David Lidsky's Blog, page 3405
November 14, 2013
This Is How Marketers See Millennial Males
"Not only are they likely to exhibit loyalty and advocacy for the brands they like, but they also open their wallets," says ComScore representative Justin Roy.
Are you a male between the ages of 18 and 34? According to a recent survey, you're every marketer's dream.
How A Brain Tumor Made The Cofounder Of Rap Genius Rethink Business
After some brazen behavior, which Mahbod Moghadam blames in part on a brain tumor, the Rap Genius cofounder talks up the company's next moves.
Several months ago, Mahbod Moghadam, cofounder of the annotations site Rap Genius, had his wisdom teeth removed. For a month thereafter, he had a terrible migraine on the right side of his head, which he chalked up to the dental procedure. Soon thereafter, Moghadam began having problems with his left hand. But he didn't think much of that either, since he'd always had trouble with his left elbow, the result of a highly athletic youth. Around this time, exercise also became difficult for Moghadam; he was hitting the gym only a third as hard. He figured that was just what happens when you turned 30.
Creative Wisdom From Middle-School Metal Gods
Unlocking the Truth, a Brooklyn-based metal band of 12-year-old rockers, will teach you about bringing it hard every day. And also, how to shred.
Brooklyn seventh-graders Malcolm Brickhouse (guitar), Jarad Dawkins (drums), and Alec Atkins (bass) rock harder than you. As heavy metal monsters Unlocking the Truth, the trio has earned millions of YouTube hits for their performance videos, played on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, and put on what some considered was the set of the festival at Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest this past weekend. They're also in the process of recording an eight-song EP with veteran drummer and producer Steve Jordan, known for his work with Keith Richards, John Mayer, Stevie Wonder, and many others.
Skating Icon Steve Olson's Messy Art Project Teaches Kids The Benefits Of Rule-Breaking
And it's something the rest of us would do well to learn too.
Steve Olson is a legend in many things, beginning as one of skateboarding's first stars in the 1970s and evolving into prominent L.A. artist, model-dater, and general coolest guy in the room.
Actually, Do Let Them See You Sweat: The Science Behind Why Sweating Before Negotiating Is Good
If you're confident before you negotiate, a little physical exertion can make you more effective. But if you're nervous, you might want to try this.
"If you're sweating and your heart rate is up, it's seen as a sign something is going wrong, that you're too nervous, off balance, flustered," M.I.T. associate professor Jared Curhan tells the New York Times. "Whereas we're showing that something could be very right."
November 13, 2013
Jawbone Unveils UP24 To Track Your Fitness Data In Real Time
For the past several weeks, Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman and product VP Travis Bogard have been wearing the next generation of the company's popular UP wristband everywhere––at the office, at home, out in public. The pair was discreet, but never worried about the device falling into the wrong hands.
"That's the nice thing about wearables," Bogard laughs––the odds of forgetting them at a bar are very low.
Today, however, after much testing, Rahman and Bogard finally unveiled Jawbone's newest product, the UP24. Along with an upgraded UP app, the UP24 fitness–tracking band improves on many features of its predecessor. But the larger promise of the device is what it signals for the future of wearable computing: seamless syncing and interactions, passive real–time updates, and a burgeoning ecosystem of connected devices.
Except for a subtle texture change, the $149 UP24 is similar to the original UP's form factor. Like before, the band stretches around and clenches to your wrist, measuring everything from the steps you've taken to the calories you've burned to the hours you've slept. The major difference is that UP24 has Bluetooth, enabling users to track fitness metrics wirelessly in real time, without the hassle of plugging the device into your smartphone to sync your data.
To sync the original UP, users had to uncap the end of the bracelet and plug it into a smartphone via the headphone jack. It sounds like a minor inconvenience but it was a serious pain point. Jawbone recommended the device be synced two times per day, meaning users would have to remove the band from their wrists, plug it into their phone, and then put it back on, an annoying process that quickly caused fatigue. Worse, users were without access to instant feedback throughout the day: What distance have I traveled? How long have I been active? How well did I sleep? Unless you glued your phone and UP together multiple times each day, you would have no idea how well you were performing. After a while, I found myself forgetting to sync my data or simply giving up on the device altogether.
