Just got Press

Just got my first bit of press for my new app, TimeAway, from the major tech blog of Asia, appropriately named, "Tech in Asia."

You can check it out here.

I must say, getting press feels very good :)

Google STREET ART Project

I love street art.  

Unfortunately, living in Singapore means I see *very* little of it.  Luckily, Google just launched a new cultural project -- The Google STREET ART project.

I think this might take up a lot of my time today.  Check it out.

PS - I think making my own street art is on my bucket list.  Just need to improve my spray painting skills ;)

 

Introducing Brave Face

Just launched my second Indiegogo campaign for Brave Face.

Are you a guy with a pimple?  

Now you can scare them right off your face with our male cover-up, Brave Face.

Check out our video & campaign below.

                

App is Live on IndieGoGo

I just launched my first campaign on IndieGoGo for my app, TimeAway.  

[Tip] Use PowToon for a Low Cost Animated Video

As previously mentioned, I have an app, www.time-away.com, launching soon!

It's what I call "training wheels for the internet", i.e., how to give a kids a phone without them becoming addicted.  During this process, I've learned a TON about free / low cost tools on the internet in order to make an idea a real product.

This week, I cam across PowToon, which let's you make a free cartoon video to advertise a product or give a presentation.  Above, please check out the video I made for my app, TimeAway.

[Posters] WikiWedding

I'm in the midst of creating the website Wikiwedding.org.  

It's a pretty simple concept -- Wikivoyage / Wikipedia for wedding information.  Personally, I like getting all my information in list format and crowdsourced, so I thought this would be a useful product to have on the market for a complicated and time-consuming event like a wedding (albeit, I've never had a wedding myself).

Below are some posters / fliers I created today for the site.  

The website should be fully functioning in a few weeks!

And for something different than the rest...

[Posters] Stop Monkeying Around

Along with creating a website, I've been trying to design a few posters that can be used as either fliers or for posting on Twitter / Facebook / Google+.

Let be honest -- I'm not a graphic designer, but I find it fun to play around in Adobe Illustrator.  I've put my first 7 designs in order below.  Right now, I think the 3 little monkeys (#3) is my favorite.

I think I'll keep going, but might need to eventually go to a real graphic designer.  

Until then, fun in Adobe Illustrator it is! 

PS - If you're interested in learning Adobe Illustrator basics, try this.

[Tip] Create an Easy Website with Weebly

As previously mentioned, I've developed an app (with an awesome developer, Ahmad, from O-desk), which will be available for beta testing next week on the Android Play store (fingers crossed everything goes well).

Over the weekend, I created a landing page for the app at http://www.time-away.com/ using Weebly in a few hours (screenshots below).  I have very minimal coding experience (mostly SQL, which is unrelated, and some HTML via Code Academy & blogging).

Results: It was easy breazy to create a decent looking website via Weebly.  Plus, it's free until you port over to your own domain (at that point, it's $49 / year).  

Highly recommend, especially once they fix a few bugs!

Wanted: 10 Parents for Android App Beta Test

As I've previously posted, I've been working on my first Android app with my awesome developer, Ahmad Raza.

We are now looking for 10 Beta Testers if you're interested.  See details below.

++++++

Wanted: 10 Android App Beta Testers

Are you a tech-savvy parent looking for an app to help your kids balance the time they spend on their smartphone vs the real world?

What's required
- Need to have an Android - operated phone (both parent & kids)
- Be willing to give constructive, helpful feedback on app

What's in it for you
- Lifetime access to the app for free once fully-launched
- Small "thank you" gift from me
- Good Karma

Next Steps: Email me at tamara.cristine.sanderson [AT]gmail.com if you're interested.  Use subject: "TimeAway Beta Test"

[Pitchfork] Excellent Website Design

In case you haven't noticed, websites are starting to get pretty awesome (goodbye web of the early 2000s).  Personally, I'm loving the 1-page websites, full of high-quality images and just enough playful motion to make your eyes stop for a second to reflect.

