Imagine carrying around a tiny nuclear reactor in the form of a cell phone. Imagine driving a nuclear-powered car or doing your daily work on a nuclear-powered laptop computer. Although that is not what a California company known as NDB is proposing, what they are working on is not all that different in principle. NDB is developing batteries powered by nuclear waste.

Their goal is to eventually come up with a long-life battery that would mitigate the need for an endless supply of single-use alkaline batteries or rechargeable lithium-ion, NiCad, or NiHM alternatives. Their nuclear batteries would still be single use, but they would last for years.

Creating a Nuclear Reaction

NDB’s idea is to generate a small nuclear reaction inside a battery cell. Again, it is not at the same level as a nuclear power plant or nuclear submarine, but the principle is much the same. They propose to use nuclear waste recovered from decommissioned power plants to make radioactive diamonds. The diamonds would provide the foundation for long life batteries.

As the thinking goes, the carbon-14 in the man-made diamond would gradually decay inside the battery case. In doing so, electrons within the diamond would be released and knocked around, generating electrical current. Depending on the size and design of the battery, a typical cell could last anywhere from 12 to 5,000 years.

Wired contributor Alex Lee explained in a September 2020 piece that the concept isn’t new. He cited both research dating back to the turn of the 20^th century and betavoltaic batteries first introduced in the 1970s. The batteries were once used in small electronic devices, like pacemakers, because of the long life. They were eventually phased out in favor of lithium-ion batteries.

The Power Output Question

Betavoltaic batteries proved workable in both principle and practice. However, they were severely limited by low voltage output. An expert interviewed by Lee explained that even the best betavoltaic battery only puts off tens of microwatts. That is not enough to power anything larger than an electronic nano sensor. Forget about batteries capable of powering cell phones and computers.

A betavoltaic battery capable of replacing a lithium-ion cell phone battery would be as large as a tub of margarine and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to make. So while it could be done, building such batteries is commercially impractical.

What does NDB propose to do differently? Take advantage of both the alpha and beta decay within the previously mentioned man-made diamonds. Betavoltaic batteries are limited to beta decay only.

Scaling up the Reaction

NDB officials say they can scale up the reaction inside a diamond battery by utilizing both states of decay. Though short on specifics, they say they are fully confident they will eventually be able to manufacture batteries for everything from hand-held electronics to electric vehicles. As for how long it will take to get there, no one is saying.

Let us assume that NDB does work it out. Does that mean the end of the batteries we all know and love? Not likely, says Salt Lake City’s Pale Blue Earth. The Utah maker of state-of-the-art USB rechargeable batteries says lithium-ion has too many practical applications to eliminate it with a single diamond battery.

Pale Blue Earth points to the fact that disposable alkaline batteries still sell by the billions despite lithium-ion offering better technology at a lower cost. If more recent technologies have been unsuccessful in bringing about the end of alkaline disposables, there doesn’t seem to be much chance that a diamond battery made from nuclear waste will kill lithium-ion.

 

Arguably the most consistent team in Europe this year, G2 have found themselves as one of the few teams seemingly unaffected by the transition from LAN to Online Counter-Strike. Having come into 2020 placed all the way down in 11th in the HLTV world rankings, a standout performance at the Intel Extreme Masters World Championships in Katowice earlier this year saw them finish the event as runners up and hoisted to third. They might not have any S-Tier tournaments to their name this year, however two more runners up finishes at the ESL Road to Rio and DreamHack Spring Masters has kept G2 in the top five longer than any other side at the time of writing.

And it’s this consistency on both LAN and Online servers that will be key to winning this tournament. They might slight dark horses in the CSGO odds for the tournament, but the reality is that the scene has fluctuated so wildly this year that consistency is one of the most important factors to deciding how far a team can go at a major event now.

The likes of Team Vitality, BIG and Natus Vincere, all ranked higher in the world rankings than G2 and with more tournament wins than the EU org, might be the more attractive prospect in Esports predictions and betting markets, but they’ve also been prone to some seriously drops in form and periods of noticeable losses in confidence.

