AI companion company Replika partnered with the team behind the AI dating simulator Blush to release Tomo, a wellness and meditation app with an AI-generated avatar guiding users. Its the kind of concept that seemed destined as soon as generative AI took off, but in the time Ive spent with Tomo, I found myself wondering if I can ever open up to an AI like I can with a real therapist.

Tomo, now generally available on the Apple iOS store, brings users to a virtual island retreat, greeted by an AI-generated avatar guide named Tomo. Tomo offers programs to help people explore personal growth, mental well-being, and fulfillment. It also provides guided meditation, yoga, affirmation classes, and, most of all, talk therapy.

Users can try out Tomo for free for three days, after which they have to choose between paying $7.99 a week or $49.99 per year.

I got to try Tomo before the launch. The first time I launched the app, I was greeted by spa music, signaling that the app wants users to feel like theyre in a retreat rather than a therapists office. Then the avatar Tomo, drawn as a young woman standing in front of a traditional Japanese house on an island, asks me if Im ready to begin. Tomo started asking me some questions to figure out what I hoped to work on.

We worked with coaches and psychologists to come up with the programs for Tomo. We focused on the most common problems but also thought about what would work best with conversational AI, Eugenia Kuyda, founder and CEO of Replika, tells The Verge in an email. We had a lot of experience building coaching programs for Replika with clinical psychologists from UC Berkeley; for Tomo, we expanded that to mindfulness teachers to combine Eastern and Western practices.

The approach felt like texting a therapist on text-based therapy services like BetterHelp. I already go to in-person therapy, so the experience of sharing more about myself was not new. Yet I have never been a text therapy fan; I prefer stream-of-consciousness conversation to typing out my anxieties. But for the sake of a hands-on, I kept texting with Tomo. It began building a profile based on my answers. My profile shows I like to focus on work, have money anxieties, and need help coping with stress; in other words, a journalist existing in late-stage capitalism. Tomo summarized our conversation, but it did mistakenly assume I had a determination to pursue pottery when really Im just curious about it as a possible stress reliever.

After the initial conversation, users can explore other activities or areas of the island. There was no virtual pottery for me to apparently pursue; instead, the programs Tomo offers range from mastering the art of work-life balance, driving motivation, and improving sleep, which comes in the form of modules that users can finish in anywhere from two weeks to a month. Eventually, the developers said, people can unlock 3D objects around the island that facilitate a deeper exploration of their inner sanctuary.

Tomo, the avatar guide, is supposed to be powered by generative AI to have better conversations with users. But honestly, talking to Tomo didnt feel much different from speaking with a regular chatbot. I couldnt get it to participate in a little art therapy with me (it wouldnt draw) or retail therapy (it couldnt help with shopping or travel tasks I tried to assign it) which meant that instead of feeling like a fully formed digital being on which I could unload my troubles, it really just felt like someone put background music on ChatGPT.

And while I found the guided meditations helpful, it also felt like other guided meditation apps Ive tried before.Eventually I found myself losing interest, mainly because by the time I remembered to open Tomo, I already had assignments from my therapist to work on.

Using AI for mental health therapy remains controversial, especially as privacy protections still fall short for many technology-based mental health solutions. Its a tricky business, one for which Replika, which is behind Tomos digital avatar, has already gotten into hot water. Italy banned Replika last year for failing to meet security standards in its Replika chat app. But Replikas CEO says it is taking more precautions with Tomo, though the company did not give me its full privacy policy.

We dont share any information with any third parties and rely on a subscription business model. What users tell Tomo stays private between them and their coach, Kuyda said.

Tomo is only available on iPhones; an Android version will be released later this year. Replika also plans to launch an app on Apples Vision Pro, paving the way for an even more immersive Tomo-guided meditation.

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Replika's new AI therapy app tries to bring you to a zen island - The Verge

Transform your life, twelve minutes at a time

Meditation

Stuck in this rat race where hustle culture reigns supreme, stress seems to lurk around every corner which makes it vital to pause and take a breather. We're constantly bombarded with tasks, notifications and expectations, leaving very little room to tend to our inner selves but it's time to change that this year. Dont have the time? What if we told you that just 12 minutes a day could make a world of difference? Just 12 minutes of tranquillity. 12 minutes of You.

