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Enlarge / The 2013 Nexus 7.

Perennial product leaker Evan Blass claims that a new Google tablet is on the way. Huawei will apparently be building a 7-inch tablet for Google, making the device a follow-up to the Nexus 7. Blass says the device is due out before the end of the year.

Google's Huawei-built 7-inch tablet, with 4GB RAM, on track for release before the end of the year.

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) September 5, 2016

Huawei-built "Nexus 7" rumors have been floating around for some time. Last year, TechTimes reported on a Huawei-made Nexus 7 that would launch in 2016, but the site's suggested launch time of "Google I/O" didn't pan out. Blass' comments are definitely the most reliable source of Nexus 7 rumors we've seen yet.

Of course "Nexus" probably won't be the name of this device. Google is undergoing the Great Hardware Unification of 2016, and according to a report from Android Police, the Nexus line is going away to make way for a unified "Pixel" line. The two upcoming Google phones are reportedly going to be branded "Pixel" and "Pixel XL." If that report holds true, this device would probably be branded a "Pixel," too.

Enlarge / Computer vision is a critical technology for smart, connected devices of the future. (Credit: Intel Corporation) (credit: Intel)

Last night, Intel announced that it will buy Movidius, an Irish company that makes computer vision processors used in devices such as drones and virtual reality systems. According to Intel's press release, the goal is to weave Movidius' technology in with Intel's RealSense cameras to enhance "computer vision and perceptual computing" in its devices.

Movidius has been around for nearly a decade, making low-power, high-performance SoCs that have been used by the likes of Lenovo, DJI, and others. It has also created algorithms for deep learning, depth processing, and navigation, so it's easy to see why Intel would want to use both of those pieces in its RealSense camera systems. While Intel has the "eyes" of the computer down with RealSense, Movidius' technology will likely become an integrated part of the computer's "brain" as the visual cortex.

Intel says it's particularly looking to integrate Movidius' work into augmented, virtual, and merged reality systems as well as robotics and security systems. Intel has been shopping around for companies that contribute to this bottom line; just last month, the company acquired the deep-learning company Nervana Systems to help it compete in the AI sphere. Recent acquisitions show how Intel has broadened its focus away from x86, turning its attention to new technology like virtual reality devices, drones, and smart home products.

(credit: Marc Falardeau)

Another major site breach from four years ago has resurfaced. Today, LeakedSource revealed that it had received a copy of a February 2012 dump of the user database of Rambler.ru, a Russian search, news, and e-mail portal site that closely mirrors the functionality of Yahoo. The dump included usernames, passwords, and ICQ instant messaging accounts for over 98 million users. And while previous breaches uncovered by LeakedSource this year had at least some encryption of passwords, the Rambler.ru database stored user passwords in plain text—meaning that whoever breached the database instantly had access to the e-mail accounts of all of Rambler.ru's users.

The breach is the latest in a series of "mega-breaches" that LeakedSource says it is processing for release. Rambler isn't the only Russian site that has been caught storing unencrpyted passwords by hackers. In June, a hacker offered for sale the entire user database of the Russian-language social networking site VK.com (formerly VKontakte) from a breach that took place in late 2012 or early 2013; that database also included unencrypted user passwords, as ZDNet's Zach Whittaker reported.

The Rambler database shows that its users had the same proclivity toward using weak passwords as users of other sites breached during the same period—the most common password, used by 723,039 users, was "asdasd," followed by 437,638 accounts that used "asdasd123." The majority of the top 50 passwords were simple numerical sequences. While that would be expected for "throwaway" passwords for sites with relatively low levels of privacy data (such as Last.fm), Rambler provides e-mail services—so the risk to user privacy of weak passwords was much higher.