Editor’s note: Derek Andersen is the founder of Startup Grind , a 40-city community bringing the global startup world together while educating, inspiring, and connecting entrepreneurs . I remember when the press first hit about Nest Labs, the guys behind the iPod/iPhone were taking on thermostats everywhere! A collective “huh?” went through the tech industry. It felt like the tech version of the Avengers got together to build an office park, not save the world. After sitting down with Nest co-founder Matt Rogers at Google For Entrepreneurs ‘ office a few weeks ago, I learned the backstory and vision of a company on a mission to build one of the world’s only great hardware/software companies in the world. There are hard workers, there are really hard workers, and then there are the Matt Rogers of the world. If you think you work hard, please read/watch our entire interview then reevaluate. He had a quick start with his first Mac product interactions being at age three. As a child growing up in Gainesville Florida, when asked what he wanted to be someday, Matt would respond “I want to work at Apple.” At 16 he was building robots and entering them into competitions with his classmates. As a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon, he agreed to basically do anything (anything being to help draw bones in CAD for a robotics hand project) to get a chance to work with with the robotics lab. His Junior year he applied via Monster.com, and pestered employees until he got accepted for an internship at Apple. That summer he took on the worst grunt work project imaginable (he rewrote all the software for manufacturing for iPod), and had three months for what he described as a “one year project” — seven days a week, 20-hour days, and “basically not sleeping.” How did it pay off? Read more »
YouTube Launching Paid Subscriptions to Some Video Channels: Report
YouTube is set to launch a paid subscription model for its specialist video channels as early as this week, according to a report The move, which has been in development for months, aims to help channels finance a wider range of content such as television shows and films, and will serve as another source of revenue, according to the Financial Times The service will include up to 50 YouTube channels, and subscriptions to each channel will start as low a $1.99 per month, the newspaper reported Sunday, citing anonymous sources In response to the report, a YouTube spokesperson told Mashable , "We have nothing to announce at this time, but we're looking into creating a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube for our users to enjoy and provide our creators with another vehicle to generate revenue from their content, beyond the rental and ad-supported models we offer." Read more... More about Video , Youtube , Subscriptions , Paid Content , and Business Read more »
The Strange Truth About Introverts
It's a difficult task to pin down the exact characteristics of an introvert Actually, it's difficult to pin down an introvert, in general, because they are often hiding behind the couch. At least that's what Pleated Jeans ' classification of this very peculiar species of human has found SEE ALSO: Why Introverts Have All the Fun Introverts, it seems, exhibit tendencies of skittishness, awkwardness, an obsession with the indoors, coffee shops with wireless high speed Internet and Game of Thrones. So, basically, we are all introverts This Pleated Jeans video mimics popular comedian Ze Frank's "True Facts" series, which is known for slowly reciting (mostly made up) facts about odd and unique creatures of the world. And luckily, introverts seem to fit perfectly into that bunch Read more... More about Video , Introverts , Watercooler , and Videos Read more »
Party On, Wayne — FlashFlow Syncs Lights to Music
Who's got the time and money for dance clubs when you can keep the party at home with FlashFlow? A Kickstarter project is currently raising funds for FlashFlow , a gadget that syncs your lights — lamps, string lights or whatever else you've got — to your music playlists. According to its creator, the device listens to whichever song is playing and reprograms itself in real-time to flash the lights it's connected to based on the volume, tempo and frequency of the audio SEE ALSO: Acoustic Guitar Add-On Gives the Instrument New Range The gadget, pictured below, has outlets and jacks on both sides to connect your lights with your music device, and can power up to 150 40-watt light bulbs. It also syncs to video game audio — in the project's Kickstarter video , Call of Duty is played as the lights in the room flicker on and off with each explosion and gun shot Read more... More about Video , Gadget , Crowdfunding , Kickstarter , and Tech Read more »
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Filmed New Music Video on 6 Continents
