Stressed? There’s an App for That!

You know when you just have one of those days where everything seems to be going wrong? Ever had a severe case of the Mondays? We all have, and we all know that the more ways we are “connected,” the more portals we have for receiving bad news. All it takes is one text from an ex or one negative Facebook message to ruin our day and destroy our productivity.

Well, as they say in the year 2012, “There’s an app for that!” UK Masters student Lorraine Chambers developed an app called “Stress @ Work,” which uses a color coded system to categorize texts, Facebook and Twitter messages as “nice,” “neutral” or “negative.” The person can then decide if they want to read the message or save it for a later, less overwhelming time (like after they have a glass of Pinot in their hand!).

No, this app can’t read your mind. It anticipates whether or not a message is positive or negative just as it autocorrects words that you frequently use. The more messages you label as “nice,” “neutral” or “negative,” the better the app can classify future messages. Co-developer Dr. Mohamed Gaber told BBC News, “The ultimate objective… is to make the user aware of the negative contents they receive so they are able to manage their stress in the best possible way.”

“Stress @ Work” was developed for Android and will be presented in September at the 16th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems in Spain. Chambers and Gaber hope to drive the app for free on Google Play afterwards.

Though I like the idea of this, I don’t think it would prevent me from reading a text, no matter how cranky or stressed I am. Thoughts?

Posted by Erin

Image source Examiner

Why We’re Winners

Image by BostInnovation

Dear Loyal m.blog Readers,

Today, we ask for your help; your help to win.

Don’t get us wrong, we win on a daily basis (have you seen all the press we get our clients!?). At the risk of using a taboo hash tag, our team of talented guys and dolls goes into every day with a #winning mindset, which is why Sam starts his morning (or shall we say, mid-morning) with a mocha-marijuana-valium-vodka latte. Yes, we actually have a mug in the office that says that.

All jokes aside, we want to win BostInnovation’s Insider Awards. Why? Because the awards celebrate “crushing content & dropping knowledge,” which is pretty much the m.blog’s tag line…at least it is now.

We shouldn’t have to spell this out for you, but we’re nice (sometimes), so we will. Five days a week for the past three years, we’ve provided you with snark, wit, charm, honest insight and heartfelt hatred. Not to mention, we’ve educated you on new words, vaginas (and vajazzling!), recycling beef fat into your beauty routine and how to tell if your son is gay.

We’re not just about gossip and entertainment, either. We teach you etiquette, like how to not be a douche while using public transportation, the steps you can take to avoid being trashy, what to do if you find yourself with a dude who has two…um…peni? and how to ace a walk of shame.

We reminisce about the days of yore, when life was better, simpler (a.k.a the 90s), tell you personal anecdotes, and demonstrate that working in PR is not just one big fabulous party. Together, we’ve experienced history, like when Alyssa actually got engaged after making Glamour’s engagement chicken recipe, blogged about it, and was then chosen by Glamour to be featured in the magazine in a story on the famous recipe. OH WAIT, then she got flown to NYC for a photo shoot to model a Vera Wang wedding dress, get styled by Vera herself and be photographed by Patrick Demarchelier. That’s right, the m.blog changes lives.

The point is, we go there. We’ve been givin’ it to you straight for some time now, without fearing whether you’ll judge us, find us rude, lewd or crude. We’ve never asked anything of you, but now we’ve come to collect. In exchange for all the entertainment we’ve provided you, all the mornings we’ve spent stressed out over finding a worthy enough blog topic, please vote for the m.blog in BostInnovation’s Insider Awards for the best Advertising/Marketing blog.

We may be awesome, but you’re the ones who inspire us to be that way. So in the immortal words of Jerry Maguire, help us help you by spreading the word!

Facebook it, Tweet it, LinkedIn it, Google Plus it, Pin it, make it your Gmail status, pretend like you’re in the Girl Scouts again and send it to your daddy at work…we don’t care, we just want to win!

Oh, and voting for the nomination phase ends January 27. Chop chop!  (Editor’s update 2.2.2012: voting phase ends February 15.  Seriously-choppity chop chop chop!)

(We’ll even do all the work for you. For your posting pleasure: #vote for @marlomarketing’s m.blog in @BostInnovation’s #InsiderAwards Advertising/Marketing category http://tinyurl.com/7rtgfvf)

Posted by Hannah