Randi Zuckerberg's Blog, page 33
February 5, 2015
Radio Show Recap: Tech & Travel
When we go on vacation—especially if we unplug—we come back more relaxed and more productive at our jobs. But strangely enough only 60% of Americans would give up junk food, 40% would give up social media, and a mere 9% would give up their phone—all for one extra day of vacation. And excuses for not taking our vacation days range from not enough money to not having the time. So how does tech fit in? By disrupting all aspects of travel, from booking a ticket to figuring out where to eat on vacation, technology has eased the way we choose to vacation.
Discussing this topic on yesterday’s radio show were Joah Spearman, co-founder of Localeur, a community-based recommendation site; Elvina Beck, founder of Podshare communal hotels; and Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, CEO and President of Celebrity Cruises:
Here are their most interesting tidbits:
How much sleep do you really need: “As a start-up owner, if I get 8 hours of sleep that’s a Saturday for me.” Joah
“I function better with less sleep than more. It’s about power naps.” Elvina
Hotel towel trackers: “Are the trackers worth the price of the towel?” Elvina
“Hotels should use this as a retention policy. I may take a robe if that were a possibility.” Joah
“Why don’t they just put their names on their towels instead of trackers?” Elvina
“I got into this open up your apartment to strangers from my experience with Airbnb in 2009 .”
“Podshare is to combat the hotel experience which is a solitary experience.”
“Cure loneliness with people.”
“We call our guests ‘Podestrians’.”
“It’s Habitat for Humanity with crowdfunding. It’s a community project.”
“America needs a co-living startup.”
“Why pay $300 a night when you can pay $50?”
“Moving to LA, everyone is doing social here. How can one person disrupt the billion dollar travel industry? I had to rely on social to make my mark.”
“Crowdfunding is a beast. You have confidence as a CEO but when you get in the ring, you’re really putting yourself out there.”
“I launched right around the holidays which may or may not have hurt us.”
“Right when I was about to give up, I had 11 days to make my goal, and then TechCrunch put me on the front page of their site with the funniest video. 13,000 hits!”
“Hard work meets opportunity is how crowdfunding works.”
Donate to Podshare here
“Our mission is to help people experience local wherever they go.”
“We’ve all been new to a city. Thanks to social media we can connect. But if you don’t have a friend there you need help.”
“We’re not looking for writers we’re looking for locals.”
“We’re in 12 cities in just two years.”
“Millennials are the most influential travelers. 49% of millennials book flights on their smartphone.”
“Men’s Health called us the most influential app. The writer called us out to come to Boston.”
“We felt like we were building something for ourselves.”
“People wanted a friend in every city they went to. Now they have a user generated recommendation built on trust.”
“Being a consumer startup in Austin is different than Silicon Valley. We don’t have as much access to the people who can help.”
“We only raised $150,000 before we launched. And now we’ve gone to $1.2 million.”
“I met one of our investors at a wedding.”
LISA LUTOFF-PERLO, President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises, joined in to discuss cruising and the recent partnership with Randi Zuckerberg, Take Care of YourSelfie
“I remember talking to people 30 years ago, telling them to completely disconnect on a cruise and people would love it and sign up for it. If you said that now no one would take a cruise.”
“Pendulums swing two ways. We have to get back to the balance in our lives.”
“I was struggling, trying to think what I wanted to be. I wanted something fun and exciting and I got into the hotel industry.”
“I got a job from a help-wanted ad for a group cruise sales agency in Boston. Because I was selling cruises, I got a sales job at Royal Caribbean.”
“Sometimes I forget I’m a woman, it’s never factored into my career. But I have been recognized. I know many women have not.”
“I’m the first woman CEO in the cruise industry.”
“What I hear is that oftentimes women are not supportive of other woman. I couldn’t disagree more.”
“Flying is natural for people, staying in hotels is natural, but cruising is not natural for people–yet.”
“At Royal Caribbean I helped launch the Quantum of the Seas, the first smart ship.”
“When you can enable [technology] on a cruise ship for the first time it’s quite disruptive.”
