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December 31, 2019
Each year there are countless new products and inventions on the market. This list includes some of the most exciting products to come out over the years.



The past two to three years have seen a wide array of promising inventions enter the prototyping stage, or even break into the market.
From gadgets that make lives easier, to products that disrupt an entire industry, innovators, entrepreneurs and engineers are hard at work to create a better, smarter, and even more exciting world.
If you are looking for something to inspire you to commit to your New Year’s resolution, today is your lucky day. 
1. Xbox Adaptive Controller
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting

The Xbox adaptive controller is here to make the gaming world more inclusive. The Microsoft developed  Xbox Adaptive Controller is here to help those with limited hand and arm mobility play games.

  
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
The product itself was inspired by previous efforts made by groups like the Cerebral Palsy Foundation.
2. Gravity Blankets
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
Gravity is here to help you combat your anxiety. Starting off as a Kickstarter campaign, the company Gravity has created a therapeutic weighted blanket engineered to be around 10% of your body weight.
The super comfy blanket helps those who have a sleeping problem, who may be stressed, or deal with anxiety.
3. LynQ
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
Getting separated from friends or a family member at an event or festival can be annoying. LynQ helps you find your loved ones when you get separated from the group. 
Unlike smartphones, compass-like devices do not need any wifi to stay connected. It is a great tool for family vacations.
4. Harry Potter Kano Coding Kit
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
So, are you still waiting for your Hogwarts letter? You might not be a wizard but this coding kit can give you some of the same powers.
The Harry Potter Coding kit allows children to accomplish real-world magical feats through the power of coding.
5. The Mirror
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
The Mirror is one of the sleekest looking inventions on this list. Perfect for those with fitness goals in 2019, the interactive mirror helps take your home fitness regime to the next level.
The device streams live workouts and even offers an interactive fitness coach.
6. HabitAware
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
A common New Year’s resolution centers around the idea of kicking some sort of bad habit. HabitAware is here to make your life a little easier.
As a friendly reminder, the fashionable Keen band vibrates anytime it catches you doing the bad habit you are trying to shake.
7. Zipline
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
The California-based startup Zipline intends to use drones to save lives. The company uses its drones in remote areas across the world to deliver vital supplies and even the delivery of blood.
Their latest drone invention can carry up to almost 2 kilograms at 128 kmph for up to 160 kilometers round trip.
8. Solar Charged Jacket
If you are a night runner, then this one's for you. Created by U.K.-based sports-gear startup, Vollebak, the Solar Charged Jacket phosphorescent membrane absorbs light during the day and releases its “kryptonite green energy” for those who need to be safe after dark.
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
9. Thor ET-One
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
Tesla is not the only one in the market creating electric semi-trucks. The startup Thor’s latest invention centers around a sleek and power electric semi-truck.
With the ability to carry 36,000 kilos up to 300 miles, the Thor ET-One is sure to shake up the semi-truck industry while creating a greener planet. The truck looks like Optimus Prime’s cooler cousin.
10. Philips Somneo
The original inventors, Philips has something to help you get up earlier in 2019. The Philips’ Somneo is here to help you wake up better, without the very disruptive sounds of a traditional alarm clock.
The Somneo simulates a natural sunrise each morning while assisting with your sleeping habits.
11. ICON
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
The Texas-based start-up ICON caught the attention of the world when it created a fully functioning 350-sq.-ft. home in 48 hours with the assistance of their Vulcan 3D printer.
Their invention has the ability to help with the construction of a home, laying the frame and foundation of the home before labor is needed.
The ICON team hopes to use their invention to help combat homelessness.
12. ROOM One
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
Workplaces are rethinking the very common open-plan office. For those who do not want to be distracted or catch a cold at work, the ROOM One offers workers some peace and quiet in their own soundproof workroom.
 13. Allbirds SweetFoam
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
The Allbirds retail startup hopes to combat the shoe industries large carbon footprint with a shoe product of their own.
The shoe company is testing various materials that can be used as an alternative for shoe production, like shoes made from parts of a sugar cane.  
14. Gravity Jet Suit
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
If you are planning to join the Avengers in their fight against Thanos, you are going to want to get your hands on this  suit.                                                                                                                                                                                
Created by Gravity industries, the 1,050 horsepower system uses five mini-jet engines to help users soar through the sky at 80 kph.  

