Recent Content
The Orion Nebula
12 MIN READ The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. It is 1,344 ± 20 light-years (412.1 ± 6.1 pc) away and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light-years across. It has a mass of about 2,000 times that of the Sun. Older texts frequently refer to the Orion Nebula as the Great Nebula in Orion or the Great Orion Nebula. The entire Orion Nebula in a composite image of visible light and infrared; taken byHubblein 2006. Physical characteristics The Orion Nebula is visible with the naked eye even from areas affected by some light pollution. It is seen as the middle "star" in the "sword" of Orion, which are the three stars located south of Orion's Belt. The star appears fuzzy to sharp-eyed observers, and the nebulosity is obvious through binoculars or a small telescope. The peak surface brightness of the central region is about 17 Mag/arcsec 2 (about 14 milli nits) and the outer bluish glow has a peak surface brightness of 21.3 Mag/arcsec 2 (about 0.27 millinits). (In the photos shown here the brightness, or luminance, is enhanced by a large factor. The Orion Nebula contains a very young open cluster, known as the Trapezium due to the asterism of its primary four stars. Two of these can be resolved into their component binary systems on nights with good seeing, giving a total of six stars. The stars of the Trapezium, along with many other stars, are still in their early years. The Trapezium is a component of the much larger Orion Nebula Cluster, an association of about 2,800 stars within a diameter of 20 light years. Two million years ago this cluster may have been the home of the runaway stars AE Aurigae, 53 Arietis, and Mu Columbae, which are currently moving away from the nebula at speeds greater than 100 km/s (62 mi/s). Coloration Observers have long noted a distinctive greenish tint to the nebula, in addition to regions of red and of blue-violet. The red hue is a result of the Hα recombination line radiation at a wavelength of 656.3 nm. The blue-violet coloration is the reflected radiation from the massive O-class stars at the core of the nebula. The green hue was a puzzle for astronomers in the early part of the 20th century because none of the known spectral lines at that time could explain it. There was some speculation that the lines were caused by a new element, and the name nebulium was coined for this mysterious material. With better understanding of atomic physics, however, it was later determined that the green spectrum was caused by a low-probability electron transition in doubly ionized oxygen, a so-called "forbidden transition". This radiation was impossible to reproduce in the laboratory at the time, because it depended on the quiescent and nearly collision-free environment found in the high vacuum of deep space. History There has been speculation that the Mayans of Central America may have described the nebula within their "Three Hearthstones" creation myth; if so, the three would correspond to two stars at the base of Orion, Rigel and Saiph, and another, Alnitak at the tip of the "belt" of the imagined hunter, the vertices of a nearly perfect equilateral triangle with Orion's Sword (including the Orion Nebula) in the middle of the triangle seen as the smudge of smoke from copal incense in a modern myth, or, in (the translation it suggests of) an ancient one, the literal or figurative embers of a fiery creation. Messier's drawing of the Orion Nebula in his 1771 memoir,Mémoires de l'Académie Royale Neither Ptolemy's Almagest nor Al Sufi's Book of Fixed Stars noted this nebula, even though they both listed patches of nebulosity elsewhere in the night sky; nor did Galileo mention it, even though he also made telescopic observations surrounding it in 1610 and 1617. This has led to some speculation that a flare-up of the illuminating stars may have increased the brightness of the nebula. The first discovery of the diffuse nebulous nature of the Orion Nebula is generally credited to French astronomer Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, on November 26, 1610 when he made a record of observing it with a refracting telescope purchased by his patron Guillaume du Vair. The first published observation of the nebula was by the Jesuit mathematician and astronomer Johann Baptist Cysat of Lucerne in his 1619 monograph on the comets (describing observations of the nebula that may date back to 1611). He made comparisons between it and a bright comet seen in 1618 and described how the nebula appeared through his telescope as: one sees how in like manner some stars are compressed into a very narrow space and how round about and between the stars a white light like that of a white cloud is poured out His description of the center stars as different from a comet's head in that they were a "rectangle" may have been an early description of the Trapezium Cluster. (The first detection of three of the four stars of this cluster is credited to Galileo Galilei in a February 4, 1617 although he did not notice the surrounding nebula – possibly due to the narrow field of vision of his early telescope. ) The nebula was independently "discovered" (though visible to the naked eye) by several other prominent astronomers in the following years, including by Giovanni Battista Hodierna (whose sketch was the first published in De systemate orbis cometici, deque admirandis coeli characteribus). Charles Messier observed the nebula on March 4, 1769, and he also noted three of the stars in Trapezium. Messier published the first edition of his catalog of deep sky objects in 1774 (completed in 1771). As the Orion Nebula was the 42nd object in his list, it became identified as M42. Henry Draper's 1880 photograph of the Orion Nebula, the first ever taken. In 1865 English amateur astronomer William Huggins used his visual spectroscopy method to examine the nebula showing it, like other nebulae he had examined, was made up of "luminous gas". On September 30, 1880 Henry Draper used the new dry plate photographic process with an 11-inch (28 cm) refracting telescope to make a 51-minute exposure of the Orion Nebula, the first instance of astrophotography of a nebula in history. Another set of photographs of the nebula in 1883 saw a breakthrough in astronomical photography when amateur astronomer Andrew Ainslie Common used the dry plate process to record several images in exposures up to 60 minutes