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Showing posts from March, 2016

Introducing new delivery technology from Google Express

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Some Great Streaming Workouts

The Best Streaming Workouts You should see me before a workout class: I'm worse than your most stubborn toddler who won't- WON'T - eat a bite of broccoli. I just reeeeally don't wanna go. Just getting to a Soul Cycle or (my new obsession) L7 yoga class is honestly the hardest part of my workout.

Microsoft's HoloLens will soon let you simulate walking on Mars

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How a blind software engineer uses AI to 'see' the world

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Patterns of #Kanban Maturity #agile

Patterns of Kanban Maturity Posted on March 30, 2016 by David Anderson This is part 2 of current series on organizational maturity, evolutionary change, and Kanban. Catch up on Part 1: Organizational Maturity & the J-Curve Effect for more context. What follows is in no way intended to be an exhaustive set of Kanban board designs.

It's 2016. Why Can't Anyone Make a Decent Freaking To-Do App?

It's 2016. Why Can't Anyone Make a Decent Freaking To-Do App? Technology has given us one-tap access to taxis, laundromats, all of history's collected information, and sex. Yet it can't give us a decent to-do list. It's not for lack of trying. There's an entire corner of the Internet dedicated to making people more productive.

Organizational Maturity & the J-Curve Effect #business #agile #kanban

Organizational Maturity & the J-Curve Effect Posted on March 29, 2016 by David Anderson This is the first in a series of at least four posts about Kanban, evolutionary change and organizational maturity. If you like the content and feel you want to know more then consider taking one of my "Kanban - the alternative path to agility" training classes followed by the Kanban Coaching Professional Masterclass.

Bufalino Camping Scooter design imagines life inside a tricycle

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Bufalino Camping Scooter design imagines life inside a tricycle Designer Cornelius Commans gives us this amazing twist on the Piaggio Ape, a camper scooter. You can't buy it yet. It's just a concept--for now. From Commans' website: This is my bachelor thesis in Industrial Design which I have finished this month.

Instagram rolling out support for 60-second videos

Instagram rolling out support for 60-second videos Photographs have always been the crux of Instagram's empire, but video is a big focal point for many these days. Up until recently, Instagram offered support for users to publish 15-second videos, while companies have had access to 60-second videos for their advertisements. After a waiting period, Instagram has deemed it okay to rollout support [...]

Solar-powered system automatically opens and closes window blinds

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Solar-powered system automatically opens and closes window blinds Opening and closing your blinds is such a trivial process that you may never have thought about automating it, but it can make your home more energy efficient and secure. A new device called the FlipFlic allows users to automate existing blinds and control them via an accompanying mobile app.

Making Meaningful Things Together: Working Towards a Mature Business #ux

Making Meaningful Things Together: Working Towards a Mature BusinessJUS Sometimes people create conflicts during a project that only serve to get in the way of making meaningful things together. Or in other words, unnecessary and petty battles make work not fun and not productive. But why would people create such conflict?

Japan's new Bullet Train with Blend into the Environment

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Kazuyo Sejima to Design Next Generation Express Train that Melds Into the Environment In a press release issued overnight in Japan, Seibu Group announced plans for a new Limited Express train that would be designed by Kazuyo Sejima. Working with the train operator's design team, the architect - one half of the Pritzker-winning studio SANAA - has proposed a concept for Seibu'

Warning: Anyone can access sensitive info on your iPhone without even unlocking it

Warning: Anyone can access sensitive info on your iPhone without even unlocking it Apple refused to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone for the FBI, but the Bureau might be interested to learn that there's some seriously sensitive information that can be accessed on an iPhone without even having to unlock it.

Instagram is a dialup BBS

Instagram is a dialup BBS JWZ reminds us that all social media is some variation on the walled garden strategy, designed to lock you in and lock value away from the open, interoperable Web into a silo where it languishes and rots. You know, AOL. The thing that makes the Internet useful is interoperability.

People Will Still Have to Learn How to Drive Self-Driving Cars

People Will Still Have to Learn How to Drive Self-Driving Cars In a matter of days after Tesla first introduced Model S owners to a lane assistance feature called autopilot, videos of owners sitting in the back seat of cars while they were operating began popping up on YouTube. The root of the problem was clear: Humans made cars unsafe.

