Use Google Now's Location Reminders To Power Through Your To Dos

Use Google Now's Location Reminders To Power Through Your To Dos

One way to deal with tasks that you never get around to or are always forgetting is to attach a location to them. Google Now has had the ability to display reminders based on a place for a while now, and they only take a few seconds to set up.

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The Fighter Jet We Could Have Built Instead of the F-35

The Fighter Jet We Could Have Built Instead of the F-35

The mid-1990s found the U.S. military in need of a low-cost, supersonic stealth fighter jet that all three armed services branches could field. Easy, right? The subsequent—and highly contentious—design competition between Boeing and Lockheed saw the winner take home a $200 billion defense contract, which in turn became the debacle we know as the F-35. But what about the plane we could have had instead?

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Would You Let An App Monitor Your Mental Health?

Would You Let An App Monitor Your Mental Health?

Fitness and health tracking apps and devices are so trendy that fashion designers are set to make a killing on sparkly bracelet cases for them. We like the idea of gadgets telling us when we haven’t exercised enough, or when we need to sleep more. But what about an app to track mental health?

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Nike has a vending machine that lets you trade Fuel for gear

When we heard that Nike had put up a secret vending machine in New York City, we definitely wanted to go find it and see what all the fuss was about. But, unfortunately, we were a little bit late to the party — the machine is now long gone, perhaps…

You can buy your next Dell laptop with Bitcoin

If you fancy nabbing new tech by leveraging your Bitcoin wallet, another online retailer has just joined the fray. CEO Michael Dell alerted the masses via Twitter that his company would begin accepting the digital currency, claiming that the outfit…

Nike Fuelband points could end up getting you free stuff

nikefuelbandse-600x318Wearables are booming, but some still can’t find motivation to slap a wristband on. Though they (mostly) do a more than adequate job of tracking your health stats, there isn’t much else to the process. Nike has unveiled a clever way of getting folks interested in wearables, dangling the socks carrot out there for us to grab. Vending machines, chock … Continue reading

See The Hunger Games Mockingjay Trailer 1 with Samsung

fireThe power of cross-branding continues to flow through the veins of Samsung mobile, this time taking to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 with a campaign similar to that of the Jay Z release with the Galaxy S4. With the Samsung Galaxy S4, users were able to preview, then download the entirety of Jay Z’s then-new album Magna Carta Holy … Continue reading

Lenovo won’t sell any more small Windows tablets in US

Lenovo-Miix-ho5-600x432Windows tablets outside of the Surface are typically a hit-and-miss proposition, but few do it as well as Lenovo. Recently, Lenovo made overtures that in the US, some of their Windows-based tablets will be hard to come by. Though they won’t be dropping tablets (or Windows) altogether, they won’t be releasing any new smaller Windows tablets in the US. Citing … Continue reading

3 Surprising Insights About Insurance Attitudes and Behaviors

We recently surveyed 1,000 people as a pulse check on perceptions and attitudes about insurance coverage. The findings are in line with our experience helping people get insurance coverage, and building a digital platform to make that easier, for the past year. Most people have insurance gaps and there are surprising behavioral reasons why. Here’s what we’ve learned, from both our survey and our experience with consumers.

