A Redditor published this picture taken by a rover, which appears to have accidentally drawn the outline of a penis on Mars. Who says robots don't have a sense of humor?

(Photo: Reddit)

(h/t Gawker)

WhatsApp phone. (Photo: Nokia/BBC)

Twitter is reportedly working two-step authentication. Hopefully that means we don't have to write "Look who got hacked!" stories anymore. [Wired]

Apple's profits dipped 18 percent but were buoyed by the strong sales of iPads and iPhones. The company said its next big announcement will come sometime this fall. [CNet]

Move over Facebook Home, there's a WhatsApp phone...sort of. Nokia implemented a "hard button" on its new phone for direct access to the app of the moment. [TechCrunch]

Reddit screwed up last week as it conducted a witch hunt to search for the suspected Boston bombers. However, there is a proper way to crowd-source a manhunt if Reddit looks at a 2000 NASA experiment called Clickworkers. [New Yorker]

The writers of Mad Men are pitching a show about the early days of the U.S. space program as seen through the eyes of journalists. Don Draper would even look hot in an astronaut suit, so we're on board. [Wired]

Shapeways, a 3D printing marketplace, received a $30M investment from Andreessen Horowitz and Chris Dixon. [Launch.co]

Photo: NASA

Who Doesn't Want To Meet A Real-Life Astronaut? We've already covered the upcoming 2013 International Space Apps Challenge, the NASA-sponsored space app development challenge, but the event just got even better with the announcement that U.S. astronaut Ron Garan will be in attendance as NASA's official ambassador. Attendees will have the chance to meet Mr. Garan, who has nearly 100,000 followers on Twitter (@Astro_Ron), at the NASA Hackathon Kickoff Party at Alley NYC (500 7th Avenue), this Friday at 7 PM. Trips to space not guaranteed.

SocialSign.In Hopes To Solve Everyone's Wi-Fi Problems At Work SocialSign.in announced the public launch of its social network-powered Wi-Fi platform today at the DEMO Mobile 2013 conference. SocialSign.in allows workers at a company to link their social media presence such as their Facebook with their company's Wi-Fi, giving them easy online access at all of their company's locations with a simple uniform password and ID. SocialSign.in also helps companies track user data and patterns, and can be used across all Internet-connecting devices. Now hopefully we can all clean out our desks filled with those sticky notes for Wi-Fi passwords.

New Blog Totally Steals Our Name In a move to simplify several blogs into a single hub, The Wall Street Journal announced the creation of their new leading financial and business blog, Moneybeat. Some of the blogs being integrated into Moneybeat include MarketBeat, The Source, Overheard and all of the paper's Deal Journals. MoneyBeat will be run by former Deal Journal and MarketBeat editor Stephen Grocer, and will be "a one-stop shop for everybody interested in finance and markets, no matter where they are around the world,” WSJ Managing Edito Gerard Baker said in a press release.

Fresh Cash for NYC Cloud Company Booker, the cloud-based communication and marketing system for SMBs and other enterprises announced yesterday a new $27.5 million Series B investment, led by Bain Capital Ventures. Other investors include Booker's Series A supporters Revolution Ventures, Grotech Ventures, TDF Ventures, and Vital Financial. Booker said in a press release that the new funding will be used to increase the product's reach and advertisement capabilities in online marketing. Maybe they can use the money to help fix all those "targeted" Facebook ads.

Alloy Acquires DBG Online distributor and marketing company Alloy Digital, which we've previously featured, announced today that it has acquired digital video advertiser Digital Broadcasting Group. The deal is meant to help combine Alloy's distribution network with DBG’s large video syndications.

NYT and BBC Host Perfectly Timed Social Media Summit The New York Times and the BBC College of Journalism will be hosting a Social Media Summit this Saturday to address the current state of social media and its use by journalists in investigating and reporting stories, and social media distribution company Mahaya will be on site to cover the event. Mahaya, which provides real-time summarization, ranking, and display of stories that appear on social media, is one of three companies currently participating in The Times's new timeSpace initiative to bring entrepreneurs to the NYT headquarters to refine and grow their businesses. Wonder if they're going to bring up this little 'ol Boston Marathon Suspect Twitter mess?

