Virtual reality: Dutch firm wins prize for gaming pain away

DutchNews, December 19, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com

 A Frisian company which has developed a virtual reality headset to combat chronic pain has won the prestigious UN World SummitAward. 

Exactly how many people are suffering from chronic pain in the Netherlands is not known but their number runs into the thousands, medical experts say. Often the pain has no clear cause. The conventional treatment is painkillers but these are costly and don’t always work. 

The VR treatment tackles the pain by training the brain, psychologist Louis Zantema, who founded Reducept, told broadcaster NOS. 

‘People with chronic pain are oversensitive to the pain signal sent by the body to the brain. The therapy helps the nervous system because the brain believes healing is taking place,’ he said. 

Shooting down the pain 

‘When you put on the VR headset you travel into in your own nervous system. The painful spots show up as small red dots which you shoot at, as if you were playing a game,’ Zantema explained. 

After ‘shooting down’ the pain the next step is a mindfulness exercise focusing on the spinal cord. ‘There we are using a psychological trick which also works for people suffering from trauma. The patient does a complicated exercise which is alternated with an intensive focusing on the pain.’ 

Professor Harry van Goor tested the VR headset on 40 people all of whom experienced a reduction in pain symptoms. He says the treatment offers hope to many while saving money at the same time. 

‘Chronic pain is causing depression and is putting a lot of pressure on the health system. The medication either doesn’t help or is addictive and waiting lists for the specialist pain clinics are very long,’ he told NOS. 

The treatment is available at over 50 healthcare institutions but is not covered by health insurers. A session costs €15 apart from the cost of buying a VR headset.

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Science & Spiritually Conference 2018, BC – Canada (4), June 16-17, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version “Predictions”)

“….Let me close with this: I'm going to give you the same concept that I gave those few on their way to the beautiful garden a few days ago [channelling on the way to Butchart Gardens in Vancouver Island]. There are things in your field for you that will save your life unless you look back and say, "Impossible!" Some of you have an old habit where you look at your life and say, "Well, for others, but not for me." Sometimes you pull on your old logic and further say, "Well, it's never happened before, so why should it happen now?" Dear ones, that exactly reflects the earlier teaching of the day. Don't let the past predict your future. If you do, then you are actually creating your own demise.

What is in the field for you? What is it you can see and imagine? Have you heard this question from the scientists this week - not a channeller, but the scientists? Did you hear that the visualization of your health from your consciousness goes inside and is seen by your own cellular structure? Does this science sound like Kryon? Did you hear that the field is there to push it forward? Do you believe in homeopathy? Do you see how it works? For example, you have a tincture that is too small to be recognized by any part of the body as a chemical change, yet the body sees the signal from the tincture and corrects the issue! Dear one, homeopathy is not something unknown on the planet. It's everywhere! So understand this: The principles of homeopathy are NOT homeopathic principles. They are Universal principles of the field.

So, how about consciousness homeopathy? What's the difference between putting a tincture together to create a signal for healing and life extension or putting strong consciousness together that does the same? This is here and already has been proven. It's just means changing the mechanics a little. With the new energy that I have told you is here, and the amount of love that is pouring to you that is greater than ever before because of what you're doing, old soul, this is doable for you. More than doable. It awaits manifestation. ..…”

Dutch Fortnite gamer wins a cool $1m at world championships

DutchNews, July 29, 2019 

Spectators follow the game at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium. Photo: Benedikt
Wenck/dpa Photo via Newscom

Dave Jong, who goes by the name of Rojo, has come second in the first ever Fortnite World Championship in New York at the weekend, bagging a million dollar slice of the unprecedented $30m prize money – despite only taking up the game a year ago. 

The 21-year-old and his British partner Jaden ‘Wolfiez’ Ashman left 48 other teams in the duo competition standing, and only had to concede victory to Norwegian Emil ‘Nyhrox’ Bergquist Pedersen and Thomas ‘Aqua’ Arnould from Austria who went home with $3m each.

‘This is super cool,’ Jong told NOS. ‘We trained really hard so I did expect to end up in the top 10. But to get to second place was a bit of a surprise.’ 

Jong said he didn’t know what he was going to do with the money. ‘I’ll probably invest it. I don’t really need a house. I’m fine living with my mum,’ he told the broadcaster. 

In Fortnite players are dumped on a virtual island where they have to find weapons, build structures and eliminate each other until one player comes out on top.

It is currently one of the most popular online games with tens of millions of active players worldwide.

Cameroonian kid beats internet ban to win coding competition

A 17-year-old Cameroonian has won Google's annual coding award, despite the partial shutdown of internet in his country. Nji Collins Gbah is the first African to win the competition.