15. Eargo
15 Inventions That Will Make Your 2019 a Lot More Interesting
The United States based company, Eargo is here to add a little disruption to the hearing aid market.
With 48 million Americans suffering from hearing loss, the team hopes that their easy to use comfortable product will give these people (those with mild and moderate hearing loss) the ability to hear again.
What’s Your Favourite Invention?
The life of an inventor or product designer is rather unforgiving. Hundreds of prototypes may fail before even one shows promise. Even more so, the invention market is highly competitive. In just the United States, there are hundreds of thousands of patents filed each year.
As for the consumer, the market’s’ competitiveness is something of good things. More cool inventions for you.
Are there any new products and inventions that you love to use in your daily life? 

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December 31, 2019

This guide on how to make an app is going to change all that.
You’ll learn:
1. Orientation: All of the tools that are available. Which ones are important and which
ones are not.
2. Mindset: The critical mindset to prime yourself for learning app development.
3. Core Skills: The essential skills for building a solid iOS foundation if you want to make app after app…
Let me promise you this:
You’re going to have completed your first app within the next 20 hours.
 1. Orientation
It’s time to catch you up to speed and give you the lay of the land. Let’s do this in a quick question/answer format!
What do I need to learn in order to build my app?
I recommend to focus on the core/basic skills first which you’ll find from the lessons below. After that, you’ll have to identify which traits your app has in order to know what to learn next.
For example, if your app needs to have users register and login then you’ll need to have a database to store that data. I’m writing an article that can help you with identifying those traits once you’ve completed the basic training. Make sure you’re on my newsletter to be notified when it’s published!
                                How long will it take for me to build my app?
This is a really hard question to answer because some apps are easy, some are complex and everyone learns at different speeds. Also some people have really busy schedules so they can’t dedicate much time to learning.In terms of number of hours, I would say at least 20 to get some of the fundamentals down.
I would also recommend that you try to find a little bit of time each day to learn rather than saving it all for a Sunday evening because if you wait 7 days in between lessons, you’ll spend a lot of time backtracking to remember where you left off.
                                    Should I learn Swift or Objective-C?
Swift all the way because it’s what Apple has transitioned to.It’s way easier for beginners to pick up and now that it’s open source, Swift is beginning to be used for other things as well such as server side development.
Lastly, it’ll also make it a lot easier to find tutorials on the net for Swift because most educators have moved to teaching with Swift.
Do I need a Mac? (Can I use a PC?)
Technically yes, because the program where we write Swift code and design the app is a MacOS app and Apple hasn’t released a Windows equivalent.
Two solutions you can try instead of buying a Mac:
  • Use a Mac remotely via MacInCloud.com
  • If you’re technical enough, use virtualization software such as VMWare Workstation and VirtualBox to run MacOS on your PC.
In addition to that, there’re a lot of third party solutions to create iOS apps where you wouldn’t need a Mac at all.
Here are some that you can check out:
  • React Native
  • Appcelerator
  • PhoneGap
What sort of equipment do I need?
Aside from a Mac (or using one of the PC solutions above), not much else!
You’ll need to download Xcode for free from the Mac App Store.
Swift doesn’t need to be downloaded separately.
Then you just need to launch Xcode and start following along!
If you want to publish your app into the App Store, you’ll need to pay for an Apple iOS Developer Membership which costs around $99/year.
You don’t need to pay anything if you just want to run the app on your own device.

