1. Never underestimate the power of nostalgia. Timehop is awesome.

    — 

    Timehop, A Time Machine For Your Social Media Updates, Gets $1.1M From Foursquare Founders And Others | TechCrunch  

    (via rickwebb)

  2. Great day for the company, the industry, and all the great folks who helped build it. (Taken with instagram)

    Great day for the company, the industry, and all the great folks who helped build it. (Taken with instagram)

  3. I’m definitely going to do this just for the hell of it. Also, Ian, this would seem to imply a loose association. Whereas you would have thought that more restaurants = less groceries this implies something even more interesting. That some months you feel like spending more on everything and some months you feel cheap.  I wonder what the secondary correlation is — if you time-slice it is does it go up over time? Is this about you simply getting richer (secondary Dropbox share selling?). Or perhaps in months you worked really fucking hard you just didn’t spend as much on anything? Ahhh.. data.  giantrobotlasers: I expected some kind of more obvious relationship between restaurants and groceries. This is absolute $ spent on each in a given month, as a scatter plot. This is for a family of four living in San Mateo in the Bay Area. Are your results any different? Pro tip: you can export all your transactions from mint, making it a unified way to get all your banking information. I used to do my own manual categorization. The categorization at Mint is junk because it isn’t 100% and the interface isn’t good for editing like a spreadsheet it. So now the process is mint export CSV -> python script -> csv -> google spreadsheets. I should probably just skip the last step, but it is a good way to do manual editing which seems to always be necessary. For example, checks that I didn’t label in Bank of America’s interface (for non trivial amounts to preschools) show up as uncategorized if the amount varies from the recurring amount. Side note: I wish google spreadsheets could do a directed scatter plot with a line connecting the dots chronologically. Alternatively, labels on each point would be nice.

    I’m definitely going to do this just for the hell of it.

    Also, Ian, this would seem to imply a loose association. Whereas you would have thought that more restaurants = less groceries this implies something even more interesting. That some months you feel like spending more on everything and some months you feel cheap. 

    I wonder what the secondary correlation is — if you time-slice it is does it go up over time? Is this about you simply getting richer (secondary Dropbox share selling?). Or perhaps in months you worked really fucking hard you just didn’t spend as much on anything?

    Ahhh.. data. 

    giantrobotlasers:

    I expected some kind of more obvious relationship between restaurants and groceries. This is absolute $ spent on each in a given month, as a scatter plot. This is for a family of four living in San Mateo in the Bay Area. Are your results any different?

    Pro tip: you can export all your transactions from mint, making it a unified way to get all your banking information. I used to do my own manual categorization. The categorization at Mint is junk because it isn’t 100% and the interface isn’t good for editing like a spreadsheet it. So now the process is mint export CSV -> python script -> csv -> google spreadsheets. I should probably just skip the last step, but it is a good way to do manual editing which seems to always be necessary. For example, checks that I didn’t label in Bank of America’s interface (for non trivial amounts to preschools) show up as uncategorized if the amount varies from the recurring amount.

    Side note: I wish google spreadsheets could do a directed scatter plot with a line connecting the dots chronologically. Alternatively, labels on each point would be nice.

  4. 24 hours with the Fire

    24 hours in with the Kindle Fire and I feel like I’m coming to the same emotional place as I did with the Droid. The first 10 minutes were “wow, I think this might actually make it!” — but it buckled under extended use from lack of polish.

    The good.

    Hardware: A better form factor for media consumption than the iPad. ”woah it looks tiny!” were my first thoughts on unboxing. But after a day of use I actually really like the dimensions. Making a tablet able to be held in one hand makes it feel more portable, usable. Ultimately because I have a Macbook Air, I often stare at the iPad when I’m putting things in a bag and think they are just too close to each other to bring both. The Kindle Fire feels like what it should be, a media consumption device somewhere between a phone and a laptop. It makes the iPad feel a little like an underpowered laptop in comparison.

    The build quality is pretty good as well, it feels solid in the hand. But you can tell it has cut corners to hit a price point - from the spray-grip rubber backing to the lack of volume buttons. It has the feel that it could have been produced by anyone, not uniquely Amazon.

    The Bad

    Software: Wonderful home screen and browser, weak app selection. I disagree with Marco on the homescreen here, it is far superior for a media consumption device than iPad. It presents me with the right information (do you want a book? video?) and I get the things I was doing recently in my face instead of a double-tap away. It’s a cleaner way to start a session, and an interesting place where Amazon picked the constraining but simplified interface, while Apple’s is more free form but more confusing.

