Per “app” ovviamente si intendono le applicazioni per smartphone (ma anche tablet) senza le quali ormai nessuno di noi riuscirebbe piùa vivere. Di queste 15, 5 sono per Android, 5 per iOS ed altre 5 per Windows Phone. Buona lettura!

1. Pulse News (Android – Gratis): un nuovo modo per visualizzare i contenuti online con tutte le notizie principali racchiuse in una comoda schermata a mosaico e l’integrazione con servizi come Evernote, Instapaper e Google Reader.
2. Glympse (Android – Gratis): un nuovo servizio di location sharing che permette di condividere la propria posizione via email, SMS, Facebook o Twitter.
3. AirSync (Android – 4,99 euro): usata con l’applicazione desktop doubleTwist permette di sincronizzare i contenuti di iTunes su Android.
4. Camera ZOOM FX (Android – 4,99 euro): una app completa per la fotocamera che permette di scattare foto con effetti speciali e di sfruttare funzioni avanzate come lo stabilizzatore d’immagine e il time lapse.
5. Beautiful Widgets (Android – 2,89 euro): una raccolta di bellissimi widget per meteo, calendario e molto altro ancora.
6. Flipboard (iOS – Gratis): i contenuti di siti Internet, blog e social network racchiusi in una sorta di rivista digitale che è un piacere da guardare e, soprattutto, da leggere.
7. Snapseed (iOS – 3,99 euro): una comoda applicazione per il fotoritocco con tante funzioni utili, alcune delle quali automatiche.
8. Path (iOS – Gratis): una sorta di diario virtuale in cui scrivere e condividere tutti gli avvenimenti della propria esistenza con una cerchia ristretta di amici. Un social network “intimo” oseremmo dire.
9. Instagram (iOS -Gratis): presto arriverà anche su Android ma per il momento è uno dei fiori all’occhiello dell’App Store di Apple. Si tratta di una formidabile applicazione che permette di applicare bellissimi effetti speciali alle foto e di condividerle immediatamente sui social network.
10. Stamped (iOS – Gratis): non è la solita app per raccomandare luoghi, libri e film ai propri amici. O almeno così vogliono farci credere.
11. Tango (Windows Phone – Gratis): permette di effettuare chiamate e videochiamate gratis tramite Wi-Fi.
12. MetroTube (Windows Phone – Gratis): una versione potenziata della app ufficiale di YouTube.
13. FeedWorm (Windows Phone – Gratis): un comodo feed reader con supporto alla sincronizzazione con Google Reader.
14. BubbleGum (Windows Phone – Gratis): una buonissima alternativa ad Instagram per WP che permette di applicare effetti speciali alle foto e pubblicare gli scatti online.
15. MixTapes (Window Phone – Gratis): centinaia di mix musicali sempre a portata di smartphone, offre la possibilità di scoprire nuovi artisti e brani interessanti.

E voi, quali app avreste inserito in classifica?

The 15 best mobile apps of 2011

Travel Hacking is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot these days. You see it on many travel websites that seek to explain how to become a travel ninja or ultimate traveler. Travel hackers are the people constantly chasing miles, rewards points, and elite status. They are looking for every possible way to game the system.

Most travel hacking is about using miles and rewards to get free flights or accommodation. True travel hackers accumulate points and status like a badge of honor. Need to take 16 flights in 30 days to get a certain elite mileage status? No problem. Get triple miles on a new route? No problem, I’ll fly it tomorrow. Sign up for this card, fill out this form, or enter this contest to get 5,000 hotel points? Easy. These travelers remind me of that scene in “Up in the Air”, where the main character says, “I don’t do anything if it doesn’t benefit my mileage account.”

However, for me, travel hacking is more than that. It is about bringing costs as close to zero as possible. Since only the die-hards really want to spend hours and hours putting together mileage routes that might get them 100 extra miles or reading the fine print to find a loophole they can exploit, I’ve put together this guide for the casual traveler who still wants to travel cheap, but who might not have the time nor the desire to be a black-belt-level travel ninja:

How to Hack to A Flight

Since flights are usually the first thing people research when they travel, I thought I’d deal with this subject first. Searching for a cheap flight is easier said than done these days. I recommend signing up for Airfarewatchdog so you can stay alert to cheap flight deals in your area. Flexibility is key to finding cheap flights, as deals are sometimes around for only a few hours. A day can mean the difference of hundreds of dollars. But if you need flights on a certain date, then you need to work the system a bit.

Let’s look at an example. Say I am flying from New York City to London. This is a popular route, and is served by a lot of airlines. I picked the date October 17th with a return date of October 27th.

Step 1: Use a site like Kayak as your baseline. They search multiple websites at once so you can see prices across the board. Moreover, I also like how they let you search a few days before and after your selected date. In the US, I also like Travelocity, but there are tons of good aggregators around the world.

Kayak returned these results for flying from New York to London:

Step 2: Cross check with other, more global aggregators like Skyscanner or Momondo to see what they come up with. These two are my favorite as they tend to search a wider range of booking sites as well as discount airline carriers. I never book a flight without checking these sites first. (Another good one is Mobissimo.)

Skyscanner results:

Momondo results:

Step 3: Find the lowest fare and head to that airline’s website to see if it is less. Sometimes airlines price tickets less on their own websites than they do on aggregators as a way to entice people to book directly. As we see above, the lowest fare is $592.19 USD on a low-cost airline called Mandarin Airlines (actually, when you click the link it sends you to Astraeus Airline) with Iceland Express next at $676 USD. I couldn’t find a booking form on Astraeus (they are a charter operation partially owned by Iceland Air) but checking on the Iceland Express website, we see the price is the same:

Step 4: Next, check the airline’s foreign website to see if the price is cheaper in another currency. (i.e. britishairways.co.uk instead of britishairways.com) Depending on your currency, you might be able to take advantage of the exchange rate and book in another currency while getting charged in your own currency, thereby saving money. On our example, this doesn’t work because we are going from the United States to England and the English Pound is worth more than the US dollar. Additionally, the Iceland Krona is not worth less than a dollar. However, if we were going the reverse way, this would work. I’ve used this method when flying to New Zealand since their currency is worth less than the US currency.

