#btbits

In case you missed the last BT Bits where I highlighted some great products like Newsle, Billguard, and Postmates, be sure to check it out!

BT Bits is a monthly write-up, where I will highlight some of my favorite products that I have been using and think others might like as well. It will be a mix of products and services, from new technologies to products that are really hitting their stride. I will also feature a few great reads that I highly recommend.

Nuzzel - Not to be confused with last post’s Newsle (that provides “News about your network”), Nuzzel is providing you “news from your friends.” Nuzzel plugs into your social accounts and curates the top stories shared by your friends and people you follow via an email digest (and now iPhone app as well). I’ve been using the service for some time now, and while it is a simple concept, I think it is very powerful. The people/pages/brands that users choose to follow on Twitter are some of the best indicators of their interests and preferences. As such, a list of the top-shared items are then highly tailored toward these interests. Especially for those people who only check Twitter on occasion but would like to stay in the loop about the most popular stories flying through their homepages, Nuzzel is definitely worth a try! Sign up here.

Moves - The “Wearable Movement” so to speak, which fits into the whole “Quantified Self” wave and terminology relating to a more self-aware and technology connected individual, is upon us. There’s fluffy terminology and many new apps and devices that keep popping up (Fitbit, Jawbone UP, Nike Fuelband, Sleep Cycle, etc.), but really this movement is about being more in tune with various data points from our bodies: how many steps we take, how many hours we sleep (and how deep that sleep is), etc. I think the devices are very cool and evolving as they should, but since I wear a watch I am not keen to add another item to my wrist. Thus, Moves is a very simple and effective way to play in the space. The mobile app runs in the background in my pocket and tracks my steps and running distances on any given day. I’ve also liked it for checking what time I may have left somewhere or arrived as it shows a timeline and location of your moves.

The inclusion of the M7 chip (motion tracking) in the last iPhone update is another big step toward the iPhone being the only “wearable” you need. I think that until a host of Apple-developed apps pop up to do this sort of tracking even better for us, Moves is a great app to use. Get Moves here.

[The recent acquisition of Moves by Facebook might creep people out, but if anything we should start to realize that these socially connected applications will improve the functionality and our experiences as opposed to be a hindrance to our privacy (a longer post for another time on the merits and concerns of a Digital Utopian society).] 

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These next few apps I will rattle off because they are the most DUH! apps that I have written about. Basically, if you do not have these apps on your phone, go to the Appstore and download them, yesterday.

Dropbox - There are many applications for this great cloud storage app, and everyone has heard of it by now, but the feature I want to mention is the Camera Upload. Download Dropbox, turn on Camera Upload, and all of your photos will be sitting in the cloud. Don’t be that person who loses your phone and loses your pictures from the day before. It’s easy, download Dropbox. (Apple recently announced the new iCloud Photo Library for iOS 8, designed for pictures as well, so we will see if that will be a worthwhile update for solving this pain point in the fall). Download Here

Spotify - I was late to the game here, but this is certainly the music app of the future. Download the free version first, then start paying for it when you realize it’s more than worth the money! All music you want, on-demand, shared playlists with friends. It’s the natural evolution of iTunes and Apple can maybe get there soon with their Beats Music acquisition, but it is always a challenge to strategize a cannibalization one of your own industry disrupting businesses. Download Here

