10 Green Technologies That Could Save Our Planet

In an era where the emission of carbon and other pollutants is at peak, the environment is getting worse day-by-day. This results in droughts, food shortage, climate change, and other abnormal environmental factors. It’s right to say that we humans have made the mess out of our planet. But, there’s still hope that we can use the in-hand technology to secure our world’s future. Many environmental pioneers have pledged together to make sure we save the beauty of our big blue planet. These green technologies are just our first step towards a better tomorrow and to make it work, all of us have to understand our part of the job.

1. Recyclable Electronics

Motherboards and various other circuitries are different from what they look like. They may have precious and rare materials which we can recycle to use next time. Find an e-waste recycling dump nearby before throwing your electronics.

2. LED Lights

The LED lights were commonly in use for decorative purpose. However, advancement of technology has developed white LEDs that lasts 50 times more than an incandescent bulb.

Here’s a fun fact. The Sun throws away more than enough energy on the Earth per hour than we actually require. We just need to find a way to collect and use it. Solar Cells might just be the perfect way to achieve this. If used correctly, green technologies like these can save the planet’s resources.

4. Vertical Farming

The rapid growth of global population and expansion of cities will lead to a shortage of farmlands. We will eventually need to find another way to grow our fruits and vegetables. Vertical Farming is the process of growing crops in an automated and controlled environment. This process has a higher efficiency than usual farming.

5. Biodiesel

It is an environment-friendly replacement of diesel which is made from alcohol-treated vegetable oil. Biodiesel reduces the carbon emissions to a greater extent and hence is one of the effective green technologies. At present, its primary use is in America.

6. Wave Energy

It is a form of electrical energy which generates from the rise and fall of ocean swells. Wave energy is different from the tidal energy which uses tidal waves to generate power.

7. Eco-friendly Concrete

Already in use in Holland, eco-friendly concrete contains titanium dioxide which can absorb smog and other impurities in the air. They can be useful in constructing buildings, walls, and things where we use normal concrete.

8. Desalination Plants

About 78% of the Earth is covered by oceans, that brings us to the fact that we have enough water. But due to the saline properties, it’s not suitable for human consumption. Desalination plants can help us remove salt from the oceanic water, making it suitable for drinking and/or irrigation purposes. Keeping in mind the scarcity of water, this can come in handy to save the resources.

9. Electric Cars

Buses and cars contribute the maximum to carbon and other harmful emissions. Obviously, it’s not possible to completely shut down the use of four-wheelers. We can, however, switch to electric cars that have emerged as a convenient alternative. We can expect to see their full use within a decade or two.

10. Algae

The benefits of algae are often overlooked. These can be used as a biodiesel, fertilizer, and even as food. In some parts of the world, people include seaweeds in their diets. This is because various researchers have shown that algae can be used to produce a oil having a number of health benefits.

Source:http://sarcasm.co/green-technologies-save-planet/

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8 Reasons Why You Should Ditch Whatsapp

WhatsApp is hard to avoid. The uber-popular messaging app has over 300 million active daily users, so there’s a good chance most people you know are on it. But that doesn’t mean it’s good. In fact, far from it.

All your friends are on it. Unfortunately, nobody is asking the crucial question: Is WhatsApp actually good? Despite its accessibility and market domination, I think WhatsApp is bad. And I can name you eight reasons that competitors or other methods can do it better.

1. WhatsApp only identifies you via your number
With its password-less 1-factor log-in, WhatsApp drags a big mess of disadvantages along with it. In my opinion, the biggest problem is that it exclusively uses a guaranteed non-anonymous means of identification. To confirm an identity, the sister company Facebook bails them out in many cases.

In addition, non-group contacts won’t notice if you change your mobile number. They will then start sending messages to your old number. You won’t be informed about the messages and the senders will be surprised when you don’t write back.

Even worse, your WhatsApp file becomes filled with deserted, duplicate and triple contact entries and you lose track of which version of a contact is up-to-date.

People sometimes change their mobile number or pass it on to someone else, and when this happens WhatsApp couldn’t be worse prepared.