“Destination, wellness, culinary, design and guest flow, are our top priorities for our guests.”
“We were the first brand to create iLounges and create modern environments for our guests to share technology and learn technology.”
“Rome was really special for me. I was touched in a way that I didn’t expect.”
Learn more about the Take Care of YourSelfie promotion with Randi Zuckerberg.
Join Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg on SiriusXM next week on SiriusXM 111 on Wednesdays, 12 EST/9 PST.
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February 3, 2015
Four Strategies to Encourage Your Creativity In 2015
Do you want to be more creative? I think we all do, deep down inside; let’s be honest. And while I’m being open, I’ll also admit to wishing I was taller and better at physics. But let’s focus on what’s achievable. And that’s creativity. We all have great creative potential; it’s just a matter of identifying it, and tapping into it. For some, ideas hit sporadically and unexpectedly, while others generate new and exciting ideas each and every day in their jobs. No matter where you sit on the scale, there are things we can all do to think more creatively. So as we make our way through 2015, and as more and more businesses value the power of creative ideas, here are a few tips to help encourage you.
1. IDENTIFY YOUR PASSIONS
Creativity is fuelled by passion. So, identify the things you’re most passionate about. What topic do you find yourself reading dozens of articles about? What’s an activity you can do for hours on end, without ever getting bored? What’s an artform you wish you could create, or a skill you’d love to possess? Identify what fires you up and start there. You’ll get the most motivation when you care about what you’re working on. I’m not guaranteeing you’ll be able to transform your shower rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” into a #1 iTunes hit, but go ahead and try, by all means. Creativity is good for the soul, so even if you don’t get any downloads you’ll still benefit from the process. Or, if you tell me your favourite thing to do is ‘sit on the couch, drink beer, and watch football’ I would say there are heaps of yet-to-be-invented projects and gadgets in the areas of sport, relaxation, technology and booze. Whatever your passions are, follow them. We are the most creative when we love what we’re doing.
2. OPEN YOUR IMAGINATION
All of the world’s best innovations and creations have one thing in common: they all began with an idea. Whether it was a passing comment, a thought, a hope or a dream, someone, somewhere, asked: ‘What if’ or ‘Imagine if I could’ or ‘How cool would it be to’. From Facebook’s conception, to the ground-breaking iPhone 3 in 2009, or even the invention of Pringles in a can, they all started with an idea. And dreaming up ideas is a fundamental part of the creative process. As we grow older we shut down our imagination. All too often, when we notice ourselves drifting off into fairyland, we snap ourselves back into reality. I’m saying ‘Open your imagination. Explore ideas. Daydream. And dream big.’ And write it all down. For all you know, a note you jot down this afternoon could change your entire future.
3. CREATE YOUR OWN INSPIRATION
In order to foster inner creative motivation, surround yourself with things that inspire you, to get motivated from the outside. The best place to set up external inspiration is your workspace, where you spend endless hours answering emails, preparing campaign budgets and chatting on Facebook messenger (oh come on, we all do it). In addition to stock-standard desk features like cup-a-soup sachets and family photos, add things to your computer space that get you excited. Next to my Mac I have the autobiographies of Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen DeGeneres, some Facebook merchandise, and a Boo toy (yes, now you know what to buy me for my birthday). So, what do you love? Find ways to represent your passions and build them into your work space. I promise it will help.
4. INVEST TIME INTO BEING CREATIVE
Sometimes brilliant ideas hit us at the most inconvenient times – trekking through the Amazon without a pen and paper, driving in our car on the freeway, or in the middle of karaoke sessions in the shower. It’s true – we can’t always control when creative ideas hit – but with practice, we can become more creative, more of the time, which means we can be more prepared for our own creativity. Of course, the way we each express and explore creativity differs but just like practice helps us become better athletes and better cookie-eaters, practice also helps us become more creative. In his book Rewire Your Brain, Dr John B. Arden says the more often we bring about a certain state, the greater the likelihood that state will develop into a trait. I believe this can totally be applied to creativity. The more you work your creative muscle, the stronger it gets and the more naturally ideas will flow. So, be prepared to always capture them. Record them in a voice memo, type them into your phone, email them to yourself, or write them on a restaurant napkin using a stranger’s eyeliner; just get them out. This won’t just make space for other ideas to come in, but as you collect lists of ideas, you’ll gain more confidence in your own creativity. Sure, they won’t all be ‘Pringles in a can’ quality, but there will certainly be a few gems!
