FitSugar

Sundance Goes Green With Reusable Water Bottles

FitSugar — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:04:55 PST

Though most of us aren't lucky enough to attend the Sundance Film Festival, we've probably all been to events that hand out hundreds and hundreds of plastic water bottles. Last year, Sundance alone gave out 50,000 single-serve bottles, most of which just end up in landfills.

So for the 2009 festival, which kicks off this Thursday, Sundance is partnering with an organization called FilterForGood, which is devoted to reducing bottled-water waste. Instead of wasteful one-off containers, festivalgoers will get free reusable water bottles provided by Nalgene, which they can then refill at Brita-sponsored water stations.

I've had a reusable water bottle for a while now, but if you haven't gotten one yet, you can visit FilterForGood's site and make a pledge to switch. The site also sells FilterForGood-branded bottles that let you support the cause. Don't worry: They're BPA free!

Expert Shares 3 Ways to Make Your Inbox Less Overwhelming

Emily Co — Fri, 25 May 2012 03:05:36 PDT

It's good to get rid of all the clutter in your life - at home, at work, and even on your computer. Dealing with too many emails can make you overwhelmed and less productive, because weeding through a mess of messages can feel like a herculean task. Organization expert Peter Walsh shared some great tips for better managing your emails:

Archive all your emails: "Bite the bullet: archive-don't delete-archive all of those emails or all of those emails from more than a month ago, and start from scratch today." You can set up an automatic filtering system that will immediately shuttle your emails to the appropriate category. Most email systems have the option, and Walsh favors Hotmail for that function.

Keep your inbox clean: The organizing expert says he's "never had more than 10 or 15 emails in my inbox at any one time." He's able to answer every email he receives by having them automatically categorized.

Set aside time for email: Set up a schedule for your emails. Walsh avoids looking at emails the first hour of his morning and does whatever needs to get done "first up in the day." He then sets aside 90 minutes of uninterrupted time to handle email. "I don’t try to multitask; I think multitasking is a huge myth. Trying to do more than one thing at once, you end up doing nothing well," he says.

3 Ways to Use Facebook's New Camera App

Kelly Schwarze — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:56:59 PDT

The truth is about 96.5 percent of our Facebook experience is spent scrolling through pictures of last weekend's camping trip and Friday's happy hour. Now you can ditch the status updates and cut straight to the photos with the new Facebook iOS Camera app. Introduced today, it's billed as the photo-sharing hub for Facebook users. Separate from the standard iPhone app, we've broken down how to use Camera below.

Browse albums - Get to the goods fast. Once the Camera app is launched, you can browse through friends' photos with a swipe and get a better view with a double-tap of an image.
Edit photos - Crop, edit, and filter photos within the app rather than uploading to a separate editing app, saving to the camera roll, and then uploading to Facebook. We know that tired drill.
Upload multiple images - The time has come to stop spamming your feed with individual mobile uploads at a time. Select two, three, or go crazy with 14 images uploaded at one time.

Does all this sound familiar? With Facebook's Instagram acquisition we've been waiting to see how the social sharing companies join forces - but that moment is still yet to arrive. Facebook says the filters and functions of Camera were built in-house, not using the Instagram resources. So yes, Camera is just one more handy photography app to add to your collection.

Teach Your Mom Tech: Instagram

Anna Monette Roberts — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:01:48 PDT

Sharing is caring, so for Mother's Day, show mom you care by introducing her to the photo-sharing wonderland of Instagram. If she's already using an iPhone or Android phone, she'll find Instagram easy to navigate once you've shown her the ropes. Be sure to go over these key features with her, so she can enjoy all that Instagram has to offer.

Download the app: This whole process will go much faster if you just grab the app for her.
Offer a photography lesson: First, show your mom how to take a photo with the Instagram app, and explain what each of the symbols means along the top and bottom bar. Demonstrate how to add or take away borders by tapping the icon in the upper left side of the screen, how to blur parts of the photo, and how to select different filters.
Remember the camera roll: Show your mom how to upload already-taken photos to Instagram, so she can share the backlog of snaps on her phone.
Find her friends: Much of the fun of Instagram is following friends, family, celebrities, or other amazing photographers. Help your mom find friends via her Facebook account or by searching for her favorite celebrities.
Configure social sharing: So that family and friends can enjoy Mom's lovely Instagram photos, show her how to share pics over Facebook and email to friends and family who aren't on social networks.
Foster interaction: Scroll through the home stream and teach her how to like and comment on photos.
Offer subject matter ideas: Give your mom some ideas of what she could capture and share: the family dog, grandkids, fresh flowers, baked goods, or new clothes.
Set privacy settings: While the Instagram community tends to be more open and public than most social media sites, help your mom decide whether or not she wants to make her account private; if she does, her account will be viewable only to her accepted followers.

