Spring has sprung and that means moving off the treadmill and into the great outdoors. But since Spring often equals rain showers, an outdoor run could be nearly thwarted by weather. Don't be afraid of the rain — with a few simple adjustments to your normal routine you'll be on your way to a great run, elements and all.

• Do not wear cotton: While comfortable, cotton shirts, shorts, socks, basically cotton anything soaks up water quickly, becoming heavy and generally uncomfortable. Stick to wicking materials, and finish your outfit with a waterproof top layer.
• Wear high(er) socks: Speaking of socks, since running in the rain can cause blisters, choose a pair of (non-cotton) socks that reach above your sneakers.
• Wear old shoes: If you don't want to invest in a pair of specifically waterproof sneakers, choose an older pair to use in the rain. Shoes can take days to completely dry out, and rain usually comes with mud. Also: to dry shoes, store them in a warm, dry place and stuff them with old newspaper to aid in the drying process. Do not put them in the dryer; artificial heat sources will cause shoes to break down faster than they would with normal wear and tear.
• Protect your eyes: Sunglasses and/or a hat will help keep the rain from pelting your eyes during your run. I know sporting sunglasses in the rain may seem odd, but keeping your peepers dry while on the move is essential to seeing the road and unexpected obstacles.
• Secure long hair: Anyone who's been whipped in the face with a wet ponytail will tell you it's not pleasant. Try a low braid or bun for long hair — at least the rain will take care of flyaways! Here are some sporty hairstyles to help keep hair out of your face.
• Be seen: If you're running on a road, wear some sort of reflective gear so motorists can spot you through the showers. Even with reflective or bright gear, it's best to run defensively: never assume that a car can see you.
• Modify your workout: Shorten your stride slightly and relax — you'll have less chance of falling or making a wrong step.

Microsoft's Bing search engine has just released a shiny new iPad app, aimed to help users search and discover what they're looking for within a bright, colorful, and engaging interface. The app's homescreen image changes daily (similar to Bing.com and its other mobile apps), and also features smaller tiles for staying in the know. Also included, Bing's image search, displaying search results in grid view with image sources and full-page previews.

Additionally, a special Trends feature shows users the top 10 trending searches of the day (and past seven). Bing Maps offers road, aerial, and bird's-eye views of streets. It even includes voice search! You can download this free app from the App Store.

After launching as an app in the Chrome web store, Twitter client TweetDeck announced a new web app that will work across all of the major browsers: Firefox, Safari, IE, and Opera. TweetDeck Web, which just launched in beta, is a standalone web page that doesn't require an app store or download to work.

One caveat: this new web component does not support streaming, which means refreshing the page and your feed. If you prefer not to hit refresh, your best bet is still the desktop app.

Users with current TweetDeck accounts can sign up to be a part of the beta testing at the beta hub.

The iPad lends itself to news reading; its mobility makes it easy to tote on your commute, read in bed (at your own risk!), or just about anywhere else. There's no shortage of news apps (see: Zite, The Daily), and now a new one is aiming to get into the mix. Hitpad uses a different type of algorithm to deliver important and relevant news; it determines what people are interested in via Twitter, online video, and more.

News subjects are broken down into news articles, tweets, video, and other web content; users can easily share content via social networks. You can even save stories to read later via Instapaper. Hitpad is available for free from the App Store.

Have a shopping addiction? Then surely you're familiar with Bloomingdale's iconic, brown shopping bags. The "little," "medium," and "big" brown bags have become classic designs, and now the bag has made its way to tech accessories. The laptop case is designed to mimic the shopping bags.

It's constructed from coated canvas and lined with soft, brown fabric; the bag also features an interior pocket and shoulder strap and fits 14-inch (or under) laptops like a glove.

US regulations enacted in 1996 (and then further in 2003) made it mandatory for cell phone providers to allow customers to hold onto their phone numbers when moving from carrier to carrier. Thankfully, the process is relatively easy and painless, but during a recent (my first) number-porting experience I learned a very important lesson: plan ahead. Find out why after the break.

A recent article in The New Yorker confirms what many of us have been wanting to believe for years: wasting time on the Internet makes us better workers. The article outlines a study conducted by the University of Copenhagen (and the first of its kind) found that people who were first distracted by a funny video performed better at a specific task than their distraction-free counterparts.

While this is the first study that specifically singled out Internet distractions, the article also points out that the study's findings are in line with similar studies that judged participants' responsiveness and attention span — especially those involving food rewards.

The study could have implications for employers; as many as half block access to alleged time-wasters like Facebook and Twitter. But now there's an argument (with proof) that these sites are actually making us better workers. Me? I agree that being able to watch funny videos (like the honey badger!), read my Twitter feed, and occasionally allow myself to be distracted helps me focus on my work. The only problem? Pulling myself away from the honey badger after just one viewing!

Rock stars and even former presidents have taken to Facebook to connect with the masses, but never before has an acting president appeared live on Facebook. Until now! President Obama will appear live on Facebook Wednesday, April 20 at 1:45 PDT (4:45 EDT).

CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg will sit down with the president, who plans to discuss current economic conditions and "tough choices we must all make in order to put our economy on a more responsible fiscal path."