Jordana Borensztajn is a creative consultant, humourist, speaker and writer. She loves creativity, online content and new Apple products. Tweet her any time at @JordanaOZ. This piece originally appeared on LinkedIn.
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January 30, 2015
Radio Show Recap: Screen Smart Parenting
It’s reported that 81% of kids under 2 already have an online presence either through photos of proud parents or with a social media page dedicated to them. After birth, 7% of newborns even have an email address. Not to mention kids ages 2-5 can play video games and download apps better, and faster, than they can ride a bike or tie their shoelaces. And now that iPhones, iPods, and iPads are the top holiday wish-list items for kids ages 6 to 12, 95% of teens are online, logging in more hours surfing the web than they are doing homework. Wednesday’s guests, Pam Worth of Tiny Treks and Dr. Jodi Gold, author of Screen Smart Parenting, discussed how to establish smart screen-time habits with your kids.
Here are their words of wisdom:
On Class120 app to monitor if students go to class: “By the time children are college age they should be responsible for their own actions.” Pam
“I would like it messages were sent directly to the college kids.” Jodi
On free-range parenting: “Depends where you’re living and what kind of community you’re in.” Pam
On anti-bullying father: “I think it’s a scary thing with teenagers and bullying than bullying back.” Pam
“There’s a better way to manage rage than taking it to social media.” Jodi
On Unplug & Play Week: “Turn Off the TV Week was a great movement. It needs to come back.” Pam
“Our kids need more time off technology.” Jodi
“A contrived thing sometimes helps people remember what it’s like to live a certain way.” Pam
PAM WORTH
“I had a group of moms who were disgruntled with the programs for kids. I brainstormed and created Tiny Treks. Every single mom signed up.”
“My kids had zero TV til 5. It’s interesting that children are having devices as young as one.”
“I saw a huge discrepancy between TV and how well kids did in school.”
“Have very conscious time during the day for parents and kids to unplug.”
“It’s important to prepare and be an exciting and interesting parent. Get creative instead of plugging kids in.”
“Fill up the sink with bubbly water to distract them while you’re cooking. Keep them in the kitchen. Engage with them.”
“You didn’t have kids for them to be perfectly neat, you wanted them to explore their creativity and think out of the box.”
“Develop a family culture. Have family meetings and know things can change.”
“If you choose to pick up your phone during dinner, you clean up after the meal.”
“There’s so many studies about the benefit of a shared dinner.”
“What you make as a rule at 3 will change at 4. But start family meetings while very young to evolve with our children.”
“If your Grandma can’t see it, don’t write it.”
“To see us unplug and for us to say ‘I’m going to read a book’ and see us do it.”
“We get that we’re plugged in but we have to set aside time to interact without technology.”
“I see their pictures but I don’t ‘like’ them. That’s for their friends to do.”
DR. JODI GOLD
“We need to plot a smart plan for navigating the digital behavior.”
“Families need an explicit plan for how they will maneuver the digital landscape.”
“Parents need to be a model for their children’s digital behavior.”
“We have to look at digital milestones. The footprint begins at birth.”
“What might be appropriate for a 12-year-old may not be appropriate for a 6-year-old.”
“Parents on the East Coast especially think they have to know World of Warcraft and Twitter to interact with them digitally.”
“For kids to spend 8-11 hours plugged in we have to find out what is creative for them online and let them explore it. Best way: Ask them.”
“Sometimes parents need to use devices to babysit kids. Set a time limit for yourself and interact with your child.”
“Privacy means reading a diary. Parents should respect that. But what kids post on social media is not private. Parents should monitor. Be seen and not heard.”
“If you’re online with them you can help get them out of sticky situations.”