Step 5: Check alternative routes. Most major airports have expensive fees and taxes that can add a lot of money to the price of a ticket. I like to check other big airports and then see if taking a discount flight to my final destination is cheaper. This is especially good in Europe since they have so many airlines. For our example, maybe flying to Dublin is cheaper, and then I can just take a quick Ryanair flight over to London. (Turns out, in our example, it isn’t.)

Step 6: Check the airport’s carriers. One thing I do quite a bit is to go to the airport’s website and see what airlines fly into it. Sometimes you find small carriers that are not listed on aggregators or other search engines. This is sort of my last double check to make sure I checked all possible airlines. After all, I don’t want to find out later that there was an airline that offered a cheap flight but wasn’t listed on an aggregator. (Not all airlines appear are on flight search engines.)

After I do all that checking and work, I then compare the prices of each search and see what is cheapest. I might look at a few more websites and search for a lot of deals if I’ve found big differences between the numbers. Moreover, it is also good to play around with the dates of your trip. Sometimes leaving a few days before or after can make a big difference in price. In our example, it didn’t really make a huge difference when I looked at it. Most of the major airlines were much higher than what we found during that period:

So our $593 USD flight to London on Astraeus airline looks to be the best deal and is more than $200 USD cheaper than most of the major airlines and $100 USD cheaper than Iceland Express. Notice that Astreaus only appeared on 1 booking site and that booking site was not US-based. That’s why it is so important to check multiple sites from all over the world, because not all sites check all airlines. All this work took me about 45 minutes.

Note to Critics: While much of the above is pretty common sense “shopping around,” many people don’t know about these overseas websites or that you can book on an airline’s foreign website. So while $200 USD isn’t a huge savings, I write for a beginner audience and you would be surprised at how few people know about this sort of stuff. I think of my parents whenever I write a post. They are very, very unsavvy travelers so I am writing for their level of knowledge. That way I don’t assume too much about what people know and don’t know.

The second way to fly is to use frequent flier miles to fly for free. And this is where the real “travel hacking” comes into play. And that means earning airline points and miles any way possible. This is the preferred method of travel hackers. There are plenty of ways to get thousands of miles without ever setting foot on a plane, but you have to be willing to put the time and energy into it. However, I found the work to be worth the thousands of dollars in free flights. Here are the major ways to get lots of free miles besides actually flying:

• Sign up for a branded airline credit card: Whether you love Delta, fly United and the Star Alliance, live and breathe Jetblue, or are hooked on Oneworld, all U.S. carriers have a branded travel credit card that gives you 25,000-30,000 points when you sign up and make one purchase. That’s a free economy ticket right there. Airline credit cards are the best way to kick start your mileage balance. I’ve used these cards to collect over 500,000 frequent flier miles. (Here’re my tips on looking for a good one.)
• Watch out for special promotions: I sign up for all the airline mailing lists. I always watch out for special 2-for-1 mile deals. Or when they have special card offers to earn extra miles. Last year, British Airways offered a card that gave you 100,000 miles just for signing up. That was a first class ticket home. American Airlines just gave me 1,000 miles for watching a demo on their new shopping toolbar. I once got 5,000 miles for joining Netflix. Marriott is giving away Silver status, and Delta recently gave away miles for watching a video about Bose headphones. Promotions help. It’s how I fly business class for free most of the time.
• Sign up for a non-airline credit card: Sign up for a non-airline credit card like a Starwood American Express card and you can get 10,000 sign-up points. When you convert 20,000 points into miles, you get a 5,000-mile bonus. I highly recommend signing up for this card too but signing up for any “points” card like the AMEX travel card or a Capital One card will do. Afterwards, you can transfer your sign-up bonus points to the airline you use and redeem them for flights.
• Take the AA challenge: If you are taking a long trip, go with American Airlines. By paying $300, you can take the 10,000 point challenge. If you accumulate 10,000 points in 3 months, you get 1 year platinum status, which gives you get automatic upgrades into business class as well as lounge access. They do not advertise this on their website, however. You must call customer service and ask to take the challenge.
• Do a mileage run: If you are only a few thousand miles away from some form of elite status, you can do what the travel ninjas call a “mileage run.” This means you find cheap fares or special bonus mileage offers and take that flight. It can be a weekend getaway, a week away, or an afternoon jaunt. I’ve known people to fly around the country in 1 day simply to get a huge cache of bonus miles. Yes, you spend a bit of money on the flight, but having that elite status for a year will be well worth it.
• Buy miles: This isn’t actually a way to get a free flight but it’s a good way to get a cheap business class flight. Many airlines run special offers where you can get 100% bonus on any miles you buy for up to 100,000 miles. This usually costs around $1,300 USD. However, that amount of miles is enough to go business class somewhere in the world so you essentially get a business class ticket at an economy class price.
• Note: You will have to sign up for airline frequent flier programs in order to be eligible to redeem miles.
• Note #2: Most travel hackers sign up for lots of credit cards as they have the largest one time bonuses (think 30,000-50,000 miles). If you aren’t comfortable doing that, it will take longer to accumulate miles. Opening credit cards don’t necessarily hurt your credit. It’s not opening them that is a problem. However, if you are opening and closing card every month, then you’ll have a problem and I don’t recommend “churning” cards. However, opening a few cards per year is not going to ruin your credit.

Some good sites worth following for more travel hacking deals:

• Travel Hacking Cartel
• Flyer Talk
• One mile at a time
• Boarding Area

How to Hack Your Accommodation

Outside of flights, accommodation is usually the next big travel expense. Luckily, it’s quite easy to get free or cheap accommodation.