NA

Prediction: Evil Geniuses 

2019’s ESL One Cologne was the tournament that crowned Team Liquid’s first ever Intel Grand Slam win last year, a feat that took only 63 days, but the former world number one come into this event as a very different animal. Their dismal drop in form following their failure at the last StarLadder Berlin Major led to them dropping out of the conversation as dynasty-building org, and they really began tanking during the first Online era playing against only NA sides.

Evil Geniuses, on the other hand, have had pretty much the opposite trajectory following the transition from LAN to Online. The conflict between star players such as Tarik and Stanislaw with their coach ImAPet saw a shuffling with the experienced figure of Zews coming in and taking the reigns of the side. Gradually the side rose from 7th-8th finishes, to 3rd-4th and then crowned off their season with wins at CS_Summit 6 and BLAST Summer Finals.

Gen.G and Furia will undoubtedly provide some tough challenges, but EG come into Cologne as the highest ranked side in the region, and the one with the most form behind them.

Asia / Oceania 

Prediction: TYLOO and Renegades

The ESL Cologne tournaments for the Asia and Oceania regions are only ranked as B-Tier and both only have four teams competing in it. TYLOO and Renegades are the only sides in their regions currently ranked in the top thirty-five (TYLOO are ranked 32nd and Renegades are 16th), and they really shouldn’t have too much competition from their three respective rivals here.

 

Because so many important parts of your life are accessed through your internet-connected devices, it’s crucial that you know how to protect yourself and your information from those who would seek to take advantage of you or gain control over these areas of your life or business. But with all of this being so complicated for those who aren’t particularly technologically minded, it can be hard to know what you should or shouldn’t do as part of this security.

To help you in figuring this out, here are three ways to protect yourself from a cyber attack.

Get The Right Security In Place

Since there’s only so much you can do on your end to protect yourself from professional hackers who want to breach your information and devices, it’s important that you get the right security in place on your devices so that they can do a lot of the work for you.

According to Phil Quade, a contributor to CNBC.com, what you should really do is use “automated and integrated” solutions for your cybersecurity. What this means is you should find a security platform that will be able to automatically scan your devices or your systems for threats and then respond in an effective and automatic way. In many cases, getting a commercial security product will be your best bet, like Endpoint Detection and Response or Security Orchestration Automation and Response.

Take Care With Your Emails

As far as what you can do with your daily interaction with your devices and your systems, one thing you should be cognizant of is what you’re allowing onto your devices through your email.

Ideally, the Department of Homeland Security shares that you should never click on a link or open an attachment that was sent to you through your email unless you already know the person or organization that’s sending you this email. Otherwise, you could be opening your email, your device, and your sensitive information stored thereon to whatever hacker has successfully tricked you into allowing them access.

Keep The Right Things Updated

A lot of the apps that you use will already have some form of security in place for you when you’re using them. The problem arises if you don’t update the apps appropriately and use the best and newest security that those apps have available.

For this reason, Rishi Iyengar, a contributor to CNN.com, recommends that you update and upgrade your apps and your devices as more secure versions become available. Additionally, you should also be updating your passwords for everything that you use on a regular basis so that you can keep digital intruders out.

If you’re worried about your cybersecurity, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you better protect yourself and your systems.

“Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes” – John Dewey.

The above statement penned by John Dewy describes the importance and inescapability of mistakes. This holds true while working on software development as mistakes play an integral role and parcel of a development process as well.

But what is issue management in the software development process? When it comes to project management, issue management is a skill or what many would call a futuristic eye to predict unforeseen issues and resolve them beforehand.

It is a tool that helps the project manager identify the bugs and obstacles that are causing a problem in the project development and immediately fix them. A well-planned project management software must help even the non-technical members of the staff in issue tracking and guide them throughout the process by tackling problems quickly and easily. This feature also allows them to sort out the root cause of the problem and handle it faster by looking after every existing detail.