Source: Instagram Users bexfinch, pastorshaemun, nicolerybnik, and salamandrea

The Spotify iPad App: Is It Worth Downloading?

Anna Monette Roberts — Sun, 06 May 2012 09:30:44 PDT

The Spotify streaming service has taken over the music world om the past year. But while the company offers both an iPhone app and an incredible desktop application, it has neglected to create an iPad app - until this week.

The recently released iPad app is only available to premium members ($10/month); however, you can sign up for a 48-hour trial run, no credit card required. Spotify's premium membership truly is as good as it sounds: the vast music library is ad-free, offers high sound quality, and gives you offline access to your playlists. However, is the Spotify iPad app as good as the desktop app? Here are some of the pros and cons of the new Spotify iPad app (Free):

Pros:

Beautiful graphics and cover art: Spotify's iPad graphics are crisp and gorgeous. Unlike the somewhat flat desktop version, the iPad graphics practically pop out of the page. The iPad app also provides large cover art images, and as with iTunes, you can flip through the album art by swiping your finger.
Simplified design:The iPad app contains a simplified side navigation bar with only five tabs (as opposed to the 12 on the desktop), making the interface more intuitive and easier to use.
Facebook connect: While some people grumble about this, others love the ability to find new artists via their friend's profiles. The design makes it easy to see your friends' top tracks, artists, and playlists.
Text message-like inbox: In a major change in the design, track suggestions and messages sent to your inbox are organized like iPhone bubble text messages.

Keep reading to take a look at the cons.

Five Ways Feminism Helps Men

The Good Men Project — Fri, 04 May 2012 04:00:30 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Today, Justin Cascio names five ways feminism helps men.

Can’t think of a single reason why men should support feminism? Here are five.

Gives us equal partners. For men who have women in their lives as co-parents, lovers, wives, partners, clients, and associates, it means that our partners in these relationships have equal power.

Why Don’t Women Like Nice Guys?

Provides a model for consciously changing gender roles. Women have changed what it means to be a woman. Even women who don’t call themselves feminists have had their ideas of themselves shaped by feminism. Women who imagine themselves pursuing a career, or even imagine themselves having choices of whether and when to become a wife or a mother, owe their freedom to choose to feminist thought. As men, we have had our lives changed just as helplessly as the women have. We have the same power, as men, to consciously shape what we think a man should be, and how to live up to the standards we create. Feminism taught us it can happen.
Provokes us to consider the many identities that yoke us, sometimes in competing directions. Through feminist dialogue and consciousness raising, women began to realize that their identities as wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters were colored by their other identities: as human beings, citizens, workers, artisans, people of color, people with disabilities, queer people . . . the list of identities goes on, and the ways they overlap filter our experiences and to some degree determine who we are. Men are as subject to these double and triple yokes that tell us what we should be doing or caring about.
Encourages us to speak in our own voices. Betty Friedan identified a problem without a name, and began a conversation that hasn’t stopped. There are problems that men have that don’t have names, because we are not encouraged to talk with one another about our lives in the same ways, and because we want our stories to fit into the patterns that already exist: to make sense of them. By having the courage to talk about our experience, even when it doesn’t match our ideas of what a man does or feels, we can begin to learn what our common experiences are, and to name them.
Makes us all more free. Unless all of us are free, none of us are free. As long as women still feel the pulls of gender roles, men are forced by the laws of physics into an equal and opposing position. And as long as anyone in our world is subject to limitations because of an identity like those we construct around sex and gender, race and ethnicity, and our deeply held beliefs and loyalties, then any of us is subject to being limited for who and what we are, or for what we believe in.

New Girl's Max Greenfield Talks Schmidt and Cece and Says True American Is a Real Game

Shannon Vestal — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:00:42 PDT

Max Greenfield plays Schmidt on New Girl, a character that has a tendency to be materialistic, inappropriate, shirtless at any given moment. He can also be a sweetheart, thanks to Greenfield's funny, careful portrayal of him. I recently chatted with Greenfield while he was promoting Zevia, an all natural soda with no artificial sweeteners. Zevia has launched a campaign against artificiality, and they chose Greenfield to work with since he's a person who says what's on his mind and, like Schmidt, isn't afraid to be real. With that in mind, Greenfield and I chatted about when Schmidt is being the most real, the relationship between Schmidt and Cece, the sexual tension between Nick and Jess, and how real the show's drinking game True American is.

BuzzSugar: When is Schmidt being the most real?
Max Greenfield: I honestly think he's never not being himself. And that's his best quality and his biggest fault. He's always being real. Sometimes it would be nice if he had a filter every so often.

