Anyone and everyone who has ever been to a chemistry lab has handled one of these. Its uses are diverse. Whether you want to conduct a borax bead test, perform the flame test or just heat something to a red hot state, the Bunsen burner is your steady companion. It is the device so ubiquitous in a chemistry lab that people just don’t talk about it. It’s a trusty friend, whose absence is more suffered than its presence felt. The quickest method to get a glimpse of the most horrific misery that the human race can suffer is to perform a borax bead test in candle flame.

The burner has the wonderful ability to produce a flame which contains oxidizing and reducing parts simultaneously. The amount of air, and thus the height of the flame, can be conditioned at will. It is extremely portable and easy to clean. It is, in one word, indispensable.

The man pioneering this device was Robert Bunsen (1811-1899), and thus the name. Using hydrated ferrous oxide to treat arsenic poisoning is one of Bunsen’s lesser mentioned, but equally ingenious, contributions and this remains the standard treatment. Ironically, he almost died from arsenic poisoning. He also perfected electrolysis to standards not achieved till then. Replacing platinum electrodes with graphite ones, he significantly reduced the cost of an electrolysis process, all the while improving on the purity of the extracted metal.

He was a great teacher and a good debater. However, he often refused debates on technical topics or on topics not very well researched in his day. A thorough gentleman, he had a curious principle of never patenting anything. He remained devoted to his students throughout his teaching career and also never married.

On March 31^st, Google  came out with the following doodle to celebrate the 200^th birthday of Robert Bunsen.

Bunsen: Google Doodle

I remember the words of a chemistry teacher I had in the seventh grade. When I asked her why she thought the apparatus diagram I had drawn in the chemistry exam paper was wrong, she blatantly told me Your diagram misses the Bunsen. So you get a ZERO!’.

And after a short break we are back with the winners of the 12th competition of our Birthday Bash where we were giving away a 120GB Western Digital Passport Drive sponsored by Newegg.com.

We had a tough time picking the winner from the 56 entries we got, a list of which you can find in our Google Docs account here.

And the winner of the 120GB WD Passport Drive is;

Congrats to Deepali Vichare for winning the prize sponsored by Newegg.com, but wait that is not all, we could not deject so many of you so we threw in a surprise gift sponsored by AMD for 5 more people.

5 surprise winners will be getting a 2GB pen drive that is generously sponsored by AMD.

Congrats Grace, Shivaranjan, Shankar Ganesh, Hariharakumar and Mohit Prabhat on winning 2GB pen drives sponsored by AMD.  We will contact the winners shortly to distribute the prizes.

Once again thanks to Newegg.com and AMD for sponsoring the prizes for this competition.

We still have lots of prizes to be given away so stay tuned for the next competitions, for a complete list visit the Birthday Bash announcement post.

Update: This competition is now closed, we are not accepting any new entries, winners will be declared on Monday

Time to kick in the 12th competition of the series where we are giving away a 120GB Western Digital Portable Drive, sponsored by Newegg.com

Newegg.com has been running some amazing Daily Deals where they put up some amazing products for unbelievable prices, if you are looking to get the best deals, we urge you to check their daily deals section, in addition to that Newegg is also going to have a mega sweepstakes this month, look forward to more information from us shortly, in the meantime head to Newegg.com to find the product you want at the lowest prices.

Western Digital have been manufacturing reliable and cheap storage devices which are widely used and have known to be a safe and secure option, you can check out a whole range of hard drives at the Newegg.com WD Store.

Who would not some extra space to store their files, music and movies, and we couldn’t think of a better solution than Western Digital.

Western Digital Passport drives are sleek and easy to carry around with you to anyplace, the drive is reliable and provides a handy solution for storing important files you can move around wherever you want.

Do you want to win a 120GB Western Digital Passport sponsored by Newegg.com? Read on for the rules and regulations.

Rules & Regulations for Winning 120GB Western Digital Passport Harddrive

To participate in the competition and be eligible for win one 120GB Western Digital Passport Harddrive, you will have to use one of the following ways.