with a 36-inch (91 cm) reflecting telescope that he constructed in the backyard of his home in Ealing, west London. These images for the first time showed stars and nebula detail too faint to be seen by the human eye. In 1902, Vogel and Eberhard discovered differing velocities within the nebula, and by 1914 astronomers at Marseilles had used the interferometer to detect rotation and irregular motions. Campbell and Moore confirmed these results using the spectrograph, demonstrating turbulence within the nebula. In 1931, Robert J. Trumpler noted that the fainter stars near the Trapezium formed a cluster, and he was the first to name them the Trapezium cluster. Based on their magnitudes and spectral types, he derived a distance estimate of 1,800 light years. This was three times farther than the commonly accepted distance estimate of the period but was much closer to the modern value. In 1993, the Hubble Space Telescope first observed the Orion Nebula. Since then, the nebula has been a frequent target for HST studies. The images have been used to build a detailed model of the nebula in three dimensions. Protoplanetary disks have been observed around most of the newly formed stars in the nebula, and the destructive effects of high levels of ultraviolet energy from the most massive stars have been studied. In 2005, the Advanced Camera for Surveys instrument of the Hubble Space Telescope finished capturing the most detailed image of the nebula yet taken. The image was taken through 104 orbits of the telescope, capturing over 3,000 stars down to the 23rd magnitude, including infant brown dwarfs and possible brown dwarf binary stars. A year later, scientists working with the HST announced the first ever masses of a pair of eclipsing binary brown dwarfs, 2MASS J05352184–0546085. The pair are located in the Orion Nebula and have approximate masses of 0.054 M ☉ and 0.034 M ☉ respectively, with an orbital period of 9.8 days. Surprisingly, the more massive of the two also turned out to be the less luminous. Structure The entirety of the Orion Nebula extends across a 1° region of the sky, and includes neutral clouds of gas and dust, associations of stars, ionized volumes of gas, and reflection nebulae. The Nebula is part of a much larger nebula that is known as the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The Orion Molecular Cloud Complex extends throughout the constellation of Orion and includes Barnard's Loop, the Horsehead Nebula, M43, M78, and the Flame Nebula. Stars are forming throughout the entire Cloud Complex, but most of the young stars are concentrated in dense clusters like the one illuminating the Orion Nebula. Astarchart of the Orion Nebula. The current astronomical model for the nebula consists of an ionized (H II) region, roughly centered on Theta 1 Orionis C, which lies on the side of an elongated molecular cloud in a cavity formed by the massive young stars. (Theta 1 Orionis C emits 3-4 times as much photoionizing light as the next brightest star, Theta 2 Orionis A.) The H II region has a temperature ranging up to 10,000 K, but this temperature falls dramatically near the edge of the nebula. The nebulous emission comes primarily from photoionized gas on the back surface of the cavity. The H II region is surrounded by an irregular, concave bay of more neutral, high-density cloud, with clumps of neutral gas lying outside the bay area. This in turn lies on the perimeter of the Orion Molecular Cloud. The gas in the molecular cloud displays a range of velocities and turbulence, particularly around the core region. Relative movements are up to 10 km/s (22,000 mi/h), with local variations of up to 50 km/s and possibly more. Observers have given names to various features in the Orion Nebula. The dark lane that extends from the north toward the bright region is called the "Fish's Mouth". The illuminated regions to both sides are called the "Wings". Other features include "The Sword", "The Thrust", and "The Sail". Star formation The Orion Nebula is an example of a stellar nursery where new stars are being born. Observations of the nebula have revealed approximately 700 stars in various stages of formation within the nebula. View of several proplyds within the Orion Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope In 1979 observations with the Lallemand electronic camera at the Pic-du-Midi Observatory showed six unresolved high-ionization sources near the Trapezium Cluster. These sources were interpreted as partly ionized globules (PIGs). The idea was that these objects are being ionized from the outside by M42. Later observations with the Very Large Array showed solar-system-sized condensations associated with these sources. Here the idea appeared that these objects might be low-mass stars surrounded by an evaporating protostellar accretion disk. In 1993 observations with the Hubble Space Telescope have yielded the major confirmation of protoplanetary disks within the Orion Nebula, which have been dubbed proplyds. HST has revealed more than 150 of these within the nebula, and they are considered to be systems in the earliest stages of solar system formation. The sheer numbers of them have been used as evidence that the formation of star systems is fairly common in the universe. Stars form when clumps of hydrogen and other gases in an H II region contract under their own gravity. As the gas collapses, the central clump grows stronger and the gas heats to extreme temperatures by converting gravitational potential energy to thermal energy. If the temperature gets high enough, nuclear fusion will ignite and form a protostar. The protostar is 'born' when it begins to emit enough radiative energy to balance out its gravity and halt gravitational collapse. Typically, a cloud of material remains a substantial distance from the star before the fusion reaction ignites. This remnant cloud is the protostar's protoplanetary disk, where planets may form. Recent infrared observations show that dust grains in these protoplanetary disks are growing, beginning on the path towards forming planetesimals. [42] Once the protostar enters into its main sequence phase, it is classified as a star. Even though most planetary disks can form planets, observations show that intense stellar radiation should have destroyed any proplyds that formed near the Trapezium group, if the group is as old as the low mass stars in the cluster. Since proplyds are found