Assess risks to predict issues 

A software development team must learn how to differentiate between a risk and an issue. Since many Quality Assurance and development teams are still uncertain about these differences, lets first clarify that! As you’ve probably heard it before, the risk is something expected to happen in the course of developing software, as well as after the production of the software. What does that mean? Teams can easily predict risk and prepare accordingly. Meanwhile, an issue is an exact opposite. It’s a problem that occurs when a team develops a product and is detected only when they test the product for different features such as performance or functionality.

That being said, an issue can’t be predicted. However, that doesn’t mean there is absolutely no solution. An issue can only be optimized in the long run when the staff applies solutions they have learned from experience. Here are some of the most common practices in the industry for managing such issues:

Always record issues as they happen

You’ll see them coming right from the beginning of the development project. When you’re working in an agile environment where testing happens simultaneously with the developing project, it’s almost impossible not to identify and record these problems on the go. Even otherwise, a team doesn’t have to wait for the release to be entirely developed and tested. It’s a great practice for both developers and testers as they can work simultaneously to track issues and share solutions while developing itself. It’s way easier to handle the issues on the go and not at a later stage when they become too difficult and tiring to manage.

Provide accurate detailing of issues 

Recording issues on the go is fundamental, but keep in mind that you’ll also have to provide accurate details of the issue while recording it. The issue type will help you identify requirements the product fails to adapt. The list entails the following:

• Functionality:  A functionality issue appears when the product does not work as expected.
• Performance: This happens when a product does not fulfil performance requirements, such as the speed or load time. 
• UI/UX: A UI/UX issue appears when the product fails to fulfil the front-end design requirements in terms of usability, theme, or precision, and so on.  
• Compatibility: This type of issue pops up when a product doesn’t fit well among screen dimensions and devices. 
• SEO:  A problem in SEO appears when a website is not fully optimized or is facing SEO related problems.

Prioritize Issues 

Prioritize and strategize how the issue should be worked upon. You can prioritize issues like this:

• Low: This type of issue can be delayed
• Medium: Requires attention but not immediately
• High: Deserves attention and needs to be fixed immediately
• Urgent stopper:  This is the highest priority. The issue requires attention as soon as possible before anything else.

Keep an issue log

An issue log is pretty much like a bible for a software developer. Once you’ve identified issues, with a concrete description and detail, you’ll have to maintain a log. By logging them, you can monitor the problem status and understand at what phase of resolving the issue resides.

Issue Management Through Event Storming 

The modern collaborative environment nowadays allows businesses to come up with smart ideas by getting the entire staff, and the stakeholders involved. One steady approach is event storming -a facilitated workshop based on the principles of domain-driven design (DDD), where the entire development team gets involved in creating a business model that can be used during development.

The main purpose of event storming is to bring together developers and non-technical users in the same room, where they can interact and delve into complex business domains. The workshop is a collaborative and interaction driven approach, so it doesn’t require a computer-just a lot of post-its. Why? Because people are pretty much the essence of the event storming, choosing the right group of people can influence its outcomes. Even storming group learning is essential as it’s an enjoyable way to integrate and motivate both the product and development team to generate alternative solutions by visualizing and selecting them.

In event storming, people are grouped into two categories: those who ask the questions, and those who can answer them. This means you will have to include both non-technical experts who are familiar with the software domain and experts with technical know-how like developers and IT experts. In the event storming, clients are welcomed too, as they can share their opinions from a user experience perspective.

We’ve learned by now how a risk differentiates from an issue and how workshops and even step-by-step practices are a way to go when it comes to issue management. There are different methods for handling risks and issues, but since you’ll face them both throughout the project development, it’s vital to have a well-planned process for anticipating and managing them as they arise.

 

Whether your business deals exclusively in apps and software or you simply have these things in support of your physical business, it’s vital that a successful business knows how to create digital assets that their users will be easily able to work with, despite how complicated their business may be.

If this is something that your organization has been struggling with, here are three ways you can make your software easier for others to use.

Know Your Audience

Before you can know exactly what you need to do to make your specific software, app, or website as user friendly as possible, you first need to know who your audience is and what they’ll be expecting from your software.