Food Delivery Anonymity Now Possible With Bitcoins Boston-based online food delivering service Foodler announced today that they will become the first online food ordering service to accept Bitcoins as payment for delivery and takeout. Foodler users will now be able to connect their Bitcoin wallet with their Foodler account, which will allow them to buy 'Foodlerbucks', the company's online currency, with their Bitcoins. These "Foodlerbucks" are then used to pay for deliveries. The company, which also has an iPhone app, can be used in 48 states across the U.S. Because who doesn't want to pay for a cheeseburger with the world's most volatile currency?

Ziggeo Completes Beta Ziggeo, the online video network which allows you to privately screen videos of candidates for jobs and roommates, testimonials, and more, has announced that it has completed its beta testing and is now available for public use. Users can choose from a free plan for 20 second videos, a personal plan for up to 2 minute videos and a pro one for up to 10 minute videos.

This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

Last night I co-hosted the Big Apple Smackdown! (a.k.a. The Silicon Alley Ping-Pong Tournament) at Spin NYC with my friends Nihal of LocalResponse and Vijay of VSCPR. Congrats to Artsy's Benoit Corda for emerging victorious! And a big thank you to everyone who came and made it such a fun, memorable night! :)

Last week I was down in DUMBO, and I bumped into a Fox 5 News crew. They wanted to know the dealio with all the stickers on my red tie. "It's advertisements, you know, like a walking billboard," I explained. Minds blown, they decided to film a short segment about it. At this rate, my tie might need its own agent.

Congrats to my buddy David Rotbard and the good folks at MicroOffice for being selected by Mayor Bloomberg and the NYCEDC to develop, launch and operate Harlem Venture Space (a.k.a. Harlem Garage), a new business incubator on 118th Street that'll launch this summer.

NYC SeedStart's third accelerator class starts in July and will be focused exclusively on enterprise software. Smart! They're partnering with local VCs (RRE, Starvest, Contour, Safeguard) and large enterprise partners (SAP, CA, Deutsche Telekom, Amazon). There's an info session event on April 29. Applications are due midnight of May 5. So get on it! Speaking of deadlines, don't forget applications for the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator's Summer 2013 class are due April 19.

I'm a big fan of Reshma Saujani and the awesome work she's been doing with Girls Who Code. She's also running for public advocate of NYC. Next week, on April 24, Jack Dorsey (cofounder of Twitter and Square) will be hosting an event for her. I'll be there.

Hardware is hot these days, and this Saturday is the inaugural Hardware Freedom Day, a worldwide celebration of open source hardware. Hack Manhattan (Manhattan's only public hacker space) is celebrating with displays of open hardware created by their members. They're also doing the Super Tech Tuesday event.

April 22 is Earth Day, and so Goodnik is organizing the Helping Hacks Green Earth Day Hackathon this Friday. And if you wanna hang out with a real, live astronaut this week, you're in luck! :) Check out the Space Apps Hackathon Kick-Off Party this Friday, featuring Astronaut Ron Garan, who'll be there as NASA's ambassador.

Coming up: April 25 is NY Tech Day (the largest tech startup event in the world!). April 27 is the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon (tickets will go fast!). And May 2 is the Office Ninjas Tech Mixer & Showcase, a must-attend event for office professionals who love tech and the hottest new tools.

On May 16, my buddy Eyal and the Worldwide Investor Network (WIN) are organizing the awesome Funding The Best In Global Innovation conference, an event I highly recommend (terrific panels and speakers). Early birds get a 30 percent discount (til May 1) with the code "garysguide." Foreign tech startups can apply here. Deadline is April 19.

Ever wanted to participate in a show that's American Idol meets Shark Tank?! You know me--I deliver! Meet NY Crowdfunds, which will have an all-star lineup of judges including Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia and basketball legend Earl Monroe. It's on May 20, and there are a limited number of spots for contestants and studio audience. Contact my friend Sonali for more info.

This week is the Tribeca Film Festival. I'd recommend getting the future of film pass to get special access to the technology and innovation events.

And now lets see whats going down in the Alley this week...

