July 2010
17 posts
5 tags
The Startup Student: When's it right to build... →
(Photo: Mr. T in DC)
So you’ve got a new product in the works. Maybe it’s still an idea, maybe it’s in development, maybe it’s two weeks from being shipped out the door. When taking an idea from a thought to completion one question always stands out in my mind: When do I start to build hype?
6 tags
3 tags
3 tags
Free year of Amazon Prime for students →
I was told about this promo Amazon is running. It’s too good not to share.
If you’ve got a .edu email address from your college or university, Amazon is giving away a free year of Amazon Prime to students who sign up. It’ll get you free two-day shipping on anything.
My Reading List reviewed on iPadDaily.com →
59thirty:
My Reading List got a nice write up today on iPadDaily.com:
Sometimes less is more and this app really proves that point. It fills a great need for readers of lots of books that want to make even better use of their iPad.
My Reading List 1.1 is live
59thirty:
Apple just approved My Reading List 1.1. Now add up to 99 books to your reading list. The title field now auto-selects when the popover is activated as well.
Download My Reading List here [iTunes Link]
5 tags
Perspective
LeBron James’s announcement yesterday was one of those events that really made me put who I am and what I do in perspective. It was like the time in astronomy that I learned that the universe was huge and expanding at a rate that I couldn’t even comprehend.
Yesterday made me realize that if I added up all of the attention that I get in my lifetime, all of the hugs and kisses, phone...
WatchThis is great. The Onion can do no wrong.
(via thedavidmurray)
3 tags
WatchMy talk from Ignite Boulder just went up. It’s on Accelerated Learning and why you should find and take advantage of smart people.
Thank you to everyone who voted for me to speak in front of 1400+ people. It was an incredible experience!
7 tags
Please vote for me to speak at Ignite Denver 7 →
Ignite Denver 7 is coming up later this month and I’d love to be on that stage in Denver! My talk is called “Everything I know I learned from ‘The Wire.’” It’s about me growing up in Baltimore, watching The Wire and the somewhat unorthodox lessons the characters of The Wire had to teach.
A YouTube video will be posted after the event so you can see how your...
3 tags
Oh baby
59thirty’s first iPad app just got approved by Apple. Official announcement tomorrow on the 59thirty blog.
June 2010
2 posts
The Startup Student: What I learned from speaking... →
Last night I had the great honor of speaking at Ignite Boulder 11, the largest Ignite event in the world. My talk was on Accelerated Learning: Why You Should Find and Take Advantage of Smart People. The crowd was warm and incredibly receptive and the other speakers gave killer talks.
Click through for more ->
3 tags
Please vote for me to speak at Ignite Boulder 11 →
This will only take 1 minute of your time, tops.
Hey there, awesome readers. We’ve got Ignite Boulder 11 coming up in just three weeks and I need your votes to get on stage in front of 1,300 people. Please, give my talk on “Accelerated Learning by pairing yourself with intimidatingly smart people” a vote.
For the unfamiliar, an Ignite talk is 5 minutes, 20 slides and is...
May 2010
13 posts
CU junior Zack Shapiro launches iPhone app company →
(via 59thirty)
The Colorado Daily profiled me and my iPhone app company and startup, 59thirty. I talked to them about my new RTD app coming out this summer and the iPad app that’s almost done.
2 tags
6 tags
WatchDaily Stack is a time management tool that’s part building blocks, part Jenga, and part egg timer. Definitely an interesting concept.
Learn more about it here.
4 tags
WatchiPad. Meet velcro.
A match made in Heaven.
9 tags
“We’re turning the world around us into a videogame, using sites like...”
– Daniel Lyons of Newsweek
Wow. Lyons is right. And this is terrifying.
Buying Gas and Morality
I’ve taken the moral high ground for years and refused to buy gas from Exxon. Sure, the Exxon Vladez crashed more than seven months before I was born. That’s beside the point.
Funny thing is, instead of buying from Exxon I bought from BP. (I didn’t do this, Louisiana, I swear.)
Now I’m taking the high ground and refusing to buy from BP ever again. This oil spill has gone...
8 tags
Against Me! - Here Comes A Regular (The...
8 tags
A short note on iBooks
I’m disappointed with the iBookstore and the “tens of thousands” of books that Apple is currently offering. I realize that Amazon started as a books company before becoming the veritable (non-evil) Walmart of the Internet. I expected Amazon’s Kindle bookstore to have mostly everything I’m looking for. And they do. (For those interested, I’m reading mostly...
