Now, charge your phone powered by a hot cup of coffee or a cold beer

Researchers have developed a mobile phone charger that can be powered by either a cold beer or a hot coffee.

The Epiphany One Puck, which doubles as a drinks coaster, connects to a phone with a USB cable. It has two sides, one red, one blue, the Daily Mail reported.

Owners use the red side as a drinks coaster to place a hot drink on it, and the blue side as for a cooling drink such as a beer.

It uses something called a Stirling engine to turn heat into energy.

US company Epiphany Labs, based in New Castle, Pennsylvania, has built a working prototype and hopes to have it on the market early in 2014.

The company is still vague on just how long it takes for the device to charge up a phone because there are a lot of variables at play, including how hot or cold the source is.

Any source of heat that can fit on the Puck will work.

It works best with something that's very warm like a steaming cup of tea or coffee, or very cold like a well chilled beer or soft drink.

Epiphany is aiming to raise 63,000 pounds on fund raising website Kickstarter to turn the prototype into a gadget that can be mass-manufactured.

By Feb 8, more than 25,000 pounds had been raised, and early birds can still get in for a 62-pound pledge price.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/now-charge-your-phone-powered-by-a-hot-cup-of-coffee-or-a-cold-beer/1073078/

Light bulb shining after an incredible 130 years

While most modern light bulbs barely last a year, a bulb in UK is still glowing after an amazing 130 years, making it one of the oldest in the world.

The bulb, dating from 1883, was clearly built to last with six internal filaments which wobble when in use.

It continued to give good service throughout two world wars, shining well into the new millennium, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

The bulb first belonged to the late Florence Crook who once took it to school to dazzle her classmates. It then passed down to her son Kenneth, in Morecambe, Lancshire and is still in use by his widow Beth, 79, at their home.

"It's a real talking point. There is no substitute for craftsmanship. The new eco bulbs take all week to warm up and hardly give off any light," Beth told the 'Daily Express'.

The bulb, marked EDISWAN, has the number 200-32:B.56 on the glass. The UK's previously oldest working bulb surfaced after 113 years continuous use in Margate, Kent, in 2008.

Ediswan was a collaboration between the British Physicist Sir Joseph Swan and US scientist Thomas Alva Edison, both of whom are independently credited with the invention of the light bulb in 1879.

Swan's break through was to use a vacuum which meant there was very little oxygen inside the bulb so the filament to glow white-hot without catching fire.

It rolled of the production line as Queen Victoria was beginning her 64th year on the throne and William Gladstone was the UK Prime Minister, the report said.

According to the Guinness Book of Records the world's oldest light bulb in continuous use has been burning for 109 years and holds pride of place in Fire Station 6, in Livermore, northern California.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/light-bulb-shining-after-an-incredible-130-years/1073013/0

Nutrela Likely To Have New Products To Increase Biz Prospects

Kolkata: Ruchi Soya Industries is planning to have new products in the health and wellness space to increase sales under its flagship soya food brand Nutrela about five-fold in five years, a company executive said on Monday.

Currently the company under the brand sells edible oil, soya chunks and granules, and table spread. The firm has clocked Rs.1,200 crore sales turnover from the brand.

"We have a target to garner Rs.5,000 crore turnover from the Nutrela brand within the next five years," Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd assistant vice president, marketing, consumer brands division, Sandipan Ghosh said here.

"We will be aiming for both inorganic and organic growth. We will be growing from existing categories of around 20 to 30 percent and then we will also be expanding into newer category, which will also fuel the growth," Ghosh said.

He said the newer categories in the health and wellness space would be home-grown and the company was now carrying out a consumer research for that.

"On the basis of the consumer research we are going to decide the potential of the category and potential of our business. As we progress towards second and third quarter of this calendar year, we will see that Nutrela will be expanding into newer category or incrementally innovate into the existing category," he explained.

The makers of the largest-selling soya food brand enjoys about 90 percent market share in organised soya chunks and granules segment.

The firm, which is currently concentrating on domestic market said it will also focus on expanding its presence in tier III and IV cities.

Source: http://www.pardaphash.com/news/nutrela-likely-to-have-new-products-to-increase-biz-prospects/705094.html#.URlHux32815

Intex launches 4.5-inch AQUA Wonder smartphone at Rs 9,990

Intex Aqua Wonder is the latest entrant in the sub-Rs 10,000 smartphone market.

Aqua Wonder is a 3G-enabled dual-SIM device powered by 1GHz processor, 512 MB RAM and runs on Android's Jelly Bean OS.

The 4.5-inch capactive IPS display offers a resolution of 960x540 pixels. Aqua Wonder has an 8MP rear view camera and 1.3MP front camera for video calling.

