Hasta La Gadget!

Nokia’s Lumia 1520 grabbed the bulk of the headlines at the company’s Abu Dhabi event last October, but it wasn’t the only phablet the company brought along. In addition to … Continue reading

As of January first the state of Colorado is either going to pot or up in smoke. Maybe both! The state had already made history by becoming one of the first two states to legalize the medical use of medical marijuana. As of the New Year the state became the first to legalize the drug for recreational use. Within days the marijuana dispensaries faced shortages and sold out. It may be time for a new distribution system for this hot (or pot) commodity — vending machines.

It is unsurprising to see that even in this day and age, people secure their online accounts with very weak passwords, ones that can easily be guessed if someone with malicious intent really put their minds to work. Every year SplashData compiles various lists of hacked accounts so as to determine the worst passwords of the year. The worst password of 2013 is no longer “password,” it has been edged out of the top slot by “123456,” which goes to show that there are a lot of people out there who think that the first six numbers on the keyboard constitute the best of passwords.

In 2012, “password” was indeed the worst password of the entire year, this year it merely traded places with the one that sits on top right now. In third place comes a even longer succession of numbers, from one to eight. Interestingly several Adobe themed passwords have made it on the list as well, including “adobe123″ and “photoshop.” Both of them did not make the list in 2012. Passwords that have retained their positions year-over-year include “12345678″ and “shadow,” which is down in 18th place. If for some reason you have been using a password that can be found on this list, and by some miracle haven’t been hacked as yet, it would be a very wise decision to change your passwords as soon as possible.

Worst Password Of 2013 Isn’t ‘Password’ original content from Ubergizmo.

A thin strip with piezoelectric power generators can convert this cow heart's movements into electrical power to run pacemakers or other medical devices.

(Credit: University of Illinois and University of Arizona)

Pacemakers supply electrical pulses so hearts can keep a steady beat — and maybe now it’s time for hearts to return the favor.

As electronics spread to smaller and smaller devices, a new technology called energy harvesting can in some cases solve the problem of supplying electrical power. Researchers at the University of Illinois-Champaign have shown they can harvest energy from the movement of internal organs to power pacemakers and other medical devices that today depend on hard-to-change batteries.

The researchers attached small flexible strips they call piezoelectric nanoribbons to organs like the hearts of cows, sheep, and pigs.

The research offers a new option for power pacemakers — surgically embedded devices that issue electric pulses to keep hearts ticking rhythmically — as well as heart rate monitors and other medical devices embedded in the human bodies.

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• Heartbeat-powered pacemaker skips the batteries
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The NASA rover Opportunity sent back a couple of surprising images from Mars last week, both of which were taken with its Pancam, revealing the rather sudden appearance of a … Continue reading