Alternative: Username and password

Whatever happened to the good old combination of a username and password? Why do you have to be identified via a mobile number? Of course, you can find your contacts faster using an identifier that is already stored on your smartphone in the form of a mobile number.

2. You can only use WhatsApp on one device at a time

You want to run WhatsApp on a tablet? Or log in to a PC in the browser and stay logged in?

This would be ideal if you log in at work and at home and simply remain logged in so you won’t have to do it several times a day. WhatsApp is unfortunately the wrong app for you.

You can activate WhatsApp only on one device. A second smartphone, tablet or several PCs in parallel operation won’t work. WhatsApp Web is the biggest joke in the messaging industry, but more on that later.

3. WhatsApp Web is an incredibly bad joke

Whereas other vendors offer only one QR code authentication and then let you chat without a smartphone, WhatsApp Web bothers you wherever it can. WhatsApp Web is not an app in itself, but basically just a remote control that operates WhatsApp on your smartphone.

If your smartphone is connected to mobile data, it will continue to be charged. If your smartphone is short on battery, or even turns off, WhatsApp Web is disabled.

The same is true if power saving features place WhatsApp Web in the background during sleep mode. If you drive home and you want to use WhatsApp Web there, you have to completely re-authenticate yourself and cut the connection to your work computer.

4. Data is stored insecurely

Easily accessible or not, WhatsApp for Android stores its data where it does not belong. Instead of partitioning data, it is stored in the /sdcard partition that is visible to all apps with file access.

They certainly don’t belong there if the pictures are meant to remain a secret. Then the end-to-end encryption that WhatsApp promises to everyone is useless for all your beautiful photos. Oh and that takes us to our next point.

5. The backup system is bad, inconvenient and doesn’t allow you to switch platforms

You previously had an iPhone or want one now? Then say goodbye to the records of your conversations. They can’t be transferred from one platform to another. WhatsApp uses iCloud for iPhone and Google Drive for Android phones.

Google Drive is in theory accessible from an iPhone, but is not usually used for this purpose: so you won’t get your WhatsApp backup in your new iPhone.

Alternative:

There are several way WhatsApp could improve this. One would be to integrate other cloud services that can be accessed from both platforms. There’s still Dropbox, OneDrive and NAS. Another option would be for WhatsApp, like Telegram, to simply keep the messages on the server and then you would only have to backup the keychain for end-to-end encryption.

6. WhatsApp knows enough about you despite end-to-end encryption

WhatsApp can’t look into your conversation logs, see your pictures or listen to your audio recordings. But it knows when you spoke to whom. WhatsApp also has access to your address book and can read your shared memory.

WhatsApp can synchronize its data with its parent company Facebook and hone in on your profile.

Alternative: Anonymous account and metadata encryption
In order to actually be anonymous, an app can’t ask for data that is personally attributable to you. WhatsApp doesn’t protect your phone from other users or customers. You might as well stand at the bus stop and hand out your data and passwords to everyone who passes by.

With respect to the first point, WhatsApp shouldn’t know who you’re talking to and when: this metadata alone can be used to derive unpleasant assumptions about you, if for example one of your contacts is associated in a crime.

7. You can’t change sent messages
Just recently, WhatsApp has finally added the option that sent messages can be deleted so that they disappear for the recipient as well. But if you just want to eliminate a misleading mistake that creeps in from Autocorrect, you can’t edit it.

You have to copy the entire message, delete it, reinsert it, rewrite it and send it again. This isn’t just inconvenient, it’s also complete nonsense. Numerous competitors such as Telegram and even Skype now allow messages to be edited later.

8. Group management is horrible

WhatsApp groups are created at every opportunity. WhatsApp’s group chat feature is one of the worst on the market. If you look at the functionality of other group chats, WhatsApp’s is a shame.

– There are no channels to sign up for.
– Instead there are only stupid groups, where all group members can see your mobile number.
– Groups can’t be closed until all of the members (up to 256) leave or are manually and individually removed by admins.
– Later on you can’t see the groups you were a part of.
– Anyone can add you to their group and pass on your number without your permission.
– If you change your mobile number in WhatsApp, members in those groups will be notified of your new number.

