Nu12 #10 By Marta Fretheim

Hi Profesor,

Not sure if you received this NU12

BR

Marta Fretheim

NU 10

New spending habits
"Healthy spending's"

I have noticed how the fast food companies are really popular. When people are going out to eat and treat themselves they go to popular fast food branches such as Jollibee, McDonalds, Chow king, KFC etc. The last 10 years the industry has in fact doubled (according to: http://www.ats.agr.gc.ca/ase/5991-eng.htm). Fast food is fat and unhealthy food consisting of little nutrition. I was told that this is really popular when growing up, like a treat. I also used to treat myself with some tasty unhealthy food. But I realized such simple pleasures didn't actually give me anything, in fact it gave me more of a worry than satisfaction.

Junk food for instance does fill up your stomach, but its does not contain a lot of nutrition. The consequences of regularly eating fast food is several, here are the most common; raised blood pressure, increased cholesterol (LDL), reduce digestion, weaken the immune system and unstable blood sugar levels. Fast food and other unhealthy foods make your energy level lower and because of your unstable blood level you will in fact crave more. The immune system weakens, one gets easier sick and starts gaining weight. Some people will then start spending more time/money on working out or even in some extreme cases surgery is necessary. This goes for all over the world.

Realizing this I started focusing more on healthy foods and learned pretty quick that I actually prefer the taste of healthy foods and the feeling I get after a healthy meal. Changing the mindsets and spending habits on more healthy food gives people more energy and a happier and healthier life, which I am sure we all want.  3

NU12 Idea #12 by Mariko Franca “The Cool Ref”

I found myself staring at our refrigerator one very hot Saturday afternoon and I wished I can stay inside it even for couple of hours just to cool myself.  This led me to thinking about other things our refrigerator can function as and below are the things that I came up with:

1.  Room cooler – We do not have an air-conditioner at home and we have to rely on the electric fans to cool the room.  What if the ref can also help cool the room?  I'm thinking that as the inside of the ref cools so will its outer part.  The appliance can have a switch button that provides you the option to do this or just keep the cool inside especially on already cold days or when no one is in the kitchen.4

2.  Expiry date alarm – You can input digitally the expiry date of the things you put inside your ref.  An alarm (i.e. beep, flashing red light) will go off to warn you that an item will be expiring soon.  You can set the options as to when you want to be informed (i.e. one day or one week in advance).  If your house is wifi-enabled and you have a smartphone, you can also have your ref send you a warning (i.e. text message) so that you will be informed even when you go on vacation. 4

3.  Auto-grocery list – I believe that every household has a particular set of goods that are regular refrigerator grocery items.  In our house for example, we should always have bread, eggs, Yakult, cheese, and fish.  My dad sometimes fail to check what is it that we still have in stock and so end up with too much fish or vegetables which would eventually go to waste.  The auto-grocery list system will have a screen and keyboard.  The system will be installed in the ref door.  What you first need to do is type in the items that your ref should always contain.  You need to update the system whenever you put in or remove an item.  Imagine a digital inventory system.  Then before you leave for the grocery, you can press the 'send' button and you will receive the auto-grocery list in your smartphone.  You can also set the system to send you the list at a particular date and time.  For example, if it was for my dad it would be every Sunday at 1PM which is when he goes to the grocery store. 4

NU12 Idea #11 by Mariko Franca “Sensor(ed)”

There are many things that are using sensors nowadays:  lights, television, guns, convertible cars, doors, etc.  It does make things easier for us so I thought of other things that could use sensors.  Below are three thing that I came up with:

1.  Umbrella - You know how the umbrella handle is all rigid but the rain can come from several directions within a span of seconds?  If umbrellas have sensors, they will bend against the direction of the wind so you can optimize the shield that it provides you from the rain.  This way, you can focus on walking/running while holding the handle well (so it doesn't fly away) while the upper bendable part does its work. 4

2.  Waiting Sheds – Waiting sheds protect us from rain and glaring sun.  Sometimes though, there are so many people that the shed cannot cover everyone.  If waiting sheds have sensors, they can expand sideways so more people will be covered.  There will be a limit as to how long the shed will expand, probably half of the shed on both sides.  The sensor will detect the presence of people so it will expand.  It will go back to its original size if it does not detect anyone under it after 2 or 3 minutes. 4

3.  iPad/Cellphone – One of the things I think we can innovate in gadgets like the iPad and cellphone are the 'unlock' keys.  What if instead of pressing 'unlock + asterisk' in the cellphone or doing the wiping motion in the iPad, there will be a built-in sensor that will detect if someone is holding the gadget?  The sensor will be in the area where users are usually holding the gadget.  By placing or holding the gadget in that area, your cellphone and tablet will automatically unlock.  The sensor will be sensitive only to the skin and not just anything it comes into contact with. 4

Nu12 #3 By Marta Fretheim - New Online booking process

NU 3

New routines/processes in the office

Working for an action sports travel agency, Lapoint Travels AS, the bookings are an important process. I have spent a lot of time fickeling with the now-being system, 

The process now:

At the moment we are using an online booking form. When a customer books the booking is aggregated in our online booking sheet in an excel format. The form is off cores only accessible to Lapoint Travels staff. When booking, our customers also have to confirm and approve our booking terms. Our booking responsible will then check the availability and send a confirmation within a working day. When the confirmation is sent this is registered in the booking sheet and within 5 days an invoice is sent by mail to the customer. 