Google working on live streaming service called YouTube Connect

Google working on live streaming service called YouTube Connect Trending Tags: Reviews HTC One (M8) Galaxy S5 LG G3 Motorola Verizon Rumors Google RSS Feed Android and Me on Twitter Android and Me on Google+ Android and Me on Facebook Android and Me on YouTube Android and Me on Klout With live streaming apps like Periscope gaining significant popularity, Google feels a bit left out.

IMPROVING #UX WITH PIXAR’S 22 RULES OF STORYTELLING

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Improving UX with Pixar's 22 rules of storytelling - InVision Blog A few years ago, Emma Coats took to Twitter to share 22 rules she learned about storytelling during her time as a Pixar storyboard artist. The rules are "a mix of things learned from directors and coworkers at Pixar, listening to writers and directors talk about their craft, and via trial and error in the making of my own films," she later wrote in a blog post.

Death to Traffic Lights

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MIT researchers plan "death of the traffic light" A group of researchers has developed a conceptual traffic system that would enable driverless vehicles to whizz through intersections without colliding, eliminating the need for signals (+ movie). Researchers from MIT, the Swiss Institute of Technology and the Italian National Research Council came up with the idea for a new type of intersection called Light Traffic.

Streaming music revenue surpasses digital downloads for the first time

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Streaming music revenue surpasses digital downloads for the first time Streaming music is hardly the new kid on the block, but it's seemingly grown exponentially in the past few years thanks to services like Pandora, Spotify, and most recently, Apple Music. With 2015 now behind us, the RIAA today released its year-end sales report and highlighted how revenue from streaming music over the past year generated more revenue than digital downloads, an industry first.

Why Apple's cloud can't compete

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Why Apple's cloud can't compete Apple is a company that usually likes to maintain as much control over both its hardware and software as possible. Given this, you'd expect that the company would want to build out its own cloud infrastructure so that it wouldn't have to rely on the likes of Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

Cornell University gets a grant to catalog and preserve Afrika Bambaataa's hiphop archive

Cornell University gets a grant to catalog and preserve Afrika Bambaataa's hiphop archive Afrika Bambaataa concluded his inaugural three year term as the visiting scholar at Cornell's Hip Hop Collection by donating his personal library of 450 containers of 20,000 hand-annotated vinyl records, as well as other archival materials. The National Endowment for the Humanities has given Cornell a $260,000 grant to catalog the archive and put scans of Bambaataa's record-sleeve annotations online.

Google Photos is Winning

Google Photos now automatically creates albums from trips Taking photos is fun, but organizing them can be a chore. After a trip and a bunch of photos and videos, it can be annoying to pick your favorite shots and organize them into an album. Google Photos has been updated with automatic album creation, so after a trip or an event, the service can [...]

GDC San Francisco 2016

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Nerd Stalker visited GDC this year again. We felt GDC was less an extravaganza than last year. One reason was because of construction going on by the Moscone Center. The attendees still felt GDC is going strong with rich subjects being covered by prestigious developers, artists and business professionals in the game space. We all know that VR is a hot topic this year. Enjoy some pictures from GDC.  

The Weekend Edition

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YouTube and Google Play agree to join T-Mobile's Binge On Program, following criticism of video throttling What’s the Difference Between UX + UI Design ? The Blockhead Sideways Adapter For MacBook and iPad Chargers Study: people who believe in innate intelligence overestimate their own Aligning content work with Agile processes Help Me Understand The Value of Slack Instead of an Email List The Epic Story of Dropbox’s Exodus From the Amazon Cloud Empire The Promise of Airships, Team-Building Tips From Google and the Strange Art of America's Secret Societies The User Experience: Why data (not just design) hits the sweet spot Hublin: open-source video conferencing http://bit.ly/1R1D8In How To Integrate Motion Design In The UX Workflow Every Fucking Bootstrap Website Ever Lloyd S. Shapley, 92, Nobel Laureate and a Father of Game Theory, Is Dead Career Day Special with a Future Web Designer

