Oversea Students Are Impressed!

At skignz we always want new people to be informed and test out the new technology that we have created. We love seeing how impressed they are with it and just how great of a reaction we get from everyone.

The 1^st July saw a group of oversea's student’s travel across from Africa to Teesside University on a 4 week course as a consideration to study their Masters here. 

within a day of arriving in the UK, straight from getting off the plane they came across to Teesside University to meet skignz and get involved in a treasure hunt/orientation activity.

Now some may wonder students have travelled across from Nigeria on a long flight, why would they want to come and first of all see skignz before they do anything else. Well skignz is their guide, essentially. 

They need to get to know the area and know where they are going while they are here, and skignz is the way for them to do that. Also we wanted them to get introduced to this great technology and see just how impressed they were with it.

When they arrived at the university we decided to give them a short introduction to skignz; what it is and how they can use it. We showed them a couple of videos of how it worked and then got them to download the app to their phone ready for the treasure hunt/orientation activity.

Just from watching the video and talking about it, we could see by the reactions on their faces and some of the words they were coming out with: “wow, amazing, great” just how amazed they were by how good this new piece of technology is.

We started them off on their orientation activity. The original plan was to split them up into groups of 5 however there was a slight problem with them coming from overseas not all of them had 3G connections (expensive overseas roaming charges) which was no at problem when on campus due to the use of the Wi-Fi, but upon stepping off the campus they had to rely on only a few members of the group who could access 3G and off they went to discover the surrounding area beyond the campus.

The orientation activity started from Teesside University leading around Middlesbrough down Linthorpe road into town then back up to the university again. 

It was set to take around two hours so that they could get used to the app, have some fun and also get to know about Middlesbrough. All aimed at helping them to decide whether to come over to study their Masters at Teesside University.

After the orientation activity was completed, they arrived back at Teesside University and we gathered some feedback from how it went.

The engaged students gave positive feedback saying that it was good, not so hard to use and was fun getting to know about Middlesbrough. 

They said it was an easy way to understand where they were going and did not get lost.

After the feedback was gathered we then decided to gather back in the Business School and get some further feedback of how they found the app and how they decide they are going to use it in the future. 

We also offered to answer any questions that they may have had about attending Teesside University or wanting to study here.

Some of the feedback from the students that we received was excellent. 

Statements ranged from:

            - “It will be helpful at concerts”

            - “We have large carnivals in our country, including big festival”

            - “I will use it wherever I visit the UK”

            - “I will skignz up our University back home”

            - “We will introduce it to our friends when we get back home”

            - “It is great technology that is beneficial and fun in a lot of ways”

The students from Africa were very excited about the technology that skignz offered and were excited about using it back home. They were excited to tell all of their friends about it and wanted to know what more we could do with it, giving us a lot of ideas which were really appreciated. 

Fresh ideas from overseas students!

We were really pleased with reactions and feedback we received. The students were very cheery and had a lot of positive thoughts about skignz. They stated that they were going to use it while in the UK for four weeks to help find their friends if they get lost and to also find the accommodation where they are staying if not sure where they are. 

The skignz app will defiantly be useful to the over sea students while they are over in the UK.

When we were showing them the videos of the work we were doing with some luxury brands at the moment they were amazed with what we showed them. 

When we showed them all a video of a luxury car makers, Car Configurator and the work we have planned to do with skignz they got even more excited about the technology, stating once again, just how amazing the work is that can be done with skignz.

We hope to be having a catch up with them in a couple of weeks, see how they are getting on and how they are enjoying it over here and also to see how they have found skignz.

If you want to know more about studying at Teesside University then visit their website www.tees.ac.uk to see some of the amazing under graduate and post graduate courses they offer. 

If you are a college or overseas university and would like to come and visit the TU campus and discover skignz for yourself then please contact either Teesside University or skignz.

