QRMart Magazine December 2012

Page 1

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DECEMBER 2012

TOP 5 TECH TRENDS

IN 2013

MINDBLOWING FACTS YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT OUR BODY

FUNNIEST TED TALKS YOU CANNOT MISS BENEFITS

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CONTENTS 6

TOP 5 TECH TRENDS IN 2013

18

TIPS FOR BEATING THE SOCIAL OVEREATING HABIT

12

14

FUNNIEST TED TALKS YOU CANNOT MISS

24

CLEARING YOUR LIFE FOR A NEW YEAR

3 technology 9

MINDBLOWING FACTS ABOUT YOUR BODY

26

21

lifestyle & leisure iOS

Android

QR reader

iOS

iOS

Android

iOS

Android

QR reader

BlackBerry

BlackBerry

Android

iOS

Android

28

HOW TO BE MINDFUL DURING THE HOLIDAYS

HOW TO PERFORM SHOPPING IN

QR reader

16

BENEFITS OF NATURAL ALKALINE WATER

BlackBerry

RECOMMENDED READS FROM SINGAPORE

home & living

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EDITOR’S NOTE The year is coming to an end soon. Many would usually take this opportunity to reflect on what they have achieved for the past year, and begin setting new year resolutions to (hopefully) do better in the upcoming year. What were your highlights and ‘lowlights’ of this year? How do you plan to reward yourself for all the work you have done for the past year?

In view of the year-end celebration season, we have prepared a line-up of articles and promotions to help you end the year of 2012 with a memorable blast with your friends and family. On the behalf of our team at QR Mart, we would like to wish you a Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Des Chief Editor, QR Mart

RMART QR Mart is a publication by iSmart Manufacturing Pte Ltd No. 1 Ubi View #03-09 Focus One S(408555) We welcome feedbacks and enquiries. Please contact us via our website at www.qrmart.com.sg FIND US ON FACEBOOK

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Are you ready to welcome the exciting new year, 2013?

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technology directory

INFOCUS PROJECTORS

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TOP 5 TECH TRENDS IN 2013 TOMTOM GPS SYSTEM NIKE SPORTWATCH ISMART SLIM UNIVERSAL LAPTOP CHARGER & PRIVACY FILTER

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technology

Top 5 tech trends

in 2013

By HLundgaard (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

Mobile Payments

As NFC (Near Field Communication) technology becomes more widespread and services like Square and Paypal roll out, 2013 might finally be the year where walking into a store and paying with your phone or just by giving your name becomes common and not just an early adopter experience in a few markets worldwide.

TEXT: DES PHOTOS: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Technology evolves quickly everyday. Here’s our forecast/prediction on what to expect in the upcoming exciting year!

Image licensed under [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

Wearable Computing

A revamped iPod Nano, the Pebble watch project, Google Goggles, and/or other things like them will make this the year you'll finally see people checking a watch or a necklace regularly for instant messages from their friends vs. whipping out their phone and turning it on frequently.

Even Cheaper Tablets

Many people still think of tablets as expensive premium Apple toys. But these things are going to be $50 soon, cheaper than some hardcover books. This has some implications: - Every kid in school can have one or more than one. - They'll be widespread even in places without landlines. Some folks may skip smartphones completely and move directly to small tablets. - You can own multiple tablets, optimised for different purposes (same as how you own multiple hardcover books today). - This will bring in changes in education, healthcare, retail and restaurant experiences, automobiles, etc, as we stop thinking of these things as expensive computers and start thinking of them as replacements for paper.

