The TechBistro

Box Projection Mapping

A year or so ago I posted a video about projection mapping, and it's incredible to see how much this technology has advanced. 

The Internship: True of False

First of all, it’s important to note that I was not a summer Google intern. Nor was I an engineering intern (like many Google interns). I interned in marketing from January to May during the school year, and had a different experience. Summer interns get to know each other through group activities and trips. Beyond grabbing lunch a couple times, I didn't really interact with the other interns, since there were only a few at the time. So, my thoughts on The Internship speak more to what the movie gets right and wrong about the general culture at Google as opposed to specific Google intern activities.

Warning: This post includes a few spoilers.

Washed up salesmen can swing a Google interview… False.

The most far-fetched part of the movie isn't that Vaughn and Wilson get hired after their terrible (and humorous) interview. It’s understandable, although highly unlikely, that based on the interview they were accepted as interns. The most unrealistic thing is that they get the interview in the first place. Tens of thousands of qualified people apply to Google internships every year, and a very small percentage end up getting an interview, let alone an offer.

The Google campus looks like a rainbow village… True.

You may have noticed that Google looks similar to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. The Internship’s colorful and playful depiction of the Googleplex is not an exaggeration. There are plastic flamingos inside dinosaur skeletons. There are arcade rooms in most buildings. Employees cover their laptops with red, yellow, and green Google stickers. And there is even a rainbow-colored walkway in The Quad, the area where I worked.

Google has free food and massages... True.

From state-of-the-art gym facilities to free gourmet meals, Google treats its employees very well. And Googlers take advantage of all the perks. During my internship, I used the free laundry service, slept in the nap pods, and stuffed my face with snacks from the office micro kitchens (I definitely gained the “Google 15").

Google employees are all nerdy, and in their 20s... False.

Lyle, the super young, smart, and socially impaired team mentor is not an accurate representation of the average Google employee. First, not all Googlers are in their mid-20s. In fact, the average employee age is 31. And second, most everyone I met during my internship were not socially awkward. However, I worked in the marketing department, which attracts a certain personality type. I was told that some of the engineers were stereotypically not particularly good communicators.

All Google interns have programming knowledge... False.

In the movie, the first task assigned to the interns is to find a bug in some program. Everyone, except the befuddled Vaughn and Wilson, began furiously writing lines of code to try and find the problem. This is definitely a false scenario. Not all interns are programmers. For instance, I had no prior programming knowledge before arriving at Google.

Google interns are stressed out... Sort of.

Google interns are not competing against each other for a set number of jobs as the movie portrays. Interns are placed into teams with full-time Googlers. If they do excellent work throughout the internship, their managers will likely recommend them to be hired by People Ops (Google’s HR department). However, that’s easier said than done. And for all the free massages and haircuts, you still feel the pressure... Or at least I did.

Interning at Google was a somewhat stressful experience because from the beginning you are not treated like an intern, you’re treated like a full-time employee. My managers gave me a lot of responsibility and ownership of several core tasks. The stress came from knowing that if I misspelled a word in a piece of copy or didn't localize an email blast correctly, thousands (if not millions) of people would see my mistake.

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson would get job offers... True.

Many parts of The Internship are exaggerated and flat out untrue, but its main message rang true. At the end, the internship program director offers Vaughn, Wilson, and their team jobs because they exhibited “Googliness.” This is not a word the writers created. This is a word used all the time at Google. It is hard to define, but it basically means being collaborative, a passionate worker, a leader, and a nice and friendly individual. Vaughn and Wilson encompassed all those traits, in addition to being the quickest learners and seemingly the best communicators.

Find Me on Medium

Not Home

The word home conjures up thoughts and feelings of relaxation, safety, and privacy. Facebook Home is not any of those things. The last thing I want to look at when I wake up every morning, or whenever I take my phone out, is my home screen intruded by posts from my Facebook "friends" about their current Farmville level or their views on gun control laws.

