Balancing Work-Life in Remote Jobs

#FutureFriday: AI & Wearables Are Changing the Wellness Game 🚀 Remember when step counters were revolutionary? Fast forward to today where AI-powered wearables are predicting health issues before they happen. The data is compelling: employees using integrated wellness tech are 32% more likely to catch potential health concerns early. That's not just good health—it's smart business. At Wellness Coach, we're seeing global companies transform their wellness approach by connecting wearable data with personalized AI guidance: • Morning notifications suggesting optimal hydration based on yesterday's metrics • Nutrition recommendations that adapt to your activity levels • Stress pattern recognition that prompts micro-breaks before burnout hits • Sleep quality insights that improve focus and creativity the next day The best part? This isn't about monitoring employees—it's about empowering them. When people understand their own health patterns, they make better choices naturally. This weekend, challenge yourself: What's one health metric you could track that might change your Monday mindset? Whether it's steps, sleep, or screen time, small awareness shifts create massive wellness impacts. What wellness tech has made the biggest difference for you? Share below! #WorkplaceWellness #AIinHealthcare #PreventiveHealth #FridayThoughts

Working remotely can be both liberating and overwhelming. So I compiled the best remote workspace hacks to help you be productive. Setting Up Your Workspace ↳ Location Matters Choose a quiet, well-lit area with good ventilation. Position yourself away from loud environments (TV, busy rooms). Access natural light whenever possible for improved mood and energy. ↳ Ergonomics First Invest in an ergonomic chair and adjustable desk. Keep your screen at eye level and at least 20 inches away. Use a keyboard and mouse that minimize wrist strain. ↳ Technology Essentials Hardware: High-performance laptop/desktop, noise-canceling headphones, quality webcam. Software: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Workspace. Connectivity: High-speed internet (at least 25 Mbps for video calls). ↳ Personalization Add personal touches like plants, photos, or motivational quotes. Use a desk organizer to keep essentials tidy. Adjust lighting to your preference (warm light for a cozy vibe). Which tip are you most excited to try first? Comment below! 👇 Want 30+ FREE AI resources? Enter your email here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e7An-ScR ♻️ Share this post to help others design their ultimate remote workspace!

One of Patron's core inspirations is the belief that video games can serve as a force for good in the world, catalyzing positive transformations in people's lives. As for my personal journey -- while I've always loved games, I was far from being healthy or fit. By my late 30s, seven years of weekly work flights and becoming a first-time founder had taken its toll on my body. I'd given up exercise, adopted a poor diet, suffered from lack of sleep, and put on over 20lbs. It all came to a head when my doctor delivered a sobering message about my eventual risk of severe cardiovascular problems one year ago. Something had to change dramatically. Completing an Ironman event had been an aspirational goal, but as a time-strapped founder -- I dismissed it as an impossible dream. And training for it seemed like a form of self-inflicted torture. However, as I prepared for my first triathlon event, I was surprised by the advancements in tools designed to make the training game-like and very efficient. Today, many fitness apps offer an experience akin to gaming, making exercise fun and highly trackable. They incorporate mastery and progression, much like games like League. The crucial distinction is that every minute invested in this 'game' yields tangible health benefits, enhancing my focus, energy, and drive to become a better founder, father, and husband—leveling up in the real world. Allow me to share some of my favorite apps that I 'played' to prepare for my first IM race, making the process not bearable but enjoyable AND efficient (<10 hours of primarily virtual training). TrainingPeaks became my daily quest log, with my coach prescribing my workouts. Upon completion, they automatically uploaded via my Garmin watch, and I was ready for the next challenge. Zwift transformed indoor cycling into an actual MMO. By connecting my bike to a smart trainer, I could simulate outdoor rides, compete in group events, race others, and upgrade my in-game bike using 'drops,' the in-game currency. Strava became my ultimate source of positive reinforcement, with PRs, segment leaderboards, kudos from friends, and detailed mapping keeping me motivated. FORM revolutionized lap pool swimming, offering a HUD akin to an FPS game, and seeing real-time strokes completely took the monotony out of lap pool swims. Peloton Interactive tread proved to be a game-changer. I'd always preferred outdoor runs, but leaderboards, PRs, and live group classes made me prefer indoor ones over outdoors. WHOOP and Eight Sleep were indispensable for min/maxing my sleep. Waking up at 5am daily to train required discipline, and these tools ensured I got the 8 hours I needed to recover. Transforming fitness and longevity into a video game propelled me to a top 20% finish in my first Ironman 70.3 event and the best shape of my life. I now firmly believe the existing apps are just scratching the surface of what's possible -- and would love to back founders building in this space.

