PopSugar

Uncompelling Data Makes Me Hungry

GiggleSugar — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:02:00 -0700

Pay this no attention.
(Everyone knows that bacon makes people happy and happy people live longer.)

Feel the DailyBurn

FitSugar — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:00:43 -0700

I'm becoming a big fan of DailyBurn - a website that lets its users track workout, diet, and health goals in easy-to-read charts and graphs. There's a ton of great health and fitness information on the site and it has a social side that lets users interact with other members.

If you're not very tech savvy, don't be afraid. The site is easy to use and is laid out in a friendly and intuitive way. There are three main areas to DailyBurn - nutrition, exercise, and social networking. To find out how they work, read more.

Nutrition: This is basically an online food journal on steroids. Its food database contains the details of close to 200,000 foods, which makes it easy to track your diet and calorie intake and get a complete nutritional breakdown of what you're eating. There's also a pretty good database of healthy recipes, too.

Exercise: In this area you can design a fitness program for yourself or use one of the 80,000+ existing programs already on the site. If you don't understand an exercise, it's OK, because DailyBurn has tons of videos detailing the exercises. The exercise tracking tool is awesome - you can track your stats for weight loss, muscle gain, strength, and endurance. If you need better improvement in a certain area, it's really easy to adjust your fitness program.

Social Networking: This is where DailyBurn really sets itself apart from other sites. Use this section to find online workout partners and confidants who end up being your biggest cheering section while you reach your goals. And if you like a little healthy competition, you can go up against one another in fitness challenges much like The Biggest Loser. There are also groups members can join depending on their interest.

The basic tools on DailyBurn are free but paid members get access to advanced options like meal planning. The site is a great tool for burning fat and gaining muscle, as well as helping make smarter food choices. I like that I don't need to spend a lot of time inputting information onto DailyBurn because everything I need is already in its databases and navigation tools.

Facebook Measures How Happy We Are

GeekSugar — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:10:41 -0700

Apparently this is a real metric: Facebook recently announced it would begin to track our gross national happiness via status messages. The social networking company worked with a team of social psychologists to come up with lists of positive words ("yay," "happy," and "awesome," for example) and negative words ("sad," "doubt," "tragic.")

It then published an index of how we are collectively feeling day-to-day. Turns out we're happiest on national holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, and social holidays like Halloween. Our "saddest" days were Jan. 22, 2008 - the day of the Asian stock market crash/actor Heath Ledger's death and Jun. 25, 2009 - the date of Michael Jackson's death.

Apparently no one at Facebook actually reads your status updates; instead they rely on computers to find relevant words and measure data. You can check out the full happiness graph on the Facebook blog.

I think it would be funny if they started tracking other words, too. Perhaps Facebook could report on how happy we are in our relationships - or even at work. Could you imagine them coming up with a set of "angry" or "frustrated" words? Any other status trends you'd like to see?

The Graph Don't Lie

GiggleSugar — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:00:00 -0800

This isn't far from the truth. What's up with that, anyway?

Source

Testing Out the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach

GeekSugar — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:50:45 -0700

In my opinion, achieving a sense of general well-being includes three vital components: incorporating a balanced and nutritious diet into your lifestyle, getting regular exercise, and getting enough sleep. Not surprisingly, most people are lacking in one or all of these areas, which is why I am thrilled to tell you about this new device that acts as your personal sleep coach - because we all know if we don't get enough sleep, diet and exercise tend to be the last things on our minds.

Based on academic articles within sleep science and designed in conjunction with sleep scientists, the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach is a four-part system which includes a headband, a bedside display, an interactive website, and a seven-step sleep fitness program. Its purpose is to measure your sleep patterns and give you tools to help improve your sleep by educating you on how you're actually sleeping. It's not some magical sleep doctor in a box, but it is pretty cool.

To keep reading about my first few experiences with Zeo and to see some more photos of the device, just read more.

If you're already thinking, "Huh?" let me explain. The way it works is you wear the wireless headband to bed, and with its sensor technology, your sleep patterns will be tracked and transmitted to your bedside Zeo clock. You can see me wearing the headband below - it's really not that bad once you get used to it, just make sure on your first night you're really tired and it's the weekend so you can slowly adjust!

After a night of wearing the headband (it fell off my first night, although I learned I could pull my ponytail right through the back strap), you can read the bedside display to see a sleep graph which summarizes your pattern of sleep phases each night (like total amount of REM, and light, and deep sleep, which is broken down into hours, minutes, and percentages), and your ZQ score. I think the best part of this entire trial run was the excitement of waking up to read the graph - and check out my ZQ score, naturally! It's funny because my highest score (usually around 110) would be on the weekends (they say your ZQ can range from 0-120). The fact that I was completely tuckered out from the week before, and relaxed because it was the weekend, made for some ideal sleeping conditions.

Zeo also comes with a SD memory card that will load all of the info from your headband onto it (when you dock your headband), which you can then upload onto your computer to your web-based personal sleep account. The Zeo's seven-step fitness program will then analyze your sleep patterns and lifestyle (like exercise, diet, stress, and environment), and recommend techniques, tools, and tips to address the issues that may be affecting your sleep. The program is intended to be completed within eight to 12 weeks.

