The Twitter account of Dell CEO Michael Dell's daughter Alexa disappeared from the Internet Friday, after one of her Instagram photos was picked up by a popular Tumblr blog.

Alexa posted an Instagram photo, which she also shared to Twitter, of her brother Zachary eating from a decadent buffet aboard the family jet en-route to Fiji, reports Bloomberg BusinessWeek. The photo was picked up by the Tumblr sensation Rich Kids of Instagram (though it's since been removed).

In addition to the Fiji Instagram, Alexa's Twitter account has been shut down, though the company didn't specify that it was because of security concerns.

"We don't make any comments regarding Mr. Dell's, or his…
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More About: Twitter, ceo, dell, family, parenting, security

Humanity's never-ending search for resources has taken a dive -- into the sea.

Canadian company Nautilus Minerals is embarking on the world's first commercial deep-sea mining project, called Solwara 1.

The venture aims to extract gold and copper from the floor of the Bismarck Sea in Papua New Guinea. Last year, the local government granted Nautilus a mining lease for an "initial 20-year term" to operate nearly a mile underwater.

But detractors say deep-sea mining could negatively impact the environment.

"Sea floor volcanic systems, deep-sea ecosystems and the spread of pollution from deep sea mining are not well understood," according to th…
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More About: Nautilus Minerals, Papua New Guinea, deep sea, mining, trending

Google+ is introducing vanity URLs, allowing users to further customize their profile pages, the company announced Monday.

The vanity URLs are short, easy-to-remember web addresses that link directly to a member's profile or page on Google+, according to a blog post by employee Saurabh Sharma.

The new addresses will be markedly different from their current format. Right now, each user is identified by a long, uniquely assigned number string that looks something like this: https://plus.google.com/107341475998486822497.

Sharma, a product manager at Google's San Francisco office, says the personalized addresses will be "available to people and pages worldwide," but did not specify…
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More About: Facebook, Google, custom url, trending, vanity url

Stop us if you've heard this one before: The Olympics are completely dominating social TV. Sound familiar? That's because the Games have indeed taken over the social TV charts for a third straight week.

We're not surprised that social media has been a constant stream of Olympic chatter. Between the memes, the upsets and the popstar comebacks, there was nary a moment unworthy of tweeting.

SEE ALSO: 10 Unforgettable Moments From the Olympics Closing Ceremonies [GIFs]

The closing ceremony took home gold for Games programming; with a count of nearly 14 million for overall social activity, it topped the opening ceremony's social momentum by some 5 million mentions. Track and Field event…
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More About: Entertainment, Social Media, TV, Trendrr, infographics, social tv, social tv charts

Researchers at MIT, Harvard University and Seoul National University have developed a robotic worm that creeps along the ground, much like its real-life counterpart.

The soft, autonomous robot, named "Meshworm," crawls across surfaces by contracting segments of its body, according to an MIT release.

Engineers constructed the worm, using a soft mesh tube wrapped in nickel-titanium wire. After a small current is applied to the wire segments, they contract and squeeze the mesh tube, which then propels the 'bot forward.

Made completely out of soft materials, the worm remains unscathed even when stepped on, or bludgeoned with a hammer.

Researche…
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More About: harvard university, mit, robots, seoul national university, trending

Name: MotherKnows

Quick Pitch: Digitize your child's health records and access them whenever medical forms are needed.

Genius Idea: MotherKnows does all the work, compiling accurate graphs of immunizations, growth charts, medication, allergies and future appointments. Simply sign a consent form and the startup will gather original health documents from your child's doctors.

In addition to a primary physician, children start seeing specialists for various procedures and urgent care providers for emergency care at a young age. Typically that entails a lot of paperwork.

By adulthood, average American patients sees about 18.7 different doctors. Think about how many times yo…
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More About: bizspark, health, medical records, parenting

Lots of big-name athletes saw their social media followings get big boosts during the recently concluded Summer Olympics. But Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, probably the Games' biggest global star, one-upped everyone else in the digital realm, too, with the rapidly accelerating popularity of his new mobile game Bolt!.

The game broke the 1 million user mark the same day that Bolt, the athlete, anchored the Jamaican 4x100 relay team to a record-setting gold medal in London. Bolt!, the game [iTunes link], is now being downloaded once per second, according to John Shahidi, CEO of Rocklive, the company Bolt partnered with to produce the app, which was released in mid-July. Shahidi also says the…
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More About: Gaming, Mobile, Sports, apps, olympics, trending

The words "all natural," "organic" and "raw" are not hard to find in grocery aisles these days, but actually finding completely chemical free products isn't so easy.