If you’re starting your Cloud / DevOps journey in 2025 — make sure Prometheus and Grafana are on your roadmap.. Here’s a quick overview: Both Prometheus and Grafana are observability tools focused on monitoring — → Prometheus collects and stores metrics (plus alerting). → Grafana visualizes those metrics through rich dashboards. Companies can: - self-host them on VMs or Kubernetes, - or choose managed offerings from major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP) + grafana cloud Let’s dive in further: Prometheus handles: ↳ Collecting and storing metrics (from servers, containers, apps) ↳ Alerting when thresholds are breached (via Alertmanager) ↳ Infrastructure monitoring with exporters ↳ SLA/SLO tracking Grafana shines at: ↳ Building rich, interactive dashboards for metrics ↳ Business KPI monitoring alongside system data ↳ Log & metric correlation for root cause analysis ↳ Visualizing trends for capacity planning Why are they preferred for monitoring: • Real-time visibility across systems • Faster incident response with both historical + live data • Simplified application performance tracking (latency, error rates, throughput) • Deep insights into container & Kubernetes health (pods, resources, clusters) • Open-source and cloud-agnostic → no vendor lock-in That’s why they’ve become the go-to choice for modern observability. ⸻ Monitoring isn’t just about collecting data — it’s about using the right tools to see the bigger picture and act before things break. Question for you: Have you used Prometheus & Grafana mainly for infra monitoring, or also for business KPIs? • • • If you found this useful.. 🔔 Follow me (Vishakha) for more Cloud & DevOps insights ♻️ Share so others can learn as well!

Wearables are no longer just trackers. They are becoming health operating systems. The diagnostics race in wearables has hit a new level. Some weeks ago, WHOOP rolled out clinician-reviewed blood tests inside its app. A few weeks later, ŌURA launched Health Panels with AI-driven explanations. Now Ultrahuman steps in with Blood Vision + UltraTrace-at-home or clinic testing for 100+ biomarkers that link directly to ring and CGM data. The speed of change is wild. (And I LOVE it.) Here’s what’s actually new: → Integrated labs, now inside your wearables. ŌURA and WHOOP both use CLIA-certified Quest Diagnostics. You take the test, results land in the app, all with clinical oversight. Ultrahuman lets you test at home or at a clinic, then matches your labs to real-world signals-sleep, HRV, glucose-using UltraTrace. We are moving from “tracking” to real, actionable diagnostics. → Brand-new takes on guidance. ŌURA’s AI Advisor puts labs in context-sleep, stress, nutrition. If a result is critical, a clinician steps in. WHOOP’s Advanced Labs weaves your numbers into recovery and training guidance for high performers. Ultrahuman pushes longitudinal follow-up: repeat your panel in 3 to 6 months, see the change over time. Why does this matter? → Wearables are turning into full health operating systems. Hardware + continuous signals + diagnostics + AI coaching-under one roof. → The quiet winners? Infrastructure players. CLIA labs like Quest, white-label diagnostics, and the data rails behind the scenes. As front-end apps multiply, these back-end pipes scale up, out of sight, without chasing new customers or the need to increase their customer acquisition costs. I’ve been saying this for years: The next winners in health are not just device makers. They are ecosystem builders who close the loop: continuous data → diagnostics → interpretation → behavior change. Now, we see that play out across multiple platforms. The game isn’t about who tracks most. It’s about who turns insight into action, and action into long-term change. Curious which model will win-closed, end-to-end stacks or open ecosystems stitched together by best-in-class partners? What are your thoughts on the future of wearables as health operating systems? Let’s build health that works for real life. Picture source: ultrahuman website news section

Working remotely can be both liberating and overwhelming. So I compiled the best remote workspace hacks to help you be productive. Setting Up Your Workspace ↳ Location Matters Choose a quiet, well-lit area with good ventilation. Position yourself away from loud environments (TV, busy rooms). Access natural light whenever possible for improved mood and energy. ↳ Ergonomics First Invest in an ergonomic chair and adjustable desk. Keep your screen at eye level and at least 20 inches away. Use a keyboard and mouse that minimize wrist strain. ↳ Technology Essentials Hardware: High-performance laptop/desktop, noise-canceling headphones, quality webcam. Software: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Workspace. Connectivity: High-speed internet (at least 25 Mbps for video calls). ↳ Personalization Add personal touches like plants, photos, or motivational quotes. Use a desk organizer to keep essentials tidy. Adjust lighting to your preference (warm light for a cozy vibe). Which tip are you most excited to try first? Comment below! 👇 Want 30+ FREE AI resources? Enter your email here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eq75mzaT ♻️ Share this post to help others design their ultimate remote workspace!

