Honda Concept C

 Unveiled a the 2012 Beijing Auto Show, the Honda Concept C is study of a midsize sedan specifically targeted for the Chinese Market.

The Concept C previews a production model currently under development, and expected to go on sale in 2013.

The aggressive design is characterized by a rather flowing roofline and a sculpted body, with the surface treatment showcasing an elaborate interplay of sharp lines.

The focus on the Chinese taste appears particularly evident in the rather busy front and rear areas.

According to the company, the “C” represents “Cool,” “Challenge,” and “China”, while the sporty design that was inspired by the image of a dragon.

The product planning for this model was led by Honda’s Chinese associates and the development was done through cooperation between development teams in China and Japan.

LG Optimus True HD LTE (P936) Smartphone Specifications, Features

 LG recently made the official introduction of its all new smartphone in Germany, the LG Optimus True HD LTE.The Smartphone is previously named as LG P936 Optimus LTE. 

 The new LG Optimus True HD LTE comes equipped with a 4.5-inch touchscreen True HD IPS display with 1280 x 720 pixel resolution and is powered with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor along with 1GB RAM and 4GB internal memory.

 Other LG Optimus True HD LTE Smartphone features includes 8MP rear autofocus camera with LED flash, 1.3 megapixel camera front end camera for video calls, LTE, HSPA+, HDMI, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA and a microSD card slort (16GB already included) that supports upto 32GB card.

 New LG Optimus True HD LTE Smartphone runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and comes in only black shade(color) option.The True HD LTE Smartphone weighs 135 grams and its dimensions are 133.9 x 67.9 x 10.48 mm.

 The price details of Optimus True HD LTE smartphone in Europe market is not revealed yet.

Nokia Lumia 900 Review: Can It Save Windows Phone?

 The Nokia Lumia 900 could be one of the last chances for the Windows Phone platform. Does it deliver or will Microsoft's mobile OS continue to get trounced by the competition?

At the time of this review, the Nokia Lumia 900 is available for $99 through AT&T with a new two-year contract and data plan.

  Overview

 The Nokia Lumia 900 has a lot riding on its shoulders. Given the relative lack of success of Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform due to stiff competition from Android and iOS, Nokia is hoping to bring the Metro-based OS to the forefront of the mobile world with this flagship handset. It’s big, it’s powerful, it’s got LTE, and it’s even super affordable at $99 with a two-year contract. But is it the Windows Phone savior?

Build & Design

The large footprint of the Lumia 900 belies its weight. Despite the fact that it’s a whopping 5.03 x 2.7 x 0.45-inches, it only weighs 5.6 ounces, a mere half-ounce heavier than my much smaller HTC Trophy. As impressive as that is though, I don’t care much for phones that are so large that they’re borderline small tablets; I think it defeats the purpose of a smartphone by limiting its portability and making it generally uncomfortable to hold or operate one-handed.

At least the Lumia 900 has a unique build going for it, what with its rounded sides but sharp corners. When viewed from the top or bottom, it actually takes on an oval shape which is a little unusual. I didn’t dislike the design, per se, but it definitely took some getting used to. What I really took issue with, however, was the lack of any sort of rubberized texture or surface on the phone’s body. More than once during my time with it, the handset slipped right out of my hand like a bar of soap thanks to its smooth polycarbonate casing (don’t worry, Nokia, I caught it before it hit the ground).

Display

Though the resolution of the Lumia 900’s screen is only 800 x 480, it still looks fantastic. The AMOLED display produces vibrant colors and deep blacks, even if images aren’t as sharp as those viewed on displays with higher resolutions or pixel densities (like the one found on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus). And while I may not be a fan of the phone’s gigantic form factor, I have to admit that the 4.3-inch size of the screen makes reading text and viewing videos and pictures quite a pleasure. The Corning Gorilla Glass that’s used in the Lumia 900’s display also gives it a nice quality look and feel while maintaining excellent responsiveness with touch controls.

Perhaps most importantly, though, the Lumia 900 features Nokia’s ClearBlack display technology, which decreases the reflectance of the screen. Not only does this feature help increase visibility in the outdoors and direct sunlight, it also helps the screen look brighter and clearer when indoors. The phone’s display always looked intensely bright and colors were deeply saturated even without cranking the brightness up to the highest setting; I could leave it on automatic and still consistently enjoy a beautiful-looking screen.

 

Keyboard

The Lumia 900 does not feature a physical keyboard, so users will have to settle for using a virtual one. But as much as I despise virtual keyboards, if I had to pick one to be stuck with, it would probably be the stock Windows Phone keyboard. Its autocorrect is surprisingly intuitive (and its word bank expansive), so even if I’m cruising my way through a text and mistyping every single word incorrectly, it still almost always manages to turn out the way I wanted it to. That is, of course, unless I use particularly obscure words or proper nouns, in which case things can get a little ugly when I inevitably mistype them.