very close to the Trapezium group, it can be argued that those stars are much younger than the rest of the cluster members. Stellar wind and effects View of the ripples (Kelvin–Helmholtz instability) formed by the action of stellar winds on the cloud. Once formed, the stars within the nebula emit a stream of charged particles known as a stellar wind. Massive stars and young stars have much stronger stellar winds than the Sun. The wind forms shock waves or hydrodynamical instabilities when it encounters the gas in the nebula, which then shapes the gas clouds. The shock waves from stellar wind also play a large part in stellar formation by compacting the gas clouds, creating density inhomogeneities that lead to gravitational collapse of the cloud. There are three different kinds of shocks in the Orion Nebula. Many are featured in Herbig–Haro objects: Bow shocks are stationary and are formed when two particle streams collide with each other. They are present near the hottest stars in the nebula where the stellar wind speed is estimated to be thousands of kilometers per second and in the outer parts of the nebula where the speeds are tens of kilometers per second. Bow shocks can also form at the front end of stellar jets when the jet hits interstellar particles. Jet-driven shocks are formed from jets of material sprouting off newborn T Tauri stars. These narrow streams are traveling at hundreds of kilometers per second, and become shocks when they encounter relatively stationary gases. Warped shocks appear bow-like to an observer. They are produced when a jet-driven shock encounters gas moving in a cross-current. The interaction of the stellar wind with the surrounding cloud also forms "waves" which are believed to be due to the hydrodynamical Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. The dynamic gas motions in M42 are complex, but are trending out through the opening in the bay and toward the Earth. The large neutral area behind the ionized region is currently contracting under its own gravity. There are also supersonic "bullets" of gas piercing the hydrogen clouds of the Orion Nebula. Each bullet is ten times the diameter of Pluto's orbit and tipped with iron atoms glowing in the infrared. They were probably formed one thousand years earlier from an unknown violent event. Evolution Interstellar clouds like the Orion Nebula are found throughout galaxies such as the Milky Way. They begin as gravitationally bound blobs of cold, neutral hydrogen, intermixed with traces of other elements. The cloud can contain hundreds of thousands of solar masses and extend for hundreds of light years. The tiny force of gravity that could compel the cloud to collapse is counterbalanced by the very faint pressure of the gas in the cloud. Panoramic image of the center of the nebula, taken by the Hubble Telescope. This view is about 2.5 light years across. The Trapezium is at center left. Whether due to collisions with a spiral arm, or through the shock wave emitted from supernovae, the atoms are precipitated into heavier molecules and the result is a molecular cloud. This presages the formation of stars within the cloud, usually thought to be within a period of 10–30 million years, as regions pass the Jeans mass and the destabilized volumes collapse into disks. The disk concentrates at the core to form a star, which may be surrounded by a protoplanetary disk. This is the current stage of evolution of the nebula, with additional stars still forming from the collapsing molecular cloud. The youngest and brightest stars we now see in the Orion Nebula are thought to be less than 300,000 years old, and the brightest may be only 10,000 years in age. Some of these collapsing stars can be particularly massive, and can emit large quantities of ionizing ultraviolet radiation. An example of this is seen with the Trapezium cluster. Over time the ultraviolet light from the massive stars at the center of the nebula will push away the surrounding gas and dust in a process called photo evaporation. This process is responsible for creating the interior cavity of the nebula, allowing the stars at the core to be viewed from Earth. The largest of these stars have short life spans and will evolve to become supernovae. Within about 100,000 years, most of the gas and dust will be ejected. The remains will form a young open cluster, a cluster of bright, young stars surrounded by wispy filaments from the former cloud.“I thought I was dying” – Milli describes what a panic attack feels like
3 MIN READ Milli Johnston grew up in New Zealand. It had always been her dream to live abroad and in her mid-20s she landed a job at a big financial firm in London. Unfortunately, this all happened at the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis, and Milli’s job offer was soon retracted. Unemployed and living in a city on the other side of the world, stress and anxiety started to take hold. It took Milli several months to find a new job, and while it was a relief, she still felt very anxious. One day, Milli was walking through the office foyer on her way out to lunch when she suddenly froze. She didn’t know it at the time but she was about to experience her first panic attack. In her own words, Milli recalls exactly what it felt like and explains how it prompted her to seek support for her mental health. “All of a sudden, I froze” I couldn’t move. I’ve described it before as having jelly legs but it was more that. I felt like I didn’t have legs at all. As though if I tried to take a step forward, my legs wouldn’t be there to support me. I could feel myself starting to sweat. It wasn’t just that I couldn’t move – I was so self-conscious that someone from work would see me like that. Tears welled in my eyes. My heart raced. I thought I was about to faint. I thought I was having a medical emergency. I thought I was dying. The great irony was that to anyone just walking past, all they would have seen was a girl standing in a foyer. It felt like I was standing there for an eternity, but in reality, it was probably only 30 seconds. I was terrified. I eventually managed to call my boyfriend and he came and got me. It was after this incident that I realized I couldn’t hide my struggles any longer. A build-up of symptoms On reflection, that first panic attack shouldn’t have been a surprise. Nor the many that followed. Ever since I moved to London, I’d experienced symptoms of anxiety. They