This Week I Learned - Week #60

This Week I Learned:

• Azure BizTalk Services Free Edition makes it easy for developers to use Hybrid Connections (5 per unit, 5GB data transfer per unit) at no charge. Hybrid Connections can move existing web workloads to Azure Websites whilst still connecting to on-premises data without changing any code. Ref - TechEd PPT 
  
• Cloud computing was invented by Amazon. Netflix built its TV and movie business atop the Amazon cloud. Dropbox erected its file-sharing operation there.
• Netflix, Reddit and CERN use Cassandra for their data.
• Out of National Geographic's 5 step plan (first four are freeze agriculture's footprint, grow more on farms we've got, use resources more efficiently, shift diets) to boost food availability for the world's growing population, reducing wastage of food is the most effective. An estimated 25 percent of the world’s food calories and up to 50 percent of total food weight are lost or wasted before they can be consumed. 
• Examples of data-driven journalism in India - India Today Funalytics, Rediff Labs
• There are 795 permitted private satellite TV channels in India as on 30th April 2014 - Source: Ministry of Information & Broadcasting's PDF report. Ironically, the archaic MIB Government website uses Flash & PDFs which require additional browser plugins/tools to be seen making information not so straight-forward to access.
• India is one of the fastest growing aviation markets and currently the ninth largest civil aviation market in the world.
• Of the about 600 terawatt hours Germany consumes each year, 50 TWh are self-produced - about 8% of the total.
• "..when you give up learning, you grow old" - Jessie White, a 99 year old woman who got her degree 75 years late.
• Selfies are the new autographs. Shane Warne's (@ShaneWarne)  tweet - "After doing 5 selfies with people this morning before 8am on my morning run / walk I've come to the conclusion that the autograph is dead !"