With UP24, though, the data is constantly fed to your device, allowing Jawbone to deliver updated metrics on your daily activity. The company smartly provides helpful notifications throughout the day to your phone. "When I wake up, my first question is, How did I sleep? Now, right there on my [smartphone] home screen is the summary of last night's sleep––no need to plug UP in," Bogard says. Throughout the day, Jawbone triggers notifications to keep you motivated and on track to meet your goals, whether that's providing nudges to say you're close to walking a certain number of steps or to suggest that you be in bed by a particular time to get eight hours of sleep.
It's similar to what Nike has done with its new FuelBand SE, which likewise uses Bluetooth to automate syncing. (Before, users needed to manually press a button to sync the FuelBand with their iPhone.) It signals a future of seamless connections between smartphones and wearables, whether wristbands like UP and FuelBand or smartwatches from Samsung and Qualcomm.
The idea here is to remove the friction from the process. With the original UP, a user had to press a small button on the end of the band to tell it to begin tracking sleep. Now, thanks to a software update, both the UP and UP24 are now capable of recovering your sleep data, whether you told it you were taking a nap or not. With UP24, because the data syncs in real time, the company will begin to passively provide live feedback to improve your habits the more you use it. "It allows us to deliver smart and timely and actionable insights tailored to you," Bogard says. Foursquare, for comparison, now can passively track your location to deliver venue tips and suggestions––what cocktail to order, what food item to purchase. Jawbone is now doing the same thing, only with fitness data. Expect more apps to follow suit.
Rahman and Bogard see it as part of a larger ecosystem of products all talking to one another, thanks in part to the UP platform, which roughly 100 developers are building on. The two envision the device being an integral part of the connected home. "With the real–time aspect of UP24, you start to see a glimpse of where the world can go," Bogard says. "When I put the UP in sleep mode, my lights can shut off automatically. Or if I've been asleep for eight hours, my lights can come on automatically to smooth my wake up."
He also imagines using the device to do everything from making sure your doors are locked at night to potentially turning on your coffee maker in the morning. "This 'Internet of things' trend starts to transition into the 'Internet of me,'" Bogard adds.
The UP24 isn't without issues. The new device gets just seven days of battery life instead of ten with the original UP. Moreover, because there's no display on the device, a smartphone is still required to make its data accessible, meaning you won't be able to view your progress on a run unless you bring your iPhone with you. That's not the case with the FuelBand or FitBit's Force, both of which provide real–time feedback right on the band's display.
But Bogard says adding a screen was uncessary because growing the form factor was a non–starter.
"We've done all this while maintaing the form factor and not growing it," he says. "We think the size is inherently what makes this wearable."
3 Whiz–Bang Features That Make Jawbone's UP24 Its Best Fitness Band Yet
The device is more than just a novel tool for techies and health nuts. It could be at the heart of the connected home, enabling what product VP Travis Bogard calls "the internet of me."
Imagine gradually waking from a long slumber to discover that, without even removing your blankets, the bedroom lights have begun turning on and the coffee maker in the kitchen has started brewing a fresh blend. It might sound futuristic but according to Jawbone product VP Travis Bogard the technology is already here.
With GE By Its Side, Quirky Plans A Dozen New Smart Devices In The Next Year
The ongoing partnership could yield gadgets like a connected sprinkler system, garage door opener, and coffee maker.
Looks like the relationship between Quirky and GE is going well, and the two are ready to take it to the next level. As Quirky closes a $79 million series D round, GE is playing a large role, taking a minority equity stake with a $30 million strategic investment. Furthermore, the two companies announced Wednesday they were expanding their partnership to build connected devices and opening up their connected platform Wink to external developers.
The Paradoxical Traits Of Resilient People
Resilient people develop a mental capacity that allows them to adapt with ease during adversity. Like bamboo, they bend but rarely break. How resilient are you?
Journalist Hara Estroff Marano once wrote in a Psychology Today article "The Art of Resilience":
A Girl Who Codes
Computing has always been a boys' club. How 18–year–old Nikita Rau––and other young women like her––are finally changing that.
Nikita Rau is a high school senior and, at this moment, drinking applekiwi–strawberry juice out of a plastic cup. We're in the cafeteria of Bronx High School of Science, in New York. The noise level is high––too high for older ears––but the kids seem excited. Or maybe frenzied would be a better word.
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