All the disadvantages and shortcomings of WhatsApp culminate in the group chat feature. The function is nevertheless as successful and deficient as WhatsApp itself. The group chat features are not only deficient, the flaws are also an affront to your privacy.

Conclusion
WhatsApp proves that quantity can beat quality. Once a product is so popular, its creators don’t have to offer much more. Even if the perfect competitor was created, it wouldn’t be able to really compete. WhatsApp is somehow immune to criticism of any kind.

The app is carelessly made, ignores your privacy on all sides and follows completely outdated standards. But WhatsApp is a part of mainstream culture and will remain successful simply because a billion users of all ages are too lazy to consider the alternatives.

What do you think? Do you wish a better messaging service was more popular than WhatsApp?

Source: https://www.androidpit.com/things-we-dont-like-about-whatsapp ~ [Eric Ferrari-Herrmann] AndroidPit

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All You Need To Know About The New Samsung S9

Last month, Samsung announced the unveiling of the new Samsung S9 and S9 Plus at the World Mobile Conference happening at the end of this month in Barcelona. Although there were little or no details about the phone revealed, details have been leaking on the internet for the past couple of weeks.

Photo Credit: Sim-Unlock.net

South Korea’s ETNews has released new information confirming most of these reports ranging from camera specs to internal circuit details.  

First, up the rear-facing cameras – the single-sensor one on the S9 reportedly offers a variable f/1.5 to f/2.4 aperture, with the S9 Plus snapper keeping those same specs but offering two sensors in one camera. This confirms the rumours about the camera specs and should result in the best low-light performance ever.

The screen sizes are reportedly 5.77 inches and 6.22 inches for the S9 and S9 Plus respectively. Although these numbers haven’t been mentioned before, they may be the result of Samsung managing to make the bezels smaller than ever on the display fronts of these devices.

For the front-facing cameras, they’re reportedly pegged at 8MP, though the S9 version includes an iris scanner whereas the S9 Plus version has a separate module for eye scans – there’s no reason given yet, but it’s something to look out for when the official news arrives.

Source:https://guardian.ng/life/5all-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-samsung-s939330/

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3 Seo Big Mistakes To Avoid When Creating The Design For A Website

SEO Big Mistakes to Avoid When Creating Your New Website

Nowadays, in the era of fierce competition, it is imperative for you to ensure that you begin the search engine optimization of your website at the right time.

You must ensure that you call your search engine optimization expert in the early stages of the web design or the redesign of your website. You might be worried about the initial costs of hiring both specialists together at the beginning of your project, however, in the long run, both of their presences will benefit you!

The following are three common mistakes that website owners make when it comes to hiring a SEO company after the creation of the website:

1, SEO friendly URLs. Most of the time, you will find that your website URLs are not friendly and this can affect the performance of your site on search engines to an extreme extent. In fact, thousands of websites have URLs that adversely affect their search engine rankings. These URLs consist of numbers, letters or even keywords that are not even relevant to their sites and this affects the keywords that they wish to target. They have no value at all in the world of SEO.

There are ways to fix them, and it is essential for you to ensure that you have an SEO professional by your side when it comes to the creation of your website design and its URLs. It would be better if you address them at the outset rather than work on them when the site has already been completed.

2, Irrelevant content will not give you good rankings. If your website has irrelevant content it will not rank on search engines. The reason is that these search engines will not consider your site important enough to feature on its ranks page. This means it is imperative for you to get your web content right from the outset. Every business has a keyword that it must target to attract the right audience.

It is crucial for you to ensure that you target the right keyword in your search engines so that it is properly optimized and saves you time and money. You will find that your website will produce better results, and when people search for queries that are related to your niche, the search engines will crawl and present your site first on their results page.

At the same time, it is imperative for you to update your site with fresh and relevant content at frequent intervals. It is vital for you to use your keywords on the navigation, title pages and the Alt Tags of images. Some business owners overlook this vital part, and this can negatively affect the prospects of their websites.

3, Internal linking- It is equally important for you to ensure that you have an internal linking structure for your website. This is crucial.

When you have the right internal linking structure on your site, you will find that visitors can navigate through your website without any hassles at all. They will be happy if your website is user-friendly and helps them make their purchase quickly. In the event that your site has a very poor internal linking structure, people will not remain on your website for long. This will encourage them to leave your website, and, in the long run, you will suffer as the bounce rate for your site is going to be very high.