According to Christopher Pappas, a contributor to ELearningIndustry.com, you can only truly cater to the needs of your audience once you understand them. Because of this, you should spend your time and money learning about your target audiences’ background, preferences, values, expectations, desires, abilities, and more. Once you have all of this information, you should be able to create a software product that can fulfill whatever needs and wants your audience has.

Make Your Processes Easy To Complete

In addition to the visual aspects of your software being important to your audience, arguably the most important part of creating software is that it’s easy to use. If all of the processes that your software or app should be able to accomplish aren’t easy for the user to complete, you’re going to have a lot of dissatisfied customers.

In general, there are certain processes that your app or software should do seamlessly. According to TechRepublic contributor Jack Wallen, some of these processes include being easy to install, having a simple updating process, having an intuitive removal or uninstall feature, and being able to simply and easily solve any problems that may come up while using the software. Without these features and processes, it will be unlikely that your users will find your software easy to use.

Keep Things Simple

As far as the design and aesthetic appeal of your software, some of the best advice you can follow, according to Nathan Resnick, a contributor to Entrepreneur.com, is to keep things as simple and functional as possible. While you might be tempted to push yourself as far as your design capabilities or you may find yourself thinking that something more complicated looks better to your eyes, in the end, it’s the functionality of your software that’s really going to impress your users. After all, if they can’t effectively use your software, it won’t matter what everything actually looks like on their screen.

If you’re going to be creating some new software in the future, make sure your software is user-friendly by understanding your audience and keeping things simple and intuitive for them. .

 

Most of us love watching home improvement or makeover television shows, and the sheer popularity of these kinds of shows only proves how attracted we are to making things right and beautiful. We are visual creatures, after all, and we find appealing things highly commendable. But the same principles in home makeover projects also apply to website redesign projects, especially since you would probably want something modern, find a way to improve the experience of visitors in your site and increase your opportunities for attracting visitors. But a good website redesign doesn’t just involve changing things on the surface – whilst focusing on cosmetic improvements is good, you need to do more than this to make your website redesign project more effective. So are you planning a website redesign in 2020? Here’s how to do it right.

• Analyse what works – and what should be replaced

It’s the best time to re-examine and re-assess your website if you want to do things right. First of all, find out which of your website’s pages are visited most frequently, and check your website’s analytics to know where your users are from as well as where they actually go. This will allow you to identify weak web content so you can determine how to improve it, and this will also allow you to determine strong content, so you know how to optimise those pages which generate more traffic.

• Assess your content and go beyond fonts and colours

You have almost an endless line of options when it comes to your new website’s design, and this can easily distract you and keep you bogged down, focusing entirely on just images and visual elements. Whilst it’s always important to consider fonts, colours, typography, and the like, you should also place a lot of focus on your website’s content. Remember that you need to focus on all the different aspects that make up your web presence. That being said, the content of your site will serve as the frame of your ‘house’ where you can hang all your décor and extras.

The colours, layout, typography, images, and fonts should show off the strengths of your message and brand, and not vice versa. Determine what pages and articles are most effective with your audience, as the web developers and designers from Expre Digital Ltd confirm. For instance, one thing you can do is this: rather than brag about your products and history, it may be better to share how your company or brand can help visitors solve an issue or accomplish a particular goal. It also pays to look beyond content for your ‘about us’ page or home page. Blog posts can, for instance, be a brilliant tool that informs users about various practices and new ideas.

• Focus on the experience of users

Whilst you should write your content for your visitors and not the other way around, you should also focus on the experience of your users and visitors. Make your site as clear and easy to use as possible so your visitors will know exactly where to go to find the services and information they need. Also, don’t just choose a layout or theme which you like; consider what your audience wants. The point is to make your site functional and appealing, and you can only do this by giving your users an entirely positive and useful experience on your site.

In the hi-tech digital age, many terms are bound around that confuse the public. One that we have all heard of is cryptocurrencies, but many of us still don’t know what they are exactly. And soon, gentlemen will experience this feature from wizard slots: play slot games online.

