Bacteria killing stainless steel of the future

I love technological advances of all kinds and I loathe illness-causing bacteria. So when Professor Dennis Hess, Associate Professor Julie Champion, Postdoctoral Fellow Yeongseon Jang, and Postdoctoral Fellow Won Tae Choi at Georgia Institute of Technology developed a new nanotextured surface for stainless steel that kills common bacteria I was thrilled.

This isn’t a coating that wears away – the stainless steel is physically etched and is thus a permanent treatment. The researchers used an “electrochemical etching process on a common stainless steel alloy” (Georgia Institute of Technology News Center, Curiosity) to create the nanotexture.

The researchers aren’t sure about the mechanism that causes bacterial mortality, but they speculate that the bacteria (which are much smaller than mammalian cells) are physically skewered by the microscopic sharp edges while mammalian cells are left undamaged because of their differences in sizes.  So far, they say that the nano-etching has been shown to kill Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. 

This nanotextured stainless steel also seems to improve corrosion resistance and has potential future applications in implantable medical devices and food processing equipment but researchers will be conducting long-term studies to ensure that mammalian cells remain healthy and determine how the etched surface responds to wear over time. Please visit the Georgia Institute of Technology News Center to read more about this promising stainless steel.

The Omni Group outlines its plans for OmniFocus 3

The Omni Group, lauded purveyor of Mac and iOS productivity tools, recently rolled out their 2018 Roadmap, detailing plans and updates for several of their applications — particularly OmniFocus 3.

I’ve been an on-and-off user of OmniFocus for several years, usually dabbling and experimenting for a few weeks with different setups that I’ve seen online, and always going back to a simpler task application. I do like a lot of what OmniFocus does. For me, it’s heavy program that requires a lot of finesse and experience to get the most out of it.

But from their post, it sounds like it’s going to get a bit more approachable.

The next big update of OmniFocus promises to focus on…

  • swapping out contexts for tags (about time)
  • better manual sorting
  • more flexibility with scheduling and notifications
  • an updated design (yay!)
  • Javascript-based automation
  • task collaboration (also yay!)
  • introduction of a web-based app

No mention of when the new version will be available, other than sometime this year, but Omni Group is currently offering TestFlight signups on their website. I’m excited for the update and for what seems like steps toward simplifying their powerful task manager. I’m sure have my eye on it when it launches.

Check out the full details on the Omni Group’s blog.

Keep it together with the Leather Charging Cable Tool Roll

Cables and earbuds and batteries, oh my! I struggle to organize my tech gear especially if I have to travel. But with the Leather Charging Cable Tool Roll by Go Forth Goods, you can organizer these things easily. It combines two things that I love: organization and leather!! This leather roll is made with 6 oz. full grain leather (2.4 mm thick) and has five pockets: one larger pocket that measures 5″ x 7″ for laptop or larger cables and four smaller pockets that measure 3″ x 3″ for storing smaller cables or items like a portable backup battery, earbuds, cell phone chargers, etc.

After you’ve stored all that you desire, you roll it up and keep it closed with a 3/4″ leather strap and a solid brass stud. It measures 3″ high x 7″ wide x 3″ deep when rolled up and 7″ high x 20″ wide x 0.25″ deep when unrolled. And it has a lifetime warranty! The Leather Charging Cable Tool Roll is available in Mocha, Saddle, and Black colors from Go Forth Goods for $75.

Convert your old cassette tapes to MP3 files with this Walkman-sized device

This audio cassette to MP3 converter from Hammacher Schlemmer makes converting your old analog tapes to digital files almost as easy as pressing “play”.  The Best Audio Cassette to MP3 Converter guides you through the conversion with step-by-step instructions appearing on the screen of a connected PC or Mac running the included software.  Users say the Best converter “produced the clearest digital recordings from analog tapes, without the feedback or static that garbled the sound of MP3 files created by lesser devices”.

You can also use the Best as a playback device by connecting it to some speakers or headphones.  At only 3.5″ H x 4.5″ W x 1.25″ D, it’s even small enough to use as a portable device.  It’s powered by two AA batteries, or you can connect it to a USB power source with the included cable.  The Best Audio Cassette to MP3 Converter is $49.95 at Hammacher Schlemmer.

Trayvax Summit Notebook wallet review

I carried a Trayvax Summit minimalist wallet as my everyday wallet for about a year and still consider it one of my favorites. Now Trayvax has added the ability for the Summit wallet to hold important EDC essentials – a pen and a small notepad. Let’s take a look.

What is it?

The Trayvax Summit Notebook wallet is a Summit wallet with a leather wrap that enables it to hold a small notebook and a small Fisher Bullet Space Pen all in one small bundle.

Design and features

The Summit Notebook wallet has a black steel frame with a chestnut colored oiled Latigo leather exterior which is attached to the steel frame by an olive colored webbed strap.

There’s a rectangular cutout on the top of the wallet which is used to slide the cards out with your thumb.

The back of the wallet is plain. I like the color of the leather, but to be perfectly honest, I don’t care for the slick look and feel of this type of leather. I don’t think it looks as rugged as the leather that Trayvax uses on some of their other wallets like their Ascent wallet which I recently reviewed. There’s nothing wrong with the Latigo leather, I just don’t like it as well as the other unoiled leather that Trayvax uses.

The wallet opens like a book to reveal the black steel frame Summit wallet and the Trayvax branded Rite in the Rain 2o page all-weather 3.25″ x 2.125″ notebook.

The steel frame is exactly like the original Trayvax Summit wallet. It can hold several credit cards and there’s a built-in cash holder that can hold 3-4 folded dollars, receipts, or even a house key.

The spine of the wallet holds a Trayvax branded Fisher Bullet Space pen.

The pen slot is a little snug when you first get the new wallet, so sometimes when I would try to pull out the pen by the cap, the cap would come off with the pen still stuck in the slot.

But after several days of use, the slot stretches to allow the pen to be removed more easily.

This wallet can hold 1-8 cards. The addition of the leather cover adds noticeable bulk to the Summit wallet, which detracts from the Summit wallet’s original minimalist design. But, the nice thing is that you can remove the leather cover for those times when you prefer the wallet to be skinnier.

Positives

  • Made in the USA
  • Quality materials
  • Includes a notebook and a Fisher Bullet Space Pen

Negatives

  • A little bulky

Final thoughts

Trayvax has a great track record for creating rugged wallets with quality materials. The Summit Notebook wallet is a nice update to the original Summit wallet for EDC fans that want to have a way to carry a pen and a small notepad with them in one convenient bundle while also carrying credit cards and cash.

Price: $65.99
Where to buy: Trayvax
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Trayvax.