One of the most addictive iPhone games in recent memory just made its way onto the iPad.

Dots, a deceptively simple game that prompts users to connect the dots, rolled out an update Thursday that optimizes the game for iPad and adds a multi-player option on both iPad and iPhone so users can compete against one another using the same board of dots.

Since Dots was released on April 30, it has been downloaded more than three million times and users have played 250 million games, according to a blog post the company put out Thursday morning. As the company points out, that's the equivalent of about 500 years of gameplay. That's pretty impressive considering it has only been one month. Read more...

More about Games, Apps, Betaworks, Startups, and Gaming

Apple has launched a new iPod touch variant which sports the same 4-inch Retina display like the 5th generation iPod touch, but doesn't have a rear camera.

Before this latest addition, Apple's iPod touch roster included a 5th generation model with 32GB or 64GB of storage memory, as well as a 4th generation model with 16GB or 32GB memory

This new device replaces the 4th generation models. It sports a dual-core A5 processor, a front camera and only comes with 16GB of storage memory, but it's priced $229 - 70 bucks less than the 32GB 5th gen iPod touch

Apple has introduced the camera-less iPod touch into its online store quietly, without much fanfare. You can get it in Apple's online store, only in silver and black, with the shipping time being 24 hours . Read more...

More about Apple, Ipod Touch, Tech, and Gadgets

Two platforms clearly stand out when it comes to hosting online videos: YouTube and Vimeo.

YouTube's clearly the big dog. At 800 million unique visitors per month, with roughly 72 hours of content being uploaded each minute, it's by far the most used video-sharing platform on the web. (It doesn't hurt that it's owned by Google, either.)

But upload statistics alone don't necessarily make it the best platform out there. Vimeo, while on a smaller audience scale, has plenty of advantages over the streaming giant — especially for someone who's looking to receive helpful feedback or showcase their work to a community of fellow filmmakers. Read more...

More about Youtube, Vimeo, Filmmaking, Entertainment, and Film

Comedian Jon Lajoie has started a "campaign" with one simple goal: he wants to become filthy rich

His plan is simple: he wants people to give him money, for no reason other than for him to become even wealthier than he currently is. His goal: 500 million dollars

"After I saw how Veronica Mars and Zach Braff fans responded to their projects in a mind-blowing way, I couldn't help but think: What if instead of relying on traditional methods of wealth acquisition, I tried something different? What if I turned to you, my fans, for the money?" asks Lajoie in a video that accompanies his campaign.

"By you simply handing over your hard-earned money to me, I could become super rich, without all the added pressure of actually doing something," says Lajoie Read more...

More about Entertainment, Video, and Jon Lajoie

Speaking at Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced a "dramatic acceleration" of the Tesla Supercharger network.

The expansion should triple the Superchargers coverage area this month and enable drivers to drive from Los Angeles to New York by the end of 2013, said Musk

Musk: You'll Be Able to Drive Your Tesla Cross-Country By Year's End With Supercharger Expansion -by @delrey dthin.gs/13ZMONR

— AllThingsD (@allthingsd) May 30, 2013

Superchargers are electric charging stations which enable Tesla owners to freely recharge their car batteries halfway in 30 minutes, giving them about 150 miles of range Read more...

More about Tesla, Tech, Gadgets, Tesla Motors, and Superchargers

Wikipedia has launched a new feature called "Nearby" that recommends articles based on a user's location

The Nearby page page aims to help readers learn more about their current surroundings. For example, visitors to Vatican City will see articles on the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo's fresco depicting The Last Judgment.

"Thanks to the terrific work of our editor community, Wikipedia has accumulated a massive amount of location data associated with its millions of articles; until now we have not fully taken advantage of this information," the free online encyclopedia said in a blog post Wednesday. Read more...

More about Wikipedia, Tech, and Apps Software

A new 3D-tracking app aims to help hopeless handymen and women become expert mechanics.

Tech firm Inglobe Technologies released a demo that shows off its augmented-reality 3D tracker. The app helps car owners navigate the ins and outs of their engines by displaying icons on engine parts. What's more, a virtual hand demonstrates how users can perform maintenance tasks such as adding oil

Check out the entire demo, above. Then tell us in the comments: Would you use this app?

Screenshot image courtesy of YouTube, inglobe

Read more...

More about Apps, 3d, Tracker, Augmented Reality, and Tech

Bundles have always been an effective way to create pre-orders for a game, but it seems Grid 2 Bac Mono Edition has taken things even further by offering an actual racing car with its latest release.

The Bac Mono is a street-legal race car, with a 2.3L 280hp engine and carbon fiber body that can go from zero to 60 miles per hour in just 2.8 seconds, reaching a top speed of 170 miles per hour. On its own, the car costs $146,000, which means there is still $44,000 that needs to be accounted for, unless the company is also trying to set a new record for the most expensive video game.