  • Most people don’t have the right insurance. According to our survey, 50% of people don’t think they have the right level of insurance coverage and 7% have no idea if they do. That’s a lot of people in the dark about an important financial topic. However, if we could do one-on-one follow-up interviews with the survey respondents, I’d bet that most of the people who think they have the right amount of insurance actually don’t. When people run an insurance analysis with us, they’re often surprised by the results. Even our financially savvy users learn something new. Commonly, those “a-ha” moments concern disability insurance or gaps in health insurance. One unfortunate real-world example of this is medical bankruptcy. A 2007 Harvard study found that the majority of personal bankruptcies were caused by medical problems. The twist was that most of the people who declared bankruptcy because of medical issues were well-educated homeowners with middle-class occupations. These weren’t poor people. Nor were they uninsured: three quarters of them had health insurance.
  • Women are less confident about their protection against financial risks. When asked about their level of confidence in their protection against major financial risks, 51% of women were “pretty confident” versus 61% of men. This is probably not surprising, given other research about women’s financial attitudes, which suggests that women generally are more risk averse and less confident in their financial knowledge. But that’s not necessarily bad news! Other studies have shown that people who self-identify as very financially savvy are actually less knowledgeable about personal finance than those who consider themselves less savvy. (This is the overconfidence effect in action, which affects the accuracy of decision-making). So women may actually have the advantage here in better decision-making.
  • Insurance is an out of sight, out of mind financial priority for most people. We asked people to rank a set of four financial priorities from most to least important. Overall, insurance was the lowest ranked priority, behind saving for retirement, paying down debt and sticking to a budget (in that order). Unfortunately, that was not a surprise. Many of the insurance shoppers we’ve helped only started thinking about insurance after an insurable event had happened. People who just experienced a health issue started thinking about disability insurance. People who just experienced their first thousand-dollar vet bill started thinking about pet insurance. Of course, this makes intuitive sense, as those personal experiences serve as a powerful reminder about risks and the need for insurance (which is the influence of the availability bias, which makes us bad judges of risk). Of course, that can often be too late to get insurance. In the case of disability insurance, for example, any health issues you already have would be excluded as pre-existing conditions. The same goes for pet insurance. Of course, both types of insurance would still provide coverage, but not as comprehensively as if the policy were bought before anything had happened. “I wish I’d done this sooner” is a common sentiment we’ve heard from clients.

So what are the lessons to take away from these findings?

  1. Don’t be overly confident that you have the right insurance! Even if you’re financially savvy, there might be something important you’re missing. It’s worth the time to get expert advice.
  2. If you think you might need insurance, don’t put it off! Health can take a turn suddenly. And even minor issues could complicate your insurance application, affect the value of your policy, or even render you ineligible for coverage.
  3. Make insurance part of your regular financial routine. Pick a regular financial activity that you do (doing your taxes would be a good one), and make that the time when you also review your insurance coverage. You can use sites like PolicyGenius, which provides educational guides, advice and quoting tools, to get this done.

Staying Cool, Calm and Collected: Balancing the Pitta Dosha

PittaDoshaYoga

by guest bloggers Jeff Perlman and Holly Walck Kostura

Ayurveda reveals to us that there are seasons each year defined by the three doshas: vata (fall and early winter), kapha (winter and early spring), and pitta (late spring and summer). Each dosha goes through three stages each year with the changes of the seasons, temperature, and weather.

The pitta dosha is associated with fire and water and has the qualities of being hot, wet, light, and mobile. This dosha accumulates during the warmth of the late spring, is at its height during the heat of the summer, and then alleviates during the cooler fall months.

Fire is predominant with the pitta dosha and relates to transformation, metabolism, and digestion. These qualities govern physical digestion and assimilation, control the transformation and assimilation of the senses, and provide the capacity to perceive reality and the ability to understand.

Physically, pitta people tend to feel warm, have oily skin, have penetrating eyes and sharp features; their weight is moderate and their musculature good. When out of balance, they can contract diarrhea, infections, and skin rashes with liver and blood weaknesses.

The pitta personality tends to be highly focused, competitive, capable, courageous, and energetic; they are clear and concise communicators and enjoy solving problems. When under stress, they dig in their heels, can become intense, and speak sharply. Emotionally, they can have a tendency toward anger, resentment, and jealousy.

When out of balance, this dosha becomes competitive, quarrelsome, dominating, impatient, resentful and intolerant. This dosha’s seat is in the eyes, lower abdominal area, and the blood. Many pitta-related imbalances occur through inflammation, infection, and irritation in these systems.

Pitta-Balancing Ayurvedic Actions for the Dog Days of Summer

Since the doshas are treated with opposite actions, it’s especially important during the summer months that pitta remain cool, calm, and peaceful and use the qualities of coolness, heaviness, and dryness to help stay in balance.

Good food choices for this season are the sweet, bitter, and astringent tastes. Use cooling spices like fennel, coriander, cumin, tarragon, and mint. Eat sweet summer fruits, including apricots, peaches, sweet berries, and melons, along with milk, cottage cheese, rice, beans, and vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, summer squashes, kale, and lettuces.

Asana practice should be done early in the morning and include poses that promote coolness, ease, and lightness while releasing heat in the small intestine, central abdomen, and liver. Specifically recommended are all inversions, standing and seated twists, and forward bends. Pranayama should be cooling. Exhaling through the mouth occasionally to release heat. Supine Ujjayi (Ocean Breath), Shitali, Left-Nostril Breathing, and Bhramari are best.

