+ Papyrus

With the growing popularity and widespread use of communication tools like texting, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, today’s students are more connected than ever. However, few educational solutions take advantage of these tools. Some schools use software like Blackboard, but the interfaces are clunky and outdated. Students don’t like it and faculty can’t or won’t use it. With that in mind, we present Papyrus.

Papyrus is an inexpensive, student oriented e-reader specially designed with collaboration in mind. It allows for on screen note taking with a stylus, as well as tagging the content. These tags are comments similar to those found on discussion forums, shared among all the students and the instructor in a given class. With all of this in mind, Papyrus also serves as a digital replacement for a student’s loaded backpack as it provides textbook, notebook and even a calculator all in one.

Papyrus’ stripped-down, specialized interface makes it accessible to a broad range of users. It’s simple enough that faculty and other adults won’t be intimidated or annoyed, yet functional enough that students will feel like they’re using something current.

One of the most important details about Papyrus is how it is so different from a traditional style tablet PC or PDA. First, the unit is far less expensive at around $100. With a combination of a removal of audio, high-end graphics card, Ethernet port, and a textbook publisher/manufacturer subsidy (due to the subscription based service now that they have no overhead costs of shipping/storage/most manufacturing costs since their books are now digital) the cost is quite reasonable. Second, the device has a much longer battery life (around 30 hours) from using an E-Ink screen. Third, Papyrus’ stripped-down, specialized interface makes it accessible to a broad range of users. It’s simple enough that faculty and other adults won’t be intimidated or annoyed, yet functional enough that students will feel like they’re using something current.

Many students don’t participate in class because they’re afraid of drawing attention to themselves. Papyrus places students in an environment which they’re already familiar with (Facebook, MySpace, etc), giving them a safe, familiar venue to speak out without unwanted attention. It also lowers costs for textbooks by eliminating manufacturing and shipping costs and passing the savings on to students.

Papyrus gives teachers the ability to respond to student issues as soon as they appear in a post and gives the chance to create a game plan for the next class meeting.

Papyrus gives teachers the ability to respond to student issues as soon as they appear in a post and gives the chance to create a game plan for the next class meeting versus going into the situation blind, wasting precious class time trying to figure out where to pick up from the last assignment. Most importantly, Papyrus provides collaboration and communication without the distractions of current technology like laptops.

With rising energy costs, other big beneficiaries to the Papyrus device include textbook manufacturers and publishers. This subscription based model means an optimized cost structure with steady revenue. Digital distribution lowers exposure to rising cost centers like fuel and raw materials. It eliminates the used textbook market, allows them to add rich content to books, and delivers updates and corrections without printing a new edition.

Papyrus may not be the end-all-be-all solution to better communication and collaboration in the classroom, but we hope that the concept can be a catalyst for discussion about improving the classroom experience for everybody involved. Please let us know what you think.

+ Tame Your Multitasking

Multitasking is impossible to escape in today’s world. As humans, we’ve always had the desire to stay connected to the people around us. Now that technology has made this easier than ever, we’ve developed a fear of urgency that any given phone call, email, or text might be really important. Multitasking is necessary, but it can be dangerous in some situations. Texting while driving is the number one distraction for new drivers, but it would also be difficult to restrict all phone use in a car. While we’re stuck with this desire to be connected, we think we can tame our multitasking.

Tame is a concept that sets a status message synced with all of your devices and applications. If you’re driving or need some privacy, you can tell Tame to handle auto-responses to your phone, IM, text, Facebook, and more. You can store messages on each face, and when you need to change your status, just rotate the cube to the desired face. Besides a written message, Tame uses a red-yellow-green color coding system to let people know at a glance if they can contact you.

An away message in Instant Messenger is useless to a person who is making contact via mobile phone. Tame delivers convergence of all these services, ensuring that someone trying to contact you will know your status regardless of the method.

