If you’re headed to an important meeting or big date, it’s probably a good idea to make sure you don’t stink. Don’t burden your friends or family members with the heinous job of sniffing your parts, enlist a robot.

Japanese company CrazyLabo teamed up with Kitakyushu National College of Technology to build a robot that looks like a bulldog and another shaped like a woman’s head.

The dog robot sniffs your feet, generating one of four responses depending on how bad the odor. If it’s particularly bad, the robot loses consciousness. If your feet smell okay, the robot will nuzzle up to you.

The female head (named “Kaori,” which can translate as “aroma,” “fragrance” or simply “smell”) does something similar. Exhale onto its face, and it will produce an answer: “Good, like citrus,” “Yuck! You have bad breath,” “No way! I can’t stand it!” and “Emergency taking place!” (These translations are a bit rough). Read more...

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Daft Punk is all about blurring the line between man and machine. So what happens when a human transposes their electronic groove into a traditional score for piano?

Redditor BeamPacer found out, and shared the results with the Internet. You probably won't be surprised to hear they're awesome

BeamPacer — whose real name is Eoin Sinclair — used the free online music notation software Noteflight to transcribe the duo's 2001 hit "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" onto sheet music. The process took about a week — and he wrote it all by ear

Read more...

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Google+ is catching up on a lot of fronts to Facebook, but it's still lagging in one key metric: Time spent.

The average user spent 6 minutes 47 seconds on Google+'s site in March vs. 6 hours, 44 minutes on Facebook.com according to figures Nielsen supplied to Mashable. However, that number is down for Facebook. In March 2012, the average was 7 hours, 9 minutes per person. For Google, the figures are a substantial jump over the 3.3 minutes users spent on average on the site in February 2012, according to comScore. The figures do not include traffic via apps.

A Google rep says Nielsen's figures are "far off" from what the company's internal data show Read more...

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Gravity, the new movie from Alfonso Cuarón, best known for his sci-fi movie Children of Men, now has an official teaser trailer

While Gravity is also a sci-fi film, its setting its vastly different from Children of Men's ugly, dystopian future Earth.

In it, two astronauts (played by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) get stranded on a damaged space station with no communications with Earth

In a way, the movie is an antithesis to Children of Men. There, the entire mankind is fighting for a very scarce resource, while in Gravity, the astronauts have to make do with the scarce resources in space and no connection with the rest of mankind Read more...

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Valve has updated its Half-Life 2 shooter with the support for virtual reality head-mounted display Oculus Rift

The feature is experimental, and is available in the game's beta version

It has some known issues, Paragon reports, such as problems with the zoomed-in UI and a hard-to-read HUD, but if you're up for destroying zombies in a virtual reality setting, it's still probably your best bet

SEE ALSO: Oculus Rift: Hands On With the Future of Gaming

Half-Life 2 joins the growing list of games that have been optimized for the Oculus Rift, including Adhesive Games' Hawken and Valve's Team Fortress 2. The virtual reality HMD is currently available only as a developer kit, with the consumer version being planned for 2014 Read more...

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Tiny, glowing robots could soon be injected into the eye to alert doctors of low oxygen levels that can lead to blindness.

Led by Bradley Nelson, a professor of robotics and intelligent systems at ETH-Zurich, researchers created devices 1 millimeter in length and one third of a millimeter in width that, once injected, can be steered through the eye’s vitreous fluid via external magnetic fields.

Researchers coated the micro-robots with nanospheres made of a special dye that turn the devices into oxygen sensors. When exposed to a certain wavelength of light, the dye glows. Fluorescence that fades quickly indicates a high amount of oxygen surrounding the dye; slow fading indicates low amounts of oxygen. Read more...

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The Olympus PEN F, launched in 1963, was a very advanced camera for its time. Now, for the F's 50th anniversary, Olympus is paying homage to its design with its new flagship model in the digital PEN line of mirrorless cameras, the E-P5.

You can instantly feel the retro styling when you look at the E-P5. The slightly sloped and curve top is exactly the same as the PEN F, and there are a few other callbacks — such as the big, round button to the right of the lens.

The silver-and-black color evokes classic cameras, too, although that styling is fairly common among cameras from various brands (the new PEN is also available in plan black and white/tan). Read more...

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New Jersey 19-year-old Marie Sowler was diagnosed with stage 4 leukemia. Her sister and father pitched in with a double bone marrow transplant. Sadly, it didn't work. Marie has been given just days to live

Her fondest wish is to meet Kellin Quinn, lead singer for indie band Sleeping With Sirens. And thanks to the combined information-spreading powers of Reddit and Twitter, that wish looks like it is about to come true.

