What is Ugly Meter? New APP Analyzes How “Ugly” You Are

What is Ugly Meter? New APP Analyzes How “Ugly” You Are

 

Image via azcentral.com

There is a new app available for Iphones that will allow you to take a picture of someone and then have it run a facial recognition, analyzing whether the person is attractive or not.  The app then makes a comment about their appearance . . . good or bad.

The app is very popular but it is causing debate as to whether this is a good thing to do.  Some see it as harmless fun, while others think it can be causing bullying, leading to psychological distress. 

The app, only 99 cents,  will assign a score from 0-10.  Ten being the least attractive.

How popular is this app? According to azcentral.com “About two months after its release, Ugly Meter has generated over 100,000 downloads, peaking at No. 3 on the most popular chart.”

How did a beauty like Angelina Jolie rate on their test?  How about Brad Pitt? Check out the results by clicking here.

The Ugly Meter iPhone App

image via dailymail.co.uk

The Happiness Advantage: Not What I Expected . . . It was Better

image via server.enterprisemedia.com

I have been reading the new book, The Happiness Advantage, by Shawn Achor. I have read a lot of books about personalities and psychology when doing research for my book: It’s Not You . . .It’s Your Personality. I noticed an ad for this book on AOL and thought I’d check it out. I’m glad I did because if I had seen this book, I may not have picked it up.

The cover does not do it any justice. The plain orange cover, containing what I assume is a partial smiley face, doesn’t really portray how interesting and entertaining this book is. I immediately liked the author’s style and content. He comes across as someone who would be very approachable.

The author, who not only went to Harvard, but taught there as well, comes across as much more of a common-man, than I expected. I mean that in the best of ways. He writes in a light, entertaining way and still educates the reader. Sometimes when you hear big name university instructors have written things, you imagine that their writing might be stuffy, and have too strong of a scholarly or dry tone. This is not the case with this author’s work. Achor has a strong idea of how to connect with the reader. He must have been a wonderful instructor. Perhaps that is why his course in happiness was one of the most popular Harvard course offerings at the time.

The book is about using his 7 principles learned from psychology to be happier and more successful. Filled with anecdotes about his travels and speaking experiences, Achor does a nice job of holding your interest. It is a very optimistic book about how we can all be happier if we follow these 7 principles.

What I really enjoyed about the book, other than the lighter tone, was that he explains some very interesting psychological experiments that are the basis of his work.

I highly suggest checking it out.

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Dr. Diane Hamilton – Tech Forum 2010

 

For those of you  atttending  University of Advancing Technology Tech Forum –  I will be giving a talk about “How to Obtain Your Dream Job And Make More Money Marketing You”  – See:  University of Advancing Technology – Tech Forum 2010.  The talk will be from 5:30-6:30 on November 4, 2010 at UAT.  For more information about the speakers at this seminar, click here.

What is an Intellitar? Live Eternally Through a Virtual Representation of You

 

Have you heard about Intellitars?  Intellitar.com describes them as: An artificially intelligent representation of you, that you can carry on a real-time conversation, just like a real person.  Through your intellitar, you will be able to preserve and share your personality, life experiences, knowledge, wisdom, memories, in a way never before available.

For some interesting articles about Intellitars, check out: 

Virtual Eternity:  Leave Your Legacy Online With Your Own Digital Clone

Would You Like to Meet Your Ancestors?

A Lifelike Legacy

Some say the image is a bit creepy.  The voice still sounds mechanical when it speaks.  To check out a demonstration of an Intellitar, click here. 

What I found interesting was that the person who is having an Intellitar made of them must take a Myers-Briggs personality asssessment to gather information to develop their identity and inpart their personality.  For more about this, check out an article on Forbes blogs by clicking here.

College Costs . . . Good News Bad News

[Tuition]

image via online.wsj.com

If you are considering going back to college, you may be interested to know that tuition rates are going up.  That is the bad news.  The good news is that the Pell grants are on the rise.  I give a lot of advice about paying for college in my book, The Online Student User’s Manual.  For more information, you can also check out some of my recent articles by clicking here.   

According to an article in WSJ.com by Stephanie Banchero, “The average price of tuition and fees for in-state students at public four-year institutions is $7,605 this school year, a 7.9% increase over last year. At private nonprofit colleges and universities, the average price is $27,293, a 4.5% rise. Two-year state colleges saw a 6% rise to $2,713.”  To read the entire article, click here.

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