TiE Announces Winner of the Smart Cities Hackathon

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In January of this year, TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) - Silicon Valley Chapter, held a hackathon centered around their latest initiative - Smart Cities.  If you don't know TiE, they are a global entrepreneur organization and network helping support entrepreneurs around the globe with its local chapters.  TiE's Smart Cities initiative  focuses on fostering innovation that improves quality of urban services, reduces cost of providing these services, creates efficient resource utilization, and helps improve the quality of life of citizens.  Their hackathon brought 100 global teams together to tackle the world's social and civil issues and specifically - waste management.  Here is the context of why this is important today: Waste Management Facts: 62 million tones of garbage is generated annually by the 377 million people living in urban India, now the world’s third-largest garbage generator! In a city like Bengaluru, the solid waste generated daily is estimate

The Nerd Stalker Weekend Edition

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The finer points of the week. Why FinTech is the WORST A technical guide to SEO Using distributed code-signatures to make it much harder to order secret backdoors Survivability - Kanban's "Purple Cow" Designing Social Interfaces: Principles, Patterns, and Practices for Improving the User Experience SleepHero is an app that helps settle babies and toddlers to sleep, then keep them asleep throughout the night. Right Click Logo to Show Logo Download Options Adoption of Smart Home Devices Slowed by Complexity and Cost Meeting your mission: A user-centered approach to content strategy Why Aren’t We Talking About The Divorced Entrepreneur? Excuses, Excuses! Why Companies Don’t Conduct User Research Scrum with Trello Designing future-friendly content: Modeling structure for every user interface

You Don't Have to Be a Lyft Driver to Afford San Francisco

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From walking the dog to babysitter - these 4 services can earn you some extra money Looking for more cash to afford to live in "The City". While Lyft and Uber paved the way for the on-demand economy, it's not the only option for people to make money on their terms. In fact, there are apps out that are much easier and more rewarding. We have identified four on-demand apps (which don't even require a car) that can earn people extra money -- a little or a lot depending on how much time is put in – and a sense of accomplishment. Don't just take our word for it...the Yelp reviews show a labor demand and keep in mind many of these are start-ups that are scaling. Even with scaling hiccups, these start-ups are looking for as much labor they can get. Check the four out below.

The Service That is Cleaning Up the World - One Picture At A Time

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Jeff Kirschner Talks About The Release of the iOS App for Litterati We recently caught up with SF New Tech alumni, Jeff Kirschner of Litterati. What's Litterati? Litterati , born from a walk in a park with his daughter, is a service aimed at generating social consciousness of garbage in the local community you live by taking its picture. By taking pictures and putting it in its place(the garbage can), Jeff hopes to rid the world's garbage off the street. Schools and organizations have used his service to create community consciousness campaigns and have resulted in a cleaner community. At the last SF New Tech, we learned that Jeff left the Instagram service to launch his new Litterati iOS App. Check out our interview of Jeff below.

Social Time TV - Social Network Update

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Sean and Greg take on Blab.im to talk Social News In this latest discussion on Social Time TV, Sean Charles (aka @SocialMediaSean) and Greg Viloria (aka @SocialGreg) talk about the social network news and events of the week for the first time on Blab.im . And here’s what they discussed: Blab, the pluses and some minuses Uh Oh Google Hangouts, Slack Is Adding Video Facebook Messenger Integrates With Spotify Facebook Rolls Out Enterprise Version with Facebook at Work Snap Chat Live Web academy awards and of course, more!

The Weekend Roundup

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View on the current situation of #Bitcoin and the #Blockchain http://bit.ly/1nlVXh0 US Chamber of Commerce suing the City of Seattle over law that would give Uber and Lyft drivers right to unionize http://bit.ly/1X0crYk Three powerful lessons I have learnt as an information designer #ux http://bit.ly/1Rt7i6Y Charge injection device boosts chances of detecting Earth-like planets near bright stars http://bit.ly/1RtFUYZ Architect everywhere #ux http://bit.ly/21LyG7I “Will this be on the test?” – Rethinking online education http://bit.ly/1niGLBe Talk explores the relationship between tech and the world’s collective consciousness http://bit.ly/1T9Dt0Y I’m Having A Creative Emergency #Kanban #agile http://bit.ly/1QlbbwU Figuring out content strategy #ux #ia http://bit.ly/1Ro9Ljb Can planes be tied in knots in higher dimensions the way lines can in 3D? http://bit.ly/1UtmjLf