Water Bottles to Illuminate a Million Homes

In Manila, the capital of the Philippines, lack of electricity keeps millions of the city’s poorer inhabitants in the dark. Metal rooftops on the city’s slum houses also block natural daylight, but students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found a cheap and elegant solution to the problem: plastic water bottles.

By filling a plastic bottle with water and bleach (to prevent algae from growing), students and residents can fashion a solar lamp that fills even the gloomiest shelters with light. It works thanks to phenomenon you may have learned in physics class – refraction. When sunlight passes through the bottle and hits the water, its rays bend and disperse in many different directions.

Installation is as simple as cutting a small circular hole in the metal roof, placing the bottle in the opening, and sealing the edges to stop rainwater leakage. After the lamps are fitted, they provide light equivalent to a 60 watt light bulb and can last up to 5 years without needing to be replaced.
Volunteers have already installed over 10,000 of these lamps all over Manila through the Isang Litrong Liwanag (“A Liter of Light”) project.
Led by Filipino MIT alum Illac Diaz, A Liter of Light is an organized initiative to bring light to over one million homes by 2012. Their Solar Bottle Bulb is “based on the principles of Appropriate Technology – a concept that provides simple and easily replicable technologies that address basic needs in developing communities.”
Watch this news report on the bulb installations:
For more information on the Appropriate Technology movement and the inventions it has spawned, check out this blog. Also, be sure to read our profile of MIT mechanical engineering professor Amy Smith, founder of the school’s D-Lab, which offers “different courses at the intersection of technology innovation and international development.”

The World's Sweetest Printer

The World’s Sweetest Printer

Researchers at Britain’s University of Exeter have developed a 3-D printer that Willy Wonka would die for. Instead of using metals or plastics as its “ink,” Exeter’s uses chocolate.
Sometimes called additive manufacturing, 3-D printing technologies work off a three-dimensional CAD design of a product, then construct the item by laying down one very thin layer of material at a time. But this is the first time researchers have used chocolate as a medium.

It’s not proved easy: Chocolate doesn’t flow properly unless it is heated and cooled to precise temperatures. The team, led by Liang Hao, a materials scientist in Exeter’s College of Engineering, developed new temperature and heating control systems to make the prototype printer work. Hao envisions the day when consumers can download CAD software, create a design (or modify an existing one), send it to a shop, and pick up their self-designed sweet treat 10 minutes later. Not surprisingly, several chocolate retailers are already expressing interest in the invention. Although chocolate is hard to work with, it is much tastier than plastic.

Aakam team's Short film 8.30 am

GOOGLE+ VS FACEBOOK

Google+ vs Facebook 

Facebook currently sits pretty at the top of the social networking ladder and has maintained its grasp for a while now. It is clear that Google+ has been created with the intention of directly competing with Facebook. Google+ does offer more in some aspects, and is somewhat of a combination of Facebook and Twitter, but a lot of the features that attracted many people to Facebook are missing in Google+. But while many Google+ features have been inspired by Facebook, does it offer enough to challenge Facebook for its number 1 spot?

 

Sharing and

 Privacy

With circles, Google+ makes your privacy and sharing a lot easier as you have already got segregated groups of contacts. Sharing information or links on your profile is quite similar between both social networks, with the option to choose specific people, specific groups, tag people or hide or delete posts. Google+ takes it a step further by giving you the option to allow your posts to be re-shared or even prevent comments from your posts. As far as privacy settings are concerned, there are a few minor differences. While both parties state that any material directly posted to the site, such as a status, comment or wall post is licensed to the social network, any links, sites, videos or images that you share from a different location are not owned by them. The difference is that Google+ allows you to completely shut down your account and leave, while Facebook only gives you the option to deactivate your account. Google+ also gives you the option of taking all your data with you, effectively asking them to wipe clean all the stuff you’ve uploaded or shared on Google+, which Facebook does not. Both parties also share information with third party applications or websites, although there exist very few for Google+ so far. The difference is that Facebook shares a lot more information than Google+ does, since the latter allows you to limit your shared data to just your name and email address.

