The Launchpad is a series that introduces Mashable readers to compelling startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Repost.Us

One-Liner Pitch: Repost.Us helps publishers share and embed complete articles on the web, including the original publisher's advertising and branding.

Why It's Taking Off: The startup aims to make it as easy for publishers to share complete articles as YouTube makes it to share videos.

For years, people in the media have been debating the proper etiquette for re-posting portions of an article from one online publication to another. Now, one new startup is trying put this issue to rest once and for all. Read more...

More about Media, Startups, Business, and The Launchpad

Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov made spaceflight history high above Earth on Friday when, at age 59, he became the oldest person ever to venture outside a spacecraft during a spacewalk.

Vinogradov, a veteran cosmonaut, took the seventh cosmic excursion in 16 years during Friday's spacewalk. He donned a bulky spacesuit and left the confines of the International Space Station just after 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) to upgrade the orbiting lab with new experiments.

Vinogradov paired up with 41-year-old fellow cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, a first-time spacewalker but second-generation cosmonaut. Romanenko's father, former cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko, logged more than 10 spacewalking hours in his career. Read more...

More about Space, Nasa, International Space Station, Astronauts, and Us World

Blame the heat of the moment or a hard-to-spell name, but Fox affiliate apparently identified Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as actress Zooey Deschanel.

Though the purported gaffe could have been a hoax, Deschanel herself responded to the image, which circulated on Twitter as police were closing in on Tsarnaev Friday night:

Whoa! Epic closed captioning FAIL! “@joelmchale: Oh my RT @peterogburn: twitter.com/peterogburn/st…”

— zooey deschanel (@ZooeyDeschanel) April 20, 2013

Image via Getty, Jason Kempin Read more...

More about Watercooler, Pics, Boston Marathon, and Zooey Deschanel

After an unprecedented manhunt that shut down the city of Boston, bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was taken into custody alive Friday evening following a standoff with police. Here's how it all went do

Suspect in custody. Officers sweeping the area. Stand by for further info.

— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 20, 2013

"We got him" #oneboston twitter.com/mayortommenino…

— Mayor Tom Menino (@mayortommenino) April 20, 2013

Images courtesy of fbi.gov Read more...

More about Us World, Us, Boston Marathon, and Dzhozkar Tsarnaev

Gaming system and accessory maker Razer will make good on a fake, 90% discount coupon that many customers used to place purchases in the company's UK store

"A few days ago, a coupon code that provided a discount of 90% off Razer products at our UK Razerzone store went viral and thousands of orders were placed in the space of a couple of hours. This coupon code was NOT authorized nor approved by Razer and was generated by a third party to test our shopping cart," Razer co-founder and CEO Min-Liang Tan wrote on his Facebook page

Although it will cost Razer a lot of money, the company has decided to honor the coupon Read more...

More about Coupon, Scam, Fake, Razer, and Facebook Scam

"I'll always remember that interview!" anchor Sheinelle Jones of Good Day in Philadelphia tweeted after grilling Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte about his forthcoming reality show

She and co-anchor Mike Jerrick had a hard time keeping their composure while hilariously discussing What Would Ryan Lochte Do?, which debuts Sunday on E! But once the interview ended, the pair lost it, mocking the not-so-well-spoken athlete. Jones cries tears of laughter while Jerrick gives his best Lochte impersonation

Watch part of the interview and aftermath below. The full clip is available at MyFoxPhilly.com.

Read more...

More about Entertainment, Tv, Video, and Ryan Lochte

Jeff Bauman, who lost two legs in the Boston Marathon bombings earlier this week and helped identify the attackers, is without health insurance... and the Internet wants to help.

Bauman has become a national hero for helping authorities identify the suspects involved in the attacks. From his hospital bed, he was able to pinpoint the suspects at large — one of which looked at him just minutes before a bomb went off.

But now, news has surfaced that the 27-year-old is without health insurance to pay for his care, an online funding campaign has been set up in his honor. According to ThinkProgress.org, he was working part time at Costco and planned to go back to school soon. He is among the small percentage of Massachusetts residents (1.9%) without health insurance, the site notes. Read more...

More about Crowdsourcing, Us World, Social Good, Us, and Boston Marathon

A newly launched Kickstarter project could bring a little nostalgia to your feet, with 8-bit socks. The creators say their line of '90s video game-inspired socks go beyond nostalgia: These accessories "will make people smile and feel awesome." We could see wearing Mario on your ankles having that effect

Alex Malytskyy, who lives in Kiev, Ukraine, launched the Kickstarter project earlier this week and is looking to raise $8,000. With 27 days left to go in the campaign, the project has so far collected $1,800

"Inspired by classic 8-bit video games, chewing gum and time spent with friends, these things became a symbol of an era for our generation," the Kickstarter page says. "Now we want to create socks that can fill up our life with colors and bring back those happy days of joy." Read more...