didn’t hit me all at once – they built gradually over six months. The longer I was away from home, the more symptoms I developed. I’d get pins and needles and start trembling. I’d clench my jaw. I’d struggle to breathe, as though a tight band was wrapped around my ribs. I became consumed by my symptoms. The more regular they become, the more fatigued I would feel. I started thinking that there must be something sinister causing them. That I had some terrible physical problem or hidden disease. I visited my GP. A lot. I just wanted to know what was wrong with me. Finding an answer I know you’re not meant to use Google to diagnose yourself but that’s what I ended up doing. I typed in a bunch of my symptoms and a website about anxiety popped up. It seemed like I had experienced every symptom listed at some point. I went back to my GP and opened up about my mental health. I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. I’d spent so long thinking I had some horrible physical illness that I actually felt relieved. Simply knowing what was wrong with me was like a huge weight being lifted, and almost immediately my physical symptoms started to ease. Putting the effort into recovery I was referred to a therapist and though I didn’t fully commit to it while in London, I now live in Australia and regularly see a psychologist. Therapy isn’t for everyone but for me it’s invaluable, especially when you find someone you have a rapport with. I made sure I exercise regularly, lean on my support networks and pay close attention to my triggers. These all contributed to the easing of my physical symptoms. My recovery journey has been a rollercoaster. There were times I lost hope of ever being happy again. But I think those lows have helped me appreciate the highs even more. And today, those highs far outweigh the lows. Over time, the panic attacks became less and less frequent. I don’t get them at all now.The long road ahead
2 MIN READ A few weeks ago in our Manifesto for the Data Informed, one of the five beliefs presented was Company-wide familiarity with metrics rather than outsourcing to ‘data people.’ one change here Immediately, we were pummeled with questions: Does this really matter? Is this a realistic expectation? How can an organization achieve this? So for our next few posts, we’ll deep dive into how to make this lofty aspiration practical. As with anything else in life — whether people, languages or customs — there is no shortcut to gaining familiarity; the only way is through direct and frequent exposure. With data, most teams inherently understand this — that is why dashboards are built and links are passed around and we are all reminded to “please bookmark it and check it often.” Unfortunately, unless your job title includes the word data, the practice of loading said bookmark does not frequently arise to the top of your to-do list, even if you really truly do think data is important! Thus begins the great death spiral of dashboards — because they go unused, they become unmaintained. Because they are unmaintained, when you finally have a need to look at them, they’re broken and useless. This is why data-informed teams rely on practices other than sheer will to create data familiarity. The big three are 1. weekly metrics reviews, 2. weekly insight reports, and 3. insights reviews. In this installment, we’ll tackle one of the single most impactful practices of building a data-informed team: the weekly metrics review. What is a Weekly Metrics Review? A weekly metrics review is a synchronous team meeting to review the key metrics for a scaling, post-PMF product with all functional team members present — ie, PM, engineering, design, operations. This type of review can (and should!) happen at the executive level, with the CEO and C-level executives, and recurse down to individual product teams. A weekly metrics review should be short and sweet (think 5–15 minutes, typically at the start of a regular team meeting) and led by the data person who walks the group through the key metrics for your collective area of work (e.g. new user growth, revenue, conversion rates, tickets resolved). The group should examine how key metrics have progressed over the past few weeks, ideally by looking at a series of time-series line charts. The presenter can also prepare a few key segments to review, for example if a certain type of user, platform, or market is strategically important to the team, or if the team has launched something that impacts a particular segment (like a new feature in a test market). It’s best to keep the meeting lightweight. Preparation should be easy, ideally no more than 30 minutes. Many great metrics reviews simply start with screenshots of dashboards. The data person shouldn’t have to have all the answers at their finger tips (why did active users spike two weeks ago?). It’s fine to circle back with an answer later.Accessing Samsung Health Data through Health Connect
Health Connect is a platform that enables you to integrate Samsung Health data with your applications, creating new opportunities for health applications that enhance the user's journey towards better health. Using the Health Connect APIs, you can, for example, retrieve a user's Samsung Health data, such as their exercise, sleep, and heart rate information, and send data to the Samsung Health application. This is the first blog post in a series that introduces you to Health Connect API features and how you can use them in your applications. Let's begin by looking at how Health Connect interacts with Samsung Health data, and the basic workflow. Understanding this is essential for creating applications that use data from Samsung Health and Health Connect. Samsung Health Samsung Health is an application that can be installed on Android smartphones and tablets, and on Galaxy Watches. It can use the sensors on the device, including the Galaxy Watch's BioActive sensor, to measure the user's overall health data, including steps, exercises, heart rate, sleep, blood oxygen saturation and body composition. Let's consider the most common scenario: the Samsung Health application is installed on both the Galaxy Watch and a smartphone. The application synchronizes the measurements between both devices and manages the user's health data securely on them. For example, if the user measures their blood pressure with the Samsung Health Monitor application on their smartphone, the data can