Sitting Smarter

If you haven't been living under a rock these past couple months then you have probably heard that sitting is the new smoking. If you are working in an office at a software development job or some sort of work where you have to site for long periods of time, listen up. First of all, unlike smoking, sitting is not something that we can just give up so we have to find ways to be smarter about it. Make sure that you have your feet at hip width apart and your knees at hip height. Avoid crossing your knees or ankles because that can slow down blood flow and cause swelling. Maintain the natural curves of your spine -- don't try to straighten it. Also avoiding looking down too much as if texting because that puts a strain on your neck muscles. You should be mindful of your breathing because shallow breaths will feed bad posture. Lastly, it is very important to alternate sitting and standing because too much of either is not a good thing. One rule of thumb is that you should stand up every thirty minutes and walk for about five minutes.

Keeping Career Focus

We all have days when we wonder if what we are doing is the right thing for us and if it is really the path we want to take. There are always going to be mountains that you will need to scale and it will get hard to stay focused and see the bigger picture. One of the first things that you should invest in is taking the time to be a professional student. This means that you should always be engaged in learning new things, even outside your field. Knowledge is power, after all. In today's world, it is especially important to be focused on technology, web development, and business application development. I have also read that you need to "treat mistakes as expensive tuition; better get something out of it, learn everything you can, apply the learning, and then don’t repeat." That piece of advice speaks for itself. Lastly, it is important to work hard. That way, you are more likely to be in the right place at the right time for something wonderful to happen.

Making WiFi Faster

If you are using cloud services, there is really nothing more annoying than really slow internet. It is not always your service but the WiFi. Here are a couple tips to make your WiFi faster and you less stressed. Sometimes, just changing the channel on your router can make a world of difference, particularly if you live in an apartment building with lots of interference from other Wi-Fi signals. Other technologies like cordless phones and microwaves can interfere with Wi-Fi as well. Try channels 1, 6 or 11. If those don't work, go to 2 or 10 next. Hunt and peck until you feel like your speeds are improving. A tall shelf in the middle of a room is the best place for your router.Also make sure that there are no thick walls or concrete that the signal has to go through. New routers have smart technology that can send signals directly to devices (instead of beaming signals randomly around a room).

Telepathy: Sci-Fi or Not Anymore?

What if our brains could directly interact with each other, bypassing the need for language? The idea isn't quite so far fetched, according to a recent University of Washington study in which researchers successfully replicated a direct brain-to-brain communication between two people. the researchers repeatedly were able to transmit signals from one person’s brain via the Internet, and used these signals to control the hand motions of another person within a fraction of a second. The study tested three pairs of participants (each with one sender and one receiver) who were seated in separate buildings on the Washington campus, roughly half a mile apart. They were unable to interact with one another, except for the link between their brains. The researchers believe that there could one day be potential therapeutic applications for people with brain injuries or disorders.Taking it one step further, you could even put mobile applications and certain software development as the interface and the possibilities seem endless. The downside, as always is the case with anything that is connected to the internet, is someone hacking the system and being in control of the person's movements. That is a very large nest of wasps.

Improving Health By Doing What We Alredy Do

What if life could be made better just by what we already do? First of all, many of us that sit for prolonged periods of time with computers and software development projects are at huge risk for some serious health problems. The solution to this is an adjustable desk that lets you shift from sitting or standing which will decrease your total sitting time. The best thing about the desk, he says, is that you can easily transition between sitting and standing throughout the day. Not getting sleep can make you feel cranky as well as put your immune system at risk. It’s worrying, then, that by some estimates over 50 percent of the U.S. adult population is chronically sleep deprived. A concept to create a solution is to make a bed that takes into account a person's biometrics such as weight, height, and preferred sleeping position. It is a bed that can be individually customized. It will also be able to help you relax before going to sleep so that your mind can hit the off switch and really improve sleep quality.

In The Moment

I am sure that you have heard about all the wonderful benefits of meditation but never really got around to it. It is somewhere on the to-do list but there is just too much to do. Of course there are many mobile applications that aim to help with calming the mind but there are several tricks that you can do right now. One of the best things to do is to breathe. We take thousands of breathes each day but rarely pay attention to it. Pausing to focus on what it feels like to breathe in and then breathe out can instantly snap your mind back to attention. Try and take something that is normally a waste of time and be aware of it. No one likes to be stuck in traffic or in line so use that time to pay attention to the sights and smells around you. Taking in your surroundings can really help get you in the moment. The key is to recognize those small, daily moments that inherently grab and engage your senses and that generally make you feel a sense of pleasure, such as listening to music or washing your hands in warm running water. Then pay extremely close attention to them.

Tracker for Your Car

The FIXD sensor is a device that connects your car to your smartphone via Bluetooth and delivers updates on everything from when you need an oil change to when you need to replace your air filter. By connecting the FIXD device to your car's OBD-II (On Board Diagnostics-II) port, just underneath the steering wheel and then pairing it with your smartphone, you're immediately given vital diagnostic data that allows you to track your car's wellbeing. Unlike so many other tracker devices, this one doesn't need to be constantly recharged since it is charge by the car's battery. The device can also tell you when the car will need more coolant and how many miles until a certain problem might require your attention. As far as the cost of the repairs, the company wants to use data from all the customers and pool it into a cloud service and then give an average. There might be risks involved with attaching such a device that uses the internet to cars because it could be a loophole for hackers.