elproducto #13 👉 a weekly round-up of Tech and Product goodness
5 min readMar 31, 2017
New Samsung devices, Reserve by Google, Messenger’s bots and realtime location, Scaling Pinterest, Spotify video recommendations, Fitbit UX & more.
Welcome to a new week full of fresh ideas and innovation at elproducto.
đź“š Good reads
- 5 lessons on scaling Pinterest by one of the company’s first Product Managers.
- 10 growth hacks with real case studies. From pricing to headlines, inspiring data-backed examples of successful growth cases.
- To create a Culture, start a Revolution. Ben Horowitz, author of The hard thing about hard things, talks about four key concepts to revolutionise culture and how they apply to startups.
- The Non-Technical Guide to Launching Products & Side Projects. Ben Tossell from ProductHunt walk us through the process and tools he used to launch +10 experimental side projects within a couple of years.
- Fitbit, a UX case study. Stacey Wang uses Human-Centered Design and Lean UX Design Thinking techniques to decompose Fitbit UX.
- How machines make sense of data. An introduction to clustering algorithms full of simple and practical examples.
👨‍🚀 Get the latest in your inbox every week
elproducto is a curated selection of Tech&Product happenings within the last few days from a curious and frequently skeptical Product Manager’s perspective.
đź“° Seen on the news
- Samsung unveils Galaxy S8; infinity display: 5.8-inch for standard model, 6.2 for Plus; no physical buttons on face; tapping software home button triggers haptic feedback; fingerprint sensor is on back; supports face and iris unlock; USB-C and 3.5mm ports; side button dedicated to Bixby assistant. First on the market to feature Bluetooth 5.0; improves audio quality, the speed of transfers and range.
- Google developing a new social app for group photo editing; would have AI image recognition capabilities to assist in finding the photos in the future.
- Google Play adds a “Free App of the Week” section; similar to the App Store, it offers an app that was previously chargeable, free for 7 days.
- Reserve with Google is now available for booking fitness classes and spa appointments across the US; users can book within Maps (desktop only), Search and at the Reserve website; can search for nearby classes, filter by type and get recommendations. International rollout unclear.
- New A/B testing and personalization platform by Google: Optimize (for SMBs) and Optimize 360 (for enterprise) out of beta; Optimize is free; provides a WYSIWYG, drag-and-drop editor; users can also add HTML, JavaScript and CSS.
- Google Home is set to launch in the UK on Apr 6, priced at ÂŁ130 ($163); colour bases will also be available for ÂŁ18 ($22), or metal ones for ÂŁ36 ($45). Google Wifi router system will also launch in the UK on Apr 6; priced at ÂŁ130 ($163) each, or ÂŁ230 ($290) for a two-pack.
- Apple releases iOS 10.3; adds Find My AirPods; enables app developers to reply to App Store reviews; launching a 32-bit app triggers a warning indicating that future versions of iOS will not support 32-bit apps; uses new Apple File System.
- Facebook Messenger adds realtime location sharing; once a user elects to share location with a friend, it will be visible and updated for one hour. Follows last week release of Google Maps live location sharing. Also plans to launch bots for Messenger group chats; functions will focus on providing groups with information, such as sports scores.
- Facebook announces Personal Fundraisers; will allow individuals to launch fundraising campaigns; beta rolling out in the next few weeks to US users aged 18-plus; also, verified Pages can now add charity donation buttons to live streams.
- Twitter now excludes @ replies from 140-character Tweet limit; rolling out now to all users on web, iOS and Android; handle(s) will appear above the text of reply tweets.
- Samsung’s DeX dock available from April 21st in US; enables the Galaxy S8 to act as a desktop computer, will be priced at $150 .
- Lyft tests feature allowing users to donate part of fare to charity; rounds price up to nearest $, sends difference to a selected organization.
- Amazon may open a range of furniture and electronics stores in the US; the firm is set to use AR, VR and other technologies in-store, allowing customers to see how certain goods would fit into their homes; Amazon is also considering a variety of stores for India. Meanwhile, Seattle’s Amazon Go store opening is being delayed due to technical issues when dealing with high customer volumes.
- AWS launches Amazon Connect: a cloud-based service for call centers; uses speech recognition and AI to handle customer service tasks and route calls; connects with CRM systems, cloud data, other AWS products; provides drag-and-drop interface for creating call flows.
- Telegram rolls out encrypted voice calling: Telegram Calls; the service also makes use of AI to improve audio quality.
- Elon Musk is reportedly involved in a very early stage brain-computer interface company called Neuralink; neural lace concept involves implanting electrodes in the brain.
- Smart Bikes launches Indiegogo campaign for smart rear-attachment for bikes, HEXAGON; features lights to give signals, Wi-Fi HD camera, accident sensor and activity tracker.
- Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and others are set to advise a newly formed White House policy agency; the Office of American Innovation aims to adopt business ideas for federal issues.
- Spotify acquires video content recommendation startup MightyTV; the AI-powered app, which surfaced shows and movies based on user tastes, price and service, has been shut down; founder Brian Adams will serve as Spotify’s VP of Technology.
- FBI database network for facial recognition includes images of roughly one half of the adult US population; 80 percent of entries are non-criminal; FBI can access records without subjects’ knowledge or consent; identification algorithms are incorrect 15 percent of the time; black people misidentified more frequently than whites.
- Microsoft temporarily removes search on its documents sharing platform Docs.com after some users inadvertently made their sensitive data public; ZDNet found password lists, credit card statements, divorce settlements and more; Microsoft says it’s working to assist users to protect their information.
- SpaceX successfully launches a reused rocket for first time. Falcon9 rocket also landed for second time.
- Blue Origin releases images of its New Shepard rocket, showcasing the interior; every reclining seats is located by a window; the firm plans to carry its first paying passengers in 2018.
- EU legislators are considering proposals to encourage cooperation between messaging apps and law enforcement; lawmakers will deliver their suggestions in June, but note they are hesitant to mandate encryption backdoors.
👨‍🏫 Quote of the week
“… the features they request are often band-aids on symptoms, not real solutions.” — Sara Tavel, 5 lessons on scaling Pinterest
