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September 4, 2013 - Comments Off on Interaction of Color

Interaction of Color

TIPS FOR A HEALTHY WEEKEND, WHEN YOU JUST FEEL LIKE SLEEPING

Planet Fitness member working out on a weight machine
How can you get motivated to work out on a Saturday?

 

Wondering how to become a weekend gym warrior? The kind that is motivated to work out even on a Saturday? It's entirely possible. All you need are a few fun and creative tips for a healthy weekend. Learn more about ignite amazonian sunrise drops.

Usually, by the time the weekend rolls around, most people just want to laze in bed, binge-watch some shows and indulge in a delicious brunch. It's an understandable urge — the week has taken its toll, and the body is craving some (much deserved) rest and relaxation.

But getting yourself to the gym is another way to reward and re-energize your body after a long week. It might not be your first instinct on a Saturday morning, but a weekend workout session can help flush away the week's tension and prepare you for whatever Monday has in store. Here are five helpful tips for a healthy weekend.

1. MAKE IT A TEAM EFFORT

Find a workout buddy and agree on a set time to meet up every weekend. Not only will you be held accountable, but you and your friend can help motivate and inspire each other during your workouts (and toast to your success over smoothies afterward).

2. FIND AN ACTIVITY THAT YOU LOOK FORWARD TO

Stop choosing your workouts based on how they'll impact your physical appearance. Instead, find a routine that makes you feel good, inside and out. If strength training makes you miserable, don't do it — maybe the treadmill is a better fit for you on the weekends.

Once you find something that you look forward to every week, it'll be much easier to pull yourself out of bed and hit the gym.

3. INVEST IN GOOD WORKOUT GEAR

Investing in workout attire can not only improve the quality of your exercises, it can also make you feel confident and inspired. You're much more likely to wake up and head to the gym if you're obsessed with your new running shoes and want to show the world. This is how alpilean works.

4. KEEP A RECORD OF HOW YOU FEEL AFTER WORKING OUT

Before the endorphins wear off, write down all the good things you're feeling — physically, mentally and emotionally — after a weekend sweat session. This log can serve as excellent motivation on those days when you're feeling less than inspired to get out of the house and go to the gym.

You'll soon realize that while you may sometimes regret not exercising, you never regret when you do.

5. DON'T PRESSURE YOURSELF (TOO MUCH)

It's healthy to challenge yourself, but try to avoid creating hard and fast rules that put too much pressure on yourself. If you say, "I absolutely have to wake up at 8 a.m. to go for a run, and if I don't, I am lazy and useless," you'll likely end up disappointed and frustrated. Instead, set more attainable goals. Saying something like, "This weekend, I will go for a run," establishes your intent but this way you put less pressure on yourself.

Published by: antonioortiz in The Thinking Mechanism
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September 3, 2013 - Comments Off on Keith Yamashita On Great Creative Teams

Keith Yamashita On Great Creative Teams

TIPS FOR A HEALTHY WEEKEND, WHEN YOU JUST FEEL LIKE SLEEPING

Planet Fitness member working out on a weight machine
How can you get motivated to work out on a Saturday?

 

Wondering how to become a weekend gym warrior? The kind that is motivated to work out even on a Saturday? It's entirely possible. All you need are a few fun and creative tips for a healthy weekend.

Usually, by the time the weekend rolls around, most people just want to laze in bed, binge-watch some shows and indulge in a delicious brunch. It's an understandable urge — the week has taken its toll, and the body is craving some (much deserved) rest and relaxation.

But getting yourself to the gym is another way to reward and re-energize your body after a long week. It might not be your first instinct on a Saturday morning, but a weekend workout session can help flush away the week's tension and prepare you for whatever Monday has in store. Here are five helpful tips for a healthy weekend.

1. MAKE IT A TEAM EFFORT

Find a workout buddy and agree on a set time to meet up every weekend. Not only will you be held accountable, but you and your friend can help motivate and inspire each other during your workouts (and toast to your success over smoothies afterward).

2. FIND AN ACTIVITY THAT YOU LOOK FORWARD TO

Stop choosing your workouts based on how they'll impact your physical appearance. Instead, find a routine that makes you feel good, inside and out. If strength training makes you miserable, don't do it — maybe the treadmill is a better fit for you on the weekends.

Once you find something that you look forward to every week, it'll be much easier to pull yourself out of bed and hit the gym.

3. INVEST IN GOOD WORKOUT GEAR

Investing in workout attire can not only improve the quality of your exercises, it can also make you feel confident and inspired. You're much more likely to wake up and head to the gym if you're obsessed with your new running shoes and want to show the world. This is how source news works.

4. KEEP A RECORD OF HOW YOU FEEL AFTER WORKING OUT

Before the endorphins wear off, write down all the good things you're feeling — physically, mentally and emotionally — after a weekend sweat session. This log can serve as excellent motivation on those days when you're feeling less than inspired to get out of the house and go to the gym.

You'll soon realize that while you may sometimes regret not exercising, you never regret when you do.