• Hotel Deals: Getting a sweet deal on a hotel is actually really easy, especially if you are in the United States. Simply head over to Priceline or Hotwire and bid on rooms. When you know your dates, just head to Better Biddingfirst to see what similar people bid on and won at. Use that as your baseline. I used this method to get a hotel room in Times Square, New York during Christmas for $85 USD per night. (That is a huge bargain!)And, just like with airlines, many hotel branded credit cards offer huge sign-up bonuses, which can get you lots of points to redeem for free accommodation. There are also non-credit card promotions that can get you some points, too.
• Stay with Locals, Stay for Free: Use Couchsurfing or similar sites like Global Freeloaders, and Hospitality Club (who merged with another site called Servas) to find a local who is willing to host you during your visit to their city. You’ll get a free place to stay (sometimes a bed, a couch, or an air mattress), a local who can help show you around, and the chance to learn a bit about the local culture. It’s a much better way to learn about a city than staying at a hotel. I am a particular fan of Couchsurfing and have used it often.
• Work for Your Accommodation: Many hostels around the world will let you work there in exchange for free room and board. All you do is clean a few hours in the morning, and you get the rest of the day to yourself. Hostels are usually thought of as places for singles to party but there are variety of hostels out there for all people and all ages. Don’t be afraid to look into this just because you “aren’t in college anymore.”
• House-sit: If working for a hostel isn’t your idea of a good time, then consider house-sitting. In exchange for watching and cleaning someone’s home while they are away, you’ll get a place to stay in the area you are visiting. Good house-sitting sites include:Mind My House
  House Carers
  Luxury House Sitting
• Go Camp in a Garden: The concept is simple: people offer their gardens for you to camp in. You can search for suitable sites by place, and they range from the basic “here’s a spot for the night” to the more glamorous that offer full access to the house. The offerings are mostly in the UK. There are a few spots dotting the rest of the world, but most locations are in the British Isles. It’s growing in popularity around Europe. Check it out at: Camp in my Garden.
• WWOOFing: One of the most popular ways people get free accommodation is to work for it. World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is a global organization that connects travelers, foodies, agriculturalists, or anyone really that wants to work on organic farms that need laborers. In exchange for working on the farm a few hours a day, you get your meals provided and a place to stay. Sometimes I’ve heard of people getting paid if they stay long-term, but generally they don’t. I think this is most popular in New Zealand and Australia, but you can find farms anywhere in the world. (For example, I had friends work in a winery in Argentina.)Visit WWOOF for more information.

How to Hack Attractions

Flights and rooms are your biggest budget busters, but cutting down on the cost of attractions is also essential as we move toward the goal of “the no cost trip.”

• City Tourist Cards: City tourist cards, while costing money, offer unbelievable savings for those who want an attraction-heavy vacation. If you plan on seeing lots of museums, attractions, and historical sites, you’d be foolish not to get one of these discount cards. As a general rule, they will save you about 50% off the cost of what seeing the attractions individually would have cost.
• Find the Free Days: Most museums have special discount times or free nights. Before you go anywhere, make sure you look on the museum’s website to find out if they offer free visiting hours. Even famous museums like the Louvre and the Guggenheim offer free entrance at certain times. If I don’t have a tourist card, I always look up the museums I want to visit to see if I can get in for free.

Don’t forget that many attractions offer military and student discounts, so make sure your carry that kind of identification around! If you don’t have one or aren’t a student or in the military, next time you are in anywhere in Asia, pick one up. You can get them made for you really cheap. Just saying.

How to Hack Food

To learn ways on how to save on food, you can visit my article on how to eat cheap around the world. However, here are some of my favorite tips:

• Outdoor Vendors: Small stands that sell hot dogs, sausages, sandwiches, and the like are great places to get a cheap and quick meal. While in Sweden, I lived off these types of vendors – I could get a sausage for about $4 USD. In Amsterdam, FEBO and their croquettes kept my stomach full. In Costa Rica, the empanada seller filled me up for a dollar. These quick and inexpensive meals won’t win any Michelin stars, but they will keep you full without emptying your wallet.
• Street Food: In most places around the world (and especially in Asia), the streets are lined with little food stalls and areas where food is cooked openly on the street. You grab a plate, sit down in a little plastic chair, and enjoy a delicious meal. Street food is some of the best food in the world. Meals at street stalls (different from street vendors, who have a bit more permanent set up) cost less than a dollar most of the time, and are a great way to really experience the local cuisine. Many places – like Thailand, for example – wouldn’t be the same if the street food disappeared.
• Lunch Specials: Many restaurants, especially in Europe, offer lunch specials where items on the dinner menu are offered at a huge discount. You can get an amazing afternoon meal for a fraction of the cost you’d pay for the same meal in the evening. I usually tend to eat my “nice” meal during lunch because lunch specials and plates of the day are about 30-40% off what I might pay at dinner.
• Buffets: While they don’t always serve the best meals, buffets offer great value for your money, especially since they are all-you-can-eat. You can fill up on one meal for the entire day. (Well, I can’t, but I can fill up for most of the day and avoid snacking.) Buffets are a good economical choice, and give you the most food for your buck. They typically cost around $15 USD.

How to Hack Transportation

Lastly, let’s cover transportation and getting from point A to point B on the cheap:

• Get a Tourist Card: Besides offering discounts on attractions, city tourist cards include free local transportation. You can’t get much better than that. This is also another reason why I like city tourist cards – free buses, ferries, trams, and trains.If you don’t want to do that, just walk: Your two feet are the cheapest way to get anywhere. (Though not always the fastest.)
• Car share: Sharing a ride is a great way to lower costs. Finding someone going your way to help with gas costs or driving can go a long way to greatly reducing how much you spend on transportation. Gumtree or Craigslist are sites are good for finding car shares. Travel forums are also good places to look for travel buddies, as are bulletin boards in any hostel.
• Get Paid to Drive: In North America, there are a lot of companies that will pay you to drive someone’s car from point A to point B. Maybe they are moving, or the car was bought online – who knows, but you are essentially a car courier. They give you the car, a date to get it to the destination, and gas money. It’s great for long-distance travel. In Canada, hittheroad.ca is the major national company. It’s hard to find a national company in the US, but this website provides a good directory of cars on the move: Autodriveaway.

