Chocolate lovers may soon be able to print their own 3D creations thanks to work by UK scientists.

A 3D printer that uses chocolate has been developed by University of Exeter researchers – and it prints layers of chocolate instead of ink or plastic.

Although still a prototype, several retailers have already expressed interest in taking on the device.

3D printing using plastic and metal is already widely used in industry to speed up design work.

Lead scientist Dr Liang Hao told BBC News that chocolate printing, just like any other 3D printing technique, starts with a flat cross-section image – similar to that produced by ordinary printers turning out images.

“Then you do a 3D shape – layer by layer, printing chocolate instead of ink, like if you were layering 2D paper to form a 3D shape,” he said. Once a layer is completed, it solidifies, and the machine moves on to the next layer.

Shape and taste

There have been other attempts to develop so-called “food printers” – in 2010, researchers from Cornell University in the US used liquefied foods as inks in a specially designed machine.

Dr Richard Hague from Loughborough University told BBC News that the Exeter creation is a step towards manufacturing a device able to print flawless 3D objects that taste good.

 The machine builds up objects layer by layer

Getting the printing process right involves careful control of key parameters, such as temperature.

Once the prototype becomes a finished product, it may find a role in the restaurant and food preparation industry.

And some companies are already expressing interest.

“Obviously, it’s chocolate, so it is hugely appealing,” said Joanna Grant from UK online gift retailer findmeagift.co.uk.

But what is even more appealing, she added, is that customers will be able to design any object on a computer before hitting the print button.

“We could do things like 3D faces, for instance – the possibilities are enormous on a commercial aspect.”

 Social networks

Besides producing 3D chocolate, Dr Hao’s team wants to go a step further – and take their printer into cyberspace.

He said the next step would be creating a chocolate-oriented website.

“Now we have an opportunity to combine chocolate with digital technology, including the design, digital manufacturing and social networking.

“Chocolate has a lot of social purpose, so our intention is to develop a community and share the designs, ideas and experience about it.”

To read more click here

Paper posters that play music via printed circuits made with conductive ink have been unveiled.

The prototype “Listening Post” poster is a guide to bands performing locally.

The interactive poster plays a short clip of a band’s music when a thumbnail image is pressed. Tickets can also be booked via the poster.

The low cost of printing mean anything that uses paper or card could soon be much more interactive, said the poster’s inventors.

It is one of several “paper apps” that have been developed by a consortium of British scientists, musicians and researchers being demonstrated at the South By Southwest Show in Austin, Texas.

Low cost

Peter Thomas, head of the Liverpool-based Uniform agency that helped co-ordinate the poster’s creation, said it was designed to explore novel methods of interaction.

He said it could be a way to get round the modern problem of “infobesity”.

“People are saturated with information all the time, especially when it comes to music, this is a way to cut through all of that,” he said.

“We’re trying to recapture some of the tactile experience you got with vinyl records.

“There’s a really different reaction from users to physical media as opposed to digital media, especially when it comes to music,” said Mr Thomas.

He added that interactive paper and packaging could mean a lot of media returned to the physical world and was no longer only accessible online.

The group has also developed postcards that contain a sample of music that can be played via a paper player.

To read the complete article from the bbc.co.uk click here.

FOCUS
Most businesses lack it, and dissipate their scarce marketing dollars on too many diverse and unconnected initiatives. “The Marketing Flavor of the Month” describes a small business’ typical “mix,” with whatever grabs the owner’s fancy enticing him or her off on wasteful “marketing tangents.”

“If you do not focus your limited resources on just a handful of marketing initiatives, you set yourself up to fail. So stop worrying about competing in every possible channel to get every possible customer. You will waste money, time and energy that you cannot spare. You don’t need every customer. You need enough customers to run a profitable, growing business.” To read more…

Though my response was that making sweeping statements about behaviour according to gender was a difficult thing to do – and isn’t entirely useful – it is fair to say that in the US at least, women retain a lot of control over buying decisions.

I’d still take the stats below (based on US data) with a pinch of salt, there are nuances in demographic, platform, network – but there are some interesting findings within. Particularly the point about biological programming and the colour pink…

Read article

Yesterday, we blacked out the default start page in Firefox and redirected visitors to the Mozilla sites to a special action page. We also sent direct messages to members of the Mozilla community through multiple online channels. All these steps were aimed at informing and mobilizing millions of people on the poorly drafted anti-piracy legislation – SOPA and PIPA – pending in Congress.

The result: Mozilla reached over 40 million people who, in turn, generated 360,000 emails sent to Senators and Representatives in Congress.

Here’s the breakdown of the stats from yesterday’s remarkable campaign

• Approximately 30 million people in the US who use the default start page in Firefox received the blacked out page with our call to action
• We sent messages out to almost 9 million people via Facebook, Twitter and our Firefox + You newsletter
• Our messages were retweeted, shared and liked by over 20,000 people (not counting MC Hammer’s tweet to his 2.4 million followers!)
• 1.8 million people came to mozilla.org/sopa to learn more and take action on the issue
• 600,000 went on to visit the Strike Against Censorship page, hosted by the EFF
• Ultimately, 360,000 emails were sent by Mozillians to members of Congress, contributing a third of all the emails generated by EFF’s campaign site.

