Asked recently to write about electronic cigarettes, I have to confess that I had never heard of such a thing. Some internet research later and I discovered that electronic cigarettes are very e sigara much a quickly growing concern. A Google search revealed there is no smoke without fire as almost six million results just for the phrase "electronic cigarette" were returned.
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What is an electronic cigarette?
The electronic cigarette has been in existence for almost three years and is a clever device aimed at providing smokers with a healthier option. Apparently also useful in helping to reduce and indeed quit smoking altogether.
Now in a fourth generation, electronic cigarettes have become much more user friendly than earlier versions which perhaps were a little too large to encourage a mass market appeal. The "mini" is the most realistic e cigarette to date with its length of 100mm being the same as a conventional cigarette.
An electronic cigarette contains a taste of tobacco but none of the harmful substances found in normal cigarettes allowing smokers cravings to be satisfied without inhaling the many dangerous toxins. Is it all smoke and mirrors? Or can this item really be the saviour it wants to be?
A battery, an atomiser and a renewable nicotine chamber allows the smoker to hold and smoke the electronic cigarette just as they would any other cigarette, even creating a "smoke" like vapour and glow at the end as they draw. The nicotine chamber proves very useful as cartridges are available in different strengths, permitting the user to reduce the amount of nicotine they intake until if they wish, can quit completely.
A nicotine cartridge typically lasts the same time as 15 to 20 cigarettes, thus creating a huge saving to normal costs. Standard, medium, low and no nicotine at all are the various cartridge strengths.
A healthier option altogether it seems, though the benefits don't end there. Due to the electronic cigarette not emitting any dangerous substances, toxins or real smoke for that matter, they are perfectly legal to smoke in public. In winter in particular, normal cigarette smokers have to brave the freezing cold and the rain just for a quick smoking break but this alternative will allow them to stay in their offices, restaurants and pubs.
None smokers also will benefit, as their worries about passive smoking are rendered null and void by the electronic cigarette. A much more sociable environment then!
Upon reflection the electronic cigarette is a healthier, cheaper and environmentally friendly alternative to smoking and as the awareness and the market grows they have great potential to successfully replace the harmful cigarettes we have all come to know and many of us have come to dread and fear.
Sometimes things start out in the most surprising ways. Take the watch company of Casio for example. If you were asked to guess what the first product that was made by Casio, you may think it was the calculator or some other type of electronic product. You would be wrong. The Casio Company was started 1946 by Tadao Kashio. Understand that this was in Japan following World War II. The financial situation was dire in Japan at the time to say the least. When Mr. Kashio began his company, he was a fabrication engineer hoping to catch a big break.
His big break showed up in a very unique way. Tadao Kashio developed a product called the yubiwa pipe. Its design allowed it to be worn on the finger. It was used to hold a cigarette, allowing the smoker to smoke the cigarette to the filter, all while still being able to use both hands. In the impoverished Japan of the times, cigarettes were a hot commodity and the product was an overwhelming success. The yubiwa pipe is a far cry from the calculators and watches that were to follow, but it did start the company down the road to success.
Since it is obvious that Mr. Kashio was an inventive sort of man, it only took a little while for him to decide to explore different products. At the business show in Ginza, Japan in 1949, he discovered electronic calculators. With the proceeds from the sale of the yubiwa pipes, Mr. Kashio and his brothers began to experiment with making their own calculators. At the time, most calculators were run by the use of gears. With diligence and hard work, the Casio Company came out with the first calculator to use solenoids. The new type of calculator went on sale in 1954. This calculator also was the first to have the 10 digit keypad and had only one display window as opposed to the competitors' that had three.
As you well know, calculators weren't the only product manufactured by Casio. After the release of the Model 14-A calculator, many more products were designed and released to the general public. The same year as the release of the 14-A, the company also became the Casio Computer Co., Inc. This is about the time when watches from Casio first made their mark on the watch industry. Casio has been well known for the huge variety and innovation of their watches almost since the beginning of production. They were one of the first watch companies to manufacture the now famous quartz crystal watches. The quartz watches produced by Casio were available in both digital and analog styles. It is possible that the most well remembered watch produced by this company was the calculator watch. For those of you who don't remember, it featured all of the amazing time keeping capabilities of the regular Casio watches, with an added feature. It had a tiny calculator complete with miniature keypad built into the watch. During its hey day it was the bane of math teachers everywhere and the savior of every math deficient student.
Considering the calculator watch was so much fun, Casio continued to raise the bar. This company was also the first to design and produce a watch that could provide its owner with some interesting details. One such watch could display the time of many different time zones at the touch of a button. Others were equipped to give weather details like the temperature and barometric pressure. Mountain climbers of ages past particularly were fond of the version that came with a gauge to indicate the altitude. While other watch makers were stuck on the same old, same old, Casio consistently offered new and exciting variations on the classic wristwatch.
With the true gadget geeks of the world in mind, Casio came up with a watch just for them. It is the Wave Ceptors line of watches. They really outdid themselves with this one. These watches are equipped to receive radio signals that enable the watch to keep accurate time. They also are able to tell the time in different time zones, the user can set alarms and timers. This line of watches also came with an incredibly extensive user manual to provide all of the necessary instructions to the owner.
From the yubiwa pipe to the finest calculators and watches in the world, the Casio has come a long way from its humble beginnings. They continue to challenge themselves and their competitors to new higher peaks and offer the best products electronics can build.