To start the heart journey plug in the small iOS module to the user's device and clip the sensor end to the earlobe to get an instant heart rhythm reading.

ENGADGET: HeartMath unveils Inner Balance iOS app and sensor for managing stress, clearing the mind

Cutuli's brother, Mario Cutuli, told reporters on Friday that an autopsy had shown she had four gunshots in the back and that an earlobe had been slashed off with a blade.

CNN: Italy mourns murdered journalist

He'd merely be a spammer if the intention of these emails were to entice people to buy, say, iPod knockoffs from China or herbal remedies promising overnight enlargement of earlobe size in people who were insecure about that sort of thing.

CNN: The world's most poisonous phish

The fingertip-sized UbiChip that forms the guts of the device can be put into pretty much anything provided it's in contact with your skin and it can detect the shock so you could turn on a Bluetooth headset by tapping your earlobe rather than fumbling for a button, or tweak the volume of your cellphone by tapping your face.

ENGADGET: A fingertap away