Eager foreign investment is making Ethiopia a frontier for the bamboo industrial revolution in Africa
By Ed McKenna IPS, part of the Guardian Environment Network
theguardian.com, Wednesday 10 April 2013 17.56 BST
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Ethiopia is a frontier for the bamboo industrial revolution in Africa, according to this country’s government.Photograph: B.S.P.I./Corbis
A combination of an abundance of bamboo and eager foreign investment is making Ethiopia a frontier for the bamboo industrial revolution in Africa, according to this country's government.
"Ethiopia has the resources, the investment, a rapidly-developing manufacturing industry and a strong demand for our bamboo products from foreign markets. We have what we need. The expansion of Africa's bamboo sector has begun," Ethiopia's State Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development Mitiku Kassa told IPS.
Daniel Goodman / Business Insider
Whether you're listening to music while commuting to work or working out, you'll want to rock the best set of headphones to get the highest-quality sound.
We've found the 10 best headphones on the market right now, thanks to our friends at FindTheBest.
To compile this list, they looked at professional ratings compiled by experts such as Wired, TechCrunch, and HiFi, as well as features of the headphones, such as sensitivity, frequency, and impedance (signal obstruction).
10. NuForce NE-600M/X ($15)
The Nuforce NE-600M/X headphones have a sensitivity of 100 dB and a 32 ohm impedance, which is moderately better than the average for all headphones. Its Wired review said, "Great sound for a low cost. The best-sounding value-priced earbud you can buy. (Yes, better than Monoprice’s torture devices.) Light weight is perfect for runs or other sweaty shenanigans."
9. JVC HAFX1X ($13)
The JVC HAFX1X headphones have a sensitivity of 104 dB, and a 16 ohm impedance with a fairly long cable length of nearly four feet. It got a five-star HiFi rating and one user wrote, "I've used these for almost two years now, and I've never had a problem with them. Great sound, deep bass, and they fit comfortably in my ears. Would definitely recommend."
8. Sennheiser HD 25-1 II ($192)
The Sennheiser HD 25-1 II are especially good quality with a sensitivity of 120 dB (which is 16 dB higher than the average) and a 70 ohm impedance. HiFi wrote, "Whether or not you’re a fan of the branding, these are excellent on-ear headphones."
7. Shure SE535 ($425)
The Shure SE535 have a sensitivity of 119 dB, and a 36 ohm impedance, which is significantly better than the average. HiFi said of the ear buds, "The Shures’ price made us think hard about giving them five stars. In the end the superior performance of their closest peers such as Grado's GR10 was enough to knock the Shures down, but there’s still much to love."
6. Sennheiser IE 8 ($263)
The Sennheiser IE 8 has a high sensitivity of 125 dB with a 16 ohm impedance, with a five-star HiFi rating and 3.3 average user rating on FindTheBest. These ear buds boast great sound, with one Head-Fi user stating, "The sound is detailed, clean instrument separation, strong bass, and an awesome soundstage."
5. Grado SR125i ($150)
The Grado SR125i are best for "gaming" and have a sensitivity of 98 dB and a better-than-average 32 ohm impedance. "Incredible sound. Incredible bass. When I started to listen music I feel I'm just in the studio," a user on the website wrote.
4. Sennheiser HD 25 Originals ($250)
The Sennheiser HD 25 Originals have a sensitivity of 120 dB and a 70 ohm impedance, which is far better than the average. Plus, they have a cable length of five feet, which is 27% longer than the average.
3. Grado SR325is ($295)
The Grado SR325is have a sensitivity of 98 dB and a 32 ohm impedance, which is moderately better than average. HiFi wrote, "Best home on-ear headphones £150+, Awards 2011. For home use, these are stunning: open, detailed and full-bodied."
2. Grado GS1000i ($995)
The Grado GS1000i headphones have a large frequency range of 8 Hz to 35 kHz and a good 32 ohmn impedance. PC Mag gave them five stars and wrote, "The Grado GS1000 headphones are very likely the greatest-sounding headphones ever made—and are priced accordingly."
1. Grado PS1000 ($1,695)
The pricey Grado PS1000 headphones have an incredibly large frequency range of 5 Hz to 50 kHz, which is 26 kHz larger than the average. Their CNET rating said, "They may cost as much as a big-screen TV, but the PS1000s are simply the best-sounding, most comfortable, and best-looking Grado headphones we've ever tested."
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/best-headphones-on-the-market-now-2014-5#ixzz31qIBODoL
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2. http://www.ctrlq.org/screenshots – for capturing screenshots of web pages on mobile and desktops.
3. http://www.goo.gl/ – shorten long URLs and convert URLs into QR codes.
4. http://www.unfurlr.com/ – find the original URL that's hiding behind a short URL.
5. http://www.qClock.com/ – find the local time of a city using a Google Map.
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7. http://www.icerocket.com/ – a better search engine for Facebook, Twitter and blogs.
