At the time they only supported Android, but shortly after the event they launched a Kickstarter campaign for an iOS compatible version. Four days after the launch of the campaign they hit their goal, and nearly tripled it at completion. Needless to say I was intrigued, backed the campaign, and six months later I have the device in hand. Even though their estimated shipping date was off by a few months, their team constantly kept backers up-to-date, and realistically shipped sooner than a majority of any other campaigns I’ve backed in the past....

The internet might seem like a given in certain situations, and that’s a good thing. Whether you’re paying bills, signing up for health insurance, or taking care of work emails, a good connection can make all the difference to your economic well-being. Many take for granted the seemingly unlimited access to we have to the internet in larger cities. Unfortunately, rural areas ⁠— particularly in the US ⁠— suffer some of the slowest speeds and worst connections in the world....

A video can also illuminate your pitch. Video ads simplify the user experience, quickly and effectively demonstrating the value of your product or service. With 64 percent of consumers being more likely to buy a product after watching a video overview, it can also lead to purchases. Startup Video Stars For proof of video’s effectiveness, look no further than some of the most successful startups in history that utilized the medium....

We were fortunate enough to get in contact with a few budding and experienced entrepreneurs to talk about the best way to bust a mid-day slump. Here are some of their favorite methods: Exercise Moving around can go a long way, particularly when you’re Jeremy Young, founder and CEO of Tanga, one of the fastest-growing online marketplaces in the country. Meditate Don’t forget the importance of a little peace and quiet....

But the pickings are slim for 2023, aside from an X-Men sequel and one story from a 1980s Twilight Zone revival. In that episode, called “Quarantine,” a man from 2023 takes a cryogenic nap, waking up to find a world that has abandoned technology entirely. Wait, on second thought, that sounds like a Utopia: All the rest you could want, followed by a world without any notifications or emails? You might have a few centuries left before all technology is obsolete, but don’t go to sleep just yet....

Facebook said that it had removed 400 app developers, though not all of the apps necessarily posed a threat to users. Twitter, meanwhile, announced that it had removed almost 10,000 accounts from its platform from countries as far-flung as Ecuador, China, and Saudi Arabia. Both sites have struggled to manage the spread of shady accounts and app developers in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the alleged actions of the Russian government in the run-up to the 2016 Presidential Election....

Facebook’s Live Video and its 360-degree videos have seen more promotion than successful adaption lately (our explainer on how to turn off Facebook Live notifications was pretty popular). Ricky Van Veen might be able to help out. “I’ll be working with all types of creators and organizations to figure out how best to use the biggest network in the world to better connect people with engaging and meaningful content,” he stated in a Facebook post announcing his new position....

That’s why, each Friday, we bring you a new story of an entrepreneur’s “failure”. Failure Friday is about helping you avoid common startup mistakes, it’s about squashing the stigma, and it’s about peering inside the minds of entrepreneurs who’ve achieved success because of their failures. This week’s failure comes from Manpreet Singh founder of Seva Call. Failure Friday: Show, don’t tell Startups are not cheap. Every entrepreneur I’ve talked to has given up more than they can count to make their businesses last past the dream stage....

Instead of relying on emailing friends and reading reviews posted by strangers online, turn to NYC-based BestVendor, which launched a free social business directory today that helps you quickly find useful and well-liked web services, cloud apps and software. To get started, just share 3 favorite work apps and sign in using LinkedIn. You’ll get immediate app recommendations personalized for your job function and tastes. You can also see what products other people (and their companies) use and recommend....

Gordon Nuttall encountered this exact situation when he went to put a DVD together for his wife’s parents, who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. The traditional flatbed scanner was not cutting it for various reasons: it took forever, it had no mobility, and there was only an 8 x 11 space to put anything. Nine months later, Nuttall had established his company, Couragent, and released the new Flip-Pal mobile scanner to the world....

With Samsung announcing the relaunch of the Galaxy Fold after its abysmal attempted launch earlier this summer, the question of whether or not foldable screens are a viable consumer product is more pressing than ever. We’ve interviewed Jon Honeyball, a consumer tech testing expert, to get the inside scoop on whether this innovative technology has any chance of making an impact on the market in the long run. We look at the challenges of getting foldable screen tech to market, and the potential for the tech in future....