Currently, multitasking requires people to manage multiple devices and applications indepedently. An away message in Instant Messenger is useless to a person who is making contact via mobile phone. Tame delivers convergence of all these services, ensuring that someone trying to contact you will know your status regardless of the method. Online software allows the user to customize their status messages from anywhere they have internet access, and Tame updates live via Bluetooth. Most importantly, the Tame interface is buttonless. To safely switch your status to “driving,” simply spin the cube to the right face.

Multitasking is an important part of our personal and professional lives, but sometimes you need to focus. Tame lets you concentrate on work when you need to, without giving up the peace of mind that you will still be able to receive a call if it is urgent. Tame doesn’t screen any incoming calls, so you can still answer any message if you choose.

Tame offers an alternative to the current method where all messages are of equal importance and difficult to screen. We see both the benefits and drawbacks to multitasking, and aim to create a dialogue on how to be both safe and efficient with it.

+ Linc - The Lifecycle Concept Phone

When we attended the Greener Gadgets conference last month, we got totally charged up about the great presentations and discussions the panel had. We heard a lot of great ideas and opportunities for gadgets to really become greener, including product takeback programs, efficiency, and cradle-to-cradle philosophies. With that, we present our concept for a greener gadget - LINC.

LINC is a typical touch screen smart phone with all the connectivity and features you come to expect. Its got a cell phone, a media player, a web browser, GPS, downloadable content, Bluetooth, wifi, the latest 3G network. But here’s the catch. LINC is leased to the user as a service, not a product. The user holds on to the device for about a year, and when the next generation of hardware comes along, the user receives a new LINC in the mail. The LINCs inform the user of their hardware upgrade, wirelessly transfer the digital account, and before being shipped back to the manufacturer, LINC informs the user of the next part of its journey.


LINC is to be shipped back to a regional manufacturing facility. The device contains valuable materials like aluminum, glass, and electronic components that the producer can harvest for re-use. Typically, mobile phones contain hazardous waste that goes into a landfill or are left in a desk drawer to sit in.

LINC is designed for automated disassembly. A directed radiant heat beam targets its internal memory metal latch, releasing the assembly. In one step, LINC automatically disassembles into its few simple components, glass, aluminum and its circuit flex. The glass and aluminum, not containing any paints or adhesives, are easily recycled to pure grade materials for immediate reuse. The remaining flexible circuit contains all the electronics necessary for the entire device. It’s full of hazardous materials, but it has been safely recovered for proper disposal. Many of the chip sets can easily be pulled for reuse. Components like the graphics card are out dated for LINC, but can be used in devices like portable gaming systems.

In one step, LINC automatically disassembles into its few simple components, glass, aluminum and its circuit flex.

Linc changes the entire paradigm of the production and consumption model today. If implemented, a design such as this could greatly reduce hazardous waste and improve environmental health by reducing e-waste. But we also wanted something that is very desirable and in line with the kind of gadgets todays users expect. Something that targets all the key issues of today's gadgets and attempts to offer feasible solutions and start a discussion as to how we can do better.

LINC is leased to the user as a service, not a product.

+ Concept- Local Load-Levelling Power Storage Station

Load Levelling

A promising direction to avoid building more power plants is Demand Side management, seeking to lower peak energy usage. Two related concepts are Advanced Metering ("AMI") and large scale energy storage. AMI gives the consumers information about their consumption to help encourage them to cut back, especially during peak demand (4 pm on a 100 deg. F day in the city). Energy storage concepts use power generated at off-peak hours to charge up batteries or store energy in other ways.

Our research led us to propose a sub-neighborhood sized power station to help communities shave their peak power usage, and get power backup protection as a side benefit. We'll call it the local load-levelling ("3L") station. Sized for something like 20-60 homes in a several block area, the 3L Station is basically a mid-sized storage battery (50-100 kw sized) combined with a small diesel or fuel cell generator module . During off-peak hours, the batteries are charged from the electrical grid, with assistance from the generator if needed. At peak hours, the battery supplies the extra electrical load needed by A/C or other modern electric demands.