⌚️ Wearables lead to healthier people. For a few years, there has been a movement (by some) in the wellness community to downplay wearables and their effectiveness. New research might be a reason to rethink that view point. I was first introduced to the role that wearables can play in creating healthy lives in 2007 from the landmark research conducted by Ghent university on the effectiveness of the physical activity promotion project “10,000 Steps Ghent.” Ultimately, what the study found was that 3 factors, when done together, had a significant role in achieving healthy wellness goals - 1. Established a goal (in this case, 10,000 steps) 2. Monitoring or Tracking progress (the study utilized a pedometer) 3. Community intervention (achieve the goal together) Since then, wearables have become ubiquitous around the world and not just in western nations. The two fastest growing markets for wearables are India and China, respectively. Furthermore, the growth of the category (11% YOY) has not been led by industry leaders, such as Apple and Fitbit, but rather new players including Huawei in China and low-cost startups in India - Noise and Fireboltt - where wearables are under $50 USD. . . Last week, I had an opportunity to review an insightful paper on the impact of wearables published on the The Lancet - an international weekly general medical journal that has been in active publication since 1823. The paper was a systematic review of 39 studies that covered nearly 165,000 people over a period of several years. The meta-analysis drew to the conclusion that wearables led to positive changes several areas including: - Physical Activity - Body Composition - 1800 more steps per day - Improved physiological benefits including blood pressure, cholesterol, and glycosylated hemoglobin - Improved psychosocial benefits (quality of life and pain) With nearly two decades of data, there is no question that wearables will lead to improved health outcomes.   . . 💡 How can brands integrate wearables into their user journey? Here are some quick wins that we have incorporated into several of our brands and partners: - If you have a mobile app, integrate with Apple Health or Google Fit - Enhance the experience with data collected from wearables - Built a community that is either digital or physical - Implement gamification and rewards to help drive positive behavior - Personalize the journey - Do an assessment: Think of this as the GPS for your user’s health. You cannot create a pathway for achieving their goals if you do not know where they are starting from. Wearables alone are impactful. However, when integrated with a brand that serves as the “front-end” for the user - they can supercharge progress. Let me know how you have incorporated wearables into your life or brand below. 👇 #wearables #health #wellness #activity #tracking #research #innovation #india #china #growth #apple #fitbit #brands 

Monitoring and visualizing application performance is critical, especially in distributed systems where multiple components interact. Recently, I worked on a project that showcased the power of AWS X-Ray for tracing and analyzing application requests. Here’s a detailed breakdown of what I learned and how X-Ray can make a significant difference in application monitoring. What is AWS X-Ray? AWS X-Ray provides tools to monitor, trace, and debug applications running in production or development environments. By capturing and analyzing application traces, X-Ray enables us to identify bottlenecks, understand dependencies, and ensure the overall health of the system. 1️⃣ Configured X-Ray in the Application Layer • Enabled the X-Ray SDK in the application code to capture traces. • Instrumented the application to capture SQL queries and HTTP requests for better visibility into performance. 2️⃣ Set Up X-Ray in the Web Layer • Integrated the X-Ray recorder with the web-tier application to track client-side interactions and their impact on the backend systems. 3️⃣ Deployed the X-Ray Daemon • Installed and configured the X-Ray daemon on the EC2 instances to process and send trace data to the X-Ray service. 4️⃣ Monitored the Trace Map • Generated a service map to visualize the flow of requests across the architecture, including the load balancers, EC2 instances, and Aurora database. • Used CloudWatch to complement X-Ray by analyzing metrics, response times, and any potential issues in real time. Key Features Explored: • Trace Map: A graphical representation of the application’s architecture, showing the interactions between various components. • Trace Details: Dive deep into individual requests to see how they flow through the system, from the client to the backend. • Raw Data Insights: Accessed JSON trace data for advanced debugging and detailed performance analysis. Why is X-Ray Important? • Provides end-to-end visibility into application performance. • Simplifies debugging in distributed systems by breaking down requests into segments and subsegments. • Highlights latency issues, slow queries, or misconfigurations in real time, enabling faster resolution. • Facilitates optimization by identifying dependencies and usage patterns. AWS X-Ray is an essential tool for any cloud-based architecture where observability and operational insights are critical. I created the architecture diagram using Cloudairy I would love to mention some amazing individuals who have inspired me and who I learn from and collaborate with: Neal K. Davis Steven Moran Eric Huerta Prasad Rao Azeez Salu Mike Hammond Teegan A. Bartos Kumail Rizvi Benjamin Muschko #AWS #CloudComputing #AWSXRay #Observability #ApplicationMonitoring #CloudArchitecture #CloudWatch #Metrics #diagrams

