Technology That Rocks

Some tech companies claim they are “disruptive” or “innovative”, but it is really the ones that make it an absolute no brainer for us to adopt their technology to better our every day. These proliferate rather quickly and in just a few years, make it seem to all of us that it would be really silly to go back to the way we used to run our days or operate our teams.

Starry is one of them.

Their founder, Chet Kanojia, has a great insight about “hard tech”, that is also a thought that all software engineers working on non-critical consumer and enterprise apps should keep in mind.

“I have a new respect for Tesla and those companies who do really hard shit,” Kanojia said. “It’s not like building an app that you can just stick on an AWS server.”"

http://amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2019/04/13/starry-new-york

The good news for companies like Starry, is that, by solving the tough problems - they also build a great moat to defend their business.

Continuing with the theme of a lack of reliable, single purpose, focused applications - here is an article on Bloomberg laying out the lack of any “killer apps” for voice, on their Alexa platform:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-11/amazon-s-alexa-has-80-000-apps-and-no-runaway-hitFo

As a follow up to the Feb 18th post on “What’s Next”, I wanted to highlight this article from Endgadget, which goes along with my thought that the development of specific, narrow use-cases is one of the “next things” in technology. These can be developed on platforms, or developed by individual small teams as startups, and then integrated by the big players into their ecosystem.

Example [1]:

Google Photos / Camera app improving their capabilities to allow their users to crop out unnecessary background, when they are trying to capture receipts. I would think this took some user research and/or feedback from the community, after which that product team at Google decided to develop and roll out functionality to cater to that use-case and thereby, that user-base.

https://www.engadget.com/2019/03/29/google-photos-clear-pictures-receipts-crop-adjust-documents/

Example [2]:

A bit more well-known and older, but still solid - Shazam.

https://www.shazam.com/apps

It has strong focus on allowing its users to “capture and identify music”. Eventually it expanded into TV sounds, commercials, etc. But the point is - that team must have had a very specific use-case in mind, and they nailed it with their user community.

Then, Apple picked them up, to add to their story.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/24/17896350/apple-shazam-app-acquisition-complete-free

Lots of apps will claim similar focus, but are usually not nearly enough.

I’ll expand on this topic more…

Will cover my belief that the best mobile apps have a single purpose.

Quick post about a positive experience I’ve had with using PrimeNow the other day, while sick. Some folk might think of the service as extra, however it comes in handy when you do not want to leave the house and want to avoid getting others sick with the cold or the flu. I was able to order cold medicine and fruit filled with vitamin C, all from the warmth and comfort of my home, without being exposed to negative temps outside. Also, I was able to see which products were out of stock and the shopper suggested alternatives, via nice chat interface, that was web based, so it didn’t matter where I accessed it. I could easily accept a substitution for my original order. Overall, excellent experience. 

I had to get a new thermometer while battling the flu the other day. When looking on the shelf at the local CVS, I came across a reasonably priced smart thermometer, called Kinsa, and decided to try it out.

It was a very positive experience, all the way from setup via Bluetooth. 

Especially pleasant (I'd go as far as calling it a delightful UX), was the way the application opened up and instead of jumping into the typical homescreen, dashboard, or menu initial screen -- it had a conversation with me, through a super simple chat interface. After answering a few questions, my user profile was created and the app was ready to help me, with my single need of taking a medical device reading (in this case, temperature), and suggesting some next steps based on that (should I call the doctor? are my symptoms serious?) - which is all that I wanted from this app and device. 

Hats off to the Kinsa team for designing this experience, and obviously testing it, to make sure it's as easy and useful for all of us to use. 

It made my life easier and I'm grateful for having this product available in the local pharmacy. 

The experience and guidance that it provided beyond a traditional thermometer, was well worth the premium extra couple of bucks it cost.