The sub-neighborhood tied into this system becomes a kind of local energy cooperative group, combining to avoid raising demand for a new power plant. Current generation technology is a small diesel generator gen-set with clean technology, such as the AdBlue or catalytic converter systems used on some European cars and trucks. A small natural gas reformer/hydrogen fuel cell arrangement may be possible in the very near future. The generator can be small because it has 2/3 of the day to charge the battery, if the battery is fully utilized. Another possible attribute is that the heat generated during battery charge and discharge could be captured and supplied to adjacent residences. In some locations, the community group served by this station could collectively add wind and/or solar power to help further reduce their total demand on the grid.

We see the station integrated into the neighborhood as a visually appealing asset, not hidden away. And that may be one of it's best attributes, because AMI field testing suggests that keeping power issues visible can be a powerful motivation for conservation.

+ A Lesson in Green...

With more and more issues of energy usage and conservation coming to surface within the past several years, one challenge has always been educating the general population and helping influence them to make better decisions about their energy consumption. However, what if the advantages to being a little greener were introduced to children as young as second grade? Elementary students around the world work through math story problems asking how many apples Suzie would have left if she started with nine and gave Johnny five, but what if these problems could be focused to cover a lesson in green as well as mathematics? Below are a few possible examples of some story problems for you to try if you dare ask one question: Are you smarter than a green 5th grader?


Today's Quiz -

1) Jodie’s mom recently read that it takes energy equal to 0.42 gallons of gasoline to produce and ship a single pound of beef, and energy equal to 0.01 gallons of gasoline to produce a single pound of vegetables. If her family consumes 25 pounds of beef and 35 pounds of vegetables every month:

a) How much gasoline does it take to produce the beef they eat?
b) How much gasoline does it take to produce the vegetables?
c) How many times as much gasoline does it take to produce a pound of beef compared to a pound of vegetables?



2) Mike just bought a new handheld game system with his saved allowance. He is trying to decide whether to buy rechargeable batteries or disposable alkaline batteries. Over the course of the year he will need either 48 disposable batteries which cost 85 cents per battery or 8 rechargeable lithium batteries which cost 2 dollars each.

a) How much will it cost Mike for a year of disposable batteries?
b) How much will it cost Mike for a year of rechargeable batteries
assuming he already has a charger?



3) Joanne lives in Cincinnati and wants to visit her sister in Chicago for the weekend. She knows that using as little gasoline as possible helps the environment and she can either choose to take a Megabus or her own car. The trip is 320 miles. Her car gets 30 miles per gallon and she’ll be the only person in it. The bus gets 10 miles per gallon on the highway, and 35 people typically ride on this bus at the same time.

a) How much gasoline will Joanne’s car need per person to make the trip?
b) How much diesel fuel will the Megabus need per person?
c) (Extra credit) If burning a gallon of gasoline creates 20 pounds of carbon dioxide ("CO2"), and burning a gallon of Diesel fuel creates 22 pounds of CO2, how much less CO2 will Joanne's trip take if she takes the bus instead of the her car?



How do you think you did? Below you can find the answers to the above problems in order to check your work. Ok, so maybe you found those math skills are a little rusty. Regardless, teaching elementary school children about the benefits of being green, as proposed by energy consultants and agencies such as NASA, should be a positive step.


Solutions:
Solution #1:
a) 25*.42 =10.5 gallons of gasoline
b) 35*.01 = .35 gallons of gasoline
c) 1 pound of beef requires .42 / .01 = 42 times as much gasoline compared to a pound of vegetables.

Solution #2:
a) 48 * $0.85 = $40.80
b) 8 * $2 = $16

Solution #3:
a) 320miles/ (30 miles per gallon * 1 person) = about 10.7 gallons of gasoline per person
b) 320 miles / (10 miles per gallon * 35 people) = about .9 gallons of diesel per person.
c) The car trip would generate 10.7 gallons * 20 lbs per gallon = 214 pounds of CO2. Joanne's share of the bus trip would generate .9 gallons * 22 lbs per gallon = 20 lbs of CO2. Taking the bus will save 214-20 = 194 lbs. of CO2!