While no trip may ever come close to 0, reaching for the goal is what’s important as it keeps you looking for creative ways to travel. If you can take the “normal” cost of a trip and cut 50-75% off it, to me, you’ve travel hacked. Travel hacking is more than being just a mileage and points junkie – it is about finding ways to travel first class on an economy class budget.

Information Source from HERE

The Ultimate Travel Hacking Guide | Nomadic Matt

Matthew Kepnes, a.k.a. Nomadic Matt, left his cubicle life in Boston to do a year around the world. When he came home, he knew he couldn’t go back to that kind of work. He has been traveling non-stop for over 5 years now. He started his website as a way to share his passion of travel and prove that travel doesn’t have to be expensive in hopes of inspiring more people to get out on the road. In true nomadic fashion, he’s been living out of the same bag since the beginning. He’s currently in Germany trying and failing to out drink the German at Oktoberfest.

Take Free Jung Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Extroverted (E) 55.81% Introverted (I) 44.19%
Intuitive (N) 75.76% Sensing (S) 24.24%
Feeling (F) 54.29% Thinking (T) 45.71%
Perceiving (P) 65.52% Judging (J) 34.48%

Like the other Idealists, Champions are rather rare, say three or four percent of the population, but even more than the others they consider intense emotional experiences as being vital to a full life. Champions have a wide range and variety of emotions, and a great passion for novelty. They see life as an exciting drama, pregnant with possibilities for both good and evil, and they want to experience all the meaningful events and fascinating people in the world. The most outgoing of the Idealists, Champions often can’t wait to tell others of their extraordinary experiences. Champions can be tireless in talking with others, like fountains that bubble and splash, spilling over their own words to get it all out. And usually this is not simple storytelling; Champions often speak (or write) in the hope of revealing some truth about human experience, or of motivating others with their powerful convictions. Their strong drive to speak out on issues and events, along with their boundless enthusiasm and natural talent with language, makes them the most vivacious and inspiring of all the types.

Video Profile of an Idealist Fiercely individualistic, Champions strive toward a kind of personal authenticity, and this intention always to be themselves is usually quite attractive to others. At the same time, Champions have outstanding intuitive powers and can tell what is going on inside of others, reading hidden emotions and giving special significance to words or actions. In fact, Champions are constantly scanning the social environment, and no intriguing character or silent motive is likely to escape their attention. Far more than the other Idealists, Champions are keen and probing observers of the people around them, and are capable of intense concentration on another individual. Their attention is rarely passive or casual. On the contrary, Champions tend to be extra sensitive and alert, always ready for emergencies, always on the lookout for what’s possible.

Champions are good with people and usually have a wide range of personal relationships. They are warm and full of energy with their friends. They are likable and at ease with colleagues, and handle their employees or students with great skill. They are good in public and on the telephone, and are so spontaneous and dramatic that others love to be in their company. Champions are positive, exuberant people, and often their confidence in the goodness of life and of human nature makes good things happen.

ENFPs are both “idea”-people and “people”-people, who see everyone and everything as part of a cosmic whole. They want to both help and to be liked and admired by other people, on both an individual and a humanitarian level. This is rarely a problem for the ENFP, as they are outgoing and warm, and genuinely like people. Some ENFPs have a great deal of zany charm, which can ingratiate them to more stodgy types in spite of their unconventionality.

ENFPs often have strong, if sometimes surprising, values and viewpoints. They tend to try to use their social skills and contacts to persuade others gently (though enthusiastically) of the rightness of these views; this sometimes results in the ENFP neglecting their nearest and dearest while caught up their efforts to change the world.

ENFPs can be the warmest, kindest, and most sympathetic of mates; affectionate, demonstrative, and spontaneous. Many in relationships with an ENFP literally say, “They light up my life.” But there is usually a trade-off: the partner must be willing to deal with the practical and financial aspects of the relationship, and the ENFP must be allowed the freedom to follow their latest path, whatever that entails.

For some ENFPs, relationships can be seriously tested by their short attention spans and emotional needs. They are easily intrigued and distracted by new friends and acquaintances, forgetting their older and more familiar emotional ties for long stretches at a time. And the less mature ENFP may need to feel they’re the constant center of attention, to confirm their image of themselves as a wonderful and fascinating person.

In the workplace, ENFPs are pleasant and friendly, and interact in a positive and creative manner with both their co-workers and the public. ENFPs are also a major asset in brainstorming sessions; follow-through on projects can be a problem, however. ENFPs do get distracted, especially if another interesting issue comes along. They also tend towards procrastination, and dislike performing small, uninteresting tasks. ENFPs are most productive when working in a group with a few Js to handle the details and the deadlines.
Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving

by Joe Butt

ENFPs are friendly folks. Most are really enjoyable people. Some of the most soft-hearted people are ENFPs.

ENFPs have what some call a “silly switch.” They can be intellectual, serious, all business for a while, but whenever they get the chance, they flip that switch and become CAPTAIN WILDCHILD, the scourge of the swimming pool, ticklers par excellence. Som etimes they may even appear intoxicated when the “switch” is flipped.

One study has shown that ENFPs are significantly overrepresented in psychodrama. Most have a natural propensity for role-playing and acting.

ENFPs like to tell funny stories, especially about their friends. This penchant may be why many are attracted to journalism. I kid one of my ENFP friends that if I want the sixth fleet to know something, I’ll just tell him.

ENFPs are global learners. Close enough is satisfactory to the ENFP, which may unnerve more precise thinking types, especially with such things as piano practice (“three quarter notes or four … what’s the difference?”) Amazingly, some ENFPs are adept at exacting disciplines such as mathematics.

Friends are what life is about to ENFPs, moreso even than the other NFs. They hold up their end of the relationship, sometimes being victimized by less caring individuals. ENFPs are energized by being around people. Some have real difficulty being alone , especially on a regular basis.

One ENFP colleague, a social worker, had such tremendous interpersonal skills that she put her interviewers at ease during her own job interview. She had the ability to make strangers feel like old friends.

ENFPs sometimes can be blindsided by their secondary Feeling function. Hasty decisions based on deeply felt values may boil over with unpredictable results. More than one ENFP has abruptly quit a job in such a moment.