AllThingsD: Dive Into Mobile
With Eric Schmidt (Google), Mike Schroepfer (CTO, Facebook), Michael Sippey (VP Product, Twitter), Gary Kovacs (CEO, Mozilla), Noam Bardin (CEO, Waze), Jan Koum (CEO, WhatsApp), Evan Spiegel (CEO, Snapchat) and others.
Monday (Apr. 15), 9 a.m. @ The Ritz-Carlton Battery Park, 2 West Street

NJ Tech Meetup 35
With Brad Feld (Cofounder, Foundry Group and TechStars and author, Startup Communities)
Monday (Apr. 15), 6:30 p.m. @ Stevens Institute of Technology - Howe Center, 1 Castle Point Terrace, 4th Fl., Hoboken

NYU Founders Forum
Three founders from the NYU-Poly incubators and three student founders from across NYU will present their startups. Judges include Owen Davis (NYC Seed), Brendan Dickinson (Canaan Partners), Tom Loverro (RRE Ventures), Frank Rimalovski (NYU Innovation Venture Fund) and Yaron Eitan (Selway Capital)
Tuesday (Apr. 16), 6 p.m. @ NYU Stern School of Business, 44 W. 4th Street, M5-50

PandoMonthly Presents
A Fireside Chat with Lewis DVorkin (Chief Product Officer, Forbes Media) interviewed by Adam Pennenberg
Thursday (Apr. 18), 6 p.m. @ Projective Space L.E.S., 72 Allen Street, 3rd Fl.

NYC Startup Job Fair Presented by AT&T
Connecting talented job seekers with exciting NYC-based startups.
Friday (Apr. 19), 12 p.m. @ IAC HQ, 555 W. 18th Street

Goodnik Presents: Helping Hacks Green - Earth Day Hackathon
Focusing on environmental-related projects in recognition of Earth Day (April 22).
Friday (Apr. 19), 6 p.m. @ Alley NYC, 500 7th Avenue, 17th Fl.

NASA Hackathon Kick-Off Party feat. Astronaut Ron Garan
The 2013 International Space Apps Challenge is fast approaching and astronaut Colonel Ron Garan will be there as the official NASA ambassador! A RARE opportunity to get up close and personal with a real astronaut. :)
Friday (Apr. 19), 6 p.m. @ AlleyNYC, 500 7th Avenue, 17th Fl.

BUZZ the Bar & The Professional Wingman Present: The Happy Hour BUZZ
A hot new weekly after-work series, celebrating the start of a new season, the rising temperature & the newest way to order drinks!
Friday (Apr. 19), 6 p.m. @ EVR, 54 W. 39th Street

2013 International Space Apps Challenge led by NASA
A two-day hackathon during which citizens from around the world work together to solve challenges relevant to improving life on Earth and life in space
Saturday (Apr. 20), 9 a.m. @ AlleyNYC, 500 7th Avenue, 17th Fl.

NYC BigApps Jobs and Economic Mobility Hackathon
Come build apps that help New York City’s underserved residents find gainful employment, develop workforce skills, and/or access worker support services.
Saturday (Apr. 20), 10 a.m. @ School of Visual Arts (SVA), 136 W. 21st Street, 5th Fl.

Hardware Freedom Day
Open hardware created by Hack Manhattan members on display.
Saturday (Apr. 20), 5 p.m. @ Hack Manhattan, 137 W. 14th Street.

More events on the horizon...
Women Innovate Mobile: Behind The Pitch on Apr 22 @ AppNexus
Ideas Are Worthless Conference on Apr 23 @ Goodwin Proctor @ The NY Times Building
NYTECH Presents: Designing for Touch on Apr 24 @ Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz
NY Tech Day on Apr 25 @ Pier 92
Hackathon at TechCrunch Disrupt NY: April 27-28 on Apr 27 @ Manhattan Center
Entering the European Market: Lessons from Serial Entrepreneur & Investor Jos White on May 01 @ Venue
Office Ninjas Tech Mixer & Showcase on May 02 @ Alley NYC
Funding the Best in Global Innovation III on May 16 @ SNR Denton
NYC Tech Picnic - 2013 Kick Off on May 19 @ Chelsea Piers, Pier 63

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends! ;)

(Photo: bezosexpeditions.com)

Not that long ago at a piano bar in Davos, America's preeminent billionaires got together to divvy up dominion over the land, sea, and stars. The minutes of the meeting have been kept secret--so as not to offend the world's governments quaint perception of "sovereignty."