+ Concept: LUTW LED Housing Redesign

We were inspired by the work of LUTW and wanted to take a quick look at how we might be able to improve the delivery of light to developing countries. This is a redesign of the existing LUTW LED housing, focusing on cost of delivery, user experience, and quality of light.

The LUTW System
The LUTW system consists of two LED lights in mountable housing, a solar panel, a rechargeable battery to store the power, and electrical wiring to connect it all. Volunteer technicians generally install the systems in small towns and variations on the system are available.


The Redesign
Our concept for updating the LUTW LED housing is a simple object that snaps together to capture the LED PCB and lens. The two sides are identical and can be created from the same mold. The housing has features molded in that allow it to be easily mounted, wired, and accessed for service. The loops on the edge of the housing serve as an easy interface for adding a shade to control the quality of light.


The redesign aims to reduce the cost of manufacture by reducing the number of parts in the system and the weight for transport. The concept is limited in its impact to just the LED housing, but it is hoped that with further research we can address the full system of lighting.

+ Concept - Hybrid Semi Trailer Assist

A System to Make Semi Trucks more Efficient
What it is:

An add-on system for making semi-trailer trucks function as hybrids. A special trailer chassis and remote hybrid helper provide multiple levels of regenerative braking and energy storage. The stored energy is then used to boost fully loaded tractor trailer combos up hills, or to start-up in problem smog zones, such as port facilities, with reduced emissions. The system in one of several versions should provide increased fuel economy and reduced criteria pollutants by converting the energy lost in braking to energy for propulsion.

How it works:

Standard trailers used to haul intermodal containers are steel girder chassis with sets of tandem wheels. After offloading from ships or trains, containers are mated to the chassis, and a diesel powered semi-tractor unit couples on the chassis. In the HSTA concept, electric motor-generators are integrated into the trailer chassis’ tandem wheel axles. Similar to a hybrid car (Toyota Prius for example), the motor generators produce electricity via regenerative braking instead of normal friction brakes. A bank of batteries can be mounted under the trailer chassis (lots of room!) to store this energy.

When the truck/trailer combo needs to accelerate or go uphill, electric power flows from the batteries to the motors to provide some or all the power needed to propel the truck. The tractor’s diesel engine can be left at idle or even shut down until the batteries’ stored energy is drained. No modifications to the tractor other than perhaps some added control boxes are needed. So any of the hundreds of thousands of existing tractor trucks can become a hybrid by coupling up to one of these new modular chassis.

Adding a Helper

An alternative implementation of this idea is to duplicate or move the motors and batteries to a remote control guided helper vehicle. The remote hybrid helper vehicle, or”RHH”, couples to the rear of the trailer going either up or down hills, or in port facilities. On downhills the RHH’s motor/generators charge up it’s battery bank using regenerative braking, to be used to boost the trailer uphill, or from a stop. The unique twist is that the helper can decouple from the downhill bound vehicle after providing braking, and couple up to an uphill bound vehicle to push it up the hill.

Downhill link up: The Remote Hybrid Helper vehicle is guided
on auto pilot to link up to the rear of a semi with a hybrid chassis.


Downhill braking and charging: Motor generators on the RHH generate electricity via regenerative braking. The truck trailer can also generate power if suitably equipped. The electricity charges the batteries on the RHH.

At the bottom of the hill the RHH is released from the truck.


The RHH exits and returns to the opposite side for the next uphill trip.


Uphill pushing: The RHH now couples to an uphill bound semi truck with a compatible trailer. The RHH helps push the trailer and provides additional electricity to the trailer to power the motors.

The unique benefit is that the RHH is an exchange medium for collecting the potential energy of the downhill bound tractor-trailer combination, and handing it off to another uphill bound vehicle. And the vehicle itself doesn’t have to carry the cost and weight of the battery-motor system on long, flat runs where it might not provide any benefit. Further, in a dense transport environment like a port or city, the RHH vehicles could be charged up from the utility grid, and provide smog-free propulsion to get the semi-truck out on the open road. Of course, we'd want to have a high efficiency, low emission utility power plant powering the grid.