8. http://www.lovelycharts.com/ – create flowcharts, network diagrams, sitemaps, etc.
9. http://www.iconfinder.com/ – the best place to find icons of all sizes.
10. http://www.office.com/ – download templates, clipart and images for your Office documents.
11. http://www.followupthen.com/ – the easiest way to setup email reminders.
12. http://www.jotti.org/ – scan any suspicious file or email attachment for viruses.
13. http://www.wolframalpha.com/ – gets answers directly without searching - see more wolfram tips.
14. http://www.printwhatyoulike.com/ – print web pages without the clutter.
15. http://www.joliprint.com/ – reformats news articles and blog content as a newspaper.
16. http://www.ctrlq.org/rss – a search engine for RSS feeds.
17. http://www.e.ggtimer.com/ – a simple online timer for your daily needs.
18. http://www.coralcdn.org/ – if a site is down due to heavy traffic, try accessing it through coral CDN.
19. http://www.random.org/ – pick random numbers, flip coins, and more.
20. http://www.pdfescape.com/ – lets you can quickly edit PDFs in the browser itself.
21. http://www.viewer.zoho.com/ – Preview PDFs and Presentations directly in the browser.
22. http://www.tubemogul.com/ – simultaneously upload videos to YouTube and other video sites.
23. http://www.dabbleboard.com/ – your virtual whiteboard.
24. http://www.scr.im/ – share you email address online without worrying about spam.
25. http://www.spypig.com/ – now get read receipts for your email.
26. http://www.sizeasy.com/ – visualize and compare the size of any product.
27. http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont – quickly determine the font name from an image.
28. http://www.google.com/webfonts – a good collection of open source fonts.
29. http://www.regex.info/ – find data hidden in your photographs[/url] – see more EXIF tools.
30. http://www.livestream.com/ – broadcast events live over the web, including your desktop screen.
31. http://www.iwantmyname.com/ – helps you search domains across all TLDs.
32. http://www.homestyler.com/ – design from scratch or re-model your home in 3d.
33. http://www.join.me/ – share you screen with anyone over the web.
34. http://www.onlineocr.net/ – recognize text from scanned PDFs - see other OCR tools.
35. http://www.flightstats.com/ - Track flight status at airports worldwide.
36. http://www.wetransfer.com/ – for sharing really big files online.
37. http://www.hundredzeros.com/ – best-sellers on all subjects that you can download for free.
38. http://www.polishmywriting.com/ – check your writing for spelling or grammatical errors.
39. http://www.marker.to/ – easily highlight the important parts of a web page for sharing.
40. http://www.typewith.me/ – work on the same document with multiple people.
41. http://www.whichdateworks.com/ – planning an event? find a date that works for all.
42. http://www.everytimezone.com/ – a less confusing view of the world time zones.
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44. http://www.noteflight.com/ – print music sheets, write your own music online (review).
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50. http://www.bubbl.us/ – create mind-maps, brainstorm ideas in the browser.
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52. http://www.liveshare.com/ – share your photos in an album instantly.
53. http://www.lmgtfy.com/ – when your friends are too lazy to use Google on their own.
54. http://www.midomi.com/ – when you need to find the name of a song.
55. http://www.bing.com/images – automatically find perfectly-sized wallpapers for mobiles.
56. http://www.faxzero.com/ – send an online fax for free.
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60. http://www.tinychat.com/ – setup a private chat room in micro-seconds.
61. http://www.privnote.com/ – create text notes that will self-destruct after being read.
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64. http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ – find if your favorite website is offline or not?
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66. http://www.whoishostingthis.com/ – find the web host of any website.
67. http://www.google.com/history – found something on Google but can't remember it now?
68. http://www.aviary.com/myna – an online audio editor that lets record, and remix audio clips online.
69. http://www.disposablewebpage.com/ – create a temporary web page that self-destruct.
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72. http://www.sxc.hu/ – download stock images absolutely free.
73. http://www.zoom.it/ – view very high-resolution images in your browser without scrolling.
74. http://www.scribblemaps.com/ – quickly create custom Google Maps online.
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86. http://www.deadurl.com/ – you'll need this when your bookmarked web pages are deleted.
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89. http://www.youtube.com/disco – quickly create a video playlist of your favorite artist.
90. http://www.talltweets.com/ – Send tweets longer than 140 characters.
92. http://www.builtwith.com/ – find the technology stack of any website.
93. http://www.woorank.com/ – research a website from the SEO perspective.
94. http://www.mixlr.com/ – broadcast live audio over the web.
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97. http://www.notes.io/ – the easiest way to write short text notes in the browser.
98. http://www.ctrlq.org/html-mail – send rich-text mails to anyone, anonymously.
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100. http://www.otixo.com/ – easily manage your online files on Dropbox, Google Docs, etc.
101.http://www.ifttt.com/ – create a connection between all your online accounts.