Whoever pre-orders the bundle will also receive a PS3, racing suit (helmet, suit and pair of gloves) and a day at the BAC Mono factory, which involves meeting BAC personnel and the chance to personalize your newly acquired racing car. Read more...

More about Racing, Video Games, Luxury, Entertainment, and Gaming

A new biosensing tool puts the power of a high tech laboratory in the pockets of researchers in the field. This iPhone-enabled device could be used in pop-up clinics, waste management sites, refugee camps and anywhere else the mobile testing of biological materials such as blood is necessary.

Developed by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the tool consists of an iPhone cradle and an accompanying app. Although the cradle only holds about $200 worth of optical components, it performs as accurately as a $50,000 spectrophotometer.

The wedge-shaped cradle keeps the iPhone's camera aligned with a series of lenses and filaments, which are used to measure light. And at the heart of the device's biosensing capabilities is a simple microscope slide coated with a photonic material, which reflects only one wavelength of light and allows the rest of the spectrum to pass through the slide. Read more...

More about Iphone, Science, Dna, Iphone Accessories, and Tech

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: Webflakes

One-Liner Pitch: Webflakes curates and translates travel and lifestyle content from bloggers around the world

Why It's Taking Off: Webflakes aims to break down the language barrier between bloggers in different countries to create a single hub for discovering international lifestyle content.

If you really want to know more about French fashion or Italian cuisine, the best place to turn may be bloggers from those countries. At least that's the thinking behind this new startup. Read more...

More about Startups, Business, Media, and The Launchpad

There's extreme, and there's extreme. And then — way down at the end of the extreme sports spectrum — there's BASE jumping off Mount Everest

That, however, is exactly what Russian daredevil Valery Rozov did earlier this month. But Red Bull, which sponsored the Everest BASE jump stunt, only recently uploaded the videos to YouTube

Rozov took off from 23,688 feet above sea level to set a new world record for the highest BASE jump in human history on May 5. It took him four days of trekking Everest just to reach the part of the mountain from which he jumped. After making the leap, according to Red Bull, Rozov flew through the air for nearly a minute at speeds of up to 125 miles per hour before landing about 4,000 feet below his jump-off point Read more...

More about Entertainment, Videos, Sports, and Watercooler

Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside confirmed Wednesday that the company is working on a new flagship smartphone — the long-rumored Moto X.

During an interview at All Things Digital's D11 conference, Woodside confirmed the smartphone’s existence, and shared some details about it.

For instance, the phone will be aware of its surroundings.

“Motorola has always been good at managing power on the device, but we're really good at managing sensors,” Woodside said. “We know when it's in your pocket, we know when it's in your hand, and it’s going to know when you want to take a picture and fire up the cameras.” Read more...

More about Motorola, Tech, Mobile, and Moto X

We've seen QR codes being incorporated into all kinds of things, from billboards to toilet paper to beer bottles. Now, German automaker Mercedes-Benz will incorporate those scannable, black-and-white square codes in its cars — all to help save lives.

That's because Mercedes' QR code stickers will link to a copy of the car's schematics, so emergency responders can safely see how to save injured occupants in the event of a crash, as explained in the video above.

Already, Germany's regulatory body for automobiles mandates that every car should have a copy of its schematics available, so that rescuers can safely dismantle a crashed car following a major accident. The idea is so that firefighters, paramedics and police don't accidentally cut through a power line or trigger an airbag and so that they know where important parts like the battery and tanks are located. Read more...

More about Cars, Automobiles, Qr Codes, Mercedes, and Qr Code

This year's Scripps National Spelling Bee is now underway, and Wednesday morning's action provided our annual reminder of just how much smarter some kids are than the rest of us

The @ScrippsBee Twitter account, meanwhile, is bringing this year's competition to a smartphone near you by live-tweeting the event's highs and lows. Word-by-word updates keep the rest of us in the loop about the challenges participants must meet to advance in the bee. The bee's field was trimmed from 281 contestants to just 42 on Wednesday. On Thursday, the remaining survivors will compete before a nationally televised ESPN audience Read more...

More about Us World, Us, Conversations, Sports, and Watercooler

Google updated its calendar app for Android Wednesday, bringing with it one of the most requested features for the app: the ability to customize event and calendar colors.

Available for Android 4.1 devices and above, your Google Calendar can now be given the color of your choice (Google offers 24 options) directly from the Android app. Individual calendar items, such as birthdays or important meetings, can also be highlighted in a contrasting colors.

Adding events is also a little easier now with the app, and can be customized with the time zone of the event in question. Events that happen often can be scheduled to repeat at custom intervals ranging from a few times a week to a few times a year. Read more...