In some situations, both the RHH and HSTA technologies can be employed together, with the RHH providing power to the HSTA trailer.

+ Concept - Current State

We were inspired by the energy visualization concepts and the lack of well design device timers to create this high tech system to help individuals take control of their energy usage. Current State is a real-time energy use monitoring system and timer for powered devices combined into one. The Current State system is made up of two parts, a mobile application for you cell phone, which allows you to control and monitor electricity use from anywhere, and a series of Plug-Ends that give you control over the products around your house.



How it Works

1. Order the system online, specifying the number of Plug-Ends needed.
2. Install Current State software on your mobile device.
3. Attach Plug-Ends to powered devices around your house.
4. Sync Plug-Ends to software, giving each powered device a descriptive name and confirming its location within your house.
5. Use Current State to remotely monitor your energy usage, control your devices, and set up automatic timers.



The Plug-Ends
The Plug-Ends allow users to turn powered devices on or off remotely. Devices can be turned on and off and the flick of Current State’s virtual switches, or set up on timers to turn themselves on and off at specified times.

The Plug-Ends are designed to be simple and energy conscious. They contain no LEDs or screens. All of their controls can be accessed through your mobile device.


Current State Software
The Current State software is designed to help users monitor their energy usage and take steps to control their energy consumption. Here is a closer look at some of the application’s features...

Usage and Goals
The Usage screens focus on energy consumption throughout your house. The main screen shows real-time energy rates and your overall usage in killowatt hours and dollars for your current billing period. An overall graphic of your home depicts rooms that are at high, acceptable, or low energy consumption.


Close ups of each room help identify which devices and outlets are causing the most drain. Current State is designed to help educate users and therefore uses a percentage system based on a user’s energy goals to judge over consumption. Users can specify energy goals for each room or device. Energy usage is shown as a percentage of that goal, where 100% is the set goal and anything above or below 100% shows excess consumption or efficiency.


Energy efficiency goals can be monitored and changed over time. For extra motivation and a competitive twist, your energy usage and goals are ranked in comparison to other users in your neighborhood and around the country. Participating energy companies can choose to add additional incentives for well set and achieved efficiency goals.



Controls
The Control section of Current State gives users remote control over any powered device in their house with a Plug-End attached to it. Devices can be turned on or off from anywhere within or outside of the home. All devices have an additional Auto setting, which acts as a timer. There are many devices within a house that do not need to be powered up, or even on standby, at all hours of the day. For these types of devices, the Auto timer setting can be used. Users set on and off times for both morning and night time hours to help reduce excess energy usage and increase their home’s overall efficiency.

+ Vessel: Your Drink

The Greener Grass wouldn't be complete without some product concepts inspired by our collection of interviews with experts in the field of health and wellness. Check out our previous health and wellness concepts here - we'll post a new idea each day this week!

From speaking with people like WheyUP founder Erik Rothchild, VeeV co-founder Courtney Reum, and Amelia Bay's Jason Crandall, we realized that there's no such thing as the perfect drink for everyone. There's no mass market for beverages, but instead millions of individuals, each with their own unique functional needs, taste and consistency preferences- so we created Vessel.


Vessel is the ultimate in personalized beverages. It's Your Drink. It's exactly what the name implies: a system for you to create a drink that's yours and yours alone by combining flavors and ingredients. It frees you from the tyranny of lowest common denominator marketing that produces the same products year after year without ever really innovating.

Vessel has three components: Base, Flavor, and Agent.


Bases provide a combination of nutrients for your lifestyle that are at the foundation of the drink. The Active Woman Base might be heavy in iron, calcium, and protein, while the Mature Man base could focus on zinc, saw palmetto, and B-vitamins.

Flavors are responsibly-sourced, organic extracts of botanical and agricultural products that allow you to tailor the drink to your tastes- no matter how exotic they might be. Wheatgrass/mango/oatmeal? No problem. Cranberry/mocha/vanilla? Coming right up. Or just plain chocolate.

