Suffering from extreme stress and anxiety issues? Looking to establish a better balance between your mind and body? Want to feel good mentally and physically? The key to all these questions lies in one word – yoga. A single solution to all your anxiety and healing woes, yoga can be a good option to get back in shape, both mentally and physically. There are several techniques involved in yoga such as stretching, controlled breathing, meditating, and relaxing. With just a little bit of guidance and tips, yoga can also be practiced at home easily. So why not convert your smart phone into a yoga guru and follow these four incredible yoga apps listed below to do it like a pro!

Daily Yoga (Available on Android and iOS)

This dynamic app, available free for Android and iOS users, is arguably one of the best, as far yoga apps are concerned. Concentrating on various aspects of the body such as the back, abs, chest, hips, and weight loss, Daily Yoga has a vast library of more than 300 poses, soothing background music, live voice instructions and videos for you to refer to. Moreover, via its social community support, Daily Yoga also helps you connect and share updates with friends and other yogis.

Simply Yoga (Available on Android and iOS)

Simply Yoga is a simple yet efficient yoga app that will play the role of a perfect yoga instructor. Essentially a workout app, Simply Yoga includes 20, 40, and 60 minute workout sessions in the form of simple and short videos, breaking down and demonstrating each pose in a sequence. With its superb video demonstrations and calm voice instructions, Simply Yoga is an app you should definitely download.

A Facial Yoga and Facelift (Available on Android)

Want to get rid of facial fat? Want to look as if you’ve just had a facelift? If yes, A Facial Yoga and Facelift is one app that’ll work wonders on your face. It has exercises for specific areas of the face such as forehead, nose, mouth, lips, chin, cheeks and eyes, as well as for the throat and neck. This incredible app has more than 85 exercises that work to tone up muscles of the face and neck. Apart from toning, these exercises also help in increasing blood circulations, releasing tension, smoothening and glowing of facial skin, controlling wrinkles, and much more.

Pocket Yoga (Available on Android and iOS)

Why join a yoga class when you can literally have your very own yoga workout guide inside your pocket? Pocket Yoga is a great app which lets you choose between three different yoga practices that differ in focus and difficulty levels, available in 30, 60, and 90 minute durations. Besides, if you don’t wish to use the default background music them while doing your yoga, Pocket Yoga lets you use your own sound track! With detailed voice instructions, visual guides, and illustrated poses, Pocket Yoga is an interesting app that is very easy to follow.

Whether you are a beginner, or a regular yoga practitioner, these are four amazing yoga apps that won’t disappoint you.

Wayne Russel is a certified trainer and gives clinical pilate lessons. A health freak, he suggests people to make best use of the technology available to get fitter. He also blogs about different training methods.

Nikon’s series of 70-200mm lenses are fun, sturdy devices, with an extremely crisp telephoto range, all the way down into portrait territory. Making an optic that spans such a range is no easy task; compromises have to be made if one device is to accomplish so much. Out of this fact comes an adverse effect known as focus breathing, which means that a lens’ focal length has a dependence on the distance from its subject. In other words, the closer you get to an object, the shorter the effective focal length of the lens becomes.

Its Affect on Us

To be explicit, here’s how focus breathing works. Let’s go out for the day to a rolling park, where we find ourselves in the middle of a large field, under a gazebo with plenty to stare at. You set everything up on your tripod and decide that today is a day to use your 70-200mm f/2.8. As you start taking some pictures of the tree-line in the distance, there are no problems. But suppose you now pointed your camera towards a bench in the gazebo, still set to your 200mm focal length. Now that we’re using our telephoto range in close proximity, the effective focal length of the lens has decreased. Moving your tripod closer to the bench will amplify this effect, and it is the result of long focal lengths not really being meant for short range use.

A Comment on the Severity

On the f/2.8 specifically, focus breathing is such an issue that at a distance of 3 feet, the focal length is about 60% of its nominal value, a huge difference! The easy remedy for this though is that wider focal lengths do not exhibit this same problem. Obviously, it makes no sense to have close up shots of the gazebo’s construction without making full use of the lens’ focal range. The existence of this on a lens, even excessively so, isn’t much to worry about as it can be worked around. Those looking for peace of mind, however, will be happy to know that Nikon’s new 70-200mm f/4 ED VR AF-S exhibits almost no breathing.