What Is Cryptocurrency

Considering that cryptocurrency is actually a currency that can be used to pay for goods and services online like normal money. The difference here is that the currency has no physical form and exists only as a digital footprint.

These transactions work by using a technology called a blockchain. This is software that is present in a network of computers and it manages and records crypto transactions.

The appeal of this set up is that the technology is thought to keep transactions secure.

Most people have only ever heard of bitcoins but it is thought that there are more than 2200 different cryptocurrencies that are traded publicly.

According to CoinMarketCap, as of June 6^th, 2019, the total value of all cryptocurrencies stood at around $246 billion. Bitcoins were still the most popular of the digital currencies and were valued at $136 billion.

Their popularity can be attributed to the security and the fact that this currency removes the power from the banks allowing a more decentralized control of people’s money.

It’s hard to tell if these cryptocurrencies are the future as a currency needs stability to survive. Bitcoin has been anything but stable since it’s introduction and the value of this cryptocurrency dropped to a record low in 2018.

Now that you have some idea of what cryptocurrency is, you are probably wondering how to acquire them.

Some cryptocurrencies can be purchased with U.S dollars, others actually need to be brought by using a cryptocurrency.

An app is also needed that has a wallet that can hold your currency and then you need to hit a trading exchange.

Cryptocurrency and Slots

Some people describe cryptocurrency as the equivalent of buying chips at a casino, so is cryptocurrency and the casino industry a good match?

If you believe that paper money will eventually be phased out in favour of digital cash as some do, then how will this affect the gambling industry and especially casinos and slots?

The UK has definitely caught the gambling bug and the flutter of choice is continuing to side with slot machines. Annual revenue from our love affair with slots is about to hit the £2billion mark.

It is thought that this will continue to grow in the future, so it comes as no surprise that slots and the possible currency of the future has already been linked together.

The gaming industry is correct to be alarmed at the rise in popularity of cryptocurrencies as a limited few slots and casinos are ready to accept these.

Very few slots games and casino venues actually accept these currencies, which literally gives the cryptocurrency customer limited choice of what casino to visit and games to play.

Another drawback is that most cryptocurrency casinos are not licensed, therefore customers could find it very difficult to withdraw any winnings or reach a satisfactory conclusion to any disputes that may arise.

Furthermore, a future crackdown on cryptocurrencies is expected, due mainly to the possible funding of terrorism and other security worries. This will make it even harder for it to get a foothold within the gaming industry.

However, there is a flip side to all of this and part of a casino’s success is moving with the times. So despite the anticipation of strict guidelines being introduced to cryptocurrencies, it is thought that slots and casinos will eventually embrace these new digital cash formats and produce more slots and games that accept them.

There are benefits of having crypto slots and casinos and these are mostly due to the secure nature of digital currencies.

Online casinos spend a lot of their income on creating a safe environment for their customers to play in. This is due to the immense amount of personal data held by such establishments.

Credit cards numbers, bank account details and other sensitive information all need to be kept 100 percent secure at all times.

This would still be the case with a cryptocurrency online casino but less private information would be needed, more especially when it comes to banking.

This would attract more customers as one of the appeals of online gambling is that we all remain anonymous.

If you are lucky enough to hit a jackpot win on a slot, your money will also be paid out much quicker in the cryptocurrency world.

At present some winners receive their cash in installments over months, as not all casinos are large enough to pay out huge jackpot wins instantly.

Another benefit to customers will be that payments will be instant and banks will be removed from the equation.

Cryptocurrencies and Slots Final Thoughts

There are still many grey areas when it comes to the relationship between slots and cryptocurrencies and they are far from perfect bedfellows.

The main issues are developing slot games that accept such digital transactions. Then there is the stability of these currencies.

At present their value fluctuates greatly. As governments around the world prepare to introduce more regulations and tighter security measures to combat potential terrorism and money laundering, this will also add fuel to the stability fire.

Slots are also facing a new world of far stricter regulation. The UK government has recently introduced a £2 maximum betting stake on fixed-odds betting terminals. The impact on these and their popularity remains unknown.