1. Tweet about the sponsors and about this competition, include a link to both the sponsor and the competition, if you are creating your own tweet, please include Newegg.com in the tweet, also use this link http://u.nu/53i7 for the sponsor and this link http://u.nu/7mbe for the competition.Here is a tweet you can use to enter the competition, click on this tweet link to tweet about this contest. Once you have tweeted about it, leave a comment with a link to your status..
   Tweet Message (example): Get the best deals on computer products at Newegg.com http://u.nu/53i7 win a 120GB WD Passport Harddrive for FREE http://u.nu/7mbe
2. Write a blog post linking to both Newegg.com and this contest in your blog post. Once you have written the blog post, leave a comment here with a link to the post.
3. If you do not have a twitter account, or a blog, leave a comment on why you would want to win a 120GB WD Portable Drive.
4. This contest will end on 25th June at 12AM EST, no entries will be accepted after this point, we will announce the winners in a blog post shortly after the contest closes.
5. The more you participate the more you win, we have bonus cash prizes of $100 and $50 to be given out as bonus cash prizes at the end of all the competitions, for rules about bonus cash prizes please visit Techie Buzz Birthday Bash announcement post.

Please note: tweeting or blogging about the competition in itself will not avail participation, you will have to leave a comment on this page to get an entry in the winning draw.

Once again thanks to Newegg.com for sponsoring this competition, without the sponsors we would not have been able to run this Birthday Bash.

Please Note: If you comment does not show up before the competition is about to end, please use the contact form to let us, we DO NOT check the spam comments for entries, so if your entry is missing it is due to Akismet catching it as spam.

However please wait for sometime before contacting us, if your comment does not show up, we moderate comments, so it may take time, however we are not liable if your comment is caught up by Akismet Spam.

Time to end the Nitro PDF Professional contest sponsored by Nitro PDF Software, where we were giving away 10 licenses  of a really good all-in-one solution for your PDF needs.

The competition had 13 participants the full list which you can find in our Google Docs account here.

And the winners in the competition are picked by Random.org;

Congrats to all the winners, we will contact you shortly with regards to getting your Nitro PDF Professional license.

We once again thank our sponsors Nitro PDF Software for sponsoring the prizes for this event.

We ended the 10th competition where we were giving away a free license of Nero 9 and started out with the 11th one in the birthday bash where we are giving away a 10 licenses of Nitro PDF Professional worth $99 each.

It is also time to announce one lucky winner of Nero 9, There were a total of 12 participants who took part in the competition, the entire list of participants can be found in our Google Docs account here.

And the winner as per Random.org is;

Congratulations Vikas SN for winning a free copy of Nero 9, we will get in touch with you shortly to get you your license, thanks to Nero for sponsoring the prizes as part of our birthday bash.

Don’t forget to participate in the other competitions, you still have a lot of chance to win more exciting prizes.

Update: This contest is now closed, we will announce the 12th competition in the Birthday Bash shortly.

Here is the 11th competition in the birthday bash where we are giving away tons of exciting prizes to our readers, in this competition you have a chance win a Nitro PDF Software is giving away 10 licenses of their popular software Nitro PDF Professional worth $99 each.

PDF files are being used more and more these days to distribute information in the form of eBooks, this in turn has led to rapid development and creation of several tools that help you create, view, edit PDF files and more.

Also Read: Handy PDF Tools you must definitely use

However that also leads to another problem, where you have to use several softwares read, edit or convert PDF files.

Nitro PDF Professional, the complete Adobe Acrobat alternative, enables you to do more with PDF using powerful tools to create, convert, edit, combine, secure, annotate, form-fill, and save 100% industry-standard PDF files.

Nitro PDF Professional allows users to;

• Create PDF and PDF/A files from virtually any Windows application, with full control over PDF output options.
• Edit PDF content, no matter what it is. From correcting minor typos and updating or removing text, to advanced image editing tasks such as inserting, replacing, cropping, resizing and downsampling, Nitro PDF Professional makes it easy to make last-minute edits.
• Easily convert PDF to Word and PDF to RTF with industry-leading accuracy, enabling quick content reuse in Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, OpenOffice and more.
• Review & Annotate PDF – Streamline processes and eliminate paper waste through electronic document review. Use Nitro PDF Professional’s intuitive commenting tools to add notes, text feedback, drawing markups and more.
• Create PDF forms quickly and easily using a robust set of form design and editing tools.
• Secure PDF – Control how people view and use your sensitive and confidential information through robust PDF encryption.
• Assemble & Combine PDF – Combine documents, spreadsheets, presentations and more into a single, polished PDF file.

You can read and learn more about Nitro PDF Professional features.

Rules & Regulations for Winning One of the 10 Licenses of Nitro PDF Professional

To participate and win one of the 10 Nitro PDF Professional licenses worth $99, you will have to perform one of the steps. Please note this competition is slightly different from the earlier ones, so read them properly in order to be eligible and not be disqualified.