Marie's heartbreaking video, above, was posted to YouTube by Friends Are By Your Side, a foundation that provides wigs for chemotherapy patients and helps grant wishes for terminally ill children, early Thursday. Her story was posted to Reddit Thursday afternoon, and got upvoted to the front page of the site within one hour — a rare feat. Read more...

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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: Gittip

One-Liner Pitch: Gittip is a cash gift platform for professionals and groups to fund each other's work.

Why It's Taking Off: Open-source software communities have adopted Gittip as a way to show appreciation for each others' work, and it's possible other communities could benefit from peer-to-peer cash gifts as well

Chad Whitacre is a self-proclaimed hacker who develops in Python and has created software used by fellow developers. His current project, Gittip, is a cash gift platform that launched eleven months ago Read more...

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For the most part, celebrities are an attractive bunch. And when attractive people mate, they usually make cute babies

But it may turn out that only applies in very specific instances — and only if celebs are extremely particular in picking the best partner. (Thankfully, Hilary Clinton didn't leave Bill for Steven Tyler.)

For a series in his late night talk show, Conan O'Brien discovered that certain oddball celebrity pairings result in so much hideousness that you will wonder if their DNA had some mutant accident

Thanks to Imgur user n8w2i who GIF'ed O'Brien's imagining of celeb offspring, we can all be repulsed and equally overjoyed that even famous people genetics can go wrong. Read more...

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In the digital world, few things are ever truly deleted or destroyed. Not if you have the money to get them back.

That's why one company is making hay out of a new service Thursday that offers to recover Snapchats — those supposedly self-destructing pics beloved by teens and twentysomethings — from the recipient's phone. For a cool $300 to $500 per device.

The utility is obvious: this pricey service is for lawsuits, for seriously disapproving (and well-off) parents, and quite possibly for blackmail purposes. Our only question: what took them so long?

For now, the service is only available for Android phones. But the company in question, Utah-based Decipher Forensics, is working feverishly to add iOS capability. Which, considering that most of the 150 million Snapchats sent per day hail from iPhones, is where the real money is Read more...

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Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our insular little social media world, we need an outsider to put things back in perspective and remind us of the bigger picture

This time, that accidental hero is University of Florida football coach Will Muschamp. Here's what he had to tweet earlier this week:

I don’t know why they call it a hash tag I call it a number sign #makesnosense

— Will Muschamp (@CoachWMuschamp) May 9, 2013

Muschamp's not exactly a Twitter power user, having posted just over 250 messages since joining way back in 2011. But he pretty much hits the nail on the head here. As one respondent put with characteristic Internet hyperbole: Read more...

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Whether it's during the latest episode of Game of Thrones or a football game on TV, chances are you might be engaging with a second screen and tweeting, Facebook posting and otherwise communicating with friends about what you're watching

Now a social TV startup wants to bring that shared experience back to a single screen.

SimulTV combines streaming video content, Facebook and Twitter integration and video chat all into one web browser-based interface that you can access anywhere

It's sort of like a virtual living room, where you can watch video content "sitting" alongside your grandma in Chicago, your sister in Los Angeles and your cousin in Hong Kong. Read more...

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Apple component supplier Pegatron dismissed reports that iPad mini demand is stuttering to a halt.

Bloomberg journalist Tim Culpan reported that Pegatron CEO Jason Cheng said iPad mini revenues had dropped and were “more on demand, while the price has been stable."

Just one day after that report, Cheng is now accusing Culpan of twisting his words. Cheng wrote in an email to Fortune:

We held our Institutional Investors Conference yesterday, and gave out a guidance of our 2Q13 business outlook.

The category of Consumer Electronic Product includes game consoles, LCD TV, ePaper readers, tablet products, and some others. We put all tablet products in this category, but have never broken down to detail numbers for specific products nor customers.

After the meeting, one reporter from Bloomberg approached me, trying to dig out detail numbers about some specific product. I clearly refused to comment on specific products, nor customers, even though he continued with other questions. I did say those words that he quotes me in the article. But I did not say anything associated with any specific products. Read more...

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With Mother's Day just around the corner, it's that time we appreciate all that Mom has done for us over the years

Yes, those 3 a.m. feedings were crucial and packing our lunches was a big deal, but there's something else that they've done that really proves how much they care — texting. We all know moms would much rather pick up a phone and give us kids a ring to chat about our day or make sure we are eating our veggies. But moms are aware that texting is the true key to 21st century kid-to-parent communication, so they try.