2. The Mindset for Success
Learning how to build an app is just like learning any other new skill: it's a journey, not a race.As with learning anything new, there’s going to be roadblocks and obstacles but this is where having the right mindset is so important.Those obstacles are opportunities for growth and learning.As a seasoned programmer, I can tell you that a large part of building apps will be troubleshooting and figuring out why your app doesn’t work the way you intended it to.

25% coding, 75% debugging
It’s not a knock against the coder; it’s just that when you’re writing code, it’s impossible to foresee 100% of the user scenarios and edge cases and interactions with other parts of your code.
There’s bound to be bugs and unexpected behavior and then you’re going be spending a lot of time debugging and trying to figure out how to fix it.
Don’t let that discourage you though because the feeling that you get when you finally solve the problem is a natural high like no other!
Not to mention that by overcoming your roadblock, you “level up” and learn a lot!
When you get very familiar with Swift code and Xcode, you’ll find that you can hack together an app idea really quickly but the majority of time afterwards is spent refining, debugging and polishing your app.

What’s “The Hump”?
Before you can hack together a prototype of any app idea in a weekend, you have to pass “The Hump”.
This is a certain point on the learning curve where too many beginners have given up.
They encounter their first adversity and experience frustration.
Things aren’t going smoothly.
Rather than facing it, overcoming it and learning from it, they decide that app development isn’t for them.
It’s a graveyard of lost hopes and dreams 🙁
If you can beat “The Hump”, you’ll be flying and learning faster than you thought you ever could.
This is where having the right mindset makes all the difference!

3. Core Skills
It’s time to put the pedal to the metal.
The 11 lesson mini-course below will teach you the core skills you need to build any sort of app.
It’s designed with beginners in mind and you don’t need any coding experience (if you already have a programming background then you’ll fly through it!)
This is where you want to start.
The basics
You’re going to get an orientation of the development environment, a tiny taste of Swift code and you’ll also make your very first app!
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December 31, 2019

The word "public speaking" causes fear and anxiety in the minds of otherwise competent and confident people. Does the thought of speaking in front of a group evoke fear, make you sweat, and get your heart pounding? It's likely you have glossophobia - the fear of public speaking.
Glossophobia is one of the most common of fears. There are many ways to increase business exposure so why bother to overcome your speaking jitters? Stepping up to the podium not only positions you as an expert in your area of business but it also provides effortless referrals and improved sales opportunities.
Presenting a non-sales informative speech warms up your target market and builds trust. Unlike endless cold calls, the people you present to and follow up with are more receptive to listening to your offering of products and services.
Overcome your fear of public speaking and boost your business with these seven tips.

1. Start Small

If you're new to the world of public speaking, start small. Find a few friends and family to practice on. Begin by speaking to smaller groups and build up from there. The size of the audience makes no difference. If you know your topic, your pre-speaking fear will quickly evaporate.

2. Prepare Thoroughly

Nothing helps ease the fear of public speaking more than knowing your material. The ability to connect with your audience comes from having the confidence you won't get lost during your delivery. Rehearse several times before the big talk. Time your presentation and always have back up material in case time is left over.

3. Don't Just Memorize the Words

Mastering the art of public speaking comes not from memorizing word for word your entire speech. The real pros know their material by remembering key points and prompts on subtopics and examples to cover.

4. Avoid Common Bullets

The majority of business presentations and speeches are boring monologues filled with endless PowerPoint slides and bullet points. Trash the PowerPoint presentation and make your material the focal point of the talk. If you do use PowerPoint, take the approach of using visuals that quickly convey your message.

5. Reduce Stress

The most fearful moment of any presentation is the one minute before your stage entrance. Use the tactic of elite athletes by visualizing a positive outcome and using deep belly breathing to reduce stress and build confidence.

6. Find a Friend to Focus On

Prior to your public speaking on stage introduce yourself to a few members of the audience in the front row. During your talk look these people in the eye to ease your nerves and connect with your audience.