Stress Monster

Stress caused by release of stress hormones- Cortisol

Before getting into the meditation technique, we need to decipher what stress is. Understanding why we're stressed makes it easier to handle it. Whether it's tight deadlines, exams, or simply a rough day without explanation, stress is more common than we realise. When we encounter stress, our bodies kick into high gear, releasing the infamous stress hormone. While a bit of cortisol can be helpful in certain situations as it can scare the procrastination monster away, an excess of it wreaks havoc on our minds and bodies, leading to multiple health issues like headaches and insomnia among others.

This is where our hero comes in. A simple yet powerful solution: meditation. And not just any meditation: The 12-in-12 method. This petite approach to mindfulness is for everyone out there but especially for the ones who are too busy hustling to make time for themselves. Its all about fitting tranquillity into our busy lives without sacrificing effectiveness.

This method promises that 12 minutes a day can help you find your calm amidst the chaos. It may sound too good to be true, but trust us, the benefits are real. Increased focus, creativity, and resilience are just the tip of the iceberg!

The Blueprint

If youre a newbie to meditation, heres how you can start:

We have two options: One is to dedicate a solid 12-minute block to meditation in a day or break it down into one-minute sessions spread throughout the day. If you are restless, you can test the waters with the one-minute sessions, gradually increasing the duration over the following weeks. It will eventually start to feel like mini resets for your soul. Whether it's heart-rhythm meditation or box breathing, these quick sessions will help to keep your stress at bay and productivity levels high. This method has caught the attention of business giants like Apple for good reason. Remember, while duration is crucial, being consistent is key. Your Happy Place

The environment around you can also significantly influence mood. Finding a quiet spot where distractions are minimal, whether it's first thing in the morning or just before bed if youre a night owl. By incorporating meditation into our daily routines, we not only enhance our well-being but also set the tone for a more centred day.

Dress to De-Stress

Imagine sitting for a minute in extremely tight-fitted clothes. The discomfort, suffocation, and inability to breathe don't sound quite appealing, do they? Now, imagine enduring 12 minutes in such attire-it could feel like torture. This is why we recommend wearing comfortable, loose-fitted clothes or opt for activewear during this session because the more comfortable you are, the more relaxed you will feel.

The Art of Body Mapping

Body scanning is like levelling up your self-awareness game. It's all about checking in with every part of your body, from head to toe, helping you feel more connected and in control.

So, it's time to reclaim our peace of mind embrace the power of 12 minutes a day and focus on our overall well-being because when you're constantly being pulled in a million different directions, finding moments of stillness is nothing short of revolutionary.

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Meditation Made Simple: The 12 in 12 Method | Grazia India - Grazia India

Untold: The Retreat review why meditation can be fatal  The Times

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Untold: The Retreat review why meditation can be fatal - The Times

Mikel Arteta has numerous techniques to help him turn his brain off from football with the Arsenal boss turning his hand to meditation as well as a bit of reading

Arteta reaffirms commitment to Arsenal amid Barcelona links

Mikel Arteta has revealed he uses mediation to get himself ready for games.

Arteta has gained a reputation for being one of the most intense and temperamental managers on the touchline during the heat of battle. But Arteta likes to calm himself down as part of his pre-match preparation as he admitted the rollercoaster of emotions can have a big impact on managers.

You can be certain that he will be pumped for Arsenal s visit to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night with the pressure on the Gunners to win and send out a statement in the title race.

Gunners boss Arteta is not the only manager to use meditation to get himself in the right mindset for games as Bayern Munich coach Thomas Tuchel said during his time in charge at Chelsea that he also uses the technique.

Arteta said: I think it is very necessary. Every day you need to have moments. I have moments during my day when I do certain things to bring everything down. Your brain goes 100mph and you cannot see the picture with clarity you need to bring it down sometimes.