Be Afraid... Be Very Afraid

Lots of people consider Silicon Valley's acceptance of failure as one of the main reasons why it continues to produce successful companies. And before I lived in the Bay Area, I thought that cultural aspect was great, and I still value it for the most part. It’s awesome that motivated entrepreneurs can get second and third chances. And it's great that people have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes (almost all successful entrepreneurs failed many times before they hit it big). However over the past month, after talking with startup founders and VCs, I’ve realized that this acceptance has gone too far. VCs have said they’d rather back founders with multiple failures than ones who have histories of success. I’ve heard people praise each other for their failures, like it’s a badge of honor or something. But the most disturbing thing to me is the general sentiment that it’s no big deal if you fail. You can just start again. And if you again after that, no problem, start over. There’s no fear…

I think it is extremely important to have a fear of failure. Failure is a part of life that we all experience, but so is fear. In fact, having a fear of failure is an important aspect of having a drive to succeed. When professional athletes are asked where their drive to win comes from, a common answer is that they just hate losing so much, not that they love the benefits of winning. 

The best example I can think of comes from the most recent Batman film. For those who haven’t seen it, Batman was captured by the villain, Bain, and placed in a prison that is located deep within a pit. It is considered to be the worst prison in the world because it gives the prisoners a false sense of hope. The inmates are given the freedom to try and scale the walls of the pit, and if they succeed, they are set free. They can try as many times as they want, because they are roped in so they don’t plummet to their death. But as you might guess, it is an impossible climb. Batman tries over and over, but can’t make it out of the hole.

The turning point happens when an old man in the prison tells Batman that the only way to make it out is to not use the rope. The rope was removing Batman’s fear of failure. So when Batman tries to climb out of the pit the next time, he declines the assistance of the rope. Batman realizes midway through the climb that he must succeed. He must scale the walls successfully or he will fall to his death. It is through this drive, that he makes it out of the pit. Now of course this is just a movie, but there is some definite truth in this story. And the lesson can be applied to many areas.

Unlike the Silicon Valley, some cultures have taken the fear of failure much too far. For example, I spent last summer in Korea. Failure is so despised and feared in Korean culture that if one fails, it not only destroys their professional life… it also ruins their personal life. It’s not a coincidence that South Korea has the highest suicide rate in the world. This is a major reason why there isn't a startup culture in South Korea. But like many places around the world, traditional ways are dissolving.

It’s obviously about finding a balance. Having the guts to take the risk of becoming an entrepreneur and disrupting markets should be valued. This is a big reason why the Silicon Valley is still the center of innovation in the world today. People are willing to take risks for products they believe in. But again, I find that a lot of entrepreneurs don’t have any fear in them. And it’s not because they believe their ideas and products are so good there’s no chance of failure. It’s because they feel that if their companies fail, they can just start over again.This also leads to people giving up on their ideas much too early, and not persevering through challenges. This is not only bad for founders, it's also not fair to the investors who backed them. I think founders are responsible for giving it a top effort, especially if they are receiving outside funding. 

Hardware. Then Software

The video above is kinda long, but I think it's worth it to watch all the way through. I don't know if the designers in the film predicted the future exactly (in fact, almost certainly they got a lot wrong), but I think they hit on an insightful point.

About halfway through, the designers start talking about how everything will be connected and will emit digital data... what they call "The Internet of Things." For example, the chair you're sitting on will be connected to the cloud, where data will be streaming about how your sitting, what locations on the chair are bearing the most weight, what the room temperature is, etc. 

To me, this means hardware makers have a huge opportunity in the near future. Every physical object has the potential to be manipulated in a way where it can be made to produce data to the internet. 

But the long run potential lies in software. When all these objects are producing data, software companies will be able to create products to interpret this vast amount of data... which will almost surely lead to improvements in these objects. 

Designing for Markets

I was reading an article today about the diversity of users in newly launched publishing platforms. It focused on three websites: Svbtle, Medium, and App.net. The basic message was that most of their users are white males, and that early adopters of technology in the U.S. seem to be, again, white and male. The article had a good point, but I think it missed out on an important insight. Maybe the reason why white males are the predominant demographic for these sites is because of their design. All three have similar typefaces, personalities, and an overall minimalist design. 

Thinking back to my time in South Korea last summer, I remember being in a marketing workshop with KIA Motors' CMO, Claire Chai. She said that it's critical that your products/services are designed for specific markets, even if it means distributing a product with multiple designs. KIA spends a lot of money on surveys and polls in order to understand buyer preferences. It turns out that American car buyers' design preferences differ greatly from the preferences of Korean consumers. This difference in preferences applies to all products, in all consumer markets globally. During this workshop we even looked at data on how East Asian consumers react to minimalist designs. The data showed that most Chinese and Koreans (mixed in Japan) don't like it, as opposed to Americans. Just look at the popular websites in China, they're extremely cluttered. (Here and here are two informative links to understand how culture and other factors play an important role in web design preferences)

So, maybe Svbtle, Medium, and App.net are unknowingly designing their products exclusively for white males (that's why I like all three, and I'm white and male). It's hard to blame them: the founders of all three are white males, they are surrounded by white males during the work day, and they live in the U.S. If these blogging platforms want to gain traction and appeal to a broader consumer market, they need to redesign or vary their product to meet the preferences of specific markets...