Layout

Facebook users shouldn’t have trouble acquainting themselves with Google+. The central placement and format of the stream, the arrangement of circles and friends on the left side bar, and the placement of recommendations on the right side bar are all almost identical to the Facebook home screen. Google+ differs only slightly in the personal profile page, offering organized tabs for your information, photos, videos, etc. The addition of the ‘Google Bar’ at the top of the window is also reminiscent of Facebook with the notifications icon moved to the right side of the screen. The only difference where Google+ has an advantage is that the Google Bar is static as long as you are navigating between Google services such as Picasa, Documents, Reader, etc. Another very noticeable difference is the lack of ads on Google+. Facebook ads are well segregated, but still draw attention. Even worse is the fact that the material in the ad is sometimes not related to the content on the website it links to. Whether Google+ will open its doors to ads only time will tell.

+1 vs Like

The Google+ equivalent of a Facebook ‘Like’ is the +1. While +1 is similar to Like when it comes to appreciating someone’s post or comment, it can also be used to create bookmarks from Google search results, websites, videos and more. The Facebook Like button is best used to share groups, pages or apps within Facebook as your Likes are posted to your wall and appear on your friends’ timelines. +1, on the other hand, is more discrete, allowing you to archive material that you would wish to view in the future without sharing it on your profile or appearing on anyone’s stream. Every Google+ profile has a +1 tab that contains all the websites or links that you have +1’d. It does not, however, display comments on posts on Google+ that you have +1’d.

 

Apps

Facebook saw a drastic rise in popularity with the introduction of games, apps and quizzes. They are also the reason people started spending more time and money on Facebook, driving up revenue. While some users on Facebook were unappreciative of apps and games like Farmville, it is these apps that brought more traffic to Facebook. Google+ is still in its early days and Google are known for doing things differently, but it would be hard for anyone aiming to be on top of the social networking ladder to ignore the success of apps. Many new users on Google+ claim it to be better due to the absence of ads and apps, but the absence of apps could also be the reason a lot of users haven’t signed up yet.

Chat

This is one of the features where Google+ has outdone Facebook. Plus is incorporated with the standard Gchat panel, which is similar to Facebook chat, whereby you can text chat with any contact that is currently online. Google+ also features hangouts, where you can have a multi-person video chat with up to ten people. The interface is quite intuitive and also allows you to share Youtube videos while video chatting. To match this, Facebook has announced a video chat service of their own in conjunction with Skype, which allows users to have a one-to-one video chat, but this service is currently not available to all users.

 

Friends vs Circles

Google has approached ‘friending’ from a slightly different angle. Like Twitter, it enables users to ‘follow’ people rather than request their permission to view their profile. While this makes it easier to find friends and broaden your network, it does put more pressure on the user to ensure every post is on the correct privacy setting. Google+ forces you to place people into different circles, enabling you to share information with a certain group of people without having other contacts view it. This is helpful when you wish to share sensitive information with a select group of people. Facebook also allows for such grouping of friends with lists but the option to share material with a specific list is a tedious process. Another important aspect is that your circles on Google+ are invisible to others, while anyone on Facebook can see your groups and which groups you belong to unless they are specifically locked. The fact that Google+ forces you to segment your contacts rather than giving you the option of doing it makes selectively sharing information a lot easier. Google+ also allows you to prevent unknown people from viewing your friends or people in your circles, effectively displaying your list of friends as ‘0’.

