Conferencing Apps

I was recently a speaker at the 2012 Vancouver Resource Investment Conference. Its one of the biggest mining conferences in the world with over 500 exhibitors and 8000 attendees. Here are a few of the apps that I like to use when heading off to a conference.

Tungle
I'm a big believer in serendipity so I dislike taking introductory meetings at a conference. I never know what I'll learn at a conference but when I'm getting an overly detailed presentation on the end uses of an element that may never be produced by the company I'm meeting, my thoughts turn to the next thing. There's always a next thing.

When I'm presented with more than one meeting request, I tend to freeze up. I'm not good with choices. Tungle solved my "deer in the headlights" scheduling issues. I was able to share blocks of times with people who wanted to meet with me and they picked the time.

I botched the time zone component for one meeting as I live in Calgary and the conference was in Vancouver but with a more diligent user, I'm sure that problem is avoidable. It did a great job of syncing to my Google Calendar. This app does one thing very well. I'll try Doodle next time to compare.

Lanyrd
This has yet to gain traction in the resource world but an open source conference guide is a great concept. Lots of ways for speakers and attendees to share what they are up to. Currently, I'm using it to document my speaking career more than anything else. If conference organizers ever figure out the benefits of pushing this app onto their exhibitors and users, it could take off quickly. This app can only get better over time.

Cardmunch


Cardmunch is not getting better over time because processing my stack of business cards is being held up. In theory, you take a photo of your business card and a few hours later you get a contact record along with a button to push if you want to connect with them on LinkedIn. Awesome! Cards aren't quite dead in the business world.

The fruits of my conferencing labours.

I hope heavy card volumes don't kill this

Cardmunch was recently taken out by LinkedIn and while the acquisition makes great sense, fickle users are not going to like any restrictions on usage, especially following a conference (apps are all about me).  I get my business cards in large bunches so if 10 cards backs up the system, I may have to find an alternative.

Twitter

Our conference used the hashtag #VRIC12 and for the first time, I saw plenty of twitter traffic around the conference. Most of it was from speakers and exhibitors. Currently, it would be foolish to ask for twitterverse questions for a panel at a resource conference but that day is coming soon It is best to be ready. I used the ever trusty buffer to schedule tweets with this hashtag over some of the conference. 

Wikipedia Blackout - Decelerating Intelligence

There's this uneasy feeling I get when an external source of information is suddenly unavailable. Usually this happens due to connectivity issues. A bit of frustration (depending on how close a deadline is) mixed in with powerlessness. Today, however Wikipedia has "gone dark" as a protest measure against SOPA and PIPA. 


Realtime access to the world's largest encyclopedia has changed how humans interact. Our conversations are further reaching. I'm often in a group where one person takes on the role of data gatherer to fill in the factual blanks of a conversation. What other movies was that actor from the Golden Globes in? How many people live in that country? While much of this "trivia" is mindless, once in a while it provides a solid reality check on someone's unproven assertion. 


To paraphrase Eric Kim, co-founder of Twylah, if our conversations become even 1% smarter and that ability gets multiplied across the entire planet, imagine what kind of societal shifts could happen.


They're happening already. We still have conversations, we still meet friends for coffee but it is socially acceptable in many circles to use an iPad or smartphone to add factual information to a conversation. 


I agree heartily with Ray Kurzweil's take... 


Better the government shut down than Wikipedia go on strike. That would be part of my mind going on strike. Just give them [Wikipedia] whatever they want — we don’t even need to hear what it is.


Kurzweil describes the consequences of accelerating intelligence. Losing Wikipedia for a day has definitely but the brakes on.








There is still some light...

#wikipedia blackout hack. You can take a screenshot of the page you want to read if you've got gamer reflexes.
— Jim Letourneau (@JimLetourneau) January 18, 2012

Where Do Apps Come From?

Apps start out as eggs that often require incubation before setting off into the world as hatchlings. 

Forbes put together a great article on the 10 Hottest Startup Incubators. Unfortunately they opted for the slideshow model (this encourages multiple clicks on their site but I find it very slow). They also didn't provide links to the actual incubator sites. So here is the quick and dirty list compiled by Forbes. It is a great place to look for new apps that just might change your life.

1. Y Combinator - Mountain View, Calif.

2. TechStars - National

3. Excelerate Labs - Chicago, Il.

4. 500 Startups - Mountain View, Calif.

5. Capital Factory - Austin, Tex.

6. DreamIt Ventures - Philadelphia, Penn.

7. Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator - New York City

8. I/O Ventures - San Francisco, Calif.

9. Tech Wilcatters - Dallas, Tex.

10. AngelPad - San Francisco, Calif.

Simplicity Matters - Starbucks for iPhone

I like coffee. I like Starbucks. My coffee doesn't have to come from Starbucks but it often does. Starbucks has successfully pushed out gift cards that could be added to a web-based account for quite some time. The ability to transfer balances to a single card is one of my favorite features. Now I don't need to worry about losing a gift card, I immediately transfer the balance on any new card to the one in my my wallet. 

Do we really need to use cards now that smart phones have been invented? twitter.com/JimLetourneau/…
— Jim Letourneau (@JimLetourneau) December 24, 2011

...while the Cardstar app has the right idea for eliminating the need for cards, it doesn't work at gas pumps (you need to swipe a card), it doesn't work at Shoppers Drug Mart (you need to swipe a card) and often it requires manual entry of the card number. Often the scanned card number has a few extra digits that screw up the manual entry. So in the absence of a perfect card elimination solution, it is encouraging to see that one company is getting it right.