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By Jakub Šulc (má vlastní fotka) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)],


By Πrate [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)],

This is already happening but is large enough that it still deserves a mention. Trillions of dollars of IT spending are moving from data centres and software licenses to cloud services. Soon you'll be able to read about companies with 10,000 employees who don't have dedicated data centers.

technology

Corporate IT moves to the Cloud

More 3D Printing Innovation

3D printing works by building up an object layer by layer. We already had 3D printed small planes and guitars and gun parts in 2012. With 3D printing becoming more and more affordable (expect cheaper 3D printers like the MakerBot) and with an improved ability to test physical things on local markets (thanks to inexpensive viral social media campaigns), the pace of innovation will accelerate. There will be more financially viable, fairly localized physical products as more and more companies begin to utilise 3D printing's capabilities. At the rate that it is going, we strongly believe that 3D printing will revolutionise the industry, and probably change the world.

By http://www.youtube.com/user/KolbTechnology (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZijC8jU_1Aw) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)],

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lifestyle & leisure directory

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FUNNIEST TED TALKS YOU CANNOT MISS BAVARIA PREMIUM BEER & 0.0% ALCOHOL DRINK MINDBLOWING FACTS ABOUT YOUR BODY

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BENEFITS OF NATURAL ALKALINE WATER

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AUSTRALIAN NATURAL VOLCANIC SPRING WATER PROMOTION

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TIPS FOR BEATING THE SOCIAL OVEREATING HABIT ISMART DIGITAL PHOTO FRAMES

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lifestyle &&leisure leisure

Funniest TED talks you cannot miss

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. On TED.com, they make the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 1400 TED Talks are now available, with more added each week. All of the talks are subtitled in English, and many are subtitled in various languages. Their mission: Spreading ideas. We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.

Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work We believe that we should work to be happy, but could that be backwards? In this fast-moving and entertaining talk from TEDxBloomington, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that actually happiness inspires productivity.

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Geert Chatrou: World champion whistler At TEDxRotterdam, world champion whistler Geert Chatrou performs the whimsical "Eleonora" by A. Honhoff, and his own "FĂŞte de la Belle." In a fascinating interlude, he talks about what brought him to the craft.

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Ze Frank: What's so funny about the Web? Performer and web toymaker Ze Frank delivers a hilarious nerdcore standup routine, then tells us what hes seriously passionate about: helping people create and interact using simple, addictive web tools. Direct link: http://youtu.be/FMkJVXi7Rp8

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lifestyle & leisure

Mindblowing facts about your body Shocking facts that you probably didn’t know about your body! Brain takes up about

3% of body weight and consumes

20%

of available energy.

A human head remains conscious for about

15 to 20 seconds

after it has been

pi t d ec a

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Your right lung takes in more air than your left one does.

300,000,000

Cells Die In Your Body Every Minute It does sounds like a lot but this is actually less than 0.0001% of the amount of cells being replaced in your body every day. (about 10-50 trillion cells are being replaced in your body every single day)

The largest internal organ is the

small intestine.

Despite being called the smaller of the two intestines, your small intestine is actually four times as long as the average adult is tall. If it weren’t looped back and forth upon itself it wouldn’t fit inside the abdominal cavity.

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During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill a 10,000 litre swimming pool.

34 muscles are in the human face. All are activated when you kiss someone.

lifestyle & leisure

SOURCE: VARIOUS SOURCES PHOTOS: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

You could remove a large part of your internal organs and still survive. The human body may appear fragile but it’s possible to survive even with the removal of the stomach, the spleen, 75 percent of the liver, 80 percent of the intestines, one kidney, one lung, and virtually every organ from the pelvic and groin area. You might not feel too great, but the missing organs wouldn’t kill you.

More germs are transferred while shaking hands compared to kissing.

Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete. QR MART

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lifestyle & leisure

Benefits of

Natural Alkaline Water TEXT: AUSTRALIAN PREMIUM WATER PTY LTD PHOTO: Gaël FROUIN (Waterfalls in Batroun) 05.10.2006 / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Believed by many to improve health, natural alkaline water has been widely regarded as a better choice than normal tap water. Here are some of the important benefits:

Balance Body pH

As our body becomes acidic due to everyday life including digestion, respiration and stress, alkaline water helps eliminate acidic waste and promotes better blood circulation.