“Whether we like or not our kids are growing up in the digital world and we need to embrace it.”
“If you interact with your kids online it’s beneficial. Online worlds are an incredible place for play.”
“Now the whole world of play opens up to them online. There’s so many opportunities.”
“Have a discussion with your partner about your relationship with technology. What are your limits? Don’t ask kids to do things that you can’t do yourself.”
“Include your kids in the process of setting digital household rules.”
“Don’t take away the phone, teach your kids how and when to use it.”
“Sit down as a family and figure out how you use technology to be a better person.”
“Don’t sleep with your phone.”
“The iPhone replaces the blankey for kids and becomes the iBlankey.”
“The more you restrict the phone the more you’re going to push your kids underground.”
“We can’t get stuck. While were lamenting the handshake we need to teach our kids good skills to be better digital citizens.”
“We need to unplug so we can be kind in person.”
“The dialogue starts young: How to share, how to be kind.”
“It’s okay for our kids to see us struggle. It’s ok for them to see that it’s not easy to unplug all the time. It’s a struggle worth fighting.”
“The average teen does 3000-plus texts a month. It’s a skill.”
CALLER BECKY
“Hands on, doing it with fun makes a huge difference for the children.”
“I’m 54 I never got into Facebook. I will text but I don’t like to do email. Things get misunderstood.”
“Teaching manners and kindness are extensive lessons for parents.”
Make sure to tune into Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg next week, only on SiriusXM channel 111 at 9 PST/12 EST.
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January 28, 2015
How Netflix May be Messing Up Our Kids
Let me first preface this post with a disclaimer: I love Netflix and the freedom of binge-watching whatever I want when I score some free time. I don’t schedule my Netflix fix; it’s usually a situation of found me-time that lets me revel in watching a show everyone’s raving about.
I rarely watch traditional TV although for some unexplainable reason we still have and pay for cable services, and my kids watch even less TV than I do. They’ve grown up in the video on demand era where they just click, scroll, click, watch. Any show, any time. Like Burger King’s marketing tagline says, they are “having it their way.”
Remember when you scheduled your life around the shows all your friends watched at the exact same time as you? Lunchtime viewing for me was The Flinstones, and then after school it was always Gilligan’s Island. Friday night was a bonanza of Partridge Family and Brady Bunch. Broadcasters made the shows and set the time they’d air, then we’d wait until “IT’S ON!” and park ourselves on the shag carpet or corduroy couch.
Obviously, the magic of technology has completely changed the way we consume TV, and today’s buzzword is customization. Remember, I’m a big fan of democratic broadcasting; of being in control of “IT’S ON” rather than manipulating my nights to be there when my shows are aired. I like that broadcasters are no longer dictating when and what to watch.
But here’s what’s been irking me about what our kids are growing up with: There are absolutely no obstacles in place to make our kids wait for what they want to watch. They press a button and voila – “IT’S ON!”
Instant gratification. Instant entertainment. Instant everything. Netflix, and now newer streaming video on demand services like shomi and CraveTV bring us (and our kids) instant customization, instant gratification.
Remember the famous Stanford marshmallow experiment? A psychologist examined the correlation between delayed gratification (waiting to eat a marshmallow) to future life success. The study showed those children who waited the 15 minutes to eat their treat tended to have better success in life. Of course there are many holes in his hypothesis, as Jacoba Urist points out in The Atlantic, but I agree with the premise in general.
Take my daughter for example: because she has lived with life-threatening allergies since a toddler, she’s had to suck it up and walk away from a myriad of delicious birthday cakes, ice cream cones, chocolate bars, and brand name candies that kids around her get to munch without a care in the world. She’s had to build up her delayed gratification muscle through the numerous occasions she’s had to wait to get home to have her nut-free treat. I am 100% certain this is one of the reasons she is such an amazing kid. She is less demanding. She understands when things don’t happen when she wants them to. She is thankful for what she has. She shows no signs of entitlement.
This is why I worry about the generation of kids we’re raising. There is too much instant gratification and not enough character building delayed gratification. Are we raising a generation of Veruca Salts from Willy Wonka stamping their feet screaming in annoying British accents, “I want it now Daddy!”