If you would like to get to know more about skignz or if you have taken an interest in it, whether it be beneficial to you or to a brand you may know of then please get in touch with us using the links below.

www.skignz.com

www.facebook.com/discoverskignz

www.twitter.com/discoverskignz

www.youtube.com/skignz

The Teams Work - Sarah Spowart

Hey Guys!

My name is Sarah Spowart and I have recently joined the skignz team as a Film and Media Producer. How professional does that sound! 

My job role involves creating short training, promo and online sharable videos that can be sent to potential clients showing them how their company can benefit from using skignz.

I finished University last year qualifying with a First Class Honours Degree in Broadcast Media Production which is my biggest achievement yet. I enjoyed my course a lot and love that I can finally put the skills that I learnt into good use here at skignz. 

When I was offered the job I had a huge mix of emotions going through my body all at once. Some of these included:

I haven’t been here long but it’s already becoming a busy month for me, learning how to use different software and of course not forgetting being the ‘star’ of a recent photo-shoot. Busy times!

In my spare time I like to bake and experiment with new recipes, whether they’re from a book or simply made up. I love baking cakes and sweet things - check out some pies I knocked up: D-LISH!       

I look forward to working for skignz and hope they enjoy working with me! Together we can cook up a storm!

Catch you later,

Sarah xx 

Aerosure - Health and Personal Care Technology

Health is a big issue now and is getting talked about more each day. How a person lives their life, how they work and their daily activity can have a massive impact on their lives and their health. 

It won't however just affect them, it can and the majority of the time will have an effect on others around them.

Technology is getting more advanced each day

It is great that technology is getting more advanced each day as it is better for us and how we can all benefit from it; however it starts now from a young age that a lot of kids and younger children start to use technology which overall can have a big impact on themselves and their life ahead of them. 


From watching TV to playing on their games and being on the computer, all of this is a lot for kids to do from a young age.

Recently being talked about in the news a lot is that obesity levels are rising

Young Kids and Technology

high and that it’s causing health 

issues for a lot of people. Kids are starting to become more obese and so are adults. 

Being overweight and obesity can rise from how a person has lived their life each and every day. The government are recently bringing new schemes out to help people on the NHS lose weight by teaming up and joining weight-watchers referral scheme. 

This is a way to help people who can't afford to lose weight or are not able to do it themselves have the ability to be able to take that step to being healthier.

Weight Watcher provide NHS Weight Loss Referral Scheme

The team at skignz know how all of this can have an impact. We sit at computers for the majority of the day doing work and at the end of the day the first thing that is definitely not on our list is to go home and be straight on another computer. 

We have seen how widely talked about this is that the impact it can have on someone’s health. Sitting at a computer desk most of the day is not good for our eyes, focus, brain activity and more. It can affect the inside and outside of your body.

This is when we came across this great piece of technology – health and personal care: Aerosure. 

                   

‘Aerosure is a personal respiratory device that causes oscillation of the chest wall as you breathe in and out. 

Aerosure was developed by Dr Paul Sumners initially as a device to stimulate the respiratory system for scientific research, but as it progressed it was realised that the oscillation could do more than what had initially been anticipated. Initially we tried to use it for respiratory muscle training in a similar way to power breathe and it was effective but they soon realised that the benefits of respiratory muscle training were limited. 

This has enormous implications for lots of conditions where breathlessness is a major symptom of disease progression. Further in some patients whose oxygen saturation is low because of inadequate ventilation of the lungs they saw an increase in oxygen saturation whilst the patients were using Aerosure.

This suggests that Aerosure could be used as a portable ventilator. This again has massive implications for diseases involving loss of lung tissue or respiratory inefficiency. Further work is underway so it is still early days but the future for Aerosure looks exciting’.

Aerosure - Personal and Healthcare Technology

This type of technology for health and personal care is a great new advancement and will be sure to help a lot of people in the future. Whoever may develop problems from whether it just is natural causes or from the use of technology too much then this will be a great benefit for them to have.

Keep a look out on the advancements that this type of technology will make. We sure are going to, and just a last small piece of advice, if you do have children maybe limit the use of technology that they use each day. 

