Well, as you may be aware, we’ve had some problems with the iTunes Store over the past few weeks, originally starting because I foolishly allowed my developer account to expire, not realizing that this would lead Apple to remove the pzizz apps from the Store.  Big mistake on my part!

This caused widespread confusion and, as it was completely my fault, when order was restored on 27th July I offered the pzizz apps for free up until the end of the month.

Not surprisingly, the result was fantastic, and 98,244 people took advantage of this offer over the course of just 4 days – and we gave away $981,457.56 of pzizz apps (yes, that’s 152 Terabytes of software – valued at just under $1 million!) before the apps mysteriously disappeared again on Saturday.

“Are You Mad???”

The response of friends and family members has been almost universal : “What were you thinking?  Have you lost your mind?”

But do you know what?  I don’t think so.  And I haven’t felt so good about anything for ages!

“And why?”, you may ask…

Change The World

Because the main reason for starting pzizz was that Matthew and I wanted to create a product that would make a change in the world – and by helping people to relieve stress, boost daytime energy levels and rid them of their sleep problems we believe we do exactly this.  Therefore, the more people we can help, the better!

Now, obviously, we can’t afford to give away pzizz forever.  It’s not exactly a sensible business model, and the truth is that people often don’t appreciate free stuff as much as things they’ve paid for!

What we can do, however, is to try and ensure that as many people as possible get pzizz as affordably as possible.

=>  Summer Madness Prices  <=

Because of this, we are offering the full pzizz apps, normally priced at $9.99 each, for “Summer Madness Prices” – during these dates ONLY :

Finished                                             $0.99 (90% discount – SAVE $9!)
31st August – 6th September      $1.99 (80% discount – SAVE $8!)
7th – 13th September                     $2.99 (70% discount – SAVE $7!)
14th – 20th September                  $3.99 (70% discount – SAVE $6!)

On 21st September the price will rise to $4.99 (still a great 50% discount) but not as good as if you get it earlier…  (Obviously!)  And it’s set to keep rising back up to $9.99.

Get Yours Today

So, if you haven’t already got your copies of pzizz for iPhone / iPod Touch, now’s the time to do so.

***   Even if you haven’t already got an iPhone or iPod Touch, but you think you might in the future, you should really consider it because we won’t be offering the complete, totally customizable versions of pzizz at this price in the foreseeable future (if ever)!

What price relaxation, boundless energy and a great night’s sleep – every day for the rest of your life?

If you’re quick, you can get the two modules for just 2 x $1.99 = $3.98

• Click here to get the pzizz energizer app

• Click here to get the pzizz sleep app

The Ultimate Energy Boost and Sleep Apps

Don’t forget, unlike other ‘apps’ that simply play the same pre-recorded, fixed length MP3 file each time you listen, pzizz mixes a slightly different soundscape every time you use it! (This patented feature cannot be found in any other app)

In addition, pzizz allows you to :

✓   Choose how long you want to listen (10 minutes – 10 hours, depending on module)

✓   Adjust the volume of the voice and the music – independent of each other – so you can set it up exactly as you want it

✓   Choose to listen to the spoken suggestions all the way through, during intro and outro only – or not at all

And because it’s slightly different every time,  pzizz effectively gives you a new, personalised ‘one on one’ session with Michael Breen – one of the world’s top Master Trainers in NLP – whenever you want!  This is priceless.

=>  Spread The Word / Win a Prize!  <=

Share this promotion with your iPhone / iPod Touch-carrying friends.  Tweet about it.  Blog about it.  Talk about it on your Facebook page.

I guarantee your friends will thank you for it, and together we can make the world a more relaxed place – one pzizz at a time…

Then be sure to come back and tell us what you’ve done in the comments section below – so we don’t miss it!

Why?  Because, on the 14th September, we’ll randomly pick some winners and announce some special prizes.  And the more sales we make, the more prizes we’ll give away…

It’s Summertime.  Let’s go crazy!

edward laing, ceo, pzizz technology limited

I’m so sorry if you’ve been having problems trying to find the pzizz apps in Apple’s App Store, but they appear to have been removed.

I have no idea why, nor have I received any notification from Apple. In my developer account all the status lights are ‘green’ and it says “Ready for Sale”.

All apps are downloaded from Apple’s servers, so it’s certainly not a matter of the pzizz system being overwhelmed (if it were, I could do something about it!)