More about Google, Calendar, Android, App, and Google Calendar

The American Civil Liberties Union wants hackers and developers to take its treasure trove of torture documents and make apps and data visualizations with it. The goal? Hold the U.S. government accountable while giving Americans a better glimpse into the Bush administration's so-called "enhanced interrogation" practices.

The initiative is part of The National Day of Civic Hacking, an event promoted by the White House and other partners to liberate government data for coders and entrepreneurs. The idea is to allow citizens, developers and hackers to use the datasets however they see fit with the goal of making information more accessible to the public. The event is happening June 1st and 2nd online and with physical events across the country Read more...

More about Aclu, Us World, Us, Torture, and National Day Of Civic Hacking

You know that little chime on Facebook that bleats out when you're chatting with someone? Here, it sounds like this:

Well, that's not an off-the-shelf sound effect. It is the Facebook ping, and it was very well considered.

We know this because that ping has a fan, and that fan asked on Quora, "How much research has gone into developing the Facebook ping sound? The sound is so pleasant sometimes that it makes me wonder how much effort has been put into its development."

A flattered former Facebooker named Everett Katigbak, who "designed most of the audio currently in the product," chimed in with a most comprehensive answer. Read more...

More about Facebook, Music, Quora, Social Media, and Conversations

At Tuesday night's NBA Eastern Conference Finals game, an Indiana Pacers fan wanted to publicly humiliate Miami Heat supporters in front of a national TV audience.

So what'd he do? Brought out the big guns by insinuating that Heat fans love the universally despised Canadian rock band Nickelback

The plainly-stated "HEAT FANS [HEART] NICKELBACK" sign was expertly placed behind TNT's crew of analysts, garnering it plenty of air time and lots of Twitter chatter. Here are a few different angles of the piece of troll-tastic fan art, culled from Twitter's vast army of NBA-loving wiseacres: Read more...

More about Nba, Entertainment, and Sports

High on the list of most awkward things imaginable: Being caught on a sports stadium kiss cam with your sibling while tens of thousands of clueless onlookers peer pressure you into a Jumbotron smooch

What would you do? Hide your face in shame? Give a harmless peck on the cheek? Maybe just run away as fast as you can?

The young man here chooses that last option after he and his sister are caught on the Dodger Stadium kiss cam at a recent MLB game. It looks like a pretty decent call, and we can't really fault him for skedaddling. Check it out for yourself below:

Read more...

More about Mlb, Entertainment, Videos, Sports, and Watercooler

Making threats against the president's life is a crime, regardless of whether it's done on paper or on Twitter. That's the lesson from the case of Donte Jamar Sims, a 22-year-old man who was sentenced Wednesday to six months of prison for threatening President Barack Obama in a series of tweets.

Sims will also live under a year of supervised release after his prison term is up, according to the Charlotte Observer. The Observer reported that Sims pleaded guilty in a deal to avoid incarceration, though the judge in the case rejected the offer.

The Charlotte, N.C., man was arrested in September after threatening to kill the president via his Twitter handle, @DestroyLeague_D. Authorities confirmed Sims was the owner of the account via search warrants. Read more...

More about Twitter, Barack Obama, Us World, Politics, and Us

Who said proposals should be long and complex? Six seconds will do just fine

Curt Buthman, a business consultant from Los Angeles, used Vine to propose to girlfriend Marsha Collier Tuesday night. It was the definition of short and sweet

@marshacollier I love you! #WillYouMarryMe<3 #custserv shrd.by/opFrXY

— Curt Buthman (@curtbuthman) May 29, 2013

Um, uh, YES @curtbuthman - I will MARRY YOU! #custserv

— Marsha Collier (@MarshaCollier) May 29, 2013

The engagement is the first in Vine history, which is why it quickly went viral afterward. The two were immediately bombarded with congratulatory tweets from strangers across the web who witnessed the #WillYouMarryMe hashtag Buthman paired with his Vine Read more...

More about Twitter, Wedding, Vine, Watercooler, and Conversations

A grainy sonar image captured off an uninhabited tropical island in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati might represent the remains of the Electra, the two-engine aircraft legendary aviator Amelia Earhart was piloting when she vanished on July 2, 1937 in a record attempt to fly around the world at the equator.

Released by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), which has long been investigating Earhart's last, fateful flight, the images show an "anomaly" resting at the depth of about 600 feet in the waters off Nikumaroro island, some 350 miles southeast of Earhart's target destination, Howland Island. Read more...

More about History, Sonar, Us World, Us, and World

Relationships can be challenging, but social networks make connecting with the special people in your life a little bit easier. Connecting and tweeting, Instagramming and poking.

In this comic, illustrator and comedian Teddy Hose breaks down the ways sites like Facebook and Twitter can improve our real-life bonds.

Remember, lovehounds, nothing expresses your feelings like pinning

Image courtesy of Teddy Hose Read more...