Functional Analysis:
Extraverted iNtuition
The physical world, both geos and kosmos, is the ENFP’s primary source of information. Rather than sensing things as they are, dominant intuition is sensitive to things as they might be. These extraverted intuitives are most adept with patterns and connections. Their natural inclination is toward relationships, especially among people or living things.

Intuition leans heavily on feeling for meaning and focus. Its best patterns reflect the interesting points of people, giving rise to caricatures of manner, speech and expression.
Introverted Feeling
Auxiliary feeling is nonverbally implied more often than it is openly expressed. When expressed, this logic has an aura of romance and purity that may seem out of place in this flawed, imperfect world. In its own defense, feeling judgement frequently and fleetly gives way to humor. ENFPs who publicize their feelings too often may put off some of the crowd of friends they naturally attract.
Extraverted Thinking
Thinking, the process which runs to impersonal conclusions, holds the extraverted tertiary position. Used on an occasional basis, ENFPs may benefit greatly from this ability. Less mature and lacking the polish of higher order functions, Thinking is not well suited to be used as a prominent function. As with other FP types, the ENFP unwary of Thinking’s limitations may find themselves most positively mistaken.
Introverted Sensing
Sensing, the least discernible ENFP function, resides in the inner world where reality is reduced to symbols and icons–ideas representing essences of external realities. Under the influence of the ever-present intuition, the ENFP’s sensory perceptions are in danger of being replaced by hypothetical data consistent with pattern and paradigm. When it is protected and nourished, introverted sensing provides information about the fixed. From such firm anchoring ENFPs are best equipped to launch into thousands of plausibilities and curiosities yet to be imagined.

Perhaps the combination of introverted Feeling and childlike introverted Sensing is responsible for the silent pull of ENFPs to the wishes of parents, authority figures and friends. Or perhaps it’s the predominance of indecisive intuition in combination with the ambiguity of secondary Fi and tertiary Te that induces these kind souls to capitulate even life-affecting decisions. Whatever the dynamic, ENFPs are strongly influenced by the opinions of their friends.
Famous ENFPs:
Franz Joseph Haydn
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
Will Rogers
Buster Keaton
Theodor “Dr.” Seuss Geisel (The Cat in the Hat)
Mickey Rooney
James Dobson (“Focus on the Family”)
Andy Rooney
Carol Burnett
Paul Harvey
Elizabeth Montgomery (Bewitched)
Bill Cosby (Ghost Dad)
Dom Delouise, actor
Dave Thomas, owner of Wendy’s hamburger chain
Lewis Grizzard, newspaper columnist
I. King Jordan, past president of Gallaudet University
Martin Short, actor-comedian
Meg Ryan, actor (When Harry Met Sally)
Robin Williams, actor, comedian (Dead Poet’s Society, Mrs. Doubtfire)
Sandra Bullock, actor (Speed, While You Were Sleeping)
Robert Downey Jr.(Ironman)
Alicia Silverstone (Clueless)
Sinbad
Andy Kaufman
Regis Philbin
Will Smith

Main type	Variant

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test
Personality Test by SimilarMinds.com

ENFP
outgoing, social, disorganized, easily talked into doing silly things, spontaneous, wild and crazy, acts without thinking, good at getting people to have fun, pleasure seeking, irresponsible, physically affectionate, risk taker, thrill seeker, likely to have or want a tattoo, adventurous, unprepared, attention seeking, hyperactive, irrational, loves crowds, rule breaker, prone to losing things, seductive, easily distracted, open, revealing, comfortable in unfamiliar situations, attracted to strange things, non punctual, likes to stand out, likes to try new things, fun seeker, unconventional, energetic, impulsive, empathetic, dangerous, loving, attachment prone, prone to fantasy

*the descriptions listed here are made up of personality items. people who scored high on this type scored higher on the above items compared to the average. (more info)
back to personality types

favored careers:
performer, actor, entertainer, songwriter, musician, filmmaker, comedian, radio broadcaster/dj, some job related to theater/drama, poet, music journalist, work in fashion industry, singer, movie producer, playwright, bartender, comic book author, work in television, dancer, artist, record store owner, model, freelance artist, teacher (art, drama, music), writer, painter, massage therapist, costume designer, choreographer, make up artist

disfavored careers:
data analyst, scientist, researcher, financial advisor, business analyst, govt employee, office manager, mathematician, investment banker, office worker, computer tech, it professional, network engineer, strategist

http://www.ilmeteo.it/box/previsioni.php?citta=8254&type=sea1&width=500&ico=1&lang=ita&days=5&font=Arial&fontsize=12&bg=FFFFFF&fg=000000&bgtitle=0099FF&fgtitle=FFFFFF&bgtab=F0F0F0&fglink=1773C2

• Extroverted (E) 66.67% Introverted (I) 33.33%
• Intuitive (N) 75% Sensing (S) 25%
• Thinking (T) 57.14% Feeling (F) 42.86%
• Perceiving (P) 62.07% Judging (J) 37.93%

Main type	Variant

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La mia personalita archetipica dell’enneagramma è la 9:

The Peacemaker (the Nine)

Peacemakers are receptive, good-natured, and supportive. They seek union with others and the world around them.

How to Get Along with Me

* If you want me to do something, how you ask is important. I especially don’t like expectations or pressure.
* I like to listen and to be of service, but don’t take advatage of this.
* Listen until I finish speaking, even though I meander a bit.
* Give me time to finish things and make decisions. It’s OK to nudge me gently and nonjudgmentally.
* Ask me questions to help me get clear.
* Tell me when you like how I look. I’m not averse to flattery.
* Hug me, show physical affection. It opens me up to my feelings.
* I like a good discussion but not a confrontation.
* Let me know you like what I’ve done or said.
* Laugh with me and share in my enjoyment of life.