As founder of a fully remote company spread across 3 continents whose formative years took place during the height of the pandemic, I've given a lot of thought to virtual offices. Done right, a virtual office can maintain productivity, foster collaboration, and nurture company culture. Done wrong, a virtual office quickly becomes an expensive, unused ghost town. If you're considering a virtual office, here are the top 10 things you should look for: 1. Infinite Spaces and Creativity: Look for a platform that offers unlimited spaces, allowing you to create multiple offices, meeting rooms, and collaborative spaces without constraints. 2. Employee-Created Spaces: Empower your team to create and customize their own spaces. This not only promotes engagement but also lets employees personalize their work environments, fostering a sense of ownership. 3. Interactive Experiences. At Topia, our SDK and Experience Engine allow you to create or remix interactive experiences. This is particularly valuable for building social applications or training simulations, setting your virtual office apart from standard setups. 4. Data Ownership: Ensure that you own all your data. At Topia, we solve for this by offering dedicated deployments, that give you full control over your database, protecting your IP and maintaining privacy. 5. Scalability: The platform should support an unlimited number of guests without additional costs. Scalable technology is essential for large events or company-wide meetings. 6. Multiple Modes of Interaction: A strong virtual office should offer multiple communication modes, including text chat, audio, video, and proximity-based interactions. This flexibility supports various work styles and enhances team collaboration. 7. Persistent Environments: Look for a platform where spaces remain available and customizable 24/7. This allows employees to engage in impromptu meetings, after-hours collaboration, or casual social interactions whenever needed. 8. Robust Analytics: Choose a platform with comprehensive analytics that provide insights into engagement, social connections, and productivity. This data is invaluable for refining your virtual office setup and optimizing team performance. 9. Seamless Integration with Existing Tools: The virtual office should integrate smoothly with your current systems. This integration streamlines workflows and reduces the need for additional training. 10. Lightweight and Easy To Use. Your virtual office shouldn't require employees to purchase VR equipment or run heavyweight applications. Topia can be accessed through a browser or mobile device, no downloads or applications necessary.

Prepping for a call in Arthur right now (literally right now as I'm typing this) and thought I'd share a big friction point that we've overcome with VR. People are concerned about jumping in and out of headsets. Being able to easily work in 3D and 2D. Well... I'm currently in VR typing this post and want to give you a quick breakdown of the real actions I'm taking for this meeting: Scenario: I want to add some last minute content into my VR meeting room. The team made some new marketing materials that I think help explain what we do. Problem: Most of the time this is really hard to do in VR. Typically you have to upload everything in advance via the web, then wait for it to upload, and then it's locked. No more changes. Sometimes you even have to send it to the company hosting the meeting rooms to do it for you. This isn't unique to VR actually... I've even seen 2D virtual event platforms struggle with this 🤦♂️ Solution: With Arthur I'm able to do a few things that make this much easier. A) Our workstation app let's me access my desktop from VR. So I can just stay in headset... no need to jump in and out. B) Our Google Drive integration let's me drag and drop content into a folder and access it immediately in VR. C) Once the content is in the room, I can manipulate it like any other object. Resize it, place it wherever I want. Even draw on it. Result: I'm able to make updates all the way until the meeting starts without help from another team. Making sure I'm able to communicate the best ideas and deliver the most value to my clients. ____ I want to share more stories like this. We talk a lot about VR creating more engagement and deeper human connection. But I haven't done enough to show tactically what we can can do with these tools. I'll try to do better! 🤩