More about Comic, Social Networking, Comics, Humor, and Watercooler

If you're looking for a more versatile version of your Xbox 360, especially with the upcoming launch of the Xbox One, you might considering turning it into a portable gaming device.

The Austin, Texas-based startup Techjango's Darkmatter Xbox laptop, for which it's currently raising money on Kickstarter, offers a solution to that problem, with a DIY kit that allows you to create and customize your own Xbox 360 laptop.

The Darkmatter Xbox Laptop offers a portable casing for the console, with an attached 15.6" 720p display and speakers. It also includes ethernet, HDMI and USB ports and a headphone jack, as well as capacitive touch controls for power, eject, volume and more. Read more...

More about Hacking, Gaming, Xbox 360, Kickstarter, and Entertainment

Government agencies will challenge thousands of programmers across the country to solve community problems with open data and lines of code this weekend during the first-ever National Day of Civic Hacking

The National Day of Civic Hacking will bring 6,000 coders and entrepreneurs together with representatives from dozens of government agencies in nearly 100 different cities. The goal? Government representatives will challenge coders to solve community problems with their open data and expert assistance.

"The idea that we had was to bring together a critical mass to make this thing happen," said Todd Khozein, partner at SecondMuse, which is leading the National Day of Civic Hacking with support or involvement from many other organizations, including Intel, NASA and the Census Bureau Read more...

More about Coding, Us World, Us, and National Day Of Civic Hacking

Private asteroid mining company Planetary Resources today unveiled its plans for the world's first publicly accessible space telescope, the Arkyd.

Similar to Hubble, Arkyd is designed to take high-resolution photos of deep space, like the famous eXtreme Deep Field — the farthest view into the universe ever recorded.

However, unlike Hubble — accessible only through a highly competitive selection process in which experts pick 200 proposals per year — Arkyd will be open to the public for personal interest and research. That means students in primary classrooms would be able to access it for an astronomy lesson, for example Read more...

More about Space, Telescope, Kickstarter, Us World, and Us

A man named Herman Cain once said, "Imagine there's no pizza." Apparently, Sir Patrick Stewart has spent the past 73 years living without it.

That is, until Wednesday, when the actor known for his role as Captain Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek ate a slice of extra cheesy New York-style pizza

SEE ALSO: Pizza Compass App Finally Makes Your Smartphone Useful

He even ate the pizza folded, like a true New Yorker.

My first ever pizza "slice". Please note: the authentic NY foldtwitter.com/SirPatStew/sta…

— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) May 29, 2013

Before commenting on the newsworthiness of this event, I suggest taking a look at this GIF, which has been waiting for years to be relevant. Read more...

More about Celebrities, Pizza, Watercooler, and Conversations

Dan Rollman just created Internet Inception and it'll jiggle your brain

The founder and CEO of RecordSetter tweeted a Vine of an Instagram photo of a Tumblr post of a Facebook update of a tweet. Got that?

This is a tweet of a Vine of an Instagram of a Tumblr post of a Facebook post of a tweet: vine.co/v/bYmxJXuIbAb

— Dan Rollman (@snerko) May 28, 2013

What, he couldn't fit a pin in there too? Pfft, amateur

Homepage image, Mashable composite. Read more...

More about Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Instagram, and Watercooler

The Tokyo-based motor company is getting into the walking business.

Honda's new Walking Assist Device will help provide rehabilitation training and physical therapy in Japanese hospitals, as explained in the video above. Honda previously tested the device in seven hospitals, but wants more feedback from hospitals about its performance in real-world situations. That's why it leased 100 Walking Assist Device units throughout the country.

The device, which operates using "cooperative control technology," has been under development since 1999. Hip angle sensors detect motion and move accordingly — which improves coordination of legs lifting and moving. The Walking Assist weighs about 5.7 pounds (or 2.6 kg) and works on flat surfaces both indoors and outdoors, except in the rain. Read more...

More about Japan, Walking, Honda, Wearable Tech, and Lifestyle

Twitter updated its iOS and Android apps on Wednesday by improving the photo uploading experience and making it easier to switch between multiple accounts.

Now when you add an image to tweet from Twitter’s mobile app, you’ll see a full preview of the photo rather than a cropped version. Images are also easier to upload; simply use a button in the bottom right corner of the compose box for a new tweet. When uploading a photo from the camera roll, images appear below the compose window, letting you quickly select your desired image.

When creating a new tweet, your avatar and username will now appear on the page, too. People with several linked Twitter accounts can toggle between the two by simply tapping on the avatar. This feature also makes it easier to quickly check which account you're tweeting from — with a visual verification — so you don't accidentally send out personal tweets from your business account, or vice versa. Read more...

More about Twitter, Iphone, Android, App, and Social Media