Go to Mozilla News to read more of this article

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Some executives and business leaders understand what branding is all about. Most don’t. It’s got to be one of the most misunderstood concepts in business and I have no idea why. It’s not really complicated. Still, if you ask 10 business people to define a brand, you’ll get 10 different answers.

Is it a promise of product performance, an assurance of quality or service? Or is it the perception of value or satisfaction through association with a company or product? Is it a sensory, emotional, or cultural image of a company? And is it really a source of lasting competitive advantage?

It’s actually all of those things, and more. I know that sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. Let me explain. The concept of branding has evolved quite a bit since the days of the branding iron, mostly because the business world has changed a lot since then. Modern day branding works sort of like this. Every company has stakeholders like customers and shareholders. Brand reputation is what those stakeholders think and feel about the company.

It’s a function of all the experience those people have with the company, its products and services, and includes influence from lots of different sources, including product features and performance, customer service and satisfaction, PR and the media, even online search results and social media, as well.

If people are aware your company exists and sells a certain product, they might consider it for purchase. If your company has a strong positive brand reputation, eventually you end up with loyal customers, the holy grail of branding.

If you want to get technical, you can talk about brand strategy, platform, positioning, promise, personality, perception, identity, hierarchy, metrics, all sorts of arcane stuff. But frankly, I’d leave all that for folks that do it for a living.

To boil it down to a simple concept, a brand is very much like an image or perception of a company or product. As a result, it’s a function of a considerable number of factors, which is probably why there’s so much confusion and, as you might expect, loads of myths. Here are my top ten:

Myth #1: Naming and logos are expensive and worthless. Yes, some companies go way, way overboard on naming and logos, but in my experience, just as many, if not more, under-scope it and screw it up. Since you’ve got to have company and product names and there are a ridiculous number of pitfalls, it’s a good idea to do it right, but that need not be expensive and it’s certainly not worthless.

Myth #2: Big brand loyalty is dead. The Internet killed it. While it’s true that the Internet is a great equalizer in many ways, in other ways, it has the opposite effect. For example, Google isn’t really a superior search engine to Bing, and yet Google is one of the most highly valued global brands, primarily because it’s become an internet verb. Apple has tremendous brand loyalty and value because it makes consistently great products. Big brand loyalty is still very much alive and well.

Myth #3: Branding only matters for consumer companies. No, no, and no. Most companies don’t market to consumers but to other businesses. Lots of companies are ingredient companies, meaning they’re products or services are technologies, ingredients, or components in products sold to consumers. Regardless, if you’ve got customers and other stakeholders like shareholders and employees, your brand is important and you should manage it… read more

The winning creation is the Good Neighbor. It  sends text messages when neighbors need a hand with errands or tasks. I can see this being wonderful app for aging communities where assistance is sometimes hard to come by.

Other feature apps from the hackathon include:

AnonyMissing, an anonymous location-based app to report missing persons.

Corrupt, an app for tracking and reporting corruption in your area.

GoChipIn, which allows users to find volunteers for events they’re organizing.

GovContrib, a browser tool that helps users find information on government contributions to charities and lobbies.

IGotUGot, a food exchange for home gardeners.

PDB, which stands for “personal daily brief,” the kind current and former U.S. presidents receive. These briefs are tailored to each user’s locations and interests.

Picketline.us lets would-be activists share the word about boycotts.

Piece of Mind aims to create a Kickstarter-funded mosaic of stories from veterans.

Safehood lets users keep an eye on their neighborhoods through web and mobile interfaces.

ShoppingAdvisor shows users how their decisions as consumers might be affecting the rest of the world.

GreatDebate helps community leaders and activists get connected with policy and decision makers.

WhatsaboutmyCity is an app for identifying and fixing finite, local problems in a community.

AdWords is a PPC, Pay Per Click, advertising service offered by Google. When most people think of PPC, AdWords is the program they think of. It has set the bar and remains the most popular PPC program advertising available to business owners.

Here’s how to set up a Google AdWords Campaign.

Step #1 – Sign up for an account. It’s free. Visit adwords.google.com/ and sign up. If you already have a Gmail account, analytics account or other account, you can simply log onto your account, visit “Advertising Programs” or “Business solutions” and follow the links. To read more of this article please click here

The project brief called for a design that would represent the idea of past to present and that would support the tag line “Weaving a Tapestry of Community”. It also had to incorporate images that speak to the beauty and history of the county. This list would include; waterfalls, mountains, historic buildings, railroad and community.  It had to reproduce in black and white and be able to reduce down to business card size. A lot of information had to be conveyed with this logo after all it was a big a birthday.

After the logo was finally completed, we had to begin work on the splash page, then the website, merchandising pieces, brochure and signage around downtown Brevard and the county.