I apologise. This is very frustrating for everyone and it’s certainly not because I have removed them from the App Store.

I have just written to Apple, but, typically, this has happened over the weekend and I don’t believe that Apple has support staff working outside normal working hours.  I just called the  developer support hotline and got a recorded message saying it’s only manned from 9-5, Monday to Friday.

Thanks for your patience and understanding…  I’m doing everything I can to find out what’s happened!

edward

When Must You Cut Back On Coffee?

Several people drink coffee due to the stimulating effects that keep one mentally and physically alert. On average, an individual consumes moderate doses of caffeine, such as 200-300 milligrams of caffeine each day or equal to 2-4 cups each day. However, there are some who exceed this amount such that it could lead to serious health risks.

You can learn more about when you need to re-evaluate your caffeine intake and what you can do about it.

Health Risks of Too Much Caffeine

Simply put, caffeine is not bad for you. But when you consume too much caffeine that is when it begins to affect your health. Those who drink 4 to 7 cups of coffee or 500-600 milligrams daily are at most risk. There are several effects that could be experienced by those with excess caffeine in their body:

* nervousness
* irritability
* irregular heartbeat
* headaches
* insomnia
* restlessness
* nausea
* gastrointestinal conditions
* muscle tremors
* anxiety

Lack of Sleep

Adults need up to 8 hours of sleep each night to stay healthy and to functional optimally. But when you are chronically losing sleep, it begins to affect your performance and overall health. Too much caffeine intake can lead to sleep deprivation due to its stimulating effects that keep you mentally and physically alert.

As a result of excessive caffeine intake, you shorten the amount of sleeping hours each night. Due to lack of quality sleep, you feel tired as you wake up next day and this could produce long term side effects to your health.

Jittery Feeling

Not all people are sensitive to caffeine. If you are, even the smallest amounts of caffeine can result to unwanted effects like irritability, anxiety, restlessness, and lack of sleep. The extent of your bodyís reaction to caffeine is dependent on the amount of caffeine you regularly consume. So, if you are noticing any of the above noted side effects, make sure to take immediate actions before it could develop into more serious complications in the long run.

Reactions to Medications and Supplements

One of the reasons why individuals are recommended to monitor their caffeine intake is due to the its possibility to cause a negative reaction with some medications or supplements that you are taking.

The most common type of medication that could negatively react with caffeine are antibiotics, notably Noroxin and Cipro. These antibacterial medications interfere in the process of breaking down antibiotics inside your body, which is further worsen with the buildup of caffeine in your body. Meanwhile, Theophylline is a type of medication intended to open up your bronchial airways but create caffeine-like effects. It is therefore advised against intake alongside caffeine intake due to the risk of developing the following side effects: heart palpitations, nausea, and vomiting.

Curbing Your Caffeine Habit

Reducing your coffee habit can both be good for your health and practical on the budget, especially knowing the current prices for coffee. However, those who are regular coffee drinkers can find quitting or curbing this habit a challenging one. Try to adapt the following tips to gradually eliminate caffeine off your diet:

1. Learn how to read labels to monitor the amount of caffeine you consume each day, noting not just coffee but also other sources of caffeine.
2. Do not shock your system by completely taking out caffeine from your diet. Instead, do it gradually starting by reducing the amount of coffee you drink per day, until your body is accustomed to it.
3. Look for natural or healthier alternatives such that you can get the same taste and stimulating effects that coffee has, without the risks to your health.

Your ability to pay attention to your body and willingness to assess just how much caffeine is too much for your body can take could save your health from its disastrous and fatal consequences.

The pzizz energizer module is a natural alternative to caffeine for staying alert during the day, with no side effects.

According to a fascinating experiment published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, “Just one act of self-control depletes your ability to have self-control in another unrelated area.”  For example, when subjects were told not to eat chocolates sitting right in front of them, their persistence in puzzle-solving deteriorated.

This is not just related to food.  When subjects were told to suppress an emotional reaction to a movie, they had problems solving an easy anagram.  It turns out that you only have the conscious resources to exhibit willpower on one (or at the most two) fronts at one time.  The research is overwhelming in this area.

This is why it is SO HARD to stay disciplined with eating and exercise. This is true for any form of will power, which is why we often don’t do the things we tell ourselves we are going to do.

