When you're away from home, it's always handy to have information about how things are in your house. Motes are wireless remote sensors that collect data on temperature, humidity, light and other data, then relay that info to your smartphone

The company, Wimoto, plans three different kinds of Motes. The “Climote” collects data on temperature and humidity. The “Growmote” looks for data on sunlight, soil temperature, and soil moisture. And the “Thermote” is a thermometer that reads the temperature of various objects. Motes are light, weighing about an ounce and measure an inch on each side

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The America's Cup sailing race has more heritage than nearly any sporting event — in fact, its trophy is the oldest still used in international competition

But the America's Cup hasn't exactly become a hit with the masses. Part of the reason: For those of us who don't go yacht racing on a regular basis, it's nearly impossible to tell what's going on when watching the competition on TV

Or at least it used to be. America's Cup is now aiming to increase its mainstream appeal by partnering with a technology company called Sportvision. Sportvision makes high-tech data and augmented-reality products for a host of sports, but it's best known for that now-ubiquitous yellow stripe that marks the first-down line in football broadcasts Read more...

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You'll just have to bear with this hilarious reporter as she demonstrates how to protect yourself from wild animals in the woods.

Following a news story about a man who faced down a bear, reporter Julie Tremmel did a segment — for Providence, R.I.'s local NBC affiliate WJAR — on staying safe around bears. We're sure she had good intentions, but she looks about as comfortable in nature as Meredith did in The Parent Trap. The results are hilarious.

If you encounter a bear, Tremmel suggests darting your eyes wildly from side to side, waving your hands in the air like you just don't care and lying facedown in the dirt. You may be laughing now, but you sure won't when faced with a real bear 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: SoThree

One-Liner Pitch: SoThree's first app, Umano, reads articles aloud so you can catch up on the news while driving or working out at the gym.

Why It's Taking Off: The founders believe that audio recordings may help publishers generate more engagement and revenue for news stories on mobile.

After having known each other for years and worked together at Google, Ian Mendiola, Anton Lopyrev, and Prabhdeep Gill knew they wanted to start a company together. They just didn't know what they wanted it to be Read more...

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Tinder literally refers to a flammable material; a dry substance ready to burn. That name couldn't be more appropriate for a dating app with a problem that could leave users steaming.

Tinder, the addictive online matchmaking tool, is plagued by fake accounts luring unsuspecting users into pricey phishing schemes. And they ruse is easy to fall for, because it plays into our desire for easy flirtation.

SEE ALSO: 10 Red Flags You're About to Get Spammed

Here's how it works: Scammers set up fake profiles with photos of attractive women. Once a user contacts them, a spambot sends enticing programmed messages, tempting to you to join a private session with a live feed of the person undressing. If you fall for the ploy, you are sent a shortened URL that leads to a site asking for your credit card information to verify your age and begin the cam session. Read more...

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At its best, technology can connect people in a way that makes this big, crazy world seem small. Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir project does just that. He takes singers of all ages from around world and puts them on one stage — even if it is a virtual stage — and the results are stunning

The idea for the project first struck Whitacre in 2009, when a friend emailed him a YouTube video of a fan, Britlin Losee, singing the soprano part of his a cappella piece, Sleep. He realized that if enough singers recorded their respective parts (Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass), he could put them together to create a Virtual Choir. Read more...

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There are a few words that are rarely uttered in the same breath — 'grandparents' and 'twerking' are two of them.

YouTube duo TheFineBros, best-known for their "Kids React To" series, introduced a few senior citizens to the world of twerking and recorded their responses on video. Their reactions? Pretty hilarious

A few even try their hand at the twerking craze, to largely adorable results. Though, as one senior citizen put it, "I don't think that's going to make it in a retirement home."

Read more...

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If you've been anywhere near Twitter in the past 24 hours, you've probably been sucked into the phenomenon that is Sharknado. The campy Syfy TV movie, which aired Thursday night, has dominated conversation on the service for the past day. How did a low-budget B movie become the hottest thing on the Internet?

Twitter dissected Sharknado's rise in a blog post Friday night. The movie about tornadoes that scoop up sharks from the ocean and dispense them on unfortunate Los Angeles residents was the most-tweeted TV show from the night, generating 318,232 tweets during broadcast and 5,000 tweets per minute at its peak. That put it well ahead of competing shows Big Brother and a Royals-Yankees baseball game. Read more...

