Heard of Raspberry Pi, the $35 computer? Here's the Walmart version: Texas Instruments has created a computer on a single circuit board that costs just $13.

Although Raspberry Pi can output HD video, the tiny TI PC doesn't have any graphics -- you operate and program it via line commands, just like DOS.

For the full skinny on the ultra-cheap PC, check out the video above.

More About: PCs, Texas Instruments

Star Trek's George Takei is well known in Facebook circles as a prolific sharer of clever content. However, Takei doesn't think his fans are well served by the way Facebook shares his status updates.

Thanks to Facebook's EdgeRank algorithm -- which determines the mix of updates you see in a news feed -- Takei's updates aren't reaching everyone he'd like, and he says so in his upcoming book, Oh Myyy. Takei devotes a chapter to Facebook and EdgeRank.

Takei has previously expressed his frustration with EdgeRank, particularly Facebook's practice of offering a way to boost visibility in news feeds, but for a fee.

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More About: Facebook, George Takei, Video

The neurosurgeons of tomorrow can hone some of the necessary skills on iPads thanks to a new training app called VCath.

More About: ipad app, medical science, medical-students, neuroscience

What if planting crops in FarmVille only happened when you burned calories in real life? That's what Striiv, a fitness startup in Redwood City, Calif., is hoping to accomplish with its new app, launched last week.

The Striiv fitness app, available for iOS devices, is free to download and tailors challenges and fitness-oriented games to your personal habits, and broadcasts your results on social networks. The app includes its own video game, called "MyLand," which is powered by an iPhone user's exercise habits -– in order to grow a plant or expand the island, the user must complete a series of challenges, from walking a set amount of steps to climbing stairs.

"If you cr…
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More About: bluetooth, fitness, striiv

Very large messages sent through Facebook's chat client can make applications and devices crash in a form of denial-of-service attack, a security researcher has discovered.

"It has been possible to disconnect three different testing users (three out of three) by sending big enough messages, one of them reported that his tablet restarted after the reception," Buenos Aires, Argentina-based security researcher Chris Russo wrote on the Full Disclosure mailing list.

"The chat module, which at this moment I can't use since it looks like I have been blocked," Russo wrote, "doesn't have any kind of limit in the amount of characters that can be sent."

The exact message that caused the de…
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More About: Facebook, crash, facebook messaging, tablets

One day after an strange and gory politically themed disturbance in the Twitter force, the company offers no clear word on what exactly happened or how.

More About: Twitter, hacking

Six years ago, brothers Hank and John Green took their relationship to a new level by ceasing all textual communication for one year.

On Jan. 1, 2007, Hank posted the first video blog to the VlogBrothers YouTube channel, and it was John's brotherly duty to respond the following day. They called their new video-based relationship "Brotherhood 2.0."

YouTube wasn't a daily part of Internet users lives at that time, but the brothers were eager to create a project together — even when they weren't earning a lot of pageviews.

"It was partially sort of this dawning realization that cool things were being done in video online, and we had the ability to try it out for ourselves and see…
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More About: Social Good, Video, YouTube, education, features, vlog, vlogs

Many Americans can expect to find a tablet under their tree this holiday season, new research shows.

A study by TechBargains.com, the deal aggregation website for electronic products, found that more than half of the consumers surveyed plan to purchase a tablet as part of this year's holiday shopping, up more than 10 percentage points from one year ago.

The Google Nexus 7 edges out the iPad as this year's favorite. The survey found that one-third of tablet shoppers plan to pick up the Nexus 7, with nearly 30% opting for an iPad and 24% choosing Apple's newest release, the iPad Mini. The Microsoft Surface tablet, Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet were the least desired.

"With more tabl…
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More About: Nexus 7, holiday shopping, ipad, tablets

The cover of ShortList, a weekly men's magazine in the UK, took on a uniquely interactive quality this week thanks to Blippar.

