Crazy, and wildly successful

“Sane is boring.” – R.A. Salvatore

This week we discovered two things – that the idea of a true photographic memory through the Narrative Clip sounded crazy and secondly, that Facebook, Amazon and Paypal also belong to this same category. Yes, we are proud (and hysterically happy) that we have been featured in Business Insider as one of the six startup ideas that sounded crazy but ended up being wildly successful. In view of this, we have decided to feature some of the crazy and happy things that lifelogging can do for/to you.

Read more: Four wearables that will take over mobility

Freedom backpack

First up, we would like to introduce the Freedom Backpacker to you. His name is Jānis Vērzemnieks and he is a designer and entrepreneur who helps music-employed artists and entrepreneurs to be heard. Apart from having this amazing dream, here’s why we think he’s a little crazier and happier than the rest of us. His entire life is summed up in a single freedom backpack that he brings to whichever part of the world that he chooses; and nope, he’s not starring in a movie for that, as much as it sounds like a scene from Up In The Air. Jānis believes that the freedom backpack is his mantra for a happy and simple way of life and believes that this mantra could vary across different people. Along with other mini-mantras on what to bring for this journey, one thing he did decide to bring along was the Narrative Clip. According to him, “these photos tell a living and true story, because all the moments are genuinely true, unstaged and natural.” So yes, we believe his craziness in embarking on this just made Narrative a little crazier than it already is.

Read more: Freedom backpack and This week in lifelogging: travel episode 1

Wear your entire life

Now if you are actually thinking of stepping into the unknown like Jānis did, you might just be concerned with one thing – how are you going to keep up with things happening back home and update your friends and family about everything? Here’s introducing the Nex Band – the magical band that evolves with your experiences. So while most tech wristbands on the market today focus on fitness and health, the Nex Band lets you interact with all your passions, from friends to music to gaming to movies to sports – and so much more because of its modular nature. These modules are like living charms for the Nex Band, where each module has a multi-colored LED as well as a unique identifier related to you and its application. Your module knows who you are, where it’s been, who your friends are; and can be followed even if given away. Even crazier than how holistic the Nex Band seems to be, is how this company totally deviated from what they had originally set out to do when they realised through a focus group for a new children’s story that all the participants cared about were the features of that magical charm bracelet mentioned in the story. So the company listened and took an entirely different path. And they are certainly happier now with a million dollar grant from the Canadian government.

Read more: Betting On Teens In Wearable Tech and Gadget Demo: Wearables and training devices

Image credited to Huffington Post

Embrace The Hug

To some people like Sam Volkering, this new product is the craziest thing ever invented. Crazy because it does something your body already does … remind you to get a drink of water. Yet to others like Victoria Lambert who wants every single lifelogging device out there, this could be another noteworthy addition to her collection. This new product is known as The Hug, which essentially tracks your water intake so you can hydrate better. According to The Hug’s Kickstarter page, most people simply do not drink enough water and are constantly dehydrated without even realising it. As a result, this dehydration not only decreases mental and physical performance, but it also makes us more likely to get sick. With The Hug that consists of a sensor band and a companion iOS app, one simply has to slip The Hug sensor around pretty much any water bottle and connect it to an iOS device. Do you need The Hug to be healthier and happier?

Read more: Sometimes the Best Thing to do is go Low Tech and Art Students Design Wearable Technology of the Future

Facebook addictions

As one of the more prominent social lifelogging platforms, Facebook boasts of having 1,310,000,000 active Facebook users per month. This seemingly harmless platform has had huge impact on its users worldwide, evidently seen from its latest outage last week, when Los Angeles residents apparently called the police and asked when the outage will end. Is this a case for too much social lifelogging and should we delete Facebook so that we can be a little happier than now for being totally addicted to this platform?

Read more: LA residents call 911 when Facebook goes down and A High-Tech New Way for Your Boss to Follow You Everywhere

Image credited to CNN

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