Granted, trying is often paired with failing, so even though moms text, it can be awkward, confusing and traumatizing. We've gathered texting snafus between mothers and children from Damn You Autocorrect that will have you permanently ditch texting for a simple old-fashioned phone call with Mommy Read more...

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There was a time, not so long ago, when pro sports stars who were disenchanted with their occupational situations had just a few choices. Among those options: suffer in silence, approach management behind closed doors and hope for the best, or wage an ugly public relations campaign for a change of scenery

Twitter, however, has added some new and deliciously passive-aggressive possibilities to the mix

Take English soccer star Wayne Rooney, for example. The striker has played for legendary club Manchester United since 2004, but late last month reportedly told management he wants out this summer. Management, in turn, has insisted it won't get rid of him Read more...

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Hate having to pay for hundreds of cable TV channels when you watch less than a dozen? How about those blackout rules that make it so you can't watch your favorite NFL team when a home game isn't sold out?

If Sen. John McCain gets his way — and that's a big "if" — those two annoyances could be a thing of the past.

Sen. McCain introduced a bill Thursday in Congress, the Television Consumer Freedom Act of 2013. The act would "encourage the wholesale and retail unbundling of programming by distributors and programmers."

That means if you want to subscribe to a single cable channel, such as ESPN, you would be able to do that without subscribing to any others. Read more...

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Snoop Dogg has been known for many things throughout his career, from his long list of hits as a solo artist to his very vocal love of marijuana. But he's also developed a reputation for being cutting edge and social savvy

In addition to his large presence on Facebook and Twitter, he made news last year for his powerful performance alongside a hologram of the late rapper Tupac Shakur.

Earlier this week, Snoop Dogg — also more recently known as Snoop Lion — teamed up with Mashable for a Twitter chat Q&A with fans and offered insight into his artistic motivation, favorite collaborators and if he would perform with another 3D holographic artist in the future. Read more...

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The highly anticipated movie from Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann, The Great Gatsby, opens this weekend. Whether or not Luhrmann has done justice to Fitzgerald's quintessential Jazz age novel — or even bested the 1970s Robert Redford version — is open to debate

What seems clear is that the filmmaker has remained true to one essential component of Gatsby's character — his sheer opulence. The mansion, the clothes, the decadent parties: much of it a desperate snare for Gatsby's doomed love, Daisy Buchanan

SEE ALSO: The Great Gatsby in 133 Seconds

But how much would it all cost, in today's dollars, if you wanted to replicate the Gatsby lifestyle? Artist Nickolay Lamm, the same guy responsible for these disturbing climate change GIFs, decided to do the numbers Read more...

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Ryan Gosling, if you don't eat your cereal, you'll get all skinny and look more Mickey Mouse Club than Notebook

Film director Ryan McHenry is trying to get the dreamy actor to stuff his belly with wheaty nuggets of breakfast goodness, but the Gos is having no part of it.

In what is possibly the most creative use of Vine since the Harry Potter wannabe, McHenry matched scenes from Gosling movies with spoonfuls of cereal

Eat it up, Internet.

[H/T Gosloving]

Homepage image via Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images Read more...

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Federal prosecutors have accused eight people of being part of a global "cybercrime organization" said to be responsible for the theft of $45 million from ATMs around the world. Seven of the eight suspects have been arrested, while authorities say the eighth was reportedly murdered in the Dominican Republic last month.

The eight suspects are accused of comprising the global heist's New York cell, stealing $2.8 million from area ATMs. They're suspected of working with hackers who twice broke into credit card processing companies' computer systems, stole ATM card data and bypassed the withdrawal limits on the accounts. The technique is known as an "unlimited operation," as the thieves can grab a potentially unlimited amount of cash. Read more...

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After not talking to the media for 25 years, founder and CEO of Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei Ren Zhengfei told reporters Thursday it is not working with the Chinese government to spy on the United States.

Huawei has been under fire since a 2012 report from the U.S. House Intelligence Committee accused it along with ZTE of being a national security risk for providing information about the United States to the Chinese government. The report said the companies did not comply with an investigation on its practices.

Zhengfei has denied those claims, according to Reuters: "Huawei has no connection to the cybersecurity issues the U.S. has encountered in the past, current and future." Read more...