Elon Musk being Elon couldn't help revealing his ascendancy to Mars. Quietly, it emerged that Yuri Milner was given the Earth's molten core, Sean Parker got Coachella and Warren Buffet rules the Middle West. Now, thanks to AllThingsD, we know about Jeff Bezos' slice of the galatic pie.

"Right now, he’s on a ship outside Cape Canaveral, along with some giant engines that used to power the Apollo 11 aircraft. He financed the team that just dug them out from the bottom of the Atlantic."

In a letter thanking NASA on BezosExpeditions.com, Mr. Bezos offers an inside glimpse into his Neptune-like journey:

"What an incredible adventure. We are right now onboard the Seabed Worker headed back to Cape Canaveral after finishing three weeks at sea, working almost 3 miles below the surface. We found so much. We’ve seen an underwater wonderland – an incredible sculpture garden of twisted F-1 engines that tells the story of a fiery and violent end, one that serves testament to the Apollo program. We photographed many beautiful objects in situ and have now recovered many prime pieces. Each piece we bring on deck conjures for me the thousands of engineers who worked together back then to do what for all time had been thought surely impossible."

To be clear, however, Mr. Bezos' kingdom is strictly under the sea. Peter Thiel still controls the colonies floating atop the ocean and Captain Larry Ellison its yachts.

(Photo: Terry Irwin, Art Flakes. Prints available here.)

Astronauts may be the closest thing we'll ever get to super heroes, but even they get a little down sometimes. One curious Quora user decided to take to the platform to ask a terribly depressing question: Can you cry in space?

Turns out that you can, but not the way you'd think. A NASA engineer popped into the thread to say that because there's no gravity in space, tears don't fall downward. You have to continually wipe them from your eyes, because "they just pool, obscuring vision." Another user pointed out that it can even be painful to cry in space. So sad :(

Our favorite answer is a little more philosophical:

Conversely, it is impossible to not cry in space. The magnificent splendour of the universe consumes you and leaves you in permanent visible awe. You are tiny. You are insignificant. You are dust. And so you cry.

Nothing like some galactic real talk to make you feel like a weepy astronaut.

Sony's big announcement is today's worst kept secret on the Internet.

Sony Needs to Work On Keeping Secrets Although Sony is still only referring to it as the, "future of Playstation," everyone knows that tonight's press conference at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City will be for the reveal of Sony's Playstation 4, codenamed Orbis. An image of the next generation system's controller was leaked last week, and rumors of cloud and smartphone integration have been making the rounds. The traditional video game market--and Sony in particular--have been struggling financially (more on that below). Industry experts are hoping that a new gaming arms race between Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft can reinvigorate game sales. The PS4 is rumored to have a November release date.

Because GIFs Need to Be More Complicated Vimeo is getting into the GIF making business, or at least the GIF-video making business, after buying mobile app Echograph last week. Echograph, created in 2011, takes a frame from a 5-second video on your phone or tablet and animates certain sections of the image to make a partially moving picture (think of it as a cross between Vine and GIFs). The app, which previously cost $2.99, will now be free as Vimeo takes over Clear-Media, the company which created Echograph, and moves its employees into their mobile division.

Changing The Game (Market) In another sign that people would rather play Angry Birds than World of Warcraft, Super Data released their first public figures on the digital games market, and to no one's surprise, the market is doing pretty well, albeit in a very different way. Since January of last year, sales have increased 39 percent, or $960 million, but that figure doesn't reveal the major changes that overtook the market in 2012. Whereas console, social media, and MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) games previously lead the way, mobile and downloadable games are now at the forefront, with sales more than double their totals from last year.

Promoted Tweets Are Going to Get a Little More Personal As if you didn't already hate those personalized ads on your Facebook, get ready for a similar experience on Twitter. The social media giant is releasing their advertising API today to specific clients and advertisers so that they can send more personalized and focused tweets to the over 200 million active users of Twitter. The move makes sense, considering the success of Promoted Tweets since its release in 2010, although this new API could face backlash from users in the same way that Facebook users retaliated when that site first began hyper-personalized advertising.