Facebook will be selecting user-posted questions to include in the interview. To submit your question, post it on the event's Facebook wall, or more privately via the White House's official site.

Love food? Love street food more? Then this is the app for you! A new app is being released in partnership with a new show on The Food Network helping you locate the best street food. Eat St. is an app supporting a new TV series with the same name, and enables users to search nearby street food based on proximity, popularity, and type of cuisine.

Vendor locations, hours, menus, specials, even Twitter feeds are easily browsable with the app, and Google Maps integration will even direct you to your truck of choice. Individual vendors can claim their businesses (similar to Foursquare's model) and change their location, add photos, and update menu items. The app comes loaded with over 2,000 street food vendors in 184 cities. That's a lot of street meat!

Download the free iPhone app from the App Store — happy eating!

The time following a major email breach is a smart time to remind yourself how to stay safe. But email isn't the only way that spammers and other users of ill repute can gain access to you and your digital life. Now spammers are trying a new approach to gain access: Facebook Events.

Find out more after the jump.

While recently searching for an "evil" emoticon (don't ask), I stumbled on an unlikely resource. Or, rather, the resource is pretty popular, but I hadn't thought about it until now. Worth checking out: the emoticon Wikipedia page. With a full list of emoticons ranging from basic smiles to more complex faces like a backwards baseball cap — d:-) — the page is a great resource for creative digital expression.

Emoticon listings are even broken down into eastern and western, listing all sorts of interesting emoticons I had no idea existed. (I'm particularly partial to this "not amused" emoticon: (*_*), and plan to use it often.) Check them out for yourself on Wikipedia, and happy emoting!

Twitter has released some improvements to its search functions, making it easier to find the people and information you're looking for. Special search operators give examples of commands to use to better find exactly what you're searching for — even a tweet's tone is taken into consideration! For example, if you're looking for positive tweets about the San Francisco Giants, type "San Francisco Giants :)" to receive a list of positively charged tweets about the Giants.

Advanced search commands also include the ability to search tweets containing questions, search by keyword plus location, even search only tweets containing URLs. If you're not into typing commands into the search field, you can also use Twitter's new advanced search page, containing search fields for different types of searches.

The Onion has had its own iPhone app for a while, but it now has a brand-new iPad version for sharing its humorous and satirical content. Released on Friday, the free app is described as the "last bastion of unbiased, reliable, and definitive news in a world dominated by superficiality, mediocrity, and non-Onion news outlets."

The HTML5 app features all of your favorite Onion content: articles, photos, even video, inviting users to touch the news. "Swipe it, poke it, berate it, and it reacts accordingly."

Download the free iPad app from the App Store. It requires iOS 4.2 or higher.

About a month ago, Twitter gave its iPhone app a major makeover, including the addition of a QuickBar that prominently displayed trending topics. Almost immediately, the Internet was up in arms over the bar (then dubbed it the #D*ckBar), which was seen as intrusive and to many, useless.

Almost immediately, Twitter issued an update to the app, acknowledging that it was at times intrusive and repositioning the trending topics bar (which sometimes includes sponsored ads) at the top of the screen. Still, for a lot of users, that change wasn't enough, so Twitter has now removed the bar completely. According to a Twitter blog post, "The QuickBar was originally conceived to help users discover what’s happening in the broader world beyond people they already follow. The bar was also seen as a potential means of in-app notifications for new @mentions, DMs, and other important activity."

So, for now the bar has been killed. But, according to Twitter, users can expect "the best possible experience for in-app notification and discovery."

This pretty clutch is one of the many awesome do-it-yourself projects from P.S. I Made This. . . by Erica Domesek, a super-talented designer who also has a great NYC apartment.

The case was created using a drawer liner, tape, and velcro (seriously!), and makes a unique, inexpensive, and on-trend home for your iPad. It was inspired by a recent Prada collection and reimagined on an everyday budget. Check out the step-by-step tutorial to make one of your own!

Technology and dating have been helping and hurting each other for years, but perhaps no technology is more sweetly accessible than the text message. Think about it: everyone does it, it's fast, simple, and to the point. They're even a good replacement for those annoying phone calls. Thing is, when dating and feelings and etiquette are involved, texting can get a little dicey.

One dating and relationship coach has come up with a list of the seven biggest misuses of texting to avoid in dating, and I agree with just about all of it. He maintains that short text conversations when dating are fine (think: "I'm at the restaurant," or "See you at 7!") but because it's emotionless and can cause misunderstandings, there are times it shouldn't be used — specifically to ask someone out or cancel a date.

Find out how not texting can actually help your relationship after the break.

In honor of Major League Baseball's opening day (today! Go Giants!), Volvo has unlocked the paywall on streaming live games onto all iOS devices. For the entire month of April, all streaming MLB games will be free to view on MLB.tv.

Of course, to view the streaming content you'll have to be subjected to some Volvo ads, but for baseball fans it seems a small price to pay. It also guarantees a lot of eyes on your ads, which is something that may become more popular as more and more high-profile paywalls are announced.

Sadly, it's not completely free — to access the streaming content you need to pony up for the official MLB At Bat iPhone or iPad app, which is $15. Android users can get in on the action, too — you'll be able to watch one free app per day.