Life Of Navin

Here's something I bet you've never heard of before...... Pretty soon, if these bunch of scientists have their way, tearing paper may become harder than ripping through a sheet of iron!!

Scientists at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm have come up with a new form of nanopaper which possesses extraordinary strength even though it is produced from cellulose, a biological material found in conventional paper.

In plant cell walls individual cellulose molecules bind together to produce fibres around 10 nanometres in radius. (Multiply that into 1000, and you get the width of a human hair!!). These fibres form tough networks that provide the cell walls with structural support.

"Cellulose nanofibres are the main reinforcement in all plant structures and are characterised by nanoscale dimensions, high strength and toughness" Said a scientist associated with the project.

Until now, cellulose has only been used as a cheap filler material, and its mechanical properties have completely been ignored.

Mechanical testing shows that the nanopaper has a tensile strength of 214 Megapascals, making it stronger than cast iron (130 MPa) and almost as strong as structural steel (250 MPa)!!

Normal paper, the ones you rip through when you've had a bad day, has a tensile strength less than 1 MPa. So, tearing through this nanopaper is equivalent to tearing through more than 200 sheets of "normal paper"!!!

The secret to the nanopaper's performance is due to the strength of unharmed cellulose and the network formation of cellulose strings. Although strongly bound together, they are still able to slide over each other to dissipate strain.

This new "nanopaper" could be used to reinforce conventional paper, produce "extra-strong" sticky tape or help create tough synthetic replacements for biological tissues --Lars Berglund, Swedish Royal Institute of Technology

Firefox 3.0 is going online today, the 17th of June. And its Download Day, Mozilla's massive internet PR gig that I'd written about earlier.The attempt to break the record began at 1230 IST. More than 1.3 million people have "pledged" to download the new version today. WHat remains to be seen is how many people actually download the browser in the next 24 hours. Especially consied

New features in Version 3 include

• Automatic warnings when users stray onto malicious webpages.

• A "Smart Location Bar" that lets people return to places they have visited even if they have not bookmarked them.

Firefox 3 will work with Windows 2000 onwards and other OS's including Linux.

According to the Mozillaparty website more than 550 celebrations are planned for the browser's launch worldwide.

Firefox is currently thought to be used by about 15-17% of web users in the US and nearly 30% in Europe. With version 3.0, Mozilla is aiming for a minimum of 20 % stake in the worldwide browser pie-chart.

Fact: Firefox 2.0 registered 1.6 million downloads on the day it was made available (24 October, 2006)

Meanwhile, Microsoft has announced that the beta version of IE8 is due coming August.

As a diehard Firefox fanatic, I've already downloaded my copy of Firefox 3. But I'm still wondering if others will emulate my example!!

Oh, and by the way, did I mention that they also give you a certificate to "appreciate your efforts"?? Its somewhat like the appreciation certificate I got when I sent my name to the moon. Its in the form of a 450KB personalized PDF file. Here's a pic of mine

Firefox is making very steady encroachment in to the market. It's a very serious contender to the world domination of IE --Adam Vahed, Apache Solutions.

Samsung has become the latest mobile phone manufacturer to unveil eco-friendly phones… and to show that its commited to the environment, the international cellphone manufacturer has released not one, but two eco-products.

After Dell's Bamboo cased eco-desktop, LG's eco-friendly monitor, Apple's solar escapade and Intuit's solar Concept phone among others, Samsung has also decided to launch its own range of green products.

The Samsung W510 is made from bio-plastics which are made using materials from natural corn. In making the model as well the environment has been maintained as the prime, so no heavy metals like lead, mercury or cadmium have been used in the construction of this cellphone.

The other phone on display, the Samsung F268, is more focussed on green "use" rather than construction. The model does not contain Brominated Flame Retardants (BFR) or Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC), which can contaminate the environment on disposal.

The F268 also has an alarm to alert the user when the device has reached full charge. Trying their hand to save some electricity, isn’t it? Other specifications however are a mystery.

“Now we are trying not only to launch more environmentally-conscious products with more renewable material and less energy consuming, but also to expand proactively set up a phone recycling system" said Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecommunication Business.

However, the W510 will be launched in Korea while the F268 will premier in China later this month. No plans for a launch in India as of now. Boo Hoo Hoo..... Why Why Why?? We also want to buy snazzy cellphones that save the environment.... Serious!!

Samsung is striving to continue to be a strong corporate citizen that contributes to environmental --Geechung Choi

If you're Indian, then unless you've been dead for the last decade or so, you'll definitely have heard of Rajnikant, Seen a Rajnikant Movie, Met a Rajnikant Fan,!! The Southern Superstar has held a position over the past many years which, in some ways, is even greater than God himself.........So here's one for all you Rajni fans out there

Funny?? But I swear, its all True!!




































You can also see the picture here. So what say?? Wun-der-ful Da!!