be shared to Samsung Health. Health Connect Since the Samsung Health application supports various useful health data types and gathers data from all connected devices, developers are very interested in obtaining access to that data. Consequently, Samsung collaborated with Google to build the Health Connect platform, which was released in May 2022. Health Connect enables applications to share health and fitness data across Android devices with the user's consent. For more information about Health Connect, see Health Connect Guide and Health Connect APIs. Samsung Health has supported synchronizing data with Health Connect since application version 6.22.5, released in October 2022. The Health Connect APIs support devices using Android SDK 28 (Pie) or higher. Once the user has connected Samsung Health to Health Connect, new or updated data in Samsung Health is shared to Health Connect. This means that your applications can use the Health Connect APIs to access Samsung Health data. Samsung Health synchronizes health data with Health Connect in both directions: When Samsung Health has new or updated data, it writes the data to Health Connect. When Health Connect has updated data, Samsung Health retrieves it. For example, a blood glucose meter connected to Samsung Health measures the user's blood glucose level. This data is saved in Samsung Health and then sent to Health Connect. Similarly, whenever there is new blood glucose data in Health Connect, Samsung Health retrieves that data and saves it in Samsung Health. To demonstrate how data synchronization works, let's walk through an example of adding nutrition information to Samsung Health. To start data synchronization between Samsung Health and Health Connect, you must enable it in the Samsung Health application on your Android device. From the Settings menu, select Health Connect. If Health Connect is not installed, you are prompted to install it. The first time you access the Health Connect menu item in Samsung Health with the Health Connect application installed, you are asked for permission to share your Samsung Health data with Health Connect. Select the data you consent to sharing, and select Allow. Samsung Health and Health Connect are now linked and data is shared between them. To test the data synchronization, in Samsung Health, go to Food tracker and create some nutrition data. In Samsung Health, go to Settings > Health Connect, and select Data and access. If Health Connect has received nutrition data from Samsung Health, a Nutrition item appears in the Browse data list. To view the synchronized data, select Nutrition. Data synchronization timing Data synchronization between Samsung Health and Health Connect occurs on the smartphone side. To take advantage of health data collected by a Galaxy Watch, you must understand at which times the Galaxy Watch sends its data to the Samsung Health smartphone application. New or updated health data on each connected device is generally synchronized with Samsung Health in the following situations: The Galaxy Watch reconnects with the smartphone The user opens the Samsung Health application home screen on the smartphone The user pulls down on the Samsung Health application home screen on the smartphone However, some types of health data are synchronized differently: For battery conservation reasons, continuous heart rate data from the Galaxy Watch is not sent to the Samsung Health application on the smartphone immediately. However, manual heart rate measurements on the watch are synchronized immediately. Enabling Settings in Samsung Health To synchronize health data between Samsung Health and Health Connect please consider: Using the latest Samsung Health and Health Connect versions. You can check them in Google Play. If you're interested in Galaxy Watch's data, check its version too. Allowing data permissions through the following path: Samsung Health > Settings > Health Connect > App permissions > Samsung Health (Note that you must enter from the Samsung Health settings, not from Health Connect settings.) Synchronizing Samsung Health data in: Samsung Health > Settings > Sync with Samsung account > Select the 'Sync now' button in the bottom. Accessing Health Connect APIs If the user has synchronized their Samsung Health data with Health Connect, you can use the Health Connect APIs to interact with it in various ways. For example: Read and write data: You can retrieve data that has been shared from Samsung Health to Health Connect, and send data to Health Connect to be synchronized to Samsung Health. Delete specific data records: You can remove a specific data point or data of a specific type within a time interval. Aggregate and filter data: You can filter the retrieved data by type or tag and analyze it, such as determining the average, maximum, minimum, or sum of the values. Session data: You can group data into sessions by time interval, such as to generate a sleep or activity session report. Note : For security reasons, Health Connect data can only be retrieved by applications running in the foreground. The following table lists the various health data that can be synchronized between Samsung Health and Health Connect. Samsung Health data Corresponding data type of Health Connect All steps StepsRecord Blood glucose BloodGlucoseRecord Blood oxygen saturation OxygenSaturationRecord Blood pressure BloodPressureRecord Exercise session ExerciseSessionRecord TotalCaloriesBurnedRecord DistanceRecord Exercise (heart rate) HeartRateRecord Exercise (power) PowerRecord Exercise (speed) SpeedRecord Exercise (VO2max) Vo2MaxRecord Heart rate HeartRateRecord Sleep session SleepSessionRecord Sleep stage SleepStageRecord Weight / Body composition WeightRecord Body composition BodyFatRecord Body composition BasalMetabolicRateRecord To get started with implementing Health Connect API functionality in your application: Add the Health Connect API library dependencies to your application's "build.gradle" file. Declare the Health Connect application package name in your "AndroidManifest.xml" file. Check that the user has installed Health Connect, then create the "HealthConnectClient" instance. Declare the permissions for the health data types you want to use. Now your application is ready to use the Health Connect APIs. Other blog posts in this series will explore various Health Connect API use cases in more detail.Can more creative ways of meeting save our focus?