More about Clothing, Kickstarter, Nostalgia, Gaming, and Videos

When Panasonic unveiled an electronic touch pen for writing on a TV screen earlier this year, it appeared to be a solution searching for a problem. Now that we've had a chance to try it for ourselves, we're convinced that assessment was correct, but that doesn't mean the technology is very cool.

Panasonic's TV Touch Pen essentially turns your TV (only certain Panasonic plasma models, of course) into a touchscreen. Just touch the pen's tip to the display, and it'll perform a screen capture. The captured image appears, and away you go, drawing whatever you like on it, with a palette for changing things such as brush size and color. Read more...

More about Panasonic, Hdtv, Plasma, Tech, and Gadgets

The two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings were found by a relatively old-fashioned method: A witness told cops he made eye contact with a man at the scene who was wearing a baseball cap and who left behind a backpack. That identification allowed investigators to narrow their search when combing through the myriad videos and photographs of the crime scene.

But eventually, computers could help sort through thousands of images to find a suspect. Researchers are learning how to better program computers to not only recognize a face in a crowd but also match a figure wearing dark glasses and a baseball cap in one image to a similarly dressed figure in a Facebook posting, for example. The hope is that one day, law enforcement officials could sort through images from surveillance cameras and posted to social media sites and find useful details in real time. Read more...

More about Crime, Boston, Bomb, Image Search, and Fbi

If an adorable robot asked you a series of personal questions ("Who do you love most in the world?" "What really scares you?"), would you be more inclined to answer than if asked by a human?

As a part of a documentary project affiliated with the TriBeCa Film Festival, cute robots with video cameras for eyes have been filming people as they answer various sensitive questions

Called "Robots in Residence" and created by robot company BlabDroid, the footage collected from Friday until Sunday, April 21 from festival attendees will be pieced together for a short film. It will become the first documentary filmed entirely by pre-programmed robots. Read more...

More about Robots, Film, Tech, and Gadgets

Eagerly waiting for HTC One to show up in stores? If so, we have good news: HTC's flagship smartphone has finally arrived to AT&T and Sprint's stores, as well as T-Mobile's website

AT&T and Sprint are both offering the silver HTC One with 32GB of storage memory for $199 with a two-year contract, though Sprint shaves another $100 off for customers who bring their phone number from another network

AT&T also has the more powerful 64GB version in stock for $299, also available only in glacial silver (the black version should be arriving to both carriers in the coming weeks)

T-Mobile offers the HTC One for a $99 down payment on a 2-year plan, but the device is currently only available for order on T-Mobile's website. It will be arriving in the carrier's stores on April 24 Read more...

More about Att, Sprint, T Mobile, Tech, and Mobile

Like a genie magically emerging from a bottle, Justin Bieber in hologram form arises from a golden cube in will.i.am's futuristic "#thatPOWER" music video, which debuted Friday

Aside from the dancing digital Bieber, the clip features dancers with slick eyewear (reminding us a bit of Google Glass) and cameos from Beats Pill speakers. The Beats by Dre product also got screen time in will.i.am's "Scream and Shout" video with Britney Spears. "Scream and Shout" had been used in a Beats by Dre commercial in 2012

"#thatPOWER" is from will.i.am's forthcoming #willpower album. The eclectic recording artist this week put the entire album on Vevo before its April 23 release date (listen below) Read more...

More about Music, Entertainment, Music Videos, Vevo, and Will.I.Am

Have you got, or are planning to get, an HTC One? Then we congratulate you. The flagship Android handset is going to be very popular

We've taken a look at what cases are available for the One. We've found 10 options that we'd seriously consider using to protect the new phone

Have a browse through our selection in the gallery above. Let us know in the comments below how you're planning to shield your shiny new HTC handset

Image courtesy of Speck Read more...

More about Mobile, Gadgets, Android, Features, and Tech

The Hubble Space Telescope has been in orbit for 23 years and, to celebrate this milestone, the space telescope revisited the famous Horsehead Nebula in the constellation of Orion.

But on this particular observing session, Hubble had a little help from another space telescope friend.

We may be familiar with the majestic pillar of dust and gas, but this view was imaged using Hubble's high-resolution Wide Field Camera 3, which views the universe in near-infrared wavelengths. See the comparison of Hubble's infrared view and the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) optical view of the nebula below: Read more...

More about Space, Nasa, Astronomy, Us World, and Us

T-Mobile, two days after announcing it would launch the HTC One smartphone on April 24, is now allowing interested customers to purchase the device — contract-free — though its website

The HTC One will cost $99.99 down with 24 equal $20 monthly payments, but customers can also purchase the phone outright for $579.99. On April 24, the phone will be available for purchase at selected retailers

The company announced the news this morning via Twitter:

Place your orders! The @htc One is now available online at T-Mobile t-mo.co/17JtUMS #HTCOne

— T-Mobile USA (@TMobile) April 19, 2013

Read more...