Uber -- Since I’m playing Captain Obvious here, there is an $18B private company that you should be opening every time you need to consider transportation in a crowded city. Download Uber. And now you get double points when you enroll your AMEX, #AMEXUBER, and can use points to pay. No brainer here: Download Here

~~~ Some good reads:

They say lightning doesn't strike twice, but have you heard of Expedia? And Zillow? And Glassdoor?... Rich Barton is a serial entrepreneur for the record books, having co-founded and advised (too) many industry disrupting and category defining companies. What's remarkable about his success is that he looked at the web in its infancy and said, there will be categorical disruption every time you use the internet and new technologies to add the "transparency layer" to the web. That is, in giving visibility and powerful, open data directly to the consumer, you will not only be providing extremely critical information but will also be creating an insanely valuable business that only grows more defensible over time. Updated and transparent flight prices, home prices, workplace reviews... he also applied this model to law (with Avvo), to cosmetic surgery (with RealSelf)... Extremely Impressive.

You can learn more about this perspective and what he looks for in "Power to the People" Startups video and The Art of "Something from Nothing". Check out his newest Q&A from today. 

In case you missed the last BT Bits where I highlighted some great products like Spritz, Pocket, Plated, and Wealthfront, be sure to check it out!

BT Bits is a monthly write-up, where I will highlight some of my favorite products that I have been using and think others might like as well. It will be a mix of products and services, from new technologies to products that are really hitting their stride. I will also feature a few great reads that I highly recommend.

Without further ado:

Newsle: “News about your Network”

Newsle is a great product still in beta that has been extremely useful to me. You connect with LinkedIn or Facebook, and it will send email alerts of mentions of your friends/connections in the news. I receive it as a digest and have gotten great use out of it, keeping me in the loop about friends’ blog post, funding announcements, etc. When you discover cool things that you would have missed otherwise, you will be very happy about the service. 

Stay in the loop about your network, be a vigilant friend. Check it out at: www.newsle.com

BillGuard:

Billguard is a well-designed personal finance mobile application that helps you monitor your spending. You sync your credit cards and are able to follow along as your charges come in, swiping them away in approval. Plus, BillGuard is able to help you fight fraudulent or mistaken charges right through the app. There are also analytics about the spending and comparisons month to month. 

BillGuard is basically a reminder of how you have been spending that also can help if needed. Instead of constantly checking my statements, I swipe away charges as they come, being alerted much faster if there are any issues to address. 

It is free, and sort of addicting, which is a great habit for consumer behavior. Give it a try and stay on top of your spending.

www.billguard.com

Postmates:

Postmates is a local delivery service currently live in SF, Seattle, NYC, DC, and Chicago. Their team of local couriers will pick up from any store or restaurant. Using their mobile app, you search for a place (or can browse suggestions) and then make a list of items to be picked up, or some restaurants have items from the menu listed as well. You will then be able to track your postmate (delivery guy/gal) through the entire journey. All of the payment is handled through the app. Simple, on-demand local logistics.

The delivery fee starts at $5 and depends on the distance from pick-up to drop-off. There is also a 9% service fee applied to items that are purchased.

Thus, prices do vary widely, but Postmates opens up a whole new radius for delivery and can be extremely helpful in a crunch. I have had good experiences thus far and would recommend.

While it is notable that Uber has announced their own courier service UberRUSH in NYC, I think there will still be plenty of room for the lower price point and greater flexibility currently offered by Postmates. From what I am hearing, the Postmates experience is far superior.

Use my referral code to get $10 delivery fee credit: "17qd"

www.postmates.com

Some Good Reads:

In a special version of things to read, I am happy to put an aural twist by highlighting a weekly podcast called The Influencer Economy. Hosted by marketing mind Ryan Williams, The Influencer Economy is a podcast, on which Ryan interviews makers and creators who have launched successful businesses online. The conversations are lively, and he has had some very interesting guests. 

One to highlight is from a couple weeks back where he interviewed Jamie Wilkinson, CEO of VHX a direct distribution platform for entertainment (Film, TV, Music, etc.) that has created a powerful way for makers/performers/producers/etc to sell directly to their audience.

You should definitely subscribe and share it out. 

Other solid reads:

What Does the Recent Tech Stock Downturn Mean? The Truth is Nobody Knows via Recode

One-Sentence Financial Rules via The Motley Fool

I am pleased to announce a new column here on Blue & Tuesday. I apologize for the hiatus and am appreciative of the encouragement from readers to resume.

BT Bits will be a rundown of a few products or features I find interesting or would want to recommend to folks who do not closely follow these things. Certainly, BT Bits will include "old news" to the tech-obsessed, but I intend to show items that I have been excited about or have been getting particular value from that I would be happy to recommend (to anyone from your kid brother to your tech-illiterate parent). It will be a mix of products and services, from new technologies to products that are really hitting their stride. 

I will also include a few good reads that I would highly recommend. Because it's the first one, I decided to blow it out, but in the future posts will be even shorter. Read a few blurbs or the whole thing -- I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Be sure to subscribe if you are interested in staying in the loop as I will start to push around a newsletter. Share with whomever!

Here goes:

Spritz - If you did not see the wave of media attention earlier this month about Spritz, then get excited for what is to come. This technology has optimized speed reading by displaying one word at a time in rapid succession, allowing for greatly increased productivity (reading 500+ word per minute!). I know this will be integrated in android first but I will be extremely excited for the day that I can hold my finger down at the top of any paragraph, click "Read with Spritz," and cruise through a 1,500 word article in less than 3 minutes. See it in action in the footnotes below.(1)

Plated - For the regular (or casual) cook looking to avoid the weekly trip to the supermarket, Plated is offering an extremely compelling service. Plated will ship you pre-portioned, fresh ingredients from new recipes updated weekly. Right now, you can choose between 7 dishes that are a mixture of vegetarian and meat options (minimum of 4 plates per order, $15 or $12/plate). You have to order in advance, but with multiple delivery days, the company will continue to optimize around this.(2) Plated takes the extra thought and preparation out of cooking at home, making it so easy to jump right in. I have particularly enjoyed it as a way to coordinate cooking with friends even amidst a busy schedule: just pick your dishes/delivery date, come home to your pre-portioned ingredients, (open the vino), and get to work. My family has all enjoyed it as well. Give it a try!

My referral link should make a couple dishes free - CHECK IT OUT

Pocket - Pocket is where it's at. For those of you New Yorkers still frustrated about not having service on the subway, get ready for a great experience. Pocket (formerly "Read It Later") is your ultimate reading list/bookmarking tool. As someone who is always finding articles that I cannot read in realtime, I am constantly relying on Pocket to "back me up." I either click the Pocket button in my browser or email any link to [email protected] (love that feature) and it will magically appear in the Pocket app on my phone, pre-downloaded and ready to read offline. Subway rides are now my best time for checking things off my reading list.

I have been using the product for years now and it has been getting better and better. Tags, search functionality, fast (in the background) downloading -- and it's still early days. Future leveraging of this data and other personalization elements could be extremely valuable. Do yourself a favor: www.getpocket.com

Wealthfront - The barriers to quality personal finance are getting lower and lower. No longer do you need to have hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to invest to get quality investing services and financial management. Instead of paying a financial advisor an insane amount of fees to perform in line with the market, companies like Wealthfront have created automated services to give you a diverse investment portfolio (with rebalancing as needed). It's hands-off, set it and forget it, and it's exactly what the new investor or the uninvolved investor needs. You take a small survey about your financial state/outlook to develop a risk profile, and then they invest for you accordingly across US stocks, emerging markets, muni bonds, natural resources, etc. (3)

Wealthfront will charge a small percentage monthly for any amount above $10K in your account but will not charge for any trading fees that may occur from rebalancing.

Plus, they offer $5K expansion of the no-fee trading limit for every friend you add to the platform... So, what are you waiting for?: Check it.

Some good reads:

First and most notable here is the awesome article aggregator/daily newsletter, Jason Hirschhorn's MediaREDEF. [not same Jason I was Bar Mitzvah'd with ;)] This has quickly become an industry MUST-READ. The email newsletter is thorough and covers all topics related to tech and media and pop culture, whether it's anything entertainment industry (TV, digital, music, distribution) to great tech blog posts to bitcoin (really, you will never miss any piece of bitcoin news if you subscribe). As much as I would love to read it all if I had the time, I am diligent about skimming daily and picking of few articles to add to my Pocket (right from the email, great feature) to read later. I really like that I often find articles in the letter that I have already seen. It continually confirms that he's putting together the content I want to see and also reinforces that it will be a good read (if I have yet to check it off my list). Sign up for the email here: www.mediaredefined.com (4)

The Bershire Hathaway annual letter came out. It's great. I was late to this but am glad to have found. I will be going through the archives no doubt. Warren also notably advises simple-minded portfolio distribution: over the long term, 90% in an index fund such as Vanguard 500 and 10% in cash. Ready for your Wealthfront?

On that same note, here is a great elaboration on Business Insider on How To Invest $100, $1000, or $10,000 

Lastly, a very important addendum to my Bitcoin post from this time last year. While I still do not own any bitcoin and am skeptical of it as a store of currency, I cannot deny the fascination and power of a decentralized network and more importantly the payment protocol that is Bitcoin. As the internet protocol disrupted the flow of information, so too can the bitcoin network for payments. The closing of Mt. Gox and the smart money going into companies building in the space should ultimately make the ecosystem that much more powerful. The jury is still out, but I will enjoy watching what happens.

The must read: Marc Andreessen on Why a Bitcoin Matters.

Thanks for reading! Subscribe here.

Footnotes:

(1) Jump in to high speed reading

500 words per minute:

(2) While the price point is a bit high compared to DIY, the no-thought and new recipes make it a really great experience to just jump into the cooking. Notable alternatives are Blue Apron (pick vegetarian or meat and get 3 recipes weekly, 6 dishes min. - no choice here about which dishes, but people are also loving) and HelloFresh.

(3) Many companies have been popping up in the space, and I am excited about all of them as I think the market is huge and everyone can benefit from better experiences and more options. I have really enjoyed Wealthfront and know it is still early for them as the AUM has been growing exponentially. Betterment is another notable alternative. As are Personal Capital and SigFig which add in Mint-like financial analysis tools as well as these investing/portfolio management services.