The human body is dependent on sleep to survive; according to circadian neuroscientist Russell Foster, we are in our most productive state only if we get enough hours of sleep. In a recent Gallup poll, however, it was found that 40 percent of Americans don’t get enough sleep. And, while it may seem like this lack of sleep only has an effect on our productivity, science also shows that a lack of sleep can be detrimental to the overall health of your brain: slurred speech, mood swings, false & lost memories, cerebral shrinkage, and risky decisions all among the effects of sleep deprivation....

Gabe is not your typical founder. He is a former opera singer/engineer who has a passion for learning new languages and just recently got thrown into the tech and startup world. He has a lot of great advice and brings a unique perspective to not only learning languages, but also building products. Plus, we talk about the importance of learning pronunciation at the start, how Gabe decided to make an app after having a successful book and flashcards, the value in making flash cards yourself, how he thinks about budgeting and spending the Kickstarter money, how Gabe approaches bootstrapping vs raising money for his company, Gabe’s view on the future with translation services and whether the desire to learn languages will ever wane, and why founders need to develop a circle of advisors....

Which is why the next gift guide in our holiday series takes a look at travel. Here are the best tech gadgets, gear, and specially modified sweatshirts you may want to consider gifting to that frequent traveler in your life. Gear to Carry On You can split travel tech into two buckets: The tech that’s designed to be carried around on your person whenever you travel, and the tech can stay safely packed away in your luggage until you reach your destination....

Google Will Start Ranking Non-Google Ads Lower Google will start cracking down on “intrusive interstitials,” they announced today: The move is easy to applaud, since those page-blocking pop-up ads are genuinely annoying. Still, many consider Google to be a search engine through which they can find the most relevant information. The decision to rank a page lower simply due to its pop-up ads will impact major, trustworthy news sites. And since Google doesn’t run that type of ad, it just so happens to rank a swathe of non-Google ads lower, making Google more money in the long run....

The service, which has leaked via a news story on Android Police, looks to offer mobile users a suite of premium apps for a monthly subscription cost. If that sounds familiar, then you’re probably thinking of Apple Arcade, which was announced in the spring and will launch in sometime later in the year. Here’s what you need to know. What is Google Play Pass? Thanks to a reader of Android Police, who presumably is one of the initial testers for Google’s upcoming app subscription service, we have a few leaked screengrabs of Google Play Pass, which tell us more than Google would probably like us to know, pre-launch....

And this is exactly where Wiredrive comes in. It is an online platform for team collaboration fully equipped with a useful array of tools and features, specifically aimed to improve communication in teams and bump the general effectiveness of companies. Wiredrive features four main sections: Projects, where teams can get the general picture on the progress of their projects. It offers swift delivery, reliable review, immediate feedback, and complete control over what is put there, like media, sensitive assets, comments, and so on....

Cohealo is a cloud-based sharing platform that enables hospitals to more efficiently manage medical devices. They currently manage the inventory at 70 hospitals in a number of health systems, allowing hospital systems to track and oversee medical equipment use. They bring the benefits of the sharing economy most readily associated with consumer applications like Uber, Airbnb and Zipcar to managing and optimizing the utilization of medical equipment across hospitals and care facilities in health systems....

If you’re reading a post about cheapest coworking options, that probably means you don’t have much money to spare. So why spend even an extra $100 or so on coworking? For your mental health. $200 a month may seem like a fortune for a bootstrapping startup, but that means you just need to be a fraction more productive for it to be worth it. What’s the chance of you making a connection, meeting someone who knows someone, or feeling energized enough to work a few extra hours thanks to your coworking space?...

In an analysis of Uber’s data, it appears that Uber users are more accepting of high fares as long as they “look genuine.” Meaning that if the surge price is 2.0, users will pass. But if the surge is 2.1, users will gladly accept the rate. This madness is not brought to you by the population’s inability to do math, nor is it due to a tear in the space-time continuum....