More about T Mobile, Htc, Tech, Mobile, and Htc One

Google has spent more than $1 billion in solar and wind energy projects but it ultimately has no control over the fuel that produces the electricity that powers its data centers. Google today is proposing a new tariff to buy renewable energy directly from utilities, a model it hopes will help scale renewable energy for data centers and other big energy consumers.

At its Lenore, North Carolina data center, Google today is announcing plans to spend $600 million to expand there, which is on top of the $600 million it has already spent. In tandem with the event, local power provider Duke Energy says it will submit a renewable energy tariff to the state utility commission within 90 days. The tariff would allow large power consumers, such as the many data centers in North Carolina, to buy renewable energy from specific projects in the area. Read more...

More about Google, Data Center, Business, and Renewable Energy

Mario Paint was a 1992 Nintendo release for the SNES that allowed players to draw simple pictures and make custom stamps, one pixel at a time

Users could also make music by using these stamp icons — planes, boats, cars, or Mario himself — to represent music notes from different instruments.

Years later, unFun Games released a free, standalone program called Mario Paint Composer, which amped up the musical aspects of the original

The resulting game allows for the creation of simple melodies, ideal for kids playing around and getting their first taste of music. It's also ideal for obsessive fans who can devote dozens of hours to recreating brilliant and intricate facsimiles of, say, the Doug theme song Read more...

More about Youtube, Music, Gaming, Features, and Mario

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old at-large suspect in Monday's Boston Marathon bombing, likely used Twitter under the handle @J_tsar, evidence collected by several observers indicates.

Friends of Tsarnaev have confirmed to ABC 7 and BuzzFeed @J_tsar belonged to Tsarnaev, who they say used the nickname "Johar." CNN, too, has picked up @j_tsar as authentic

Additionally, an individual in this photo tweeted by @j_tsar seems to be the same individual in a photo posted on what is believed to be Tsarnaev's profile on the Russian-language VK social media network (Mashable has blurred the faces to protect the subjects' privacy): Read more...

More about Us, Boston, Us World, and Boston Marathon

Electronics manufacturer LG hinted it may be removing one of the essential ingredients needed for doing your laundry: water. Although there's no patent or details available yet, LG's Senior VP for Home Appliances Kevin Cha told Engadget the company is developing a waterless washing machine

The company introduced a similar product, called the Styler, at CES. The cabinet-like device uses steam technology to reduce wrinkles and odors on clothing, especially useful for dry-clean only garments

Check out the video above to learn more

Image via iStockphoto, ermingut Read more...

More about Lg, Home Appliances, Gadgets, Lifestyle, and Home

In the spirit of digital freedom, the new Ai Weiwei play, which Mashable was first to review last week, is being livestreamed online to promote a free and open Internet. The show,  "#aiww: The Arrest of Ai Weiwei," will be broadcast on YouTube live from London at 7:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET/ 12:30 p.m. PT).

The play follows the imprisonment of Ai and the lengths to which the Chinese government attempted to emotionally and mentally break him for creating art intended to hold the regime accountable for human rights violations.

Lou Sagar, who works with the dissident artist as the managing director of Friends of Ai Weiwei, told Mashable this moment is a "tribute to the benefits arising from an open Internet to promote free expression and generate awareness to the power of art and activism." Read more...

More about Livestream, Theatre, Ai Weiwei, Entertainment, and World

It’s no secret that late Apple CEO Steve Jobs was keen on bringing the company’s technology to the automotive world. In fact, according to longtime Apple board member Mickey Drexler, “Steve’s dream before he died was to design an iCar.” Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Shiller, echoed those sentiments during the company’s copyright infringement trial against Samsung, saying there had been discussion of Apple making a vehicle

Immediately following Jobs’ death, it seemed like his dream might never come true. But since then, Apple has made a big push to integrate its Siri technology into vehicles. Meanwhile, automakers are finding ways to get iOS apps to work on the dashboard. These and other moves have set Apple on a collision course with Microsoft and Google in a market that’s still very much up for grabs. Read more...

More about Apple, Car, Autos, Siri, and Siri Assistant

Generally, in life, parents are entrusted with providing their children plenty of gems of knowledge and advice to carry them successfully into adulthood

But in this family, it's August the toddler who is teaching everyone a lesson

The little girl refuses to accept help from her dad to get out of her car seat. Instead, she repeatedly (yet politely) tells him to "worry about yourself."

It's truly a recommendation wise beyond her years. She's really grasped that being nosy and intrusive doesn't pay off, and self-sufficiency should always trump all. Read more...