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Cody Wilson, the mind behind the "Liberator," the world's first 3D-printed handgun, said he didn't know what would happen once he uploaded the blueprints for the gun online

Now he does

The Department of State, through its Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance, forced Wilson to take down the online blueprints for the "Liberator" and all the other 3D-printed weapon parts that he has made available online. In a letter to Wilson, the State Department argues that by uploading the files, Wilson and his company, Defense Distributed, may have run afoul of export control laws, as first reported by Forbes. Read more...

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Wouldn’t it be nice if you could catch the perfect TV viewing angle from anywhere in your living room? That idea may not be too far off, according to a newly published patent from Samsung. The filing describes a TV with a flexible display that viewers could bend by using a remote control, just like changing the channel.

In addition to adjusting the physical display, the remote control would also alter the images to fit the screen’s new positioning. The television would include a “panel deformation member” that is placed on the display’s rear to control its movements, the patent said.

Read more...

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"CC" is 18 months old and probably knows more about the New York Yankees than most grown-up Major League Baseball fans. Watch her drop knowledge in this adorable video

From Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio to Reggie Jackson, she's pretty much got the names down for every Yankees player to have his number retired by the team. She's also very enthusiastic about sharing her name with a current Yankees star, but it's her pick for team captain that a will really crack you up

Check the video out for yourself above, then let us know what you think in the comments Read more...

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There’s a reason they call it cyberspace: Like space, the Internet has grown so expansive that we’ll likely never know all its secrets. Indeed, cyberspace is so deep and complex that even the National Security Agency’s top cyberspies are struggling to comprehend it. But that hasn’t stopped them from trying.

Thanks to a FOIA request filed in April by MuckRock, a service that files FOIA requests on behalf of journalists and others, you can learn to surf the web like one of the NSA’s top cyber sleuths. The agency recently released a 643-page book, called Untangling the Web: A Guide to Internet Research, that is full of tips on doing web research — including an entire section dedicated to “Google Hacking.” Read more...

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Unemployed and feeling demotivated in the job hunt? Lucky for you, The Onion is hiring for some pretty competitive and exciting new positions

The latest listing is for a "listening intern" who is willing to lend a ear to the geniuses within the company. It seems appropriately challenging — duties include "nodding," "smiling" and "remaining silent" when Onion employees need to be comforted about their "plethora of mental issues and life regrets."

If you fit the criteria shown below, we strongly advise you to apply now, as this one-day, unpaid position will surely be filled fast. But make sure you fit their unique qualifications, like having a "meek obedient demeanor." (Insider tip: If you have "caring eyes that sparkle with an inner light," you're a shoe-in.) Read more...

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Twitter has acquired a little-known scalable computing startup called Ubalo, the two companies announced Thursday. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"When we met the infrastructure folks at Twitter, we realized that it’s a company with brilliant people, strong momentum, exciting challenges and a promising future," Ubalo's co-founders wrote in a post on their website. "We quickly became enthusiastic about the possibility of collaborating with them and the impact we could have there." The deal was apparently finalized a few days ago.

Twitter confirmed the acquisition in a tweet from its engineering account: Read more...

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A Columbia University football player has been charged with a hate crime for threatening a fellow student, who is Asian, using racial slurs and pushing him against a wall

NBC broke the news on Wednesday, but that charge was actually just the beginning of the story, which opened a window into a series of bigoted messages posted by Columbia football players to Twitter

Campus radio station WKCR compiled an Imgur album of nearly four dozen of the players' tweets from 2011, 2012 and 2013. Below are a few highlights — or lowlights, to be more accurate — of the racist and homophobic posts:

"Idk what has more Asians...nail salons or Columbia U?" — quarterback Sean Brackett

"Any guy who wears lifting gloves to the gym is a fagget" — freshman running back Mike Gerst.

"almost got thrown out of the SAT room for calling a kid a homo when he was wearing capri jeans...what is wrong with our society" — Gerst again.

"@nytimes: New York's Jewish Population Is Growing Again nyti.ms/KwZalh" #fuckkkkkk" — offensive lineman Tom Callahan Read more...

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Many members of congress use Twitter to stay in touch with their constituents. Some use it to arm them.

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas), used his Twitter account Wednesday to announce an AR-15 giveaway. He invited all interested U.S. citizens to submit their names in hopes of winning the same kind of assault weapon that was used in the Sandy Hook massacre and has since become a symbol for those opposing new gun regulations.

The following tweets were posted about ten minutes apart from each other Wednesday evening and, as of Thursday morning, had drawn a combined 27 favorites and 131 retweets from followers. Read more...

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