World’s First Braille Smartphone In The Works

The world’s first braille smartphone for the visually impaired is here. Soon, they will be able to read SMSes and emails on a phone that will convert all text into Braille patterns.

Sumit Dagar, the products innovator proclaims “We have created the world’s first Braille smartphone”. This product will provide an innovative ‘touch screen’ which will translate incoming messages by elevating and depressing the contents into ‘touchable’ patterns.

Dagar came up with the idea for the phone three years ago. Right now he is working with IIT Delhi on the prototype. The hopeful release date will be by the end of 2013, for about $185.

How the World’s First Braille Smartphone Works

A) The smartphone uses Shape Memory Alloy technology, based on the idea that metals remember their original shapes and can morph between the desired textures.

B) The phone’s ‘screen’ has a grid of pins, which move up and down to represent a character or letter.

C) This screen will be able to form patterns in Braille.

D) All other elements will not not be comparable to any other smartphone.

You can watch Sumit Dagar’s TED Talk about the world’s first braille smartphone below:

 

Life Without Timekeeping

I understand timekeeping is a part of our lives now, but just think of the peace that life without timekeeping would give us.

Life Without Keeping Time

I understand keeping time is a part of our lives now unless we lived our lives a lot more simply. But just think of the peace we’d have without time pressuring and/or stressing us out.

Prepare for Unfair

I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve questioned this very thing. I don’t know about you, but I’m frequently baffled by why bad things happen to good or innocent people and/or why good things seem to come to the corrupt and unkind…it’s NOT FAIR. I think it’s above our pay level or comprehension to understand such things.

Here’s a little perspective though for the next time we may think our circumstances aren’t fair. There may be times when we think we have it bad, but to an outside observer who has it worse than you at that very moment may think your bad is a blessing. In other words what is fair? It seems to quite subjective and based of what we think we should receive at any given moment and sometimes in comparison to others.

 

KONY 2012- The Top Viral Video Of 2012

With more than 100 million views in six days, Kony 2012, a 30-minute documentary about Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, became not only the Top Viral Video Of 2012, but also the most viral video in history according to statistics conducted by Visible Measures.

Kony 2012 was a short film created by an organization called Invisible Children, Inc. The film’s purpose was to promote the charity “Stop Kony”, while raising awareness concerning the International Criminal Court fugitive Joseph Kony to have him arrested by the end of 2012, when the campaign expired.

Between it’s release on March 5, 2012 and October 17, 2012, the film had over 94 million views on video-sharing website YouTube, and over 16.6 million views on Vimeo making it the top viral video of 2012 . The drastic amount of traffic actually caused the “Kony 2012” website to crash for a short period. A poll went so far as claiming that more than half of young American adults heard about Kony 2012 in one way or another.

Despite the rapid rise of the video it brought a shower of criticism to the supporting organization, Invisible Children. Many naysayers targeted the practices of Invisible Children at the organizational level, versus the true focus of the video to expose whether or not Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, was a war criminal.

 

The Holstee Manifesto…A Lot Of Wisdom In 1 Image

The Holstee manifesto has been an unexpected successful creation by the Brooklyn-based apparel company Holstee. The company was founded on selling sustainably sourced consumer goods, however the poster of the manifesto is now one of Holstee’s best-selling items. At one point, they sold out of it with a four-week back-order. The manifesto has been translated into 12 languages, and has been viewed an approximate 50 plus million times.

Of course my hopeless romantic self gravitated towards the line: If you are looking for the love of your life, STOP; They will be waiting for you when you start doing the things you love.

I never thought about that before. I guess I always feel this external pressure to make it happen and actively search versus doing what I love and letting it surprisingly bump into or find me.

 

Amazing Charlie Chaplin Speech- You Won’t Regret Sparing These 4 Minutes

The backbone of the video below is a Charlie Chaplin speech given in the movie “The Great Dictator“, shot in 1940. I had never heard this before and was so glad that I finally did yesterday. This video and it’s message is amazing. It’s one of those make your throat burn and eyes leak videos, at least for me it was. It reminds us to snap out of it and realize the beauty and kindness that’s out there, and to pursue it in spite of all the calamity and evil that’s also present. You can find renditions of this all over YouTube, but this was the best one in my opinion that I came across. Enjoy!

Amazing Charlie Chaplin Speech- You Won’t Regret Sparing These 4 Minutes

The backbone of the video is a speech given by Charlie Chaplin in the movie called “The Great Dictator“, shot in 1940. I had never heard this before and was so glad that I finally did yesterday. This video and it’s message is amazing. It’s one of those make your throat burn and eyes leak videos, at least for me it was. It reminds us to snap out of it and realize the beauty and kindness that’s out there, and to pursue it in spite of all the calamity and evil that’s also present. You can find renditions of this all over YouTube, but this was the best one in my opinion that I came across. Enjoy!

 

Arrows Waiting To Fly

I saw this last night and had to share it. This is such an empowering way to look at the trails and pain that we go through. Having this train of thought allows us to tap into one of the most powerful sources of strength that we have access to…HOPE. Hope in my opinion is one of the most important tools that we have to turn our dreams and aspirations into reality. Our dreams are the seed and hope is the water. I know what hope has allowed me to accomplish to this point, and I plan on fueling my tank with it’s bottomless reservoir till the end. So next time you feel the weight of your struggles pulling at you, stay hopeful that it will soon release you and send you flying towards greatness.