Solar Fridge

23-year-old Emily Cummins started her career as an inventor as a young girl tinkering in her grandfather's shed. Now, thanks to a solar-powered fridge that's already in use across Africa, Nobel winners are handing her awards.
Cummins had the idea for the refrigerator last year when she was a student at Leeds University. A metal cylinder is placed inside a larger cylinder made of wood or cardboard. The space in-between the two is filled with a material that can be soaked in water, like soil or cloth, and as the sun heats that material and the water evaporates, it pulls the heat off the inner cylinder. Perishables can be kept at a cool 6 degrees C with no power needed whatsoever. It's already being used in Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Cummins was selected as a Oslo Business for Peace Honouree in Norway last week, a prestigious award established last year for ethical businesspeople which is overseen by a panel of Nobel prize winners. Not many people have talked to a Nobel prize winner, much less been bestowed with an award by one. Next month, in Japan, the Junior Chamber International will name her one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World for this year. And it's all because of a clever idea she had for a refrigerator.
"Hopefully these awards will inspire other young people to think about how they can contribute to our global community in a positive way," said Cummins. I have a feeling we'll be hearing about her own contributions again in the future. [DailyMail]

Ocean Reef Islands Project in Panama City Involves 2 Artificial Islands

Panama president Ricardo Martinelli knows that to live by the beach is no big deal if you have the money. He thus has considered a great new plan which may well be one of the most extravagant in the history of Panama. He has announced an incredible $300 million Ocean Reef Islands Project which would feature two artificial islands that would have an area of 200,000 square meters.
It would be located off the coast f Panama City and it shall be funded by the likes of Ingenieros Civiles Asociados (ICA), contractor and builder Grupo Los Pueblos. The latter is the Punta Pacific Islands. The two islands would be named the West Island and the East Island. The plots would measure 800 and 1533.73 square meters. Two bridges would connect the two islands and would see the development of luxury homes on the Islands.
Culled from Elitechoice

C-wings Luxury Yacht

Yachts have always been a definition of luxury and display of affluence. In fact people go to the extent of commissioning unique designs just to stand out. This is exactly what the designers of C-wings had in mind.

Cruising in C-Wings yacht would be a luxurious moment for any of us. This 42 feet yacht is big enough for 4 people beds, the glass roof provides great protection and beautiful view at the sky in any weather. As part of the hull, there are stairs that you can use to jump off the yacht and swim in the water. Looking at this yacht, one gets this feeling of excellence redefined. The vessel floats comfortably on the water and from its design, is well streamlined for movement and speed. 

                                                                                          

Designer : Lorenzo Spreafico                                                   

Drina, Violet by Swarovski

This swarovski creation is wrought in crystals. Inspired by the xeranthemum, this flower in Violet crystal with Amethyst and Vitrail Light crystal cabochon accents, signifies an everlasting relationship. The back of the flower has elegant detailing and it is set on a silver-tone metal stand .Enjoy the feel of having a flower around without the scent of one.

Designer: Yasmine Hurel

Cash Flush

After getting a realistic experience of the gold plated toilet demanding a confounding 250,000 Euros, all our eyes were on swarovski crystal studded toilet. And here it is busy anchoring an elegant commode’s 50,000 handset Swarovski crystals from the Isis collection designed by Jemal Wright of Hollywood, Florida. The creation can be seen as another value addition to the portfolio of the same maker who delivered chrome-plated toilet for its filthy-rich customers.

The iced-out flashy toilet is embedded with swarvoski crystals. The artist also offers identical sink eyeing all prospective yet proud owner. Sooner, you can complete your kit as the artist to offer an ice-encrusted double slipper tub by spring of 2008. FYI, featured above this toilet bathed in swarovski demands a biting sum of $75,000 and got one deserving owner as well.

Too alluring to install!

Green Rosella, Jonquil

 

Swarovski is a leader in crystals. A look at this exquisitely crafted bird will tell you so. 
Beautiful green rosella in faceted Jonquil crystal with wings and tail in a new colour gradient from clear crystal to blue. Accents in Light Siam and Capri Blue crystal and rhodium plating. This bird is perched elegantly on a nut wood display. Brighten your environment with some thing beautiful.
Designer: Heinz Tabertshofer

Nook Color Unveiled by Barnes and Noble

Nook in color. It has finally happened. At one of its Manhattan stores today, Barnes & Noble introduced Nook Color, a $249 e-reading tablet that delivers books, magazines, newspapers and children's books in color. The sub-one pound, half-inch thick Android-based device has a 7-inch touchscreeen.
Barnes & Noble is taking orders now. The Nook Color ships on November 19. It will be available in Best Buy, Walmart, BAM (Books A Million) and of course Barnes & Noble's own stores. Noble will continue to sell its existing black-and-white Nook devices too.
 Noble CEO William Lynch says that the company is not thinking about lowering the price any time soon, regardless of what competitors such as Amazon and Apple do. "Reading in brilliant color is the killer app," he says.
More than two million book titles will be available for the device, most for $9.99 or less and obviously not all in color. Nook Newsstand will have over 100 titles at launch, including magazines from Conde Nast and Hearst and newspapers such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA TODAY. Single copy and subscriptions will be available.
The company says you can go from finding a book to reading it in under 12 seconds.
The first color Nook will be Wi-Fi only, though Lynch says a 3G device could happen. The device has 8 gigabytes of internal memory, enough to hold about 6,000 books. Barnes & Noble says the battery will last about 8 hours.
Also on hand is a browser (no support for Adobe Flash), music player and such apps as Pandora streaming Internet radio. You can also play games (crosswords, chess, etc.).
The biggest applause at the launch event came when Barnes & Noble showcased a read out loud feature for kid's books. This will be a great guide for the young-learning reader.
Nook color is a welcome addition to the portable hand-held device market.

Theo


The light, easy and technological touch that helps you to control your home.

Theo has combined ease of use with the most advanced technology so that you can watch over your home just by lightly touching the information on your screen.
Blucasa has launched an innovative range of touch panels, dedicated to the control of Konnex systems. The touch panels are able to display graphics settings that allow you to personalize the range of options and features you wish.
According to them "We use high end components and materials in order to guarantee the best quality and reliability of our products. We chose to reduce energy waste as much as possible so that our products consume less than 10 Watt (less than a low-consumption small lamp)".
The Theo line of products can integrate the surveillance television cameras system and video entry phones.All Blucasa devices are shipped with Ethernetinterfaces. You can also add to your system a GPRS modem module in order to control your home automation from a mobile phone.
Blucasa Touch Panels are available in 2 models, different only in size. Theo 12 has a 12" size with a graphic resolution of 800x600 pixel, while Theo 7 is a 16:9 model, with a 7" size and a 480x234 pixel graphic resolution.

BlinQ QWC014 Wine Chiller 

Chilled wine and un-chilled wine do not give the same thrill. You no longer need a refrigerated wine cellar to get the right chill for the perfect diner. A simple device from BlinQ is changing all this. It takes a matter of seven minutes to turn a wine bottle from un-chilled to adequately chilled.

To use the device all you have to do is place 3 pre-frozen chill cells into your BlinQ QWC014 Wine Chiller, insert a bottle of wine and then pour in some water. Set the timer and in less than 7 minutes, you'll have a cold bottle of wine.For a device that costs $69.99 (street price) and $24.99 (on Tigerdirect.com)