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We recently started a program to invite QS Toolmakers to contribute directly to funding our events. We call this program Friends of QS. If you would like to participate we invite you email us to learn more.
At our June Bay Area Quantified Self Show&Tell, Jim Keravala of Flaii gave us a brief tour of the mind map he developed using TheBrain. He spends 1-2 hours a day entering information into his virtual brain, and has recorded about 65,000 thoughts so far. He feels that the main benefit he gets from it is enhanced recall, which has given him an advantage in business situations. In the video below, he reveals that he has become very attached to the system he uses and doesn’t like to be away from it for more than a few hours at a time.
Jim Karavala – The Brain from Gary Wolf on Vimeo.
At our June Bay Area Quantified Self Show&Tell, Bharat Vasan demonstrated his PulseTracer heart rate monitor. The prototype watch+monitor betrayed his nervousness at public speaking by flashing a heart rate of 120 bpm on his wrist. In the video below, Bharat describes how this single measure serves as an indicator of the stressfulness of situations he finds himself in, and helps him remember to take positive actions he might otherwise forget in the heat of the moment.
Bharat Vasan – The PulseTracer from Gary Wolf on Vimeo.
This was the scene two days ago, when the lower floor of the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose was opened after hours to an energetic group of Quantified Self enthusiasts and interested spectators.
The first 90 minutes was filled with mingling, enjoying healthy munchies, and gathering around the various devices that people brought to show as part of the theme this time: “Gadgets for Gathering Data.”
Then the talks began – some prepared, some spontaneous, all of them interesting. Here’s a quick recap:
1. Bill Jarrold showed his
hot-off-the-command-line charts for how many UNIX commands he issues by
hour of the day. He found that 3 pm was his peak performance in terms
of number of commands. A second peak at at 10/11 pm
showed him that he was a night-owl. He was surprised to see that by
this measure, his productivity at midnight was as good as his
productivity at 10 am.
A huge thanks to our sponsors who generously helped make this event possible: Ron Gutman of HealthTap, which is setting up a “Quantified Self Room” at their soon-to-be-opened offices in Palo Alto; the Tech Museum, who is collecting ideas for health exhibits as part of their “participatory museum” philosophy (send ideas for to Alana Conner); and Zeo, the Personal Sleep Coach, who provided healthy food and videorecording.
And last, but very far from least, a standing ovation to Maren Connary for help with setting up, Loren Risker for taking the videos, Andrew Hessel for the picture at the top of this post, and Robin Barooah – for augmenting my memory of the talks and for his meditation tracking app that I have come to love.