Something to keep in mind about focus breathing is that it is not as enormous of an issue as it seems in the abstract. In all practicality, if you own a 200mm telephoto lens, then you will want to use it for distance photography. Having the ability to swap between that and the normal 70mm range means great versatility, and the good news is that most lenses only breathe at the long end of their spectrum. The wide end does not exhibit nearly as much of this effect, and likewise, the wide end is what you would opt to use for closer subjects anyhow. It isn’t a deal-breaker in any case, merely something to be aware of.

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•  License: Creative Commons image source 

Bill Green is an engineering student and freelancer for Photo.net where you can read an in-depth review of the Nikon 70-200 lens and hundreds of camera and lens reviews.

The arrival of Google’s new Glasses project has brought the whole idea of augmented reality right back to the centre of the fold. Augmented reality has, for a long time now, been touted as the future of interaction and been introduced in varying guises.

From apps such as Layar for smart phones to other manners in which to implement it, there are few places where augmented reality (AR) has been as interesting as its use in kiosk technology. We’ve seen a number of amazing, high tech kiosks showcase some of the amazing uses of AR – so let’s take a look at some of the best.

Nissan Cube AR

Nissan used this AR kiosk at the 2011 Seoul Motor Show. The kiosk came with an interactive brochure that allowed users to interact with the car. When users changed page on the brochure, the kiosks showcased different parts of the car in 3D on-screen. Not only that, but when you turned the brochure around you could control your view of the car to create a virtual showroom.

Lego AR

Lego introduced these AR kiosks to children’s departments in a number of stores. The machines allowed children and parents to see what a specific box of Lego would look like before purchase. Individual boxes could be taken and shown to the screen in store and then the finished product would be displayed in 3D glory on top of the box in its full working order. Like Nissan’s attempt the box could be twisted for 360 degree views of the item and Lego even added animated characters to the kiosk screen to make things more exciting and allow users an exciting and engaging preview of the toy all thanks to the touchscreen kiosk.

Museums

Museums are using the kiosk and AR mixture in a number of ways and one of the best we’ve seen has been in the environmental mould. One American museum uses cards with images of endangered species to allow users to see their natural habitats on screen, as well as facts about each animal. In its non-kiosk form AR has been used extensively with smart phones in museums as a way for users to learn in a more interactive way about items in museums.

Tourism kiosks are also very popular for this reason and the AR and Kiosk mix has been used for a variety of great collaborations. We’ve seen a number of guidebooks and brochures that can be used with the kiosk to show case information, terrain and also history among other things. Essentially, kiosks and AR is a match made in heaven and the limit is often the creator’s imagination.

Christopher Rennicks has worked in the kiosk industry for a number of years and has written on the topic for a number of businesses.

The next time a college professor busts a student for using his phone, he may want to reconsider. There’s no doubt that today’s smart phone is a powerful tool that can be a camera, a video recorder or even a television – and yes, you can still make phone calls and text as well. Here are some of the best ways college students can use their smart phones to make the most of their college experience.

iStudiez Pro: One app that is sure to help college students navigate their busy schedules is iStudiez Pro. College students have so much on their plate. From classes and work-study jobs to study group meetings and activities, many college students would benefit from their own personal assistants. It can be quite overwhelming being a college student, but iStudiez Pro aims to lighten the load. This app acts a planner where students can prioritize assignments and plan study sessions. You can sync it to your Mac as well.

Quizlet: Speaking of busy schedules, there’s only so much time that can be devoted to studying. Enter Quizlet. Quizlet has over ten million free sets of flashcards that a student can customize to get an A on the next exam. And studying doesn’t have to be boring either. With several different games available, students can study the material in a way in which it will reach them.

HigherOne.com: HigherOne.com is a company that helps college business offices handle refunds, payment plans and more. It also offers favorable banking options for college students. Its OneAccount and OneAccount plans feature a variety of benefits, including no or low monthly fees, no minimum balance and, yes, online banking. Online banking gives students the ability to conduct business and monitor their accounts whenever they want. In addition, with its mobile app, you can pay bills, find an ATM or make transfers. There’s no doubt that personal finance is a skill that must be learned. HigherOne.com makes this easy.

Netflix: Okay, college can’t be all studying. Take a break from that term paper on French poetry and watch a movie to let loose. Netflix has thousands of movies right at your fingertips, and you can access these movies from your computer, your tablet and even your mobile device. Are you trying to lose the Freshman Fifteen? Watch a movie as you log in hours on the treadmill.