    But the software selection is just too weak once you get past the Amazon apps. A thin selection of games that won’t run, and I just couldn’t find apps I’m starting to rely on (Spotify, Sonos). And why Amazon decided to exclude the core Google Apps (mail, maps, etc) is beyond me — they are the only apps for Android that are actually superior to their iPad counterparts and it is a ridiculous omission. 

    The Ugly

    The UI: If you can’t trust it, it won’t get used. 

    • Requiring a tap to bring up core menu options (like going back to Kindle’s home screen) will be at best unintuitive to the average user and at worst destructive to the user experience (what if I’m playing a game that requires a single click?)
    • The back button is maddening. Sometimes doesn’t work. 
    • There is often no button to go back to the “Home” of the app you are in, forcing you to hit the back button a lot to get back to home menus (remember, back button only sometimes works). I was often left just exiting the app and re-entering hoping maybe that would take me to the main menu.
    • In general when I press my finger to the screen I’m not sure if it’s going to work — this is the same problem i’ve had with my Nexus One and other Android devices and it is ultimately the dealbreaker. Touch interfaces require you to feel like you are moving things, as soon as that illusion is broken the entire experience breaks down. 

    Basically, it feels like the v1 of a typical product (not a typically Apple product). There are enough positives to make it better in some areas, but it’s nowhere near an iPad and the underpowered hardware makes responsiveness destroy the experience.

    I love that Android and Amazon are knocking on the door, they are making Apple better (notification tray anyone?) and I’m just waiting for a device that finally turns the corner. Perhaps the new Galaxy Nexus?

  5. This wasn’t actually the ad that introduced the iPod — this ad was 

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqj6OQQOHA

    It was more explanatory and certainly less iconic. Usually we don’t get to see Apple’s iterative process - but these two ads show that evolution of the message. 

    Even though the first ad was largely non-verbal, with great music, it wasn’t enough. Watching that first ad you think, “the most fun is watching that guy dance holding his iPod” And sure enough, that’s the only thing that happens in the next ad. Pushing on the single right idea and bringing it to the forefront - that’s what they do best. 

    shervster:

    Iconic

    Reading the Steve Jobs book I was struck by Steve Jobs’ consistent use of iconic imagery and music. Even to the point of minimizing the actual product. His marketing approach was to infuse the very emotional essence and spirit of the product rather than than it’s features. He sold aspirational human emotions as unlocked by the experience of beautifully designed products. As Jony Ive said the product should defer to us. From the very first starkly iconic Macintosh commercial to the fun and joyful introduction of the original iPod, the unifying principal was that icons, symbols speak to the human heart more than any whiz bang technology features. We must remember always that all our innovations should be in service  and deeply rooted in the best aspects of our collective human spirit.

    Here is the iconic “Hey Mama” iPod commercial that Apple used to introduce the iPod. It also was the first time for many that they were introduced to the now iconic Black Eyed Peas. Watching it I imagined Steve Jobs watching it back when it was originally produced and nodding with a knowingly wise smile across his face. I imagine him envisioning millions of people looking up to watch it for the first time on television and beginning to involuntarily twitch and move their heads, feet and bodies to the rhythm. In those silhouettes we could project our very selves, wearing this new jewelry of the purest white, feeding our souls with a vibrant beat that made us feel so alive with joy and happiness. We couldn’t even see the iPod yet and yet we knew right there and then that it would be ours. And our lives have been lyrical and full of rhythm since.  As we dance to our music now, let’s all give a knowing nod and wink to that man who gave us so much of his soul and stirred us to move again.

  6. Entrepreneurship is taking the things we have taken for granted as being broken and fixing them. Like the thermostat. (PS - I assume someone at Nest may have seen Ambient Devices in their past :)

    Entrepreneurship is taking the things we have taken for granted as being broken and fixing them. Like the thermostat. (PS - I assume someone at Nest may have seen Ambient Devices in their past :)

  7. I’m not a particular fan of Monthly Active Users as a metric. But still, there have been worse headlines.

    I’m not a particular fan of Monthly Active Users as a metric. But still, there have been worse headlines.

  8. Featured in Harvard Square, Made in Cambridge. 25m monthly users. (Taken with Instagram at MBTA Harvard Square Station)

    Featured in Harvard Square, Made in Cambridge. 25m monthly users. (Taken with Instagram at MBTA Harvard Square Station)

  9. Moving into our new digs in Harvard Square. Loving it.

    Moving into our new digs in Harvard Square. Loving it.

  10. We are live. (Taken with Instagram at Zynga)

    We are live. (Taken with Instagram at Zynga)