Outer Space Needs An App NASA will be hosting a meet-and-greet February 25 at AlleyNYC (500 Seventh Ave., 13th Floor) to discuss potential ideas for the space program's April 20th International Space Apps Challenge, "a two-day technology development event during which citizens from around the world will work together to address current challenges relevant to both space exploration and social need." The event is open to the public, so if you're in the New York area and think your idea for an app would only really work in a zero-gravity environment, check it out.

Progress in Polyamory Valentine's Day may already be far in your rearview mirror, but that doesn't mean the flood of dating apps is anywhere near stopping, and one of the newest app's in the dating sphere is Martini. A self-touted improvement of Grouper, Martini, which was released last year, "gives users more control over the group meetup experience. Instead of forcing groups on blind dates, we allow our users to make the very important decisions of who and where to meetup." So if you and your friends were holding off on group dating because you thought you would all go for the same guy/girl, you now have no excuse.

Welcome to The Fiternet In a move that seems a little ironic, Pintrest will be posting workout and diet tips from the reality show The Biggest Loser during its weekly broadcasts, in the hopes that users will subsequently leave their computers and work on their physical health instead. During the work out and health segments of the show, pop ups will appear on screen directing viewers to check out the Pintrest page, which will give more direct instruction on what is seen on the show. We suppose this offets all the cupcake porn.

Astronaut. (Photo: flickr.com/edwin11)

The heavens are a bit better decorated today, thanks to the art-loving rocket scientists at NASA. Space.com reports that the agency has used lasers to successfully transmit the Mona Lisa (in digital form) to a satellite orbiting the moon.

The site says: 

The laser signal, fired from an installation in Maryland, beamed the Mona Lisa to the moon to be received 240,000 miles (384,400 km) away by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been orbiting the moon since 2009.

"This is the first time anyone has achieved one-way laser communication at planetary distances," added researcher David Smith in a statement. The idea is to turn the tech into an alternative to radio as a way for interplanetary spacecraft to communicate. That way if Elon Musk ever does decamp to Mars, we could cut down on the time it takes to receive his no-doubt-delightful communiqués from the Red Planet.

Pretty cool! We can't help but wonder, though: Why hurl a painting even humans don't quite "get" into outer space? Pretty sure aliens are just going to assume she's secretly laughing at them.

Miss u (Photo: 1039 RXP)

Remember that Crazy Blind Date app from OKCupid that purports to set you up with someone who hopefully won't kill and/or maim you for a night on the town? Turns out it accidentally exposed users' email addresses and birthdays. Sucks for everyone who lied about their age! [Wall Street Journal]

Google is holding a developer event for Glass. If you paid that $1,500 to get a test pair of Glass, you're in for a treat. [AllThingsD]

California Rep. Zoe Lofgren has proposed a bill that she hopes will be called "Aaron's Law" aimed at modifying the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act which many say was abused in the Aaron Swartz case. [The Hill]

New MySpace seems kind of like it's just a big ad for Justin Timberlake's new song. [TechCrunch]

The awesome NASA mohawk guy is going to ride with a Mars Rover float in the Inaugural Parade, because America. [Wired]

Can't wait for the remake of The Searchers.

Let's face it: Most of us aren't going to make NASA's rather stringent cut for the space program. So how's a girl supposed to fulfill her destiny to rule Mars as Red Queen, given that that the  planet is, at best, 33.9 million miles away?

Well, here's an idea! Mars One, an organization that hopes to create of a Martian settlement by turning the whole kit and kaboodle into a reality TV show, just posted its requirements for would-be settlers. And there is good news for those of us who flunked precalculus: 

Unique to all other space exploration endeavors before it, Mars One is opening the astronaut program to anyone on planet Earth that meets the base criteria. It is not necessary to have military training nor experience in flying aircraft nor even a science degree.

Applicants do need to be smart and "in good mental and physical health," and you've got to be willing to devote eight years to the necessary training. Otherwise, the requirements are more along the lines of what you might find on an online dating profile than in a NASA checklist:

Applicants need to be at least 18 years of age, have a deep sense of purpose, willingness to build and maintain healthy relationships, the capacity for self-reflection and ability to trust. They must be resilient, adaptable, curious, creative and resourceful. Mars One is not seeking specific skill sets such as medical doctors, pilots or geologists.

Yeah, can you imagine spending years on an interplanetary flight with someone who couldn't stop talking about rocks?

(h/t Venturebeat)