Cool Person of the Day

Once of the few inconveniences of shopping online is the way in which the process limits the possible payment methods for customers.  Due to the nature of the system, customers must always pay with a credit or debit card when making any sort of payment online, whether it be a loan payment, rent, or just the purchase of a t-shirt.  This makes sense, of course, because there’s no viable way for users to pay with cash online.  At least, that was the belief until cool person in technology Danny Shader founded his new startup PayNearMe to give people the chance to pay for online items with cash.  Read more »

Making an impulse decision to do something nice for a loved one or a family member is hardly a rare occurrence.  While expending extra effort to do something thoughtful for another person usually isn’t really an inconvenience, it is unlikely that anyone will complain about a service that tries to make it easier to do so.  Cool person in technology David Bladow has created such a service with his Internet company BloomThat. Read more »

The quantified self is becoming a more and more popular concept in the world of technology.  Metrics, analytics, and measurements are no longer only the domain or marketing professionals and salespeople.  Consumers use fitness measurement tools like Fitbit to see how active they are and measure their health down to the calorie.  Taking data about the physical self is only just the beginning apparently.  Cool person in technology Nicholas Felton has created an iPhone app that measures your preferences, activity, productivity and personality as well.  This cool app goes by the name of Reporter and collects any data that a user gives it voluntarily to create a detailed profile about that person’s life. Read more »

Pet health can often be a complicated issue for pet owners, especially when it comes to nutrition.  Many pet owners are disappointed to find out that much of the standard pet food found in grocery stores is bad for their animals—the equivalent of eating McDonald’s hamburgers every meal.  Many pets even have bad allergic reactions to the standard pet food one buys at the supermarket.  Finding good food for a cat or dog can be very challenging as many pet stores have wildly variable brands and not much guidance on what may be right for someone’s particular animal.  Fortunately, there is a cool person who has created a service that users can join online in order to keep their pets eating healthy while avoiding confusion and frustration.  Read more »

One of the biggest downfalls of shopping for clothes online is the inability to try something on before a customer makes a purchase.  With the exception of casual clothing like t-shirts and sweatpants, trying on clothing to see how it fits is an essential step in choosing someone’s wardrobe.  While shopping online beats out going to a store in convenience, it will always remain an issue that people cannot try on the clothes they purchase first.  Cool person in technology Ankus Seghal founded BranDiD to erase this problem and introduce a service that allows people to try on the clothes they want to buy even when shopping on the web.  Read more »

Despite the sentiment involved in sending one, many greeting cards can feel impersonal.  When someone simply grabs a card from the Hallmark shelf at the drug store or picks a pre-formulated greeting from an e-card website, the feelings the care tries to represent often feel watered down and less impactful.  Choosing a card to send to someone does not have the impact that making a card does.  Kealan Lennon knows this fact, and that’s why this cool person in technology founded CleverCards in order to help people easily send personalized, thoughtful greetings with the help of social networking.  Read more »

Everyone knows the popular tourist attractions and most famous restaurants in a city.  People got to New York to visit Times Square, Central Park, and the Empire State Building.  In London, people visit Parliament and eat at popular pubs.  The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the restaurants and shops on the Champs-Elysse are the biggest draws in Paris.  However, these big cities have more than the obvious to offer not only tourists, but residents as well.  Gems like amazing bars, small cultural festivals, outdoor markets and specialty shops can give people excellent experiences, but they don’t get the publicity that draws big crowds.  Phaedra Chrousos is a cool person in technology that wants to help people get it on the secret of these smaller, but immensely enjoyable attractions with her company Daily Secret. Read more »

Getting medical attention isn’t always as easy as calling the doctor’s office.  There are countless situations where getting medical advice or care becomes a gargantuan task.  People who live in rural or isolated areas can’t go to a doctor’s office for a check-up or a simple opinion.  Even when a doctor’s office is in reach, people who are sick enough that they can’t get themselves there have no way to find out what illness afflicts them.  This can lead to diseases and medical conditions going undiagnosed and people not getting the proper treatment for their medical problems. Read more »

Many people believe the Internet is the answer to anything, or at least that it holds the answer to everything.  Search engines like Google and Bing have made it so people can find answers and hard facts from the millions of websites that populate the Internet.  However, the information people receive through standard search engines and the web is often rote information and limited to simple facts.  There are many times where users need specialized information or want to dig deeper into a subject and regular web searches aren’t the best course.  For these situations, cool person in technology Ben Finkel helped create Jelly, a search engine that uses people’s social connections to find answers instead of web pages. Read more »

Many people believe that exercising should be an open-air activity.  Outdoor fitness has a big following across the world and many people would rather jog or stretch in the sun than pay to run on a treadmill inside a musty gym.  However, people also become more motivated to work out when others around them are also trying to get fit.

Cool person in technology Raj Kapoor wants to combine these two preferences into a new workout experience with his startup Fitmob.  Kapoor’s company connects groups of people with certified trainers for workout performed outside rather than within the confines of a gym.  Each trainer devises unique workouts that users can book through the web.  People meet up through the service and get together for group fitness sessions everywhere from the streets of a city to the open grass areas in a park.  The company offers workout programs designed for cardio, strength, and Yoga, as well as mixed sessions.  Anyone can access the information to join a workout session on Fitmob by visiting Kapoor’s website.  If people have trouble navigating the Fitmob site, they can receive help from a home tech support specialist to identify the problem they are having. Read more »