Votizen is Dangerous

I think there is a lot of potential for technology to positively disrupt the political process, and since it's an election year, I've been recently checking out politics-based tech startups. The one that is growing the fastest is called Votizen. Votizen is a service that allows users to discover how their friends on social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) will be voting in upcoming elections. From there it encourages users to band together and campaign for their candidates by promoting them through social media. 

On the surface this seems like a great product. It attempts to increase voter participation rate, which in the past U.S. Presidential election was only around 57%. It also aims to reduce the role of money in campaigning, which I'm all for.

Restaurant Paging Buttons

R.I.P. Mobile Numbers

Mobile numbers are dying. In the very near future, instead of seeing a phone number when you exchange business cards you'll see a username. Why? Because there is no longer a need for telephone numbers. There are two reasons for this. First, calling plans sold by wireless communication companies (AT&T, Verizon, etc.) are on a major decline. And second, texting is dying out thanks to the smartphone boom. In fact, I'll bet that texting plans won't be around in the next couple years. This may surprise you given that it is currently a 20 billion dollar market, but hear me out. 

Push Notifications

Smartphones are wireless providers' best and worst friend. In the short run, the creation of the data plan for smartphones has boosted sales enormously. However, in the long run, these data plans will almost surely lead to the elimination of texting. Smartphone data plans allow users to push notifications, short bursts of text that alert the recipient, from Facebook, Twitter, and email (among other messaging services). This essentially serves the same purpose as texting did in the 1990s and early 2000s. Apple has jumped on this trend by allowing users to use iMessage between all their devices (Macbook, iPhone, etc.). And other companies are beginning to follow this model. 

Competing Services

The emergence of data plans has also led to many upstart competitors in the messaging industry. There are now many applications on the mobile app markets that offer free messaging through data consumption. In Korea, nobody buys texting plans anymore. They use an app called Kakao Talk. And instead of buying an international texting plan from AT&T when I went abroad this summer I downloaded WhatsApp, a cross-platform instant messaging app that currently holds the top spot on the Apple App Store. When I was in Hong Kong everyone was using an app called Weixin, a Chinese calling and messaging app that has over 100 million users! Even at school I rarely text anymore. My friends and I use another free app called GroupMe. 

Wireless providers have identified this decline in texting and have tried to combat it by changing their packages. But, this is only slowing the process. To stop the bleeding they need to bust out those defibrillator paddles and get creative in competing with services like Kakao Talk and WhatsApp. If not, they can say goodbye to all the revenue produced by texting messaging plans (which is about a third of their total revenue). 

However, don't count AT&T and Verizon out just yet. Here are some possibilities for how they will compete (and make up for their eventual losses) in the future:

Jacking up the prices for data plans to compensate for the losses in text messaging. In addition to offering a wider variety of data packages

Starting to develop their own messaging services to compete on the mobile marketplaces

Expanding their data networks to more countries as smartphones become more prevalent globally

Transitioning to another sector entirely, for example cloud computing. 

Calling is in the same boat as texting. Services like Skype will eventually overtake the market. The data seems to be proving this right with the average amount of mobile phone calls per year peaking in 2007, and have been steadily decreasing ever since. 

So as you can see, mobile calls and texting are doomed, which in turn means mobile numbers will become worthless. But don't shed any tears; it's a good thing they are dying. Think about it. Telephone calls were poorly designed in the first place. When you call someone you have no idea if they are available to talk or not. And isn't it annoying getting calls when you are busy? That's why now people normally check if someone can talk by chatting, texting, or emailing them. This just proves that traditional voice calls are an inefficient way to communicate. I believe this whole issue is solved by services like Skype that revolve around member status. It won't be long before everyone has some sort of video chat on all the time. 