I realize it’s not our kids’ fault. They’re growing up in a technological age where the rules of engagement consist of demand what you want when you want it. The world comes to our front door and we expect it to be there waiting when we need it.
It’s happening to all of us. Respond to my email NOW. Give me a promotion NOW. Customer service NOW!
That entitlement doesn’t appear out of thin air. It’s a slow build of frequently having access to whatever you need without much effort.
Parenting author Jessica Potts Lahey is seeing the trickle down effect of so much instant gratification on us. “This childish impatience—this rush to get the answer before really thinking through the question—appears in our adult world, too. It’s in the online readers who comment without finishing whole article, in pundits who speak in sound bytes. It’s everywhere.”
This is also a concern of Ariadne Brill, founder of Positive Parenting Connection, who was discussing this recently with a teacher. “She felt like her students have no desire to go through the learning process, make mistakes and try again,”There is an app for that” gets tossed around as a reason for not trying. I suggested it’s become common place to look for short cuts, to accept nothing short of “easy” and “quick” solutions. It’s really unfortunate given the importance of grit, accepting failure and learning from the process, not the end result.”
So, we agree there’s a problem. Tech is messing with our kids. So what to do to keep our little angels from turning into demanding devils? Here are five NOT quick and easy things you can do with your kids to make sure they learn from delayed gratification:
Teach It
Jessica Potts Lahey suggests the answer lies in teaching methods that stress patience, critical thinking, and a delayed response based on deep and meaningful contemplation. You can read more about teachers teaching patience here. I like this idea a lot. Slow things down for students. Create work that requires deep thinking, long answers and critical analysis. I love when my kids come home with big projects and no quick fixes. Work that makes them think- like reaaaallly think.
Question It
Part of the problem with on-demand culture is ease of answering questions. Don’t know something? Just Google it. Everyone’s a genius…Not. Developmental Psychologist Marilyn Price-Mitchell explained to me how this is killing our kids’ curiosity. Google is really good at giving answers but doesn’t teach kids to ask good questions. When kids learn to ask good questions, they develop curiosity. Curiosity fuels learning — and the patience to delay gratification and enjoy the process of finding answers. One proven way to enhance delayed gratification skills, therefore, is to develop a curious child. You can read more about the importance of instilling curiosity into your kids on Marilyn’s site, Rootsofaction.com.
Spend It
Give your kids allowance. So when they pull a Veruca Salt on you and stamp their feet and say “I want it now, Mummy!” they will learn to wait until they have enough money saved up. Ariadne Brill, founder of Postive Parenting Connection told me her kids have learned a lot about delayed gratification by her dolling out a weekly allowance and noticed how quickly the “need” factor passed after they leave a store.
Eat It
According to Dietitian Sarah Remmer, there is a time and place for snacking. Kids demanding snacks and parents acquiescing is another example of instant gratification. Read her post on the parent/toddler feeding relationship for really interesting insights on when and how to dole out snacks to avoid raising a demanding child.
Model It
Pyschologist Sara Dimerman suggests we practice modeling delaying instant gratification when we shop. It’s going to be hard, I know, but consciously avoid impulse shopping. When you see that awesome deal at Costco, just keep on walking right past it and point out to your kids why you’re not buying it on the spot. (I know; the things we do for our kids, right?)
Well, I don’t know about you, but I feel much better after reading all this awesome advice. Time to watch American Idol, because “IT’S ON NOW!”
Hey; don’t judge me. I’m a victim of the times.
By Erica Ehm. This post originally appeared on Yummy Mummy Club.
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January 27, 2015
Social Media and Fandom
I’m not ashamed to admit that I am a boy band fanatic. In the late 80’s I was a loyal “Block Head”, which was a title given to New Kids On The Block fans. Every square inch of my bedroom was plastered with posters of Joey McIntyre. I also had every piece of merchandise on the market and never missed a tour. A little extreme I know, but keep in mind I was twelve years old at the time.