6 MIN READ Back in the 1960s, company leaders spent 10 hours a week in meetings. Today, it’s much higher—more than two hundred percent higher. Time spent in meetings is still rising. Every year since 2000, total meeting time has increased by about 10% for everyone regardless of role. Despite a trend in shorter meetings that started from the pandemic (great!), the total number of meetings continues to rise (not so great). Meetings where people synchronously meet face-to-face—whether in real life, on a video conference, or over the phone—are now the go-to standard for most forms of communication and collaboration. Need to share information with your team? Brainstorm new marketing campaign ideas? Deliver training? Book a meeting. It’s a one-size-fits-all tool that has turned our calendars into Tetris screens. Our workdays have become so dominated by these syncs and check-ins that it can be a challenge to see another way. Instead of pointing fingers at inexperienced managers, an increase in remote and cross-functional work, or even FOMO as the cause of our meeting fatigue, what if we looked for more options in the way we choose to meet, collaborate, and communicate? This isn’t all to say that face-to-face communication doesn’t have a place in modern work culture. There’s very little that can replace real-time conversations when it comes to getting to know a new colleague or discussing a sensitive matter, for instance. Yet anyone who has faced eight solid hours of endless synchronous meetings knows this isn’t sustainable for every situation. Instead, exploring alternative meeting formats can give everyone involved more choice and flexibility. By empowering people to communicate in mutually appropriate ways, we can reduce meeting times without compromising much communication or collaboration. We can reclaim time, refocus our attention, and pour renewed efforts into more focused work. Nearly 70% of managers say meetings keep employees from working and completing all their tasks. One size does not fit all Traditional meetings follow the same general structure—a format of real-time communication provided synchronously between present parties. It’s a default model that aims to serve everyone, but appealing to everyone can often mean appealing to no one. In his book The End of Average, Todd Rose reported on how the United States Air Force modernized their old-fashioned cockpits in the late 1940s. Taking measurements from over 4,000 pilots, they designed a new layout around the median fit. By designing every element for the average pilot, they designed for everyone… or so they thought. When test pilots took to the skies, they kept crashing. Something was wrong. Eventually, one scientist began comparing individual pilots to the average model. There, he discovered the issue: not a single pilot fit the average. Their one-size-fits-all cockpit just didn’t work. The same result can be seen decades later, in an albeit, completely different environment. Today, nearly 70% of managers say meetings keep employees from working and completing all their tasks. Three-quarters of employees say they tune out of meetings and do other work. Around 90% say they regularly daydream in meetings. The average model just isn’t working. Pilots needed customizable cockpits to be effective. To do our best work, we too need more flexibility in the way we meet. As the saying goes, if the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail. Modern meetings have become the Maslow’s hammer of the workplace, but introducing a few new tools can bring a more agile, renewed perspective on collaboration. Flexible formats unleash creativity Marc Bromhall used to rely on a mix of in-person and Zoom meetings to run his marketing company, Marbro Media. Every week, he’d spend eight or nine hours in recurring meetings, hashing out ideas and strategies with his team. But he knew that wasn’t the best use of anyone’s time. “The core issue of each meeting comprised 20% of it,” he explains. “The other 80% consisted of fluff, mindless chatter, and small talk.” He began designing an alternative meeting format that cultivated creativity and collaboration without wasting time. In the end, Marc landed on what he calls a voice-jam, “a combination of voice notes and a jam board.” Aside from one synchronous face-to-face meeting, voice-jams power all Marbro Media’s meetings. Take their weekly marketing meeting. Before, it was rambling and disjointed. Now, every attendee has their own slide on a jamboard. They embed content and post voice notes to share ideas. The format keeps discussions laser-focused while retaining many of the good parts of face-to-face communication, such as intonation and tone. Marc says the flexible format freed him from endless hours of meandering meetings: “There's no small talk and talking for the sake of talking. Employees simply record what they have to say and send it on.” All around the world, people are replacing one-size-fits-all meetings with innovative alternatives. Async video creates organizational memory Ronald Osborne’s story is similar. As a small business consultant, he often found himself drawn into lengthy face-to-face meetings and calls. Not only did they take up a lot of time, but he also felt like meeting content was getting lost or forgotten in notes and minutes. He began experimenting with asynchronous video, recording short presentations, and sharing them with project team members. He says it’s working well. For one thing, it’s eliminated the challenge of time zones. Clients and colleagues access recordings on their schedule—not his. However, the biggest difference lies in response time. In a face-to-face meeting, there’s an expectation to reply immediately. Should we expand into Asia-Pacific? Yes. What applicant should we hire? Steve. Do you like product-led or sales-led growth? Product. Meetings rarely provide time to pause, mull, and think—all of which are essential components of effective decision-making. Online tools for asynchronous video, like Dropbox Capture, allow people to digest information before responding. With the ability to record, re-record, and edit videos, responses can be more thoughtful and concise. Beyond voice and video Many business communication strategies rely on frequency. Daily standups, for example, allow people to share their achievements, plans, and roadblocks every day. The theory goes that teams