Your guide to the potentially awesome Perseid meteor shower this week

One of the best meteor showers of the year will grace skies around the world this week, culminating in a potential "outburst" of shooting stars during the overnight hours between August 11 to August 12.

The Perseid meteor shower is bound to impress people lucky enough to watch the meteor display from very dark skies this year.

The shower peaks in the early morning on Friday.

Your best chance to see the peaking of the Perseids will be to head outside and get somewhere dark by around 3 a.m. local time on August 12.

Get more info and viewing tips at Miriam Kramer's article: http://mashable.com/2016/08/07/complete-guide-perseid-meteor-shower/#7Nw6xF3q.Zqs.

We compare Snapchat Stories to Instagram Stories

Instagram caught many by surprise this week when it revealed it was launching a new feature called Instagram Stories, which looked almost exactly like the Snapchat feature of the same name.

While close observers likely weren't surprised that Instagram was putting its own spin on the feature (Facebook has been trying to clone Snapchat for years), many were shocked at just how blatant the move seemed to be. More shocking still, Instagram didn't even try to hide where its "inspiration" came from.

Now that some of the dust has settled and we've had some time to really try out Instagram Stories for ourselves, we thought we'd put the two side by side to see how they stack up.

Read Karissa Bell's article at http://mashable.com/2016/08/05/snapchat-stories-compared-instagram/#XxyeNnvc5mqQ.

China built an elevated bus that travels above car traffic

China's Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) is not only a real thing, but had its first road test today in Qinhuangdao City.

The whole thing is powered by electricity, is about 72 feet long and 25 feet wide (so it can span multiple lanes of traffic) and can carry 300 passengers (but future versions could probably be coupled together to carry even more). And, when it’s actually launched and operating, it should hit max speeds of around 40 miles per hour, making it a pretty speedy mode of public transportation.

Read the complete article and see a few videos at https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/02/china-has-actually-built-that-elevated-bus-that-travels-above-car-traffic/.

3 simple ways to avoid making big mistakes as a teen using social media

Social media may connect and empower a teenager, but it can also become a permanent record of a young person's disgraceful behavior.

Karlie Hay, the newly crowned Miss Teen USA, learned this lesson the hard way. Soon after Hay claimed her mantle on Saturday, it became apparent that the 18-year-old Texan used a racial slur on Twitter four times in 2013 and 2014.

Even teens who may never imagine themselves as a public figure or a flashpoint in a debate about race and culture, for example, can benefit from the following tips:

1. Consider social media a permanent record of your behavior.
2. Remember that you're bound to make mistakes.
3. Don't underestimate who you'll become.

Read Rebecca Ruiz's article at http://mashable.com/2016/08/01/social-media-miss-teen-usa/#yQXBH.Li58q3.

Spiral-Cut Pool Noodle Hacks

Have some extra pool noodles around? This video is chock-full of great pool noodle tricks, including a way to spiral-cut them into padding you can wrap around almost anything.

See the video at http://lifehacker.com/spiral-cut-pool-noodles-make-great-all-purpose-cushions-1784487295.

10 reasons to reject Microsoft's free Windows 10 upgrade

An offer you can refuse

The clock is ticking, folks. If you want to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, you only have until July 29, 2016 to do so. And most people should! Windows 10 is the best Windows yet, chock full of handy new features, sleek under-the-hood improvements, and headache-killing extras.

But it’s not for everybody. There are some very real, very valid reasons not to upgrade to Windows 10.

If you’re on the fence about whether to accept or reject Microsoft’s freebie, read on for some concrete justifications for staying put.

Read Brad Chocos' article for some concrete justifications for staying put at http://www.pcworld.com/article/3092365/windows/10-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-upgrade-to-windows-10.html.

Pokemon Go: Gyms, candy, pokeballs and everything else you need to know

Learn about this phenomenon in cnet's complete beginner's guide to Nintendo's wildly popular new game at http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-play-pokemon-go/?ftag=CAD-04-10aac3a&bhid=22046997431376544675551393481245.