Be still, my beating heart

MindFree Ventures, a stress management software specialist, has just launched ‘Stillness Buddy – Stress Reduction’, a unique application designed to help office and home computer users feel less stressed and work more productively.

Stillness Buddy creates very short on-screen breaks, which encourage ‘moments of stillness’ and ‘mindfulness pauses’ at regular intervals during the day. Users decide on the duration and frequency of their breaks to suit their preferences and schedule. In addition, users can customise the exercises, sounds and messages to be displayed during the day.

“It is ideal for people who are often tense and stressed, working for long periods without taking a moment of rest,” said Stillness Buddy creator, Hector Bolanos. “Stillness Buddy helps them to work in a more relaxed way. It is like having a friend that every now and then gently reminds you to stop for a moment, breathe, centre yourself again and then continue.”

The latest, Stress Reduction version of Stillness Buddy contains several carefully designed exercises, based on mindfulness and relaxation principles. Examples include:

* Deep breathing
* Relaxing various parts of the body through progressive relaxation
* Quieting the mind through simple mindfulness practices, such as just listening
* Gentle stretching
* Using the imagination to de-stress
* Scanning the sensations in the body

Hector Bolanos added, “Taking very short but regular pauses to practice relaxation or mindfulness, helps you to feel more energized, calmer and refreshed. Our trials have shown users work more productively as they are able to focus on the important things, be more alert, and ultimately more efficient.”

Associated Link: Try Stillness Buddy with this free 30-day trial

Passwords that are Simple - and Safe
Source: MIT Technology Review, 29 July 2010
 
Researchers at Microsoft have come up with a way to create easy-to-remember passwords without making a system more vulnerable to hackers.

Coercing people into a Brave New digital World
Source: Spiked, 27 July 2010
 
Does a government-backed campaign to get the entire UK adult population online threaten to make cyber slaves of us all?

iPhone 4 one month on – A user experience and functionality success, despite antenna issues
Source: Webcredible, 26 July 2010
 
Webcredible Senior Consultant, Abid Warsi suggests that the impressive functionality and user experience of the iPhone 4 is enough to overcome the widely reported technical issues, thus proclaiming the device a big success.

Darwin City Council Website - Australia’s Most Usable!
Source: Loop11, 24 July 2010
 
Darwin City Council came out on top in a recent website usability study of Australia's capital city councils. The aim was to discover which of the six council websites was the most user friendly and usable.

Digital Design Jobs first to experience Growth
Source: UN, 23 July 2010
 
The marketing and design industry in the UK is seeing strong signs of renewed confidence, according to the new European Market Eye report from the industry’s specialist recruitment consultancy, Aquent.

Usability at a Glance
Source: usability-ed, 22 July 2010
 
Something interesting and useful to print out and stick on your wall.

Google may know your Desires before You do
Source: New Scientist, 21 July 2010
 
In future, your Google account may know your birthday and anniversaries, consumer gadget preferences, preferred hobbies and pastimes, even favourite foods. It will also know where you are.

Closing the Usability Gap between Enterprise Applications and Consumer Web Applications
Source: Integrated Solutions for Retailers, 20 July 2010
 
New White Paper on Workforce Management and the increasingly ancient software which controls it.

Collect Words, not just Numbers with Feedback Analytics
Source: CMS Wire, 19 July 2010
 
Tracking visitors’ behaviors online can help us understand how customers use a site - but what if you could actually ask each individual a question? That’s what Kampyle aims to do with its feedback analytics tools.

Back to the Future...
Source: ZDNet, 17 July 2010
 
Always a popular sport, comparing the PC with the motor industry is as relevant as ever.