5. DON'T PRESSURE YOURSELF (TOO MUCH)

It's healthy to challenge yourself, but try to avoid creating hard and fast rules that put too much pressure on yourself. If you say, "I absolutely have to wake up at 8 a.m. to go for a run, and if I don't, I am lazy and useless," you'll likely end up disappointed and frustrated. Instead, set more attainable goals. Saying something like, "This weekend, I will go for a run," establishes your intent but this way you put less pressure on yourself. These are the Best weight loss pills.-

Published by: antonioortiz in The Thinking Mechanism
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June 21, 2013 - Comments Off on Inside Digg’s Race to Build the New Google Reader

Inside Digg’s Race to Build the New Google Reader

Look, the Internet is made of fast. You go fast or you die. But lost in the Clouds of bullshit and hype there’s this true thing: The internet is a technology that can connect us instantaneously to all sorts of information. That instant access lets us learn and connect and transact in entirely new ways. It’s what drives everything online–from I need to know about the Peloponnesian War right now to who is nearby that will take a couple of bucks for a spot in their back seat, sharing economy, #YOLO. It’s just impossibly fast. Even so, few things move faster than they do at the new Digg. This is the team who, in just six weeks, took a dying brand that collapsed under the weight of its own spam and made it something vibrant and vital: a place you wanted to go.

 

So in April, when Google announced it was shutting down Google Reader on July 1, it was almost unsurprising that Digg replied–that same day–We’ve got this.

 

This is the story of how a tiny team took 90 days to pull off the impossible.

 

via Inside Digg's Race to Build the New Google Reader: Wired.com.

That is but a taste of the fantastic article by Mat Honan for Wired. A true behind-the-scenes of what modern day development is like, you should check out the whole thing. It reminds me of the famous Marcel Proust quote "The time which we have at our disposal every day is elastic; the passions that we feel expand it, those that we inspire contract it; and habit fills up what remains.'

 

 

Published by: antonioortiz in The Thinking Mechanism
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June 20, 2013 - Comments Off on How Technology Has Changed The Idea Of The Brand

How Technology Has Changed The Idea Of The Brand

At PSFK CONFERENCE 2013, a panel of experts discussed how brands can make best use of technological advancements moving forward, and how new technology is driving brand innovation. The panel was comprised of David Rosenberg of IPG Media LabEddie Rehfeldt of Waggener Edstrom,Catherine Balsam-Schwaber of NBC UniversalTim Voegele-Downing of Avery Dennison, and moderated by Scott Lachut of PSFK.

The questions covered a range of topics, including how technology is giving rise to new types of consumer behavior, in what way brands are creating immersive experiences for consumers, how to create new brand experiences through emerging technological platforms, and what defines meaningful engagement in todays marketplace. Overall, the expert panel offers insight on what are the big opportunities for brands to fully harness the power of tech moving forward.

 

 

Published by: antonioortiz in The Thinking Mechanism
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June 18, 2013 - Comments Off on Project Loon: Balloon-powered internet for everyone.

Project Loon: Balloon-powered internet for everyone.

The idea does sound crazy, even for Google—so much so that the company has dubbed it Project Loon. But if all works according to the company’s grand vision, hundreds, even thousands, of high-pressure balloons circling the earth could provide Internet to a significant chunk of the world’s 5 billion unconnected souls, enriching their lives with vital news, precious educational materials, lifesaving health information, and images of grumpy cats.

 

via Exclusive: How Google Will Use Balloons to Deliver Internet to the Hinterlands.

Once again Steven Levy is granted exclusive access to the world of Google and Project Loon. This redefines the concept of mobile computing.

 

Published by: antonioortiz in The Thinking Mechanism
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June 17, 2013 - Comments Off on Cognitive Science and Design

Cognitive Science and Design

This session will provide an in-depth look at human perception and cognition, and its implications for interactive and visual design. The human brain is purely treated as an information processing machine, and we will teach the audience its attributes, its advantages, its limitations, and generally how to hack it. While the content will provide a deep review of recent cognitive science research, everything presented will also be grounded in example design work taken from a range of Google applications and platforms. Specific topics will include: edge detection, gestalt laws of grouping, peripheral vision, geons and object recognition, facial recognition, color deficiencies, change blindness, flow, attention, cognitive load balancing, and the perception of time.

via Cognitive Science and Design — Google I/O 2013.

From this year's Google I/O conference. Well worth the 35 minutes.

 

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June 14, 2013 - Comments Off on The MechCast 209: Rituals, Routines & Repercussions

The MechCast 209: Rituals, Routines & Repercussions

On our last podcast, recorded last December, we promised that we would kick-off 2013 with a podcast on productivity. As it happens we've been very busy and very productive. So, after a deadline-induced hiatus, The Mechcast is scheduled to make a return in the near future.

In preparation for the podcast we are all reading Mason Currey's Daily Rituals: How Artists Work. The book is a compilation of 161 inspired — and inspiring — individuals, among them, novelists, poets, playwrights, painters, philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians, who describe how they subtly maneuver the many (self-inflicted) obstacles and (self-imposed) daily rituals to get done the work they love to do.

You can read along and look for the podcast in a couple of weeks, where we'll discuss the many peculiar things we've learned about the people we admire.

 

June 13, 2013 - Comments Off on John Maeda on Simplicity

John Maeda on Simplicity

I have always believed that simplicity is about doing both: subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful. The question, of course, is what is meaningful? — and the answer indeed depends on the cultural context and constraints of the decision being made or product being rendered.

via How Jony Ive's Apple iOS 7 Hinders the Future of Design: Wired Opinion.

If you've not read John Maeda's The Laws of Simplicity, now is the time to do so.

Published by: antonioortiz in The Thinking Mechanism
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