 

The Minus in Google+  

Google created waves in cyberspace by sandboxing Google+ at its inception on June 28. Any avid social networker would be excited at the prospect of having a profile on a social network created by Google and the restricted access to Google+ only elevated the anticipation. Google initially sent invites only to users who they believed were extremely active on social networks in order to get experienced users to spread the word. As a result, talk of Google+ spread like wildfire across popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

There are still

 a few cracks

While Google has stated on several occasions that Google+ is still in beta testing, users have brought up a few security issues that need to be addressed soon if the service is to be successful. For instance, blocking a person on your profile will prevent his/her updates from appearing on your stream, but if you have a mutual friend who reshares your posts, the person you blocked can also read and comment on them. There is also an issue with posts not updating in real-time and delayed email notifications but this might be a teething issue since Plus is still at a nascent stage.

Spam in your Inbox

The servers running out of disk space not only prevented users from signing in or uploading content, it also affected the Gmail notifications. A Google representative explained “For about 80 minutes we ran out of disk space on the service that keeps track of notifications. Hence our system continued to try sending notifications. Over, and over again”. This resulted in users getting multiple emails regarding undelivered notifications and when the issue was solved, users received multiple notifications that were not delivered earlier.

The Rush for Invites

The spread of Google+ by word-of-mouth led to mass requests for invites from users that had not had the opportunity to join it. Google claim that access to the site was limited as they did not have servers that would be capable of handling excessive loads. Steadily, Google+ allowed its members to send out invites for brief windows every few days, thereby slowly increasing the number of members. However, it was not long before users discovered flaws in the system that allowed users to join the network without an invite.

Server Overload

As users discovered loopholes in the Google+ system to give their contacts access to the site, the number of users increased exponentially. It was possible for new users to join the network by simply getting an existing Google+ user to share a post with them or tag them in photos. If a link or a page was shared with a non-member or the non-member was tagged in a photo on Google+, they would receive a notification of this via e-mail. The e-mail contained a link, which allowed users to create a new profile. The unexpected influx of new users had adverse effects on Google’s servers, however, causing them to go over capacity and making the site inaccessible.

 

But there’s not much happening

Even though anyone and everyone is keen to sign up to Google+, once you’re there, the excitement is quite short-lived. After exploring the site and its features, users quickly realize that there’s very little activity. Compared to the frequency with which there is a new post on your Facebook news feed, the Google+ stream is relatively static, mostly due to the reduced number of friends in your circles. With the scarcity of content in the stream, users are quick to lose interest and defer back to Facebook to follow their friends’ activities.

Advertising on Google+

Where most existing Google+ users used the loopholes to bring their friends and family to the new social network, a few companies saw it as novel methods of advertising or marketing their brands. PH Creative, an Israeli ad agency, capitalized on the popularity of Google+ to advertize its brand name and services by announcing that they were sending invites to anyone in the marketing industry. The message spread, and in just a few hours, their mailbox was flooded with requests for invites. PH Creative promptly provided these people with a doorway into Google+ by tagging them in a photo and giving them instructions on how to get started. Once their profile was created, these new users had just one friend - PH Creative. The company then shared and uploaded its portfolio to Google+, resulting in these new users having their stream flooded by information only about PH Creative.

Will GooGLE+

go the distance?

With people already busy leading their lives in cyberspace courtesy Facebook, the addition of yet another social networking site is likely to cause little stir. One thing is for sure; it’s difficult to escape Google, the omnipresent Web powerhouse that’s everywhere. People who have signed up for Google+ will simply find it difficult to ignore the notifications that appear in the Google notification bar. And as the invitations open up, more and more people will sign up for Google+, at least to give it a try. Since Google already has access to the databases of all the people we interact with courtesy Gmail, you will not have to go find people you know; Google will bring them to you.

Google+ definitely has an edge over the competition as they can track the problems people experience with other social networks. They knew exactly what people were looking for, what worked and didn’t work, and what people wanted. Little wonder then that at first glance, Google appears to have integrated the best features from other popular social networking sites into Plus. Additionally, you also have new features like Sparks making sure you do not need to go beyond Google for anything you need from the Internet.

