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4 ways blockchain will disrupt the energy sector Global energy systems are following the 5 Ds of blockchain as more renewable energy is integrated into electricity grids. In the last five years or so, so-called “disruptive” technologies—such as distributed renewable energy, smart grids, energy storage, and fuel cells——have clearly impacted the energy world. While energy professionals are still adjusting to the new reality, let’s take a look at blockchain, an emerging yet potentially even more disruptive technology discussed during a seminar on advanced clean technology solutions for development at ADB’s recent Annual Meeting in Yokohama, Japan. Blockchain is a game-changer, according to Don Tapscott, a TED Talk speaker and one of the world’s leading thinkers on the economic and social impact of technology. “The technology likely to have the greatest impact on the next few decades has arrived. It’s not social media. It’s not Big Data. It’s not robotics. It’s not even art

 ‘I want to buy a new pair of headphones … How can some of them cost hundreds of dollars?’ Photograph: Alamy Jack Schofield Thu 21 Dec ‘17  11.56 GMT Last modified on Thu 21 Dec ‘17  12.33 GMT View more sharing options Shares 32 Comments 114 I want to buy a new pair of headphones. I’ve had a pair of Sony headphones for years that sound great and cost me $45 (£33.64). How can some headphones cost hundreds of dollars? Also, are wireless/Bluetooth headphones any good?  Sara Headphones, like most technology products, are subject to the law of diminishing returns. Most cost from about £25 to £350, but you can pay more than $50,000 for a pair of  Sennheiser Orpheus  headphones, or €100,000 for the bejewelled bling of  Focal Utopia headphones by Tournaire . Starting at the low end, you can usually get better sound quality by paying a bit more, and there are lots of good options in the £100-£300 range. Beyond that, you may have to pay a lot more

Syed Faizan Hussain, one of the winners of Queen's Young Leader Award 2017, is a Pakistani student who used his knowledge in technology to create solutions within our community. During his time with the Saylani Welfare Trust, Hussain mentored over 200 students from underprivileged backgrounds, according to  his profile on the Queen's Leadership Award website. Faizan Hussain.— Photo courtesy: Linkedin He has also developed a number of startups, including Edu-Aid, an app that translates sign language into spoken language and OneHealth, a disease surveillance and tracking system which notifies health institutions about epidemic outbreaks. The young entrepreneur is currently looking to develop Venture Dart, a technology consultant and outsourcing company for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The Queen's Young Leaders is an annual award that recognises young leadership potential in people between the ages of 18-29 from the Commonwealth of Nations. The program wa

Dr Waqar Saleem, Program Director Computer Science at Habib University speaking at the event. They call themselves Pythonistas and more than 500 of them got together on December 16 at Pakistan’s first-ever Python Conference,  PyCon. Being hailed as the programming language of the future, Python is fast revolutionising the world. Python is growing rapidly among the high-income countries of the world. From support systems to robotics and from banking to healthcare, there isn’t much the Python language isn’t being used to develop. Google, Instagram, Quora, Mozilla, NASA and more are either running on Python or have used elements from it to support their framework. But Pakistan, along with other developing countries, seems to have missed the memo on this important update. PyCon Pakistan was an effort to bring the local industry up to speed on the language and its applications, especially in areas like artificial intelligence and robotics. The audience at the event was a dive