1. Visit http://www.nitropdf.com/professional/overview.htm and go through the features in Nitro PDF Professional, pick one of the features you like and create tweet from it, include this link http://u.nu/4mid in the tweet for Nitro PDF Professional and this link http://u.nu/9mid for the competition page.For example: Nitro PDF Professional creates, edits, annotates and secures PDF files http://u.nu/4mid Win FREE license worth $99 each http://u.nu/9mid
2. Write a blog post linking to Nitro PDF Professional and the and this contest in your blog post. Once you have written the blog post, leave a comment here with a link to the post.
3. If you do not have a twitter account, or a blog, leave a comment on why you would want to win a license of Nitro PDF Professional.
4. This contest will end on 21st June at 11:59PM EST, no entries will be accepted after this point, we will announce the winners in a blog post shortly after the contest closes.
5. The more you participate the more you win, we have bonus cash prizes of $100 and $50 to be given out as bonus cash prizes at the end of all the competitions, for rules about bonus cash prizes please visit Techie Buzz Birthday Bash announcement post.

Please note: tweeting or blogging about the competition in itself will not avail participation, you will have to leave a comment on this page to get an entry in the winning draw.

We once again thank our sponsors Nitro PDF Software for sponsoring the prizes for this event, look forward to participation from all our readers.

Update: This competition is now closed, we will announce the winners shortly.

Here is the 10th competition in the Birthday Bash series, we are going to do the competitions more frequently to giveaway the rest of the prizes, so keep checking back to win more exciting prizes :-).

Back in the days everytime we wanted to write data to a CD, create a movie or music CD, the first thing that came to mind was Nero, over the years Nero has grown from being a CD/DVD writing tool to a complete digital solution for managing your files and media.

Nero 9 is the next generation of the world’s most trusted integrated digital media software suite. It features new cutting-edge functionality that makes enjoying digital media content simple.

This easy-to-use, yet powerful multimedia suite, gives you the freedom to burn and rip DVDs, CDs and Blu-Ray Disc AND the flexibility to copy, edit, and share your music, videos, photos, and data, even upload online. Enjoy and share with family and friends anytime, anywhere.

Nero 9 Highlights:

• Burn CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs
• Upload photos and videos quickly to My Nero and other online communities
• Create photo slide shows with easy-to-use tools and templates
• Copy DVD movies, audio CDs, and data discs quickly and easily
• Watch, record, pause, and customize your live TV experience
• Create professional DVDs of home movies with easy video editing and special effects features.
• Make your own music mixes like a DJ to enjoy and share
• Archive all your HD movies in highest quality AVCHD format to HDD including: USB stick and flash memory card, SD Card and Sony Memory Stick ® without the use of an optical recorder

Nero 9 has definitely gone from being a CD/DVD authoring tool to being perfect digital media solutions, take a look and explore more of Nero 9 features and videos.

Rules & Regulations for Winning 1 License of Nero 9

To participate in the competition and be win a license of Nero 9 worth $99.99.

1. Tweet about the sponsors and about this competition, include a link to both the sponsor and the competition, if you are creating your own tweet, please include Nero 9 in the tweet, also use this link http://u.nu/4f3d for the sponsor and this link http://u.nu/7f3d for the competition.Here is a tweet you can use to enter the competition, click on this tweet link to tweet about this contest. Once you have tweeted about it, leave a comment with a link to your status.Tweet Message (example): Nero 9 helps you make is easy to keep your digital life organized http://u.nu/4f3d Win a free license of Nero 9 http://u.nu/7f3d
2. Write a blog post linking to Nero, Nero 9 and the and this contest in your blog post. Once you have written the blog post, leave a comment here with a link to the post.
3. If you do not have a twitter account, or a blog, leave a comment on why you would want to win a license of Nero 9.
4. This contest will end on 19th June at 6:00PM EST, no entries will be accepted after this point, we will announce the winners in a blog post shortly after the contest closes.
5. The more you participate the more you win, we have bonus cash prizes of $100 and $50 to be given out as bonus cash prizes at the end of all the competitions, for rules about bonus cash prizes please visit Techie Buzz Birthday Bash announcement post.

Please note: tweeting or blogging about the competition in itself will not avail participation, you will have to leave a comment on this page to get an entry in the winning draw.

We once again thank our sponsors Nero for sponsoring the prizes for this event, look forward to participation from all our readers.

Before we announce the winners of the winners of the 9th competition from the birthday bash here is something you can still win from our sponsors FoneArena a brand and spanking new Nokia N97 (only for Indian citizens), so do keep participating there, since it is a 5 day long contest.