Even though it sounds like the two cannot coexist comfortably, once all the tighter regulations are put in place, it will be clearer to see whether the future of slots is one with cryptocurrencies at its heart.

What might clinch it is the ease in which this currency can be moved around and the speed of potential payouts of winnings, without waiting for bank transaction times.

Throw in the need for less personal data and this could eventually end up a match made in heaven.

 

While playing slots always involves an element of random luck, there are a few tips which you can follow, in order to increase your chances of winning big. To discover how to play online slots, simply continue reading in order to learn everything that you need to know about playing slots online.

One of the most important decisions which you can make playing slots, occurs before you take your first spin. It’s important to select your slot game carefully as each game will offer a difference to return to player rate. As a newbie slot player, one of the best decisions which you can make is to compare the RTP rate of each machine. As the higher the RTP or return to player rate is, the higher your chances of winning money will be.

Some examples of slot games which offer great odds include Starburst, Mermaid’s Millions, Thunderstruck II, Jumanji and Triple Diamond. All of which are well known slot games, which feature on a wide variety of online casinos.

Try to win small, achievable jackpots:

Games which offer smaller jackpots, often pay out more often and have higher RTP rates. In fact, your chances of winning a few smaller jackpots and doubling your money in a single playing session, is a lot higher, than your chances of winning one single large jackpot. So it’s well worth spending a few hours playing a slot game which features a lower jackpot and a higher RTP rate, if you want to end you session in the green.

Practice playing online slots for free:

Before topping up your online casino account, it’s a smart idea to practice playing different online slots. To find out which slots you have better success at playing. So that when it comes time to play for money, you’ll know exactly which slots to play. As well as which slots you’re likely to lose money on and should aim to avoid at all costs.

Check which games offer multipliers and bonuses:

Another way to beat the odds is to do a bit of research in order to find out which games offer multipliers and bonus, which you’ll be able to take advantage of. In particular opt to play slots which offer multipliers which will help you multiply your winnings in just one spin.

Play games which offer bonus rounds;

Bonus rounds can be incredibly lucrative as they often offer cash prizes and free spins. You’ll be amazed at how many free spins which you can earn from playing slots which offer free bonus rounds.

If you’re intent on winning a massive jackpot choose to play progressive slots:

If you still have your heart dead set on winning a large jackpot, you’ll need to play online slots which are listed as being progressive slots. Progressive slots are tied to the games of other slot players and therefore offer huge jackpots.

Hopefully you found all the information that you’re looking for, in order to play slots online, and to start winning small and large jackpots. Especially if you’re new to playing online slots.

Anyone old enough to remember first generation VCRs also remembers all the jokes that came with them. Among those jokes were the many poking fun at older people who couldn’t seem to get the hang of VCR programming. Alas, not much has changed in 30 years. There is still a pretty wide generation gap when it comes to technology.

Take smart home technology, for example. Seniors are less likely to have the knowledge and experience to manage smart home systems just as their predecessors had trouble with things like VCRs and programmable thermostats. The good news is that there is a workaround: voice control.

Introducing the Smart Speaker

Integrating voice control with smart home technology has been on the radar for quite a while. However, engineers could not make the jump from two independent technologies to one right away. Both had to be developed first. As such, the first voice-controlled devices brought to market were digital assistants, like Apple’s Siri.

Also known as voice assistants, digital assistants ultimately gave way to smart speakers. In fact, a smart speaker is essentially a digital assistant embedded in a dedicated device. Functionally speaking, it is identical to an embedded phone assistant.

The point of all of this is to say that smart speakers had to reach a certain level of maturity before they could be integrated with smart home technology. Now that such integration has begun, we are beginning to bridge the generation gap in the technology arena. We are bridging it by giving people the ability to control their smart home devices simply by speaking.

No New Skills Required

The beauty of voice control is that it does not require any special skills – at least after a smart speaker has been installed and sufficiently trained. Getting the weather forecast using a smart speaker does not require firing up a computer, starting a web browser, or navigating to a website. You get the forecast simply by asking for it.