The device has 1.93 GB internal memory which is expandable up to 32 GB. Intex claims that Aqua Wonder's 1800 mAH battery gives a talktime of 3.5 hours and a standby time of upto 72 hours.

Aqua Wonder comes with popular apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Google Maps, YouTube, Nimbuzz, Skype, Google+.

As introductory offer, Intex has bundled the Aqua Wonder with 4GB microSD card, phone pouch and screen guard at no additional cost.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/intex-launches-4.5inch-aqua-wonder-smartphone-at-rs-9990/1072630/

MapmyIndia launches Lx340 Navigator at Rs 8,990

Digital maps and GPS provider MapmyIndia has added another product -- Lx340 Navigator – to its navigation devices portfolio. Lx340 Navigator has a 4.3-inch display for seamless navigation.

MapmyIndia says Lx340 Navigator has comprehensive and detailed pre-installed maps which provide for door-to-door navigation in 39 cities and connectivity 5,79,000 towns and villages across India. Built-in maps mean no more recurring charges and no dependence on internet or mobile network for navigation.

The device's Don't Panic software features instant route calculation and re-routing to help users find routes available to reach their destination. It has visual and audible alerts for lane guidance, over-speeding and road signs.

Shivalik Prasad, Executive Director, MapmyIndia, says, "With Lx340, we're making available to all car owners in India, a powerful and premium GPS navigation and entertainment experience, at a very affordable and attractive price point. We're excited to further accelerate the strong proliferation of in-car GPS navigation systems in India and power every car in India with a MapmyIndia product in the coming time, and will continue to innovate and invent new products and technologies to deliver the best navigation and driving experience to Indians."

Specs:

*SiRF V GPS chipset with Windows CE 6.0 OS

*Matte-black finish,

*Dimensions: 118x82x12.5mm, Net weight: 124 g

*In-built 2GB storage with expandable SD card slot up to 8GB (for movies, music, photos)

*950mAH battery

*4.3-inch (10.9 cm) LCD touchscreen display with 480 x 272 pixels resolution

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mapmyindia-launches-lx340-navigator-at-rs-8990/1072634/

Dell launches Inspiron 15z for Rs 41,990

Dell launched a new laptop, Inspiron 15z, for Rs 41,990. The ultrabook comes with a 15.6-inch LED display with a resolution of 1366x768 pixels. The aluminium chassis is 2.1 cm thick and the laptop weighs 2.17 kg. Another model, which is 2.3 cm thick and weighs 2.46 kg, comes with a touchscreen.

Inspiron 15z runs Windows 8 and comes with a 1-MP web camera.

The laptop has Intel's third generation Core-series processor and Nvidia GeForce GT630M 2GB graphics card and 500 GB storage (HDD), but users can also opt for faster solid state drives (up to 256GB). The keyboard has backlighting and is water resistant. The touchpad is optimised for Windows 8.

Connectivity options on the Dell Inspiron 15z are Intel WiDi, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 3.0, ethernet, HDMI and a slot for various memory cards. It has Skullcandy speakers.

Shishir Singh, Director, Product Marketing, Dell India said, "We at Dell always strive to come up with something innovative which addresses all the needs of our consumers. The Inspiron 15z combines upscale style and features in a sleek and glamorous design with best-in-class technology."

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dell-launches-inspiron-15z-for-rs-41990/1072635/

Colours of exoplanets could reveal signs of life

One way to find whether exoplanets would contain life forms would be by looking at their distinctive colours, say scientists.

When seen from space, Earth gives off a large amount of near-infrared light, which is reflecting off the chlorophyll in plants.

It is possible that we might see a similar "red edge" on distant exoplanets if they also host green vegetation.

But Siddharth Hegde and Lisa Kaltenegger of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, think that many rocky worlds will possibly have extreme heat, dryness or acidity, and that hardier life forms will dominate their surfaces, according to the New Scientist.

To find out what would these organisms look like from a distance, the pair looked at the light reflected by some of Earth''s more extreme life forms: lichens in arid regions, bacterial mats in very hot water and red algae in acid mine drainage.

They calculated that seen from afar each type of organism would create a unique colour pattern. Lichens, for instance, appear more yellow than the algae or bacteria.

Finding these patterns could help narrow down exoplanets for more detailed searches, the scientists said.

It''s an attractive idea, said Nicolas Cowan of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

But he noted that the work has its limits.

For instance, he said that atmospheres on other planets may be very different from our own and could scatter light in ways we wouldn''t expect.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/colours-of-exoplanets-could-reveal-signs-of-life/1072539/