Pre-caffeine tech: Don't miss Venus in transit, more dogs on slides!?

3 hrs.

Helen A.S. Popkin

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.

We?ve had dozens of stories about the last-in-a-lifetime transit of Venus across the sun, but if you read just one, make it our Top 10 tips for seeing the transit of Venus!?

And?helllooooooooo!?In celebration of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee, a mobile app is adding a royal touch to emails, texts and tweets by suggesting words that the British monarch would be most likely to use.?

?9to5 Mac's Mark Gurman reports that "trusted sources" tell him that?the next version of Apple's iOS will borrow a lot of features from the upcoming release of OS X Mountain Lion.?

It's no secret that Facebook is lousy with kids ages 12 and under ? despite the social network's Terms of Service requiring members to be at least 13. Now,?Facebook is exploring ways to give kids access while being mindful of government regulations and safety concerns.

Speaking of online privacy,?a network containing the confidential records of more than 120,000 federal employees was hacked last year, yet it took nearly 11 months for the breached company to notify those affected. Whoops!?

If you're among the owners of Amazon's $79 Kindle (or $109 for the?version?without ads), a free software upgrade should make your reading experience even better.

Speaking of books,? "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling is collaborating with Sony to create a?"Book of Spells" for?the augmented reality project known as?"Wonderbook."

Is the "Orvillecopter" ? a four-propellered remote-controlled dead cat assembled by?Dutch artist Bart Jansen and currently on display the Kunstrai art festival in Amsterdam ? a thoughtful tribute to Jansen's late cat, a jaded grab at attention beyond the insular art?world, a biting indictment of U.S. military drone policy ? or just gross? You decide!?

Meanwhile, here's a bunch of?very alive dogs on slides.?

? compiled by Helen A.S.?Popkin, who invites you to join her on??Twitter?and/or?Facebook.?Also, Google+.

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