrive you can grab a loaner from the store to make sure you don’t miss all those important calls from mom and sexts from your boo.

The Moto X will be available in late August/early September on just about every carrier under the sun, including (but not limited to) Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and US Cellular for $200 for the 16GB version or $250 for it’s 32GB sibling with a two year contract.  For those that hate being attached to a wireless carrier, there will also be an unlocked version coming to the Google Play Store, through pricing has not yet been announced.

Breaking up is easier to do than ever before.

Have you reached your one month limit with Johnny and need to break things off?  Good news!  You won’t have to meet him in person, give him a call, or even write him your own text to end the relationship because there’s an app for that:  BreakUp Text. BreakUp Text asks you a series of simple questions about your relationship and generates a break up text for you.  No need to waste time thinking of something heartfelt interspersed with plenty of cute emojis.  Instead you can have the app tell your soon to be ex that you ran into your favorite professor from college, he’s now divorced, and you’ve fallen in love with him…or that you were eaten by a bear.

BreakUp Text is available for download now in the iTunes App Store for 99 cents.