I did anything just to get a glimpse into the lives of the New Kids. I wanted that personal connection, but to get it I had to watch MTV around the clock, set every VCR in the house to record videos and TV appearances, beg my parents for concert tickets, and pick up every copy of Teen Beat at the local grocery store. For someone like me, an all-or-nothing girl, this cycle became expensive and exhausting. After a few years in, my parents were over it and not interested in taking out a loan just to continue supporting my boy band obsession. Right as the fan-fatigue set in, New Kids on the Block broke up and I had to file all my fond memories away.
In the late 90’s I fell victim to another boy band, the Backstreet Boys. This time around I did not plaster pictures all over my wall, I did however, drop out of college one semester and follow them on tour across multiple states. But as a very busy and broke college student, this obsession couldn’t last quite as long. (Before you think I should seek help, know that I returned the following semester and did eventually earn my degree.)
To be a fan before social media you had your work cut out for you. You couldn’t download that one song you liked; you had to purchase the whole album after waiting in line for hours at the Virgin Mega Store. You couldn’t follow them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter; you had to literally get in your car and drive across the country going from show to show. You couldn’t go to their website to find out about appearances; you had to be in the right place at the right time. To meet your favorite band you had to win tickets on the radio and spend your entire day glued to the phone, dialing in.
Because of social media, you no longer have to jump through all these hoops to stay connected to your favorite celebrities. Social Media made being a fan more engaging, fun and exciting!
Top reasons why being a fan in the age of Social Media is better:
Many celebrities manage their own social media accounts so they seem within reach.
You can directly communicate with them.
Celebrities tend to share more on social media.
You get rare glimpses into their daily lives.
There is more of a personal connection.
You get the latest updates regarding album releases, tours, sneak previews and appearances.
It feels like a friendship, not a fan-ship, which is perfect for the pseudo-stalker like me.
You get to be in a network with thousands of other people who are just as fanatical as you. This alone makes you feel less crazy.
You can directly influence them.
And so, so long to not being the 25th caller or the lucky girl whose name was pulled from Joey’s hat. Thanks to social media I was able to get my automatic newsfeed, which scored a meet and greet when New Kids on the Block reunited a few years ago. Getting to meet them was so much more than just taking a picture and getting a hug; it was an unforgettable life experience – and one that was worth the twenty-five year wait.
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January 26, 2015
An Exciting New Partnership with Celebrity Cruises!
This week, I was in NYC to launch a new partnership I can’t wait to tell you about: I’m teaming up with luxury seafarers Celebrity Cruises on five exclusive treatments for the onboard Canyon Ranch SpaClub, which launches next month! Celebrity Cruises is a leader in providing relaxing, restorative vacations, and by partnering with them I hope to inspire time to log off and shut down, for a few hours or even a whole day. A few key offerings I love are the “Instaglow,” a rejuvenating scrub with coffee and olive oil, and the “Texticure,” a warm paraffin manicure for smartphone happy fingers. For more information, visit celebritycruises.com
By now, you probably know that I’m very passionate about helping people find a tech/life balance. Even though I think technology has a huge, positive impact on our lives (most of the time), the Dot Complicated motto is to have mindfulness while using our devices so that technology can enhance our relationships and experiences—not take us out of the moment.
If we can encourage people to take baby steps to unplug during their vacations, then maybe we can carry that into our every day. Celebrity Cruises shares that same outlook, and this is just the first endeavor in our year-long collaboration to “Take Care of Your Selfie.” Stay tuned!
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January 23, 2015
7 Crazy Cheap Devices
In the age of $600 iPhones, shelling out a couple hundred bucks for any sort of device feels commonplace. But that doesn’t mean expensive is always better—or necessary. We gave all of the budget-friendly technology in this slideshow a test drive to see how it compares to our pricier standbys. The results? Everything worked amazingly well, and cost less than our designer jeans.
Cell Phone Plan. Wait, a $20 cell phone plan? We didn’t believe it either, but ’s “Unlimited Everything” plan really does offer unlimited talk, text, and date for a flat, $20 monthly fee. One catch: It’s only available on Sprint’s 3G, WiMax, and LTE networks.
