One day, gardener Robert Mainville saw a show about hydroponics on PBS, and it fascinated him. Soon he had set up a hydroponic garden in his own yard -- forsaking his old soil plots -- and within months was harvesting tomatoes, cabbage, kale, and turnips. "It works fantastically," said Mainville, the owner of Cape Fear Hydrogardens. "The production you can get is amazing. All winter long I eat from my garden." Mainville has a vertical hydroponic system designed by EzGro Garden.
2. Scan of Entire Internet Reveals Too Many Leaky Devices
There are 3.7 billion IP addresses on the Internet, and HD Moore has pinged every one of them. Moore is chief security officer at Rapid7, a cyberthreat and risk management company. In February, he decided as a hobby project to conduct a census of all the devices connected to the Internet, using a nest of computers in a spare room in his home. What he found from a security perspective was disturbing. He discovered millions of unsecured embedded devices on the Web -- printers, set-top TV boxes and modems.
IBM has released the world's smallest movie. Company researchers moved thousands of atoms to create a miniature stop-motion movie titled A Boy and His Atom.. The movie, which has 242 frames, was made with a scanning tunneling microscope which IBM has been using to conduct research into storage. The movie has been certified as the world's smallest by the Guinness World Records, according to IBM. "What a great movie!" said Michael F. Crommie, a professor of physics at UC-Berkeley.
4. Download of The Day: Debian Linux 7 ( Wheezy )
Debian GNU/Linux version 7.0 Wheezy has been released ( jump to download ) after many months of constant development and available for download in various media format. Debian 7.0 is a free operating system includes various new features such as multiarch support, several specific tools to deploy private clouds, an improved installer, and a complete set of multimedia codecs and front-ends which remove the need for third-party repositories. Read more: "Download of The Day: Debian Linux 7 ( Wheezy )"
5. Automate Your Home via Voice Commands with Tasker and VeraLite
Reddit user droidkc has shown off his home automation setup controlled entirely by voice commands. The setup can control home lights on a dimmer, the TV, and even XBMC from his phone.
Here's a list of what he used to create this setup:
Tasker
AutoVoice (Tasker plugin)
Yatse (to control XBMC)
VeraLite (Home automation controller, $179)
The comments over on Reddit have more information on how he accomplished this. If you're comfortable creating Tasker profiles and don't mind searching through some home automation forums, you should be able to set up something similar on the cheap.
Voice-controlled Home Automation with Android (Tasker, AutoVoice, AutoRemote, and more...) | Reddit
6. Streaming Music Service Piki Lands on the Web, Offers Sign-Ups to All
Piki, the streaming music service built by the folks behind Turntable.fm, unveiled its webapp today for anyone looking for new, great music to enjoy. You can sign up for an account via the web now (previously it was iOS only) pick a few songs, and start enjoying the music immediately.
We mentioned when Piki launched for iOS, and even highlighted it as one of our favorite underrated streaming music services, but up until now the web player had been in beta and buried under a "beta login" link at the bottom of the service's homepage. Only people who had signed up via the iOS app could log in. Now, it's open to everyone (everyone in the US, that is: You can thank music industry licensing hassles for that) who wants some new music to enjoy.
If you're unfamiliar with Piki, the service uses songs and artists you've "picked" to connect you with other users who have those artists in their library, and similar musicians that you'll love. Then, if you hear something you like, you can "repick" the song to add it to your profile, which further helps refine and expose new music for you to enjoy. Think of it as Turntable.fm on autopilot, and that's a great thing. I've been using the service since it's launched, and I rarely hear a duplicate song, and always hear something I like.
The service is completely free, and has no listening caps or hourly limits (there are limits on how many times you can skip songs, but I haven't hit it yet). If your friends are on Piki, you can search for them by connecting with Twitter, Facebook, or Turntable, but it's not necessary if you don't want to. Oh, and the folks behind the service note that an Android app is on the way soon. If you do sign up, here's my profile—I'm always looking for new music.
7. Why Eating Lunch at Your Desk Might Actually Make You Less Productive
Most office workers have done it before: Scarf down food at our desks because we're too busy to stop working. Fast Company suggests, however, that this might be the most useful time in your day, and eating lunch at your desk could make you less productive overall.
According to author Bob Pozen, you should think of the function that lunch breaks serve and what you could gain from stepping away from your desk. For example:
You could eat alone—perhaps away from a screen. Pozen says that since you’ll sometimes have a very full day, eating alone can help you restore your personal resources. And don’t pull out your phone: An absence of stimulation encourages associative or integrative thought, spurring your creativity. As well, if you have an idea that you’re working on in your head, eating alone allows you to continue uninterrupted
Taking a short nap, a walk, or gym break could also help you avoid the afternoon energy slump.
Some people think lunch breaks are overrated, but it's worth considering whether the time you save by eating lunch at your desk actually costs you more in overall productivity. The good news is there are plenty of ways to use your lunch breaks effectively.
If You Think You're Productive During Lunch, Think Again | Fast Company via Inc
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