The Man Behind Kottke.org

From photopin.com

Kottke.org is a staple in the blogosphere, especially in the nerd(ish) category.

I read it sometimes.  
My boyfriend reads it all the time.  
It's an impressive, go-to place for interestingness.

Well, today I listened to the Design Matters podcast with Jason Kottke (see previous blog here) and learned a bit more about the man behind the words.  He seems like a really cool and down-to-earth guy.

Here's a few things I didn't know:

1. He's been blogging since 1998 (he's like a grandfather in internet years... it's like the same as dog years, basically).  He's written 21,000 posts to-date -- that's an average of 4 posts per day over 15 years.  Talk about dedication
2. He's married to Meg Hourihan who co-founded Blogger with Ev Williams, Twitter co-founder.  They met on a panel talking about blogging at South x Southwest (Note: I had no idea one of the co-founders of blogger was a chick.  awesome).
3. He founded Stellar, which helps curate awesomeness for you

But, this is what I found the most interesting -- here's his very first blog post. 

Why?  MAR 14I decided I needed to start writing things down. Because I forget. Because I think better and feel better when I write. I used to write often but got away from it. So here it is again. But you ask: "Jason, why not keep a private diary?" Because I'd never keep up a private diary...I need to force myself to write this. So, I made it into content. Since it's content, I feel obligated to keep it up-to-date.See these games I have to play with myself?

It's amazing how a little side project to keep himself accountable turned into the Kottke.org we know today.

What do you think your side projects could turn into?  It's always fun to daydream... 

This is Awesome: Design Matters Podcast

Lately, I've been bored by the internet.  Let down.  

Yes, I know it contains more information than I could ever dream of reading, even if singularity actually happened, and my brain was taken over by robots.

You know why?  

Everything seems to be the same (this article explains it well).

My twitter feed looks like the XKCD comic below, and apparently, all paragraphs have vanished and been replaced with lists that read like "15 Facebook couples you should totally block" and "9 photos of Taylor Hanson looking like a celebrity fangirl" (okay, maybe I just need to block Buzzfeed).




















Luckily, the internet has been redeemed. 

During my recent drought, I stumbled across an awesome Podcast series, Design Matters, by Debbie Millman (archives here & here).

I learned that Dan Pink keeps a design journal where he writes downs examples of good and bad design in order to strengthen his "right brain."  He also wrote a career guide in the form of a graphic novel (i.e., a comic) called "The Adventures of Johnny Bunko" (it became the first, and likely only, comic to make the BusinessWeek bestseller list).  The podcast was FULL of interesting facts, including the size of the self-storage industry in the US ($17B & growing) and the percentage of printed material in Japan that's also a comic (22%).

I also listened to Milton Glaser, the designer of the "I heart NY" logo, contemplate ethics in the brand & design world (something I've becoming increasingly interested in since working with brand clients advertising with Google).  I also discovered his manifesto, "The 12 Ways to Designer Hell," which is animated in the video below (yes, I realize it's a list, but it has nothing to do with Taylor Hansen or Facebook couples). 

My faith in the internet has now been restored.

Thank you, Design Matters.

Slinging Mud

The Daily Show

Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

I basically remember two things from the 2012 election:

1. Incredible Jon Stewart fodder (man, was I sad when the election was over for that alone) 
2. Lots of mudslinging by both parties

I've come to predict this in politics, yet this technic is less expected in conventional advertising.  

Therefore, I was a bit surprised that Microsoft ramped up it's "Scroogled" campaign this quarter, slinging more mud at Google.

They've launched shirts that you can buy at Microsoft.com

And, a new set of videos (that are ironically being run on YouTube, a Google property)

I'm totally fine with a company bringing to light potential flaws in a competitor's product.

But, has Microsoft gone too far to the point of "desperate"?

No comment. 

Silicon Valley Needs Some Grown-ups

Caution: This post is about to get pretty hypocritical

I don't use Snapchat.  
I don't need to send photos that disappear after 10 seconds to my friends & boyfriend.
My life just isn't that interesting or risque to need a service like that.