Other Buttons and Controls

Given that this is a Windows phone, Nokia kept things relatively simple, per Microsoft’s specifications. The left side of the device is devoid of any buttons, while the right side is host to a volume up/down rocker, the power/standby switch, and a dedicated camera key. The bottom of the device is where its primary speaker can be found, and the backside features a camera with a Carl Zeiss f/2.2 lens and its dual LED flash.

The top of the phone is where users can find the 3.5mm headphone jack, a micro USB port (for charging), and, perhaps my least favorite part of the design, the SIM card tray. Rather than just having a slot behind a little tab or door, users have to insert an included pin-like key into a tiny hole on the top of the Lumia 900 to eject a small tray that holds the phone’s SIM card. Those who need to swap out their SIM cards on an even semi-regular basis are going to find it inconvenient to have to carry around and use a little key in order to get access to the phone’s SIM tray. Maybe it’s just me, but I would have preferred if this phone was a No-Key-a. Sorry, that was terrible.

At least 27 orchid species in Meru Betiri National Park

Atleast 27 species of orchids live and grow at the Meru Betiri National Park(TNMB) in East Java Province.

The national park`s staff had conducted an inventory on orchid species existingat the park and it found 27 species of orchids there, Heri Subagiadi, TNMBhead, said here on Monday.

"The 27 species of orchids grew well on a number of trees at the TNMBarea," he said.
Among the orchid species are Cleisostoma subulatum Bi, Corymborkis veratifoliaBi, Cymbidium sp, Dendribium crumenatum, and Flickingeria.

The inventory was conducted in the park`s sections of Banealit (Jember) andSarongan (Banyuwangi).

"We plan to conduct an inventory of orchid species in the whole area ofthe 58,000-hectare national park with the cooperation of anotherinstitution," he said.

Indonesia has more than 4,000 species of orchid, which are native to almostevery part of the archipelago. Kalimantan (Borneo) is the richest island innumbers of species of orchids in the world, Sumatra has 986 species, Java morethan 971, 123 found in Maluku at the eastern part of Indonesia and the Provinceof Papua has more than 1000, mainly Dendrobium and Bulbophyllum.

Temulawak: Herbal remedy with a modern touch

Justas ginseng is synonymous with Korea, temulawak or Java turmeric is a naturalmedical treasure native to Indonesia.

As part of Indonesia’s centuries-old traditional healing practices, temulawakhas long been used as an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial agent in treatingmany ailments, including swelling, gastric and digestive problems, stiffmuscles, coughs and runny nose.

“As far as we know, temulawak can only be found in Indonesia,” says Gunawan T.,managing director of Helmigs Prima Sejahtera, a pharmaceutical and curcuminproducts manufacturer.

“There are some individuals in several countries, like Malaysia, who have doneresearch on their own varieties of temulawak at Yonsei University in SouthKorea, but the results show these plants are nothing like temulawak.”

So even if the Java turmeric exists elsewhere, Gunawan says, “I can confidentlysay the best temulawak comes from Indonesia.”

Having the best variety is one thing, but Indonesia can also churn out thestuff by the truckload.
Central Java and East Java, for instance, are just two of several provincesthat farm temulawak on a large scale.

East Java alone produces up to 9 million kilograms of ready-to-sell temulawakeach year. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s hometown of Pacitanin the province is the country’s temulawak hub, recording harvests of 5 millionkilograms of the tuber each year.

Gunawan’s company, Helmigs Prima Sejahtera, in the East Java capital Surabaya,is one of a handful of such manufacturers. Established in 1993, the companymarkets a range of products, including curcumin sugar-free effervescent,curcumin tablets, curcumin candy with Xylitol, and curcumin health drinks.

Factory manager Sutarko Tantra says the company processes several tons oftemulawak extract into ready-to-consume products each day, combiningtraditional and modern methods.

The modern methods include the measurement of the properties contained intemulawak and the packaging of the curcumin extract into tablets and sachetsusing a machine imported from China.

“We follow high standards with high quality control because we don’t onlymarket our products in Indonesia, but also overseas,” Sutarko says, adding theexport markets include Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Canada,the Netherlands, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.

Waterbirds in mangrove forests under threat

Thenumber of species and the populations of waterbirds in Muara Angke naturalconservation area, North Jakarta, have decreased because of water pollution andhuman encroachment into the area, an environmental organization says.

During its annual survey on Saturday, volunteers of Jakarta Green Monster (JGM)found 206 waterbirds, down from 333 last year, with only 18 species identified,down from last year’s 23.

JGM reported that the missing species were the Little Cormorant (Phalacrocoraxsulcirostris), Great-billed Heron (Ardea sumatrana), White-browed Crake(Porzanna cinerea), Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) and Black-naped Tern(Sterna sumatrana).

However, a very rare species, the Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster) andtwo endangered non waterbird species, Sunda Coucal (Centropus nigrorufus) andBlack-winged Starling (Acridotheres melanopterus), were spotted on Saturday.

JGM has been studying the Waterbirds in the area each year since 2006, inrecognition of World Wetland Day on Feb. 2, which marks the anniversary of thesigning of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance in 1971.

