Google Ventures: Your Design Team Needs A War Room. Here's How To Set One Up The web of pedestrian streets, narrow alleys, and picturesque canals in Venice have lured tourists to the Italian port city for hundreds of years. There's a near constant hum of activity as people gather in public squares, sit in outdoor cafes, marvel at the ornate architecture, and meander through the labyrinthine city. To Jan Gehl—a Danish architect, writer, and the most respected urbanist alive for his research on how urban design can improve quality of life and curb environmental problems—Venice epitomizes a city that engages all of our senses, and, in effect, becomes an environment tailored for a thriving public life scaled to the individual. Today, as urban populations swell—by 2050, 66% of the world's population will live in cities—that notion of "people-friendly" design matters more than ever, Gehl argues. "What we have to address now is making livable, healthy, safe, and sustainable cities," Gehl says. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. related video: Mid-Century design is iconic.
14 Ways to Fix Your Out-of-Control Schedule and Maximize Productivity From smart calendar apps to some obvious (but often overlooked) scheduling hacks, you can bend your daily calendar to your will -- and still leave time for play and family. But it does require that you focus, commit to a process and set aside real time for yourself. We asked 14 founders from Young Entrepreneur Council to share their best tips for getting a handle on that never-ending to-do list. 1. Find ways to actually divide your day and week into zones. -- Arjun Arora, ReTargeter 2. The app EasilyDo is like a personal assistant. -- Brittany Hodak, ZinePak 3. I've found that if I don't block out time for personal things like working out, eating clean food, etc., my days gets filled up with other "last minute" things. -- Patrick Conley, Automation Heroes 4. Even if a task doesn't have a deadline (but you need to get it done), tackle it in one to two sessions rather than returning repeatedly. -- Andrew Fayad, eLearning Mind 5. Use your calendar daily. -- Alfredo Atanacio, Uassist.ME 6. 7.
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. The water shortage is a major life-threatening problem that affects as many as 1 billion people on the continent alone, but it's not as though you can just snap your fingers and make water magically appear out of thin air. 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. "It's not just illnesses that we're trying to address. Image Credit: World Water Development Report 4 Matt Essert
A Free Self-Management System to Stay on Track Superhero designed by Moriah Rich from the Noun Project Being in the zone means that you’ve become so absorbed in the activity at hand that it’s impossible to concentrate on anything else. It’s when code seems to flow from your fingertips, when words seem to fly out of your pen, and when your stylus seems to take on a life of its own. But a common misconception about the zone is that it’s some some elusive, magical place. It is not. 1) Give a shit about what you’re doing. There are several factors that influence our ability to get into the zone, chief among which are focus, energy, no distractions and music. Read the rest of Rue’s blog post on how to remain in the zone here. Related: Not Too Hard, Not Too Easy: Finding Flow In Your Work
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.
10 Foolproof Tips for Overcoming Procrastination …and the very best tip is the easiest (hint: it’s the first one). Procrastination has been extensively studied by psychologists, probably because they have some world-class procrastinators close at hand: students. Students don’t have a monopoly on wasting time, though, almost everyone procrastinates now and then. The difference is that some people learn effective strategies for dealing with it and get some stuff done; others never do. Here are ten tips for overcoming procrastination, based on science: 1. The first tip is simply to start with whatever is easy, manageable and doesn’t fill your mind with a nameless dread. Have a look at your project, whatever it is, and decide to do the easy bit first. The great thing is that after getting going, you start to build momentum and the harder bits are more likely to flow. The tip relies partly on the Zeigarnik effect: the finding that unfinished tasks get stuck in the memory. 2. Planning can help with this, but planning is also a trap. 3. 4. 5. 6. Hmm.
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!
20 Ways To Wake Up With Motivation Lets face it, feeling motivated is perhaps one of the most difficult things you could ever do. If it were so easy, everyone would be making progress and achieving their goals they’ve set out to achieve. Even worse is when we read countless articles from around the web that make it seem straightforward. As a result, it often becomes frustrating due to it seeming easy to apply on paper. It does little to improve your self-esteem and confidence, especially when you face difficulties in applying the advice you know and understand so well. But all of this should feel encouraging, because one of the main things I personally found with regards to motivation is that it takes very little of it when doing the things you truly love. In setting up the following points to help you wake up motivated, we need to firstly get the following basic point out of the way in order to establish good fundamentals and a strong foundation: Find out what you truly enjoy doing in your life. 5) Take regular breaks.