Camera. It is possible to find a hi-tech camera without dropping a small fortune. The Canon PowerShot SX280HS ($250) has enough battery life for a full day of shooting (including HD videos), Wi-Fi connectivity so you can email vacation shots to mom, and a zoom lens with way more reach than a smartphone camera. And did we mention it’s small enough to fit in your purse? With all the money you’ll save, you’ll be able to swing that extra night in Napa.
Computer. Yeah, we’re over laptops costing as much as monthly mortgage payments, too. The HP Stream 11 is a steal at $199. It’s an 11-inch laptop with everything a good computer should have—USB and HDMI ports, speakers, and a webcam—minus the heartbreaking price tag. It’s a little bit bulkier than the MacBook Air (and by bulkier, we mean it weighs three pounds) but we’ll take the extra weight in the name of saving 800 bucks.
On-the-Go Charger. Most cellphone juice packs will set you back at least $60, but this compact, gilded ban.do charger is a reasonable $30. And, unlike other so-called mini power stations, it’s evening-bag friendly.
E-Reader. For those who can live without paper white display, the Kindle (2014) offers all the benefits of an e-reader for just $79: It’s Wi-Fi equipped, has a glare-free display, and just got double the amount of storage–all the better for browsing Amazon’s massive e-book library.
Media Streamer. At a mere $49.99, the Roku 1 costs less than a dinner out (and chances are, you’ll have more fun with this on a Friday night, anyway). Its channel library includes Netflix, Amazon Instant, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, Spotify and even YouTube, and Roku usually gets new channels before Apple TV, Amazon Fire or Google Chromecast. Bonus: the machine’s search functionality will tell you if a movie is available on one of your subscription plans before you pay to rent it elsewhere.
Phone. The new Nokia 215 is just $29, and allows users to call, text, scroll though social media, browse the Internet, and check the weather forecast–all for less than an Uber ride. Though it’s not available in the U.S. (yet), the company has an admirable, socially conscious goal: It’s aiming to reach less connected markets in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, and make cellular technology available to one billion more people. Talk about a smart phone.
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January 22, 2015
Radio Show Recap: Women Entrepreneurs
There are over8 million women-owned businesses in the US, 30% attract less than 5% in equity. They employ over 7 million people, and Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming and North Dakota are the top states for women to be business owners and having between 5-10 employees is where the most pick-up for women and growth begins.
Today’s Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg discussed women in business by women in business. Rachel Sklar founder of The Li.st and Change the Ratio and Christina Wallace founder of BridgeUp: STEM at New York’s Museum of Natural History discussed the facts:
Google Glass’ last day on the market:
“Dislike. Google Glass had an incredible number of hands-free needs. Especially women who have just given birth.” —Rachel
“Women were roundly ignored by Google and by the press. It’s a missed opportunity.”
“I wonder what kind of helpful feedback they got and what they’ll do with it.”
“Like. It was super creepy to be around a bunch of people wearing them. This version wasn’t a great integration in our lives.”—Christina
“We are surreptitiously recorded without our knowledge all the time.”
MySpace reported 50 million unique visitors in November 2014 so people could post photos for Throwback Thursday #TBT:
“It makes me want to go log in.”—Christina
“The fact we can look back on different eras, but I prefer to go back to Friendster.”—Rachel
“I love TimeHop but there needs to be a way to bring up photos without reliving a breakup.”—Christina
“When escalators fail you have stairs. When you have a system that fails, where’s the redundancy there to ensure we’re backed up?”—Christina
Q: “Can people today memorize a ten digit phone number?”
A: “I can call Bonnie Scott from the 4th grade. I remember her number.”—Rachel
“How do you make the argument to memorize anything when it can all be Googled?”—Christina
Rachel’s Quotes:
“Raising $25k in one day with DonorsChoose campaign was done after the grand jury verdict in Ferguson. People were feeling powerless.”
“From my innate feeling of “that’s not fair” and carried on through law school so I constantly had a sense of gender-based “that’s not fair.”
