Topic: Global

The Snoozebox - a "portable" hotel solution.

Handy for events: The portable hotel

3.12.2014

 Tell someone about on-site accommodation along with the description „box style“, and you’ll usually not harvest much enthusiasm. Unlike the familiar containers utilised as office space and living quarters on regular construction sites around the globe, this innovative temporary housing scheme stands for a comfy hotel arrangement rather than the interim solution it actually is.

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Toastmasters: Learning to speak in public.

Confident public speaking: Toastmasters International

20.11.2014

Heartbeat accelerating. Knees wobbly. Palms sweaty. Hands shaky. You are standing in front of your audience ready to deliver your talk. Ready? Of course you’re not ready! You are panic-stricken! You know that your trembling voice will give you away. You are afraid of failure and of exposing yourself to ridicule. You are dead-tired after a merciless night of restless tossing and turning resulting in your worst-ever bad-hair day. Your urge to escape is virtually untamable.

The fears of speaking in public (Glossophobia) are manifold. Fact is, that they won’t go away by allowing them to thrive. Yet, there’s remedy for the brave: Building up one’s confidence by adopting the proper techniques and by honing one’s communication, speaking and presentation skills, does work wonders! Good to know that even the best of speakers were once terrified novices who eventually succeeded in pacifying their jittery nervous system.

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Close-up of a colourful motor bike: The Ig Nobel Prize is awarded to the world's weirdest inventions.

TED Talk. Ig – a science award that makes you laugh

16.11.2014

Marc Abrahams talking about truly weird brainchildren

Revolutionary or at least useful inventions have been made in the course of history – starting with the kindling of fire and the more or less smoothly turning wheel around the 4th century B.C. Electricity, the automobile, the rotating toothbrush and innumerable objects of questionable relevance have been creeping out of busy brains relentlessly. Some contraptions could make it into our daily lives, others most likely won’t. Luxuries like the duck-billed muzzle for dogs, the mobile fishbowl with handles, the crocheted sweater for apples, the space-saving square melon or the mask protecting hair and clothes during absent-minded noodle-slurpings, for instance.

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TED Talk. Glenn Greenwald: Why your privacy matters

20.10.2014

None of us has anything to hide. We are righteous, hard-working citizens with no criminal relatives in our history. We pay our taxes, don’t drink and drive, abstain from drug abuse, raise our kids well, indulge in the odd harmless outing or occasional holiday, meet some friends once in a while and have to make ends meet on the basis of a regular but mediocre income. This is mostly it. Nothing exciting, really. Then why would we have to be overly protective of our personal sphere online? And even if our privacy had been invaded severely, how could we possibly be harmed?

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Playing cards for cyber-magic tricks

TED Talk: Cyber-magic card tricks

30.09.2014

Do you know what a “cyber illusionist” is? Those who thought that “cyber” automatically meant “illusion” are right, of course – and, in this case, oh so wrong. The expansion of the internet and social media provides unknown opportunities for digital illusions and ways of interacting with audiences. Marco Tempest expertly combines “regular” magic with cutting-edge technology and: poof! creates a lyrical tale while dealing cards in a virtuoso manner. Via the augmented reality goggles he straps on, his entranced onlookers learn that suits, numbers and colors in a deck of cards actually correspond to our calendar and astonishes them with many an unexpected magic trick. View this video to witness top-notch hocus-pocus.

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