Using Blippar's augmented reality app for iPhone or Android devices, readers can scan the arcade game-style art on the cover to bring a fully playable version to life on their phones, as shown in the video above. Elsewhere in the issue, readers can use the app to pull up extra slideshows, vote in polls, take quizzes and more.

Blippar, a UK-based startup that set up its first U.S. office in Manhattan earlier this year, has been making increasingly frequent appearances in ads and even the cover of Justin Bieber's last big album release, Believe. Meanwhile…
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More About: Media, blippar, magazine, shortlist

In a populous place like New York City, there are plenty of random outlets at coffee shops, bookstores and local Apple Stores to energize your dying smartphone. There are even charging stations at Jay Z's 40/40 Club by Flatiron.

But, recharging a dead phone involves whipping out a bulky charger and hogging up table space, which isn't very polite. The Charge Cycle offers a seemingly better way to charge your phone out in the open.

The Charge Cycle hopes to bring a network of outdoor neon-green stationary bikes that anyone can hop on to charge their phone. All they have to do is peddle. It takes the same amount of time to charge as if you were to…
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More About: bikes, new york city, the charge cycle

Image courtesy of Cats That Look Like Pin Up Girls

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Kibble and Naughty Bits. Fancy Feast for the Eyes. Meow Chicks. Tumblr page Cats That Look Like Pin Up Girls just begs for the pun treatment.

The flirtatious feline web destination matches vintage pin-up girls with their cat lookalikes. Even the usually curmudgeonly Grumpy Cat looks pawsitively tantalizing when paired with her pin-up doppelgänger.

SEE ALSO: Forbidden Love: 10 YouTube Clips of Dogs and Cats Snuggling

What's the best pun you can come up with to describe Cats That Look Like Pin Up Girls? Purr it to us in the comments below.

More About: Watercooler, cats, tumblr

Twitter is the latest large-scale company investigating the possibility of a password hack. Here's how to protect your account.

More About: LastPass, Twitter, security

General David Petraeus resigned from his position as director of the CIA earlier today, citing an extramarital affair. Now NBC News is reporting that Paula Broadwell, Petraeus' biographer, is under investigation by the FBI over improper access to his email.

Slate's Fred Kaplan had earlier named Broadwell as the woman with whom Petraeus was having an affair.

According to NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondant Richard Engel, law enforcement officials said they don't believe that Broadwell will face any criminal charges as a result of the investigation. Moreover, those same officials stressed that Petraeus himself is not under any investigation.

In addition to trying to access Pe…
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More About: email, general petraeus, paula broadwell

Hurricane Sandy may have passed through the Caribbean and the East Coast of the United States last week, but for many people, Sandy is still here. The destruction and displacement the storm caused in its wake still tops headlines, as people amp up relief efforts and donations for those still without power, clean water and other essentials.

SEE ALSO: Incredible Kid Donates All His Halloween Candy to Sandy Victims

Since Hurricane Sandy affected such specific areas, it hasn't been possible for everyone to go out and volunteer on the ground. Established organizations, groups and individuals have been doing what they can from their own homes or neighborhoods, using technology and online…
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More About: Hurricane Sandy, Social Good, features, philanthropy

From the destruction and havoc of Superstorm Sandy came an idea for an app that could help people affected by the storm. A group of advertising students thought it up after being cooped up inside for several days after the storm.

SEE ALSO: 7 Ways to Help Victims of Superstorm Sandy Online

The students are urging Apple to create an app which will allow users to drag and drop their unused apps into a Salvation Army donation box. Once in the donation box, Apple will give the cost of the app to The Salvation Army.

Not only would it be a way to un-clutter your digital life, it would also be a way to help those in need.

Image courtesy of Flickr,…
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More About: app store, apple, superstorm sandy

1. Southern Cooking Bible

Paula Deen

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Unlike dust-jacket summaries, book titles are often vague and sometimes cryptic. How much of the story can you really infer from a phrase like Animal Farm or The Great Gatsby? What if instead titles were brutally honest summaries of a book's plot?

