Hasta La Gadget!

I am quite sure that many of us have already read about the Heartbleed bug that has raised quite a sheer amount of panic among some members of the populace, although cooler heads have also prevailed in the process. In fact, some technology firms have urged folks to make changes to their passwords – all of them, after stumbling across this major security flaw. Heartbleed basically allows one to access data that was previously thought to be protected by OpenSSL, the encryption software that is used by internet services across a broad spectrum.

Professor David Stupples of City University have urged folks to make changes to their passwords when it comes to online services including emails and of course, banking. Yahoo blogging platform Tumblr too, has not ignored the gravity of such a bug, having advised the masses to “change your passwords everywhere – especially your high-security services like email, file storage and banking”.

Who would have thought that a product which was used to safeguard data could actually have been compromised, resulting in the ability to “eavesdrop” digitally? What was meant to protect is now a threat, so it would be a good time to think of the many alphanumeric passwords for you to use with your numerous online accounts for the umpteeth time. Let’s face it, gone are the days when JohnDoer0xX!11! can be your password that will last for the next 20 years.

Reset Your Passwords After Heartbleed Bug Makes The News , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Computers, bug, heartbleed,

A number of iOS 7 users have reported problems sending and receiving using iMessage (not that it’s the first time), and tonight Apple has responded. The Wall Street Journal has a statement from the company claiming the issue affects “a fraction of a percent” of its iMessage users, and says it will be fixed in a future software update. TechCrunch points out a support document that may provide temporary relief to those experiencing the issue, otherwise users may need to fall back to one of the many, many, many other messaging services out there (but not BBM, yet, and Google Hangouts had its own issue recently) to make sure those messages are getting through.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Apple

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Source: Wall Street Journal

Just a few days ago Google released a 2.0 version of its Authenticator app for iOS, but a bug made user’s entries not show up and the company yanked it. Now v2.0.1 is back in the App Store, and it contains a fix for any two factor authentication users that downloaded the busted version. Based on the release notes, your old keys weren’t cleared by the update, but they just weren’t displaying. We tried it out on our iOS device that was blank after 2.0 and it worked as advertised, all accounts show up again. Although it’s safe to upgrade there is one more issue: anyone who created replacement accounts already will have duplicates. To avoid that, your best bet is to rename any new entries before updating — staying secure is fun and easy, isn’t it?

Filed under: Internet, Mobile, Apple, Google

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Source: iTunes

A muddled sense of direction isn’t the only problem affecting the new generation of Nexus 7 slates, it seems, as some users are also reporting issues with multitouch on the 1,920 x 1,200 display. The clip below the fold demonstrates the bug, and shows the touchscreen registering phantom inputs before freaking out for a couple of seconds. Over the past few weeks, chatter on the XDA Developers and Google Product forums suggests it’s fairly common, with a response from Google on the latter stating: “The Android team is aware of this issue and investigating.” We haven’t had the same troubles with a 2013 Nexus 7 in our possession (running Android 4.3 build JSS15J, FYI), and while the root of the problem is still up for discussion, let’s hope funky software is to blame — no one wants the hassle of replacing faulty hardware, especially Google, when an OTA fix will do.

Filed under: Displays, Tablets, ASUS, Google

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Via: GSMArena, Android Police

Source: Google Product Forums, XDA Developers (1), (2)

Remember that Tom Selleck sci-fi flick called Runaway? Despite being terribly cheesy, those insect-like robots in that movie always gave me the creeps. Never mind that it was none other than KISS’ Gene Simmons who was the mastermind behind the robobugs.

While this robotic insect isn’t deadly, you’ll have a really hard time catching and swatting it if it ever were to go rogue.

Created by Duncan W. Haldane, Kevin C. Peterson, Fernando L. Garcia Bermudez, and Ronald S. Fearing of the UC Berkeley Biomimetic Millisystems Lab, the VelociRoACH is claimed to be the fastest legged robot relative to its body size. It’s capable of running at a zippy 2.7 meters-per-second. Yikes. Just wait till about 10 seconds into the video below to see it scurrying along in real time.

The robot was built with a new dynamic tuning system which keeps it stable at high speeds, using an aerodynamic rotational damper which is designed to operate with less rotational energy while still maintaining crazy fast forward momentum. The robot is also equipped with a mechanism which lets it crawl over obstacles about twice its height with ease.

I’m not sure what the real-world applications from the VelociRoACH are, but I sure wouldn’t want these running around my house.