A New Car UI - Matthaeus Krenn Several automotive companies have begun replacing traditional controls in their cars with touch screens. Unfortunately, their eagerness to set new trends in hardware, is not matched by their ambition to create innovative software experiences for these new input mechanisms. Instead of embracing new constraints and opportunities, they merely replicate old button layouts and shapes on these new, flat, glowing surfaces. So even controls for air condition and infotainment - which are commonly used while driving - now lack any tactile feedback and require the driver’s dexterity and attention when operated. I propose a new mode that can be invoked at any time: It clears the entire screen of those tiny, intangible control elements and makes way for big, forgiving gestures that can be performed anywhere. Watch a video of the interface in action, or try the prototype on your tablet (so far only tested on iPads).
5 Habits of People With Remarkable Willpower Willpower is not something you either have or you don't. Sure, some people may be more self-disciplined than you. Some people may be better at resisting temptation than you. But that's probably not because they were born with some certain special something inside them--instead, they've found ways to store up their willpower and use it when it really matters. They have remarkable willpower not because they have more of it, but because they've learned how to best use what they have. Here's how you can, too: 1. The more choices we make during the day, the harder each one is on our brain--and the more we start to look for shortcuts. In fact, we can't help ourselves: We've run out of the mental energy we need to make smart choices. That's why the fewer choices we have to make, the smarter choices we can make when we do need to make a decision. Say you want to drink more water and less soda. Or say you struggle to keep from constantly checking your email. Choices are the enemy of willpower. 2. 3.
Association of Professional Futurists - Home This Weird Tower Could Save Millions of Lives Every Year The United Nations estimates that people in sub-Saharan Africa spend roughly 40 billion hours per year collecting water, and what they do find is often unsafe to drink. In some parts of Africa, finding potable water can be a six-hour endeavor. Roughly 3.4 million people die every year from water-related disease. Or can you? Image Credit: Architecture and Vision Others have developed similar ideas in the past (including fog-collecting water machine out of MIT a few years ago), but the WarkaWater yields more water for less money. "[In Ethiopia], public infrastructures do not exist and building [something like] a well is not easy," Vittori told Smithsonian. This could actually work: The WarkaWater, on the other hand, is relatively inexpensive to set up and requires little maintenance. By the end of the year, Vittori hopes to have two towers fully operational in Ethiopia, where only 21% of the population has access to "adequate sanitation services." Matt Essert
Gabriela Ligenza launches 3D printed hats for Ascot Milliner Gabriela Ligenza, who originally trained as an architect and interior designer, has launched a collection of 3D printed hats to coincide with British horse racing event Royal Ascot. Ligenza, who has previously worked with artisans and bespoke textile makers, has now collaborated with leading 3D designers to create her 2014 Autumn / Winter collection. "Working with such a cutting edge technique as 3D printing has allowed me to create what was previously impossible with traditional millinery," Ligenza told Dezeen. Her collaborators in the project included with mathematical art scholar, Francesco de Comite from the Lille University of Sciences and Technology, digital animator and storyteller Joaquin Baldwin and Adam Mellotte from Inner Leaf who provides 3D modelling services for the fashion and TV industries. While a wide range of materials can be used in 3D printing, in this case the large size of the hats limited the choice of materials to nylon and stainless steel.
Managing People Is an Art: 32 Ways to Do it Right. Thomas Ray Conrett, known simply as Tommy Ray, in his shop, Bleed Blue Tattoo and Piercing. Entrepreneur is on the ground in cities across the country for National Small Business Week. Our insightful features and videos will bring you the latest trends and tips from today's brightest thinkers. Managing a staff of employees – with their diverse personalities, responsibilities, ambitions and pet peeves – can sometimes feel a bit like nailing Jell-O to the wall. And at small companies, where every single employee needs to pull their weight to move the business along, it can feel like nailing Jell-O to a wall and then trying to balance a cat on it. Related: 30 Secrets to Hiring the Right People There is a special art to leading a staff. Related: What Gets These 30 Entrepreneurs Out of Bed Every Day The best advice ranges from being clear with expectations to asking for help when you need it to making sure executive decisions are backed up with data. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Dr. 9. 10. 11. 12.
Why Do Americans Stink at Math? Photo When Akihiko Takahashi was a junior in college in 1978, he was like most of the other students at his university in suburban Tokyo. He had a vague sense of wanting to accomplish something but no clue what that something should be. But that spring he met a man who would become his mentor, and this relationship set the course of his entire career. Takeshi Matsuyama was an elementary-school teacher, but like a small number of instructors in Japan, he taught not just young children but also college students who wanted to become teachers. At the university-affiliated elementary school where Matsuyama taught, he turned his classroom into a kind of laboratory, concocting and trying out new teaching ideas. Takahashi quickly became a convert. Takahashi was especially enthralled with an American group called the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, or N.C.T.M., which published manifestoes throughout the 1980s, prescribing radical changes in the teaching of math.
10 Mobile Apps No Conference Attendee Should Be Without Are you wondering what apps can enhance your networking at conferences? There’s something about a “real-world” conference that can’t be duplicated. However, your experience can be enhanced with the right apps. When attending a real-world conference, you benefit from the energy of a room full of like-minded people, the ability to grab lunch with a favorite presenter and the opportunities to network with other attendees. In this article I’ll reveal mobile apps that can help you maximize your time and results when attending your next real-world conference. Why Mobile Apps at Conferences? Before we look at some essential conference apps, let’s take a look at how we got here. First came the paper era. Years ago, you would attend conferences armed only with a pad of paper and a writing implement (or you’d annoy your neighbor with requests to borrow his). You’d collect business cards, gather receipts and carry around a tote bag full of exhibitor booth sell sheets and sticky notes. Now it’s your turn!
An Idiot’s Guide to Inequality We may now have a new “most unread best seller of all time.” Data from Amazon Kindles suggests that that honor may go to Thomas Piketty’s “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” which reached No. 1 on the best-seller list this year. Jordan Ellenberg, a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Piketty’s book seems to eclipse its rivals in losing readers: All five of the passages that readers on Kindle have highlighted most are in the first 26 pages of a tome that runs 685 pages. The rush to purchase Piketty’s book suggested that Americans must have wanted to understand inequality. So let me satisfy this demand with my own “Idiot’s Guide to Inequality.” First, economic inequality has worsened significantly in the United States and some other countries. The situation might be tolerable if a rising tide were lifting all boats. Second, inequality in America is destabilizing. Unfortunately, equal opportunity is now a mirage.