SEE ALSO: 13 Popular E-Books That Cost Under $3

Enter Dan Wilbur, the man behind Better Book Titles, a site that rechristens books with a short, clear summary. Wilbur is a Brooklyn-based writer and comedian, and author of How Not to Read, a book on faking your way through knowledge of literature.

"I will cut through all the cryptic crap, and give you the meat of the story in one condensed image. Now you can read the greatest literary works…
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More About: Literature, books

Google Maps' satellite view offers an easy way to virtually visit hard-to-reach spots around the world, from tropical islands to Antarctica. Now, a freelance web designer and artist is using the service to take viewers on a more serious tour. James Bridle posts satellite images of the towns in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia that U.S. and U.K. drones recently hit, revealing towns as they were before the attacks.

On Nov. 8, the morning after the U.S. election, Bridle posted an image of a Yemeni village that the U.S. struck the night before. That and other Dronestagram pictures come from a Google flyover, which may have occurred a few years ago, so they don't show damage from the drone stri…
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More About: Pakistan, U.S. government, Yemen, drone, instagram

Gen. David Petraeus resigned from his position as director of the CIA Friday, citing an extramarital affair. As soon as the news broke, Twitter was immediately filled with discussions including links to the news and reactions.

NBC News' Andrea Mitchell was the first to break the story, reporting rumors on Twitter before going on air to confirm his resignation. This is interesting, if only because this is the first political scandal in quite some time not to break online before it reached broadcast news.

As more information regarding the resignation started to eke out, the conversation continued. The terms "Petraeus" and "CIA Director" started trending worldwide -- in spite of s…
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More About: CIA, Twitter

Are zombies past their prime yet? By the look of the official trailer for the zombie-apocalypse epic World War Z, not even close.

The trailer (available at 1080p resolution on iTunes) includes the standard start-with-innocuous-yet-apt-moment-then-escalate-rapidly formula that's become pretty standard for action movies, but it's noteworthy for showing zombie hordes like we've never seen them. At a couple of points in the trailer, the zombies rapidly climb over each other, almost becoming an "appendage" of the horde. That's new.

The movie is of course based on the Max Brooks book of the same title. While the book focuses the military response to the zombie hordes coming out of New Yo…
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More About: Movies, Video, World War Z, YouTube, trailers, zombies

1. Brad Pitt

In a crazy alternate universe, Brad Pitt is a personal assistant to a sulky Sumo wrestler.

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Hollywood stars can make a ton of moolah by appearing in obscure commercials, some of which air in countries they don't even live in. And many of these ads are, shall we say, unusual.

While celebs probably hope these creations never air near their home fan base, thanks to the global wonder that is YouTube, these adverts can be viewed all over the world.

We have scoured the site for some truly bizarre celebrity advertising. Leonardo DiCaprio defeats bad guys on a plane using booze; Meg Ryan chases UFOs; and we finally discover what gets the better of Chuck Norris.

SEE ALSO: Fancy Feast Your Eyes on These 12 Classic Cat Commercials

Take a look through our hilarious selection…
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More About: Advertising, Video, Watercooler, YouTube, celebrities, features

With threats against the son of an NBA coach the latest in a line of ugly incidents involving sports trolls, it's become an appropriate questions to ask.

More About: Sports, Twitter

Instead of shooting what's directly infront of you, a Kickstarter project lets you make more use out of your iPhone camera. HiLO Lens is the first lens that turns your iPhone or iPad into a right angle camera.

It can be hard to get up close to the action when photographing children or pets, or when trying to capture the crowd at a concert. The right-angle design allows for different positioning of the phone to make better use of your camera. The lens sticks to your phone through sticky tape developed by 3M. Clean the sticky side with water and soap and it renews its stickiness each time.

SEE ALSO: 10 Detachable iPhone Lenses for Mobile Photograph…
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More About: camera phone, iphone, kickstarter

Craigslist is known as a place to swap hook-up stories, but one New Yorker is using it for something just as essential to share: license plates.