Carbonmade's Fun and Engaging Design

A few days ago I stumbled upon a really awesome website called carbonmade.com. Carbonmade is a webapp that provides artists and designers to show all their works and projects in one place. Carbomade has one of the best website designs I've ever seen. Its fun and cartoony style is definitely unique and unforgettable. Here are some thoughts, since I haven't reviewed a website in a while:

Speed: The pages loaded very quickly despite the amazing amount of pictures and other graphics.

Design: Of the highest quality in my opinion. I just hope serious designers and artists aren't turned off by the goofy copy and illustrations... Although, I would say they're doing pretty well with their almost half a million portfolios. 

Usability: I think the beauty of this website is that it is cluttered by bizarre creatures, yet your eyes are still drawn to the important copy. 

Search Quality: There is a search bar on the project directory page. Nothing special here. 

Call to action: This site has possibly the best call to action I've ever seen. My eyes were immediately drawn to the "sign up" button wrapped in a friendly, beckoning octopus. 

Navigation: I almost enjoyed browsing the company website "about us" page as much as the project directory. 

Site Purpose: Carbonmade is great for artists and designers. However, if I were looking for a designer, it is not immediately clear that there is a project directory where I can browse and contact artists. I'm assuming most artists and designers just post links to their portfolios. 

I think it's cool that the website is designed in a very informal way, yet the actual application is very sleek and serious. Well done Dave Gorum and the Carbonmade design team. 

Initial Thoughts on Airtiming

Today was the launch of Airtime. Airtime is a live video chat service designed by Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning (Napster bros). In this post I’m not going to talk about how it works or its specific features. Go read the MSNBC article, CNET, or whatever for that info… This post is more about my general impressions after spending a couple hours chatting with strangers on the Airtime platform with my friends.

First thought: “Wow, as much as I thought I would end up hating this, I’m actually having fun meeting interesting people. But, I’ll only continue thinking this as long as the people stay cool and interesting. I didn’t encounter any morons or immature jerks today (unlike other video chat sites). This will inevitably change as the word gets out.”

Second thought: “This is a great way to promote your product; in my case, this blog. Airtime is an excellent way for entrepreneurs to tell people about their product or service, and make important connections. Well, at least for now, as long as the clothes stay on.”

Third thought: “This ain't gonna last. Yes, linking identities to facebook profiles will deter some, but it won’t take long for people to simply start creating multiple accounts. Yes, I've heard all about Airtime's advanced recognition program, but people will find a way to circumvent the protection barriers. When there's a will, there's a way.”

So these are just a few first impressions. I truly hope it doesn’t evolve into Chatroulette or Omegle, I really do… But, in all likelihood, it’s doomed.  

Zulily and Email Marketing

For about a year I have been a subscriber of the daily deal websites Groupon, LivingSocial, and Zulily. Along with getting sweet deals, I have been interested in seeing how they advertise through their daily emails, which are a key element of every internet flash sale companies. These emails usually tell subscribers about the hot deals of the week. 

Unlike Groupon and LivingSocial, Zulily caters to a specific demographic... pregnant women and mothers. You may be asking yourself why I have an account on their site, given that I am neither a mother nor pregnant... Well, Zulily has grown exceptionally fast since it started back in 2010. Its revenue last year was over $150 million and its valuation is now reported to be over $700 million. As Zulily thrives, most other deal sites are gradually fading. So, I was just curious to see what Zulily was doing to be so successful. 

I think part of their success is attributed to the fact that they are selling to a niche market. It's probably pretty hard for Groupon and LivingSocial to maintain such a diverse group of users, unlike Zulily which has a self-selecting user base. Therefore, they can satisfy their customers because they know exactly what type of products they would be interested in. Another reason why Zulily is doing so well, and what I will be talking about in this post, is that their daily emails are superior. Email marketing plays a critical role in directing customers to the daily deals being offered. With more than 650 daily deal sites in the U.S. alone, people's inboxes are becoming more and more cluttered and it is becoming increasingly important to stand out... So, the following is a brief description of some basic email marketing principles and how Zulily is approaching these concepts. 

Mobile Friendly

Before I get into the principles, I want to note that more and more emails are being read on mobile devices. Some of these daily deal companies don't seem to get this. It is important to make the emails mobile friendly. I get emails all the time that are squished up in one corner of the screen or the links are tiny and hard to read. It doesn't take long for me to tap the delete key on these... It is important to include a plain text copy of every html message you send (check out the image above). The best way for companies to make sure their emails are mobile compatible is to us a mobile device simulator. Here is a good one. 