What I Like About Being a Nine

* being nonjudgmental and accepting
* caring for and being concerned about others
* being able to relax and have a good time
* knowing that most people enjoy my company; I’m easy to be around
* my ability to see many different sides of an issue and to be a good mediator and facilitator
* my heightened awareness of sensations, aesthetics, and the here and now
* being able to go with the flow and feel one with the universe

What’s Hard About Being a Nine

* being judged and misunderstood for being placid and/or indecisive
* being critical of myself for lacking initiative and discipline
* being too sensitive to criticism; taking every raised eyebrow and twitch of the mouth personally
* being confused about what I really want
* caring too much about what others will think of me
* not being listened to or taken seriously

Nines as Children Often

* feel ignored and that their wants, opinions, and feelings are unimportant
* tune out a lot, especially when others argue
* are “good” children: deny anger or keep it to themselves

Nines as Parents

* are supportive, kind, and warm
* are sometimes overly permissive or nondirective

9s come across as patient people who are good listeners, adaptable and accommodating to others. 9s have an unusual ability to “go with the flow” of their surroundings, and a desire to be connected with their surroundings. This ability is both their biggest strength and weakness; at best, 9s are very accepting and supportive of others as they really are, but at worst 9s forget who they themselves are, passively agreeing with others and afraid to assert their own desires. 9s learning the Enneagram may take a long time to figure out their type because they identify more with others than with their own true selves.

The passivity of average 9s can make it hard for them to assert their needs or make decisions. 9s can have a particularly hard time making painful decisions, like firing someone, because they also see the other person’s predicament, and hate to force confrontations. Average 9s may distract themselves from tough problems with soothing but trivial tasks (e.g. web-surfing, aimless chatter). 9s with an 8 wing are less likely to have this problem because the 8 wing has a lust for action and challenge, while 9s with a 1 wing are more likely to become creatures of habit, because of the 1′s compulsive qualities. Inertia is in fact a chronic problem for 9s, who often find it hard to get started on things. However, this inertia can also work to their advantage, because once started 9s can make slow-but-steady progress, becoming surprisingly relentless in their pursuits. The old Aesop’s fable about the slow-and-steady tortoise who beats the faster rabbit aptly describes the work habits of healthy 9s.

Famous 9s: Bill Clinton (has both wings)
Famous 9w1s: Carl Jung, Nelson Mandela, Warren Harding, Tiger Woods, Prince Charles, Scottie Pippen, Kevin Nealon, Bob Costas, cultural aura of Ancient China.
Famous 9w8s: Walter Cronkite, Ronald Reagan, Albert Einstein, Dwight Eisenhower, The Dalai Lama, cultural aura of Ancient India.

Ecco un’altra fonte sull’enneagramma tipo 9:

THE PEACEMAKER
Enneagram Type Nine
Enneagram Nine
The Easygoing, Self-Effacing Type:
Receptive, Reassuring Agreeable, and Complacent

* En Español: Tipo de Personalidad Nueve, El Pacificador
* In het Nederlands: Persoonlijkheidstype Negen, de Vredestichter

For more about the meaning of the arrows, see below.
Type Nine in Brief

Nines are accepting, trusting, and stable. They are usually creative, optimistic, and supportive, but can also be too willing to go along with others to keep the peace. They want everything to go smoothly and be without conflict, but they can also tend to be complacent, simplifying problems and minimizing anything upsetting. They typically have problems with inertia and stubbornness. At their Best: indomitable and all-embracing, they are able to bring people together and heal conflicts.

* Basic Fear: Of loss and separation
* Basic Desire: To have inner stability “peace of mind”
* Enneagram Nine with an Eight-Wing: “The Referee”
* Enneagram Nine with a One-Wing: “The Dreamer”

Key Motivations: Want to create harmony in their environment, to avoid conflicts and tension, to preserve things as they are, to resist whatever would upset or disturb them.
The Meaning of the Arrows (in brief)

When moving in their Direction of Disintegration (stress), complacent Nines suddenly become anxious and worried at Six. However, when moving in their Direction of Integration (growth), slothful, self-neglecting Nines become more self-developing and energetic, like healthy Threes. For more information, click here.

Examples: Abraham Lincoln, Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Grace, Walter Cronkite, George Lucas, Walt Disney, John Kennedy, Jr., Sophia Loren, Geena Davis, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Costner, Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson, Ron Howard, Matthew Broderick, Ringo Starr, Whoopi Goldberg, Janet Jackson, Nancy Kerrigan, Jim Hensen, Marc Chagall, Norman Rockwell, “Edith Bunker” (Archie Bunker), and “Marge Simpson” (The Simpsons).
Type Nine Overview

We have called personality type Nine The Peacemaker because no type is more devoted to the quest for internal and external peace for themselves and others. They are typically “spiritual seekers” who have a great yearning for connection with the cosmos, as well as with other people. They work to maintain their peace of mind just as they work to establish peace and harmony in their world. The issues encountered in the Nine are fundamental to all psychological and spiritual work—being awake versus falling asleep to our true nature; presence versus entrancement, openness versus blockage, tension versus relaxation, peace versus pain, union versus separation.

Ironically, for a type so oriented to the spiritual world, Nine is the center of the Instinctive Center, and is the type that is potentially most grounded in the physical world and in their own bodies. The contradiction is resolved when we realize that Nines are either in touch with their instinctive qualities and have tremendous elemental power and personal magnetism, or they are cut off from their instinctual strengths and can be disengaged and remote, even lightweight.

To compensate for being out of touch with their instinctual energies, Nines also retreat into their minds and their emotional fantasies. (This is why Nines can sometimes misidentify themselves as Fives and Sevens, “head types,” or as Twos and Fours, “feeling types.”) Furthermore, when their instinctive energies are out of balance, Nines use these very energies against themselves, damming up their own power so that everything in their psyches becomes static and inert. When their energy is not used, it stagnates like a spring-fed lake that becomes so full that its own weight dams up the springs that feed it. When Nines are in balance with their Instinctive Center and its energy, however, they are like a great river, carrying everything along with it effortlessly.