Agents are the active ingredients that deliver the functional benefits you need. Vessel has an enormous variety of Agents, from vitamins and minerals to protein to caffeine, taurine and ginseng, that can be assembled in a nearly limitless range of combinations.

The details
The components come together in a resuable, Lexan container, sold separately from the Base, Flavor and Agent. The container features details that are the product of detailed ethnographic research on athletes and other performance enthusiasts.

For example, we saw that one of the shortcomings with a lot of powdered drinks is that they don't mix very well, leaving unmixed gunk in the bottom of the glass. The small perturbation on the bottom of the Vessel container serves as an agitator that helps mix the contents when shaking- no more gunk at the bottom.

The hook on the underside of the lid addresses another common complaint. Screw tops are no good, because they get lost easily. Drinking bottle usually feature a tethered cap that doesn't get lost, but it's always in the way. Pull-top valve enclosures used on many sports drinks are a hassle. Vessel's lid is easy to open, but hard to lose.

What's Your Drink?
What would your perfect Vessel mix be? Post your idea in the comments!

+ Peanut Knows!

Food allergies can be dangerous. Constant vigilance and scrutiny of diet demands an awareness of ingredients and close attention to package labeling. This can be challenging and frustrating, particularly for parents and caregivers of young children. According to the Mayo Clinic, peanut allergy affects approximately 1.5 million people in the United States. As the most common cause of life-threatening allergic reactions (anaphylaxis), peanut allergies account for 80 percent of fatal or near-fatal allergic reactions each year.

Nothing can replace the knowledge and devotion of parents and caregivers, but perhaps some additional assistance that supports this vigilance could help. Peanut Knows might just may be that helper!


The Peanut Knows is a friendly little fellow that can detect the presence of peanut and peanut trace in food products. The electronic nose sniffs out the culprit and alerts the user, helping to prevent allergic reactions.

The concept is from a form metaphor of the elephant's affinity for peanuts. This is an elephant pendant that, when placed on the side of your dish (bottom button is depressed), 'sniffs' for peanuts. If peanut content is detected the 'mouth' lights up.


Small, cordless, simple, easy to use and cute. Peanut Knows serves as reminder to take care when serving food to small children that may have food allergies.

Similar detection devices exist today, such as FQSI's SensorfreshQ Freshness meter that measures bacteriological activity on uncooked meat and poultry.

Concept by Mark Mock
Design by Ramsey Ford

Relevant links:
http://www.fqsinternational.com/products.htm

+ Life at the office in 2017

The Greener Grass wouldn't be complete without some product concepts inspired by our collection of interviews with experts in the field of health and wellness. Today's idea looks at what a day at the office might be like in the year 2017, reflecting the current interest in corporate wellness programs. Check out our previous health and wellness concepts here - we'll post a new idea each day this week!

Life at the office in 2017

Life at my company sure has changed in the last 10 years! I am the healthiest I have ever been since the company subscribed and promoted the Meal Master wellness plan. Ever since, everyone who has signed onto the plan is feeling great, being more productive, and I can’t even remember the last time I had a sick day! Haven’t heard of the Meal Master system? Let me tell you how it works…

When you sign on, you’ll begin meeting with a nutritionist quarterly who will help you to establish a set of realistic goals you’d like to accomplish through your diet. (For me it was losing weight early on, and then later maintaining my ideal weight.) They’ll help you set your individual goals, and that information goes into the Meal Master software program guide. It’s great! Just download it to your phone and laptop, and you’ll have your nutrition information at your fingertips as you go throughout your day. And since you’ll take your phone wherever you go, like the grocery store, you’ll have a guide right there in your hand.


Our company also bought a Smart Vendor for our floor. This was such a lifesaver! For those who sign onto the program the Smart Vendor displays on screen only the choices it has available that fit into your diet according to your goals (thanks to Blue Tooth!). Oh sure, I’ve seen all the choices that Adam has when he steps up and gets a snack, but I’m perfectly happy without the temptation. Believe me, ignorance is bliss!