"There are ways to do it your family, sometimes meditation, sometimes sport is a great way to put those things away, talking to people. There are a lot of things that you need. You need holidays, days off, stay away from your phone at times. A lot of things that are needed and very very healthy. But the temptation is always to do more.

I would do meditation in the afternoon, yes. Reading. I love reading, sitting there and reading about a topic that can inspire you to prepare for a game or develop a thought that you have on the day. It is something very good.

Arteta has got himself into trouble on the touchline for being too excitable with officials and has already served a one game ban this season. The Spaniard used to watch Arsene Wenger work when he played under him at Arsenal and the job has arguably got more demanding.

Arteta is driven by detail, obsessed by stats and preparation which means he finds it difficult to switch off. Reading and meditation are his way of making sure he is in a good place mentally.

Arteta added: I used to speak with Arsene and he took his job like we all do, we put so many hours and ours lives to it and all the energy. It is extremely demanding, I love it and I am young and have a lot of energy.

But it is a daily challenge. Every day there is a rollercoaster of things you have to go through. Emotions. You have to try to inspire people, to impact people, sometimes to calm down people, to motivate people, you have to deal with a lot of things you cannot control.

On top of that, there are opponents, results and a lot of things that are difficult to manage on a daily basis. But I think overall there is something: how much we love the game, the passion we have for what we do and actually when you have an emotional relationship with a club, that is where the energy source comes from.

You wake up every day and you want to face that challenge, be better and be more competitive. It is a lot every single day. It is a lot. That is why you need a lot of good people around you to support you.

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Mikel Arteta admits meditation helps slow down 100mph brain as he eyes Arsenal success - The Mirror

All great cinema is a journey of sorts, but there comes a point when it feels as though film-makers are treading the same well-worn paths. Not so with Spanish director Lois Patios remarkable immersive voyage Samsara (the title refers to the Buddhist cycle of deaths and rebirths): part film, part guided meditation, its unlike anything else you can experience in the cinema.

The film starts in Laos, where a Buddhist boy is reading to an elderly woman, Mon (Simone Milavanh), from the Bardo Thdol, a guide to the journey between death and reincarnation. When Mon dies, a message on screen invites us to close our eyes in order to accompany her on her journey to her next life, as a young goat born on the coast of the island of Zanzibar. This 15-minute segment plays out to a textured tapestry of sound woven from the natural world; flickering, rippling colours and strobing light pulses on the screen viewed through closed eyelids create a kind of lightshow in the minds eye. Theres a distant kinship perhaps, in the theme of cycles of life, with Michelangelo Frammartinos documentary Le Quattro Volte. But Samsara is a strikingly original and profound artwork. See it (and hear it) in a cinema, if at all possible.

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Samsara review unlike anything else you will experience in the cinema - The Guardian

Meditation key to dealing with stress of being a manager, reveals Arsenal boss Arteta  Evening Standard

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Meditation key to dealing with stress of being a manager, reveals Arsenal boss Arteta - Evening Standard

Madame Web star Dakota Johnson looked undeniably hot while hosting Saturday Night Live. Styled by Kate Young in Tom Ford (her accessories included a Verdura bracelet and ring and Kate Young X Monica Vinader hoops), the look was finished off with a classic blowout by Mark Townsend, and a sexy smoky eye by make-up artist Georgie Eisdell.

Eisdell was on set with Johnson (who she calls DJ) all week, prepping her for the promo photos and through to the after party. DJ grew up in this industry and shes cool, calm, and collected, she tells Vogue. We really went for it with the look. SNL is the place to have fun, and she already had a sexy style by Kate Young and all that sexy hair the beauty obviously had to keep up.

To start, Johnson took a moment to meditate. Dakota really looks after her skin, which makes my job so much easier, Eisdell says. But this isnt a week with a lot of sleep. So we took the time to put on the CurrentBody LED Light Therapy Mask in the dressing room it gives them a few minutes of time to themselves but also doubles as a quick depuffing and firming skin treatment. I left her in her dressing room with the mask and blanket on to meditate, then it was full steam ahead!