We have sometimes called the Nine the crown of the Enneagram because it is at the top of the symbol and because it seems to include the whole of it. Nines can have the strength of Eights, the sense of fun and adventure of Sevens, the dutifulness of Sixes, the intellectualism of Fives, the creativity of Fours, the attractiveness of Threes, the generosity of Twos, and the idealism of Ones. However, what they generally do not have is a sense of really inhabiting themselves—a strong sense of their own identity.

Ironically, therefore, the only type the Nine is not like is the Nine itself. Being a separate self, an individual who must assert herself against others, is terrifying to Nines. They would rather melt into someone else or quietly follow their idyllic daydreams.

Red, a nationally known business consultant, comments on this tendency:

“I am aware of focusing on other people, wondering what they are like, how and where they live, etc. In a relationship with others, I often give up my own agenda in favor of the other person’s. I have to be on guard about giving in to other’s demands and discounting my own legitimate needs.”

Nines demonstrate the universal temptation to ignore the disturbing aspects of life and to seek some degree of peace and comfort by “numbing out.” They respond to pain and suffering by attempting to live in a state of premature peacefulness, whether it is in a state of false spiritual attainment, or in more gross denial. More than any other type, Nines demonstrate the tendency to run away from the paradoxes and tensions of life by attempting to transcend them or be seeking find simple and painless solutions to their problems.

To emphasize the pleasant in life is not a bad thing, of course—it is simply a limited and limiting approach to life. If Nines see the silver lining in every cloud as a way of protecting themselves from the cold and rain, other types have their distorting viewpoints, too. For example, Fours focus on their own woundedness and victimization, Ones on what is wrong with how things are, and so forth. By contrast, Nines tend to focus on the “bright side of life” so that their peace of mind will not be shaken. But rather than deny the dark side of life, what Nines must understand is that all of the perspectives presented by the other types are true, too. Nines must resist the urge to escape into “premature Buddhahood” or the “white light” of the Divine and away from the mundane world. They must remember that “the only way out is through.”

(from The Wisdom of the Enneagram, p. 316-317)

Excerpt from Type Nine ITAR (5:44 minutes) Audio Stream

Buy the Individual Type Audio Recording of Type Nine—Click Here
Type Nine—More Depth by Level
Healthy Levels

Level 1 (At Their Best): Become self-possessed, feeling autonomous and fulfilled: have great equanimity and contentment because they are present to themselves. Paradoxically, at one with self, and thus able to form more profound relationships. Intensely alive, fully connected to self and others.

Level 2: Deeply receptive, accepting, unselfconscious, emotionally stable and serene. Trusting of self and others, at ease with self and life, innocent and simple. Patient, unpretentious, good-natured, genuinely nice people.

Level 3: Optimistic, reassuring, supportive: have a healing and calming influence—harmonizing groups, bringing people together: a good mediator, synthesizer, and communicator.
Average Levels

Level 4: Fear conflicts, so become self-effacing and accommodating, idealizing others and “going along” with their wishes, saying “yes” to things they do not really want to do. Fall into conventional roles and expectations. Use philosophies and stock sayings to deflect others.

Level 5: Active, but disengaged, unreflective, and inattentive. Do not want to be affected, so become unresponsive and complacent, walking away from problems, and “sweeping them under the rug.” Thinking becomes hazy and ruminative, mostly comforting fantasies, as they begin to “tune out” reality, becoming oblivious. Emotionally indolent, unwillingness to exert self or to focus on problems: indifference.

Level 6: Begin to minimize problems, to appease others and to have “peace at any price.” Stubborn, fatalistic, and resigned, as if nothing could be done to change anything. Into wishful thinking, and magical solutions. Others frustrated and angry by their procrastination and unresponsiveness.
Unhealthy Levels

Level 7: Can be highly repressed, undeveloped, and ineffectual. Feel incapable of facing problems: become obstinate, dissociating self from all conflicts. Neglectful and dangerous to others.

Level 8: Wanting to block out of awareness anything that could affect, them, they dissociate so much that they eventually cannot function: numb, depersonalized.

Level 9: They finally become severely disoriented and catatonic, abandoning themselves, turning into shattered shells. Multiple personalities possible. Generally corresponds to the Schizoid and Dependent personality disorders.
Learn More

* Overview of Type Nine from Personality Types (over 2,500 words)
* Expanded Descriptions of your top three types are available to purchasers of the online RHETI Enneagram test. These 2,800+ word descriptions contain new material on relationships, personal growth, the Levels of Development, and more.
* The Riso-Hudson Books offer the most complete type descriptions available anywhere. Personality Types is the most complete, in-depth, systematic treatment of the nine types and the Enneagram system as a whole, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram provides the comprehensive guide to psychological and spiritual growth for the nine personality types.

More about Type Nines and

* Personal Growth
* Compatibility with Other Types
* Addictions
* Misidentifications with Other Types

Sittin’ on a bench at West Town Mall
He sat down in his overalls and asked me
You waitin’ on a woman
I nodded yeah and said how ’bout you
He said son since nineteen fifty-two I’ve been
Waitin’ on a woman

When I picked her up for our first date
I told her I’d be there at eight
And she came down the stairs at eight-thirty
She said I’m sorry that I took so long
Didn’t like a thing that I tried on
But let me tell you son she sure looked pretty
Yeah she’ll take her time but I don’t mind
Waitin’ on a woman

He said the wedding took a year to plan
You talk about an anxious man, I was nervous
Waitin’ on a woman
And then he nudged my arm like old men do
And said, I’ll say this about the honeymoon, it was worth it
Waitin’ on a woman

And I don’t guess we’ve been anywhere
She hasn’t made us late I swear
Sometimes she does it just ’cause she can do it
Boy it’s just a fact of life
It’ll be the same with your young wife
Might as well go on and get used to it
She’ll take her time ’cause you don’t mind
Waitin’ on a woman

I’ve read somewhere statistics show
The man’s always the first to go
And that makes sense ’cause I know she won’t be ready
So when it finally comes my time
And I get to the other side
I’ll find myself a bench, if they’ve got any
I hope she takes her time, ’cause I don’t mind
Waitin’ on a woman

Honey, take your time, cause I don’t mind
Waitin’ on a woman

E’ ancora troppo presto per dirlo, ma potremmo trovarci di fronte alla scoperta più importante di sempre. Per la prima volta, all’interno della zona industriale di Bologna, Andrea Rossi e Sergio Focardi hanno mostrato ad un ristretto numero di scienziati e giornalisti la loro macchina – ”funziona come una stufetta elettrica di casa” -, che trasforma nichel e idrogeno in energia.