Apart from SEO, it is vital for you to focus on website design. The layout and the user experience are important in the creation of a successful web design. When it comes to creating a website, it is crucial for you to ensure that your SEO expert reviews any new design before it goes live.

This will help you to save additional expense when it comes to making corrections at a later stage. It is prudent to hire your SEO expert and web designer from the same company so that they can work hand-in-hand for the success of your website.

https://inkmay.com/3-seo-big-mistakes-avoid-creating-design-new-website/

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Volvo Has Amazing Things In Store For 2019

The Volvo Polestar brand is still at its inception stages but it’s evident that the company has incredible plans for the future. Volvo has announced the launch of the Volvo S90-based Polestar 1 next year, with a hybrid performance coupe of 600 horsepower. As great as this sounds, the car is a limited edition halo car with just 500 to be built annually.

The follow-up model, however, –the Polestar 2– will be a mass-produced car estimated to cost about $50,000 and will be debut in mid-2019 shortly after the Polestar 1 hits the market. While the Polestar 1 is a small car, the Polestar 2 has an estimated sale of 60,000 per annum globally.

PHOTO CREDIT: Indian Autos blog

The CEO of Polestar, Thomas Ingenlath confirmed at the Roadshow event which held at the Volvo Headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden that the Volvo Polestar 2 will be built on an electrified version of Volvo’s new Compact Modular Architecture (CMA).

The Polestar 1 uses a modified version of the s90 T8’s twin-engine hybrid powerplant that has a pair of electric motors mounted at the rear axle each of which drives an individual rear wheel. Ingenelath says,

“It’s not just about changing a tuner brand that we had into, you know, something that we glue now under our electric Volvos.They’re not just electric Volvos. They stand for something different.”

Although there are no images of the cars yet, Ingenlath has said that the Polestar 2 will be similar to the Volvo 2016 40.2 Concept but with electrical architecture.

After the release of the Polestar 2, the Polestar 3 is already in the works as the biggest of the series in size, although, more details about that will be revealed much later.

Source:https://guardian.ng/life/volvo-has-amazing-things-in-store-for-2019/

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All The Things You Can Do With Your Old And Unusable Smartphones

Smartphones are the craze and everybody loves and uses them now but what happens to them when they become old and unusable?

Phones have become a necessity that every modern person finds it difficult to go anywhere without them. The weird thing about smartphones however is they practically don’t last for more than two years before you need to retire them!

After a few years, all devices—particularly those that we carry with us at all times—are bound to show a little wear and tear. They might have a few bumps and scratches or perhaps they slow down to annoying speeds.

You can avoid trauma by purchasing a case and screen guard; and fixing the slowness the slowness with a nice clean factory restart.

If you take basic precautions, your old phone can have a productive afterlife. While the specifications may no longer be what you desire, your old phone can still be super useful if you have Wi-Fi access.

Here, we present a number of cool ways to put your old and unusable phones to good use.

Children’s Camera
Pixl Toys recently launched a Kickstarter to raise funds to produce a shell that could transform old smartphones into handy, rugged camera for kids.

Even if you don’t buy into this particular effort by Pixl, this project showcases an obvious second life for smartphones as a standalone camera. There is absolutely no need for a wireless network for the camera to work and any images can be transmitted via Wi-Fi or a wired medium.

Always-On Skype Machine
As long as you have decent Wi-Fi coverage, your old smartphone can serve as a dedicated Skype interface or FaceTime, Google Duo, or snap chat or whatever video chat platform you prefer.

This guarantees you won’t miss a call and allows you to still use your main device while conversing with friends and family.

Alarm Clock
The nice big display of your phone will work whether you have a network connection or not. Which means you can use it as a permanent clock which can bring more versatility than your bedside clock.

Headset
While there are some high-end and standalone headsets out there aimed at serious gamers, there are also a number of “shells” designed to transform your smartphone into a decent VR headset for passive viewing.

Some are designed for specific models, for example Gear VR which is meant to be paired with specific Samsung Galaxy phone models; or Daydream View designed just for Google Pixel devices. While these devices are good, they are limited and quite expensive.