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, whose "Thrift Shop" hip-hop single premiered on Mashable in August and months later reached number one on Billboard 's Hot 100, unleashed an elaborate music video for their new single, "Can't Hold Us," on Wednesday. "Can't Hold Us" features fellow Seattle musician Ray Dalton, a camel, ship, mariachi band, kangaroo, sled dogs, haircut on a beach and stunning landscapes. SEE ALSO: Digital Sales Push Macklemore & Ryan Lewis to Top of Billboard Charts The seven-minute video includes footage shot on six continents, rapper Macklemore revealed to MTV News before its release. Producer Lewis said it took 16 days to shoot the video. The song is from the duo's independently released 2012 album The Heist . Read more.. Read more »
Viral Video Recap: Must-Watch Memes of the Week
Didn't get a chance to watch this week's most-viral videos? We understand — spring fever's an acceptable distraction. Unless, maybe, you live in Minnesota . Regardless of your location, we've rounded up all you need to know from this week in YouTube To start things off, the Slow-Mo Guys blew up a handful of paint jars , then recorded the mess — as you might have guessed — in super-slow motion. Some dudes impersonated animals eating food from the dinner table, too. SEE ALSO: More Viral Video Recaps A Samurai cat , an almost-shark attack and a dubstep/classical battle royale made their rounds as well. Check out the full recap above Read more.. Read more »
What The Facebook Phone Actually Means
Ambient intimacy, accelerated social life, thawed relations between Google and Facebook, and an iPhone that looks impersonal by comparison. These are just a few of the short-term ripple effects of the Facebook “Phone” project to be unveiled April 4th. In this video, I recap leaked intel from my sources and 9To5Google , show photos of the phone itself plus its software, and discuss why you should even care. It’s going to be a big deal over the next year. Even bigger if it succeeds. Watch the video to see why. Read more »
“In The Studio,” Live Nation’s Joel Resnicow Muses About The State Of Digital Music
Editor’s Note: Semil Shah is a contributor to TechCrunch . You can follow him on Twitter at @semil . “In The Studio” welcomes a digital media savant who has hustled his way up through the music world by interning for Rolling Stone, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum, MTV Networks (through Viacom), Hulu, and Twitter, worked as an editor and analyst for ABC News and Fuse TV, and eventually embarked down the path of entrepreneurship to be recently acquired by Live Nation. Joel Resnicow , now the Mobile Product Lead for Live Nation’s San Francisco offices, has invested his entire career in both old and new media platforms. Before joining Live Nation, Resnicow co-founded a music application company (disclaimer: I worked with Joel there) called Rexly, which sought to aggregate digital media tastes and help users discover new content through their friends but across mediums and channels. Rexly committed to a product direction, but was timed to coincide with Spotify’s U.S. release and was never able to gain elusive mobile distribution or enough investment to continue, as music startups have created scar tissue among investors. In this conversation, Resnicow recalls the insight that led him to help create Rexly, how Spotify’s model has disrupted iTunes in many ways, the lessons he’s learned by trying to create a product in a difficult category when big incumbents were launching competitive services, and how the Rexly acquisition by Live Nation now gives him and his team a new platform by which to create more and more tools to help artists make deeper connections with their fans. Read more »
‘Game of Thrones’-'Princess Bride’ Mashup Is Perfection
In case you've never noticed all the parallels between Game of Thrones and The Princess Bride , this video, released ahead of the third season of HBO's hit show, will do it for you And it will remind you just how adorable young Fred Savage was when learning the disappointment that stories don't always work out the way you'd expect. "Geez, Grandpa, what'd you read this thing to me for?" Game of Thrones fans understand your pain, kid Yet somehow we can't wait for the show to return March 31 Video and image via YouTube, CinestirTV Read more »
Laugh Yourself Silly With These 10 Vine Comics
Thousands of ambitious social media users are experimenting with creative video on Vine . Stop-motion animation and illustration, for example, play huge roles on the new social platform However, comedy is quickly becoming one of the most powerful creative forces on Vine. Some users are even building six-second clips around new sketch characters or hilarious bits, some of which have already gone viral SEE ALSO: 9 Things We'd Change About Vine Curious which Vine users are the merriest of them all? Here's a list of our 10 favorite funny people on Vine. But be sure to share your own faves in the comments below Read more »