Our pre-caffeine roundup is a collection of the hottest, strangest, and most amusing stories of the morning. Here's everything that you need to know before taking that first sip of coffee today:
As Hurricane Irene gears up to whip along the Eastern Seaboard this weekend, people are already planning evacuation strategies and making other preparations. A huge component of this is communicating with friends and family, but what happens when cellular networks go down? Here's what you need to know.
A smartphone or tablet computer can come in handy during the storm. Here are a host of apps for tracking weather, getting ready for the hurricane and contacting insurancecompanies to report damages.
And if that storm is headed your way, here's how to protect your electronics from power outage damage.
Pay attention! This Irene looks like one "big scary storm" from space!
Speaking of Earth, you can now ask Google Maps for directions with your voice... instead of typing.
Facebook, meanwhile, is ending its anemic mobile "Places" check-in feature a year after it was introduced.
China has fake Apple stores. The U.S. has fake Steve Jobses! Lot's of 'em!
Here's what Business Insider things Amazon's top tablet will look like!
Jim Carrey's rep says his video mash note to Emma Stone is a gag. We don't know about that, but it's certainly a meme!
In closing, please enjoy 20 photos of what New York City will look like on Sunday.
Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about the Internet. Tell her to get a real job on Twitter and/or Facebook. Also, Google+.