How an electronic nose could change the wine industry (by Leslie Meredith, TechNewsDaily)

The future of smelling your wine…

 

Wine experts point out that while the device could pick out smells, it can’t determine if the wine is actually good or not.
For winemakers (and wine drinkers), a keen sense of smell is essential. Without smell, one can taste little. Now researchers have devised what they call an “electronic nose” that they say detects fruit odors more effectively than the human sense of smell and could someday be used in the winemaking industry.
 
Spanish and Swedish engineers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain and Sweden’s University of Gävle have created an electronic nose with 32 sensors that can distinguish pears from apples, which contain similar chemical compounds called esters. The researchers said the technology could eventually be used to distinguish the quality or type of grape or recognize a wine’s vintage.
 
Their setup bears no resemblance to an actual nose, rather it is a desktop apparatus connected to a computer.
 
“The fruit samples are placed in a pre-chamber into which an air flow is injected which reaches the tower with the sensors, which are metal oxide semiconductors that detect odorous compounds such as methane or butane,” José Pelegrí Sebastiá, co-author of the paper, said in a statement.
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20 Digital Facts That You Need to Know (by crttbuzzbin.com)

Digital Facts you must know…

 

01. Mobile internet usage is projected to overtake desktop internet usage by 2014

The facts and numbers around mobile usage is pretty staggering. Over 1 billion mobile devices are currently in use, and the number keeps on growing. We use and rely on our phones on a daily basis and if you don’t have a mobile friendly website you will get lost in the shuffle. By 2014 mobile internet usage should outpace desktops. This stat varies by source but 2014/15 is right around the corner. 2013 is the year to think about how your website caters to the mobile market.
02. Yes, you really do need a mobile friendly website

Not having a mobile friendly site will hurt the user experience as well as brand reputation. Google did a study on what users want from a mobile site and here are a few key points: 50% of people said that even if they like a business, they will use them less often if the website isn’t mobile friendly. And 48% said that if a site didn’t work well on their smartphones, it made them feel like the company didn’t care about their business.
03. Responsive design is the solution to the mobile dilemma

If you are not mobile friendly the solution resides within a technique called responsive design. Essentially this happens in the coding of the site and allows you to create one website that works across all devices. Knowing that 2014 is around the bend, and if you are planning to redesign your website, I strongly encourage implementing a responsive site. With the one site for all devices mindset this eliminates the need for specific mobile domains. With one site for all devices, content is managed in one spot and you don’t have to worry about a seperate domain for mobile search rankings.
04. Search engine websites are the most visited websites on a smartphone

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Is the past the future for drinks? (by thedrinksbusiness.com)

Back to an iconic era …

 

In an era of doom and gloom, the drinks industry is looking to yesteryear to provide comfort and inspiration, writes Spiros Malandrakis of Euromonitor

NOSTALGIA RESEMBLES a floating, safe-haven currency. The darker the front covers in today’s press, the stronger the allure of concepts, designs and branding alluding to the rose-tinted memories of yesteryear. The alcoholic drinks industry’s inherently cyclical nature, its tradition-steeped narrative and unique aptitude in reflecting shifting societal undercurrents could not but bring such references to the fore.

The signs have undoubtedly been there for a while, true offspring of the Great Recession, if not necessarily relevant to specific brands per se. The “Mad Men effect” proved to fittingly capture the zeitgeist while catapulting sales of bourbon and old-fashioned cocktails across the West. Localisation and the “micro” movements can also be viewed as a nod to much sought-after values of innocence, craftsmanship and heritage – a fact vividly highlighted in many brands’ decidedly old-school logos.
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The next big freeze could last 250 years (by dailymail.co.uk)

The near future ….

 

Experts say Sun’s activity wanes every 200 years – and the next ‘cooling period’ is due by 2040

• Russian scientists believe the Sun emits less heat every 200 years
• Cooling period could cause Earth’s temperature to fall by several degrees
• Last time was between 1650 and 1850, known as the ‘Little Ice Age’
• The period of low solar activity could start between 2030 and 2040

..Forget global warming – the Earth may soon be plunged into a 250-year cooling period, scientists have claimed.
Russian climate experts believe that every 200 years the Sun’s activity temporarily wanes and it emits less heat.
They believe this ‘cooling period’ could cause the earth’s average temperature to fall by several degrees.
 
Scientists believe that every 200 years the Sun emits less heat, resulting in a big freeze
The last time this occurred was between 1650 and 1850 – a period known as the ‘Little Ice Age’.
At the time, most of Britain’s rivers would freeze over during the bitter winters.
Contemporary paintings show people could even cross the Thames using ice skates.

The next ‘cooling period’ is scheduled to start between 2030 and 2040.
But scientists from Pulkovo Observatory in St Petersburg think the cold period is unlikely to be as harsh as the last one.

Researcher Yuri Nagovitsyn said: ‘Evidently, solar activity is on the decrease.
‘In this respect, we could be in for a cooling period that lasts 200 to  250 years.

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Video: Scientists unveil world wine map by 2050 (by thedrinksbusiness.com)

A brave new world lies ahead!

A report has warned that climate change is likely to push viticulture into new areas with potentially “disastrous” consequences for several endangered animal species.
Credit: Conservation-International photo-by-Russell-A.-Mittermeier
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study claims to be “the first ever worldwide analysis of the impacts of climate change on wine production and conservation.”

The international team of researchers led by Conservation International warned that in certain parts of the world the area suitable for wine production is due to shrink by “as much as 73% by 2050”, with particular pressure on local water resources.

A Google Earth “flyover” (see video below) compiled by the report’s authors shows a significant northerly shift for Europe’s viticultural regions, putting even areas such as Bordeaux and the Rhône under threat.

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