Latest Inventions

posted by admin on Aug 16

Hello Again - and what a great time to be at the fore-front of the latest inventions and technology!

Almost every day, there is an announcement about something great to advance our thinking or challenge our current ways of thinking - the future looks so different - if only we would make the change!

Looking back over time Adam Park takes us through his top 10 Tech Milestones That Changed The World for a glance at the past - and hopefully they can take us places in the future!

Add to this some of the following technological information here from Susan, as she details her best 25 Startups Revolutionizing Biotechnology. Even small things can make a huge difference!

Staying with the prefix ‘bio’ - take a look at the amazing advances and technology involved with Mike’s great article on: Massive Future MRI Machine Promises to Unravel the Secrets of Human Biochemistry! Great stuff!

Moving on to inventions today - read on if you want to know about something new: Coming Soon to a Classroom Near You: 10 Things To Know About Robot Teachersby the converted Erin Lenderts! Now I’m not sure if these will ever really take over in mainstream schools - but the idea for smaller groups or adult learners could really be a good thing!

And, if you ignore all the adverts at the top - scroll down to a very thorough article by Rick Cole as he reviews the difference between to very similar in-car technologies: Garmin vs TomTom. Worth a peak if you are considering a sat nav in the future.

And finally - How to use Twitter in a way I hadn’t really thought off: Sharons719 offers us 50 “Healthy” Ways to Use Twitter. Very interesting!

And on that note - get back outside and enjoy the nice weather before winter sets in!

posted by admin on Aug 10

Why cram your office full of old-fashioned phone technology - when the solution is to get rid of it all!

You don’t need a separate scanner and fax machine anymore (the 2 are combined), a whole room for your computers (laptops are shrinking) or even a computer to update your emails or write documents (a smart phone or iPad will do!).

So why are you still struggling to maintain and house your hired phone system in your office?

If you are thinking of improving your business - and the perception of your business - then VoIP for business could be just what you are looking for - so let’s learn more about what it can offer the small and large business - whatever your business!

VoIP Today:
This Internet-based communication system was first hyped up to get ‘free’ phone calls over the Internet by plugging a headset into your computer - but it has certainly come a long way now.

Your office phone system could be completely off-site - with no hiring, storage and maintenance of hefty or bulky equipment - basically you just have your own phones and your existing phone line - everything else is off-site and so there is nothing to worry about.

Basically, you can have all the services you currently have with your ground-based phone system with the constantly improving Internet-based VoIP.  Whether it’s conference calls, call divert or ansa-phone systems - it will all be exactly the same as before - only better!

Not only will it be better - but it will be quicker, easier and cheaper than your existing system - virtually guaranteed!

Business Benefits:
Well, the most obvious benefit will be the financial savings involved!  Not only are VoIP calls cheaper in the first place - you won’t be having to pay to hire any equipment to get started.

There will be no maintenance costs at all - as all the equipment is off-site, except your own phones and computers.  Any upgrades can be quickly and easily added to your account overnight via your IP rather than having to change software or hardware yourself (no doubt at an extra cost as well!).

There is also no need to sign a long term contract as these services are usually charged for monthly usage only rather than the huge investment you make by taking on a whole hardware system. 

And most businesses can save between 50-85% on existing calls - as you simply pay for each user, not the number of calls they make!  So no more paying extra to call during working hours - or waiting to the weekend to save a few pence a minute.  And think of that ‘free’ time on the phone to spend on talking to your new clients, or calling to update your existing clients and answer any of their questions.

You can be online with your new VoIP system in minutes rather than having to waste days fitting and wiring a contract system throughout your office - and of course there is no need to stay in the same office for the length of your contract to save moving it all and rewiring everything at your new office.  This system is totally phone-line based and is only fixed to a phone number - not a building or postcode!

And you don’t even need to give up your existing business numbers to sign up - they are totally transferable onto your business VoIP account!

I don’t know what you are waiting for!

posted by admin on Jul 16

In no particular order, this months articles all seem to have a numbers theme!

There are 100 amazing these, 50 free those and 5 more of something else!

All listed like the articles they will lead you to - you have the choice as to what you want to hop on the links for to have a more in-depth look into. They all tell you roughly what area they cover - so you can go from there.

And I hope you can use some of these well researched links…….

1) Rose King offers a massive energy listing with her huge article on: 100 Amazing Lectures to Follow the Future of Energy.

2) Suzane Smith helps us to modify our design work or school work with: 70 Awesome Open Source Tools for Graphic Designers.

3) Alvaro Cramton geeks it up with: Top 50 Computer Science Blogs.

4) Leonard Gilhooley sees through all this with these great images to see the unseen with: 5 Sites With Free & Interesting X-Ray Photos.

5) Diane Laine chirps and tweets out about her social networking research with: 5 Twitter Users Every Info Junkie Should Follow.

6) Alex Carson offers us teachers a huge resource pool with his massive listings of: 100 Great Tech Talks for Educators.

7) Engelbert Hudson brings us back to routine with our monthly injection of apps - but this time for study with: 25 Excellent iPad Apps for Scripture Study.

So, there must be something for everyone in that bunch!