Okay let's get started...

The Subject Line

Before you worry about the content of the email, you should be working on a killer subject line title. Remember, people have to open your email before they read it, so having an engaging subject line is crucial. There are 4 parts to standing out:

Useful: The subject line leads readers to believe there's something valuable in the email

Specific: The reader know what's going to be discussed in the email

Unique: The title message is compelling and original

Timely: The reader feels a sense urgency to read the email now

Let's look at the Zulily email subject line. The length of the title caught my eye, which is pretty unique. It is specific in that it lists a couple items and how much you can save. It is useful to mothers who are looking for clothing an accessories for their children. It is not urgent though... Zulily should improve their subject line to include product deadlines. Groupon and LivingSocial often mention how long you have until the deal expires in their email's titles. 

Content and Design

After the subject line draws them in, it's all about content. I think the keys for daily deal emails are to be short and simple. Just show the current hot deals and how much time people have left. That's it. Zulily's daily email does a good job keeping the copy to a minimum and highlighting the important points, making it easily digestible for the reader. 

Where Zulily is heads above the competition is in the design and layout of their email. Zulily uses a table layout in all their emails, which I believe is the most effective design. Columns and grids separate and present content in an easy to read and a scannable way, so that readers don't have to work hard to pull your message out. But keep them concise: the max width should be around 600px. Finally (and possibly most importantly), Zulily always includes lots of kids... who doesn't love toddlers in cute clothes? 

Call to Action

However, it doesn't matter how good the deals are or how persuasive the pitch is if the email's call to action is weak. Any design mehtods you use to entice the user will be worthless if they don't know what the next step is or where they need to go. Zulily has an excellent call for action and path to purchase. Look at the email above, and see the big red "GO" button underneath the product, which leads right to the product page on the Zulily website... making it simple for readers to become customers. These buttons are especially effective for mobile users who want to get to the point. 

Customization

Another strategy that all daily deal sites use (including Zulily) is to break the company's email list into sub-lists based on previous purchases and/or demographics of contacts. This allowsthem to customize the products offered in the daily emails to better engage potential customers.

The Bottom Line

It should be every company's goal to a have their subscribers viewing their emails as a valuable source of information, rather than spam (side note; for some reason Groupon and LivingSocial emails occasionally ended up in my spam folder... Zulily's didn't). The ultimate goal of daily deal sites is to have people waiting eagerly every morning for the email to pounce on the hot deals. It seems as though Zulily has reached this goal. 

Yes, companies are advertising more and more through social media, but it is still important to communicate through email. Most people in older age demographics (you know, the people that have a majority of the money) do not have social media accounts. However, almost everybody has email. Email is still a fantastic way to keep in constant contact with prospective or past customers. 

How to Run a Successful Kickstarter Campaign 

       Kickstarter is a NYC-based crowd funding website for a mishmash of projects... The projects range from electric longboards to indie documentary films. From online fantasy comics for children to personal jellyfish tanks. Kickstarter's business model disrupts the traditional ways of receiving investment (venture capital, bank loans, etc.) by creating a marketplace for the general public to connnet directly with creators and startup companies. Project owners choose a deadline, a fundraising goal, and a selection of rewards to motivate people to fund their ideas (usually by guaranteeing the backer the product they're funding). If the target funding level is not met, then no funds are collected. It's an all or nothing strategy, but it seems to be working. 

       A recent Kickstarter project, an e-paper watch that syncs with the iPhone or Android called Pebble, currently has 44,187 backers contributing $6.5 million in pledged money. And it still has 23 days of funding left! My first pledge was to a tech product called Remee. Remee is a REM enhancing lucid dreaming mask. Yes, that’s right… Supposedly it allows you to control what happens in your dreams. If it works, it will be the best $80 I have ever spent. What I really like about this site is that it not only allows me to choose which startups to support, but also which creators I believe in.