JGM volunteer Ady Kristianto said water pollution and human encroachment werethe main causes of the decline in bird numbers. The darkened water in the areahad been heavily polluted because of an accumulation of plastics and styrofoamfrom the Angke River, he said.

Liquid waste from nearby housing complexes and makeshift houses was also dumpedthere.

“Water pollution has slowed the growth of mangrove trees, which provide shelterto the birds, and has also caused a decline of fish stocks, the main foodsource for waterbirds. Some species are unable to adapt and had flown away toless polluted areas,” he said.

Human encroachment had disrupted the habitat, Ady said.

Indonesian kitchen: Nutmeg in your pot

Whohas never heard of nutmeg?

Merchants and adventurers sailing from the western hemisphere and seekingfortunes in the East once considered this spice one of the top commodities nextto cloves.

But where does nutmeg actually come from? According to history books, theregion of Maluku and the small island of Banda are places where the nutmegtrade began in times gone by.

People in the region regard the nutmeg tree and its fruit as one of the mostbeautiful and useful plants around. On opening the fruit, we can see thenet-shaped fuli (mace), which has a blazing deep red-orange color. This notonly serves as a flavor enhancer but can also be used as a very attractivedecoration for dark-colored dishes such as semur (stew), which is usuallyprepared with the addition of sweet soy sauce.

Many different stews in Indonesian cuisine have a pinch of nutmeg or some macein them to enhance the flavor. In fact, most Indonesian stews are of westernculinary influence, such as semur, the name of which is derived from the wordschmoren from the German word meaning "braising".

The Germans must have introduced their schmoren technique to the region viamissionaries spreading Christianity in the area, or who went to the Netherlandsand taught locals there how to make the German dish schmorbraten. From theNetherlands, the Dutch then took this dish to the Dutch East Indies(Indonesia).

Anyway, semur is now a well known dish in Indonesia, and some regions havespecific regional varieties of it. In many cases, semur is flavored with apinch of nutmeg. In most cases, semur varieties are made with a spice pastecomprising shallots, garlic, pepper, sweet soy sauce and a pinch of nutmeg.

These ingredients are stir fried until they become aromatic.

After preparing these basic ground spices and soy sauce, the dish is easy tomake. With its main ingredients ready it can be made in less than half an hour.The classic semur dish uses beef or chicken. And for those who like toexperiment, semur can be prepared with tofu or vegetables such as eggplant(aubergine).

Semur Betawi from Jakarta (made with beef or buffalo meat) is one of the morefamous examples, using shallots, garlic, ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon, groundpepper (black or white), ground cloves and semi-sweet soy sauce.

Whereas Semur Jawa from Central Java omits the cinnamon and only uses shallots,garlic, nutmeg, ground pepper, and whole cloves. The Semur Medan meanwhile,uses shallots, garlic, finely sliced red chili, ground pepper and nutmegwithout cinnamon and cloves - and for the soy sauce, a semi-sweet, rather saltyvariety is used.

Want to taste an excellent semur dish made with mace? According to many peoplethe Manado-style Smor Ikang (braised fish) has a very interesting spice mix.

Cut 500g clean freshwater fish into 2. Coat with 1 tsp salt. Cut 500g peeledpotatoes into serving pieces. Fry the potato and fish alternately in 300mlcooking oil until done and brownish. Drain. Grind 4 shallots, 3 cloves garlicand 15g ginger. Stir fry in 2 tablespoons of cooking oil until aromatic. Add 3whole mace, 5 whole cloves, and pour in 300 ml water. Let it come to the boil.Add 3 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce and 2 sliced tomatoes. Season with 1 tspsalt (or to taste), 1/2 tsp ground pepper, and a pinch of granulated sugar. Letcome to the boil again. Just before removing the mixture from flame, add friedfish, fried potato and 50 g soaked glass noodles. Serves 4.

In many places, the fruit flesh is sweetened and called Manisan Pala. For thosehaving a taste of the preserved fruit flesh for the first time a rather tangytaste will be obvious. Some people suggest not to eat Manisan Pala too muchbecause it is addictive. It can also apparently induce drowsiness and if eatenin excess can have the same fatal result as an overdose of sleeping pills. Butnevertheless it is a very popular snack.

Bogor with its cool, rainy climate is one of Indonesia's most famous places forManisan Pala, where it is sold wet and dry. If you want to see what nutmeglooks like fresh, go to Bogor where you'll find nutmeg galore at thetraditional wet markets. If you feel inspired you could even check out Bogorplant sellers who sell nutmeg trees from 30cm high - perfect in an earthenwarepot to complement the sunny side of your terrace.

Nutmeg trees are also wonderful male and female trees. A male tree is able tofertilize ten to twenty female trees and they are called therefore "theharem" tree (a term coined by French botanist Nicolas Cere). And accordingto A Taste of India, (by Mary S. Atwood) the Shah of Persia, Sultan Husain1711, declared himself "The Sun of Glory and the nutmeg of Delight".