What we're building
Most tool websites optimize for utility and forget everything else. We wanted to build the opposite: destinations that are genuinely useful and genuinely interesting to explore, with nothing about them that feels templated or generic.
Right Now, Around the World
A live observatory of humanity — running, sourced estimates of what people are doing right now, worldwide.
Explore →Calculators
Fast, clean, honest calculator tools — no clutter, no accounts, no dark patterns.
Explore →How we work
- 01 Say what we don't know. Every modeled estimate on this site is labeled as a model, not a measurement, with its methodology explained and its sources linked.
- 02 Cite real sources. Figures are drawn from organizations like the UN, WHO, FAO, OECD, and Pew Research — never invented to fill a gap.
- 03 Correct our own mistakes in the open. When we find an inconsistency between pages — like two slightly different mortality figures — we say so on the page, rather than quietly picking whichever number is convenient.
- 04 Build for curiosity, not just utility. A page should teach you something you didn't expect, not just answer a query and end the visit.
Who's behind this
Nootan Labs is built by Nootan Kumar — a network engineer turned website builder, and someone who tends to learn new things by actually building them rather than reading about them first.
He got his start managing IT systems and networks, first at IT Vision and then at Mamsys World. In 2018, he built 10hotdeals.com mostly to understand how websites actually worked — and it did well enough that he left his job to build websites full-time. Since then he's built and run a handful of niche sites, including PickLaptop.com (laptop reviews, now run with a small team of writers), TwoDogZoo.com (pet nutrition), PickTablet.com, and PoloTshirts.org — along with four Android apps built under Algobyte, one of which crossed 50,000 installs.
His main project today is NootanCrafts, a YouTube channel and website where he documents real, self-taught DIY builds — furniture, woodworking, tool comparisons — one mistake at a time. Nootan Labs grew out of the same instinct: instead of another generic tool website, build something genuinely curious, and be honest in public about what it does and doesn't know yet.
He studied Computer Hardware & Networking at A-SET and holds a B.Sc. in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics from D.S. College, Aligarh. His guiding line — "I know one thing: that I know nothing" — is as good a starting philosophy for a data observatory as it is for building furniture by hand.
Have a question, a correction, or an idea for the next experiment? Get in touch.