š» Samsungs Cardboard Cat Houses , Alternative Smart Phones, and Blog on Bear
Have you ever bought an alt phone?
Whatās up everybody! Another week has passed with a whoosh - and here we are in June.
On a personal note, My great grandmother passed away from COVID-19 complications last week. Please keep me and my family in your thoughts and prayers. She was 99 years old, and we were very excited about her upcoming birthday.
Iām very grateful that we got to see her on Zoom a few weeks ago and show her our sweet little daughter. Her great great granddaughter! š
I will always cherish the sweet memories I have of her. When we were younger my brother and I went to her house once and played trivial pursuit. The 80ās edition! That was a lot of fun.
Well, letās dive into this weekās topics, shall we?
š Samsungs Cardboard Cat Houses
Weāre all guilty of this. We buy some shiny new TV. We lovingly unbox it, and then we (usually) chuck the box. Another cardboard box sacrifice for the greedy landfill gods.
Well, Samsung is introducing a few ways for you to repurpose cardboard boxes from its ālifestyle tvā lineup - including a cat house!

It actually looks pretty good for a repurposed cardboard box. Thereās also this neat little Entertainment center solution. Definitely an ecology conversation starter!

Notice how each of these boldly display the product? Yeah. We see you Samsung. I think itās a pretty cool solution, and I hope more companies take note of this. We rely on cardboard so much for packaging - why not make it easy and fun to reuse? Itās an easy PR and marketing win - and itās cool!
Read the announcement at the link.
š± Alternative Phones
I read an Engadget article by James Trew last week about the world of Indie phones. Itās a fantastic thought-provoking article. You should read it here. Hereās a little sample.
Something that in recent years inspired smaller companies to make more niche phones. But when was the last time you saw someone with something like aĀ Nextbit Robin, aĀ YotaphoneĀ or aĀ Fairphone? Despite these alternative companies struggling to find a place to sell their phones (or an audience to buy them) thereās a rising trend of individuals picking up the baton. What if you or I wanted to make a phone? Is it even possible? Maybe, but not without many, many challenges.
He goes on to talk about several interesting and new alt phones - and the difficult challenges (manufacturing, audience) that go into these kinds of projects. Iāve always been fascinated by alternative cell phones. They have so much friction they have to overcome to get in your pocket. For example . . .
You have to convince someone to try a new phone theyāve never heard of
You have to find digital risk-takers within 1 and sell to them
You have to find a niche within 2 and pitch the differentiating factor for your product. What is the unique value that you offer?
Over the past 10 years, Iāve been fascinated by this scene - and have taken part a few times.
I had a Nextbit Robin - and it was a beautiful phone. I still have it - and it still works! However, it only lasted a year with poor battery life and overheating issues.
I honestly considered buying the Frank Phone - but didnāt because I was sketched out. It turned out to be pretty scammy.
I had a LG G Flex 2 - a very unique curved phone. This phone died hard after a year.
After my poor G Flex 2 and Robin died, I was done with pursuing the alternative phone space. Despite the conversations that my phones would often generate, I was sick of them dying. Ever since, Iāve been a little more careful about how alternative I go. I currently have the One Plus 7 Pro, and I love it.
Here are three newish I think you should check out if you get a chance.
The BoringPhone - a Smartphone without an app store. Great for kids!
The Zero 18 Blloc Phone - A Smartphone made for those who love Minimalism and BW. Theyāve released a Minimalist launcher too!
The Light Phone 2 - The most minimalist smartishphone ever.
š» Blog on Bear
Ever since Medium turned itself into a āWalled Gardenā where you had to pay to read the good articles, I searched for an alternative platform to blog on.
Well, I discovered Substack - and here we are. š
I discovered a pretty cool blogging platform the other day called Bear. Itās minimalist, loads super fast, and is solely focused on content. Hereās the authorās blurb.
There is a website obesity crisis. Bloated websites full of scripts, ads, and trackers slowing your readers down every time they try to read your well crafted content. Bear is all you need to build a fantastic and optimized site or blog. It works perfectly onĀ anyĀ viewing device. All you need to focus on is writing good content. Source
I for one really hope that we see more projects like this. We need to step away from the bloated ad riddled websites of the 10ās. I look forward to writing on it when I get a chance. Check it out at the link. Let me know if you start writing on it!
Maybe Iāll start a Copywriting blog, but inspired by the Onion. Hmmmmmmmā¦ā¦.
šThe Land of Random
*Opens the Filing Cabinet* Letās see what we have today . . .
Kawaii Product Design
Iām all for it. Letās go. No more utilitarian product design. The prettier and more Kawaii, the better. This is a fantastic article about the current state of product design.
European bread is better for you?
Iāve always suspected this.
Pitch Decks from the Big Companies
Ever wanted to see what Uberās initial pitch deck looked like? or Airbnb? Check them out here.
Genetic Space Invaders
Itās Space invaders, but the baddies get harder based on a genetic algorithm. Try it out here! I didnāt last too long. š¤£
šTikToks You canāt miss
Thomas The Demon Tank Spider? š±
Assasins Creed 3D Printed Arm Blades
Donāt forget to wipe your photo Metadata before posting it online!
How do you get these insane amazon codes?