More and more research has proved that manufacturers and food retailers are jumping on the "green" bandwagon without actually working to stock their shelves with food that's been properly treated and tested for synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.

Lapka hopes to be the whistleblower on that problem.

This iPhone accessory and app is a "personal environment monitor" that works like a lie detector on food wrappers that claim the grub is healthy. The user spears the food in questi…
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More About: apps, iphone

In Olympics speak, Sunday's Closing Ceremony on NBC failed to medal in the competition of most-popular entertainment event in social TV history.

Propelled by musical performances from the Spice Girls, One Direction and Jessie J, the ceremony attracted 2.7 million comments on Twitter and Facebook, data from Bluefin Labs shows.

The Opening Ceremony incited more activity, netting 5.0 million comments. This year's Grammys (13 million), BET Awards (7.98 million), Academy Awards (3.8 million) and last year's VMAs (3.1 million) also placed higher.

SEE ALSO: 2012 MTV VMAs Opens Online and Mobile Voting: The Nominees Are …

Bluefin's statistics for the Olympics finale account for nega…
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More About: Bluefin Labs, Entertainment, Music, Sports, celebrities, olympics, social tv

As anticipation for the iPhone 5 rises, many are on the lookout for deals on recent models.

Perhaps to help get rid of current stock, Apple has begun to match discounted iPhone prices form other retailers.

SEE ALSO: Want an iPhone 5? Sell Your Old iPhone Now

Apple will match any price, from any official retailer. This applies to all current models, though you have to ask them to match as it is not advertised anywhere. If you aren't waiting for the next model, you could save around $50 on even the most expensive iPhone 4s.

The next iPhone is rumored to be launched in October, though Apple has not officially said anything on the matter.…
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More About: Newsy, apple, iphone, trending

In 1999, Ocean Quigley had a dream. While working on SimCity 4, the 15-year veteran of EA-Maxis pondered the difficulty of creating "real" people living inside the simulated city -- "real" meaning they would be fully programmed to react with each minutiae of the environment.

"We kind of nurtured these visions of what it'd be like to create a city with that level of fidelity and truth to it," says Quigley, the creative director for the current SimCity project.

The game takes customization down to a minute level: Each person living in your city will be simulated by the game's engine.

"Before, SimCity used to be like paint programs with sprites, but now we are taking all the thin…
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More About: Entertainment, Gaming, features, simcity

Microsoft revealed Monday more about what consumers can expect from Windows RT -- the new variant of Windows 8 that'll run on many portable devices like tablets. The company also said who its specific launch partners will be for the platform.

Dell, Lenovo and Samsung will join Asus and Microsoft itself in launching hardware running Windows RT this fall, Microsoft's Windows chief, Steven Sinofsky, revealed in a blog post Monday. Sinofsky didn't say whether those devices would launch the same day as Windows 8, Oct. 26, only saying manufacturers would be making unveilings in the weeks leading up to the launch.

Showing the photo above as an example of a Windows RT device that went from…
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More About: Metro, Windows 8, Windows RT, dell, lenovo, microsoft, samsung

In 1921, psychologist Carl Jung changed the fundamentals of his field. By distributing a psychometric test called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to patients, Jung claimed he could accurately boil down the psychological types of humans into 16 major categories.

Still in use today, the metrics determine whether test takers tend toward certain character traits, such as introversion (I) vs. extroversion (E) or thinking (T) vs. feeling (F). Once taken, test results produce an acronym per individual. For example, "ISTJ" is for an Introvert-Sensing-Thinking-Judging person.

SEE ALSO: Not on Facebook? Employers, Psychiatrists May Think You're a Psychopath

The infographic below, based on…
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More About: Facebook, Social Media, Twitter, infographics, linkedin, psychology, trending

Sesame Street is turning 8-bit educational with Elmo's Alphabet Challenge, a new home video that includes spoofs of seven of our favorite video games.

Classics like Super Mario Bros. and new mainstays like Angry Birds and Guitar Hero will get the Sesame Street treatment in the new film, which Warner Home Video will release on Tuesday.

Created by Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind the hit children's show, Elmo's Alphabet Challenge focuses primarily on early literacy skills. The content emphasizes helping children recognize the names of letters and their corresponding sounds.

"Children will also learn about task persistence and overcoming obstacles a…
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More About: Children, Entertainment, angry birds, education, guitar hero, sesame street, super mario bros, video games, warner home video

Apple has licensed its design patents -- some of the same patents that are involved in a heated court battle with Samsung -- to Microsoft.

Boris Teksler, patent licensing director for Apple, mentioned the licensing deal Monday during his testimony in Apple vs. Samsung.