       This sounds great, right?! Well, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Only about 55% of projects on Kickstarter get funded. So what makes some projects successful and others fail? It has to do with using the right strategy… This is where Kickstarter is so groundbreaking, and this is what really interests me. I think Kickstarter has opened the door a crack, just enough to get a glimpse of the future of product development and marketing. Here are some things I see:

The informational video makes or breaks the project. The most important key to success is having a powerful, passionate, and creative video. Most browsing Kickstarter only view the videos and do not read the product description. The video also takes up prime real estate on the project page. Project leaders need to tell a story about the problem, how they thought up the idea to solve the problem, the creative process of pursing the idea, and how potential backers can help fulfill their dream by pledging. The most popular items are not always the best or most innovative products, but they do have the highest quality videos... Oh also remember to keep it under 3 minutes…

Project leaders need to present themselves as an average person… People want to relate to the creators and back them as if they were helping a neighbor. Think about presidential campaigns… What is one of the knocks against Mitt Romney? He doesn’t seem like an average Joe. Just like in politics, people want to back people that they can connect with on a personal level. Film it in your garage or even in your backyard...

Project creators need to plan for success… Which means project teams need to estimate how many rewards they can deliver, in addition to solidifying their supply chain strategy and partnerships. Funding is only half the battle… A lot of planning has to go in beforehand in figuring out the logistics. 

When pitching a product or service on Kickstarter, there a several things to keep in mind. First, prove that the project has been well received in the past. Second, prove that you are an expert in your area. People like to be reassured that creators know what they are doing. Third, explain howthe product or service will positively affect people. This isn’t a must, but it seems that most of the popular items on Kickstarter have an altruistic aspect to them. And fourth, and most importantly, emphasize what you can do for your backers. Definitely restate how great the reward packages are.  

Push hard to reach 25% funded… Get family and friends to back your idea. Once you hit that mark, you are home free. Almost all projects that reach 25% get fully funded by the deadline. Understandably, people like seeing others pledge money before they dive in.

Lastly, the description should be passionate and make it very clear that pledging to your cause, book, or gadget will have a big impact on people’s lives. The description is definitely second to the video, but if people are truly interested in pledging to your project, they will read it.

To help with writing the description check out scripted.com... I also recommend using crowdSPRING to professionalize the video production and design of the project. 

No Time? Read it Later

Don't have time to read that New York Times article right now? Read it later with Instapaper, Readability, or Pocket. These are services that allow users cross-platform support to save web articles and other content to read later. It seems that as our lives become more busy and more information is thrown at us, we go into skimming/speed-reading mode. We can get away this on Twitter or Facebook, but there is a ton of well-written content on the internet that deserves our full attention. Unfortunately, we don't always have the time to read it. This is where Instapaper, Pocket, and Readability come in. They let you enjoy the content you want, when you want... So which one does this best? I signed up and tried out each. Here's what I came up with: 

Pros and Cons of Instapaper

Instapaper strips saved articles down to the plain text. So no more flashing ads or annoying popup interrupting your reading experience. 

Instapaper has a cool feature on the iPhone and iPad called tilt scrolling. As the name implies, the page will move up and down as you tilt your device. 

You can customize the font size and type, line spacing, margins, and the background (light and dark modes) to optimize your reading experience. 

No android app, unlike Pocket and Readability. But it does support the Kindle, iPhone, and iPad. 

The web service and browser extension is free. However, the Instapaper app costs $5... 

The design is simple... too simple. I'm all for minimalism and keeping it clean, but I find the Instapaper interface bland. However, some people really like Instapaper's design, and since it's so simple the app loads super fast. 

Instapaper has terrible tech support. It is run by one guy, Marco Arment, and he almost surely will not respond to your questions and concerns... Here is what he has to say about it. "Please not that I get a lot of email. I will definitely read what you write to me, but I cannot reply to the majority of messages I get. There's just not enough time in the day." 

I found that Instapaper didn't handle NYT or Wired articles very well, unlike Readability and Pocket. So if you are a big reader of those publications, it might be bothersome. 

Another con would be that for multi-page articles it only saves 1 page. The page you're on. 

Instapaper can't store PDF articles. 

Pros and Cons of Readability

Like Instapaper, Readability cleans up advertisement laden articles. 

Readability is free.

Just like with Instapaper, you can customize the font size and type, line spacing, margins, and the background (light and dark modes). 

I thought Readability had the best app home screen, which displays the reading list in a block style. I didn't really like the Instapaper file setup. 

Readability's interface is nice, with responsive buttons, flyover menus, and excellent typography. Readability definitely beats out Instapaper in this sense.

Due to readabilities heavy features, the app is painfully slow to load.  

Readability's subscriber policy has been heavily criticized by the tech community. It doesn't really bother me, but you can learn more about the controversy here. 

Pros and Cons of Pocket (formerly Read It Later)

It's free.

