Fitbit Force

The Fitbit Force is an improved version of its predecessor. It monitors the number of steps you take, as well as the number of hours you get to sleep each night. It is lightweight and comfortable to wear, and it also doubles up as a watch for daily use.

The Fitbit Force is an extremely useful app for anyone that wants to track their fitness regime. It provides a lot of information about your body, while letting you know about your body at the same time.

Tintac

Problem 

• Sick of forgetting to bring my sunglasses out. 
• Sick of squinting my eyes at sunlight. 
• Sun Visor does not block out sunlight well enough 
• Sick of tan lines from wearing sunglasses. The sun still comes in from the sides of the sunglasses 
• Sunglasses without degree is troublesome for those wearing spectacles.

Introducing Tintac

• Substitutes the need of using sunglasses. 
• Combines sunglasses and contact lenses. 
• Adapts the concept of sunglasses, which is to prevent bright sunlight from damaging or discomforting the eyes. 
• Modified to provide more convenience to the user. 
• Put to other uses - can be used as normal contact lenses for daily wear. 
• Eliminates tan lines and chances of forgetting to bring sunglasses out. 
• Rearrange - could be transposed into swimming contact lenses too.

Visuals

Usage

Zapper

Problem

• Sick of so many wires getting tangled in my bag 
• Sick of my laptop and mobile phone running out of battery 
• Powerbank can’t be used for my laptop + it runs out of battery very easily for me 
• Carrying so many chargers is very heavy because I am already carrying many things to school.

Introducing Zapper

• Substitutes the need of using chargers. 
• Combines all sorts of charging devices. 
• Adapts the concept of a Powerbank, which allows charging on-the-go. 
• Modified to include faster charging time & unlimited battery life (charged using light beam). 
• Put to other uses - all electronic devices can be used. 
• Eliminates dead devices, tangled wires & hassle of carrying to many charging devices. 
• Rearrange - Charging can be done no matter the arrangement.

Visuals

Usage

Sound Builders: Felix Thorne Turns Junk Into Incredible Musical Sculptures

Felix Thorne is one of Sound Builder's contest winners and he makes music out of ordinary objects. What may seem as junk to us might be potential musical instruments for Felix as he churns out amazing sounds with the help of a computer software. His passion started when he learned how to produce electronic music via a computer software and it branched out to different style.

I feel that the whole concept of making music out of junk is a really strange idea and I am not alone. Even Felix himself said that, "The best way to describe me is I'm an artist who thinks he's a scientist."

Week Nine: Forced Connections

A Pencil

1. Passionate Pencil - 

To be passionate means to have strong feelings for something so the pencil has to be in a shape of a heart.

2. Sad Pencil - 

A sad face usually has a downturned mouth so the sad face is in the form of a downturned mouth.

3. Brave Pencil - 

I usually relate knights to bravery so this is a pencil in the shape of a knight's sword.

4. Creative Pencil - 

Creativity is about eureka moments and breaking the rules and doing something completely unconventional so the sparkly ends of the pencil represents the creative speak and the twisted pencil represents creativity as something original and quirky.

5. Greedy Pencil - 

Greed is about wanting more than you have so this pencil is sharpened on both sides instead of just one because one is never enough.

6. Hardworking Pencil - 

The pencil is sharpened to its very end because it is very hardworking and wants to write a lot.

A Clock

1. Passionate Clock - The clock is designed to look like a star, energetic and fiery with passion.

2. Sad Clock - Sad usually means broken so the arms of the clock has fallen "down".

3. Brave Clock - I drew a muscular arm for brave as there is such a thing called "Brave Muscle".

4. Creative Clock - Just like this weeks topic on Forced Connection, creativity is also about connection, which is why this clock is conjoined.

5. Greedy Clock - This clock is so greedy it has so many arms and it is impossible to tell the time.

6. Hardworking Clock - The clock is very hardworking so it moves beyond its body to its second body, just like how hardworking people do more than they are supposed to.