During Teksler's testimony he indicated Apple made a number of patents available for licensing, and had offered Samsung the option to do so; however, the company had declined.

Patents that cover what he referred to as the "unique user experience," including the look and feel of the iPad, are in a highly protected category that isn't currently licensed to any company.

The company does, however, have a cross-…
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More About: apple, microsoft, patent, samsung, trending

@PaulRyanGosling on Social Security

via @PaulRyanGosling

Click here to view this gallery.

"Have election season, will meme" would be an apt tagline for this year's presidential election, as evidenced by the latest and so far greatest of Twitter political parody accounts, @PaulRyanGosling.

On Saturday morning, all-but-official GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney announced his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. And while some of us may have still been sleeping the week off during the announcement, the Internet meme mill rests for no one. It wasn't long before Ryan bumped Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney out of the viral hot seat, due in great part to @PaulRyanGosling.

SEE ALSO: Paul Ryan, Romney's VP Pick, Has Sizable Online Presence

Riffing off of blockbuster-me…
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More About: Meme, Mitt Romney, Politics, Twitter, Watercooler, election, paul ryan, paulryangosling, trending, tumblr

If you've got more than 100 or so friends on Facebook, chances are you don't know most of them very well. A new app from Ben & Jerry's aims to change that.

The app, called "Wanna Spoon?," scours your Facebook friends to look for common connections like favorite bands, brands, vacation spots, birthdays and even relatives with the same name, among other stated details. When you match up with someone, you can notify them on their Wall with the following message: "Using a fancy algorithm, Ben & Jerry's decided we'd make great spooning partners." The recipient is then prompted to click to see why and get a coupon for B&J's new Greek Frozen Yogurt. Ad agency Amalgamated and production par…
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More About: Marketing, apps, ben & jerrys

Google is changing its search algorithm to knock down websites that have repeatedly been found to allow users access to pirated content, the company announced recently.

Google's algorithm will now take into account the number of "valid copyright removal notices" against a site when determining its rank in search, according to a blog post written by Amit Singhal, Google's vice president of engineering. The new data point is being added to the approximately 200 other factors Google considers during search queries.

According to Singhal, search results will instead favor websites that offer legally downloadable content such as music and movies.

"This ranking change should help user…
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More About: Google, Google Play, Search, copyright, google search, intellectual property

Shares of Groupon fell more than 15% in afterhours trading after the company's second-quarter revenues came in lower than projected.

The company posted sales of $568.3 million for the quarter, which was a bit below Wall Street's consensus estimate of $578 million. Groupon's adjusted earnings per share was 8 cents, which beat The Street's estimate of $.03. The company's revenues are up 45% compared to the comparable quarter in 2011.

"We had a solid quarter despite challenges in Europe and continued investment in technology and infrastructure," said Andrew Mason, CEO of Groupon, said in a press release. "We've deepened our relationships with a growing base of merchants and customers…
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The Olympic Games have come and gone in two exhilarating and sometimes frustrating weeks.
With last night's closing ceremony, the organizers pulled out all the stops in featuring artists and performers such as the Spice Girls, George Michael, One Direction, and the Who.

But it was not without flaws, particularly for viewers in the United States. NBC interrupted the tape-delayed primetime broadcast for an hour to debut the new show, "Animal Practice." They also cut some significant parts of the performance, including Ray Davies of the Kinks performing "Waterloo Sunset" and Muse performing "Survival," the official song of the Olympics.

In spirit of the closing ceremony, we decided to pu…
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Which Olympic moments and events made Twitter users in the U.K. smile most?

Heptathlete Jessica Ennis, tennis star Andy Murray and distance runner Mo Farah all brought loads of joy to their fellow countrymen during the Games, according to new data from the utility company EDF Energy.

You may have heard of EDF Energy -- they're also the folks who turned the iconic London Eye ferris wheel into a nightly light show reflecting social media sentiment during the Olympics. The company enlisted social media experts, linguistics analysts and algorithms to keep a finger on Britons' digital pulse during the games. Their findings over the past two weeks are presented in the infographic below.…
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More About: Sports, Twitter, infographics, olympics

Technology issues might not be the most pressing topic facing Paul Ryan -- Mitt Romney's running mate -- as he campaigns for the White House. In fact, given the state of the economy and the other high-level issues facing the country, it's unlikely that Ryan or any of the other national candidates will be asked substantial questions about technology policy in the coming months.

However, even if Ryan doesn't get asked a single question about technology or the Internet, it's still possible to glean some of his positions from his voting record and prior interviews -- and Mashable has done just that.