I'm okay with everyone viewing my Instagram photos and tweets
I've even befriended my managers on Facebook before I quit the social network (maybe that was career-limiting, who knows)

Regardless of my preferences, I understand why Snapchat is useful.  

There is a need to interact with people without it being archived -- whether that is sharing a mundane detail of your life that your entire social graph doesn't need to know (i.e., I just ate a banana!) or more intimate online behaviors, like sexting.

As this investor states, our online trails can follow us:

On Tuesday, Benchmark Capital partner Bill Gurley, whose firm currently invests in Snapchat, tweeted that people still confused about Snapchat should look at a tweet from the account of the FCC noting that “30% of college admissions officers look at applicants online… They loved your GPA, then they saw your tweets…”

What I don't understand is the valuation.

Today, Snapchat founders, Evan Spiegel & Bobby Murphy, age 23 and 25, respectively turned down a $3 billion dollar offer from Facebook.  They think they are worth more.

It's been in operation for 2 years, makes $0 in revenue and has ~25M users (as a reference point: Instagram had 100M users in 2012 when it sold to Facebook for $1 billion).  

On a positive note, it has 300M "daily snaps," which is very close to the 350M photos uploaded on Facebook per day, coming from a user base that's 2% the size.  It's sticky.  I guess there is some truth in the assumption that people will share more if it's immediately erased.


Since 2003, there's been 39 other tech companies that have been valued at $1B or more.  These companies have been nicknamed "the unicorn club"

It includes the likes of Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Groupon, Square, Twitter, Linkedin etc (note: Google's actually a "double decade unicorn", so not included on the list) 

All household names.  Mostly consumer-facing tech, not B2B.  I like a lot of the products.



Now, here's my rant.  Get ready for it.

Is Snapchat really one of the top 40 things we've invented in the last 10 year?  

I f*ing hope not.  It's a toy.  It lets people erase embarrassing or trivial behavior.  

Shouldn't we be aiming to improve our collective self-control and online etiquette, rather than finding ways to make it disappear?

We have lots of talented and creative young people out there solving problems that don't really matter in the scheme of the world and history.  They are lured by the promises of quick fame and quick money -- praying at the alter of VC money and nerdy celebrityhood.

That's why we need more grown-ups in tech.

By grown-ups, I mean men and women with a vision.  It has nothing to do with age.

We have a lot of challenges: "A billion people want electricity, millions are without clean water, the climate is changing, manufacturing is inefficient, traffic snarls cities, education is a luxury, and dementia or cancer will strike almost all of us if we live long enough."  

We need more "John F Kennedys" of tech to guide us on the right path -- someone that inspires and funds people to do big things, like go to the moon.

Here's an except from Kennedy's speech at Rice University in 1962:

“But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? . . . Why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? . . . We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills . . .”

Don't get me wrong -- we have some of these folks in tech -- the Elon Musks, Larry Pages and Bill Gates of the world.  They are awesome and visionary, challenging the status quo.

We just need more of them.  We especially need them on the investor side.

It's too easy to get overshadowed by the noise and hype of Silicon Valley.

And, here's where my hypocrisy comes in (as promised).

I know that there are big problems to solve.  I wish start-ups stopped trying to solve trivial problems.  

But, in reality... 
... I wish I could make something like Snapchat and become rich overnight
... I'm not currently solving any "big problems."  I go to work, do some tasks and go home.  In order to ease my internal monologue, I remind myself that there are people at Google solving big, life-changing problems.  It's just not me.  I'm fueling the money engine that allows those things to happen.

Maybe it's not just Silicon Valley that needs a grown-up.  It's me too.

[Mental Health Break] Things you ONLY do online

Buzzfeed proves that there is quite a gap between our online & offline lives.

Neat: Strikingly

Awhile ago, I blogged about square space, which makes beautifully designed websites easy (without coding experience).

I've recently stumbled upon Strikingly, which is even easier to use and created by a Singaporean!