can identify problems as early as possible and work together to solve them. The same’s true for project updates, line management one-to-ones, and other recurring meetings. But that safety net comes at a cost. Daily or weekly interruptions shatter schedules, turning unbroken stints of concentration into fragmented bursts of work. To safeguard his colleagues’ schedules, Chris Johnson, marketing coordinator at a technical talent marketplace, implemented a “no daily meetings” rule. Instead, he redeveloped recurring meetings into slimmed-down templatized rituals. His team’s daily standup, once a frustrating interruption, is now a dedicated Slack channel. Every day, his colleagues answer the three core questions: What did you do yesterday? What will you do today? What’s blocking your progress? “It allows everyone in the company to have visibility into what other teams are working on without overloading folks with information,” Chris explains. In other words, the same impact with less disruption. More tools, better communication Marc, Ronald, and Chris are not the only people exploring communication optionality. All around the world, people are replacing one-size-fits-all meetings with innovative alternatives. Entrepreneur Kyle Clements stopped delivering synchronous training sessions. Instead, he records asynchronous videos and shares them online. “Most people simply don’t retain something the first time they hear it,” he says. “Async videos allow employees to watch and rewatch a tutorial or important walkthrough as many times as they need. Instead of running feedback sessions, financial services educator Brian DeChesare sends out Google Forms. “While we can’t eliminate every meeting, we use these forms to reduce the unnecessary ones and foster more effective meetings by planning with important data already in hand,” he explains. Growth executive Trevor Ford employs transparent project management tools to nix regular status updates. Marketing leader Sarah Schultz replaced synchronous information-sharing sessions with detailed written briefs. And Chris Johnson didn’t just get rid of standups. He replaced one-way information-sharing meetings with asynchronous video, text, and documents. This isn’t to say synchronous face-to-face meetings don’t have their place. It’s difficult to build personal relationships over a jamboard. It’s tough to open up about workplace challenges via text. But what innovators have shown is that optionality—choice over how you communicate—is the future. By selecting the best meeting format, people can focus instead on work that really matters.A kid with a fuse – Ross’ experience of anger and depression
4 MIN READ “I always had this sort of short fuse that would kind of just go off.” Ross Read grew up in the 80s on his family’s dairy farm in central Victoria. Even as a kid, Ross put in long days helping with the cattle. He was used to being frustrated, shouting or swearing when something wasn’t going right. "My brother would just walk the other way. Mum or Dad would probably just absorb it. They just thought I was angry because the cow was doing something wrong,” says Ross. “I just thought that was who I was.” While he didn’t recognize it at the time, Ross was bottling up something that had happened to him years earlier. As much as he tried to bury these feelings, they started to seriously affect his mental health. Taking over the farm, dealing with drought In the mid-90s, Ross and his brother took over the farm and expanded, taking on more land and more cattle. Then came one of the worst droughts on record in Australia’s south. Having experienced drought in the past, Ross and his brother assumed this one wouldn't last more than a couple of years. So they just knuckled down. But by the late 2000s, the drought still hadn’t lifted. The strain of life on the farm, coupled with Ross’ anger, started to take a toll on his relationships. With his brother. With his wife and two young children. And with himself. “I was going off; I had no control. It was just me venting... letting out everything that I could at that point. So, whatever I was frustrated at – that cow, or that tractor, or whatever else I was angry at – that just took the whole brunt,” says Ross. “I felt like I didn’t have control of the situation, that I was a failure and I started hating being a dairy farmer. My stress levels were off the chart, my mental health was terrible, but if you asked was I okay, I would have smiled and said, ‘I’m fine’.” Reaching a crossroads, asking for help All of this came to a head one day in 2008 when Ross was driving home from a trip to Adelaide. Alone with his thoughts, Ross began questioning whether his life on the farm was the life he wanted. “I was driving and I remember the sign in front of me was an arrow to Sydney and the arrow to the right was directing me back home. And I sat at that intersection for half an hour or so, just deciding which way.” For Ross, the turn to Sydney not only represented escape, it meant giving his family some relief Ross had convinced himself that his wife and two young boys would be better off without him. After some time, Ross chose to go right. Back to his farm. To his family. And to face his anger. That’s when he booked an appointment with his GP. Uncovering trauma, understanding the impact At that appointment, somewhat unexpectedly, Ross opened about something he had buried for a long time: the abuse he had experienced as a child. “It started when I was about five. I didn’t recognise it as abuse. I knew it didn’t feel right. It was just what happened,” says Ross. “I couldn’t tell anyone. Mum and dad never knew. It was kind a wall that I put up." By not talking about the abuse, Ross had hoped it would just go away. "That’s what I did. For years.” This visit to the GP became a turning point. “I felt a sense of relief, that I didn’t need to hide the truth. This was the first time I spoke about living with the guilt and shame of being abused and how I blamed myself for what had happened,” says Ross. “It was no turning back. It couldn’t be stuffed back away.” The GP walked Ross through a mental health treatment plan and referred him to a psychologist. “My first few sessions were an emotional roller-coaster. I don’t think I have cried as much as I did in those first few visits, but it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.” Coping strategies It’s well over a