A Computer Mouse

1. Passionate Mouse - 

The mouse is designed in the shape of a hand, so you will get hi-5s every time you use the mouse. It is passionate and enthusiastic about being a mouse.

2. Sad Mouse - 

Sad usually means broken so the mouse has to paste plasters.

3. Brave Mouse - 

The brave mouse is in the shape of a shield, which knights use because they are brave.

4. Creative Mouse - 

This mouse is an arrow, which is the same as how it appears on screen. Its design is unique and out of the box.

5. Greedy Mouse - 

This clock is so greedy it has so many wires.

6. Hardworking Mouse - 

This mouse is so hardworking that there is a left and right handed mouse so the user can use both hands to use it.

A Cup

1. Passionate Cup - 

The cup has a heart shape for a handle.

2. Sad Cup - 

The sad cup broke into half.

3. Brave Cup - 

The brave cup is modelled after a trophy cup.

4. Creative Cup - 

This cup is half a lamp which makes it quite creative.

5. Greedy Cup - 

This greedy cup has so many handles.

6. Hardworking Cup - 

This cup has 4 handles for your 4 fingers.

A Plug

1. Passionate Plug - 

The plug is in a shape of a heart.

2. Sad Plug - 

The plug is facing downwards, with its "legs" folded.

3. Brave Plug - 

The plug is made out of spikes, and its cable is spiky too.

4. Creative Plug - 

This plug has a hole in its body for easy removal from the powerpoint.

5. Greedy Plug - 

This greedy plug has many legs.

6. Hardworking Plug - 

This plug has many cables to charge many phones because it is very hardworking.

A Candles

1. Passionate Candle - 

It forms a shape of a heart.

2. Sad Candle - 

The candle stands alone, melting.

3. Brave Candle - 

The candle is made in the form of a knife.

4. Creative Candle - 

This candle is created in the form of a cosmopolitan, which is rather unique for a candle.

5. Greedy Candle - 

This greedy candle has a flame larger than itself.

6. Hardworking Candle - 

This hardworking candle has three flames.

The Creative Brain: How Insight Works

This BBC Documentary is a social experiment to see how our brains work. It studies the public's "eureka moments" using different puzzles and brainteasers. How our brain comes up with these moments of creativity is something very extraordinary, it is almost like we have these answers in our head all the time but without these "sparks", it may not come about.

Using brainwave data from volunteers, scientists have studied the patterns and witnessed the creative spark as it happens.

The research was very detailed and lengthy but challenging at the same time as I had to try and figure some of the puzzles out myself.

However, the 3 word connection test was the one that I didn't understand much....

This guy was juggling apples and the three words were Crab, Pine and Sauce and the answer was apple...? I didn't figure it out instantly, and even with the answer I'm still pretty confused.

I felt that the video was alright, very scientific with lots of statistics and data but it was a bit boring to be honest.

TED Talk: The Happy Secret to Better Work

In this talk, Shawn Achor explains the happy secrets to better work in a funny and entertaining presentation. In his talk, he explained how society wants everyone of a certain standard, and if you don't reach it, you are automatically deemed a failure.

I came across this comic years ago and it is really relevant to this talk.


In the comic, a man is asking 6 different animals, to climb a tree as a "fair selection". But is it really fair? All of these animals have different abilities so if not all of them manage to climb the tree, does that mean that they are less skilled? And for the monkey, that manages to climb the tree, does that mean he is remarkably talented? Or does that simply mean that he can climb a tree. As for the fish, it is a totally unfair test for it as it is not even a land animal.

However, that is the sad cult of the average. Society wants us all to be average. All the same.

He then went on to talk about happiness in life. How we think that if we study hard, get good grades, we can get good jobs with good pay and that is a good life.

But what if all these aren't enough? What if you get a good grade but you want better grades? Get a good job but you want a better job with a better pay? It just means we will only be satisfied for a short time before we start chasing for better things.

So how can we be happy in that case?

This is where he shares the secret with us.

"90% of your long-term happiness is predicted not by the external world but by the way your brain processes the world. And if we change it, if we change our formula for happiness and success, what we can do is change the way that we can then affect reality."