FOOD SPECIAL.... food trend...... Ice-cream sandwiches are the hot new dessert

Food trend ..... Ice-cream sandwiches are the hot new dessert

Reports are calling them the new cupcake. We bite into the trend to find out more...

Throwing a summer soiree? This might be perfect as a chilled meal ender. Forget the soufflés and panacottas ­ the dessert that's getting all the attention is the ice cream sandwich. It might sound simple enough ­ a slab of ice-cream between two biscuits, but it's a dessert match made in gourmet heaven! Top food sites have named the fad among the `Five most exciting food trends for 2014'.

FUSION FOOD

 Last year, top pastry chefs predicted that cupcakes, doughnuts and croissants would be soon out of the food scene and unusual food combos, one of them being the ice-cream sandwich, would grab all the attention. Af wich, would grab all the attention. firms food blogger Shanti Padukone.
“Fusion food is big, with foodies experimenting a lot. For instance, I recently had a brownie sandwich, which was a toasted sweet bun, with brownie and chocolate sauce. I also tried a doughnut ice-cream, which is essentially toast ed bread with ice-cream in it. The texture of these desserts is what makes them popular; they have something crusty accompanying an ice-cream which is cold, smooth and flavourful. I'm not surprised that this trend is becoming huge; the climate here too makes you wanting for more,“ she says.

The ice-cream sandwich is climbing on to the top of the dessert list at restaurants across the country. What's so special about it? “The ice-cream sandwich is simple but delicious; it combines two most-loved desserts ­ cookies and icecream, which make this dessert very popular; it's ideal for the summer too,“ reveals dessert specialist Pooja Dhingra.

FUN COMBINATIONS

You can offset several flavours with each other. Try cold strawberry or green mint with crispy, sweet biscuit, bitter coffee ice-cream with bland cookie crust and more. While Dhingra votes for flavours like red velvet, walnut cooke with Belgian chocolate; chocolatier and pastry chef Sanjana Patel has tried something new with the ice-cream sand wich. “I used caramel sea salt, the flavour of the year, as well as passion fruit and strawberry sorbet and hazelnut-chocolate truffle between two macaroons. Each bite is a play between textures and a burst of flavours,“ she says.

This summer, let the cookie crumble in your mouth with a cool explosion of flavours.

ismat.tahseen

MATERIAL SPECIAL................... Ultra strong 3D printed structures

MATERIAL SPECIAL Ultra strong 3D printed structures



A new 3D printed material build out of polymers, metals and ceramics, can withstand 1,60,000 times its own weight. It could be used to make parts for aircrafts and cars

Imagine a material with the same weight and density as aerogel ­ a material so light it's called `frozen smoke' ­ but with 10,000 times more stiffness. This material could have a profound impact on the aerospace and the auto industries as well as other applications where lightweight, high-stiffness and highstrength materials are needed.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have developed a material with these properties using additive micromanufacturing processes. The findings are published in the journal Science.

The article describes the team's development of micro-architected metamaterials ­ artificial materials with properties not found in nature ­ that maintain a nearly constant stiffness per unit mass density, even at ultralow density.

MICRO-STEREOLITHOGRAPHY

 Most lightweight cellular materials have mechanical properties that degrade substantially with reduced density because their structural elements are more likely to bend under applied load. The team's metamaterials, however, exhibit ultrastiff properties across more than three orders of magnitude in density.

“These lightweight materials can withstand a load of at least 160,000 times their own weight,“ said Xiaoyu “Rayne“ Zheng, lead author of the Sci ence article. “The key to this ultrahigh stiffness is that all the micro-structural elements in this material are designed to be over constrained and do not bend under applied load.“

The observed high stiffness is shown to be true with multiple constituent materials such as polymers, metals and ceramics.

“Our micro-architected materials have properties that are governed by their geometric layout at the microscale, as opposed to chemical composition,“ said Chris Spadaccini, corresponding author of the article, who led the joint research team. “We fabricated these materials with projection microstereolithography.“

This additive micro-manufacturing process involves using a micro-mirror display chip to create high-fidelity 3D parts one layer at a time from photosensitive feedstock materials. It allows the team to rapidly generate materials with complex 3D micro-scale geometries that are otherwise challenging or in some cases, impossible to fabricate.

“Now we can print a stiff and resil ient material using a desktop machine,“ said MIT professor and key collaborator Nicholas Fang.

“This allows us to rapidly make many sample pieces and see how they behave mechanically.“

The team was able to build microlattices out of polymers, metals and ceramics. 

LIGHT MATERIAL, HEAVY LOADS

This approach could be useful anywhere there's a need for a combination of high stiffness (for load bearing), high strength, and light weight ­ such as in structures to be deployed in space, where every bit of weight adds significantly to the cost of launch. But Fang says there may also be applications at smaller scale, such as in batteries for portable devices, where reduced weight is also highly desirable.

Another property of these materials is that they conduct sound and elastic waves very uniformly, meaning they could lead to new acoustic metamaterials, Fang says, that could help control how waves bend over a curved surface.