Deutsche Welle, 15 February 2017

Young Africans sitting in front of computers (AFP/Getty Images)

The population of the English-speaking North West and South West regions of Cameroon are elated after teenager Nji Collins Gbah became the first African winner in Google's annual coding competition.

The 17-year-old beat all odds, including the internet blackout imposed by the government, to emerge the winner. The Cameroonian government cut off the internet in the English-speaking regions four weeks ago, saying this was necessary to quell unrest and to stop people from using social media to spread what the government calls "anti-state messages."

Protests began in October last year, targeting the alleged marginalization of English speakers by Cameroon's francophone majority. Since then, at least six protestors have been shot dead and hundreds have been arrested.

Undeterred by all this, Gbah traveled to a neighboring town to apply for the global award.

Locals have been thronging the family's home in Bamenda to celebrate the young hero whose win came at a difficult time for  Cameroonians in the South and Northwest regions.

This is an English-speaking part of the country where there are complaints about alleged discrimination and what people see as the francophone establishment's failure to respect the status of English as an official language of Cameroon.

Computer or chores?

Apart from getting round the internet blackout, Gbah also had to borrow his father's computer.

" He used to take my computer and I was not very happy with it because I was feeling that he was only spending time without doing house chores.” Nji Patrick said.

" So at times I used to seize my computer and lock it in the house and I told him not to use it any more because I was believing that he was just spending time on that computer for nothing," Gbah's father told DW.

Gbah went ahead to register for the competition. He had to travel to a French-speaking zone in Mbouda where he could get an internet connection to complete the Google competition tasks.

"They told us to know some basic things in computer science and some basics in computer science programming and how to use certain software. So you basically just need to create an account or use your Google account if you have one,” Gbah explained.

Google's coding competition is now
in its 14th year

After his initial skepticism. his father admitted that his son is now a role model for many youths after beating all odds to win  the Google coding competition.

"I was very very surprised. I blamed myself for being so hard on him but now I am very very happy," Nji Patrick said.

Victory is an inspiration

For many young people in Cameroon, like Atteh Francis, the victory shows how much they are losing due to the internet ban in their region.

"This young man had that inspiration to go to Bafoussam, but you don't know how many of them are there who could have been on the podium but who do not have the chance because of the absence of the internet, and it is a big shame because I don't know how I can live for a day without the internet," Francis said.

For the young winner, his victory is an inspiration to find solutions to problems like the current internet ban in his area.

"I would like to study computer science at university. The main thing is to focus exactly on what you want to do. Once you have a goal and you see that you are going to get benefits at the end, or you are going to learn something new from it, then you should totally go with it," Gbah said.

Meanwhile, the gvernment says the ban will continue.

"Social networks provide lots of opportunities. You can get early warning signals in cases of disasters, but we have noticed that many people use it for unhealthy purposes," ​Cameroon's Minister of Post and Telecommunication Libom Li Likeng  said.

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"You Don’t Know How the Frog Jumps"–  Jan11, 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“…  Last week, I gave you a message about the potentials of 2011. And there were those in this room who attended. I'm going to repeat something I said there, for you need to hear it and it has to do with politics. It would seem intuitive to every single Human Being in the room that in order to accomplish what you do as Americans in Congress, you must have at least two parties. For that is the way it has always been - the red and the blue.

What if I told you that there will come a time when there will be no parties? You might then say, "Well, that's impossible, Kryon, because you're not Human and you don't know how funding works." You might say, "It has to be a party that creates the power to raise money for the ones who cannot, and then the funding is spread around and this is the way we work. If you didn't have parties, you'd have no funding. Nobody could advertise, and no one could get elected."

Oh, really?

Are you aware right now, that you have a president who was elected on the Internet? He figured it out. When everybody can talk to everyone, you have plenty of funding. A few dollars here, a few dollars there. You talk to millions at the same time, they talk to millions at the same time. It's a new paradigm of communication. The young people know all about it, and you can't stop it. Watch for more from this new paradigm.

It is worldwide communication, one person at a time. It doesn't matter how many laws you pass, and it doesn't matter what you decide about who is in charge of it, you can't stop it. It's out of the bag now, and the communities of the young are going to be communicating. This is how the politicians are going to be communicating to you, literally coming into your home in a holographic form perhaps, explaining their position one by one, without a party. Then you will elect them to your Congress without a party and they will sit in the chairs without a division and there will be no such thing as the "other side of the aisle."