The Zeo also includes a neat feature called the SmartWake Alarm which will look for a moment when you transition into and out of REM sleep when the brain is highly active. Therefore Zeo may wake you as early as half an hour before your set wake-up time, but it will never wake you up later than your actual alarm time. Because the Zeo costs $399, you'll be happy to know that this is one fancy schmancy alarm clock. Even if you're not using the headband, the alarm clock itself includes settings to adjust its brightness, and it offers relaxing alarm sounds to make the wake-up process a little less startling.

Overall, I give the Zeo a nice four out of five stars. As I said, it's not some magical sleep doctor that's going to cure insomniacs or people with major snoring issues, but it is going to educate you on your sleep style and give you some helpful suggestions for improving your sleep. Note to self: no more gadgets in the bedroom!

View 5 Photos ›

Daily Tech: New Facebook App Coming Later Today?

GeekSugar — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:15:05 -0700

The new Facebook app has been submitted to the iTunes app store and might be available later today - Gizmodo
Hunky heartthrob Antonio Sabato Jr. is all about his iPhone, Facebook, and surprisingly, AOL - Switched
Here are five of the best websites and tools for apartment searching - Lifehacker
This graphic new video is being used to educate teens about the dangers of texting while driving - BBC News
The Palm Pre girl, Tamara Hope, isn't nearly as ghostly looking in person - Palm Pre
This neat graph represents what Twitter would look like if it had 100 members - Mashable

7 Steps to Becoming Your Own Decorator, Step 5: Measure and Plan

CasaSugar — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:00:07 -0700

You're well on your way to becoming your own decorator. The next step is to measure and plan, something that educated interior designers are experts at. In fact, most interior design schools require that you draw a scaled design plan as part of the application process. To find out how to measure and plan, read more.

First, take measurements of all of your furniture, rugs, and larger accessories you're going to keep. Then, either using some graph paper and pencils or an online interior design software like Floorplanner, draw out a floor plan for your room. If you use paper, it helps to cut each furnishing out, so you can move them around. Play with various arrangements, thinking about things like lighting and glare, focal points (TV, fireplace), and seating arrangements. Keep your lifestyle in mind. If you have a lot of cocktail parties, you'll want to center your living room seating around a coffee table. If you're more of a popcorn and TV family, you'll want you seating to face your flat screen. Once you've arranged your existing furnishings, take note of what should be on your shopping list!

Living in the Middle Place

babysugar — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:00:00 -0700

I always loved my mom . . . even when I "hated" her during those fleeting teenage dramatic moments. But, almost nothing can make a child appreciate their parents more than becoming one themselves. Author Kelly Corrigan details balancing her life as a mom, wife, and daughter in her story, The Middle Place. She aptly starts one chapter:

It is one thing to be a man's wife - quite another to be the mother of his children. In fact, once you become a mother, being a wife seems like a game you once played or a self-help book you were overly impressed with as a teenager that on second reading is puffy with common ideas. This was one of many things I had learned since crossing over into the middle place - that sliver of time when childhood and parenthood overlap. One day you're cheering your daughter through a swimming lesson or giving her a pat for crossing the monkey bars or reminding her to say "please," and the next, you're bragging to your parents about your newest trick - a sweet potato recipe, a raise at work, a fix for your ant problem. It's a giant Vin diagram where you are the only member of both sets.

A perfect metaphor for my own familial relationships, I am certain Corrigan speaks the truth for many moms the world over. Perhaps we all share that inner space of the circular graph.

Recovery.Gov Takes a Shot at Transparency

LibertySugar — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:01:00 -0800

Bringing the pledge of transparency to Internet life, the White House has officially launched Recovery.gov - a website that lets you track the stimulus money.

The President says, "instead of politicians doling out money behind closed doors, the important decisions about where taxpayer dollars are invested will be yours to scrutinize." To help you scrutinize, the site has features like an interactive map showing you how many jobs will be created in each state, graphs breaking down stimulus funds, a timeline for crucial upcoming milestones, and a place for you to share what's working, and not working for you.

Who doesn't like graphs and maps, not to mention a little accountability?

To see the President explain the site on video, read more.

Your Money at Work from White House on Vimeo

Nice and New: Rubie Green Bedding

CasaSugar — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Eco-chic upholstery fabric designer Michelle Adams of Rubie Green has ventured into the bedroom. With a new bedding line, that is. Now her downtown preppy patterns can be yours even if you're not up for reupholstering a sad chair or having custom curtains made. The current offerings include duvet covers, sheet sets, shams, and bed skirts. Take your pick of four designs, including a black and white graph-like Habibi, the pretty-in-pink zig zag East Village, the summery yellow lattice Tillinghast, and simple Classic bedding with black piping. All of the bedding comes from a factory that is certified eco-friendly by the Global Organic Textile Standard in every step of production, from the weaving of the fabric down to the final packaging, and is made from the softest 300 thread-count organic cotton percale. Who ever said you can't look good and be good (to the environment) in bed, too?