Cool Person of the Day

Battery life is always a key issue whenever reviews for a new model of cell phone come out on the web.  Smartphones become more demanding and power intensive as time passes, and while battery technology continues to improve, many of us still find ourselves charging our phones once or twice a day just to keep them running.  Cool person in technology Tibor Fabian founded Ardica to tackle this problem and find new ways to improve mobile battery life with his startup Ardica.  Ardica researches, develops and sells new mobile battery technology, and Fabian directs his company away from just improving the standard lithium-based batteries that are most common today.  He wants to find innovative solutions that surpass what is expected and put out more power for longer periods of time.  That’s why Fabian and his team develop batteries based on fuel cells and chemical hydride technology rather than using conventional techniques.  Fabian believes this technology will produce more efficient batteries that last longer and have greater overall lifespans.  Mobile device users who have needed smartphone computer repair for battery issues know all too well that current technology can be quite frustrating.  Read more »

Customers are the most important aspect of any business that revolves around a product or service.  Companies must be on the pulse of customers’ needs and desires at all times if they want their product to thrive in the marketplace.   However, it’s hard for a business to be customer centric if it does not communicate with its clientele efficiently.  Converser CTO and cool person in technology Oisin Hurley wants to help mobile app developers connect and engage with their user base.  Hurley has developed messaging and communication technology that is installable in any mobile application.  This two-way messaging system gives app users a direct connection to the developers so the users can voice opinions, make suggestions and get problems addressed.  Just as many remote tech support computers connect directly to their customers’ computers to provide service, Converser allows mobile app companies to connect directly to the people using their product.  Hurley’s company also keeps app users engaged with actionable in-app messages that prompt users to try new features or functionality.  With Converser, Hurley helps both app users and app developers stay informed. Read more »

Health and fitness is an area where technology is in a bit of a boom.  Wearable devices like watches and wristbands count the calories people burn and quantify their daily fitness stats.  There are hundreds of apps that help you track people’s eating and exercise habits, and there are even ones in which the sole purpose is to motivate users to exercise more.  Still, there aren’t many apps that help people with the process of exercising itself.  Cool person in technology Arel English founded Vitogo to change that fact.  Vitogo is an iPhone app that acts as a personal trainer for its users.  Vitogo stores exercise related data to help people achieve specific goals with their workout schedules.  Rather than simply provide users with metrics about how many calories they have burned, Vitogo provides actionable workout plans to help users achieve specific workout goals.  English has incorporated enough fitness data into his app that Vitogo provides users with specific long-term plans to achieve their goals.  This cool person in technology has even made it so his app will adjust a user’s workout plan every 4-6 weeks to ensure that the person’s exercise regimen does not plateau.  While fitness apps that merely track calories are akin to non-actionable computer diagnostic tools, Vitogo tries to be the fitness equivalent of a full-service computer tech support program. Read more »

Have you ever been at a theme park, but been without an easy way to find out when certain shows and attractions occurred?  Maybe you’ve been at a museum and walked through hundreds of exhibits with no way to get more in-depth learning about them.  Venues such as museums and theme parks could invest in more workers to fill these gaps, but the costs are usually too much for them.  Cool person in technology Todd Marks wants to provide a solution to these institutions that will solve these customer-related problems in an affordable way.  Marks’s company viaPlace has developed technology to deliver people useful information on their mobile phones based on their location at a given time.  For example, theme parks could provide maps and attraction times to users’ phones with viaPlace.  Marks’s company could help museumgoers get more details when they’re at certain exhibits.  These use cases are prime examples of when Marks’s location-based content delivery system would be useful.  Read more »

Mobile advertising has become an important aspect of marketing in this era, where it seems everyone spends most of their time on their smartphones.  Unfortunately, most mobile advertising is more intrusive then engaging.  Some mobile ads are reminiscent of Internet banner ads, taking up valuable real estate on a phone’s screen while someone uses an app.  These ads distract and annoy people more than anything else, but even worse are the ads that take up your entire screen for thirty second intervals, interrupting the use of an app completely for a period.  What’s even worse about these mobile ads is that when people click on them, they only bring them to the store page of the software they’re advertising.  There is no context or way of knowing how much a user may like the advertised application.  Cool person in technology Tim Cheng has developed technology that he hopes will make mobile advertising more engaging for users.  Cheng’s company Voxel sells cloud-based technology that turns ads into live demos as opposed to static banners.  With Cheng’s program, users can actually demo an app and try it within an advertisement.  This interactivity should encourage users to engage with ads rather than ignore them.  Users who have trouble with streaming on their phone should get smartphone tech support service. Read more »