Just like Instapaper and Readability, you can customize the font size and type, line spacing, margins, and the background (light and dark modes). 

I liked that Pocket added some color to its design. Instapaper and Readability's black and white format can become tiresome. 

Pocket also treats article's photos and videos as equals. Unlike the others, Pocket allows its users to sort by articles that contain images, video, or just text. This approach integrated well with the iPad. 

With Pocket, you can also bulk edit articles from the home screen, in addition with being able to tap edit buttons within an individual article. 

Bottom Line: All three of these services work well. If you already have an account on one and have hundreds of articles saved on it, there is no use in switching. If you're starting fresh, I would recommend Pocket. I think it provides the best design and user experience both on the website and in the app. Pocket also integrates the best with mobile devices... I really liked the swipe command motions on the iPad. 

Thoughts on Facebook's Purchase of Instagram

The big news in the tech world this past week has been Facebook’s takeover of Instagram. The following are just some thoughts on the situation…

Why Facebook paid a billion dollars for Instagram

Pictures! I’m going to go as far as saying that what people love most about social media is looking at other people’s photos. The goal of every Facebook user is to make their life look unique and awesome… This is accomplished through the pictures they upload. A hard as it is to believe, Instagram filters make ordinary photos look cool. Now all of those urban, hipster photos will be flooding Facebook, for better or for worse.

Mobile Presence. The world is shifting towards mobile technology, an area Facebook is lacking in. Instagram allows Facebook a quick and easy way to integrate into the mobile world. Instagram gives Facebook people that use technology in a new and different way… 30 million of them in fact.

Employee acquisition. Facebook now gets some talented minds. In addition to some very good programmers, Instagram employees did some great market research… Apparently most people are aspiring hipster photographers.

Cover photo integration. Facebook is desperately trying to make the new timeline layout work. One new feature is the cover photo (the big picture above the profile picture). Maybe Facebook sees Instagram as a way for users to take full advantage of that space.

Squashing an upstart competitor. Perhaps Facebook viewed Instagram as a threat… I think more likely is that they view Pinterest (a rapidly growing photo sharing site) as major competition and Instagram provides a better way to compete with them. Or maybe they got wind that Google or Twitter intended to purchase Instagram and just beat them to the punch.

Information. Instagram has more than 30 million users. Through their pictures, you can see what they like and where they are located. All of Instagram’s data now belongs to Facebook… This information is especially valuable to Facebook since they thrive off of gaining and sharing user’s data.

What Facebook will actually do with Instagram

On the day Instagram was purchased, Zuckerberg’s status update said, “We’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently.” Whether they follow through with this or not is up for debate. Let’s review some of Facebook’s past purchases and their outcomes:

Gowalla, a check-in service. Result: Shut down.

Snaptu, a phone app developer. Result: Shut down.

Beluga, a group messaging service. Result: Shut down.

Do I think Facebook will terminate Instagram just as they did with the others? Probably not. I think they will stay true to their word. But they better be careful. Remember when Yahoo! bought Flickr? At the time, Flickr was a popular and growing site. Now it is gradually dying. Yahoo! took the same approach as Facebook intends to do, but after a while, they just lost interest and motivation in growing Flickr… Facebook must take this into consideration and not lose focus developing Instagram.

What we can learn from Instagram

Students are thinking “Wow, a billion dollars… I’m going to start my career in tech.” Current professionals are thinking, “Wow, a billion dollars… I’m in the wrong industry.” Tech professionals are thinking, “Wow, a billion dollars… What does Instagram have that our product/service doesn’t?” Do I think Instagram is worth a billion dollars? No (especially since the valuation was at 500 million… That’s a lot of goodwill.). However, Facebook’s valuation is at about 950 billion, so it’s not a big deal for them. Buying Instagram is like a rounding error on their books. Nonetheless, that’s in the past, all people can do now is figure out what makes Instagram such a successful product. Here are some thoughts:

A simple design wins. Instagram’s interface is super simple and uniform. Think about why people like Facebook more than MySpace. Simple and uniform.

Limited features. Instagram is not like Adobe Photoshop. It only has several simple, easy-to-use features.

Loading speed. Related to the previous point, since Instagram does not have many features, it is fast. A key to the success of a website is how fast its pages load, especially the home page. People are very impatient. The same principle applies to apps. Instagram knew this, and created a quick-loading app.