The Starbucks for iPhone app has some great options but I use it regularly to pay for coffee. I need the app to do this one thing really well...and it does. It loads quickly. I can switch from showing my balance to a scanner code and instantly pay for my coffee in most stores. My balance updates in seconds. I like the giant green thumb sized button. 


For me this app works better than the alternatives; paying with cash or fumbling around in my wallet to find my Starbucks card. I can still pay with my card or cash if I don't have my phone with me. Let me reiterate, the reason this app is a winner is that it is better than the status quo. It is easy to use and fast. 


There's a long road ahead for consumer payment options but its nice to see something better than cash or AFWC.*

*Another F*cking Wallet Card

UPDATE

My Christmas stocking included 2 Starbucks gift cards. Adding them to my main card using the app was a breeze. Transferring balances from one card to another is a simple drag and drop exercise.

Social San Francisco

Twitter is growing at around 14.4 million users a month (Jeff Bullas estimate) and they could all use a little help. If you're wondering how Twylah might change your life or why anyone would want to use Buffer for tweets or Facebook posts, I'm happy to explain. 

  

I had a Twitter brand page before Coca-Cola did. My brand is me (such as it is). 

This is my Twylah page http://tweets.jimletourneau.com. 

My tweets are separated into topical buckets. Some buckets are more interesting than others but they provide a viewer with a longer term average of things I tweet about. I'd hate to be defined by  someone reading one of my anti-Calgary Flames tweets. 

My Twylah page is on my domain so the traffic goes to me. Coca-Cola's Twitter brand page traffic goes to Twitter - http://twitter.com/CocaCola, a significant difference. My Twylah page has a Facebook Like and Google+ button. Twitter doesn't provide that to Coca-Cola. 

Most importantly, any brand page makes more sense to a new Twitter user than either a stagnant stream from a few friends or a raging torrent of Tweets from a large friend list. As Twylah's founder, Eric Kim, likes to say "My mom can understand my Twylah page." 

I thought Twylah was pretty cool and Eric was gracious enough to meet me for breakfast after my talk at the San Francisco Hard Asset Conference. There is more value than meets the eye in a Twylah page and I managed to understand most of what Eric had to say. The conversation turned to Buffer and Scoop.it and a few other apps that help make social media more efficient.  It turned out that Eric was investing in Buffer and he graciously offered to put me in touch with Joel Gascoigne and Leo Widrich of Buffer.

Buffer lets you schedule your tweets "automagically." According to their research, scheduled tweets outperform random tweet intervals by 200%. Many people find cool stuff to share during the evening. Unfortunately, the half life of a tweet is measured in minutes. Your brilliant 2AM tweets are washed away during the morning rush hour of the time zone to the right of you. Also, tweeting in bursts (which is the natural workflow for people who send tweets) is less effective than spacing them out every half hour or so. 

Joel and Leo are often homeless, country-less in fact. Joel works out of coffee shops. Leo out of an apartment. At least they did before they got kicked out of the US because they couldn't get visas. Hong Kong has coffee shops and apartments so they are moving there for a while. They are having successes and the happy accidents that are supposed to happen when you trust the universe.

I met Joel and Leo for coffee at one of their favorite hangouts that afternoon. We shared a fondness of Louis CK's "Everything is amazing right now and nobody is happy." Their enthusiasm is infectious. 

I invested, along with 18 other awesome investors. 

If you tweet, you NEED Buffer (click here)

If you want a Twylah page (click here and request an invite)

Santa's Calling - Merry Christmas to Google

The good people at Google have come up with a couple of fun holiday apps. Impress your friends by having them Google "let it snow." You'll see some snowflakes and then your screen will appear to fog up. You can then write a nice note for your loved ones like  "I ❤ U" by dragging your cursor over the fog. The best part is there are no irritating digital fingerprints.


Even better is the http://www.sendacallfromsanta.com app. Simply answer a few form questions to personalize the call. All the politically correct variants are available so don't worry about offending anyone. I tried sending one to my daughter at ~10PM and it said she might be sleeping (my daughter is 17, actually) so it does have a few quirks. 


Apps like these are meant to be used. Fire up a few browser tabs, set up your calls and send one to each member of your office team. 

White Hot Startups - Part 2

This post originally appeared on www.jimletourneau.com but I felt they belonged on an app specific blog... so I made Appsaloosa and moved them here.


The right app can change your life. If you find yourself "not getting" an app, there's a good chance that someone is working on a similar one that you will get. 

TechCrunch has unveiled a list of "private Internet companies" that Goldman Sachs thinks may IPO in the next year. I thought it would be useful to check out what these companies actually do so I've added links and a brief description of each one.

• One Kings Lane - Elegant, curated online sales 

• Peixe Urbano - Exploring the city (Brazil - site is Portugese)

• Polyvore - The best place to discover or start fashion trends

• Quantcast - It's your audience, we just find it.

• Quora - A continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it.

• Rent The Runway - Rent dresses for any occasion. 

• Rue la la - Coveted designer offerings. Private sale prices. Members only.

• Rovio - Angry Birds!

• Shopkick  - Gives you awesome deals and rewards simply for walking into your favorite stores.

• Specific Media - Innovative global interactive media company.

• Survey Monkey - Create and publish online surveys in minutes

• Square -  Start accepting credit cards today.

• TrialPay - The Leader in Transactional Advertising

• Trunk Club - Personalized clothing service for men.

• Tumblr - Feature rich and free blog hosting platform.

• Uber - Everyone's private driver

• Warby Parker - Vintage inspired eyewear. 

• WePay - The easiest way to accept payments online.

• Xoom - Send money online to friends and family.

• ZocDoc - Find a doctore and make your appointments online.

• Zoosk - World's largest social dating community.