And that, Human Being, is called unity and there is a paradigm that you cannot even imagine. And it's in the works. And then you'll have a Congress that works together and gets things done without the current duality.  ….”

Africa - "The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

"..  Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit. …." 

This 15-year-old won $25,000 for devising a genius way to harvest energy from the ocean

Business Insider, Tanya Lewis,  Oct. 14, 2015

Hannah Herbst wants to bring renewable energy to the developing world.

The 15-year-old from Boca Raton, Florida, won this year's Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge for designing a probe to generate power and fresh water for developing countries by harvesting it from ocean currents.

She was awarded $25,000 and the title of "America's Top Young Scientist" at a competition at the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Herbst told Business Insider she was inspired by her 9-year-old pen pal in Ethiopia who has limited access to electricity. "I cant even imagine a day without electricity," said Herbst.

How the device works

Herbst's energy probe is made of recycled materials and costs just $12.

It consists of a 3D-printed propeller, connected by a pulley inside a plastic PVC pipe to a hydroelectric generator, which converts the mechanical movement of ocean currents to usable electricity. She tested her device in the Boca Raton Intracoastal Waterway, where the current coming in from the Altantic Ocean produces a large amount of untapped energy.

Using her device, she was able to power a set of LED lights.

She calculated that if her design were scaled up, she could generate enough electricity to charge three car batteries at once in less than an hour. That's enough energy to power saltwater desalinization pumps to provide a source of fresh water for developing countries. It could also power blood centrifuges for medical use, or coastal beacons for ship navigation.

The competitors

Herbst was one of nine finalists.

Over the past three months, each of them was paired with a 3M scientist as part of a summer mentoring program to take their inventions from design to prototype.

Herbst worked with 3M corporate scientist Jeffrey Emslander, whose research has helped the company reduce its emissions and produce its products using less energy. Here they are accepting the award:

The competition's second place prize went to Raghav Ganesh, an eighth grader from San Jose, California, for an invention that monitors physiological and environmental factors that can trigger meltdowns in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Third place went to Amulya Garimella, a seventh grader from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who created a system that monitors EEG brainwaves and alerts the user when he or she is distracted.

Iris Gupta, a seventh grader from North Potomac, Maryland, won fourth place for her project to stop allergies at their source by inhalation or injection of nanoparticles that block particles that trigger allergies.

As for Herbst, she plans to donate some of her winnings to her Ethiopian pen pal, and a new building at her school. The rest will go into her college fund, she said.

She also plans to keep working with her 3M mentor to improve her ocean energy device, and eventually deploy it in developing countries.

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much….”

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”

Saudi blogger wins Sakharov rights prize, sparking pardon calls

Yahoo – AFP, Arnaud Bouvier with Bryan McManus in Brussels, October 29, 2015

An Amnesty International activist holds a picture of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi 

during a protest against his flogging punishment on January 29, 2015 in front of 

Saudi Arabia's embassy to Germany in Berlin. The 30-year-old Saudi has been

 sentenced to 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam and is serving a 10-year jail term - a 

case which has drawn widespread international criticism. (AFP Photo/Tobias Schwarz)

Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam, was awarded the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov human rights prize on Thursday.

The 31-year-old, who was arrested in 2012, is an outspoken advocate of free speech whose public flogging in January triggered international outrage when he was subjected to a first round of 50 lashes.

European Parliament head Martin Schulz

 called on Saudi King Salman to 

immediately release blogger Raif

Badawi (AFP Photo/Thierry Charlier)

Announcing the award, parliament chief Martin Schulz called on Saudi King Salman to immediately release Badawi, denouncing his sentence as "brutal torture" and demanding that Riyadh live up to Europe's standards on human rights.

"This man has had... imposed on him one of the most cruel penalities which can only be described as brutal torture," Schulz said. "I call on the Saudi king to immediately free him."

Watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) echoed the call, urging King Salman to pardon the father of three.

Badawi, who co-founded the Saudi Liberal Network Internet discussion group, was detained in 2012 on cyber crime charges.

Like most Saudis, Badawi is a Sunni Muslim but his network had announced a "day of liberalism" and called for an end to the influence of religion on public life in the kingdom.

He was arrested and the website shut down on grounds it criticised Saudi Arabia's notorious religious police.

He was initially charged in 2013, and last year a Saudi court sentenced him to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail.

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, 

photographed in 2012

(AFP Photo)

His wife Ensaf Haidar, who fled to Canada with his children, hailed the award as "a message of hope and courage" which came just two days after she warned that her husband's flogging was expected to resume.

"I hope that this prize is going to help advance" Badawi's cause and allow him to rejoin his family, Haidar told AFP.

