Working during the holidays sucks. Luckily for members of the U.S. House of Representatives, they don’t have that much of it before the new year begins.
The House is only scheduled to work eight days between now and January 7, when members return for the second session of the 113th Congress.
The House had 239 days off scheduled during 2013, and they have even more off days scheduled for next year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The terrorism threat against the United States is increasing and Americans aren’t as safe as they were a year or two ago, the leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein said there are more terrorist groups than ever, with more sophisticated and hard-to-detect bombs. The California Democrat said “there is huge malevolence out there.”
Rep. Mike Rogers said there’s enormous pressure on U.S. intelligence services “to get it right, to prevent an attack.”
If you so happen to be in the US Army, I am quite sure that there are plenty of “toys” to play with, and these are more or less a whole lot more lethal and potent than just mere fireworks. Drones have been playing quite an important role in the military for quite some time now, as they are able to scout an area beforehand without having to put the lives of soldiers at risk. Heck, even drones can be armed with missiles, flying remotely to deliver the payload without the “pilot” leaving the comfort of a plush chair. Well, we have talked about the Maveric drone in the past that supposedly could be used to combat the mosquito problem in Florida, but here, Priora Robotics has bigger plans than just making short work of them bloodsuckers.
In fact, the new Maveric drone might seem to be a bird to the untrained observer, as it measures roughly the same size as that of a large pigeon. However, the Maveric will be equipped with a gimball mounted camera that would enable it to spy on ordinary folks as well as what is happening on the ground. It takes around 5 minutes for a single soldier to prepare this 2.5 pound drone to take off, where it can achieve a speed of 65 miles per hour, hitting altitudes as high as 25,000 feet. So far, we do know that the U.S. Army Rapid Equipping Force has already purchased 36 Maverics for an “urgent but undisclosed need”.
Priora Hopes To See Maveric Drone In Action For The US Army original content from Ubergizmo. 
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3D printing has definitely come some way since it was first introduced, but how about using a 3D printer for biomedical purposes instead of just churning out action figures and toys for your nephews and nieces so that you need not go to the store to purchase one for them and get all bruised up at the checkout counter as you jostle with the mad holiday crowd? Well, it seems that researchers over at the University of Liverpool in the U.K. are working on delivering individualized, natural looking 3D printed skin.
This is no mean feat, almost miraculous actually, since everyone’s skin is more or less different, boasting a whole lot of wrinkles (for some) and veins in various areas. Hence, getting a right match for the person who needs some skin pronto is not exactly a walk in the park, but the project’s leader, Dr. Sophie Wuerger, is feeling optimistic about the entire operation. She and her colleagues are developing a system which will eventually tailor-print skin to match individual patients. This is made possible with the development of a 3D scanning camera that can build 3D images of a patient’s skin in different light levels, while data from such scans will eventually be fed and processed by a computer, resulting in a printout for patient-specific skin grafts.
3D Printed Skin A Future Possibility original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Just a few days ago, we were talking about how iOS users have now received the official Mega app for the platform, which was something that could have riled the feathers of Windows Phone 8 users. Well, if you happen to be part of that crowd, fret not as there is nothing much for you to mope about. In fact, we have word that Windows Phone 8 users will now be able to gain access to the Mega cloud storage service according to a confirmation which was posted by a Reddit user.
Mega was not too generous when it came to information concerning a specific launch date of the Windows Phone 8 Mega app, but there were hints that we could very well be looking at an early 2014 launch window. Right now, Mega is also available on the Android platform, and whether it is on the iOS or Android mobile operating systems, it would be free, letting you browse your storage accounts, preview and stream specific documents and files, as well as send links to files and folders to other Mega users. Needless to say, this particular app will continue to improve, as future versions of it is also touted to support the likes of photo synchronization. Nice to see Windows Phone 8 getting more recognition from developers and companies now as a viable platform, no?
Windows Phone 8 Users To Get Mega Cloud Storage Too original content from Ubergizmo. 
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At the end of October, we brought to you news that Steam has over 65 million users now, so it is not surprising to hear about another milestone being achieved – that Steam has now managed to garner approximately 7 million plus users who are online concurrently. This is certainly a record to be proud of, considering how its previous best happened to be a high of 6.6 million users. Steam’s site did point out that it hit 7,190,578 concurrent users mid-morning Eastern Time on December 1, if you want to get all worked up over the details involved. This particular figure happens to be an indication on just how popular the Steam service is, in addition to its growth chart. Who knows, such an encouraging figure might see more and more developers work up an interest as well as appetite for the upcoming Steam Box gaming devices.
Just which is the most popular game over Steam to date? Apparently, it would be Dota 2, which should not arrive as a surprise. Dota 2 managed to touch a peak of 542,906 users simultaneously, while in second place would be Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that peaked at 93,905 concurrent users, which so happens to be quite a distance from the top spot. As for the other popular titles, those will include The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Sid Meier’s Civilization V, and Football Manager 2013. Do you think that the recent Steam sale had something to do with the new peak achieved?
Steam Achieves 7 Million Plus Concurrent Users original content from Ubergizmo. 
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"All Around My Hat" is a rework of a 19th century song about staying true to your fiancee while she is sent to serve seven years for theft in the penal colony in Australia. Probably just what you thought. Anyway, Steeleye Span heard something in it and turned it into a chart topper, at least in Ireland where it was #3 for awhile in 1975. It’s catchy and pretty hilarious and I used to dance around to it in my formative years so there you go. [Amazon, iTunes, Spotify]
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NEW YORK (AP) — New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis has broken his left hand against the New York Knicks, and the team says a timetable for his return is to be determined.
The second-year star was injured in the first half Sunday. The Pelicans said the injury was a non-displaced fracture of his hand.
Jeff Bezos revealed something that truly would revolutionize ecommerce and online ordering, should it become widely used: automated air delivery drones that could deliver 86 percent of the goods Amazon ships to customers today (packages under 5 pounds), in less than 30 minutes in many cases. That would be a huge change to business as currently conducted by the Amazon giant, and it would mean the end of retail as we know it.
Amazon is slashing prices of its Kindle Fire line for Cyber Monday, bringing the 7" Kindle Fire HD down to $119 and the 7" Kindle Fire HDX down to $179, its lowest price ever and $1 less than the lowest price we’ve seen on the Nexus 7.
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