7. Engage the Audience

Creating a monologue presentation puts the entire task of informing and entertaining the audience on you. Make your talk a two-way interaction with questions and participation to reduce boredom and speak with ease. Having the group involved also gives you time to reorganize your thoughts if things are going off track.


Make public speaking part of your marketing plan and boost your business success. Your fear will evaporate over time and you will wonder why you didn't start sooner.
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December 31, 2019

It's the end of the year: time to start fresh, make resolutions and get ready for 2020.
But as the world counts down to midnight, let's take a moment to question why people around the planet are celebrating the new year at that very moment.

It turns out that the new year wasn't always on Jan. 1, and still isn't in some cultures.
The ancient Mesopotamians celebrated their 12-day-long New Year's festival of Akitu on the vernal equinox, while the Greeks partied around the winter solstice, on Dec. 20. The Roman historian Censorius, meanwhile, reported that the Egyptians celebrated another lap around the sun on July 20, according to a 1940 article in the journal the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society.

During the Roman era, March marked the beginning of the calendar. Then, in 46 B.C., Julius Caesar created the Julian calendar, which set the new year when it is celebrated today.
But even Julius Caesar couldn't standardize the day. New Year's celebrations continued to drift back and forth in the calendar, even landing on Christmas Day at some points, until Pope Gregory XIIIimplemented the Gregorian calendar in 1582. The Gregorian calendar was an attempt to make the calendar stop wandering with respect to the seasons. Because the Julian calendar had a few extra leap years than was necessary, by the 1500s, the first day of spring came 10 days earlier.

Though the selection of the new year is essentially arbitrary from a planetary perspective, there is one noteworthy astronomical event that occurs around this time: The Earth is closest to the sun in early January, a point known as the perihelion.

Nowadays, Jan. 1 is almost universally recognized as the beginning of the new year, though there are a few holdouts: Afghanistan, Ethiopian, Iran, Nepal and Saudi Arabia rely on their own calendrical conventions.


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December 31, 2019

Before you make a life-altering career choice, there are some things you should know about the design world. Interior designers face challenges every day; some of these may not appeal to you, while others may excite you and open doors to a career that you never thought was possible.Read on to learn the 10 things you should know before becoming an interior designer.

1. There Is a Difference Between Decorators and Designers

What’s the difference between interior decorators and interior designers? In one word: education.
Literally anyone can become an interior decorator. Someone who loves playing with colors, fabrics and textiles can become a decorator by simply printing business cards and promoting themselves to clients. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but educational background is also important.
On the other hand, an interior designer must have an accredited education; an associate or bachelor’s degree is a requisite for working in the interior design field. Do you want to pursue an education, or jump immediately into the decorating world? Keep reading to see if interior design could be the right fit for you.

2. You Must Have a Knack for Design

It may seem obvious, but in order to become an interior designer, you need to have an innate flair for color, spatial arrangements, architecture and textiles. Do you enjoy decorating your home and get lots of compliments on your decor? That doesn’t necessarily mean you should be an interior designer, but it’s certainly a good sign.
The first step to a successful career is to follow your passion. After all, doing something you love will never feel like work. Take this fun quiz to see which field you should consider majoring in. Is a career in interior design in your future?

3. Interior Design Isn’t All Fabric and Fun

While fabrics, furniture and color may play a large role in interior design, there are plenty of other tasks that are required of interior designers — many of which may seem less like fun and more like work.
Interior designers need to be educated in the history of design, the structural integrity of buildings, building codes, ergonomics, spatial concepts, ethics, psychology, computer-aided drawing (CAD) and much more.
It might seem that interior designers are expected to be Jacks (or Jills) of all trades, doesn’t it? This broad range of skills is required because designers work with not only homeowners, but also builders, architects, government agencies and business owners.  To become a successful interior designer, one needs to be educated and well-rounded.