You get one free site -- try it out!  I made a mock this week for a start-up idea I'm testing with a few friends.  It was unbelievably easy.

A Truly Global Classroom

Photo Pin

Education is expensive (and getting more so everyday).

According to Bloomberg, 
college tuition and costs have increased by 500% since 1985.

In comparison, medical costs & the CPI have only increased by 286% and 121%, respectively.

To add to that, the US has $1 trillion dollars in student debt, with the average student acquiring $24K.  Not a great way to set off into the adult world.

So, we know that college is expensive, but what if parents just "save a lot" for education?

The US Department of Agriculture calculates that it will now cost $250K for a middle-income couple to raise a child up to 18 years old.  If you live in the Northeast, it's more like $450K per year.  And, those numbers do NOT include college.

This can't continue.  

If it does, income inequality in the US will become even more stratified and only the very rich will be able to afford college education (or students willing to risk the enormous debt).

That's why I think education is ripe for disruption.  The current model doesn't scale or meet the ultimate goal of educating & preparing the next generation of citizens.

I like tech and sometimes drink the kool-aid that it can fix everything.  Therefore, I think MOOCs (mass open online courses) are the future once they figure out accreditation and monetization.

Right now, I'm in the last week of my Coursera Social Psychology class, and it's been an awesome experience.  If you've been around me the last 6 weeks, I'm positive you've heard social psychology jargon roll off my tongue.  I've done all my homework this time around, which takes dedication, but also makes a difference in comprehension.    

My experience is just one data point, but what's more amazing is this:

My class has 200K students from 200 countries.
That's truly global at a fraction of the cost.

Here's to hoping for more disruption.

Interested in learning more?  Check out this book:

A new take on "borrowing from your friend's closet"

The "sharing economy" has been hot in the start-up world for awhile.

Here's a few:

• Airbnb: Renting your apartment
• RelayRides: Renting your car
• Rent the Runway: Renting a dress rather than buying
• FlightCar: Renting your car (out of the airport)
• PlateCulture: Renting out seats at your dinner table (we are a test kitchen!)
• Loosecubes: Renting out desk space

I'm all for the idea!  

There is a lot of latent inventory out there in the world (think your extra bedroom, your apartment while on vacation, your closet full of unworn items).

Shouldn't we want our "things" to be used more?  Production of "stuff" is a burden on the environment, let alone our mental health.

That's why I like this new start-up: Le Tote.  Instead of amassing even more clothes and accessories, you can pay $49 per month for 3 garments and 2 accessories chosen by a 'personal stylist' to be delivered to your door.  Once done with them, you return and get a new set of items.

I won't be able to try this out for two reasons: 1) I live in Singapore, 2) I'm super tall (I doubt the garments are meant for 6'1" chicks).  Otherwise, I think it's a cool idea!

Discovered by YouTube

Marquese Scott can dance.  You can find 100+ of his dancing videos here.

He came to Google today, and I think I like his story as much as I do his videos.

He started dancing at age 12 in a skating rink in Indonesia  and quickly became engrossed.  After high school, he joined the US Navy for four years sailing around the world, but dancing still consumed his every other thought.

After finishing his service, he knew what he needed to do.  He moved to Atlanta with hopes to dance professionally.  He made videos dancing in parking lots, mostly to rap & hip-hop music (see here) and put them up online to get critiqued.  He usually got a few hundred views from other dancing fanatics.

On Sept 23, 2011, he put up this video and his life changed. 

Overnight, it received 200K views.  It now has 94M on YouTube -- that's more people than the total population of Germany or the Philippines.

He became, literally, an overnight sensation:

"Simply mind-blowing" - CBS

"Incredible" - Ellen Degenres

"Seriously, this guy makes Michael Jackson's moonwalk look like a stroll in the park" - Perez Hilton

He now invests in others.

He bought a house in Atlanta where he lives with 13 other "high potential" dancers.  He covers all their living costs so they can practice dance full-time.

Isn't that nice?

PS - If you wanna dance like him, check this site out: http://danceinayear.com/