However don't just consider Aerosure for how it could affect you now and society, look at the long term prospect for the future. Aerosure can improve your health and help to keep you fit for longer allowing you to breathe easier and have clear airways. It is your direction to better health and keeping it that way. 

It will keep them healthier for longer and you never know just how much they may need to use it in the future with all the advancements getting made each and every day as we go on. As we said, we sit at computers each day, which is definitely not good for our health or our body weight, as we are not getting any meaningful exercise throughout the day.

If you would like to read up more on this new health and personal care technology then please use the links below.

bit.ly/1tTBdvy - Aerosure Medic 

If you would like to please feel free to take a look at the rest of skignz blogger. There are a lot of interesting articles on there that you may find interesting or useful to read about and could maybe just benefit you in some way. 

www.skignz.com

www.facebook.com/discoverskignz

www.twitter.com/discoverskignz

www.youtube.com/skignz

Technology in Modern Sport

So we all know how much of an impact technology has in everyone’s lives now, and each day it is getting more advanced, more creative and more technological. That is why it is one of the biggest advancements in today world. 

Plus we all know just how big sports are in everyone’s life. Especially live sports. Each person, no matter who they are, will have that sport that is key in their lives and has a big impact on one of their main interests.
Do you ever think just how much technology has had an impact on live sports. They are two of the largest growing interests in the world, and them both working together provides us with a greater interest in them together.

Let us have a look and see just how technology has had an impact on various kinds of sports.

Let’s start with Football. 

Now football is huge, huge, huge, and technology became a massive part of football – Goal Line Technology. Goal line technology is a method used to determine when the ball has completely crossed the goal line with the assistance of electronic devices. 

Two systems were implemented into the certain competitions in the professional game from nine originally tested in 2012 and have remained since. 

This technology was brought in to assist the referee in the decision making as to whether the ball has fully crossed the line or not. Now look at this great advancement that technology brought to football. It provided a more accurate scoring to the games and is one of the biggest evolutions of the modern game, similar to allowing substitutes and the wage cap football. 

Technology has and now plays a massive part in not only football but in the lives of the supporters as they now also rely on it.

Secondly let’s take a look at Cricket. 

Cricket has a massive following the world over. The technology that got brought into cricket was the Hot Spot. Now cricket you have to be able to determine where the ball hit perfectly before making a decision. 

That’s where the Hot Spot came around. It is an infrared imaging system used to determine whether the ball has stuck the batsman, bat or pad. It requires two infrared cameras on opposite sides of the playing ground above the field of play that are each constantly recording an image. 

Any suspicions from the game can be verified by examining the infrared image which usually shows a bright spot where contact friction from the ball has elevated the local temperature.

This technology is used to provide accuracy within the game. This just shows how great the technology created for this game is and just how much of an impact it can have within cricket matches.

Thirdly let’s take a look at Tennis. 
In Tennis they use a system called Hawk-Eye. Now what this technology system does is it ensures that high pressure points do not fall prey to umpiring mistakes, it brings the fans closer to the action. It shows whether a ball was in or out on stadium big screens and televisions at home. 

Hawk-Eye allows the audience and viewers to feel like they are actually there and a part of the game, bringing a whole new dimension to television coverage and fascinating tennis fans worldwide. 

This technology, Hawk-Eye was the first and only ball-tracking technology to have passed stringent ITF testing measures and is now an integral part of the ATP, WTA and ITF tennis tours. The technology for Tennis is one of the best and became straight away part of the rules.

Fourthly Golf.

Golf has had a lot of technology around its sporting attribute. For Golf, technology has provided a way for Golf to be able to let its fans and supporters to be able to play a game of Golf through simulation and let it seem like players are in a real time video flying through the course they are playing hole by hole. 

 This technology that got invented for Golf has become so popular with a lot of people that it is easily to be found in a lot of places now. 

