Mattel, who gains my respect once in a while only to lose it again, has decided that, as of July, new Scrabble rules will take effect to make it easier and “more fun” for today’s txters:

– Allow proper names, such as Beyonce and Pepsi

– Backwards and upwards spelling (proposed)

– Words no longer have to be placed so as to connect to other words on the board (although they still have to be words, if they do) (proposed)

– possibly others

Update: As Eric point out in the comments, these rule changes are for a new family friendly version of Scrabble, and not intended for use with classic Scrabble.

Don’t expect official Scrabble clubs to adopt these rules any time soon.

(source, source)

Speaking of Scrabble, iPad Scrabble comes with a free app for your iPhone that lets you use your iPhone as tile racks (shuffle the tiles around, “flick” them to the iPad to play them). (source)

Speaking of using your iPhone with your iPad, IsoCards is an application that provides a deck of cards for the iPad and no rules, so you can play any game. To view your cards in secret, you can cup your hand around the face down cards on your side, or you can flip them to your iPhone. (source)