4. The Salary Isn’t as High as You Think

Show me the money! After all, shouldn’t someone with such a vast education get paid well? It depends. Statistics show that the median salary of an entry-level interior designer in the U.S. is $42,380 per year.
Of course, this depends on a lot of factors, such as education, location, work experience and size of the firm/company. An interior designer at a furniture company will most likely make less than a designer who works for a high-end architectural firm.
Essentially, you can dictate your rate of pay by gaining as much exposure and experience as possible. Someone with education in the fields of architecture, building codes/laws and structural design will more likely become financially successful.

5. You Need to Be a People Person

Ask interior designers to share their experiences, and they will surely relate some horror stories of past clients. People are finicky, especially when it comes to their homes. While some clients have clear goals in mind, others may think they know what they want only to discover that they hate the final product and are dissatisfied with your work.

A successful interior designer is a people pleaser and a mitigator (and sometimes a mind reader) — someone who can steer clients toward a favorable outcome while making them feel they are in full control of the design choices. Interior designers are constantly balancing their design decisions and their clients’ desires. It’s not a cakewalk, to say the least.

6. You Need to Develop a Portfolio

A picture says a thousand words, and this is definitely true when it comes to an interior designer’s portfolio. You can talk all day long about colors and textiles, but unless you have an outstanding portfolio that showcases your designs and projects, your successes will be few and far between.
If you are just coming out of school and are new to the job market, it may be necessary to offer your services for free or at a reduced rate. This is probably the best way to get a portfolio started; it’s also a great way to get to know local merchandisers and suppliers, and develop a rapport for future projects.
Everybody starts at the bottom. With some effort, experience and proper marketing, you can become a successful force in the interior design field.

7. Competition Is Fierce in Interior Design

Interior design is a competitive business. The key to success is getting yourself noticed. As mentioned above, an amazing designer portfolio will certainly help you land jobs.
Another important factor is acquiring an extensive education. The more you know, the better off you will be. Consider looking toward future trends such as population growth, designing for the elderly, modern architecture and green design; education within these specific fields of design will give you the upper hand in the job market.
It is also a good idea to stay abreast of design trends by reading design publications and websites such as Freshome, communicating with fellow designers and following a mentor. When competition is high, you need to work hard in order to get noticed and rise to the top.

8. Virtual Designers Have an Opportunity

When people hire an interior designer, they may not realize that they can actually hire from anywhere in the world. Yes, designers can telecommute, too! Thanks to technological innovations such as Skype and design software, designers are discovering a whole new world of virtual design.

Although several free online virtual room design tools available to the general public, interior designers have an edge on this competition thanks to their exclusive relationships with elite design lines. Several high-end textile companies offer discounts to designers working in the trade, thereby allowing them to get their clients the best prices.

9. Designers Must Know Local Laws and Codes

This is where would-be designers may opt to avoid the education and become decorators, thereby avoiding some of the doldrum of learning building codes and local laws.
Some of the details can certainly be boring, but they are required knowledge for interior designers. Learning about plumbing codes, electricity and load-bearing walls may not excite you, but it is required. Staying abreast of such things gives interior designers an advantage and marketability that decorators simply do not have.

10. It’s Not About Your Style, It’s About Theirs

While designers can offer their clients a wide range of design styles to choose from, it is important to remember that it is up to the clients to choose what style suits them best.
Just because designers are educated and have good taste does not make their choices superior to their clients. The interior designer’s job is to offer a variety of styles and direct the client toward the right design choice while allowing the client to feel in charge.
For example, you may work as an interior designer for years and never design a house that suits your personal tastes. It is all about the clients’ style — and you must put your own aside.
After reading all the pros and cons of becoming an interior designer, do you think it’s one you’d like to pursue? If you’re considering interior design as a career, then remember all 10 of the things mentioned above. The field may be competitive, but with a little hard work and a stellar portfolio, you can become a successful interior designer.
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