The infographic trend has taken another step. Visual.ly, dubbed “the world’s largest community for exploring, sharing, creating, and promoting data visualizations” is up and running. In addition to providing an excellent library of informative graphics available for embedding, the site will soon offer a lab for common guys to build graphics of their own. This one, Charity and Technology in the Online World, is the current staff pick.
Charity and Technology in the Online Universe (Infographic)
I just did a ‘quick vote’ on cnn.com that asked if I supported the law that requires more efficient light bulbs. The current 195,561 vote tally has the ‘yes’ votes just edging the ‘no’ votes by a margin of 51% to 49%. The law the survey is referring to is a law passed in 2007 that will force light bulbs to have higher energy efficient standards beginning in 2012.
The law has become a rallying cry for those who think the government is becoming too intrusive. Representative Michelle Bachmann (candidate for president,) proposed a bill back in March that would repeal the 2007 law. It was reported in the CBS news article, Bachmann to Democrats: Don’t tell Americans what light bulbs to buy, that the Congresswoman said the current law should only stay in place if: (1) there is proof that alternate bulbs save consumers money, (2) there is proof that alternate bulbs significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions and (3) that it’s shown that alternate bulbs “would not lead to a health risk for consumers, particularly those in hospitals, schools, day care centers and nursing homes.”
I’m not sure what level of proof she needs. The large infographic below is the Complete Guide to Energy Efficient Home Lighting. It goes over long held information validated by the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency (see more at energystar.gov.) After going over the basics of light bulbs, the graphic explains how compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) are 75% more efficient than standard incandescent bulbs because they produce more lumens per watt, produce less heat and last up to ten times longer. I’ve purchase the bulbs and they aren’t ten times more expensive.
Despite all the science, 193 members of the House voted for the repeal last Tuesday (see the Times article, GOP bid to void light bulb law fails.) The bill (HR 2417) was defeated and the law stays.
Code to embed this infographic is found at wellhome.com. It is at their page titled, Understanding Lighting Infographic.
A Complete Guide to Energy Efficient Home Lighting
These kind of infographics are always enjoyable. Despite the fact that there are many of them out there, timelines that reminisce about our recent yet distant computer-related history always draw me in. This one views the passage of time via the histories of Apple and Microsoft. It is done in a way that pits the two companies as rivals. Although I don’t agree that these two are still rivals after all these years, it is still interesting to see the histories of the companies.
Microsoft, as a primary software maker, and Apple as a hardware developer, have different product portfolios. They don’t generally compete. The infographic goes over each company’s market share of internet browsers, smart phone operating systems, and mp3 players. Throughout the graphic, an ongoing comparison of stock prices is made which is inaccurate because we don’t see how many shares of common stock exist at the time of the price.
Code for embedding the graphic is found at the Killer Infographics post titled Microsoft vs. Apple: The History of Computing (Infographic).
Microsoft vs. Apple: The History of Computing (Infographic)
