Weekly Digest Startup, Growthing Hacking, Learn to Code 2

Keywords covered in this tech and startup news digest : Twitter, Uber, Cisco, deals, recommendation engine, logo, branding, design, PR, Internet of things (IoT), Super Bowl 50 advertisement, marketing, reach, growth hack, lifehack, productivity, philosophy, Industrial Age, manufacturing design, startup work culture, yahoo developer conference, event, YUI, AWS 101 beginner getting started webinar, coding bootcamp App Academy offers bootcamp prep, pebble promotional discount 

Uber head of design steps down amidst sharp rebranding criticism. (Hashtag: Uber, startup, branding, design, logo, Fast Company, PR). 

The Twittersphere went crazy over ... Twitter, until CEO Jack Dorsey denied a report that the social-media site plans to rejigger its algorithm to make messages appear by popularity rather than chronology. That report infuriated many users who accused it of selling out to emulate Facebook. #RIPTwitter was the top trending hashtag on the site. (Bloomberg news)

Twitter signs deal with Selerity, which is responsible for leaking twitter's earning data early. Selerity can now offer a white label solution that allows users to consume tweets based on theirs interests and the relevance of the tweets automatically calculated by Selerity. For example, Selerity is smart enough to not show family vacation tweets from Xyz company CFO to those who follow him or her for earnings news and reports.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/selerity-signs-data-deal-with-twitter-2016-2?IR=T

* Cisco acquires Jasper, a Santa Clara based Internet of Things (IoT) platform

* How much is #SuperBowlAds worth per viewer? #SuperBowl #marketing #ad #freakonomics #viral http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/020116/are-super-bowl-ads-worth-their-high-cost.asp

* How an Industrial Age blue collar worker dilemma lends insight to a modern attention span issue: constantly checking emails stuns productivity. Fast Company An Industrial Age solution to email overload. (Startup culture and productivity) http://www.fastcompany.com/3056141/work-smart/an-industrial-age-solution-to-email-overload

* Yahoo developer conference Feb 18 (yahoo conference website) http://ymdcsf2016.tumblr.com

* Getting started with AWS (Amazon Web Services Pop-up Website) https://www.thinkreg.com/coral/viewWebsite.do?pageId=8a94a8b447fa4f710147ff5b0a17069e&mkt_tok

* App Academy offers pre bootcamp prep that guarantees acceptance to top selected coding bootcamp like itself (learn to code and bootcamp news).  http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/app-academy-launches-bootcamp-prep-guaranteeing-graduates-acceptance-into-the-most-selective-coding-bootcamps-in-the-world-300212633.html

Comment : not sure why that's necessary. 

* Promotions : pebble offers 28% off for two pebble time rounds for Valentine's Day and 14% off a pebble time round bundled with an accessory. 

Comment: not sure if this is really an attractive deal. pebble time round is still very expensive.  

App nation 2013 recap and productivity apps

Productivity Apps
These are my personal opinions on productivity apps. Please critique make suggestions! Would love to hear from you.


Task Management Productivity
NEW~ Shoots&Leaves reviewed: could it be the developer friendly todo / task management that hackers always wanted? 

An app that I always wanted: turns a photo snapshot of the moment into a reminder / clipboard text / todos even markdowns! This is got to be a developer favorite. I am still testing it but wrote my review already, because the hacker friendliness
My review: One of my productivity finds. I always take picture info/task for myself but they easily get lost in the cameraroll. I like this app for allowing me to upload to imgur right away or to Dropbox if I want to be private. I don't think I have to give it permission to access my cameraroll, a privacy plus of course. Most fun of all it allows templating, a mustache like coder friendly syntax that allows dynamically forming texts: Read {{title}} by EOD {{url}} . Or even markdown! Win. Still testing 5 star for now, working and not crashing
The name seems to be spin of the popular yet humorous grammar, writing and etiquette book Eats, Shoots & Leaves (do you know what it means? ;-)
Wunderlist
Fast speed yet powerful todo list management with recurring task scheduling (a big productivity boost), categorization, star/favoriting, reminder and clock. Easy to use across all Mac and Apple mobile platforms. Drag and drop features.
Asana
For embodying agile development practice, task prioritization and management with easy drag and drop and also reprioritization / reordering. Keyboard smart, can reduce mouse clicking.
Logistics Productivity
Fancy Hands +Fancy Hands
I like Fancy Hands because it is a subscription plan for a number of fixed requests each month. Say I pay $25 dollars for a 5 request plan, making it a merely $5 dollars per request. It is incredible! The staff is US based, and English-speaking, which can be very helpful in certain geo-specific tasks and tasks that require cultural backgrounds like passion for the super bowl.  The most important part is that I don't have to hire by the hour, or negotiate the rate / quote for each task. If I have time for that logistics, I didn't have to get a virtual assistant help in the first place.