Antioxidant

Alkaline water produces hydroxyl ions, which can increase the body's oxygen level, neutralize harmful free radicals and prevent certain chronic diseases through neutralizing the acidity in your body.

Hydrator and Detoxifier

Helps relieve chronic cellular dehydration, a condition deemed as the primary cause of many diseases. Hydrating your cells can enhance physical energy and mental clarity.

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Superior Mineral Profile

A natural filtration process through age-old volcanic rock gives natural alkaline water a unique mineral profile that includes abundant quantities of calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate, sodium, potassium, copper, chloride, silica and electrolytes- and is the perfect pH balance of 7.2 +. Our body’s blood and cells are naturally slightly alkaline but the food and beverage we consume tends to be acidic, often upsetting the body’s natural balance. Consuming an alkaline water helps keep the body in equilibrium.

Other Potential Benefits With our body functioning best in an alkaline environment, drinking alkaline water has long been associated with a host of benefits. These included improved cellular absorption, better looking skin, improved taste and quality of food intake, better absorption of nutrients from consumed food and many other advantages.

Magnesium

A necessary component for all muscular activity and is useful in the prevention of osteoporosis.

Calcium

Helps with the mineralization and development of bones and teeth. Also aids in digestion and the clotting of blood.

Bicarbonate

Assists in maintaining the body’s natural pH level.

Potassium

Apart from acting as an electrolyte, potassium is required for keeping heart, brain, kidney, muscle tissues and other important organs of human body in good condition.

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lifestyle & leisure

Tips For Beating the Social Overeating Habit TEXT: LEO BABAUTA PHOTO: PUBLICDOMAINPICTURES.NET

While I’ve learned to eat much healthier over the last six or seven years, one of my biggest challenges has been overeating on social occasions. There are holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but there are many more: my kids’ birthday parties, going out to dinner with my wife Eva, get-togethers with friends, social gatherings of business colleagues, drinking with best friends. I’ve always tended to overeat, because: I am distracted by conversation and so I eat mindlessly; and unlike at home, where I’ve created a healthy eating environment, I tend to be surrounded at these occasions by boatloads of tempting but unhealthy foods.

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I’ve gotten better recently, though, and have been teaching myself healthier habits. My main habit is simple on the surface: mindful eating. Mindful eating is simply being aware of your eating, of your body’s actual hunger signals as opposed to your brain saying “eat all that sugar and fried stuff!”, of your urges to eat more when you’re not hungry, of your snacking even when your stomach isn’t asking for more. Mindful eating is eating slowly, fully tasting the food, appreciating every bite, being conscious of what you’re putting into your body, savoring but not overdoing. Mindful eating, though, can be tough to do when you are

distracted by talking to friends and family. So I asked readers (on Google+) to share their tips for beating the social overeating habit. You came up with some great ones. I share these tips in hopes that you’ll find use for them during these holidays, and beyond.


Eat something healthy and at least somewhat filling before you go. This way you’re less likely to mindlessly snack.

Don’t linger near the food table

Make a conscious choice to eat whatever you want to eat, but don’t eat just because other people are eating or because it’s convenient.

Drink lots of water and eat s-l-o-w-l-y

Eating slowly allows you time to hear the faint but clear ‘enough! enough!’ cries coming from the belly.

Eat until you’re 80 percent full

lifestyle & leisure

Don’t go to an event hungry.

This is a cultural habit that the Okinawans have, and it famously helps them stay healthy well into old age.

Actually engage socially with someone. If your mouth is talking, it can’t eat.