Coming back to the Nokia 5130 competition we hope you enjoyed the competition and still have a lot of great prizes to give away, this is definitely going to go longer than we expected but in the end we are more than happy to give away prizes to all our readers and will continue getting exciting stuff for you, birthday bash or not.

The competition had a total of 24 competitors (25 with 1 duplicate entry which we disqualified, next time we see duplicate entries from same person we hold the right to disqualify all the entries from the person) and we had a hard time giving only 1 winner the phone and 1 the consolation prize, however you can find the entire list of participants in our Google Docs account here.

Congratulations Deepak you have won yourself a Nokia 5130 XM phone and Vijay a MTS phone with a 1 million prepaid talk time we will contact you on shortly on getting your prizes to you.

Once again we thank FoneArena for sponsoring the prize and look forward to the rest of the competitions, there are really good software and hardware to be given away so do keep participating in them.

We ended the 8th competition and started out with the 9th one in the birthday bash where we are giving away a Free Nokia 5130 XM phone to one lucky winner, however we still need to disclose the winners of the EASEUS Partition Master Professional sponsored by EASEUS.

There were a total of 10 participants who took part in the competition, the entire list of participants can be found in our Google Docs account here.

And the winners as per Random.org are as follows.

1. Joel
2. Nihang Shah
3. Linu
4. Satish
5. Vijay

Congratulations to all of you for winning a free copy of EASEUS Partition Master Professional, we will get in touch with you shortly to get you your prizes, thanks to EASEUS for sponsoring the prizes as part of our birthday bash.

We still have lots of more prizes to give away, we will be holding many competitions rapidly now so stay tuned to win more exciting prizes and softwares.

Note: Competition is now closed winners will be announced shortly

And here comes the 9th competition in the Birthday Bash, you can win a Nokia 5130 XpressMusic phone and also have chances to win a Free Nokia N97 thanks to FoneArena.

FoneArena is a excellent resource to find mobile phone specifications, mobile pricing, mobile news, mobile photos, mobile wallpapers, mobile reviews, support forums and more, if you are looking to buy a phone or want to get a detailed specification of a phone, FoneArena is a place you should be heading to.

FoneArena is also offering it’s readers a chance to win a Nokia N97 phone starting June 15th, there are 10 phones up for grabs so make sure you check the details out.

The Nokia N97 competition is still couple of days away and we are giving you a chance to win a Nokia 5130 XPressmusic phone.

If you are a music lover and are not looking to get some fancy phone just to fulfill your music needs, the Nokia 5130 is the right fit for you, the phone comes with a expandable memory slot, giving you the flexibility to add more songs to the phone.

The phone has most of the features that will satisfy any mobile user, with SMS, MMS, Email, Bluetooth, Camera, Video Capture, FM Radio, Audio Player, Video Player and Java support.

In addition to that FoneArena is also offering a MTS phone with 1 million prepaid talktime.

Rules & Regulations for Winning Nokia 5130 XM Phone

To participate in the competition and be win a Nokia 5130 XPressmusic phone and MTS prepaid phone and talktime.

1. Tweet about the sponsors and about this competition, include a link to both the sponsor and the competition, if you are creating your own tweet, please include FoneArena in the tweet, also use this link http://u.nu/8cpb for the sponsor and this link http://u.nu/2f4b for the competition.Here is a tweet you can use to enter the competition, click on this tweet link to tweet about this contest. Once you have tweeted about it, leave a comment with a link to your status.Tweet Message (example): Get the latest mobile news, specifications and more at FoneArena.com http://u.nu/8cpb win a Nokia 5130 XPressmusic Handset http://u.nu/3epb
2. Write a blog post linking to Fonearena.com and the Nokia N97 prize announcement page and this contest in your blog post. Once you have written the blog post, leave a comment here with a link to the post.
3. If you do not have a twitter account, or a blog, leave a comment on why you would want to win a Nokia 5130 Xpressmusic phone.
4. This contest will end on 15th June at 11:59PM EST, no entries will be accepted after this point, we will announce the winners in a blog post shortly after the contest closes.
5. The more you participate the more you win, we have bonus cash prizes of $100 and $50 to be given out as bonus cash prizes at the end of all the competitions, for rules about bonus cash prizes please visit Techie Buzz Birthday Bash announcement post.

Please note: tweeting or blogging about the competition in itself will not avail participation, you will have to leave a comment on this page to get an entry in the winning draw.

We once again thank our sponsors FoneArena for sponsoring the prizes for this event, look forward to participation from all our readers.