MM140621

GADGET GIZMO REVIEW................... HTC Desire 816

GADGET GIZMO REVIEW HTC Desire 816

 

SPECIFICATIONS 

5-inch super amoled (1920 x 1080 pixels) display, 1.7Ghz octa core processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, Android 4.2, 2,300mAh, 133 grams Super-slim unibody design, fantastic display, great camera, loud audio Body is prone to scratches, slow UI, non expandable storage

For reasons unclear, HTC has largely avoided the phablet segment. The only phablet in their portfolio is the HTC One Max and this, the Desire 816, is now the second.

The Desire 816 shares some design elements with the premium HTC One -dual front speakers, rounded edges and metallic volume/power keys. It weighs 165 grams and has a plastic body with a matte finish which makes the phone look good.
The only issue we had was with the placement of the power button ­ on any large phone, a power button placed on top will not be easy to reach with one hand. Up front is a gorgeous 5.5-inch display with great viewing angles and vibrant colours.
The dual SIM slots are on the right side ­ both are nano SIM slots and we wish that HTC had stuck to the more common micro SIM ­ there certainly is no shortage of space.

Thanks to the 1.6Ghz quad core Snapdragon processor and 1.5GB RAM, the phone is generally smooth. However, we did notice that the phone tends to get a bit sluggish if there are too many apps open in the background.

We were very impressed with both cameras on the desire 816. The 13MP rear and 5MP front camera both take excellent images with good details in most scenarios. The wide-angle front camera is especially great for selfies. In terms of audio, the in-ear speaker as well as the front stereo loudspeakers offers great output ­ loud with good clarity .

Battery life is one area in which the Desire 816 failed to impress. On a full charge, the phone struggled to deliver one full day of backup. HTC has included an ultra power saving mode, which adds another hour to the batter life, but we were expecting more considering the power efficient Snapdragon 400 processor and Android 4.4. If you like large displays, consider Sony's T2 Ultra (dual SIM) ­ it is priced about the same and has a larger 6-inch display . You could also consider Gionee's E7 which has a much better display, camera and hardware for the same price.

KARAN BAJAJ

TRAVEL SPECIAL...................... HOW TO GET THE BEST AIRLINE DEALS? (2)

HOW TO GET THE BEST AIRLINE DEALS?  (2)  Book early There are several ways smart flyers can get good deals. The most important among them is: Book early. Spot rates (for immediate travel) are usually 2-4 times higher compared to ticket rates a few months earlier. And this is advisable even to the business class travellers. “Though it is difficult for corporate customers, we still advise them to book in advance to save costs,“ says Rastogi. Why do airlines like advance bookings? This is part of their yield management. “Only the first few seats (15-20) are offered at the lowest rates and then they keep on increasing the fares,“ says Sridharan. They keep the last few seats for the spot customers and charge very high rates from them. “Corporate customers who travel at the last minute and pay the maximum price are subsidising customers who book early,“ says Rastogi. Use calendar spreads The rates offered by airlines keep varying. “Monday morning flights to major cities are costly,“ says Rastogi. This is because of the heavy rush of business travellers at the start of the work week. Similarly, there is heavy outbound rush from cities on Friday evenings and this pushes up the rates. Leisure travellers can avoid this rush and save money. “Book tickets on Tuesdays and Thursdays as they are usually cheaper on these two days of the week,“ says Expedia's Malhi. Though the rush will be lesser compared to Mondays, morning rush to major cities on all weekdays is quite high. Similarly, on all weekdays there will be outbound evening rush -though a bit less compared to Fridays. Leisure travellers can easily avoid this by booking flights in the middle of the day. And, if you are ready for a little inconvenience, there are several late night connecting flights that offer discounted air fares. Festival day booking Another problem faced by Indian air travellers is the jump in fares close to major festivals. The government has to take steps to control this. “During Christmas time, flying to Goa becomes costlier than flying to London,“ says Goyal. Since the government may actually not do anything about it, you can take steps to help reduce your costs. “Book on the day of the festival, in case you have to travel the same day,“ suggests Malhi. This is because most travellers want to reach the home / tourist destinations before the festival and, therefore, the rates are a bit cheaper on the day of the festival. Go for combo offers The commonest combo offers are the return trips. However, if you want to cancel your journey, some airlines may force you to cancel the return as well. Therefore, go for the combos only when the return fare is offered at a significant discount. Next in line are hotel-plus offers. “Travellers should take good hotel deals when available. After all, they have to look at the bundled cost for the trip and not just at one component,“ says Rastogi. “At times, air fare plus hotel room costs may almost be the same as the air fare alone at other times,“ says Sridharan. Some sites offer travel insurance deal also, go for it only if you need to buy insurance. Wait for offers “Travellers have to plan in advance and then wait for promotional offers,“ says Sridharan. Though offers pour in almost on a weekly basis, travellers have to act fast to benefit. “Since offers are available for a few hours, they (travellers) have to get the information fast (by signing up for mobile apps, email alerts, SMS alerts, etc.) and also to make up their mind and take action immediately,“ says Dhall. The offers can come through your bank as well. For example, Indigo is now offering 10% discount on base fare for HDFC Bank and SBI card holders. However, please note that you can't club two offers. So, pick the offer that gives you the maximum benefit.

ETW14063