Try to count up to 15 chews per each mouthful. That will really slow you down

QR MART

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home & living directory

DRINKSTAR ENTERPRISE WATER FILTRATION SYSTEM

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CLEARING YOUR LIFE FOR A NEW YEAR TOPNOTCH PLUMBING AND CONSTRUCTION SERVICES

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HOW TO BE MINDFUL DURING THE HOLIDAYS SEASONS @ M&E PTE LTD AIR-CONDITIONING SPECIALIST

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Clearing Your Life for a New Year TEXT: LEO BABAUTA PHOTO: By Tim Collins (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)] WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Every January, people rush out and get a gym membership, set a list of goals or resolutions, and get ready to take on a new year of frenetic activity. Unfortunately, we don’t often clear space to make room for all this new stuff. The beginning of the year is a great time for renewal of energy and taking on the things we’ve always wanted to tackle — clutter, fitness, work we’re passionate about, debt, and so on. But it’s also a great time to clear out your life, starting out the year on a blank page that’s ready to be filled. While everyone’s life is different, I’ll share some of what I do to clear out my life.

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- Review the year to think about what I learned, what mistakes I made, what I accomplished. - Clear my schedule as much as possible. That often means saying no to people. - Wrap up old projects, end commitments to people, so that my work plate is clearer than normal. - Toss out old fitness and eating plans, to make room for new experiments. - Clear my email inbox. If I haven’t answered the email recently, it’s probably not important, so I archive it. - Act on or answer other emails, so that my inbox is emptied.

-Clear out other inboxes. That might be an inbox on a social network, or a list of things I wanted to do or read, or any kind of list really. File them away under someday, or delete or archive. Anything that’s taking some mental energy because I know I need to get to it, gets cleared. - Clear my computer files. Usually this means deleting a bunch of files I don’t need, but I also just consolidate files into one folder or put them in an online archive (like in Dropbox). - Clear paperwork. I rarely have any papers these days — I’ve slowly turned everything digital. But I still get things in the mail sometimes, so if I have any lying around, I dispose of them to clear out any remaining paperwork.


home & living

- Clear clutter. If there are areas that have become cluttered, I clear them out. Often it just means taking a box or bag of things that I’ve been meaning to donate to Goodwill. - Clear my errands. I’ll make a list of all the errands I’ve been putting off, and do them in one afternoon. - Clear my finances. I’ll take a few minutes to review my checking and savings accounts, Paypal, investments, etc. and make sure everything is in order. If there are little things that need taking care of, I do them so that my mind is cleared. - Clear pantry and refrigerator of junk. Old crap that’s been lying around.

PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Junk food if there’s any there (I don’t usually have any anymore, but I used to). Left with just good whole ingredients for healthy foods. This might take a couple days, working off and on in little bits. For some, it might take longer. But when you’re done, it’s amazing. Your mind is clear and refreshed.

You feel like you’re ready to take on anything. To be honest, I do these things regularly throughout the year, and it’s great to keep a clean slate most of the time. But the new year is always a perfect opportunity to clear everything at once.

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home & living

TEXT: LEO BABAUTA PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

How to Be Mindful During the Holidays The holidays are a busy and stressful time for most people — with work and gift shopping and get-togethers and all kinds of other events and worries, it’s a wonder we stay sane at all. The secret to survival — and in fact to having a wonderful time during these holidays and any stressful situation — is to stay in the moment, as much as possible. This is something I work on all the time, and it’s easy to forget. However, it’s also easy to do, if you stay conscious of it. Here’s how:

1

A Simple Mantra Each time you feel yourself getting stressed or overwhelmed, remember the fruit. Say to yourself “apple” or “banana” or “berries” (or whatever fruit you ate), and remember what it was like to be mindful as you ate that fruit. Now do the same thing with whatever you’re doing right now — whether you’re out shopping, or spending time with loved ones, or doing a work task. Focus on one thing, and really be in the moment with that thing or that person.

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2

A Simple Practice Take a fruit — an apple, a pear, a peeled banana or kiwi, some berries — and eat them mindfully. Slowly. Take a small bite, and really experience it. Feel the texture in your mouth. Savor the taste. Smell the fruit. Think about how you feel as you eat the fruit. Feel the juices in your mouth. Feel yourself swallow the bite. Eat the entire fruit this way, one bite at a time, really feeling and tasting and smelling and experiencing this fruit.


