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A few months ago I hung out at GA for Startup Weekend NYC, and worked with Ryan Flynn to re-launch ClosedCapp, a continuous speech-to-text diction app that mimicked the real-time behavior of closed captioning for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. You can read the post here.

Just today, Ryan shared with me some of the feedback he's gotten from the users. One of my favorites is this one:

"With your Closed Capp...you've made a difference in my life. I was born hearing.  I've lost the majority of it after 23 years.... I'm now legally deaf and have been for about five years. I know some sign, but its not a primary language for most...and not even for me.  On the other hand, English and written English are learned hand in hand. Everyday tasks that require interactions with others can just be overwhelming.  I just got my first android phone for Christmas.  And then I got your app. Clicking your "appreciate" button just isn't enough. You ROCK.""

Awesome. We didn't win startup weekend, but we made a product that is being used today to enrich someone's life. I keep saying this, but as creatives and technologists, too many of us are working on stuff like this. It's time to change the world and take responsibility for our future.

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More here.

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I love maps, and James Niehues may make some of my favorite - but this map from David Imus is perhaps the most stunning map I've ever seen. Definitely going to pick up a copy.

From Slate: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2012/01/the_best_american_wall_...

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Credit goes to David Walsh on this one - but its something we concepted together and decided to push out to the interwebs. Enjoy.

http://worstmessageever.com

Inspired by LoCreep:

<p>Locreep at NYTM from Misha Ponizil on Vimeo.</p>

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What a great weekend working on ClosedCapp - we took home an award from Twilio!

I worked with Ryan Flynn and Mason Du to work on ClosedCapp, a continuous speech-to-text diction app that mimicked the real-time behavior of closed captioning for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. By the end of the weekend we were able to create a working prototype that we demo'd on an Android tablet. If that wasn't enough, we took home an award from Twilio for most innovative communication solution.

The biggest takeaway from the weekend was that your team is absolutely everything. So many great ideas had poor execution, and some really bad ideas had decent executions. Only so much can be done in 54 hours, but so much can be done with the right team.

I also really enjoyed working on a product that provided a real solution to a human need, with a benefit that immediately enriches lives in a positive way. That was cool.

Ryan demonstrating ClosedCapp in action before our presentation:

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I've very proud to say that after 4 months of grinding away, CheatSpeak is now live. Huge thanks to David Walsh and Blake Jakopovic for helping to bring this to life.

http://cheatspeak.com

I love using language, but my phrasebooks never had any words/phrases I really wanted to say (try using "where's the bathroom?" as a conversation starter), and the phonetics were many times too difficult to even attempt.

CheatSpeak was born out of the desire to open up language and language usage/learning, much like Wikipedia for information or Forvo for word pronunciation. With an open platform, anyone could decide what phonetics were easiest to understand for whatever they wanted to say.

Our goal with CheatSpeak is to give anyone the tools to have anything they want to say, and the easiest way for them to say it, at their fingertips.

While CheatSpeak is now live on the web, its most useful in the palm of your hand, so we're looking to put out a mobile version as soon as we can. If you're interested in getting involved, email me at shosko at gmail dot com.

http://cheatspeak.com

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Need to see this. Opened here in NY and other major cities yesterday. http://www.youtube.com/user/lifeinaday

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http://shop.holstee.com/pages/bold

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A few snapshots from some of my favorite slides from the presentations at Cannes Lions 2011 this year. Full deck is here. Credit to @jessedee

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http://www.foundersfund.com/the-future

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m6 Method was a systematic framework and library, packaged as a membership site, for creating high-quality digital products for virtually any body of information or expertise.

Working with David Walsh on Audio Mixologist and what would eventually become CheatSpeak, we met countless other individuals creating digital products. 

At the time, this really spoke to me. What was normally reserved for print, was now possible through video, audio, ebooks, membership sites, etc - but we saw a big problem: Most who had expertise they wanted to share had no clue about digital, must less how to create a product. We saw a huge opportunity to not only provide a framework for content creation, but a chance to lift the credibility of digital products as an entire industry. 

With this in mind, we created a methodology with six modules - 

m6 Method included over 90k words and hundreds of media assets that were delivered over an 8-week structured course. 

In July 2010, we successfully launched the product, received many positive reviews, and graduated successful members from the curriculum

While I am proud of the course, its content, and our initiative, the business became a full-time endeavor to operate, and we decided to shutter m6 Method in early 2011 to pursue more meaningful interests.

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Audio Mixologist was a product that David Walsh and I created a few years ago. We discovered that bartending schools charged lots of money for training courses that were weeks long, that essentially taught you how to make drinks, which included hundreds of recipes to memorize - mostly done with flash cards.

We wanted to hack this process. First, we discovered that by using pneumonics, you could remember drink recipes quicker. For example, a cosmopolitan is a Very Classy Ladies Choice (Vodka, Cointreau, Lime, Cranberry). Second, we decided that simply listening to the pneumonics enabled us to learn, even while falling asleep.

The end product was an audio course, with hundreds of drink recipes playable on any iPod or iPhone. We sold the product as a digital download until the begining of 2010.

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