Big Skinny Wallet

Big Skinny has redesigned the basic geometry of the wallet to spread out the credit and other cards over multiple pockets. This enables them to maintain a very thin profile which is more comfortable and much easier to carry. Available in a multiple styles for men and women, my preferred model is the Hipster Bifold.

It has four pockets to hold credit cards, license, insurance card, etc. Because the pockets are horizontal, the cards stay lined up against each other as opposed to being fanned out as in most wallets. I carry more than a dozen cards, plus business cards in my wallet and I’m amazed at just how thin it is. This is my second Big Skinny wallet; I only bought the new one because I wanted to switch from nylon to leather

-- Peter Valleau

[Note: It was pointed out in the comments that we have previously reviewed the ALL-ETT Billfold Wallet, which is of a similar design. A majority of readers indicated that they are still very satisfied with their ALL-ETT!-- OH]

Big Skinny Hipster Bifold Wallet
$30

Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Big Skinny

from Cool Tools http://kk.org/cooltools/archives/6607?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&u...

ONDA Core Motion Skateboard

I’ve ridden skateboards for the last 20 years and the ONDA Core has something I’ve never seen before: two interchangeable bushings on either side of the kingpin. ONDA calls them torsion shocks. Basically, they’ve rethought how trucks should work and I really like it. They’ve created a simple way (without any tools necessary) to swap out the “shocks” to 9 different levels of resistance. It’s pretty brilliant, as you can adjust it based on your weight or average speed to be the perfect fit.

The deck is made of plastic, which was what originally kept me from trying it. I’m used to wood decks, but the plastic is more flexible and lasts much longer. It took a few days to get used to it, but now I’m a huge fan.

The wheels are extra large, which definitely gives it a unique look. But they’re coming out with a newer model in August which has smaller wheels and a shorter deck. It looks more conventional, but the wheels are still wider and larger than most skateboards.

This board may not be for hardcore skateboard enthusiasts, but it’s super easy to ride and a great fit for beginner and intermediate riders. I’ve owned mine for only 2 months and I’m hooked.

-- Nate H.

Onda Motion Core Board
$156

Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Onda

Sample Excerpts:

from Cool Tools http://kk.org/cooltools/archives/6583?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&u...

The Complete Guide to Solid-State Drives [Explainer]

Adding a solid-state drive (SSD) to your computer is simply the best upgrade at your disposal, capable of speeding up your computer in ways you hadn't thought possible. The even better news: A good SSD is now cheaper than ever. But as with any new technology, there's plenty to learn. Here's everything you should know about your SSD, whether you're interested in upgrading or just like to know the ins and outs of your hardware. More »


from Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com/5932009/the-complete-guide-to-solid+state-drives

Entangled Particles Break Classical Law of Thermodynamics, Say Physicists

New submitter Zex_Suik writes "Japanese physicists have used one of Maxwell's thought experiments and the ability to turn information into energy to extract more energy from an entangled system than should be possible according to the laws of thermodynamics (abstract). From the article: 'Imagine two boxes of particles with trap door between them. You want to use the trap door to guide the faster particles into one box and the slower particles into the other. In a classical experiment you would have to measure the particles in both boxes to do this experiment. But things are different if the particles in one box are entangled with the particles in the other. In that case, measurements on the particles in one box give you info about both sets of particles. In essence, you're getting information for nothing. And since you can convert that information into energy, there is clear advantage when entanglement plays a role. That's hugely significant. It means that the laws of thermodynamics depend not only on classical phenomenon and information but on quantum effects too.'"

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Read more of this story at Slashdot.

from Slashdot http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/08/01/2127225/entangled-particles-break-...

What Startups Should Do Before They Get Into The VC’s Office

fundraising

This is a guest post by Eze Vidra, Head of Campus London, Google’s dedicated startup space in East London housing accelerators and cowering spaces. He tweets at @ediggs and blogs at VCCafe.com.

An experienced VC would have heard thousands of pitches in his day. The good ones would tell you that they have developed a “pattern recognition”. After a while, they are able to determine (at least in their own minds) what startups would succeed or fail in a matter of minutes. There’s obviously lots going on in a pitch – verbal and non-verbal communication, chemistry etc. In this post, I will outline both platforms and tools startups should consider to improve their pitching success, before they get into the VC’s office.