In short, any self-regulatory strategy has costs with respect to depleting a person’s general resources for self regulation.²

To make it worse, according to research on information processing, your conscious mind is only able to process approximately 50 bits of information per second, while your unconscious mind processes approximately 11 million bits per second.³ This means your unconscious mind processes information about 220 THOUSAND TIMES FASTER than your conscious mind.

Going back to the willpower research, it makes more sense now.  The part of your experience that you are aware of has very limited resources, while the part of you that you are NOT aware of, is extremely powerful.

Further evidence of this comes from the famous study done by Dr. George A. Miller of Princeton University. He proved that the conscious mind can only handle 7 (plus or minus 2) chunks of information at a time.⁴

So you can see what a drain it is trying to use willpower to follow a healthy diet, exercise regularly, etc. on a daily basis.  This is also why, when people try to quit smoking AND lose weight at the same, they are almost certain to fail!

Now you understand that the trick is to somehow get the part of you that you are not aware of (the unconscious mind) to make the changes for you.

So how do you get your unconscious mind to naturally desire healthy green foods, water, healthy portions, exercise, etc. without having to think about it consciously?

The trick is a combination of positive association, priming and ritual.

With positive association, think Pavlov and the dog (you remember how Dr. Pavlov was able to get dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell).  You need to set up an environment where every time you take an action that leads to your goal, you will reward yourself.  Your brain will quickly learn to create this behaviour without you having to think about it.

With priming, you need to put in place cues that lead to your desired behaviours.  The research is solid that environmental cues determine a great percentage of your behaviours.  For example, every time you see a fast food advertisement, you are receiving a prime (in this case for a behaviour you don’t want)!

So level the playing field by putting pictures of healthy foods in your home and office.  Eat off of smaller plates so you are primed to eat smaller portions.  Remove “bad” snacks from your sight as they call for you to eat them!  The point is to set up your environment for success.

Finally, use the power of ritual.  It takes 21 days to change a habit.  Pick one ritual that you can easily do every day that will lead to your weight loss goals.  One powerful, easy thing you can do is to change your morning ritual.

A SIMPLE WAY TO START :

Prepare a healthy meal every night before you go to bed, and pick any 20-minute form of exercise you can do in the mornings.  When you wake up, do 20 minutes of exercise (even if it is just walking), then eat your healthy meal.  This is easy to do and, because it is the first thing you do every day, the stresses of the day will not prevent it.

References

1. 1. Source: RE Baumeister et al. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 74, 1998.
2. 2. Moraven, M., et al. (1998). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74. 774-789.
3. 3. Zimmerman, M. (1989). In R. F. Schmidt & G. Thews (eds.), Human Physiology, pp. 166-173. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag.
4. 4. Miller, G. A. (1956). Psychological Review, 63, 81-97.

If so, you can bet that it’s taking a toll on your night time sleep, because the brightness of the computer screen is tricking your body into thinking that it’s still daytime!

I’ve recently come across a software product called f.lux – and it’s designed to adjust your computer display depending on whether it’s day or night; warm at night and like daylight during the day.

http://www.pzizz.com/flux

I installed it on my computer at the end of last week, and it’s definitely helped to remind me when it’s getting late!

In fact, I’ve been so impressed with it that I’ve written to the f.lux developers to ask about licensing it for use in pzizz, but I’ve not heard back yet.

Anyway, f.lux is currently completely free at the moment – so why not check it out?

http://www.pzizz.com/flux

Enjoy!

Well, I just received an email from the iTunes Store :

“Your application has been approved for sale on the App Store. Pending any application availability issues, your app will be Ready for Sale and live on the App Store within 24 hours.”

Anyway, I went straight over to check, and it’s already there!

A little information:

• pzizz sleep Lite creates a new, slightly different 60 minute soundtrack every time you use it – ideal for helping you switch off at the end of a hectic day…

• The voice and music levels have been set at Matthew and my favourite settings : voice 40% / music 70%

• And it’s FREE until the end of June 2010!

Yup, we decided to make pzizz available to everyone!  We know that times are *very* difficult right now, and one of the first things to suffer is one’s sleep.  Like stress, when you can’t sleep, everything seems worse  and we believe we have a chance to make a real difference to people’s lives with pzizz sleep Lite.

