Stressed Out: There is a Way to Fight it

Life can be stressful, inside and out. Sometimes it can even feed on itself if you do not find a way to control it. One of the best ways to let go of stress when it gets to be too overwhelming is to pick up a book. Like an actual book that is printed on paper. It will enable you to get away from everything that requires being connected such as internet phones, cloud services, and email which can sometimes be the cause of all this stress. Another great way to fight stress is to meditate. It does not have to be for long and the smallest amount can have positive effects on your overall wellbeing. You can even focus on your breath and really pay attention to what it is like and make sure to redirect it to be more deep and full. Other times, it might help to take a step back from the situation and see it in a different light and realize that there are only so many things that you can control. Find that inner zen.

Take Time to Slow Down

I think that happiness is achieved when there is a balance between our work and our lives. There are some great meditation techniques that do not even require any mobile applications. When you are struggling with obstacles, you need to step back and ask if the issues have nothing to do with anything external. Once you have identified where they are coming from, you then have the tools to deal with them. When you are afraid, remember that it is alright to feel that way and people have overcome greater fears. Use their stories as inspiration and example. When you are stuck on a problem and the answer is not coming to you, you need to ask if you are asking the right questions. Major day-to-day demands keep many of us multitasking and maybe not managing as well as we want. Meditate on putting down the bricks of demands without guilt and anxiety, and separating the blocks that give you energy from those that drain your energy. Keep the ones that are helpful and energizing and leave the rest behind. You are well on your way to a much calmer day.

A Round Phone

The phone has always been a rectangle. What if it was round though? Display technologies have a long and rectangular history. Before smartphones there were movie screens, TVs, and computers, not to mention paintings and pages of print. And then of course there are windows—in some ways the original glass rectangles. From an engineering point of view, it is a design that is easy to make and leaves very little waste. The bottom line here is that frames matter. After all, a round screen is not great for browsing a twitter feed. We have become so entranced by our mobile applications and devices that we are extremely good at finding distractions. This phone from Runcible still has a long way to go before it makes it to the market. Besides, it is definitely easier said than done. People will not so easily give up their rectangles. A circular device would sever the link to the printed page, the TV and the computer, and invite software developers to look in other places for inspiration. Rectangles will endure. They're easy, they're efficient. Circles are zen. Just something to think about.

Internet of Things

In short, it is the network of anything that can be connected to the internet that will give and receive information. The potential and implications of this type of technology are huge. It is estimated that the internet of things will be a $6 trillion market by 2025. The basic idea is connected devices being able to send information to cloud services which will then be processed and a response will be sent back that tells the device to do something or refrain from doing something that it was programmed. Think of a sprinkler system that does not turn on at its usual morning time because it is going to rain in two hours. These are features that are going to be useful and are being developed in order to save time, energy, and money. It will not be something like being able to turn on the dishwasher from your mobile app. It is going to be more along the lines of the furnace knowing to decrease the temperature when everyone is out of the house based on cell phone GPS or alerting the user via text when it is time to change the filter. The possibilities are endless and it is going to be exciting to see where we will be headed in the next ten years with this Internet of Things.

Wind Trees

These turbines look like tree from a distance and they are perfect for urban settings. Created by a French company, these Wind Trees are three meter tall generators that can generate about 3 kW of power. The leaves are the micro turbines that can rotate. It does not sound like much but several of them in an urban setting can help offset the energy used in homes, street lamps, and to charge electric cars. There is another 12 meter prototype that is being developed which will cost about $35,000 so it is not quite available for the average consumer but many industrial architects are taking notice. Obviously, this type of technology is not the first nor the last. There are plenty of structures that are "green" and even have solar cells. The best part is that these systems are being connected to a network and internet as well as mobile applications. We can then collect data and further analyze how to best use the systems to generate more energy and decrease the impact that humans have on the environment.

Information Overload

This is the new year and you might be wondering where we are headed as far as tech goes. First of all, your smartphone will know more about you than even you know. It might be getting closer to a point where it will anticipate what you are going to do or want. Even now, the mobile applications are using our data as currency. There will also be more things that are connected, which means that they will be able to collect even more data. Secondly, there is more demand for better security. Everything that can be hacked, will most likely be hacked. I think we need to broaden this definition as well. Yes, data will be stolen and there is always the second step of it being used. It goes beyond data though. A hacker that wants to do harm can achieve it by manipulating lights, creating outages, and just wrecking havoc in general. There is really no such thing as privacy anymore and people will live in fear of being exposed because we will still remain people and suffer the human condition.

Keeping Those Dreams Alive

I am not going to sugar coat it for you, you will hit walls, people will tell you that your idea is not good enough, that even you are not good enough. There will be mountains. It is going to be up to you for either move them, scale them, or tunnel through. You are the one that has to make the decision to keep going even when it gets hard. Keeping that dream alive can be hard but there are some rules that you can follow to never give up. You have to keep in mind that no matter your age, you have a lifetime to succeed. You could even change careers several times, going from lawyer to teacher to web development professional. The possibilities only increase, you just have to be willing to take that leap of faith. There is always going to be more opportunities. It is just as important to be patient because long term success takes time and just does not happen overnight. You have to realize that we are a lot strong than we give ourselves credit for so when the going gets tough, do not lose confidence in yourself and strive to only compare yourself to yourself. If there is failure, take it as a lesson and move on. Just remember, the night is darkest before the dawn.