The new process:

I would like everything to happen automatically. Primarily I would try to make our own database (if there is non premade applicable). This way our customers would know immediately if there is availability or not and there would be less work with the bookings. Also I would like the payment to be done when the customer books. At the moment there is a lot of work sending payment reminders, this could easily be avoided. When all the information is stored in a single database it would be easier to access information about the customers and the packages we have sold and write reports. The process would now look something like this:

-       -  Customer goes to our booking page at lapoint.no

-       - Fills out the necessary information

-       - The online database will immediately signal whether the indicated dates are available or not

-       - If not available customer will get a message saying the dates are not available, please try another date.

-       -  The customer is then asked to read and confirms our terms

-       -  Then the customer will do the online payment (by credit card)

-       - And will get a receipt for the payment.

-       - There will be an automated email sent to their email address confirming their booking and payment as well.

There will be a lot less work with the bookings as the whole process is automated.  Also making the invoices and monitoring the payments and reminders will no longer be necessary. Salary is expensive in Norway and this will definitely help reduce the labor costs. 4

MF

Med vennlig hilsen

Marta Fretheim

Lapoint Travels AS

Mob: +47 46 63 92 28

WWW.LAPOINT.NO

NU12 Idea #2: The BEEPO by Mariko Franca

Last week, two of my friends became victims of a group of snatchers along EDSA.  Friend #1 was able to retrieve his wallet because he felt it being taken out from his pants pocket and began beating the men around him with his umbrella.  Friend #2 was not so lucky.  He only noticed that his phone was gone when he sat on the bus.  Both were told by a bystander that the snatcher already rode another bus.  We believe that it is highly probable that the technique of the group consist of a person hugging your leg to distract you, a person who actually picks your pocket, the person who tells you that the snatcher already ran away, and 1 or more person who is on the lookout.

I was with Friend #1 at the time of the incident.  When the adrenaline finally slowed down he told me he realized that he is lucky the robbers did not hurt him.  We hear of people who were stabbed or gunned down to death because they would not give up their wallet or cellphones; or the victims fought back.  I understand why some would fight back.  The money in their wallet is probably the only money they have and so they feel the great need to protect it.  But what can a student or an employee coming home from a weary day at school or work do if they are up against armed men?  And going to the police to report a stolen wallet or cellphone seems futile because the robbers can sell your cellphone faster than a police planning their move to locate your valuable.  Such is the dilemma of commuters.

With this in mind, I thought, what if there is a way to know that any of your valuable was taken away from you but at the same time, keeps you safe from harm?  I call it the BEEPO.

The BEEPO is a combination of the word beep and point.  It is a device that, from the name itself, beeps and points.  Think Store-Security-Tag-meets-GPS.  This is how it will work:

1.  The basic BEEPO set consists of 2 tags.  Tag 1 is the device stuck to your body, placed in your bag or anywhere in your person where it is safe.  Tag 2 is the device that you stick or place in the valuable that you want to protect (i.e. cellphone, wallet, iPad).

2.  You will activate the BEEPO using Tag 1.  You can set the type and volume of the alarm tone; the distance by which you want to be notified (how far should your valuable be from you before the alarm sets off); and the on-off button for the alarm.  It also has a port for connecting to your computer.

3.  Once activated, the BEEPO is now ready for use.  When your wallet or cellphone is taken from you to a distance that you have set, Tag 2 will send off an alarm (beep).  When you hear the alarm, you and the other commuters around you will know who has your valuable (point).  This will make the robber drop your valuable and run or run away with it.  Whether s/he drops it or run away with it, the people will know who s/he is and so you have witnesses.

4.  In cases where the environment is noisy and so you cannot hear the alarm, the BEEPO also serves as a GPS locator.  Connect Tag 1 to your computer and you will know your phone's location.  You can now report it to the police so they can retrieve it for you.  (Some phones now have GPS locator as part of the security feature.)

The BEEPO will also be available in bigger sets (more than 2 tags) for those who would like to protect more than one valuable (i.e. both cellphone and wallet).  In such a case, Tag 1 will just have more buttons and settings to accommodate the additional tags.  4