If not, then join us next month for the next Latest Inventions Blog Carnival.  We are always on the lookout for great articles - and the odd apps listing.  Whether it’s science, space, medicine or some gadget just for fun - if it’s new or a great research article - then send it in right here to share with all my readers.

posted by admin on Jul 6

I mean, is biodegradable plastic such a good invention after all?

It always seems like an invention suddenly comes along and you think ‘wow, that is absolutely fantastic!’ - until you think it through for a bit longer.

Well this is exactly like that.

The invention is still a great idea - but the implications of it could actually have worse effects than before it was invented!

Why?  Well let’s follow through the life cycle of a plastic bottle and see what happens - but first - what is biodegradable plastic all about?

The Invention:
Regular plastics are made of polymers that can take literally for ever to break down.  They will do though - at varying rates - depending on the type of plastic they are it can be months or years before they start to break apart.

Now, we all know that plastics will never actually really ‘biodegrade’ in the sense of breaking down into total natural products that can be used again by organisms - but the word is used for the relatively fast breakdown of an entire container or sheet of plastic.

Now, this plastic is made to contain certain other particles that will help to induce and encourage the ‘natural’ breakdown of the item.  Just like burying a plastic carrier bag in damp mud will help it to weaken and fall apart.

So, anyway - they have come up with 2 types - Hydro-Biodegradable Plastics (HBP) and Oxo-Biodegradable Plastics (OBP) - and they work either by the chemical actions of hydrolysis or oxidation respectively to reduce the overall bulk of the product.

This then renders it into small enough pieces that natural bio-degradation can start to act on the remaining parts, reducing the product to it’s chemical components much faster than normal.
 
The Problem:
Normal plastics have been designed to be virtually indestructible, therefore you can use a plastic bottle over and over and over again. Even if you can recycle it - it is still as strong as it was before.

This was the original problem, meaning that plastic products never broke down:

Old Plastic Bottle: Brought new with product inside - product used up - container cleaned - container reused to carry another product - and another - and another -and another - then the container is recycled to start all over.

However, now this means that all new plastic will only have a short shelf life - too short for some - in fact, it is already making regular plastic fall apart as well!

New Plastic Bottle:  Brought new with product inside - product used up - container cleaned - container thrown in compost heap to degrade - the end!

So, how is it affecting new bottles?  Well - biodegradable plastics shouldn’t ever be recycled as it will compromise the quality and durability of new mixed plastics - basically it is starting to make recycled products less reliable!

If you buy a product in a biodegradable container, you must dispose of it after use - this means more plastic is being produced and thrown away than ever before!

At least with the regular plastic, you could reuse your toiletries bottles when travelling, use old pots and tubs for planting and store water and food over and over again.

Not with this new invention!  You will just have to keep replacing your containers and as a result, dispose of more plastic than ever!  And in fact, there are governments who are really getting angry about these new plastics and is trying to get them eliminated!

The Answer?
Well, we still need the regular plastic and we still want the biodegradable plastics!

Can they both co-exist or has 1 got to go?

I suppose it all depends on the person using it as to how beneficial each type is - to them and the planet.  Can you trust people not to recycle the new type - and can you trust people to recycle the old type?

Is it better to have lots of old plastic going around and around  - or only new plastic, but a higher production rate?

Well, maybe financially - it was a better invention after all!

posted by admin on Jul 2

Imagine lighting your rural home all night without the cost - and danger - of kerosene fuel and fumes!

Millions of homes in rural Africa are now all proud owners of the new eco lamp called The Kiran.  It is a simple solar powered lamp that is free to power and could save the lives of over 1.5 million people a year based on current statistics!

Now, that is a good enough advocate for this new lamp as it is - but it is also very eco friendly as well - and infact that is what it has recently won the Ashden Award 2010 for Sustainable Energy.  

The Lamp:
Basically, it is just a simple hand held lamp that harnesses the sunlight during the day, and releases it when needed during the evening.

However, it has been specially designed to be not only durable and cheap to produce and sell - but made to offer the same if not better lighting than the existing alternative: kerosene.

Over 75% of households in Africa have no access to electricity - and for those that do, the supply is not always 24 hour!  Therefore they have no alternative than to light with other means, and this is usually kerosene gas.  A gas that is known to gives of unpleasant and dangerous fumes when used internally or in badly ventilated areas.

Infact it is estimated that over 1.5 million people a year in Africa alone die from bad ventilation in combination with kerosene fumes.  Not to mention the cost of buying and storing the fuel in the first place - and the risks of house fires and personal injury.

Needless to say, D Lights small solar lamp eliminates all of that worry for the consumers!

It has 2 light settings depending on your use requirements and also has various positions for the handle so you can carry it, suspend it or fix it to a wall.  It’s fat base allows it to stand freely on a table of the floor as well. 

The Result:
This just goes to show you that the simplest things are still some of the best inventions!

Just the right design at the right time in the right place - and the invention is a winner.  I mean you have been able to get a chain of little solar lights for your garden for years now; but they didn’t win any awards!

They didn’t need to be so practical and so durable - and were infact made to be priced as profitably as possible rather than as affordable as possible!  Ironically it is the cost effective version here that is winning awards and selling millions of products.

So maybe you budding inventors need to think of something else simple and everyday that could be tweaked to make another great invention!

Get designing!