Buzz: Do you feel pressure to work out because you know shirtless scenes are coming?
MG: Uh, would you? It's terrifying! I'm not one of these guys who's just like, "Yeah I'm ripped. I can eat whatever." I work out so hard. And I work out really hard to get to a decent point. But so easily I could go off and go on a three, four day bender where I'm just throwin' down cookies, bread, sandwiches, and at the end of four days, you're like, "Oh yeah, I can see a significant difference."

Buzz: You also have to wear stuff like tiny bike shorts; do you ever get resentful when you see your costars Jake Johnson and Lamorne Morris wearing jeans and t-shirts?
MG: I don't get resentful toward them. I get resentful every once in a while toward the writers, just because sometimes it's like, "Really, guys?" I'd just like to know this is happening. They're on set and they're watching it, they can see everything. They have seen everything. Our showrunners, and our crew, and everybody else, has seen everything.

To find out what else Greenfield had to say about New Girl, its budding relationships, and the confusing drinking game True American, just keep reading.

13 Health Gimmicks You Can Stop Wasting Money On

Business Insider — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:15:21 PDT

Consumers have a tendency of falling for the next big health gimmick. Save your money on health duds with these Business Insider tips.

No matter how many times we're told otherwise, Americans' obsession with get-healthy-quick schemes will likely never die. Too bad most of these fads aren't worth their weight in salt - or your hard-earned dollars. We've put together a list of some of the worst budget-sucking health trends that still persist today.

Coconut Water

Coconut water may be nature's version of Gatorade but some brands have already caught fire for over-hyping its nutrient content. Vita Coco agreed to settle a $10 million class action lawsuit over an independent study that showed the drinks didn't pack near as many electrolytes as advertisements implied. Some coconut waters are also loaded with added sugar, which will do nothing to help your waistline.

Alternative: Pick up your own young green coconuts on the cheap from an Asian produce market. Just crack them open with a cleaver and pop in a straw.

"All-Natural" Foods

30 percent of Americans bought more natural foods in 2011, according to a Rodale study. But what are we really paying more for? There's no clear cut regulation on what makes food "natural," which means just about any company can slap that label on its packages, add a fancy green theme and jack up the price.

Says Andrew Schrage of MoneyCrashers: "Before buying any food that is touted as being 'all natural,' take a look at the ingredient list before you check out. Keep in mind that butter and salt are indeed natural ingredients. So stocking up on natural foods may not achieve anything other than increasing your grocery bill."

Read on for more.

A Neat Trick to Prevent Unread Mail From Building Up

Emily Co — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:15:37 PDT

When you have time this weekend, try this email organizing trick to help you keep your inbox in good shape. One of the things that overwhelms people the most is having an endless number of unread emails to respond to.

This problem affects those who have a tendency to respond to high-priority emails right away, while leaving other less-urgent emails for later. As time goes by, your unread emails may build up because you just never found the time to get around to it. If this sounds all too familiar, you may be relieved to know there's an easy solution for this if you use Outlook - create a smart folder that automatically filters just the unread email. Here's a simple video for Mac users:

And if Gmail is your email of choice, all you need to do is enter "label:unread" in the search bar, click "search mail," and the results will be all unread emails from every folder. Go through the unread mail and delete ones you don't need and respond to ones that need replies.

6 Clever Things to Do With Your Tax Refund

Emily Co — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:59:35 PDT

Now that tax day is over, it's time to think about your next move - what to do with your refund. Many of you may become a few thousand dollars richer, because the average tax refund this year is about $3,000, according to IRS agency chief Douglas H. Shulman. Although I've been seeing a few Facebook statuses about using the money to buy a new pair of shoes or bags, there are more financially savvy ways to spend your tax windfall. Here are some financially responsible things to do with the extra cash:

Pay off high-interest debt. Make a dent in your debt by using your refund check to pay it off. Lowering the amount you owe, whether it be credit card debt or car loans, means reducing the interest you'll be paying. Paying less interest will equate to more savings down the road. Be smart when choosing to pay off debt and keep in mind that paying down debt might result in a lower credit limit.
Emergency fund. If you're living paycheck to paycheck, this might be a good time to save some money for a rainy day. Anything can happen these days - you may have to pay for unexpected fixes on your car or you might even lose your job (knock on wood) - so you really need to have some extra financial padding to get you through the tough times. If you have a lot of high-interest debt to pay off, you may want to use most of your refund to pay off the debt, then squirrel away a portion of it toward your emergency fund. It's good to have at least six months to a year of emergency savings.
Green your home. Make your home more eco-friendly by purchasing Energy Star appliances that will save you money on utilities. Figure out if your home can improve on insulation by using your refund to pay for a paid inspection by a professional energy auditor. Save energy and money by figuring out what works best for your house, from installing windows and doors that fit better to plugging and caulking cracks and holes.

Read on for more.