Stop Online Piracy Act & Internet Piracy

The Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA,…
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More About: 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney, Politics, US, net neutrality, open government, paul ryan, stop online piracy act, technology

We already know Martha Stewart excels at all things domestic. Millions of people rely on her daily tips to learn how to live better, prepare yummier recipes, even organize and decorate their homes. And can she plant a garden!

But did you know she's a tech whiz on social media too? With more than 2.5 million followers on Twitter and over 80,000 followers on Pinterest, she knows a thing or two about tech. She told a huge crowd at BlogHer 2012 that she prefers Twitter to Facebook and yes, she does her own tweeting. She also shared how she's an early adopter of technology, loves to get the latest gadgets and see how they might help simplify her life.…
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How in the universe could Sir-Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" get even more awesome? The correct answer is no way, no how. But this movie mashup version comes pretty close to matching the original's level of big butts bodaciousness.

YouTuber dondrapersayswhat sliced and diced clips from 295 movies to recreate the rap classic/wedding reception playlist favorite.

Bonus points for the movie buff who can name all of the nearly 300 films included in the clip. Extra bonus points for shaking your booty while doing so.

More About: Movies, Music, Watercooler, YouTube

It's raining cats! Not dogs, just cats. Students at the University for Peace in Costa Rica had to dodge falling felines when a cat tumbled from the ceiling in the middle of class.

It's almost like The Office in real life, only with less kitty throwing and Dwight Schrute. See evidence below.

More About: Watercooler, YouTube, cats, viral videos

With back-to-school shopping season in full swing, parents are deciding whether to get their child an iPad or laptop for the upcoming year. Although some kids may have their sights set on an ultra-trendy tablet device, tech experts are in agreement that a laptop is the way to go for students of all ages.

"Digital media tablets are more useful resources for consuming media such as looking at videos, pictures and accessing websites," says Scott Campbell, an associate professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan. "Because laptops have built-in keyboards that provide so much more functionality in writing and platform provides a lot more flexibility with creating, it's…
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More About: Back to School Series, Kindle, Ultrabook, Ultrabooks, apple, education, features, ipad, laptops, mashable, smartphones, tablets

Google+ added a feature Monday to improve the sound quality of the concerts musicians stream globally via Hangouts On Air, the group video chat service that records live sessions and posts them to YouTube.

Dubbed Studio Mode, the tool enhances the audio of streaming music for viewers (see video below). It can be turned on in the settings tab.

Google+ touts its community of musicians and their fans for sparking the change.

"There is a growing trend that we are seeing on Google+ and how it might be an extension of the YouTube phenomenon, where we have real musicians finding opportunities of a lifetime similar to what YouTube has done for lots of the famous artists of our generation,…
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More About: Entertainment, Google, Hangouts on Air, Music, hangouts, music videos, video chat

Facebook is making easier to tell your friends you're expecting. The social network rolled out a new "Life Event" for Timeline Thursday, enabling you and other future parents to announce that you are "Expecting a Baby." You can list the gender, due date, second parent, location (probably best to leave that one blank) and story. You can also attach a photo to the announcement (cue obligatory ultrasound photo).

Besides highlighting key life moments on your Timeline, the benefit of Life Event updates is that they reach so much more of your Facebook network than a typical status update. Life Events that are categorized as "Celebrations" -- a category that includes engagements, wedding…
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There's a lot of shouting on the Internet. Sometimes it's a heated political debate. Sometimes it's a nerdy discourse on the lore of Babylon 5.

And sometimes it's Nana sending you an email in all caps "BECAUSE I CAN SEE THE LETTERS BETTER THIS WAY." Bless her heart.

In the plain text world of SMS and Twitter, capital letters have become a de facto volume dial. But it wasn't always this way. The folks at Knock Twice reviewed the history of the computer keyboard and charted some of the most-shouted words on the web today.

The Twitter data comes courtesy of the @CapsCop, who collected more than 1 million random tweets over two years to find some of the most caps-locked words and phrase…
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More About: Tech, infographics

From the Internet that brought you the viral hit McKayla Is Not Impressed, comes a new Olympic-themed meme: Mo Farah Running Away From Things.

Farah is the British distance runner who won the 5,000 and 10,000 meter races in London. He became the first runner to win the 10,000-meter gold for Great Britain, and his unbridled passion and joy upon winning both races captured the hearts of Olympics fans around the world.

But that soulful exuberance also fits well in a different setting: running away from things. A violence-crazed Tony Montana, for example. Or a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Or zombies. Photoshopped images of Farah running for dear life are collected on the Mo Farah Running Away From …
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More About: Sports, internet memes, memes, olympics