She said she had not spoken to him in six days and was not sure if he even knew that he had won the prize. "When I last spoke with him his morale was low, so I hope this news gives him hope," she said.

'A message to his torturers'

The award was also hailed by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) which said he had played a major role in promoting freedom of expression and attempting to foster public debate in Saudi Arabia.

"Raif has spoken up for all Saudis who simply dream of enjoying the same rights as other human beings. He has paid dearly for his commitment and this Sakharov Prize sends a clear and strong message to his torturers," said FIDH president Karim Lahiji.

Born on January 13, 1984, Badawi studied economics then went on to run an English-language and computer learning institute, says Haidar, who married him in 2001.

He eventually found his calling as a writer, focusing on free speech.

The network that he co-founded was described by Paris-based RSF as "an online discussion network whose aim is to encourage political, religious and social debates in Saudi Arabia".

Supporters of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi protest in Paris against his sentence of 

1,000 lashes for "insulting Islam", on May 7, 2015 (AFP Photo/Stephane de Sakutin)

In a blog posting last year which was translated into English, Badawi wrote: "It requires courage to respect others' views, to appreciate others' beliefs and choices along with their right to believe them."

RSF named Badawi as one of three winners of its press freedom prize last year.

Sentence upheld

After his arrest, a court in the Red Sea city of Jeddah sentenced him in 2013 to seven years in jail and 600 lashes for insulting Islam and setting up the liberal network.

An appeals court overturned the original verdict, sending Badawi's case back for retrial with his sentence increased last year to 10 years and 1,000 lashes. The sentence was upheld by a Saudi court in June.

Citing an informed source, Badawi's wife on Tuesday said Saudi authorities had "given the green light to the resumption of Raif Badawi's flogging", saying it would take place "soon" at the prison where he is being held. The information was posted on a website dedicated to her husband's plight.

Ensaf Haidar, wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, in Berlin on May 21,

 2015 prior to the Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Awards 

2015 ceremony (AFP Photo/John Macdougall)

Britain on Wednesday announced that a Briton facing the threat of flogging in Saudi Arabia for being caught with home-made wine is to be released from custody.

The prestigious Sakharov human rights prize is given every year to honour individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression.

Last year, it was awarded to Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege for helping victims of gang rapes by soldiers.

Past winners include Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousafzai, late South African president Nelson Mandela and Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Related Articles:

Blogger Raif Badawi's long struggle for freedom of expression

Saudi Arabia postpones flogging of blogger Badawi for third week

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi’s case referred to supreme court, says his wife

Saudi postpones blogger lashing on medical grounds

Protesters call for the release of Raif Badawi outside the Saudi embassy

in The Hague, Netherlands. Photograph: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/Rex

Delft students take prestigious synthetic biology prize

DutchNews,September 29, 2015

A team of students from TU Delft has won several prizes at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition in Boston. 

Their Biolinker project took the overall prize making them the best team in the world, and also won best hardware project, best wiki (website) and best applied design. 

The Biolinker is a 3D printer made from K’NEX construction toy parts which the team of nine students uses to create biofilms – thin layers of bacteria or micro-organisms. 

Over 200 teams from around the world took part in the iGEM competition, held between September 24 and 28. It is the largest student competition in the field of synthetic biology.

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Dutch Bluetooth inventor honoured in US

DutchNews.nl, April 4, 2015    

Jaap Haartsen

Dutch scientist Jaap Haartsen, who invented the wireless communication system Bluetooth, is being included in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in the US. 

Haartsen, who now works for US company Plantronics in Emmen, is one of 12 people who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in May. Previous inductees include Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers and Henry Ford. 

Haartsen’s finding is used in over three billion gadgets worldwide and he is being recognised by the US because of the enormous impact his invention has had on society, the Volkskrant reported. 

The Dutchman, who studied at Delft University of Technology, invented the technology while working for Ericsson in Sweden in 1994 and the patent is in his name. 

He said in an interview with the Volkskrant that he had been asked by his bosses at Ericsson to develop something which allowed mobile phones to communicate with other equipment. 

Risk 

Haartsen told the paper that while he might have come up with the idea if he had been in the Netherlands at the time, he would not have been able to realise it because of the lack of risk-takers.

‘In the Netherlands, you have to put your house up as security if you want to take such a risk with your company,’ he said. 

‘The way in which much research is done here is more like a beauty contest,’ he said. ‘The people with the prettiest stories get the money.’