decade on and Ross has been seeing his psychologist ever since those first sessions. Cognitive behaviour therapy has empowered Ross to work through the feelings of hurt and humiliation stemming from his abuse. “[My psychologist] was able to explain how traumatic events that happen in your life that are no fault of your own. They can develop into a serious mental illness if not diagnosed and treated properly,” says Ross. Therapy has also helped Ross to understand his anger and why he reacts as he does when he feels like he’s not in control. He’s learned that he needs to take a breath, and think about who or what is causing him to feel angry and why that might be happening. Making peace with himself Ross has come to realise that despite the strain of trying to run the farm through drought, the property holds a special place in his heart. “I really think for those early years, the farm did save me. Yes, it was a means of hiding, but it allowed me time to grow, allowed me time to build some confidence,” Ross explains. “It’s just that sort of safe space.” The farm continues to play a vital role in Ross’ healing. It, along with his family, his GP, and his psychologist, is a critical part of the management plan Ross follows to maintain his well-being. “With mental illness, it’s not something that you can treat once, and it just goes away,” he notes. Ross is proud of having stuck at it. But mostly, he is grateful for the life he’s built. And for taking the right turn at that intersection so many years ago. Listen to Ross' story on Beyond Blue's Not Alone podcast.Samsung Members, possibility starts here
1 MIN READ Tap into powerful tools. Explore all the ways you can maximize the performance of your device. Get insider know-how and run diagnostic tests to see how to optimize battery performance, storage usage and other features to help you do more. Make your experience personal. This is your app, designed to personalize your Samsung experience and fit your unique needs. Bookmark your favorite content, manage your devices and see your app activity—all in one place. Connect and share with others Share tips, reviews and your own brilliant solutions with other Galaxy users in the Community. It's a peer-led space for people like you. Do more with the technology you own Device diagnostics—your phone teaches you how to make it better. Manage your products with Samsung Members Register your device to receive helpful tips and faster technical support. Manage your products with Samsung Members Register your device to receive helpful tips and faster technical support.Samsung Expands Self-Repair to PCs, Going the Extra Mile for Consumers
2 MIN READ Today, Samsung Electronics America announced the expansion of its Self-Repair Program to include five new Galaxy devices. The expanded program now features genuine repair parts for the Galaxy Book Pro 15” and Galaxy Book Pro 360 15” PCs, as well as the Galaxy S22, S22+ and S22 Ultra family of products. In collaboration with iFixit, the leading online repair community, Galaxy Book owners will have access to seven authentic components to take repair into their own hands. This includes the case front, case rear, display, battery, touchpad, power key with fingerprint reader, and rubber foot. Those interested can access online guides provided on iFixit.com. “The Self-Repair program has exceeded our expectations and we hear one resounding message: people want more models. Enterprise customers in particular told us they need solutions for PCs,” said Mark Williams, Vice President of Customer Care at Samsung Electronics America. “People want to get more out of their devices and need durable products that last. Samsung is committed to offering Care options that meet their needs.” Similar to the Galaxy S20 and S21 series and Tab S7+, Galaxy S22 series owners will be able to replace display assemblies, back glass, and charging ports. The addition of these new models gives Samsung consumers the added convenience and choice to get more out of their devices and live more sustainably by extending the life of their products. Both Galaxy Book Pro and S22 series self-repair kits are available for purchase starting today. Top Rated Network and Service Quality Nationwide The expansion of the Self-Repair program is part of Samsung’s overall effort to provide convenient, accessible and quality care so people can keep their Samsung mobile devices, PCs, consumer electronics and home appliances up and running. Samsung has achieved #1 ratings for “Overall Product Quality and Service” for TVs, Home Appliances[1] and Mobile Phones[2]#_ftn2in the 2022 American Customer Satisfaction Index survey. The Index which surveys customers rating their own appliances, recognizes industry leaders for their excellence in product quality, service repair, mobile app reliability and warranty coverage. Samsung also offers #1 Service Center Network Coverage in the US for mobile devices[3]. That means Samsung has convenient Care options for you online, in-store, or via mail-in service. We’ll also meet you at a convenient location, like your office or a coffee shop, via our We Come to You services. That level of care also extends to major appliances. Even in rural areas, people can access quality Samsung care for their TVs and home appliances via Samsung Beyond Boundaries. With this program, customers located within a 4-hour radius of a Samsung care center in various U.S. regions can receive at-home repairs. For anyone outside of this radius, Samsung can also dispatch qualified technicians via the Samsung Traveling Techs program. All combined, Samsung is able to provide 99.9% of the U.S. with convenient Care coverage.[4]Learn to Develop with Samsung
Measure Blood Oxygen Level and Heart Rate on Galaxy Watch 1. Objective Create a health app for Galaxy Watches powered by Wear OS, utilizing the new Samsung Privileged Health SDK to trigger and obtain results of simultaneous blood oxygen level (SpO2) and heart rate measurements. Partnership Request In this Code Lab, you will use a specially prepared mock library. It has limited functionality and uses dummy data instead of real-time data. To get real values, you will need the full version of the Samsung Privileged Health SDK library, which is available to Samsung partners. Apply as a partner by checking out the Partner App Program to get exclusive access to the Samsung Privileged Health SDK.