Auto insurance claims are never fun or enjoyable experiences.  However, cool person Brad Weisberg has created a system that at least makes the process a lot more convenient and easier for auto insurance claimants.  Weisberg wanted to use technology to find a faster way for people to get quotes from auto body repair shops when they need to make an insurance claim.  Weisberg saw that opportunity when smartphones became ubiquitous devices in the public sphere.  With his service Snapsheet, Weisberg has made it so anyone with a smartphone can streamline the process of getting quotes for auto insurance claims by performing all of it directly through their mobile phone.  Users simply take pictures of the car or truck in need of repair and send it to body shops directly through the Snapsheet app.  The body shops then deliver a quote directly over the phone so users can make a claim with their auto insurance.  Users can even request direct deposit or check-by-mail from within the app when the insurance company settles their claim.  Users who have difficulty using Weisberg’s app to communicate with repair shops and insurance companies can get mobile PC support to find the source of the problem. Read more »

It’s probably safe to say that given the chance, most people would donate more to charity.  However, lack of resources, lack of time to do proper research, and general difficulty get in the way very often. Because of this difficulty, people overlook philanthropy in their busy lives.  Cool person in technology Theresa Preston-Werner has founded a new startup that aims to take all the potential hassle out of charitable giving.  Preston-Werner wants to make it so anyone can donate to well-run, effective charitable organizations without having to give it much thought.  Her organization, Omakase, does all the research on charities for its users.  Omakase researches to find the most effective and helpful charities so that donors never have to worry that a poorly run organization will waste the money they give.  Omakase works on a monthly basis, meaning that all donors pledge a certain amount of money to give every month automatically.  Preston-Werner likely believes this model will appeal to those looking for convenience, as it creates a “set it and forget it” mentality once someone pledges.  Users sign up for Omakase’s curated charities through the web.  Anyone who wants to donate but has Internet connection problems should call for home computer support.  Read more »

Networking is an important aspect of running a business, but finding times and places where one has an easy chance to do so without coming off as pushy or awkward isn’t an easy task.  Cool person in technology Nick Martin believes business professionals are making a big mistake by ignoring one particular place that could be a proverbial gold mine for networking: airplanes.  On most flights, professionals sit quietly or sleep. Some might read, but the hours spent on flights between major cities are usually time idly spent.  Martin thinks these hours are a prime opportunity to develop mutually beneficial business relationships with other professionals and build a list of contacts.  That’s why Martin founded Planely, a startup that tries to facilitate professional networking on flights all over the world.  With Planely, professionals can find out what other people they will be traveling with on their next flight.  Martin’s web app allows users to make connections pre-flight so businesspeople can plan to meet up at the airport or on the plane in order to start discussion and conversation.  If someone has trouble connecting to Planely on the web, there is home tech support available at all times.  Read more »

There are several tech startups that aim to digitize the gift card industry, but most of them focus entirely on the consumer side of the equation.  These businesses focus heavily on convenience for those receiving the gift rather than the convenience of the giver.  Cool person in technology Leif Baradoy runs Kiind, a digital gift card startups that addresses this problem.  Kiind considers issues such as needing to issue gift cards in bulk conveniently, as well as the potential needless cost of unredeemed gift cards.  Baradoy’s company even has solutions that cater to businesses that use gift cards as a form of marketing.  Baradoy doesn’t believe that the gift card business should exclusively center on consumers’ use of the card.  His company aims to address every aspect of the gift card business rather than hyper-focus on one piece of it.  Read more »

Renting a room or an apartment, especially for short-term period, can lead to seriously stressful and uncomfortable situations for someone if there is an issue with the landlord.  Many renters feel more comfortable when staying in an apartment lent by their friend, or at least a friend of a friend.  Trusting a landlord before moving in can take a load off people’s minds.  Cool person in technology Nitzan Yudan wants to use his website FlatClub to help create more living situations where this trust between landlord and tenant exists.  FlatClub is part renter’s marketplace and part social networking site.  Yudan operates the site under the premise that people would be more willing to rent rooms to others if they knew that person on some level first.  To make this easier to achieve, FlatClub hosts several different “clubs” on its website.  Each club centers itself around an established community, such as a university or a place of work.  For example, there are clubs for London Business School students and alumni, Apple employees, and American Express employees.  FlatClub partners with a number of these companies to establish these online clubs. When a club verifies someone as a member, they can see flats posted within that club and can message landlords from the club who have posted a room on Yudan’s site.  Anyone who has trouble with club verification should call a tech support company to see what might be the problem. Read more »