Fundraising tips for startups

1) Put your startup on AngelList – if you’re on to something solid, you should have no problem getting noticed by the top guys. Best way to get noticed is to be referred by a member – let me know if you need help with that (angel.co)

2) Spend $19 and treat yourself to this course on raising capital for startups and what to include in your pitch slides. This online course consists of 8 lectures and over 6.5 hours of content (including a sample pitch deck) . Speakers include Naval Ravinikant (co-founder of AngelList), Dave McClure (500 startups) and Adeo Ressi (founder Institute) providing different angles to the pitch. It’s cheap coaching to nail the structure you need in any fundraising presentation http://goo.gl/iqHt0

3) In his class CS183, on startup conception, launch, scaling, and growing of a successful tech company, valley investor Peter Thiel referred to two different decks for the same company. A good deck and a bad/traditional deck, explaining the relevant differences. Access the “good deck” on Blake Masters’ class notes posts (converted to PDF thanks to Andreas Klinger)

4) Look at other pitching examples – recently launched PitchEnvy has over 20 recent pitch decks that raised money!
http://goo.gl/seHE2

5) Create an intro video as a teaser – while it’s risky, creating a video can be cheaper than you think, and it can help establish the concept of your startup in a clear/clever/fun way for users and investors alike. I found Startup-Videos to be an excellent resource for seeing what’s out there. There are some platforms out there like PowTown If you’re going to do it yourself, you better get some training. Crowdsourced education platform Udemy comes to the rescue with How to Create an Awesome video demo for your startup. Animation platform PowToon, an Israeli startup, is another free tool to help.

6) Equity Crowdfunding – I’ve covered the different types of Crowdfunding on the post Startup Equity Crowdfunding grows in Europe. In a nutshell, equity-based platforms like FundersClub (US), Seedrs (UK), and CrowdCube (UK, mostly non-tech) and others, enable anyone (not just accredited angel investors), put small sums as little as $1000 towards an equity investment in a startup. The sector is yet to be regulated and there are concerns about alignment of investors, but nevertheless it is a viable way to get the first bucks to build a product.

7) Donation Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, Rally and IndieGogo are essentially early-sales platforms, which works especially well for physical products. For example, Pebble was able to raise $3.4 million in 3 days for its smart watch, which grew to over $10 million in one month from 68,000 backers, without losing a single percentage of equity in the process. People who pledged money towards the project got in return units of the product, or the ability to choose a color for their Pebble watch depending on how much they paid. Another example is Ze Frank, who raised $146,000 from 3,900 people since March. He included several ‘awards’ for different levels of fundraising including “I will whisper words of encouragement into a small jar, label it, and send it to you + One black on black fuzzy duck t-shirt” for people who pledge $250. It doesn’t work for everyone, but is certainly a channel worth considering, for the right product.

Crowdfunding on kickstarter proved to be a great fundraising technique for Pebble after traditional investors turned down the company

8) Get on accredited lists – this is a bit of a chicken and egg. You need funding, VCs like traction. If you can show you have traction, it will be easier to get funding. One way of doing that is getting ranked by industry accredited lists. Associates at VC funds will regularly go through lists like Deloitte Fast 50, Telegraph 100 to look for hidden gems. If your startup was ever on one of these lists you probably received unsolicited phone calls asking for meetings. Another way of accomplishing the same effect is to sign up for visible pitch competitions like the Startup Bootcamp’s Tech Allstars (a competition for startups in EU who were part of accelerators), or LeWeb’s pitching competition.

9) Get media/blog coverage before you launch – staying on the traction point, any prospecting investor will do its due diligence on the company, product or team. Since there aren’t too many data points in the early stages of a startup, getting featured by a reputable media outlet (ideally national, but niche works too) will create another entry point for people to find out about your product or service. A friend of mine got featured by Wired, GQ and BBC before he went live with the product because he was focused on a ‘sexy’ area. The result: oversubscribed angel rounds and a long waiting list of beta testers for when the company is ready to flip the switch. Of course if you aren’t ready for publicity it’s better to wait before you attract all that attention. A ‘soft’ way of getting noticed is answering questions on UGC sites like Quora or LinkedIn, submitting a guest post on your area of focus without being too salesy and starting your own blog, to establish your voice within the community.

