Visualized map of real-time air quality index and forecast of air pollution level

It has been for quite some times the haze resulting from huge forest fires in Indonesia has created a cloud of smog over itself and the neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and southern Thailand.

Here is a website that gather official data of air quality index (AQI) or air pollution index (API) from all around the world, and publish the information in a visualized map and charts. Its URL is: http://aqicn.org/map/

From the website, you can immediately know the current and also forecasted air quality level of a country, region or city.

The URL for Malaysia AQI map is:
 http://aqicn.org/map/malaysia/

(Screen captured on 15 September 2015)

The URL for Singapore AQI map is:
http://aqicn.org/map/Singapore

(Screen captured on 15 September 2015)

The URL for Kuala Lumpur AQI map and chart is:
http://aqicn.org/city/kuala-lumpur/

(Screen captured on 15 September 2015)

Colour indicators in the map and chart:

• Green = healthy
• Yellow = moderately unhealthy
• Orange = unhealthy
• Red = very unhealthy
• Purple = extremely unhealthy

My Sharp IG-DC2E-B Plasmacluster ion generator (in car air purifier)

I applied a new HSBC Amanah Credit Card in March 2015 and was promised with a Sharp in car air purifier (worth about RM350) as signing free gift by meeting the required terms and conditions.

After waited for about half a year, I finally received this free gift from HSBC.

As a car ionizer, this Sharp IG-DC2E-B functions in my car to:

• Purify air by settling airborne particles and dust
• Disinfect viruses
• Deodorize bad smell
• Remove adhered mold and suspend further mold
• Remove allergens from dead dust mites and dust mite faeces

The unit is cylindrical in shape, looks like a typical water container, and fit in the cup holder in the car.

Installation is pretty easy, just need to remove its back cover to plug in the power connection cable, route the power cord to come out from either one of its two outlets (one near its middle, and another near its bottom) , then cover back the back cover. Plug the other end of the power connection cable to the car's lighter socket, and it is ready to operate.

There are 3 available operation modes:

• Low: ion density of 7,000 ions per cubic centimetre, quiet, consume less power (1.1 watt).
• High: ion density of 25,000 ions per cubic centimetre, noisier, consume more power (1.8 watt).
• Turbo: ion density of 50,000 ions per cubic centimetre, noisiest, consume most power (2.7 watt).

The IZ-C75CE Plasmacluster ion generating unit can be seen after removing the back cover of the IG-DC2E-B. It has a lifespan of approximately 19,000 hours (more than 6 years) and need replacement upon end of life.

Now my car has 2 ionizers, the existing Medklinn mobile ionizer (I've already made an upgraded to Medklinn Asens Auto from the one shown in the linked article) and this new Sharp Plasmacluster ion generator. The Medklinn claims to be able to produce much more ions (2 millions per cubic centimetre) than the Sharp.

I have no problem connecting both of them to the car's lighter socket, as I have an  HSC YC-401 Car 1-to-3 Cigarette Lighter Sockets with 2 USB ports in my car.

Khan Academy - the free online tuition website

I would like to share with you a great online tuition (e-learning) website called Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org/), founded by Salman Amin Khan (a.k.a. Sal or Khan, born 11 October 1976) with the ambition "to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere".

Salman Khan is a Bengali American who graduated with multiple Bachelor degrees  (mathematics, electrical engineering, and computer science) and multiple Master degrees (electrical engineering, and computer science) from M.I.T. He is also an MBA graduate from Harvard Business School.

Khan is not only very knowledgeable in mathematics and science, but also very good in explaining and teaching things in a very easy to understand manner.

He started this venture in 2003,  tutoring his cousin Nadia mathematics over the Internet using Yahoo!'s Doodle notepad. His tutorials are so interesting and attracted more and more relatives and friends of Nadia to join in, until he established the Khan Academy channel in Youtube to upload his tutorial videos and made free access to everyone.

Today, Khan Academy website hosted thousands of educational video lessons, encompassing mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry,  organic chemistry, health and medicine, cosmology, astronomy, economics, finance, history, music, arts, computing, etc., from primary school level until college level.

These videos  have been viewed over 500 millions times.

As a non-profit educational organization, Khan Academy operates solely on donations. It doesn't charge you any money to access the website and all the content in it, and the content does not have any annoying advertisement too.

The Khan Academy website is simple, straightforward and easy to use. Parents and teachers can link their account with their own children and/or students to monitor and provide guidance for their learning progress in Khan Academy.

This is a very good online tuition website for yourself as well as for your children and/or students. It is fun to learn from its video tutorials. It is highly recommended by many people who has benefited from it, including Bill Gates.