Daily self-massage using coconut or sunflower oil before showering is cooling, nourishing, and grounding. If you use essential oils, choose rose, sandalwood, or lavender.

Wear clothing of light texture. Preferred colors are white, blue, and green. Stay away from red and yellow, which promote heat. Enjoy regular, relaxing, peaceful walks in nature to calm the inherent intensity experienced during this time of year.

Pitta-Balancing Yoga Sequence for the Dog Days of Summer

Try the following sequence to help keep yourself in balance throughout pitta season.

Action: Contract the abdomen, loosen the hips, and open the chest.

Reflection: How much mental heat do I generate while practicing? Can I practice skillfully and use props mindfully to help me achieve the actions above?

Devotion: “Only God is perfect.” –B.K.S. Iyengar

Sequence:

1. Downward-facing Hero’s Pose (Adho Mukha Virasana)

2. Downward-facing Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

3. Intense Stretch Pose (Wide-legged Uttanasana)

WideLeggedUttana

Notes for best practice:

  • All of these poses should be done with support under the head.
  • From Intense Stretch Pose, walk back to Downward-facing Dog Pose again and support the head, then come back to Intense Stretch Pose.
  • Come up by keeping the head down.

4. Legs Spread Wide Apart and Fully Extended Pose (Prasarita Padottanasana I)

  • In the concave stage, raise the heels up while keeping the upper thighs pressed back and turn the heels out.
  • Repeat and see what changes come to the hamstrings and spinal muscles.

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5. Seated Angle Pose (Upavistha Konasana)

  • Practice both the seated and concave stages found here.

6. Sideways Seated-Angle Pose (Parsva Upavistha Konasana)

  • From Seated Angle Pose, turn to the right. Press the left thigh down into the floor and extend strongly from the inner groin out through the inner heel.
  • While maintaining the extension of the anterior spine, take your left hand to your outer right foot or shin or to a chair.
  • Use the exhalation to bring the center of your abdomen, chest, forehead, and leg together. See that both your legs and spine are stretched fully.
  • Repeat on the left and then again on both sides.

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7. Tortoise Pose (Kurmasana)

  • Sit on a blanket with both knees bent. Turn to the left and extend the spine forward and downward, bringing the back of the left armpit below the inner left knee. Join the left side of the trunk and the left inner thigh (Figure 1).
  • Repeat on the left side.
  • Go as far as you did in the first stage again on the right side and turn the left arm in and extend the arm all the way out to the left side.
  • Repeat on the right side (Figure 2).

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  • Now turn to the left and go as far as you did in the second stage and turn to the right, extend forward and downward, and then duck under your right leg.
  • Inhale and move the bottom ribs, the sternum, and the collarbones forward toward the wall in front of you.
  • Exhale, roll the thighs from the outside in, and extend the legs by reaching from the inner calves to the inner ankles and from the inner ankles to the inner heels.

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8. Reclining Cross-Legs Pose (Supta Swastikasana)

  • Lie down even on your back; bend your knees into your chest and cross your shins into Reclining Cross-Legs Pose.
  • Hold the outer edges of your feet and use the hands to turn your feet so that the soles of your feet face the backs of your thighs.
  • Lift your pubic bone to your sternum as you release your legs to the floor. Lengthen from the inner groins to the inner knees.
  • Raise your arms overhead and lift your chest up toward your head.

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9. Legs-up-the-Wall Pose (Viparita Karani)

  • Hold for 5 to 10 minutes and then come out and lie flat on your back for a few minutes.

Holly WalckHolly Walck Kostura uses the healing practices of Ayurveda and Iyengar Yoga to secure her to the core of her being. Her bachelor’s degree in nursing, combined with a certification in Iyengar Yoga, give her the ability to approach her students from a place of wholeness and infuse her yoga classes with a unique flavor. www.yogawithholly.com

 

jeff_perlmanJeff Perlman is a clinical Ayurvedic and Pancha Karma specialist, with advanced accreditation in pulse diagnosis and Marma Therapy; a professional member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association; a certified massage therapist; a certified Iyengar Yoga instructor; and a Cordon Bleu chef. Find him online at threeseasonsayurveda.com.

 

For more from Maria Rodale, visit www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com