The simulation technology allows Golf supporters to make it feel like when they want to play a game of Golf or learn how to do it they can play through a simulation game indoors, providing them with a great, satisfying experience.

All of the above sports are now using technology to improve their games and help apply the rules fairly to each game so that no conflict arises and it is a fair game. Each different kind of sports is now also using apps so that people can bet at events with their chosen bookmaker. 

This allows people to interact with the game and sport on a more personal level allowing them to be involved when and where they wish to be. 

To make it easier for people to use the apps to be able to make bets and interact with the games more, Wi-Fi is now assisted in stadiums, gaming areas and at other outdoor live events to save people using their own connection and rely on the technology that is provided on the day of the event and by that certain brand/company.

Technology plays a massive parts in live sports as it not only assists everyone such as the game, players, supporters, fans, it enables people to make more accurate decisions on how the game went. 

In addition and probably more importantly it allow supports, viewers and fans to feel like they are a part of the game on a more personal level and finally it encourages people to keep on supporting that sport and provide a lifetime commitment which was started through technology providing everyone’s with the ability to do all of the above.

Looking at which technology was used within different kinds of sports, we wonder just how it has that impact on different areas within sport. 

Let us start with the competition that is within sport. For each competitor playing a game the technology allows them to know that the game can only be played fairly and that no cheating can be done. 

For them this is a relief as somewhere along the way maybe many years ago cheating within games will have gone on and not a fair win will have been provided as there was no evidence until new technology advancements came around.

For the live audience, the technology advancements have allowed them to get a greater view and judgement of the game themselves and feel like they have become a part of the game. It allows them to feel like they are more involved if they can clearly see and understand what has happened more and let them make judgements for themselves. 

Technology provides the same assistance for the 'integrity of the game' to equal fair play throughout the game. It allows the players and referees to know that the game can only be judged as fairly as no mistakes and cheating can be made with the new technology that has been provided to different live sports. 

It allows the performance of the players to be judged carefully and let the audience see also just how well they play and how fairly they play throughout the game.

Technology provided within sports now had allowed the empowerment and enforcing of the rules to be more legit and accurate. The technology that was provided for Tennis 'Hawk-Eye' became a legit part of the rules instantly, changing the empowerment of the rules for the game and the aspect of it. The different types of technology provide statistics and data more easily for people to be able to find as it can now collect it all and store it as a result of the game and what happened within each game within each sport. 

Hawk-Eye also enables the showing replays of action on the cameras and televisions within the stadium which provides more assistance for the audience and players again and makes the audience feel like they are more involved within the game and for those who may have a restricted view get a better sense of what happens throughout the match. 

This technology has provided great opportunities within each sport and provided a whole new aspect and outlook on what happens now within each live sporting game.

So what is coming next for live sports and technology? 

Well with technology being more advanced each day there are a lot of opportunities that could become available such as camera drones, stadiums increasing their connectivity with super Wi-Fi so people can access content across their phones faster? Who knows?, but there is still a lot to come with technology for live sports that will look at improving even more on the events than how they are how.

However one type of technology that is advanced and can be used at live sport events is skignz.  

skignz is been 'mooted' as the next way for live sports to be viewed at the events with the same information available to those watching it on TV – such as Sky Sports multi-channel display with fanzone, commentary, statistics, replay etc... 

All of these can be built into separate channels with skignz so that it can be seen whilst watching the game live at the venue or location of where the sport is taking place!



skignz can make that infrastructure visible and visually appealing to the live audience.

Sound good?

skignz is fast becoming one of the best new technologies at live sport events and most likely will be in the future, just keep watching that space.

So thinking about how much technology has already made an impact and what is to come, skignz can assist all of that and more with the technology created and what could be provided at future events.

If you would like to read more to find out just exactly what we do, have done and to see just how great it is, then please follow the links below to our social media sites, website and YouTube channel to see some of the great work that we have already done and plan to do for the future.

www.skignz.com

www.twitter.com/discoverskignz

www.facebook.com/discoverskignz

www.youtube.com/skignz