Taiwan's 3D printer 'da Vinci' wins Nikkei excellent product award

Want China Times, CNA 2015-01-09

The da Vinci 1.0 3D printer. (Photo courtesy of XYZprinting)

A Taiwanese brand won a Nikkei Asian Review Award for Excellence for the first time at the 2014 Nikkei Superior Products and Services Awards on Tuesday when XYZprinting Inc. took the honor for its 3D printer.

The da Vinci 1.0 3D printer, which went on sale at stores in Japan in March 2014, won the award because of its affordable price, ease of handling and attractive exterior design, XYZprinting said in a statement on Tuesday.

XYZprinting CEO Simon Shen said his company was encouraged by winning the Nikkei award and will continue to develop products that make it easier for consumers to enjoy using 3D printers.

Nikkei has been recognizing superior new products and services every year since 1982, when it launched the "Nikkei Outstanding Product of the Year Awards." The awards name was changed to the current name in 1987.

Nominations are not based on public application or participation. Instead, Nikkei selects candidate products and services on its own every September to November and then has a panel of judges select some 40 winning products and services at the end of the year.

Prior to earning a Nikkei award, the da Vinci 1.0 was selected for an Editor's Choice Award at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2013. It also received Computex Taipei's Best Choice Award in June last year.

XYZprinting, a unit of Taiwanese electronics conglomerate Kinpo Group, told the press in November last year that it plans to ship 120,000 3D printers globally in 2015, triple an estimated 40,000 units in 2014, due to a wider offering of products.

3D printing is the automated process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape based on a digital model. The technology is already changing the design, prototyping and manufacturing processes in a wide range of industries, according to market research firm Gartner.

Right Livelihood Award to Snowden

Moscow-exiled US whistleblower Edward Snowden and British Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger are to receive the Right Livelihood Award. They're among five persons awarded Sweden's "alternative Nobel prize."

Deutsche Welle, 24 Sep 2014

The Stockholm-based Right Livelihood Award Foundation on Wednesday praised Snowden, a former US intelligence agent, for "revealing the unprecedented extent of state surveillance."

Rusbridger was forced to destroy data

It said Rusbridger, the editor in chief of Britain's The Guardian newspaper, also won the award for "responsible journalism in the public interest.

"None of them could have done what they did without the other, " said foundation director Ole von Uexkull.

The announcement, originally set for Thursday, was brought forward, after a leak by Swedish broadcaster SVT.

Foundation denied access

Von Uexkull, the nephew of Jacob von Uexkull who founded the prize in 1980, said all winners had been invited to a December 1 award ceremony in Stockholm.

Discussions on "potential" travel arrangements for Snowden, who remains exiled in Russia, would be held with the Swedish government, von Uexkull said.

He added that the foundation had been denied access to the Swedish foreign ministry's media room, where award ceremonies have been held since 1995.

Three other winners

Snowden, who is wanted by the US for exposing mass data collection by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and Rusbridger are honorary winners, meaning they will not receive the award's customary 500,000 kronor (54,500 euros).

The other three prize winners, named to receive the monetary award, are Pakistani human rights lawyer Asma Jahanger, Sri Lankan rights activist Basil Fernando and US environmentalist Bill McKibbben.

Jahanger is a human rights lawyer who has defended women, children, religious minorities and the poor in Pakistan, the award citation said.

Fernando, originally from Sri Lanka, led the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission for nearly two decades and now serves as its director of policy and programs.

McKibben is founder of 350.org, a grass-roots environmental movement aimed at spurring action to fight climate change.

lpj/kms (dpa, AFP, AP)

Von Uexkull, the nephew of Jacob von Uexkull who founded the prize in 1980, said all winners had been invited to a December 1 award ceremony in Stockholm.

Discussions on "potential" travel arrangements for Snowden, who remains exiled in Russia, would be held with the Swedish government, von Uexkull said.

He added that the foundation had been denied access to the Swedish foreign ministry's media room, where award ceremonies have been held since 1995.

Three other winners

Snowden, who is wanted by the US for exposing mass data collection by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and Rusbridger are honorary winners, meaning they will not receive the award's customary 500,000 kronor (54,500 euros).

The other three prize winners, named to receive the monetary award, are Pakistani human rights lawyer Asma Jahanger, Sri Lankan rights activist Basil Fernando and US environmentalist Bill McKibbben.

Jahanger is a human rights lawyer who has defended women, children, religious minorities and the poor in Pakistan, the award citation said.

Fernando, originally from Sri Lanka, led the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission for nearly two decades and now serves as its director of policy and programs.

McKibben is founder of 350.org, a grass-roots environmental movement aimed at spurring action to fight climate change.

lpj/kms (dpa, AFP, AP)