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The stethoscope is not only a medical staple more than 200 years old — it's also an iconic tool that immediately conjures images of doctor's offices in our minds. But now, designers have re-imagined the stethoscope for the 21st century by adding an LED screen that visualizes our body's natural rhythms.

Designers Seobin Oh and JoonHee Kim created an optical stethoscope concept shaped like its traditional counterpart, but gives doctors deeper insight, as reported on Yanko Design. As the video shows above, the concept stethoscope's LED screen displays numerical information and a waveform of the heart rate, allowing doctors to add a visual layer to their recordings. Read more...

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Kids grow up so fast these days — thanks to reality television that is

Youtubers Jono and Ben at Ten, a satirical news and entertainment show from New Zealand, decided to poke fun at the trend of increasingly-younger "stars" with a sketch called "Baby X Factor."

Pint-sized contestants auditioned for the show with kid classics such as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep," only to be shut down by the abrasive judges. The youngest contestant is a newborn, still swaddled in a hospital blanket, held by her mother Read more...

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Twitter instantly connects us with celebrities and thought leaders. But it's all about who you follow — filling your stream with forward thinkers can help stoke innovation and provide a window into the brains of competitors and customers.

Twitter can be a gold mine for advice and insight, too. Here are five successful self-starters who are must-follows if you're looking to start or grow your own business

1. Richard Branson

Happiness is the secret ingredient for successful businesses http://t.co/xBtIXnwj7g —richardbranson (@richardbranson) July 10, 2013 Read more...

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A Texas teenager charged for making a "terroristic" threat on Facebook earlier this year has been released from jail on bail Thursday after an anonymous donor reportedly posted a $500,000 bond.

Back in February, then-18-year-old Justin Carter got into a heated argument on Facebook with a friend, after playing the online game League of Legends. Carter wrote a comment saying he'd "shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still beating hearts," followed by an "lol" and "jk" at the end of the post. A Canadian woman saw the post and called police out of concern that Carter's old address was near an elementary school. The violent comment sent Carter to jail on March 27, following a "terroristic threat" charge and arrest. Read more...

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While there are many iPad cases out there with built in keyboards, one company is attempting to bring a more musical type of keyboard to the iPad.

Meet C.24, a two-octave wireless keyboard case for the iPad that replaces the computer keyboard from a traditional keyboard case with piano keys. The case sends MIDI input to your iPad wirelessly, and will work with any music app you have installed on the tablet.

A strip of buttons above the piano keys lets you control things such as what octave the keyboard will play in and add effects like tone modulation.

Miselu, the company who designed the keyboard, also designed an open standard for hardware expansion modules. That means that tactile controls such as faders, knobs and XY pads could also be available in the future to help you with your musical stylings. Read more...

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First-person games are hard to create in the mobile space

The fidelity and control found when using a mouse-and-keyboard combination or a console controller's two analog sticks can't really be replicated on the smooth surface of a touchscreen. But these obstacles certainly haven't stopped developers from trying

Deus Ex: The Fall [iTunes link] came out Thursday, and the iOS exclusive big-budget game attempts to bring the full console experience of the Deus Ex world to mobile — and it's much more successful than we would have guessed.

The game graphs itself on to the world of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which came to consoles and PC in 2011Human Revolution set a high bar for a mix of great story and a play system where your combat and dialog choices mattered. Square Enix's choice to bring the next chapter in that saga to only mobile was a bold, risky one, so maybe Deus Ex: The Fall should be judged on the fact that it's pushing the boundaries on the space. Read more...

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3D and connected TVs aren't new, but the two new JVC models from AmTran have a new approach to audio: You won't need to buy a separate soundbar.

The company added two new connected JVC TVs to its flagship HDTV lineup: the 42-inch SL42B-C ($799) and the 47-inch SL47B-C ($899). The sleek 3D devices are as thick as an iPhone and come with four sets of 3D glasses. They will be available in stores in about three weeks, AmTran said during a press briefing this week.

The TV features XinemaSound, an acoustic technology that creates surround sound without additional speakers. The description is true to form — in a demo I attended, the sound quality was crisp and loud, and I could hear the subtler rear-channel sound from a scene in Iron Man as though they were coming from surround speakers over my shoulders. Read more...

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Players traveling to the United States for the official League of Legends annual tournament in Los Angeles this fall will be awarded the same type of visas traditionally given to professional athletes, according to Riot Games.

This is the first time that foreign professional gamers have been given visas by the United States to play in the country.