More about Viral Videos, Cute Kids, Watercooler, and Videos

Bethesda announced Friday it will release a new survival horror game game The Evil Within by the creator of the Resident Evil franchise. The company spent the week posting cryptic teasers on Vine for the project

The Evil Within was originally codenamed "Project Zwei" and has been the pet project of acclaimed game maker Shinji Mikami since 2010. He had a teaser website up for his return to survival horror since then

Bethesda spent the week teasing an unannounced project via its Vine account. Gamers made assumptions the new title was anything from a new Fallout game or even a new Wolfenstein shooter. The Vines tease barbed wire, musical scores, and a dark and creepy environment. Read more...

More about Gaming, Vine, Entertainment, and Bethesda

It's been rumored before, but Microsoft has dropped the first official word that it's working on Windows 8 tablets smaller than 10 inches. In a call with investors about the company's latest earnings report, Microsoft CFO Peter Klein said small-screen Windows tablets were in the works.

Klein said the software giant was working with its manufacturer partners to develop "a new suite of small touch devices powered by Windows" at "competitive price points," The Verge reported. He didn't elaborate on details, and neither did Microsoft spokespeople.

The exact screen size of these coming "small" devices is obviously unknown, but there's a big window between the largest Windows phone (the HTC Titan II, at 4.7 inches) and the smallest Windows 8 tablets, which bottom out at 10.1 inches. In interviews with Mashable during the launch of Windows 8 last fall, Microsoft employees said there was technically nothing holding back a small-screen Windows 8 tablet. Read more...

More about Microsoft, Tablets, Windows 8, Microsoft Surface, and Tech

Ramzan Kadyrov, President of the Chechen Republic and avid Instagram user, posted a message to the service Friday denying any connection to brothers Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26 and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, the two suspects in Monday's Boston Marathon bombing

The elder brother was killed in a Thursday night shootout with police, while the younger brother remains at largeSome reports have indicted the brothers lived in Chechnya for some time, though other reports have said they lived in neighboring Dagestan, which also home to separatists movements. No link to any Chechen groups has been established

"Any attempt to make the connection between Chechnya and Tsarnaevymi if they are guilty, in vain," reads Kadyrov's message after being passed through Google Translate from the original Russian. "They grew up in the United States, their attitudes and beliefs were formed there. It is necessary to seek the roots of evil in America." Read more...

Twitter is cozying up with another television broadcaster to promote video content.

BBC America tweeted Thursday night that it has partnered with Twitter to launch the first "in-Tweet branded video" that coincides with a scripted television series.

.@twitter and @bbcamerica, home of #DoctorWho & #TopGear, ink deal to offer 1st in-Tweet branded video synced to entertainment TV series

— BBC AMERICA (@BBCAMERICA) April 18, 2013

Twitter and BBC America declined to share additional details with Mashable beyond the tweet, but previous partnerships between Twitter and TV networks provide some clues about what this deal might look like. Read more...

More about Twitter, Marketing, Business, and Tv

Reddit is currently under a malicious DDoS attack, according to the site's official Reddit status account on Twitter

The attack seems to have started early Friday, coinciding with the breaking story about the manhunt for the Boston marathon bombing suspects

We are working on recovering from what appears to be a DDoS.

— reddit status (@redditstatus) April 19, 2013

We've mitigated part of the DDoS at this time. However, certain site functions are disabled.

— reddit status (@redditstatus) April 19, 2013

A source of the attack has not been confirmed, however, a Reddit admin says the attack is performed by "someone with a lot of time and bandwidth on their hands," which would indicate that it's a serious, large-scale attack. Posting what seems to be a graph of Reddit's server load, he also said he hasn't seen an attack "at this scale" before Read more...

More about Reddit, Ddos, Tech, and Dev Design

You might not have noticed, but Facebook has rolled out a new main logo and refreshed the design of other icons for the first time in years.

Facebook's logo no longer includes the faint blue line at the bottom of its "F" icon. The letter is also pulled closer to the edge of the box.

Although this was first spotted on the information page for Facebook Home — the social network's new app launcher for Android — the new logo showed up in the company's newsroom webpage on Friday, according to web developer Tom Waddington for the site Cut Out + Keep. Read more...

More about Facebook, Social Media, Apps Software, Dev Design, and Facebook Home

A member of the LulzSec hacker group was sentenced to one year in prison for breaching Sony's servers in June 2011, Reuters reports

Cody Kretsinger, who pleaded guilty in April 2012 to charges of conspiracy and authorized impairment of a protected computer, will also have to perform 1,000 hours of community service once he gets out of prison

The sentence is a part of a plea bargain that helped Kretsinger — also known by his online moniker "Recursion" — avoid a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison

The Sony Pictures hack, which exposed more than 1 million user accounts, was the largest in a long series of hacks performed by members of LulzSec. The group took credit for the attack, posting the stolen user info on its (now defunct) website Read more...

More about Sony, Hack, Lulzsec, Tech, and Us