Durante l’esperimento di Bologna, la macchina di Rossi-Focardi avrebbe consumato 600 kilowattora per produrre circa 12.000 kilowattora. Per quanto riguarda i costi di esercizio, i realizzatori parlano di 2.000 euro per Kilowatt di potenza per il dispositivo, più un grammo di nichel necessario per il processo. La macchina potrebbe presto essere prodotta e commercializzata, anche se la comunità scientifica appare intenzionata a conoscerne i segreti. Segreti che, pur coperti da brevetto, per stessa ammissione di Andrea Rossi e Sergio Focardi non sono ancora del tutto chiari.

Una breve spiegazione in inglese sul probabile funzionamento si può trovare QUI

Ecco i 3 video di spiegazione della ricerca:

Una molecola cruciale per i meccanismi regolatori per la sopravvivenza dei neuroni in seguito a un’ischemia cerebrale è stata scoperta dai ricercatori della Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, in Giappone, guidati da Kazuo Kitagawa, che firmano in proposito un articolo sulla rivista Neuron.

Com’è noto il danno ischemico è dovuto a una restrizione dell’afflusso di sangue. Il deficit di ossigeno e di glucosio che ne deriva porta alla morte dei neuroni tramite una complessa cascata di eventi patologici finora poco compresi nei loro dettagli.

“Sebbene fossero già stati individuati numerosi composti coinvolti nella resistenza allo stress ischemico e i risultati preclinici fossero promettenti, i trial clinici sulla possibilità di fornire una protezione sono andati falliti”, ha spiegato Kitagawa.

Precedenti studi avevano indicato nella proteina CREB (cAMP responsive elements binding protein) un fattore protettivo per i neuroni in caso di ischemia. La CREB è nota per essere un fattore di regolazione importante per molti geni e riveste un ruolo importate in molti diversi processi fisiologici.

Kitagawa e colleghi hanno verificato una circostanza particolare: la chinasi SIK2 viene espressa ad alti livelli nei neuroni, ma tali livelli calano decisamente dopo un danno ischemico. In seguito si è arrivati a dimostrare che la SIK2 inibisce l’espressione genica mediata dalla CREB in condizioni di deprivazione di glucosio e di ossigeno e che la sopravvivenza all’ischemia era significativamente incrementata in topi mancanti di SIK2.

“Abbiamo trovato che la deprivazione di ossigeno e di glucosio induce la degradazione della SIK2 insieme con una specifica molecola denominata TORC1: ciò porta all’attivazione della CREB e dei processi chimici a valle”, hanno concluso i ricercatori. “I nostri risultati portano a ipotizzare che la SIK2 rivesta un ruolo critico nella sopravvivenza neuronale aprendo la strada a possibili applicazioni cliniche. Il cammino di segnalazione biochimica SIK2-TORC1-CREB può rappresentare un bersaglio terapeutico per promuovere la sopravvivenza neuronale”. (fc)

(12 gennaio 2011)

Fonte: QUI

Il pianto è un comportamento universale, in grado di trasmettere intense emozioni nell’interlocutore. In un nuovo studio, un gruppo di ricercatori del Weizmann Institute ha dimostrato l’esistenza di un messaggio codificato chimicamente nelle lacrime. Secondo quanto riferito su Science Express, annusare le lacrime ridurrebbe l’attivazione sessuale negli uomini, anche quando la donna che le ha prodotte non è presente.

Gli esseri umani, come la maggior parte degli animali, espellono con i fluidi corporei un’ampia gamma di composti chimici in grado di veicolare sottili messaggi agli altri membri della stessa specie. Numerosi studi in anni recenti hanno dimostrato come le sostanze presenti nel sudore possano innescare un sorprendente spettro di segnali in chi li percepisce con l’olfatto.

Ma le lacrime non hanno odore. In effetti in un esperimento preliminare Shani Gelstein e colleghi del dipartimento di Neurobiologia del Weizmann ha verificato che le lacrime prodotte da un gruppo di volontarie mentre guardavano un film triste in una stanza separata non hanno un odore che possa essere discriminato da quello di una soluzione salina, secondo il giudizio di un gruppo di uomini utilizzati come controllo.

In un secondo esperimento i volontari maschi hanno annusato lacrime o una soluzione salina secondo la modalità in doppio cieco (in cui né gli sperimentatori né i volontari sapevano di che cosa si trovasse nei singoli campioni di test) mentre scorrevano su uno schermo immagini di visi femminili.

Dall’analisi delle risposte fornite dagli uomini, è risultato che annusare le lacrime non influenza il giudizio sulla tristezza evocata dai visi osservati né l’empatia verso di essi; sorprendentemente, tuttavia, le lacrime hanno influenzato negativamente il giudizio sul sex appeal attribuito ai visi.

Per chiarire meglio il risultato, i volontari hanno assistito ad alcuni film dal forte contenuto emotivo dopo aver annusato ancora una volta lacrime o soluzione salina. Per tutta la durata dei film ai partecipanti è stato chiesto di fornire una valutazione soggettiva del proprio umore mentre venivano monitorati alcuni parametri fisiologici come la temperatura della pelle, il battito cardiaco etc.

Anche in questo caso le risposte emotive dei soggetti ai film più tristi non erano peggiorate dall’esposizione alle lacrime, né vi erano variazioni nel grado di empatia. Ancora una volta però il grado di attivazione sessuale è risultato un po’ più basso, come confermato anche dalle misurazioni fisiologiche che hanno rilevato tra l’altro una significativa diminuzione del testosterone. (fc)

(08 gennaio 2011)

Fonte: QUI

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