Fancy Hands review - affordable efficient virtual assistants
Career Productivity
Levo resume
A women friendly and aesthetically pleasing free resume builder tool made by a classy virtual community online +Levo League  that aims to promote women's career successes! It's enjoyable to use.

Levo League Resume Builder Phone App
Social Network Productivity
Using private social media networks like Path +Path
I use Path because it is intimate. I can tone down my sharing filter instead of worrying intensely about PR and impact. It auto shares (given permission) some of my social data like geolocation, sleep time, status and views, saves me time. It allows me to share contents like music and books, saves a lot of explanations.

Path -  a private social network
Coding Productivity
AirPair +Air Pair
I use AirPair to level up after attending code school and attending hackathons. It allows me to meet one-on-one with an expert and get a high quality session tailored to my needs. Will write a guest blog post on airpair about it soon! I can imagine AirPair is also good for developers learning new technologies but already are busy with projects at hand or have their billable hours filled up. This is a quick efficient to get started.

AirPair - pair programming and coding for developer productivity
Mental Storage and Information Management Productivity
Evernote (link to premium only, normal signup use evernote.com)
I use Evernote to manage my forever growing knowledge and skill notes. As I study more and more coding, trying to stay on top of business and marketing, I need memory and storage. Evernote is lightweight and works everywhere. I use the premium plan for massive uploads and OTC recognition - an effort to digitize all my documents to reduce cluster. Evernote was famously described as the external brain. We definitely need one in this information age.
Same Day Delivery Services if you value your time
Department store shopping like Toys R Us Lowe's  - eBay Now
Mini food catering and satisfying tapioca / boba or Philz coffee cravings  promo code fpt2 for $10 delivery credit.


Reading and information consumption productivity
Pocket
Easy to use mobile apps and webpage views, can archive and favorite, tag at ease. Light weight, fast yet powerful. Bonus: smart reading features like Recommended Reading, Long Read vs Short Read Classification
Financial Management Productivity
BillGuard
I'm still testing this one out but so far I like  it's lighter weight than minted, I can use Credit Cards only features. Swipe and fast archive, action, labeling features. Quickly check if bills are reasonable. Automated smart engine tells you if others have flagged a particular transaction.

From the news
Fast Company Recaps the best apps of 2013
Fast Company Work Smart section












x

11 Worthy Tech and entrepreneurship info bites for entrepreneurs and hybrid hackers

In no particular order ...the cream of hot topics in silicon valley for hybrid hackers, business "savages" and founders, entrepreneurs. These are breadcrumbs I picked up as an avid Silicon Valley reader...recommended reading bytes ...

Topics covered #stripe #justinesacco +Khan Academy  +KISSmetrics  #coworking #blog #obamacare +KQED News

1. Stripe API design q&a on quora.com http://www.quora.com/Stripe-company/Who-designed-the-Stripe-API
2. Social media PR slip turned disastrous - a social media cautionary tale http://mashable.com/2013/12/20/justine-sacco/
3. And she is sorry http://abcnews.go.com/International/justine-sacco-fired-tweet-aids-africa-issues-apology/
4. Khan academy hour of code page and tutorials written by the team including Pamela Fox a famous developer of the bay area. Uses simplified code language, unique to Khan Academy, to facilitate hands-on teaching 
5. Khan Academy courses on entrepreneurship, interview with entrepreneurs: Founder Sal Khan interviews Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and PayPal https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/entrepreneurship2/interviews-entrepreneurs/elon-musk/v/elon-musk
6. Making the most out of coworking space http://m.entrepreneur.com/article/230446
7. Conversion optimization case studies by kissmetrics http://blog.kissmetrics.com/100-conversion-optimization-case-studies/
8. A blog to follow: avc.com a VC in NYC http://www.avc.com/
9. Stanford classmate Leslie Wu 's rendition of the 23rd chapter of Book of the Psalms begins with “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” almost gave me happy goose bumps. Can't describe the feeling when hearing something like a droid reciting the bible for the first time. It's just bizarre http://engineering.stanford.edu/research-profile/algorithms-meet-art-code-poetry-slam-held-stanford