And considering the reach of Google, social networking will now be available to even those people who had so far managed to keep out of the social networking craze.  While for those who are already busy juggling their various online profiles, addition of Google+ can cause some anxiety. Prominent psychologist Varkha Chulani says that while social networking in itself is not a bad thing, what’s missing is balance. She says, “In most cases what’s happening is that people are loosing the balance between reality and the virtual world. They are losing perspective, because at the end of the day, success is not going to be measured in terms of social networking skills, but by what one does and knows in real life. A new site will make no difference, and for it to make an impact, it will have to offer something really exciting.”

All said and done, the question still remains - will people jump onto the Google+ bandwagon? After spending a great deal of time and effort on setting up their social networks on the likes of Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, are people willing to do the same for Google+? Then again, there is the view that some might look to Google+ as a way to ‘reset’ their online presence, and this time add only ‘real’ friends on Google+, rather than the ‘friending’ spree they undertook on other networks. 

Now its your Choice to decide which is a better social network for your needs friends.

Bladeless Fan A new invention....

In October 2009, James Dyson's consumer electronics company, famous for its line of vacuum cleaners, introduced a new device to the market called the Dyson Air Multiplier. The Air Multiplier is a fan with an unusual characteristic: it doesn't have any visible blades. It appears to be a circular tube mounted on a pedestal. The shallow tube is only a few inches deep.

Looking at the device, you wouldn't expect to feel a breeze coming from the mounted circle. There are no moving parts in sight. But if the fan is switched on, you'll feel air blowing through the tube. How does it work? How can an open circle push air into a breeze without fan blades?

As you might imagine, there are a few scientific principles at play here. There's also an electronic element. While the tube doesn't have any blades inside it, the pedestal of the fan contains a brushless electric motor that takes in air and feeds it into the circular tube. Air flows along the inside of the device until it reaches a slit inside the tube. This provides the basic airflow that creates the breeze you'd feel if you stood in front of the fan. Dyson claims that the Air Multiplier generates a breeze with 15 times more air than what the device actually takes in.

According to Dyson, the breeze generated by the Air Multiplier is more consistent and steady than one from a standard fan with blades. Since there are no rotating blades, the breeze from the fan doesn't buffet you with short gusts of air.

What's the secret behind the technology?

The Mechanics of the Air Multiplier

Calling the Dyson Air Multiplier a fan with no blades is perhaps a touch misleading. There are blades in the fan -- you just can't see them. The pedestal hides the blades. A motor rotates nine asymmetrically-aligned blades to pull air into the device. According to Dyson, these blades can pull in up to 5.28 gallons (about 20 liters) of air per second.

The air flows through a channel in the pedestal up to the tube, which is hollow. The interior of the tube acts like a ramp. Air flows along the ramp, which curves around and ends in slits in the back of the fan. Then, the air flows along the surface of the inside of the tube and out toward the front of the fan. But how does the fan multiply the amount of air coming into the pedestal of the device?

It boils down to physics. While it's true that the atmosphere is gaseous, gases obey the physical laws of fluid dynamics. As air flows through the slits in the tube and out through the front of the fan, air behind the fan is drawn through the tube as well. This is called inducement. The flowing air pushed by the motor induces the air behind the fan to follow.

Air surrounding the edges of the fan will also begin to flow in the direction of the breeze. This process is called entrainment. Through inducement and entrainment, Dyson claims the Air Multiplier increases the output of airflow by 15 times the amount it takes in through the pedestal's motor.

Upon its launch, Dyson made available two sizes of the Air Multiplier. The larger model has a fan with a 12-inch diameter (about 30.5 centimeters). The smaller model has a 10-inch diameter (25.4 centimeters). The stylish fans weren't cheap -- the smaller model's suggested retail price was $299.99, while the larger fan would cost you $329.99. That's a pretty steep price for a device that pushes air at you.

There's no question that the Dyson Air Multiplier is a striking invention. Its sleek design and innovative technology set the blogosphere abuzz when it launched. Perhaps in the future none of our fans will have visible blades.