akaalias

HN please meet "I'm Like...", a fun project from the laboratory.

It has kittens! It has puppies! It has excitement and suspense, too!

And because you look so dashing today (How do you do it?) I would like to invite you to this most excellent party. I'm currently widening the beta access to 100 more users so check it out while you can.

What follows is a little promotion page with link to the main site:

http://imlikeyouknow.tumblr.com/

Usually I'm very conservative with setting expectations, but this thing is really good fun and it continues to do so after 2 months of daily usage.

Cheers!

Hey all, just wanted to invite you to take a spin on this project I've been working on recently.

To give you a bit of context, I'm a Pinterest/Tumblr/Svpply user but found that it's all still sub-optimal. The experience of these, I guess 'social' things, is still always about "me, me, me": Pin things I like, post items I like, I want this and that etc. My point is, in my experience, this got boring relatively quickly. Plus, when I log in to Pinterest for example, it's this wall of sound of relatively (albeit nice looking) yet random things.

Anyways, a few weeks back, my roommate happened to have a bunch of her close friends over for a clothing-swap. Basically, everyone brings a bunch of clothes she doesn't wear any(more) and swaps it with someone in the room.

This is how it went down: One would pull out, say a skirt, and show it to the group. Within seconds - and I found this remarkable - the groupmind decided who should try it on. In 9 out of 10 cases this was an accurate assessment and the item was swapped, tried on and (with some Madonna playing in the background) presented to the group. All smiles all around :)

So, this got me thinking how important friends are for filtering out the noise and how strong their recommendation is. It's that moment, when a friend sees something in a store and says `This is so you!'.

Based on these two observations, I came up with what would become Flair. A game where friends find great things FOR each other.

What's there now is a bare-bones site ready for (in)validation. Note, that overall, this game is targeted towards women who are already using Pinterest, but I figured I'd show it to you anyways.

Here's what I invite you to do:

1. Think of a close friend and what you like doing/thinking/talking about together

2. Hop over to http://letsflair.com, check out the site

3. Unless you're averse to it, log in through Facebook (if you are, please don't bother commenting on it)

4. Start your Spree with your friend

5. Go and find awesome stuff for them!

There is a bookmarklet I highly recommend installing, it makes the process of adding stuff super simple.

tldr; Got bored with Pinterest, saw how friends are really good at recommending things to each other, built a game called Flair (http://letsflair.com) that mixes the two (and is actually a lot of fun)

Hi everyone, we've been working on a little piece of hardware (as in wood, magnet and acrylic!) in the past months that, seeing a lot of discussions on the ins and outs of physical workspaces, I think could be interesting to you.

Have a look at http://getyourkliks.com/ and let me know what you think!

Hi all, we built this prototype web app at the recent Startup Weekend in NYC and I would love to get your feedback. It's a simulation on what you can buy and do when you win the lottery (or sell your startup, etc.). I personally have had great fun as a user and learned loads about my - at first impulsive/intuitive - spending behaviour which gradually changed into more thoughtful spending/buying.

Anyways, check out

http://howibling.com

and let me know what you think!

A small weekend project built for fun:

You start with a picture and post pics that visually rhyme. Based on whatever you see fit. Of course, you can invite friends, too! Over time a stream of association emerges, the "verse"

The frontpage is at http://picrhyme.com/ and a good example of what happens can be found here: http://picrhyme.com/images/180/history (How to get from Helvetica to Asparagus via Woodstock!)

At least for me it triggers some really ticklish place in my brain, adding those picture rhymes. Maybe you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

Thank you for any feedback and with best wishes.

http://mindslideshows.heroku.com/

An idea I had recently when I thought about how we could use our minds beyond just slurping up information from screens all day. And have fun with it. And point into a direction we're usually not thinking about.

I find it highly entertaining, and recommend closing your eyes as part of the experience. Usually it takes a first consciously created association to get the show rolling.

Enjoy! :)

Hi all,

I just made this Chrome extension I would like to hear your feedback on:

http://alexisrondeau.com/reup/

The extension will ask you to define a goal while working within Chrome. Once you've set yourself that goal it will be visible on any webpage you visit after that.

Some background: I've been noticing how much time I tend to waste online, especially Facebook, HackerNews, and tried many different ways to control the habit.

There are extensions and methods out there that should help with this kind of behavior, for example StayFocusd or LeechBlock, but I have found myself not being able to stay on track even with them. After a while I wind up just using a different browser. Please note, this is not a shortcoming of the extensions, but of my own self-control.

So, instead of blocking sites, I thought it good to stay reminded of what I set out to do in the first place (For example: "Finish todays project and deploy", "Get inspired", "Research meditation techniques"). Usually, when I know what I want, the internet is an amazing tool. If I forget about it, things just get messy and wasteful...

If you are interested, give it a spin. Any feedback or questions are highly appreciated.

In best case I would like to know how it does -- or doesn't -- affect your productivity positively over the course of several days and if there is a breakingpoint of annoyance over time.