The 10 Hottest Consumer Trends For 2013. People 'taking more food risks' 10 June 2012Last updated at 19:28 ET The number of cases of food poisoning peaks in the summer as germs grow at a quicker rate People are taking more risks with their food as finances become tighter, a Food Standards Agency survey suggests. It said its research showed that people were trying to save money by making their food go further. An FSA survey of nearly 2,000 people across the UK suggested more than half were trying to make better use of leftover food.
This included ignoring use-by dates, as well as keeping leftovers in the fridge for long periods of time. Safety first The number of cases of food poisoning peaks in the summer as the warmer weather means germs can grow at a quicker rate. Continue reading the main story Food safety tips Understand "use by" and "best before" date "Use by" dates appear on foods that go off quickly. Use leftovers safely If you are going to store leftovers in the fridge, cool them as quickly as possible (within 90 minutes). Source: Food Standards Agency. Locavores destroy the planet. Mick Keogh: Australian Farm Institute ‘Local food’ is an increasingly common concept used in food magazines and restaurant menus, and a local food movement seems to be quickly emerging in Australia, encouraging a greater focus on foods sourced from within a particular region.
For farmers and food producers, some of whom are under siege from imported products due to the effects of the high Australian dollar and relatively high labour costs, a move by consumers to favour local foods is welcomed. A greater focus on local foods also provides an opportunity to develop new marketing channels, and to avoid food brands disappearing down the insatiable maw of the major retailers. It also provides an opportunity for smaller producers to develop brand identities and to revitalise regions based on food tourism. In Europe, a focus on local foods has a much longer history, extending back between 40 and 50 years. Size of the local food market Environmental impacts Efficient food production References. Forget Google Glasses: Our ‘Smart Phones’ Will Soon Be Contact Lenses | Think Tank.
This month’s buzz award was won by Google’s secretive Project Glass, a concept in development by Google X Lab that promises to replace our smartphones with augmented reality glasses. It’s anticipated that this exciting futuristic eyewear will be available next year in stores. But Google Glasses are Sony’s Walkman compared to what’s expected to be consumer-ready in the next 5 to 10 years: Project contact lens. You wake up in the morning, rub your sleepy eyes. As you’re getting ready to face the day you put in your contact lens, which will make the Internet and all your files, playlists, GPS, favorite apps, and addicting games literally available with the blink of an eye. Scientists are already at the animal testing phase of the technology that will make this possible. Making this technology functional, comfortable, and safe is the work of Babak Parviz, a bionanotechnology expert at the University of Washington, in Seattle.
For IEEE.org, he writes: In Virtual World, Phone Game Controls You! Social control can be done in lots of ways: laws, advertising, culture and peer pressure. Now we can put gaming and mobile phones on the list. John Rula, a graduate student in engineering at northwestern University, and Fabian Bustamante, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, came up with a way to get people to go places they might ordinarily not go. The concept is called "crowd soft control," and combines incentives with mobile applications to nudge people in a certain direction.
The researchers used a game, which involved "zapping" ghosts on a campus. The concept is simple: you get points for zapping a ghost when your phone's camera spots one. The ghosts are displayed first on a map, and then, when the player gets close enough, the augmented reality functions on newer phone models show the ghost on the phone's screen. Each time a ghost appears, the player snaps a picture, and zaps the ghost. It isn't just good for mapping and making 3-D models, either. Politics - Molly Ball and Nancy Scola - The Community Organizing Geeks Who Could Revolutionize Campaign Tech.
One was Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard roommate. The other went to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. Together, Joe Green and Jim Gilliam want to democratize the most powerful Internet organizing tools. NationBuilder.com The websites for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney look practically the same: sleek, snazzy, red-white-and-blue. But peel back a layer, and there's a difference -- the fundamental difference, in fact, between how Democrats and Republicans use technology. Obama's site was custom-built starting in 2008 by the consulting firm Blue State Digital. In short, Team Obama has home-grown its tools, while Team Romney has bought commercial products and taped them together. Now, two visionary geeks want to change that.
"For grassroots organizing, the biggest difference is in the smallest races. " Campaign-tech industry insiders agree that NationBuilder is a potential game-changer, though they caution that it's too soon to tell if the software will catch on as widely as its backers hope. Added Value – Source » Using Culture as an environmental ‘call to arms’ General Electric recently released an online campaign encouraging Chinese entrepreneurs to partner with them to address China’s most pressing environmental and resource challenges.
A noteworthy aspect of the campaign, titled “Future Folklore”, is how environmental issues are grounded within Chinese history and culture. This departs from a persistent stereotype which encourages local consumers to fight against Chinese tradition to achieve environmental outcomes. The typical tone is often condescending – where normative behaviour is inevitably Western and Chinese are asked to “get in line” and “abandon ancient thinking”. Academic Judith Shapiro, most famously, described Western reservations about Chinese culture’s environmental credentials with her term “war against nature” – which describes Confucianism’s, and more recently, Communism’s failure to prioritize environmental outcomes over political goals.
The campaign is a series of three short videos entitled Fireflies, Water and Wind. News - forestry commission’s forest xplorer app comes to android. 23 APRIL 2012 NEWS RELEASE No: 15431 This news story is now over a year old and information may not now be accurate or up-to-date. Please use our search box to look for more recent information. Forestry Commission England’s free app, Forest Xplorer, has just got even better. Not only is the ultimate guide to the forest now available on android phones, but it has an easy event finder so you always know what’s happening in your local woodland. Visitors will be able to find their local Forestry Commission forest park, search for what events are taking place across the country and download handy trail maps so that you can easily find your way around the forest. Want to stay in the forest a bit longer? Also new for 2012, you can now get back to nature with Camping in the Forest sites or, if you would prefer a bit of luxury, find Forest Holidays cabins on the app too.
And don’t forget about the award-winning handy tree identifier! Pam Warhurst, Forestry Commission Chair, said: Notes to Editors: