ZigBee let's you control your world: Standards

Building Automation (Efficient commercial spaces), Remote Control (Advanced remote controls), Smart Energy (Home energy savings), Smart Energy Profile 2 (IP-based home energy management), Health Care (Health and fitness monitoring), Home Automation (Smart homes), Input Device (Easy-to-use touchpads, mice, keyboards, wands), Light Link (LED lighting control), Retail Services (Smarter shopping), Telecom Services (Value-added services), Network Devices (Assist and expand ZigBee networks)

ZigBee helps clients in adding intelligent new features that improve the efficiency, safety, security, reliability, and convenience of different products. As a matter of fact, leading health care and technology companies are supporting the development of ZigBee Health Care, including Motorola, Phillips, Freescale Semiconductor, Awarepoint and RF Technologies.

AFFORDABLE

1. Devices designed for do-it-yourself (DIY) or professional installation
2. Promotes greater energy awareness and control
3. Open standard supports competitive marketplace of multiple products that lowers cost through competition
4. Years of battery life and ease of maintenance reduce operating costs for service providers and allow affordable solutions for consumers

EASY

1. Wireless technology eliminates cost and hassle of running wires
2. Certified interoperability, global 2.4GHz spectrum simplifies installation and operation
3. Automatic features simplify use
4. Internet connection for greater access and control
5. Simple set-up procedures support do-it-yourself configurations

SAFETY

1. Easily install wireless sensors to monitor a wide variety of conditions
2. Receive automatic notification upon detection of unusual events

SECURE

1. AES 128 encryption secures personal information
2. Device authentications secures networks from neighboring networks

INTEROPERABLE

1. Integrates control and monitoring devices for lighting, security, appliances and home access
2. Customer can select from a variety of products to meet needs
3. Interoperability between a variety of products regardless of manufacturer
4. Works with other ZigBee networks

ZigBee connects the widest range of devices to work together intelligently

ZigBee offers green and global wireless standards!

IEEE 802.15.4 is a standard which specifies the physical layer and media access control for low-rate wireless personal area networks (LR-WPANs). It is maintained by the IEEE 802.15 working group. It is the basis for the ZigBee, ISA100.11a, WirelessHART, and MiWi specifications, each of which further extends the standard by developing the upper layers which are not defined in IEEE 802.15.4. Alternatively, it can be used with 6LoWPAN and standard Internet protocols to build a wireless embedded Internet.

Source: wikipedia

[2014] 10 Best Places to Work

1. Bain & Company
2. Twitter
3. LinkedIn
4. Eastman Chemical
5. Facebook
6. Guidewire
7. Interactive Intelligence
8. Google
9. Orbitz Worldwide
10. Nestlé Purina Petcare

Philippine

Haiyan Survivor: a picture is worth a thousand words ..

[Roadie] That is how we tune our instruments !

It has been a long time since my last meeting with those brilliant guys: "Bassam Jalgha and Hassan Slaibi". We first met in LambaLabs [Hackerspace] where I used to attend and participate in most of the events. Today, whenever you see their names on the net, your eyes perk up and you immediately tune out whatever you are doing to switch to a whole new world of technology..The Roadie Smart Tuner.

What has been said about Roadie

Roadie is an automatic tuner for any stringed instrument that uses the iPhone to listen to your guitar and a motorized accessory that turns the machine head to exactly the right position. - Techcrunch

Roadie will tune your guitar faster than most experienced players, helps you wind and unwind your strings, and will even let you quickly switch between tunings. - uncrate.com

... the user plucks the string, the app does the listening, and the Roadie Tuner, placed over a guitar peg, quickly adjusts the string tension. The app can store multiple custom tunings for quick adjustments between songs. It can even and track multiple guitars to determine string wear and alert the user to replace a string before it breaks. Roadie’s developers—a robotics engineer, Bassam Jalgha, and an audio processing engineer, Hassan Slaibi, who hail from Beirut, Lebanon—say the little robot can tune a guitar in less than 30 seconds. - IEEE Spectrum

[Gibson vs. Roadie] An idea may exist, but uniqueness, what really matters !

Gibson already has its own automatic tuning system, but Roadie will work with just about any guitar as well as stringed instruments that use similar pegs - The next web

AUB Elections 2013

This year, two members of the Secular Club win the highest positions in AUB student government

So excited ! Very Proud !

“People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.” 
― Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

I C-A-N feel the music playing !

Instruments of an Orchestra:

String Family

Violin	Viola
Bass (Double, Contra Bass)	Cello

Woodwind Family

Oboe, English Horn	Flute, Piccolo
Saxophones	Clarinet, Bass Clarinet

Brass Family

French Horn	Trumpet
Tuba	Trombone

Keyboards and other Instruments

Organ	Piano
Voice Types	Percussion Family
Soprano: high female voice Mezzo-soprano: medium female  voice Alto (contralto): low female voice Countertenor: very high male voice Tenor: high male voice Baritone: medium male voice Bass: low male voice	Timpani Snare drum Bass drum Cymbals Tambourine Triangle Xylophone Glockenspiel Chimes Marimba Vibraphone, vibes plus other things to hit, scrape, and shake

“Artists use lies to tell the truth. Yes, I created a lie. But because you believed it, you found something true about yourself.” 

― Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

مجنون يحكي .. عاقل يسمع

لِمسرحية "مجنون يحكي" أبعاد كثيرة وأهداف تتجاوز حدود المسرح اللبناني الذي اعتدناه. ولكن نتيجةً لمحبّتي للكلام المختصر وتقديري للحسابات الفنيّة والأدبيّة الدقيقة، اخترت أن أُعَبِّرَ عن ما شاهدتَهُ منْ ابداعٍ رحبانيٍّ في هذا العمل، ببعضِ الأفكار التي تَتَرْجَمُ ببعضٍ مِنَ الأَحاسيسٍ لمُشاهِدٍ يهوىْ الوصولَ الى حدودِ الحريَّاتِ، في وطن لم يعِش - في الحرية - سنّ مراهَقة ..

اختارت "ناهدة نون" أو ندى أبو فرحات أن تَعْبُرَ من مرحلة التمثيل "البلدي" التقليدي الى مرحلة الفنّ المعاصر بخلطها اللون الدرامي البسيط باللون الانفعالي الهستيري، فأنتجت لحنًا مميّزًا استمالت به الجمهور.

أمّا "الحكيم" أو أستاذ الفنّ زياد الرحباني، فهو كعادتِه حكيم في استخدام النقد الذاتي والطريقة الساخرة في تحليل الأمور والتطرّق الى موضوع اجتماعي معيّن.. فكيف اذا كان هذا الموضوع: "الأنظمة الاستبداديّة و الظلم". انّها أرضٌ خصبة لعنَ من خلالها القمع من دون أن يلعن الجلّاد، فاستحى بذلك القمع ورضخ الجلّاد.

نصل الى "نهاد نون" أوغبريال يمين مالك أوركسترا تتغلغل ألحانها في عروق المستمع. الملاحظ أيضًا أنّ من أهدافها أن تربك الجمهور ولكن عفويّة يمين استطاعت أن تخلق تناسق جميل، فأنتجت العقدة.

هنا يأتي دور "المعلّمة" أندريه ناكوزي والممثّلة ألين سلّوم بدور الطفلة "نونو"، فتنظر الى غرفة التعليم كأنّها آداة تنقلك من الماضي الأليم الى الحاضر القاسي، ومن الحاضر القاسي الى المستقبل المجهول. فعلًا تفانت ألين سلّوم في تمثيلها، فخرجت من ايطار المسرح الى عالم بعيد نتجاهله في حياتنا اليوميّة.. عالمٌ مليء بالحزن والضياع، فسافر معها الجمهور. أخيرًا، "سماحة سيادة معالي الكولونيل" ايلي كمال، فيكفي أن تلفظ أسمه لتسقط "عظمة" الألقاب.

[3D Printer] Engineering for Global Development

3D4D: The Third Industrial Revolution? 

The advent of 3D printing could amount to another industrial revolution in developing countries (and in the rest of the world), techfortrade CEO William Hoyle says.

-Techfortrade

3D Printing Umbilical Cord Clamps in Haiti

Another great use for 3D printers in global development: iLab // Haiti and KIDmob are printing umbilical cord clamps.

-Make

West African Inventor Makes a $100 3D Printer From E-Waste

Kodjo Afate Gnikou, an inventor from Togo, has made a $100 3D printer from parts he salvaged from broken scanners, computers, printers and other e-waste.

-Inhabitat

3D Printing at LambaLabs - Beirut Hackerspace

[NNA] Elias El Murr: Head of the INTERPOL Fund

NNA said Elias Murr was appointed the head of the INTERPOL Fund for a Safer World for a seven-year term.

Few years ago, in May 2001, Dr. Charles Elachi (Scientist of Lebanese origin) was appointed director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory - NASA.

Patent Power 2013

It used to be that giant conglomerates with names that the average consumer would likely not recognize held the biggest and most important patent portfolios. But consumer-facing companies continue to rise, and household names keep joining the Patent Power Scorecards. Over the years, we have charted the rise in the patent prowess of Google (No. 1 this year in Communication/Internet Services). And despite a relatively small patent output—just 46 U.S. patents granted in 2012—Facebook debuts this year at No. 2 in the same category. This is possible because the scorecards reflect not only the size of organizations’ patent portfolios but also the quality of those portfolios, as reflected in characteristics such as growth, impact, originality, and general applicability.

TechAlert

[ImproBeirut Sep 2013] Acting Workshop

It was really an amazing experience for me to participate in Beirut Acting Workshop, I seemed to have entered different dimensions.

I was doing things that were not a feature of my everyday, recognizable life.

Acting makes you feel that life is more than it appears to be.

طريق من ذهب - جزء 1

 وفي احدى الليالي السّرمديّة

ترتاح المشاعر من سوط الجلاد 

فتجلس أمامي تحدّثني عما حصل ذلك اليوم

هي لم تعرف أنّ وجداني لن يطيق صحبتها

وأنّ عنده ثوبا ذهبيا .. وحصانا أبيضا

يمتطيه كلّما سمع حديث عن عاشق وعاشقة

فيهمّ للذهاب بحثا عنهما

يدلّه على الطريق .. رحيق شفتيها

يضيع تارة في عالم الأحلام ..

 وتارة، في عالم من الفوضى

يقولون أنّه الواقع

يحرقه طريق العودة

هو وجداني ..

لم يغادر زنزانته قط 

م.ز.

Oui c vrai, j'aime la musique ..

j´aime la musique, oui c´est magnifique
toute la journée, je ne pense qu´à ça
j´aime la musique, pour moi c´est magique
et quand elle est là, j´ai le cœur qui bat
elle me donne l´espoir
quand mon cœur est noir
elle me donne tant de joie
que je ne pourrais jamais vivre sans elle

j´aime la musique, oui c´est magnifique
elle a ce parfum que je connais bien
et lorsque ça chauffe, ce n´est qu´une ébauche
d´un monde lointain qui serait demain

elle m´offre le rêve
qui manque à mes rêves
elle me donne envie d´aimer
et de tout partager avec toi

j´ai cherché pendant des années
cette chansons qui me tourmentait
aujourd´hui je l´ai trouvée
oui c´est vrai, je l´ai trouvée

écoute cette musique, elle est pleine de rythmes
je l´ai faite pour toi et un peu pour moi
pour que tu comprennes que celle que j´aime
fait battre mon cœur sur ce rythme là

c´est un grand mystère
tout ce qu´elle peut faire
elle m´emmène tout là-bas
loin du monde un peu froid
et j´aime ça

mais je sais qu´un beau jour viendra
où nous serons qu´elle et moi
et elle me révélera des chansons, des refrains

elle me donne tant de joie
que je ne pourrais jamais vivre sans ça

DANY BRILLANT - J'aime la Musique - 1993

We lost a great man, he will forever be missed ..

The Piano - Amazing Short - Animation by Aidan Gibbons, Music by Yann Ti...

Kawasaki [Japan]

[Instructables] A weekend with Optical Goggles !

Last weekend I went for a swim in Byblos [LB], intending to try my "optical goggles". It was just amazing !

I added some water inside !

Look how water got out from inside the goggles ! 

Then I spent the whole day wearing them ..

The lenses stayed fog/water free and the goggle was comfortable and easily adjusted over my eyes.

Google Motion

After being successful, the work was nominated for two contests "The Great Outdoor Contest" and "The Weekend Project Contest"

9 Days and voting will be closed !

I am very proud of this DIY invention and I hope it will get more and more votes on the #Instructables page :D 

At the end, if you are going to the beach this weekend, have fun !!

4 Guys - 4 Cups

Nerds always RULE !!

April fool: on the first of April 2013, Google announced the launch of a new smell search feature, Google Nose. It was in beta mode, but its "aromabase" of more than 15 million "scentibytes" was sure to entertain, featuring such wondrous odors as airport terminal, used napkin and garlic breath.

Never Play With Nerds

By AMANDA DAVIS 8 July 2013

IEEE Graduate Student Member Haruka Matsukura, IEEE Member Hiroshi Ishida, and their colleague Tatsuhiro Yoneda, demonstrated their Smelling Screen at the IEEE Virtual Reality Conference, held in March in Orlando, Fla. The screen, which they call an “olfactory display,” relies on two odor-releasing vents—one on the right side, the other on the left of an LCD TV screen—that are programmed to dispense up to eight different aromas. They described the prototype in their conference paper “Smelling Screen: Technique to Present a Virtual Odor Source at an Arbitrary Position on a Screen.”

During the demonstration, Matsukura, who led the research team, said he hopes their invention will enhance advertisements, video games, and museum exhibits, in addition to adding a new element to TV shows.

NOW SMELL THIS

Combining a movie with appropriate odors isn’t new—it actually first turned up more than 50 years ago. Smell-O-Vision, invented in the late 1950s, brought smells of other things beside popcorn to the movie theater. The technology had its debut in the 1960 film Scent of Mystery. The movie was released in three cities—New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago—and the theaters were equipped with vents near the screen aimed at the audience. Odors were released at specific points in the plot. In one scene, for example, wine barrels fall off a wagon, roll down a hill, and smash against a wall—at which point the scent of grapes wafted over the audience.

Unfortunately, the system had glitches. Moviegoers complained about loud hissing from the vents when the scents were dispersed and said the smells usually arrived too late for the on-screen action. In some parts of the theater, the smells were much fainter than in others, so some people had to audibly sniff the air in search of the scent. The movie tanked at the box office. Moviegoers also turned up their noses at other “smelly” systems such as AromaRama, which debuted almost simultaneously with Smell-O-Vision and piped in its smells through a theater’s air-conditioning system.

HOME ENTERTAINMENT

This time, it’s personal—unlike the original Smell-O-Vision, the Smelling Screen can fit inside a living room. The prototype that Matsukura’s team demonstrated at the conference measured 32 centimeters in height and 53 cm in length—about the size of a large personal computer monitor. The vents release odors automatically at preset intervals, while a pair of fans blow odors in various directions and thus create the illusion that the scent is coming from a specific point or object on the screen.

The scents originate from hydrogel pellets, called “aroma chips,” that are heated to produce vapor. The vapor is then released from tubes attached to the vents. So far, the researchers have only been able to generate one smell at a time, but they plan to develop cartridges preloaded with multiple scents that can be released at the same time.

 “The location of this virtual odor source can be shifted on the screen by adjusting the positions of the fans,” Matsukura says. In the demo, the smell of coffee appeared to emanate from the image of a coffee cup that appeared on the top-left corner of the screen.

“Sensory tests are being conducted with subjects to determine if they can correctly identify where on the screen the smell seems like it’s coming from, and encouraging results have been obtained so far,” he says. “Most users do not immediately notice the mechanism that runs the display system because the odor seems to come from the screen rather than the fans.”

Matsukura pointed out at the conference that bakeries, popcorn stands, and other food retailers already use the power of scent to attract customers. For example, Cinnabon, a maker of cinnamon buns, is said to pump the smells of spices and sugar into the air in its stores to attract customers. The Smelling Screen, if proven to be reliable, could potentially be a powerful new tool for advertisers, he says. If it was difficult to resist that sizzling steak before, wait until you’re hit with its enticing aromas each time it appears on your television!

E4C Solutions Library 2.0 

E4C is now actively moving forward with an important new program: our "Solutions Library 2.0." The new and improved program, building on E4C's present Solutions Library, has fielded a diverse team of leading thinkers and practitioners from across the world of sustainable development to co-design and develop the resource to aggregate, evaluate, and share information on appropriate, technology-based solutions. Their goal is to create a comprehensive, searchable repository of solutions available via the Web to allow broad-based expert analysis and feedback as well as ongoing news and updates. E4C's Solutions Library 2.0 will be both a decision-aid tool for designers, manufacturers and users of products as well as a spur to the marketplace, to catalyze the production of high quality, fit-for-service products to address the needs of underserved communities. For more information, please contact Iana Aranda, E4C's Senior Program Manager, at iana@engineeringforchange.org

AAES Honors E4C's El-Ghobashy 

We are very pleased to share with you that E4C's president, Noha El-Ghobashy, was recently honored by the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) with the 2013 Kenneth Andrew Roe Award. The Roe Award recognizes the engineer who has been most effective in promoting unity among professional engineering societies. Noha earned the honor for the work she's done at the helm of E4C, fostering professional collaboration in the delivery of multi-disciplinary sustainable solutions for quality-of-life challenges around the world. 

Please join all of us at E4C in offering congratulations to our president – well done, Noha!

E4C Webinars – Best in Class Learning Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

The E4C Webinar Series continues to be the place to learn at the leading edge of the Engineering for Global Development world. Next up: July and August E4C webinars featuring great FREE learning opportunities you won't find anywhere else:

World Toilet Day: Global Branding at Zero Cost on July 17 with Jack Sim, Founder, World Toilet Organization; 

Rural Development Consulting, Social Entrepreneurship & Sustainable Development on August 29 (in English) with Bryse Gaboury, Cofounder and Director, Advancing Engineering and on August 27 (in Spanish) with Daniel Garcia, P.E., Founder, Emergent Engineers

As you know, engineers in North America can receive one Professional Development Hour (PDH) for each E4C webinar they attend, either previously recorded or live. (Certification is awarded by IEEE). Send an e-mail to continuinged@ieee-elearning.org with your name, the webinar's title and code (available during the webinar), and you'll shortly receive your PDH certificate by email. 

E4C and SWE – Perfect Together 

Engineering for Change is delighted to report that The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) has signed on again as an E4C leadership sponsor for the coming year.  Since 2011, the number of SWE members participating in E4C has increased by 76 percent!  More than 230 SWE members are actively involved with E4C, building their resumes and giving back by applying their engineering know-how to real-world problems. Members have helped build footbridges washed out by floods, drill wells in arid communities lacking clean water and secure reliable energy sources for underserved populations.  

“We often talk about improving the world for the next generation, and Engineering for Change does just that,” said Lester McNair, the programs manager at SWE. “Through this partnership, our members creatively apply their considerable experience to develop affordable, sustainable solutions to urgent humanitarian needs around the world.”  

Each month, SWE members learn about E4C through a free interactive Webinar. Members of your organization can do the same.  To learn more about how your company might get involved, please send an email to partners@engineeringforchange.org.

Meet E4C’s Summer Intern for 2013 – Rebecca Ciez 

Please join us in welcoming 2013 Summer Intern Rebecca Ciez to the E4C team. Rebecca is a 2013 graduate of Columbia University, where she majored in Mechanical Engineering and minored in both economics and in sustainable engineering. During her time at Columbia, Rebecca worked with Engineers Without Borders on projects around the world from, as she put it, "almost before my freshman year began." The daughter of engineers, Rebecca grew up in Murrysville (a suburb of Pittsburgh), PA. After her summer stint with E4C, Rebecca will move on this fall to Carnegie Mellon University to pursue Ph.D. research on energy storage technology, microgrids and batteries. Did we mention that she's taking Carnegie Mellon up on an offer of full scholarship plus stipend? We were impressed too.

While you're with us, let us say: Welcome Rebecca - we're delighted to have you on the team this summer and glad you're here. Now -- let's get to work!

Noam Chomsky response to honorary degree

June 14, 2013, AUB

It’s unnecessary to dwell on the fact that it is a real privilege to be awarded this honor from a great university.

I wish I could feel that my generation, and its predecessors, deserve to be honored for the legacy that we are leaving to those who will soon have the fate of the world in their hands. There have been impressive achievements in past years, but also striking failures, which leave young people today with problems and choices that are of a new order of difficulty and urgency. Some are specific to the region, but others are shared with the rest of the world. 

For the first time in history, humans have progressed to the stage where they can destroy the basis for decent survival. There are two grim shadows that hover over every topic we consider: nuclear war, 

and environmental catastrophe.The first has been with us for 70 years. Reviewing the record, the fact that we have escaped disaster is close to miraculous, and unless policies are significantly changed the miracle is unlikely to persist for too long. Threats in fact are constant, some of them not very far from here.

The environmental threats were also with us 70 years ago, but then rarely perceived. By now only the willfully blind can ignore them, and fail to realize that we are marching towards a cliff like the proverbial lemmings. A few years ago the grand old man of American biology, Ernst Mayr, pondered the question whether intelligence may be a lethal mutation. He observed that the evidence for that thesis is strong. Biological success is greatest for organisms that mutate rapidly, like bacteria, or that have fixed ecological niche, like beetles. And in fact they will happily survive the catastrophes we are preparing. But as we move up the ladder of intelligence, survival declines. There are, for example, very few primates, and the explosion of humans is too recent to mean anything and is unlikely to persist.

Mayr also observes that the average life span of a species is about 100,000 years, about how long homo sapiens has existed. Whether Mayr’s thesis is correct will very likely be determined by those who are entering the wider world today, facing a somber but unavoidable task.

Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician, historian, political critic, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. In addition to his work in linguistics, he has written on war, politics, and mass media, and is the author of over 100 books.

Chomsky holds views that can be summarized as anti-war but not strictly pacifist. He prominently opposed the Vietnam War and most other wars in his lifetime. He expressed these views with tax resistance and peace walks. Chomsky has made many criticisms of the Israeli government, its supporters, the United States' support of the government, and its treatment of the Palestinian people, arguing that " 'supporters of Israel' are in reality supporters of its moral degeneration and probable ultimate destruction" and that "Israel's very clear choice of expansion over security may well lead to that consequence."

LambaLabs Participation in TEDxAUB and PechaKucha night !

One word could be said about both events: Unforgettable !

Every year, the TED event is given to innovative thinkers who have what it takes to make a difference -- by putting their thoughts and feelings into action in order to fulfill a world-changing vision.

This year, TEDxAUB 2013 was a space for AUB students, Alumni and Staff to get their mental gears turning. Mentors, colleagues, and friends wanted to put their heads together with the TED community and brainstorm even further:

How would you choose to make an impact with one million dollars ?

What is the strongest muscle in the human body?

Presenting the awesome talk of 

Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight

War War war war everywhere !

Skepticism: Question Everything

Our stand; Introducing people to a 3D printer

The third speaker during the TED event was Raja Oueis  - introducing us to the hacker community, and why it is important.

PechaKucha Night

The event being held in Platform 39 - Beirut, featured some leading figures from different backgrounds. They introduced attendees to different fields of arts, sciences, sociology, and technology. Beirut Design Week, Street Photography, To Draw or To Plot, Illustration, and most importantly "Lamba Labs" .. were all parts of the event. Hassan Slaibi introduced people to new culture of Hackerspace: What is DIY [Do It Yourself], Starting with a Good Design, Market Leaders, the emerging roles of peers, and so much more...

www.lambalabs.org