"This is groundbreaking for eSports; now we can start looking at international players when they come over," said Riot Games eSports manager Nick Allen in a filmed interview with Gamespot. "It's a much easier process because they're actually recognized by the government. This is a huge thing." Read more...

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When Chicagoan Elizabeth Wylder selected her Twitter handle in 2009, she had no way of knowing that Syfy would produce a movie with the same name — and that Sharknado would captivate the Internet.

But since the made-for-TV movie's release, Wylder's inbox has been flooded with people accidentally tweeting at her @sharknado account, instead of using the #Sharknado hashtag

It's an understandable mix-up, but the question arises: How did Wylder beat Syfy to the name, four years before Sharknado was ever a thing? Well, thank the Internet

"Several years ago, someone posted a series of mock book covers online for the Choose Your Own Adventure book series that was popular in the '80s," she told Mashable. "One of those mock covers was for Sharknado. I thought it was hilarious, and it stuck with me." Read more...

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AT&T announced plans to acquire Leap Wireless Friday at a cash price of $15 per share.

With the deal, all of Leap’s stock and wireless properties would become property of AT&T, including its retails stores, licenses, network assets and its approximately 5 million subscribers.

Under the agreement, Leap shareholders will also receive a contingent right to the proceeds of the sale of Leap’s 700Mhz "A Block" spectrum in Chicago, spectrum acquired by Leap for $204 million a little under a year ago, in August 2012.

Leap’s network currently spans over 35 states in the United States. The company is best known for the Cricket brand, a name that AT&T plans to keep once the sale is complete. AT&T also has plans to expand Cricket’s presence in the United States. Read more...

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The forecast didn't say anything about it being cloudy with a chance of tarantula downpour.

Television movie Sharknado premiered on the Syfy channel Thursday night and was pretty much what it sounds like: a twister riddled with the carnivorous fish. In case Syfy is starting to run out of ideas, we brainstormed — err, cranestormed — a few possibilities for a sequel.

Let's only hope people begin preparing their bunkers for these animal-inspired natural disasters.

Mashable composite. Images courtesy of Flickr, Aldon, ArbutusRidge and dreamX 

Mashable composite. Images courtesy of Flickr, Reini68, Praziquantel and j33pman Read more...

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The world is on baby watch as Kate Middleton’s due date looms

Media stepladders have been in place for days, hoping to snap the first pics of the royal baby. People have placed serious bets on the gender and name. They've even voiced concerns about what will happen to Lupo when he’s no longer the "only child” of the duke and duchess of Cambridge

Are you among those anxiously awaiting this bouncing bundle of royal joy? We’ve rounded up the best places to find baby coverage

1. Buckingham Palace

The first source to announce the news will be the palace itself. The formal birth notice will be placed on an easel (the same used to announce William's birth in 1982) in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace. You'll know the announcement is coming when a member of the royal household leaves St. Mary's hospital in London with an envelope in-hand to deliver the news. Read more...

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The world was forever changed Thursday night when the Syfy Channel debuted instant television classic Sharknado.

Anyone on Twitter needs no explanation about the phenomenon, because the TV movie absolutely flooded the social network. NBCUniversal reports that Sharknado has become the most "social program on all of television –- broadcast and cable –- as well as Syfy’s most social telecast ever."

At its peak, the movie was generating 5,000 tweets a minute. And with a total of 387,000 social mentions, it came just under hitting the social mentions of the Game of Thrones' shocking "Red Wedding" episode Read more...

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After a legal battle spanning several months, Twitter has finally handed data over to French prosecutors to help them identify the authors of certain anti-Semitic tweets

Jewish and anti-racism groups sued Twitter, requesting that the company provide data pertaining to the writers of anti-Semitic tweets using the hashtag #unbonjuif (#agoodjew) last year. In early 2012, a court ordered Twitter to disclose the data. Twitter appealed the decision, but lost

Twitter announced Friday it had reached an agreement with France's Union of Jewish Students (UEJF), one of the groups that sued the company. As part of the agreement, Twitter provided the users' data — including IP and email addresses — to the Paris prosecutor. The settlement ends the dispute in the civil court Read more...

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Depending on your level of commitment to dessert, you may want to drop whatever you're doing and start lining up right now. New York City's Dominique Ansel Bakery — of cronut fame — is debuting a new dessert on July 13 in honor of the cronut's two-month anniversary: frozen s'mores

Frozen s'mores have a lot to live up to. The cronut, a doughnut-croissant hybrid, is still drawing lines that rival a free Justin Bieber concert. The demand for the pastry is high enough to support a thriving black market on Craigslist

Dominique Ansel's new frozen s'mores, which remain nameless as of Friday morning, will consist of cold vanilla ice cream coated in a crispy chocolate wafer and a layer of fresh marshmallow. The dreamy confection is then speared with an applewood-smoked willow branch and torched to order, adding a crème brûlée-style crunch to the outermost layer. Read more...

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Start drumming up your favorite Arrested Development one-liners and references, because a fifth season might be coming to a Netflix near you sooner than expected.

Brian Grazer, co-chairman of Imagine Entertainment, told Bloomberg TV this week that Netflix is currently in talks to start work on a fifth season (watch below). Imagine Entertainment produced the series' fourth season for the rental and streaming service.

"We were really excited that it came back and that people were able to watch it all at once," Grazer said, referencing the binge-viewing aspect of the platform. "We're in conversations with [Netflix] to do another season; they are interested, Netflix, in doing that; Mitch [Hurwitz] is ready to do it, and so are the actors." Read more...

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Jon Negroni spent one year untangling the secret world hidden deep within Pixar films. This thesis (printed in full below) originally appeared on his personal blog and quickly became a viral sensation. Negroni continues to update his post based on interesting feedback from readers.

Several months ago, I watched a fun-filled video on Cracked.com that introduced the idea (at least to me) that all of the Pixar movies actually exist within the same universe.

Since then, I’ve obsessed over this concept, working to complete what I call “The Pixar Theory,” a working narrative that ties all of the Pixar movies into one cohesive timeline with a main theme. Read more...

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Forget steroids, make-believe girlfriends and off-the-field law-breaking.

Many of the sports world's biggest travesties happen right here on the Internet, where superstar athletes use Twitter to mangle the English language on a daily basis

But who are the worst offenders? And which stars could actually teach the rest of us a thing or two about proper grammar?

For help, we called in Grammarly, a startup that provides grammar-checking software for students and business pros. The company ran some tests on Twitter's 100 most-followed sports stars, analyzing each athlete's 25 most-recent tweets for spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors to come up with some entertaining findings Read more...

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Taking your children to the doctor's office is not always an easy feat. As a kid, I remember one instance of flailing like a fish out of water as my kind primary care physician tried to treat an eye problem. Now, researchers are turning to robotic technology to help calm young nerves in medical settings.

Researchers in Calgary, Alberta, have tested a new robot programmed to distract children during flu shots, as initially reported by The New York Times. The study, published in medical journal Vaccine, found the "MEDi" robot reduced pain and distress in children getting the flu vaccine at Alberta Children's Hospital. Read more...

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People apparently don't visit an exterminator on social media unless they really mean business. This month, Bug Out has gotten close to 100 leads from its Facebook Page and Twitter feed. Considering Bug Out's Facebook Page has just around 135 fans and the brand has just 270 followers on Twitter, that's a pretty good yield.

"If you look at our fans, they're pretty much all realtors," says Anne Austen-Lewis, who handles social media marketing for the Anaheim, Calif., exterminator. Realtors are a key client since getting a pest control check is a necessary step in buying a new house in California. Bug Out, a 25-year-old business (it was known as Masterpest Termite Control until a couple of years ago), already draws leads from its email lists and has a fairly well-developed SEO program. But the company believes that it could do a better job culling leads via social media. Read more...

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When photographer Mark Cox's 10-year-old daughter Sarah was diagnosed with acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), father and daughter made the most of the situation. They collaborated on a series of photos titled "Strong" to document Sarah's fight

Although she was in remission after a month of medical care, she continued treatment for another three years. Today, 13-year-old Sarah is back to health

Cox has launched a Kickstarter to support a final piece of artwork based on the photos.

"Sarah's the one who came up with the idea for the project. She always has final input as to which photos I use," Cox told Mashable. "She's excited that people might be inspired by her story and also that childhood leukemia (particularly ALL) is getting some attention." Read more...

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Lady Gaga is done egging us on (for the time being, at least): The monster megastar revealed the release dates for her ARTPOP album, app and latest single.

The single will hit the deck on Aug. 19, pre-orders for the album (and app) will be available Sept. 1, and both the album and the app will drop Nov. 11, she revealed on her website.

The app brings art culture into pop in a "reverse Warholian expedition." Built by TechHAUS, the tech branch of Haus of Gaga, the app "is a musical and visual engineering system that combines music, art, fashion and technology with a new interactive worldwide community." Read more...

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