4 tags
4 tags
Dealing with rejection in lightweight ways
I’ve been on the waiting list for the Founder Institute for weeks. A few days ago they made the final decisions for the Denver 2010 class and I strangely got a “Welcome” email from one of the mentors. I say strangely because I was still on the waiting list and I hadn’t yet gotten officially accepted into the program. I investigated, found out I was on the bubble and got...
3 tags
Goals for 2010
Reading this post from Andrew Hyde, I was inspired to make a list of goals for 2010. I have a few already, just haven’t written ‘em down or shared them with the world.
Blog here more
Get out there in the Boulder tech community
Get my muscle-up (What the hell is a muscle-up? Video)
Write more for the CU Independent
Learn to Olympic lift
Hike more
Launch more iPhone apps
Get...
April 2010
18 posts
5 tags
mled asked: Did you know that one of your favourite posts (titled What I've Learned - Summer 2009) is no longer available? It's a GoDaddy holding page. I remember shutupinternet, that was a great blog. Shame it's gone, but you had good reasons.
Assignment: Broadcast Rewrite
[Video] Lauren Brown working at a computer (10 seconds)
[Voice Over] University of Colorado senior Lauren Brown is working on her website. It’s her final project as part of the Technology, Arts and Media minor offered through the ATLAS program. The 22-year-old Brown is supplementing her advertising degree with a technical background.
[On Screen] Lauren speaking: “I think that with...
4 tags
I just bought a huge GameBoy / I don't know what...
(Photo: cype_applejuice)
I wrote a pretty positive review of the iPad a few weeks ago for the CU Independent where I gave into Apple’s claims of how magical the iPad is and all of that bullshit…
Now I’m eating my words.
The honeymoon phase has worn off with me and my iPad and I’m bored. At first it was cool, like one of those computers from Minority Report or Avatar....
5 tags
Startup Weekend Boulder - Feel Awesome
Hey everybody. Hope your weekend is going well.
I’m currently knee deep in Startup Weekend Boulder, starting a company called Feel Awesome. It’s an iPhone app and/or an SMS-based service that’s accessible to anyone who owns a cell phone.
Feel Awesome is all about personal tracking for personal growth. We want to help you keep track of your short term and long term goals, your...
9 tags
Do travel websites change their prices based on...
Travel Myth: By shopping around online for the best deal on a flight, prices go up once you leave one site for another and then return to the initial site.
The idea behind travel websites changing prices lies in your browser’s cookies. For example, Delta’s website saw that you had gone to Southwest’s website after theirs and wanted to snub you for not choosing Delta’s low...
4 tags
Making WordsWithFriends a better app
In my opinion, the following features would take WordsWithFriends from a great iPhone/iPad app to an incredible app:
Don’t show the score or the first word played in a game until the other player accepts the challenge.
Tabs kept on Wins and Loses per player.
Matchmaking to pair players of similar skills together.
Remove the link to the Facebook fan page at the bottom of the iPad app.
...
Breaking: Twitter acquires Tweetie
Tweetie has perhaps become the official Twitter client. According to Mashable, Twitter has bought Atebits, the company that produces the incredible popular iPhone and desktop app Tweetie.
According to Twitter CEO Evan Williams, “Tweetie will be renamed Twitter for iPhone and made free.” Tweetie’s creator Loren Brichter will join Twitter’s mobile team.
I'm starting an iPhone applications company
Just a small announcement:
To celebrate the half-way point in my college career, I’m starting an iPhone applications company here in Boulder, Colorado. It’s called 59thirty and we’ve got some great products already in the works.
Much more to come as the weeks unfold.
4 tags
iPad Notes
I just wrote an 800+ word review of the iPad on my iPad. Here are some notes:
I hit the letter P instead of the delete key easily over 200 times.
Typing on the iPad is slow compared to my keyboard even though they’re nearly the same size.
I use less fingers to type on the iPad than I do to type on my keyboard.
I’m hesitant to write papers on the iPad, anything other than a quick...
5 tags
Multitasking has to come to (at least) the iPad
If Apple wants people to use the iPad as a computer and not as a giant iPod Touch, multitasking has to come and fast. There are too many tasks done on computers that require multiple apps.
I was working on my iPad review this morning for the CU Independent and needed to jump from Pages to Safari to look things up a few times. Pressing the home button and switching apps isn’t too time...
4 tags