With these apps, your parents may be less inclined to get angry when they receive the cell phone bill for the month.

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Heather B is an iPhone user who loves to discover ans share the newest and most interesting apps.

In today’s economy, squeezing every penny may be more important than ever before.  Impressive monthly savings can be realized not only by traditional approaches such as clipping coupons, but also with a more tech-savvy approach.

The information age has spawned a new breed of online and mobile apps, some offered in conjunction with retailers and others powered primarily by user input, that can work to save you money.  Below are some of the top money-saving apps today.

Gas Buddy

The Gas Buddy website (http://www.gasbuddy.com) lets a user compare prices at local gas stations, enabling one to get the lowest of constantly-fluctuating prices at the pump by driving a short distance.

While the site depends on users reporting gas prices, it tends to be highly accurate and up-to-date.  And with features such as a trip cost calculator and fuel saving tips, Gas Buddy’s benefits go beyond mere reporting of prices.

In conjunction with gas-saver programs at particular stations and local retailers such as grocery stores, Gas Buddy can save drivers quite a bit of money, and it comes with a mobile app as well.

Coupons.com

Coupons.com is a top coupon website, featuring not only online coupon codes but printable coupons to use at local grocery and other stores. It is free to join, and features hundreds of printable coupons in categories including baby and toddler, beverages, foods, health care, personal care, and other household items. Coupons.com also offers a SuperSaver weekly email newsletter containing weekly savings alerts and offers and CouponBar browser add-on.

The associated site CouponSavingsClub.com features further savings offered in conjunction with merchants, restaurants, movie theaters and theme parks, and at the time of this writing features a free 30-day trial.  After that, the price goes up to $3 per month, but many users still find the value to be worthwhile. 

Coupons.com also has an iPhone/iPod app to enable mobile access to many cost-saving features, which now includes integration with Apple’s Passbook digital wallet service.

Other useful coupon mobile apps include SnipSnap, which offers features including “snipping” (i.e. scanning and saving) and redeeming coupons on one’s phone, in-store reminders based on GPS location awareness about coupons to use, and expiration date alerts for stored coupons. 

RetailMeNot

RetailMeNot is a site focused on providing the most complete and up-to-date coupon codes possible.  Comprehensive coverage includes deal alerts and codes for literally thousands of online and brick-and-mortar retailers and service providers.

RetailMeNot also features free apps for iPhone and Android which can help by enabling a quick check in-store before making important purchases—note that many retailers now feature in-store computers and are happy to offer in-person shoppers discounts upon request.

ShopSavvy

ShopSavvy is a barcode scanner and reader for QR codes (for “Quick Response”, square digital codes that look a bit like aliens from the game Space Invaders) that coordinates inventory data in order to enable users to shop smarter.

According to the developer, large retailers and other brands use ShopSavvy to build and scan items into their inventory.  Then, when a consumer user is standing inside a store, not only can he or she check pricing and availability real-time, many stores may offer deals wirelessly on the spot, sent right to the user’s phone.

While ShopSavvy’s product coverage is not total, it is fairly comprehensive. ShopSavvy offers free mobile apps for iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone. 

Shopkick is another popular app for Android and iPhone which lets users collect “kicks” in return for visiting stores, which can then be redeemed for rewards and percentage-off deals from Shopkick partners.

IBotta

IBotta is a mobile app which offers chances to earn cash back when buying from selected merchants.  Users sign up for iBotta, then download the free app to their phones.  Users can then choose products they’re planning to buy, and see if any offers are currently in force for that item.

After a supported purchase, a user can then take a picture of the receipt, and cash back will be added to the user’s iBotta account, which can be transferred to Paypal at any time. Benefits of iBotta go beyond cash back, too—users can access product videos and other information, and take quick consumer surveys.

A similar app is Endorse, which like iBotta offers users cash back when they buy selected items.  When a user buys an item at an Endorse-supported retailer, the user then scans and uploads a photo of the receipt using the built-in cell phone camera, and is rewarded with cash back as well as points which can be redeemed for donations to charity.

Craig Wilson is a freelance writer and tech enthusiast, as well as enjoying spending his weekends working around the home following instructions he’s found on sites like repairloader.com.