In a message posted to the "Items wanted" category on the Brooklyn section, a crafty resident is asking fuel-thirsty people if they want to switch license plates. It's an attempt to maneuver around the gas rationing rules New York has imposed on its residents to alleviate hoarding and long lines that are crowding city gas stations after Superstorm Sandy.

The state is allowing people with license-plate numbers ending in odd numbers or a letter to fuel up Friday, while drivers with even numbers or a zero can purchase gas on Saturday.

"I h…
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More About: Hurricane Sandy, craigslist, gas, new york

1. Wedding Planning

Pinterest is the perfect place to plan your wedding, whether you're wearing a ring or not. Secret boards are a great way to narrow down venues, bouquets, reception themes, decor and wedding dress options without spoiling the surprise — or if you haven't received the proposal yet.

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Even the most social pinners crave some privacy on Pinterest, a dreamy Internet escape for the photo-obsessed.

That's why users with a penchant for pinning went crazy on Thursday, when Pinterest announced each user can use three secret boards for their bookmarking pleasure, during the holiday season. It's perfect for curating the gift ideas, seasonal recipes and holiday party decor that you want to keep under wraps.

SEE ALSO: Pinterest Introduces Secret Boards

For now, the new feature is being tested and is open to changes, according to Pinterest's official blog.

"Our plan is to have secret boards available through the holidays. We're interested in seeing how people use them…
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More About: Social Media, features, pinterest, privacy, secret boards

Microsoft's retail stores have had more than 15 million customers visit to date, the company revealed in a blog post this week.

More About: apple, microsoft store

Facebook isn't just testing a sound-alert function on the site -- it's also experimenting with a reply option for comments posted to Timeline.

More About: Facebook

Twitter was crawling this afternoon and then, for many, stopped delivering Tweets altogether. Twitter has now confirmed the issue.

In a brief post on its Twitter Status page, Twitter said some users might be experiencing delays in their timelines. Here at Mashable, many have noticed that new Tweets have stopped appearing and posted tweets are receiving no response.

Interestingly, the Twitter timeline issues coincided with a massive amount of Twitter activity revolving around the revelation that U.S. CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus had resigned his post after admitting to an extra-marital affair. No one, however, has confirmed any correlation between the increased activity and…
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The U.S. State Department has announced sanctions against five Iranian government and private organizations and against four individuals for their treatment of bloggers and journalists.

Different types of sanctions have been instituted against Iran since the overthrow of the Shah and the beginning of the Islamic Republic in 1979, but this is the first time the U.S. has directly targeted Iran's anti-free speech activities with sanctions.

According to a statement Thursday by State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland, as the result of a new act passed in August that took effect yesterday, this action will freeze all property and accounts held by the targets within the U.S. Named…
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More About: censorship, government censorship, iran

Since his mathematical model called the election correctly in all 50 states -- and even nailed the popular vote to within half a percentage point -- Nate Silver has been the focus of adulation from nerds everywhere.

What must that be like for the stats whiz himself? Nobody knows for sure, but he was pictured on Instagram wearing a wizard's hat. Then "Drunk Nate Silver" became a thing on Twitter.

Now The Second City, Chicago's premiere comedy and improv club, has turned its talents to revealing what life is like for Silver now, as his fame gets the better of him and he suffers the Cassandra curse of being able to see his own future.

Being Silver, he plots his rise to fame and…
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More About: Watercooler, nate silver

Update: A Twitter rep disputes the claim that the tweet had the highest engagement ever, even for one that's part of a Promoted Trend.

A Halloween tweet from Progressive Insurance had an engagement rate of 29.6% on the social network, making it the most-engaging tweet to ever be part of a Promoted Trend, according to a source.

Twitter informed the company of the record Friday morning, according to the source. Twitter is planning to use the tweet in an upcoming case study. The tweet came on Oct. 22 and was part of the #DressLikeFlo Promoted Trend:

BOO! Ha ha, you should have seen your face. In the spirit of Halloween, here's a great costume idea: pgrs.in/Rk3i #DressLikeFlo…
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More About: Advertising, Halloween, Twitter, progressive insurance