Exercise offers a whole other range of options for subscribers. Feel like you never have time to exercise? As part of the wellness plan the company has bought several new ExerChairs. These chairs allow you to comfortably pedal while you work, right at your desk! Again, Blue Tooth signals to your laptop how many miles you have pedaled each day, and adjusts your diet allowance accordingly.


And if that weren’t enough, our company has mandatory daily exercise breaks. It’s like recess all over again - each day there is a different group activity in our fitness room. Yoga, Pilates, aerobics and spinning classes are just to name a few. Our company also installed a new 30 minute work out circuit with free weights and nautilus equipment. I feel so energized afterwards, even if I don’t break a sweat.

Overall, our company has saved money by incorporating the wellness plan and reduced health care plan costs (which have risen 20+% each year nationally). It’s a win-win for everyone; I feel great, am more productive while working, and have likely added years to my life - all while saving my company money on insurance premiums. Thanks Meal Master!

+ Solve the Rehydrate Debate with the FluidReplenish Patch

The Greener Grass wouldn't be complete without some product concepts inspired by our collection of interviews with experts in the field of health and wellness. Today's idea is our solution to settle the debate between water and sports drinks for athletes. Check out our previous health and wellness concept here - we'll post a new idea each day this week!



Water, or sport drink, or both? Consumer confusion is a trend in health and wellness (read more here) so we propose a solution. The FluidReplenish Patch tells you the best formula to rehydrate after a workout. Wear it on a core arm muscle during your exercise and watch it track the nutrients lost through your sweat. Water, sugar, and sodium are core components to rehydrating the body, but athletes don't know which to use or when to use them.



Each fluid has its advantages - water for rehydrating and sports drinks (sugar and sodium) for re-energizing and retaining fluids longer - just read the three bars after the workout and reach for that combination in your fridge. For example, this runner needs a combination of the two drinks based on the bar readings: the 'sodium' and 'sugar' show he needs a sports drink to refuel, and the almost full 'water' bar tells him to finish that water bottle he already has and to fill it up again. A full bar on the patch reads 24 oz. of fluid.

To use FluidReplenish, wear one patch for each workout in your routine (i.e.: cardio, weight-lifting, Pilates, etc...) to learn the fluid formula that fits you. Then, write down how your body needs to be replenished after your workouts and make rehydrating properly a part of your everyday routine. As your fitness improves, track your changes in hydration with the FluidReplenish Patch.

To learn more about the differences between water and sports drinks, check out this chart from the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, and for more on the fluid replacement debate all together, we suggest this paper from the American College of Sports Medicine.

Relevant Links:
Breaking through the myths: An interview with fitness and nutrition expert Alan Aragon
Interview with WheyUP! founder Erik Rothchild

+ The Smart Shopper - A Better Way to Buy Groceries

The Greener Grass wouldn't be complete without some tangible artifacts inspired by our collection of interviews with experts in the field of health and wellness. As product developers, we've combined our skills in strategy, design, and engineering to bring you concept solutions that we think can improve our society. Check back to the site throughout the week as we continue to share our ideas.
The Smart Shopper is a grocery carrier that helps shoppers make better food decisions and promotes well-balanced nutrition. The core user is an urban female professional, most likely an Average Achiever or Progressive Professional, who leads a busy life and needs an efficient way to shop. She wants to add more variety to her diet but doesn't know where to start.
As we learned from our interview with Produce for Better Health, people have a hard time getting enough fruits and vegetables in their diets. To help solve this problem, the inside of the Smart Shopper is divided into 6 sections to help one buy a variety of foods and maintain good balance with their diets.
We also learned from the PBH and Kellogg's that consumers can make nutritious choices by staying well informed. To support this, the Smart Shopper features a grocery list that doubles as a reference guide, with tips and information about a variety of foods. Educated on how to choose, prepare, and eat these foods, shoppers will feel empowered to buy healthy options knowing how they can fit into their lives.

Design by Celina Castaneda

Relevant links:
Cereal Box Makeover
Eat Your (Fruits and) Vegetables