Specht Thoughts

College student, innovator, design enthusiast, web developer, music listener, sports fan, political bickerer, in Kansas. spcht.com

[spcht]

Top 5 Songs of February 2013

Over-hyped: Baauer - 'Harlem Shake'

5. J. Cole - 'Power Trip' ft. Miguel

4. The Goo Goo Dolls - 'Rebel Beat'

3. Theophilus London - 'Snow Angel' ft. Trouble Andrew

2. Hoodie Allen - 'Let Me Be Me'

1. Drake - 'Started From The Bottom'

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But if you take that logic, you should consider life unfair, because the test of truth in life is not whether we can remember what we learned in school, but whether we are prepared for change, whether we are prepared for jobs that haven't been created, to use technologies that haven't been invented, to solve problems we just can't anticipate today.

Andreas Schleicher, Use data to build better schools

[spcht]

Top 5 Songs of January 2013

Over-hyped: Justin Timberlake - 'Suit & Tie' ft. Jay-Z

5. Pusha T - 'Millions' ft. Rick Ross

4. Mike Posner - 'Hey Ho (Remix)'

3. Fun. - 'Sight of Sun'

2. MS MR - 'Fantasy'

1. A$AP Rocky - 'I Come Apart' ft. Florence Welch

[spcht]

Unfortunate, just a lazy way to monetize.

[spcht]

#TheFutureIsOurs

[spcht]

I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.

Leo Rosten

[spcht]

What Twitter is missing

These are some features that, while possible in third-party applications, I believe should be integrated into the main Twitter product.

Tweet Drafts Oftentimes, I come up with something I want to tweet, but I decide it's not an ideal time to send it. This feature is available on many of Twitter's mobile apps (I have quite a number of saved tweet drafts on my Android phone). Though it's easy enough to hold the draft in a notepad somewhere, the value of this feature comes when the drafts sync across Twitter's various platforms on an account-by-account basis.

Analytics I'm a big fan of making things as native as possible. When I find something I want to share, I often try to find the original source to pass on to my followers. In keeping with this native approach, I tend to place links in my tweets without using a URL shortener (given they can only take 20 characters). By doing this I believe the tweets is more attractive (and trustworthy), but I miss out on some of the benefits of URL shorteners (clicks, traffic sources, etc.). It would be great to add "Analytics" for their t.co links in the connect tab on the web.

Others

Easier account switching on the web.

Simpler access to lists on web and mobile (not to the extent of Tweetdeck).

Better visibility of tweet influence (RTs/favorite counts without selecting).

[spcht]

My diary is moving too slow

Unfortunately, as the title states, Momento is moving too slow for my taste. I'm afraid it'll soon to get passed up by copycat apps that are nipping on their heels.

From what I can decipher on the support page, Momento is currently pursuing an iPad app after scraping plans for Android. I can respect the priorities but nothing significant has happened to the app in over a year.

Personally, I believe the app is worthy of investment (to move faster). I see a strong possibility of an exit (the app costs $3)...but couldn't tell you what the creators are thinking.

Here's what I'd like to see from the app ASAP:

Android app - Preferably as polished at the iOS app, but I'd use anything with 75% of the features.

Desktop app - If I want to write anything of significant length, I want to write it on my desktop.

Syncing - With the development of other platforms I want my journal to easily sync and stay up-to-date. With such sensitive information security is a huge concern, but it's definitely implementable.

So here's to hoping Momento picks up the pace...maybe reach out to MG Siegler (now a partner at CrunchFund) who seemed to love the app.

[spcht]

I've consumed enough

Enough blog posts, enough tweets, enough signing up for every new startup, enough of all this consumption...it's time to start creating (more).

I don't mean to say this is all so bad, fact is, it's society today. Personally, I'm doing it too much for my taste, and I'm not gaining as much from it as I once was. Yes, I've learned a lot, but I'm getting to a point where not as much truly intrigues me...yet I read it all anyways. It needs to stop.

I'm going to try and take my friends advice.

The bottom line is nowadays, everything is a tweet, but I don't need to know everything. I need to create more, more blog posts, more websites, more products...I bet I'll learn more.

[spcht]

Find a way to say yes to things. Say yes to invitations to a new country, say yes to meet new friends, say yes to learn something new. Yes is how you get your first job, and your next job, and your spouse, and even your kids. Even if it's a bit edgy, a bit out of your comfort zone, saying yes means that you will do something new, meet someone new, and make a difference. Yes lets you stand out in a crowd, be the optimist, see the glass full, be the one everyone comes to. Yes is what keeps us all young.

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google

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Visit Original Link

[spcht]

Thoughts on Drake's "Take Care"

I'm sure many who know me, and my music tastes, are a bit surprised that I'm not giving my thoughts on Childish Gambino's Camp... This is for two reasons: 1) It can be summed up in one word: "AMAZING" 2) My friend Zach already did 10x what I could ever do here. With that, let's talk about Take Care.

Take Care is Drake's sophomore album which released November 15th. In a follow up to one of 2010's biggest albums Thank Me Later, it was reasonable to expect the sophomore slump to grab a hold of Drake's latest offering; it didn't.

Highlights

"Headlines" - The first single off "Take Care" released in the middle of summer. It probably is Drake's most furious 

"Crew Love" (ft. The Weeknd) - It's a basically a The Weeknd song with a couple Drake verses, and that's completely fine by me.

"Take Care" (ft. Rihanna) - *Listen Above* If I wasn't infatuated with Rihanna before...I am now. She only sings the hook, but it's a hook she was meant to sing.

"Marvin's Room" - In what is a rather personal piece for Drake, you'll be feeling (and singing) with him after a couple listens.

"Underground Kings" - Probably Drake's most furious set of rhymes on the album.

"We'll Be Fine" - I'd compare this one to "Show Me A Good Time" off Thank Me Later.

"Make Me Proud" (ft. Nicki Minaj) - Bass, and probably the biggest "party" song. Drake and Minaj always fond a unique way to complement each other well.

"Lord Knows" (ft. Rick Ross) - I like to call beats like this "triumph beats", and I love them...Ross and T.I. do them the best.

All and all, Drake goes in on a full 17 tracks that culminate into an extremely well-rounded album that I'm sure will contend for some of hip-hop's highest honors this year.

[spcht]

"A magazine is an iPad that doesn't work" | Can you even imagine being born today?

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Visit Original Link

Better than the original.

[spcht]

I love a good timelapse...and this might be the best I've ever seen!

[brycedotvc]

[spcht]

brycedotvc:

We’re all businesses, man.