Eisdell cites Victoria Beckham Beauty as a major brand in her kit to help create the look. Johnson wore shades of plum and taupe to give her eyes smoulder, plus The Lip Definer in #2 for an effortlessly neutral pout. You dont need a quad to create a smoky eye, the make-up artist says. Its actually all about the application process. I prefer cream shadows because they are so much easier to work with. From there, you need a dry, clean, fluffy brush thats important put the shadow on the outer corner of the eye then move the brush like a windshield wiper across the lid until its blended. Then blend a little more. Ive learned you always need to blend a little more than you think you do.

And when it comes to the lashes, Eisdell has a bit of a hot take: she does carry around a lash curler, but shes literally never used it on a client. Im a massive mascara fan, and if youre using two coats of mascara, its doing the exact same thing, she says. The secret is to push the mascara wand into the bash of the lashes, so it doubles as a liner, then use the wand to guide the lashes into the shape that you want them, fanning them out and up.

She adds that Johnson has quite fluffy lashes naturally, so we guess some people do have it all.

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Meditation, An LED Mask And VB Lip Liner: The Secrets Of Dakota Johnson's 'SNL' Beauty Prep - British Vogue

The business logic or protocol that drives every transaction on a blockchain is known as a smart contract. The main goal of a smart contract is to fulfill standard contractual requirements, such as minting its own Ethereum currency. We must create smart contracts that will govern how all of the tokens computations are carried out.

It is a standalone script that is written in Solidity, compiled into JSON, and sent to a specific blockchain address. By providing the correct data and Ethereum to call the built and deployed Solidity function, we may execute a deployed smart contract at a specific address in a manner similar to how we can use a RESTful APIs URL endpoint to perform some logic using a HttpRequest.

For a cost commensurate with the storage capacity of the contained code, smart contracts are added to the decentralized database. It may also be described as a group of codes that are kept on the blockchain network and specify terms that all parties to the contract must concur upon.

This is a detailed tutorial on using Solidity to create and implement Ethereum Smart Contracts.

MetaMask functions as a wallet and an Ethereum browser. It eliminates the need to download and install software in order to engage with dApps and smart contracts online. All you have to do is add the MetaMask Chrome Extension, set up a wallet, and send ether.

Although MetaMask is presently only compatible with the Google Chrome browser, Firefox compatibility is anticipated in the upcoming years. Before you begin developing smart contracts, download the MetaMask Chrome plugin.

You may import an existing wallet or create a new one after downloading and adding it as a Chrome extension. To implement an Ethereum smart contract on the network, you need to have some ethers in your Ethereum wallet.

Click on its symbol in the upper right corner of the browser window once it has been installed. It will open in a new browser tab when you click on it. To continue, click Create Wallet and select I agree to accept the terms and conditions. Youll be prompted to set a password.

It will email you a secret backup phrase that is used to backup and restore the account once you generate a password. This phrase can steal your ethers, therefore dont reveal it or share it with anybody.

The following test networks may also be present in your MetaMask wallet:

Robsten Test Network

Kovan Test Network

Rinkeby Test Network

Goerli Test Network

You need to have some fake ethers in your MetaMask wallet in order to test the smart contract. Click the Deposit and Get Ether buttons under Test Faucet to add fake ethers. You must select request one ether from the faucet in order to continue, and one ETH will be added to your wallet. To the test network, you may add as many ethers as you like.

To develop our Solidity code, we will utilize the Remix Browser IDE. Remix is the greatest choice for creating smart contracts since it provides a rich development experience and has a few features. Typically, it is employed in the drafting of minor contracts.

To generate a.sol extension file, open Remix Browser and click the add symbol next to the browser on the upper left corner.

A common template for ERC20 tokens is ERC20.sol.

Pressing the deploy button on the right side of the Remix window will enable the smart contract to be deployed on the Ethereum test network. Hold off until the transaction is finished. The address of the smart contract will be shown on the right side of the remix window upon a successful transaction commit.

Initially, the person implementing the smart contract will have all of the ERC20 tokens kept in their wallet. Go to the metamask window, select Add Tokens, enter the smart contract address, then click OK to view the tokens in your wallet. There, you would be able to check how many tokens there are.