10) Get on stage - practice your pitch as much as you can. If you live near a vibrant startup community, there should be plenty of opportunities to do pitch practice. From community meetups to university clubs, getting on stage will not only improve your confidence, but can also produce valuable feedback before you get on to the real thing.

***
Any of these techniques is most likely to work best for kick ass teams with experience and products that tap big and growing markets in a scalable way. No harm in trying, but don’t put the cart ahead of the horse! You are of course also welcome to visit the VC Cafe Startup Resources page for additional tools, reading lists and recommendations

This post originally appeared at VCCafe.

Image credit to HowardLake, Flickr



from TechCrunch http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/01/what-startups-should-do-before-they-get-into...

Editorial: NBC's Olympics and the steely grip of old media

DNP Editorial NBC's Olympics and the steely grip of old media

Owners and stakeholders of Big Media have thick skins. So the persistent trending of #NBCFail, and the riotous reading that the tweet stream provides, is probably bouncing right off their leathery hides. For one thing, the complaints were surely foreseen. They are largely the same criticisms NBC withstood in previous Olympics -- over-curating, ill-placed commercials, tape delays, scandalously inane commentary, and a generally inferior Olympics presentation compared to other countries. The unspoken shrugging answer, of course, is financial. The lessons learned from that answer say things about how slowly institutional power inches into the future, the impatience of the digital class, brand ecosystem as a preeminent business battleground, and the ideology breakdown of the International Olympic Committee.

Continue reading Editorial: NBC's Olympics and the steely grip of old media

Editorial: NBC's Olympics and the steely grip of old media originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/30/nbcs-olympics-and-the-steely-grip-of-old-m...

Yahoo unveils version 3.0 of its IntoNow social TV app

Looking to sieze control of the fast-emerging market for second-screen TV-watching apps, Yahoo introduced late Monday a significantly tweaked version of IntoNow.

Available Monday evening, IntoNow 3.0 will allow users to caption and share screen shots from whatever it is they’re watching without having to photograph their screen. It has a novel music recognition feature that can ID tunes in shows, even if they’re not performed by their original artists.

Also read: Sneak peak – a first look at GetGlue HD (video)

And it’s probably no coincidence that Yahoo chose to debut the upgrade during the Olympics. New syncing features bring up a flurry of content related to what’s being viewed at any given moment, whether it be medal counts or athlete bios.

“IntoNow 3.0 is born out of the behaviors we’re seeing,” said Adam Cahan, who founded IntoNow in early 2011 and sold it to Yahoo for around $30 million shortly thereafter. The company estimates that 80 percent of TV viewers are using a tablet or mobile phone while watching the tube now.

And IntoNow, which says that about 3 million users have downloaded its apps, has already worked with a number of the Fortune 500 brands who are looking to follow TV viewers onto the second screen.

One of the frequent second-screen behaviors IntoNow has observed, Cahan explains, is the tendency of users to photograph their TV screen and share those low-grade photos with friends on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.

Also read: Social TV and the Super Bowl – when will marketers really start spending?

IntoNow’s new CapIt feature delivers a steady stream of still images from the show or event the user is watching. Users can then choose a still image broadcast moments earlier, caption it any way they want, and share it with friends.

Meanwhile, Cahan is particularly proud of the new music-syncing feature. IntoNow is based on a science he calls “audio finger printing.” When you run the IntoNow app on your iOS or Android smart phone or tablet, it knows what you’re watching based on broadcast and cable audio feeds the company’s servers have scanned going back several years.

The app could always tell if you’re watching Monday’s episode of TNT’s The Closer. But it couldn’t identify, say, a popular song that was re-scored by studio musicians for a show, or music that was played in a snippet that was simply too short.

Meanwhile, the upgraded app is also designed to “surface” to the user’s screen content that relates to whatever they’re watching — polls, news stories, trivia, etc.

This, of course, fits in nicely to Yahoo’s ambitious Olympics coverage strategy, which is short on broadcast licensing but long on ancillary content.

In fact, after a recent meeting with new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, Cahan and his team were urged to accelerate their launch plan for the upgrade.


from GigaOM http://paidcontent.org/2012/07/30/yahoo-unveils-version-3-0-of-its-intonow-so...