“In covering the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2008 had a lot of “that’s not fair” media bias.”
“The Li.st was started by a list serve from Change the Ratio–practical discussions of practical business needs.”
“When you’re talking about the reasons to start a startup, business needs, knowing the market, etc. I realized that this is what I should be doing.”
“It’s difficult to start something and go in all on your own. It’s having the right kind of partner that makes a difference.”
“Entrepreneurs evolve. Particularly with women who’ve been working on projects their whole life.”
“Who has access to powerful people’s gate keepers? The Li.st is essentially the Old Boy’s Network but for women. Who aren’t old.”
Christina’s Quotes:
“It’s rare to find a museum who wanted to have an entrepreneur come in like a startup and have a hack-a-thon.”
“Half of our hackers were women. We asked why and they said I always wanted to try a hack-a-thon and it doesn’t seem as bro-y as others.”
“The girls who like STEM are the well-rounded girls. They like a lot of things but they need to figure out what they want to do.”
“Don’t get them interested in STEM, keep them interested in STEM.”
“I interviewed at one of the PhD programs for math and there were 3 women out of 70 men.”
“My advisor told me that he was worried I couldn’t focus because I had so many interests.”
“Finding connections and friends throughout all the interests you have makes networking so much easier.”
“There’s a loss that I see when people leave companies to go build something on the side when they could have built that within an existing organization that could help.”
“If you’re allowed to have your own processes you’ll see less of the brain drain and create a great product.”
“I built something from scratch, I helped scale something from the inside, and now I’m creating something from a larger business. I want to see where I am most needed and valued.”
“I’ve got 5 years of runway to plan, structure, and create a place to impact young girls into something they might not have done using this amazing brand.”
“At interviews say, ‘Let me explain to you how all of my interests can help better your company’.”
“The reason we got 90% of the press we got was through The Li.st.”
“Storytellers and journalists, investors and creatives, entrepreneurs and business owners all come together to help one another and make our connections stronger.”
Join Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg next week only on SiriusXM Business 111 at 12pm EST/9am PST.
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January 20, 2015
Track Other People’s Investments with Nvestly
Wanna be the next Warren Buffet? Then you need to sign up for Nvestly, a new, free social media platform for investors that’s like a LinkedIn account for your portfolio. It lets you connect with friends and colleagues so that you can take a peek at where they’re investing. Since its recent launch in October, Nvestly is currently managing over $25M in assets.
Here’s how it works: After giving Nvestly access to your brokerage accounts (it’s all protected by the same bank-level security used by Mint, Yodlee, and other aggregator sites), you log on to the site to see a Facebook-like newsfeed of trading activity. Dollar amounts are never revealed–just the performance percentages. The real-time platform allows investors to pull in their portfolios from all five of the major U.S. brokers, including Charles Schwab, E*Trade, and TD Ameritrade.
Social media platforms allow novice investors to follow trading veterans and truly see how they work.
You’ll get an email whenever one of your friends buys or sells a stock you’ve invested in. And you can track $cashtags (#hashtags for stock) to stay up-to-speed.
Everyone’s profile has a little percent symbol showing their rate of return for the year. So when you see that your super-smart neighbor just invested in Pepsi, you might want to look into it too.
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January 16, 2015
Project Ara, Google’s New Modular Phone
The new Google Project Ara modular smartphone is redefining smartphones as we know them. Instead of releasing a device that comes with a predetermined set of hardware and software, the tech company has developed a phone that lets you choose which parts, or modules, you want and swap them out anytime. (For example, if you need your phone to stay alive for hours and hours, you can double the battery power. Or if you love apps, you can upgrade your phone’s processing power to work faster.)
The objective is to let users customize their own phones according to what they deem more important. Other modules include new, durable screens, new speakers, extra storage, and health monitoring devices. The promo video below even showcases night vision capabilities.
As more and more companies strive to build the thinnest smartphone in the world, it’s nice to see a build-your-own model that takes into account the features you use most. There’s no word on the phone’s actual cost yet, but Google has teased that it will be around $50.
Watch the promo video here.
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