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How to Develop and Deploy Smart Contracts on Ethereum - Analytics Insight

Shell Token Launch On January 22, 2024, Arbitrum-based DeFi protocol Shell launched its long-awaited SHELL governance token. Airdrop recipients can check their eligibility through the Shell app. Once claimed, SHELL tokens can be staked to generate yield. ...

On January 22, 2024, Arbitrum-based DeFi protocol Shell launched its long-awaited SHELL governance token. Airdrop recipients can check their eligibility through the Shell app. Once claimed, SHELL tokens can be staked to generate yield. Staked tokens grant voting power in the Shell DAO, which governs the protocol.

Shell aims to unify DeFi with a single swap interface for NFTs and one-to-many swaps across every major protocol. The protocol was built by a Hawaii-based DeFi development team, and has grown to a user base of 45,000.

Shell is a longtime DeFi protocol, created in 2020 by Cowri Labs. Cowri is helmed by chief economist and founder Kenny White. In 2021, Shell v2 became one of the first Arbitrum-native DEXs, launching with a novel smart contract design for swaps.

With Shell v3, developers at Cowri Labs hope to combine their unique technology with the massive liquidity of major projects like Uniswap and OpenSea, delivering a unified DeFi experience in a single app. It's the first real omni dapp, says Cowri Labs head of developer relations Petar Popovic, the app where you can do everything. That's the goal.

At launch, Shell v3 supports Balancer and Curve pools, allowing users to trade tokens and NFTs through multiple protocols from within the Shell app. Unlike aggregators, Shell v3 also allows users to manage LP positions across all supported protocols.

White hopes that Shell v3 will combine the best features of DEX aggregator 1inch and data aggregator DeFi Llama, becoming a place where people come to trade and explore the DeFi ecosystem. Shell v2 benefitted from an impressive UI and contract design, but nevertheless struggled to offer competitive swap rates in the face of older protocols with much larger TVL. Consequently, Shell v2 users had to choose between staying within the Shell app or hunting for better rates.

Shell v3 aims to solve this dilemma by integrating all major pools across all protocols with the Shell contracts and app. To start, the Cowri team is focusing on Arbitrum, but with the launch of the DAO the future will be shaped by community vote.

One big change with Shell v3 is a de-emphasis on native protocol TVL. Since Shell now serves to connect external pools, the Cowri team feels volume is the key to success. One major responsibility of the DAO is control over the protocol unwrap fee, which is currently set to zero but may be activated in the future to generate DAO revenue.

The total SHELL token supply is 200 million, unlocked every block after token launch through two-year linear vesting. 40 million have been allocated to users who contributed to the protocol over the past four years.

80 million tokens are split across the Cowri Labs core team, Cowri Labs itself, protocol contributors, and Cowri Labs investors such as BlueYard. 80 million are in the newly-formed DAO treasury, fully under the control of DAO members.

Tokens are not available in full upon claiming the airdrop. All investors, core team members, and airdrop recipients will unlock their SHELL on a block-by-block two-year linear vesting schedule.

The vesting system uses tradeable vesting NFTs from Sablier. From launch, the NFTs can be bought and sold via NFT marketplaces. Shell is also building a vesting stream AMM to allow instant in-app buying and selling of vesting NFTs. This AMM is expected to launch later in Q1 2024.

The SHELL token is currently trading through the Shell app. As for Cowri Labs, the team is already planning future integrations, with Uniswap and Aave on the near horizon.

Website: http://www.shellprotocol.io App: https://app.shellprotocol.io/trade Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShellProtocol Discord: https://discord.gg/shellprotocol Telegram: https://t.me/shellprotocol GitHub: https://github.com/shell-protocol

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DeFi Unifier Shell Protocol Launches Token, Staking, and Arbitrum Airdrop - The Defiant - DeFi News

Why Belonging Is The Key To Authentic Leadership  Forbes

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Why Belonging Is The Key To Authentic Leadership - Forbes