With a new Apple media streamer reportedly weeks away, we asked app makers what’s worked for competing platforms like Roku and Chromecast.
Apple has a lot of catching up to do if it’s going to launch a new Apple TV in September.
Staff Recommender: Zacqary Adam Xeper, Who Makes This Website Pretty
The best things on the Internet this week, curated by Fast Company employees.
Name: Zacqary Adam Xeper
Role at Fast Company: I’m a web developer, specializing in front-end—that means the stuff that happens on your device, as opposed to the stuff that happens on our servers. I make things look pretty for you. Ever looked at one of our slideshows on your phone? Aren’t those spinning 3-D cards cool? You’re welcome.
Twitter: @XerxesQados
Titillating Fact: In my spare time, I am a purple fox named Xerxes. If you’re in downtown Pittsburgh on that one weekend in late June/early July when the streets are overrun by people wearing full-body mascot-style animal suits, I’ll probably be one of them. Yes, I’ll be overheating; that’s what happens when you go outside in the middle of summer wearing a couch. But I do it anyway.
How An Hour Of Meditation Transformed My Workday
Earlier this week, Fast Company staff participated in a meditation session for creativity. Here’s how it changed my workday and attitude.
At Fast Company, we write a lot about how to do your best creative thinking. Unfortunately, continually hearing this insight from the best in business doesn’t always save me and my colleagues from hitting our own creative ruts.
Could Working Dads Be Underserved, Too?
A small study of working fathers reveals an identity crisis and the need for better work/life balance.
There is a subtle, but potentially seismic shift happening in the workplace. From sweeping diversity initiatives and radical strategies that tackle the gender wage gap to extended paid parental leave policies, the next decade could reveal a very different picture of American workers.
With Obi Smartphones, John Sculley Takes Old Lessons From Apple–And Pepsi–To New Places
These cheap phones for emerging markets are designed by an Apple veteran. And they’ll be marketed like a cola.
John Sculley’s new smartphones are not coming to a store near you anytime soon.
BlackRock Acquires FutureAdvisor, In A Bid To Win The Investor Tech Arms Race
All customers want, it seems, is a dashboard for investing.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, just made an unusual purchase: a startup called FutureAdvisor, which offers low-cost, algorithm-based automated portfolio management. The company, whose dashboard is designed for use by investors who might not be able to pay a conventional money manager, is based in San Francisco and has primarily targeted a techie user base to date.
Is Snapchat One Step Closer To Being A Major Content Discovery Platform?
The messaging app is adding Mashable, IGN, and Tastemade to the Discover tab, upping its count to 15 publishers.
In an ongoing effort to bring more media brands onto its Discover platform—and boost advertising revenue—Snapchat has struck deals with Mashable, IGN, and Tastemade. But this time, the app will not be removing partners to make room for the new additions, unlike when it introduced BuzzFeed last month.
Marian Bantjes Makes A Poster Out Of Dirt From Her Travels
The “Michelangelo of custom lettering” gets earthy with her latest impossibly intricate design.
Designer Marian Bantjes has been collecting soil and sand from her travels for over six years. After traveling to locations as far-flung South Africa, Argentina, and the Phillippines—usually for design conferences—Bantjes returns to her home in Canada with a jar full of the place. Now she’s putting her collection to good use in an impossibly intricate poster for the Alliance Graphique International (AGI).
3M’s Forthcoming Design Center Riffs On The Archetypal Minnesota Cabin
“The creative cabins are a hint to the Minnesota lifestyle,” says 3M’s chief design officer.
3M is the poster child for successfully forging a culture of innovation, but what about nurturing a culture of design? Well, the brand’s Minnesota HQ is about to overhaul one of its buildings to house a new design center.
This Mind-Numbing Machine Lets You Experience Making The Minimum Wage
Turn a crank for a whole hour, and out pops 8 bucks in pennies. It’s actually a much better bargain than most low-wage gigs.
Blake Fall-Conroy’s Minimum Wage Machine “allows anybody to work for minimum wage,” and represents the grinding futility of those jobs that pay it. The hand-cranked machine pops out a penny every 4.5 seconds. If you turn it for an hour, you’ll earn yourself $8, which was New York State’s minimum wage until December 30, 2014 (it was raised by $0.75 per hour since the machine was built).
