A man has been able to stop burglars raiding his house despite being 1,400 miles away -- by using an £2.60 app on his iPhone.

Vince Hunter had installed an iCam app on his iPhone which notified him when motion sensors in his home in Dallas, were triggered.

He was then able to watch a video stream from CCTV cameras and saw a pair of burglars breaking into his home -- all from his phone some 1,400 miles away.

As he watched the men smash a glass door with a brick, police were called and the would-be burglars quickly fled empty-handed.

Hunter then watched armed police arrive and search the house… and to think the most interesting thing I've done with my mobile is check Twitter from the toilet.

A bizarre substance known as "dry water," which resembles powdered sugar but is 95% 'wet' water could help fight global warming.

Scientists claim the powdered water will change the way chemicals are used and that it could even be used to soak up greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

Each powder particle contains a water droplet surrounded by modified silica, which prevents the water droplets from combining and turning back into a liquid.

This means it has an amazing ability to slurp up gases, which chemically combine with the water molecules to form what chemists term a hydrate.

Speaking of the find, Dr Ben Carter, from the University of Liverpool said: "We may see dry water making waves in the future" -- Oh Dr Carter, how long had you been working on that one?

Sumo wrestlers in Japan are to be issued with iPads -- because their fingers are so fat they struggle to use normal-sized phones.

The Japan Sumo Association (JSA) is said to dishing out the Apple tablet computers in 51 wrestling ‘stables’ to help the athletes keep in touch better.

At the moment the larger-than-life wrestlers, with larger-than-life hands, have problems pressing buttons on small phones and therefore receiving emails on-the-go.

A spokesperson from the JSA said: "We will hand out the newest iPads to all the sumo stables to swiftly communicate what we need to."

Given the typical sumo wrestler consumes over 20,000 calories per day we hope they don't end up eating them because they have a image of an apple on the back.

Researchers have discovered wearing socks and sandals is not the invention of middle-aged Brits on holiday -- but were actually worn by ancient Romans over 2,000-years-ago.

The discovery was made during a archaeological dig of newly found Roman ruins in North Yorkshire when a 2,000-year-old sandal was discovered.

Tests showed a nail used in the construction of the footwear contained traces of fibres -- suggesting they had been worn with socks.

More lab tests will now be conducted to see if the Romans really were so heinous as to have inflicted the sartorial crime of socks and sandals on the world.

Now if only we could blame our other fashion faux-pas of someone else… maybe the Normans are responsible for the Speedo.

A busker in London has started to refuse cash payments and is now only accepting money for his performances via credit cards.

Peter Buffery plays on a guitar which has been adapted to feature 'contactless technology' allowing passers-by in Soho Square to 'swipe' a card and give him money.

As the student from Kingston University played listeners only needed to wave their card over the head of his instrument to make a £5 donation.

While we're not sure exactly what songs Buffery performed, we can't help but hope he played Cash Machine by Hard-Fi and then maybe Gimme Gimme Gimme by Abba.

Just in case 'normal' tornadoes are not terrifying enough for you, a rare flaming tornado has been caught on camera.

The 'fire tornado' was filmed as it burnt through fields in Sao Paulo, Brazil and though it didn't last long is a scary insight into the phenomenon.

Also known as 'fire whirls' and 'fire devils' they are caused by warm updrafts over a fire and can spin at 100mph and reach 1km high.

Luckily, this example didn't come close to those measurements and was gone as quickly as it was formed.

However, this isn't going to offer much consolation to locals in Aracatuba who have seen a number of brush fires spread across the area.

Although many women claim to find them naff, researchers have found almost two thirds actually like it when a guy uses a cheesy chat-up line on them.
 
Almost four-in-ten women have gone out with a man who approached them using a cheesy line, with one-in-ten even going on to have a long-term relationship with them.
 
The survey also revealed 59 per cent of women think a man using a chat-up line shows he has a great sense of humour, with another 58 per cent saying it shows he is confident also.
 
Surprisingly one-in-twenty women even reckon they'd be MORE likely to go out with a guy if they came out with a chat-up line to impress them.
 
However, they did also say this likelihood would increase significantly if he also happened to be rich and good-looking.

A council has splashed out a whopping £190,000 on building a fancy bridge designed to help dormice cross the road safely.

The high-wire walkways were built across a busy new 4.6 mile road in the Rhondda Valley so the construction didn't upset the local rodent population.

Three interconnecting tubes - suspended from 20ft wooden poles - are said to offer dormice a way of crossing the road where they would have once used trees.

The move has been branded a wast of taxpayers money by some… who also now suggest the chicken crossed the road for a council handout.

Sky Sports presenter Jessica Kastrop was hit on the head by a stray football during a live pre-match broadcast.

In the clip - which has already become a hit on YouTube - Kastrop can be seen talking to her co-presenter about the pre-season clash in Stuttgart

But then all of a sudden a ball is whipped in by Former Chelsea star Khalid Boulahrouz smashing Kastrop on the back of her head.

The force of the 100mph ball knocked her head forward so fast Kastrop almost head-butted the desk she was stood at.

Boulahrouz insists the battering ball was an accident… and Chelsea fans will tell you he can't normally shoot with that accuracy.

More than 4.7 million motorists will head off on a Bank Holiday break tomorrow -- in the hope of nabbing one of just 279,000 parking spaces
 
The number of cars set to hit the roads this weekend compared to the number of spaces at top tourist destinations means every place will be coveted by 16 CARS.
 
Brighton is said to be the biggest nightmare with one parking spot for every 79 cars, followed by Bournemouth with just one spot for every 76.
 
The report also revealed one in two motorists will resort to dirty tactics to secure a space like speeding around a car park (25%) or driving the wrong way (17%).

1-in-14 admitted almost causing an accident parking and two percent said they'd intentionally 'bumped' another car out of the way… and you don't even want to know how many wrongly use a disabled parking bay.