Remember What’s Important

home & living

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During these holidays, think about what’s most important to you. That might be your loved ones, or a loved one, whether that’s a spouse or friends or kids or parents or whatever. It might be your work — what you create and are passionate about. It might be something else. Focus on that during these holidays, and remember that the rest is just noise. It’s not important. Fully experience what’s important to you, and let the rest fade away.

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home & living

Recommended reads

from Singapore Casual Days

Casual Days is a simple and honest print magazine about meaningful everyday experiences. Each issue explores a specific issue related to everyday life and features a carefully-put-together line-up of inspiring individuals from various creative fields, including artists, designers, writers, photographers, idea-makers, style-setters, film directors, curators, illustrators, store-owners and our own friends. Issue 1 revolves around the theme of "travel" Find out more or buy online at www.casual-days.com

alter:sg Conceived by a group of individuals, alter:sg is an independent travel guide to showcase an alternative side to lifestyle in Singapore. They cover a mix of people and places from the fun to the cool to the overlooked and underappreciated. alter:sg invites you, local or tourist alike, to get out there and (re)discover this little island. Ultimately, they believe in redefining the ordinary. Find out more or buy online at www.alter.sg

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home & living Encounters

Encounters is a bilingual publication that features creative lifestyle and unique experiences. It explores the conceptualisation of creative activities, document the stories of people, and collect beautiful things and moments from every day life and travelling. Find out more or buy online at www.encounters.sg

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home & living

Sitting and Watching TEXT: LEO BABAUTA PHOTO: PUBLICDOMAINPICTURES.NET

Have you ever felt that we are rushing through life, that we get so caught up in busy-ness that life is passing us almost without notice? I get this feeling all the time. The antidote is simple: sitting and watching. Take a minute out of your busy day to sit with me, and talk. Take a moment to imagine being in the middle of traffic — you’re driving, stressed out by the high amount of traffic, trying to get somewhere before you’re late, angry at other drivers who are rude or idiotic, completely focused on making your way through this jungle of metal on a ribbon of asphalt. Now you’ve gotten to the end, phew, you made it, wonderful, and you’re only a few minutes late … but did you notice the scenery you passed along the way? Did you talk to any of the other people along your path? Did you enjoy the ride? No, probably not. You were so caught up in getting there, in the details of navigating, in the stress of driving, that you didn’t have time to notice your surroundings, the people nearby, or the wonderful journey. This is how we are in life.

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Now imagine that you pulled over, and got out of the car, and found a grassy spot to sit. And you watched the other cars zoom by. And you watched the grass blown gently by the wind, and the birds making a flocking pattern overhead, and the clouds lazily watching you back. Sit and watch. We don’t do this, because it’s useless to do something that isn’t productive, that doesn’t improve our lives. But as Alan Watts wrote in The Way of Zen: “As muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone, it could be argued that those who sit quietly and do nothing are making one of the best possible contributions to a world in turmoil.” It’s interesting, too, what we see when we sit and watch. We will notice others rushing, and worried, and angry, and in them see a mirror of ourselves. We will notice children laughing (or crying) with their parents, and remember what we’re missing when we rush to improve our lives. More interesting is what you see when you sit and watch

yourself. You learn to step outside yourself, and act as an observer. You see your thoughts, and learn more about yourself than you ever could if you were rushing to take action. You see your self-doubts, and self-criticism, and wonder where they came from (a bad incident in childhood, perhaps?) and wonder if you are smart enough to let them go. You see your rationalizations, and realize that they are bullshit, and learn to let those go too. You see your fears, and realize what hold they have over you, and realize that you can make them powerless, by just sitting and watching them, not taking action on them. By sitting and watching, you come to know yourself. You learn the most valuable lessons about life, by sitting and watching. And as we know from the observer effect in physics, by watching, we change what we watch. Take a few minutes today, to sit and watch. It might change your life.


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