Using your old smartphone is the best as there are lots of VR apps it will play nicely with and it can display any “360” video on YouTube. So, for comparatively little investment, you could turn your old smartphone into a permanent VR headset.

TV Remote
If you lose your TV remote, you can download the official manufacturers app onto your phone. It may act like a virtual remote that connects to your TV via their shared wireless network. There are a few setups that allow for Wi-Fi remotes including OTT devices like Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV in addition to a number of connected TVs.

Dedicated Music Player
If you are an ardent subscriber to one of the many streaming music services out there that allows you gain access to just about any song ever made, you’re definitely a cool person.

You can use your old phone as a dedicated music player, while also pairing it with a Bluetooth speaker or connected dongle such as Chromecast Audio, to improve the audio quality.

Source: https://www.360nobs.com/2018/02/things-can-old-unusable-smartphones/

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Editorial: As The World Celebrates Radio Day Today

Today is World Radio Day, a day set aside to celebrate radio, why we love it and why we need it now, more than ever. A day to remember the unique power of radio to touch lives and bring people together across every corner of the globe. It was proclaimed on 3 November 2011 by UNESCO’s 36th General Conference after originally being proposed by the Kingdom of Spain.

Following a request from the Spanish Radio Academy, on 20 September 2010, the Kingdom of Spain proposed that the UNESCO Executive Board include an agenda item on the proclamation of a World Radio Day. UNESCO’s Executive Board approved the agenda item in its provisional agenda, for the proclamation of a “World Radio Day” on 29 September 2011.

The Board recommended to the UNESCO 36th session of the General Conference that it proclaim a World Radio Day at its 36th session, and that this day be celebrated by UNESCO on 13 February, the anniversary of the day the United Nations established United Nations Radio in 1946. It also invited all United Nations Member States, organizations of the United Nations system and other international and regional organizations, professional associations and broadcasting unions, as well as civil society, including non-governmental organizations and individuals, to duly celebrate World Radio Day, in the way that each considers most adequate.

The Board further requested that UNESCO’s Director-General brought the resolution to the attention of the Secretary-General of the United Nations so that World Radio Day could be endorsed by the General Assembly and celebrated by the whole system. The matter was subsequently treated by UNESCO’s General Conference, which adopted resolution contained in the file 36 C/63. World Radio Day was thus unanimously proclaimed by all Member States of UNESCO in November 2011.

In December 2012, The General Assembly of the UN endorsed the proclamation of World Radio Day, thereby becoming a Day to be celebrated by all UN agencies, funds and programmes and their partners through File A/RES/67/124. Various radio industry bodies around the world are supporting the initiative by encouraging stations in developed countries to assist those in the developing world.At UNESCO, the consultation, proclamation and celebrations were handled by Mirta Lourenco, Chief of the Sector for Media Development.

This year’s theme is “Radio and Sports”. As we look forward to a year of momentous sporting events that have the ability to unite the hearts and minds of people everywhere, World Radio Day 2018 will celebrate the traditional sports that connect us to our cultural heritage, the grassroots sports that anchor us within our communities and the inspiring stories that challenge gender stereotypes and provide positive role models for young people around the world.

This should spur the nation and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to invest in sports and the youth, in order to create more role models for young people, invest in the enhancement of talent, harness sports as a unifying factor and, ultimately, keep young people off the streets and crime.

The theme for 2018 is all about the alliance of sport and radio as a force for civic participation and development as well as for celebrating humanity in its diversity. World Radio Day 2018 celebrates  radio’s critical function in shaping this alliance, by providing a platform for radio stations, and listeners alike, to construct their programs and conversations around Radio and Sports. The sub-themes are: Radio and Sports build and unite communities; Radio and Sports inspire participation and inclusion; Radio fosters goodwill and inspires humanity; how radio impacts on our lives. 

We may not readily admit it, but the radio has been a huge part of man’s life and, for over 100 years, has been a vehicle for development in communications and communal education and it is time to celebrate one of man’s greatest gift to man.

Source:https://leadership.ng/2018/02/13/editorial-world-celebrates-radio-day-today/

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