naps
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Pzizz, now free and on the iPad, helps you get to sleep
Pzizz is an app designed to help you get in a good power nap or get to sleep. For years, it's actually been two apps, one called Energizer (for power naps) and one for Sleep (for, well I think you can guess). The apps use a combination of a soothing voice with binaural tones to help you get to sleep. Binaural Tones (or beats) are a type of audio recording where different frequencies of sound are played in each ear, the resulting difference creating a beating tone phenomenon, which, it is believed, influences brainwave activity. There's some controversy and disagreement over how much of an effect they really have but I've found that the power naps really work for me. I've actually been using Pzizz for years, long before it was an iOS App. Granted, back in those days, I either had to have my laptop within earphone-cable-length of my bed or I had to generate my "naps" and push them to my iPod. Nowadays, I can lie down with my iPhone close by, hit start, and get in a nice power nap. I've never really used it for getting to sleep at night mainly because falling asleep with earbuds leads to my rolling over, and getting an earbud pushed into my ear and waking up in discomfort or even pain. But naps are generally on my back and 20 or so minutes in length and not an issue. Pzizz Energizer and Pzizz Sleep have been replaced by Pzizz. It is also now a universal app running natively on the iPad for the first time. This new app is also free, unlike the paid earlier versions and combines both Sleep and Energizer (now "Power Nap") as modules within the app. Using Pzizz is quite simple. You choose which module you wish to use, Power Nap or Sleep, and then choose the settings you want for each. The default settings are a great place to start, especially if you are new to the whole concept. As you get used to using the app, you can experiment with the other settings. The settings include: Length: How long you want Pzizz to play. For Sleep,it will quietly end and for Power Nap it will bring you back to wakefulness through the voice, the music, the binaural beats, and if those aren't enough, it will play an alarm after the end just in case. Voice: Both modules share a master switch to turn the voice on or off and Aurora 3D, which provides a more 3D sound to the entire experience than just regular stereo. Power Nap has an additional setting for Suggestions, which adds helpful hints throughout the nap rather than just playing the beginning and wake up sections at the start and finish. In general, I suggest starting with the voice turned on. Later, when you are an old pro at using Pzizz, you may find you do not need the voice. I personally still use it even after all these years. Volumes: You can change the relative volumes of the voice and the music to suit your personal tastes. Alarm: For Power Nap, you can opt to put an alarm on in case you are worried you will not wake up from your nap. For Sleep, the app suggests you use the built in alarm in the Clock app on your device. The rest is straightforward: put your device in airplane mode so you won't be disturbed, hit play, relax and enjoy your nap or your night's sleep. I am a big advocate for the power naps. When I hit the afternoon coma, a quick 20-minute nap does wonders and gives me the mental energy and focus to get me through the rest of my day. Pzizz is a free universal app for iPhone and iPad. It requires iOS 7.1 or higher.
Exploring Eberron: All aboard the Hogwarts express
So you want to be a wizard, eh? Whoa, whoa, not so fast there young whippersnapper! Just because you've lived under the stairs your whole life and can talk to snakes doesn't mean that you're the "chosen" anything around here. Wizardry is a dangerous profession, to be sure, and if a Beholder doesn't eat you alive, you'll most likely melt your own face off with a misplaced acid spray. Maybe you'd be better off going with a... simpler class, like a barbarian or janitor. No? Spells and glory is where it's at, you say? Fine. I'll teach you a few tricks, but don't go crying to mommy when the dark arts claim your soul just because you forgot to bring your eye of newt to the fight. Might as well come in, then, and I'll show you a thing or two about starting your own wizard before you jump into your first dungeon to fight your first dragon. Maybe you'll even clear the wax out of your ears enough so that you'll survive past the initial day, eh? I can always dream, I suppose. So let's get started!
Another reason to want a job at Google: insane napping pods
Sure, the work days might be long, but there are plenty of upsides to working at Google, as far as we can tell -- not the least of which are the technologically advanced MetroNap Energy Pods they've installed for their drones to nap in. Seriously? On site naps? We're there.
Hermit nap station provides peace and quiet for bloggers on the move (video)
As many a nomadic modern road warrior knows all too well, while you can get Internet access, juice for your laptop, and phone service on-the-go, privacy is at a premium. Thankfully, an Australian Design Science student named Kerry Jia Yi Lin has developed a little something called Hermit -- an "experimental interactive shell" that uses RFID tags to know when you've crossed your arms and set your head down for a nap. Once you've assumed the position, the felt shell closes above you, providing "a personal refuge in a communal environment." Sounds nice and peaceful, no? If you'd like to see it in action, we've got a video for you after the break. If you prefer a low-tech version, we suppose you could just throw a coat over your head.
The Aion server queue survival guide
So you pre-ordered Aion and you're super excited to jump into the game during the headstart release that's going on right now. You've set aside a whole block of time for your game play, you have your snacks at your side and your DVR ready to play some great entertainment while you grind your night away. You type in your username and password, accept the EULA, select the server that you made your character on during the pre-selection annnndd........you get slapped in the face with a 2 hour wait time.Don't worry, we've been there. Trust us on that. But here at Massively, we're not going to let you down in your moment of need. We've compiled a great list of fun things to do while you wait for that server queue to drop. Follow along after the break, and we'll be happy to show you the golden road to boredom elimination.
Japanese pillow offers napping advice
Until we heard about an upcoming product from Japanese Lofty, we were pretty sure that we knew all about the art of napping (we usually just take one when we're tired), but the company's new high-tech pillow indicates that there's more guesswork involved in naptime than we'd previously thought. Sporting built-in pressure sensors, an LCD display, and what we're assuming is a powerful sleep analysis engine, the pillow seems to do little more than count the number of times your head moves around at night, displaying the resulting data when you wake up in the morning. The sophisticated analysis comes into play when the pillow compares the previous night's movements to your regular sleep patterns (using its impressive ability to identify the bigger of two numbers), and if you had a more restless night than usual, it helpfully suggests that you try to squeeze in a nap or two during the day. Upon learning of this remarkable invention, we dialed up our bosses right away and asked if the Lofty pillow's recommendation carries the same weight as a doctor's note in allowing us to get out of work; unfortunately, it doesn't, so don't expect to see us in line with the other insomniacs willing to throw down a steep $390 when this gets released in September.