Voice control takes a lot of the mystery out of using technology. Seniors can already speak. They already know how to ask questions and listen for answers. That makes voice control with something like a Vivint smart speaker extremely easy.

Granted, a minimum amount of technical know-how is necessary to set up a smart home system. Using a smart thermostat requires at least minimal programming to get things started. Once everything is set up though, routine tasks can be completed simply by speaking.

Making Lives More Comfortable

Bridging the generation gap in the technology arena is a good idea on multiple levels. Perhaps most important is the fact that it allows seniors to live more comfortable lives. For example, think of a senior with mobility issues living alone. Turning on the lights every evening can be a chore.

With a smart speaker and smart lighting, that senior can turn lights on simply by speaking a command. There is no need to get up and walk around the house. There is no need to take the risk of falling down. And when it’s time for bed, there is no need to walk through a dark house. The system can be set up so that the senior can speak a command to turn off all the lights once he or she is safely in bed.

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier. Some of it does; some of it does not. Voice-controlled smart speakers are an example of one technology that does make life easier by bridging the generation gap. Smart speakers make home automation accessible to people of any age.

 

Carbon fiber is by no means a new material. In fact, it was invented in the late 1950s. What we now know as carbon fiber fabric was developed for the U.S. Air Force by Union Carbide. It was intended to replace fiberglass fabric in aerospace manufacturing.

Today’s carbon fiber has a seemingly endless number of applications. According to Salt Lake City’s Rock West Composites, the biggest consumers of carbon fiber are the aerospace and marine industries. Yet everything from consumer electronics to sporting goods seems to embrace carbon fiber to some degree.

Just how pervasive is carbon fiber? Check out these five products you have probably never seen:

1. Carbon Fiber Rings

We have all seen wedding bands made of gold and silver. In recent years we’ve seen titanium and tungsten as well. Now you can get your rings made from carbon fiber. They are made using a special fabrication process to create tubes that can be cut to size and finished. A carbon fiber ring is as tough as titanium or tungsten while also weighing considerably less. It is so light that you might forget you are wearing it.

2. Carbon Fiber Fountain Pens

Most of us write so little that we barely pick up a pencil or ballpoint pen. Moreover, many of us have never seen an old school fountain pen either. Well, guess what? Fountain pens still exist. Now you can even get them with carbon fiber shafts.

The point here is not to create an indestructible fountain pen. Carbon fiber is chosen as the manufacturing material because it looks awesome. Making a carbon fiber fountain pen is all about taking something old and re-imagining it as something new.

3. Carbon Fiber Business Cards

Paper business cards are a dime a dozen. So are plastic. We bet you’ve never seen a carbon fiber business card, though. A carbon fiber business card is one made from carbon fiber fabric that has not been mixed with epoxy resin. It remains flexible enough to be printed on yet strong enough to withstand quite a bit of punishment. Though expensive, you would certainly make a statement with a carbon fiber business card.

4. Carbon Fiber Bathtubs

Manufacturers have been making bathtubs from fiberglass for decades. So why not start building them with carbon fiber? Some have begun doing just that, especially for customers that want modern fixtures at any cost.

The advantage of a carbon fiber bathtub is its lighter weight. The fact that it looks so cool doesn’t hurt, either. One of these tubs would look excellent in a modern bathroom with a black/white/gray color theme. Not that you would want it to, but carbon fiber tubs also hide a lot of dirt.

5. Carbon Fiber Straight Razor

Just like fountain pens, straight razors went out of style some years ago. Most men shave these days with disposable safety blades. However, if you are into doing things the way real men used to do them, shaving with a straight razor is still possible. If you want to look cool while doing so, consider a carbon fiber razor.

The blade itself is not made of carbon fiber; it is stainless steel. Rather, it is the frame that sports the carbon fiber. A carbon fiber frame reduces weight and looks rather sleek. Combine it with a carbon fiber case and your daily shave takes on a whole new meaning.

This is just a sample of the many carbon fiber products now on the market. Needless to say that carbon fiber has become a favorite manufacturing material with a lot of applications.