Trivia

No one anticipated the iPhone's meteoric rise when it was first introduced in 2007. Critics complained that, unlike the BlackBerry (remember those?), the touchscreen phone was too hard to type on. It was too expensive. It had to be on the AT&T network. Little did those critics know that, five years later, the rectangle with rounded corners would own the smartphone market.

The device's wild popularity has, unfortunately, grown so much that iPhone and iPad thefts rose 40 percent in New York City. Thieves love the Apple smartphone so much that they'll even snatch them from babies. This stat got us thinking about Steve Jobs's masterpiece and what makes it so special. So, as you clutch your device to keep it out of harm's way, read these five totally crazy — but true — facts about the iPhone.

1. The most expensive piece in the iPhone 4 costs a whopping . . . $28.50. According to research firm iSuppli, the phone's Retina display screen is the priciest piece of the iPhone puzzle. Together, the parts total about $200, although that doesn't take assembly, design, or branding into account.

Continue on for more facts and figures on the iPhone.

Ahhh sweet success! NASA pulled off its most ambitious Mars mission ever last night when Curiosity, a rover launched from Earth in November 2011, landed safely on Mars (one of Curiosity's first photo transmissions is seen below) to begin its work searching for signs that life once existed on the planet. Now that we watched the space event of the year and can award the relieved NASA team their own gold medal, learn the basics about the Red Planet you may have missed during Curiosity's tense arrival on the planet.

• In Roman mythology, Mars is the name the Romans gave to the god of war, not the god of fire, like many may believe.
• Despite being about half the size of Earth, Mars's land mass is about the same as our planet. This is because much of Earth's surface is covered with water, not land.
• On average, Mars is about 50 million miles from Earth, although it can sometimes be closer or farther depending on the orbital paths.
• Don't forget to pack your coat; the average temperature on Mars is -81°F.
• Mars has two moons, named Phobos and Deimos: Greek for "fear" and "panic."
• Yes, there are polar ice caps on Mars — they're made of water ice, covered by carbon dioxide.

Want more Mars trivia? Head over to NASA and test your Red Planet knowledge!

Source: NASA