If You Can't Find A Good Partner, You're Probably Making This Mistake There's a huge mistake that many people make when it comes to finding love. In this article, I'm going to tell you what that mistake is, and how to change it so you can attract the relationship you want. The biggest mistake people make when it comes to finding love is: They believe a relationship is going to complete them. What I mean is: You think something's missing in your life, and another person will make that feeling go away. You think that a relationship is the key to you being happy. If you think this way (even just a little bit), I'm sorry to tell you that this is not the case. 1. Any time you approach a relationship from a sense of emptiness inside — like something is missing and you're trying to fill a hole — it will be sensed by the people you're dating. When you're confident, your vibe goes something like this:"It's nice to meet you, and we'll see if I want to continue spending time with you." Energetically, it's not attractive. 2. You find self-love in a yoga practice.
10 one-minute time hacks that will make you more productive You’re busy, and while reading about powerful time management techniques can be productive, many of the ones out there are simply too complex, complicated or involved to think about. These 10 time hacks are as simple as they come. Every single thing in this list will take you less than one minute to implement into your life, but the results of each can be incredible. Here are 10 one-minute time hacks that will make you more productive. Say “no” to three things Here’s a challenge for you: this week say “no” to three commitments that might zap you of your energy, time, or motivation. Turn off all of your email alerts New email alerts don’t cost you much time, but they cost you a ton of attention. While you’re in there tinkering with your email settings, I think it’s also useful to reduce the frequency of how often your mail client checks for new messages (plus, having your phone check for new email less often will save you battery life). Start keeping a list of everything you’re waiting on
Making digital relevant to delegates | Insight | CEI Asia As more apps come onto the market, there is a growing sense that event planners are being deluged with new products. One estimate puts the number of event app providers at around 800. There is also concern about developers being pressed to include multitudes of ‘bells and whistles’ for a single event. Pascal Coppens, the CEO of Letsface, based in Shanghai, says too much attention is being devoted to online solutions, while in reality most people spend their time offline. “There is too much pushing of events into the online world – whereas they are in the here and now,” he says. Coppens says there are two types of software companies serving events. The other type of tech provider creates standardised products, and it is this segment that Coppens and others believe is being overlooked at the cost of the delegate experience. “The events industry wants to be serviced, they don’t want product. But Wolfraim argues that thanks to HTML5 code, event software downloaded online can be used offline.
SimplyRain - The Best Free Rain Generator on the Internet. M.I.C.E. - Genie Mobile Release Top 10 Predictions For The Event App Industry In 2013 As part of their ongoing commitment to drive engagement technology into the Events industry and deliver valuable insight for event suppliers and attendees, Genie Mobile have announced their top ten predictions for the mobile event App industry in 2013. Michael Douglas, Operations Director at GenieMobile, Mobile and Web Engagement Platform for Events and Associations comments: 1. Mobile platforms will cease to operate in isolation -- App providers will be expected to deliver a solution, which is compatible with both web and tablets. This will become a standard requirement in 2013 as attendees realise the benefits of streaming and accessing information on all devices from the desktop to any mobile device. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. www.geniemobile.com
5 Comics You Should Read After Seeing X-Men: Days of Future Past | Underwire Image: Stuart Immonen/Marvel Entertainment X-Men: Days of Future Past offered up more mutants than you ever could have imagined, yet you’re hungry for more and unsure where to turn after the latest (and arguably greatest) X-Men movie? Time to hit the comic book store. Jumping from X-Men movies to comics presents some problems, however. First, there is a significant difference between each medium’s version of characters and concepts. There’s also the problem of variety. Below are a handful of comics that expand upon themes and characters from the movie, yet act as an introduction to the comic book version of the franchise for newcomers. All-New X-Men #1-14 (2012-2013) This series heralded the arrival of Brian Michael Bendis, former Avengers writer and member of the Marvel Studios Creative Committee, to the franchise, and he brought the original X-Men along in a series that offers a unique jumping-on point for readers. Magneto #1 (2014) Wolverine #1-12 (2013-2014) Excalibur #66-67 (1993)