Please note that this offer is for a limited time.  So, if you’ve got an iPhone or iPod Touch – and you want to boost your energy levels and get instant stress relief – this is your chance to get pzizz at the most affordable price EVER!

Interested?  Snap up your free copy of pzizz sleep Lite here (and don’t forget to tell your sleep-deprived friends!) :

http://itunes.com/app/pzizzsleeplite

Happy pzizzing!

edward

Just in case you’re wondering what the difference is between pzizz sleep and pzizz sleep Lite, I made this little chart just for you! 

Well, I just received an email from the iTunes Store :

“Your application has been approved for sale on the App Store. Pending any application availability issues, your app will be Ready for Sale and live on the App Store within 24 hours.”

Anyway, I went straight over to check, and it’s already there!

A little information:

• pzizz energizer Lite creates a new, slightly different 20 minute soundtrack – absolutely ideal for power napping  every time you use it.

• The voice and music levels have been set at Matthew and my favourite settings : voice 40% / music 70%

• And it’s FREE until the end of June 2010!

Yup, we decided to make pzizz available to everyone!  Despite what we’re told by the media, people are becoming increasingly stressed.  When you’re stressed, everything seems worse, but we believe we have a chance to make a real difference with pzizz energizer Lite.

Please note that this offer is for a limited time.  So, if you’ve got an iPhone or iPod Touch – and you want to boost your energy levels and get instant stress relief – this is your chance to get pzizz at the most affordable price EVER!

Interested? Grab your free copy of pzizz energizer Lite here (and don’t forget to tell the stressed people in your life!) :

http://itunes.com/app/pzizzenergizerlite

Happy pzizzing!

edward

Just in case you’re wondering what the difference is between pzizz energizer and pzizz energizer Lite, I made this little chart just for you! 

Thanks to everyone who took part – and many congratulations to our winners, especially Patty! 

Want to join in?  Click on this link : http://www.pzizz.com/win

Here are the winners!!!

Grand Prize Winner of the 32GB iPod Touch!

As you may already know, we just launched pzizz sleep Lite for iPhone / iPod Touch at the (crazy!) introductory price of $0.99

…and now we’d like a little help spreading the word!

Now, we obviously don’t expect you to help us out for nothing, so, we’ve set up a little contest for anyone who’d like to get involved, irrespective of whether you’ve got an iPhone or iPod Touch!  (See “Notes” below * )

We want to spread the message to as many sleep deprived people as possible.

Reports suggest that as much as 40% of the entire U.S. population suffers from sleep problems and many of them resort to sleeping meds – with potentially harmful side effects.  We believe we can help them overcome insomnia, naturally and safely!

The prizes :

1 x pzizz energizer or pzizz sleep module – every day *

1 x 32GB iPod Touch **

How to Enter :

=> Follow : @pzizz

=> Tweet the following message every day for a chance to win :

Cure Your #Insomnia for $0.99 – Win a 32GB iPod Touch!  http://www.pzizz.com/win

Guidelines :

As per Twitter’s guidelines for running a Contest on Twitter, please note the following :

• If you win the contest, and you have already purchased, we will be happy to either (a) refund the cost of your purchase via PayPal or (b) gift your Promo Code to whoever you choose. (Proof of purchase required)

• Please don’t use multiple Twitter accounts. Anyone found doing so will be ineligible from the contest.

• Please don’t retweet over and over (and over!) again. (Tweeting a couple of times a day is fine)

• Contest runs until midnight PST, 6th June 2010

• Winners will be selected randomly and their Twitter account names will be posted on the pzizz website.

• Judges’ selections are final.

• Promo codes can only be redeemed in the US iTunes Store. (If you don’t have a US iTunes account, and you don’t know anyone else who has one, please don’t enter and then complain!)
• =>  UPDATE – If you are one of the daily winners and you want one of the iPhone apps and you don’t have a US iTunes account – we’ll buy one for you anyway! <=

NOTES :

*  Once a day, we’ll select a winner.  The winner can choose which module they want (energizer or sleep) and which platform (iPhone / iPod Touch, Mac or Windows)

** At the end of the contest, we’ll choose one winner for the 32GB iPod Touch

=>  If things go really well, we may add more prizes (but never less!) 

My apologies!

Hopefully the following little chart will help to clarify things, but please let me know if there are any other questions, and I’ll edit it to include the answers to them…

Thank you!

edward