💳Bank with Google,Create Virtual Sticky Notes, and Interactive Paper!

Ready to let Tech handle your money?

Hey everyone! 👋 Ready to dive into this week’s wonderful selection of cool stuff from around the Web? Well grab that monster, crack it open, and take a break from your Monday Madness!

Before we start - a little housekeeping.

The Land of Random podcast is now available on Google and Apple Podcasts. I know not everyone has Spotify these days. Check it out!

Bank with Google

Remember when the Apple Card came out? Everyone got excited about the metal card, the seamless Apple Pay integration, and all the other benefits that it offered. Heck, I’m an Android guy and I was jealous!

And - this trailer was dope.

Well - it looks like Google will be coming to join the party next year.

The company is gearing up to offer checking accounts to consumers, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal, starting as early as next year. Google is calling the project “Cache,” and it’ll partner with banks and credit unions to offer the checking accounts, with the banks handling all financial and compliance activities related to the accounts. (Source)

I use and trust Google for so many things - messaging, email, spreadsheets, documents, storage - the list goes on - but do I really want to trust them for my banking? Do I want to put Almighty Google in charge of my personal money?

A few dollars perhaps - like Cash app or Paypal - but my checking account? Oy vey! I’m not too sure about that. It prompts a whole lot of questions like - What access does Google have to my financial data? Can they limit access to my money if they don’t like what I say? and many others.

On the flip side - if they give me some pretty cool tools to manage my money, integrate Google Maps to show where purchases are made, maybe give me a free metal card - I could be persuaded . . .

For now - I’ll be sticking with my local bank.

I’ll keep you updated as new information arises!

Create Virtual Sticky Notes

Learn to Code. Everyone says it’s important - but few people take the time to do so.

I’m part of “everyone” - but once in a while, I get pulled in.

I stumbled across this pretty cool HTML tutorial the other week. Basically, it shows you how to create virtual sticky notes on a page. To be honest - my coding skills are pretty poor - so I’m not sure how to employ this project in any kind of practical application . . .

A minimalist website where you access different parts of the site via sticky notes could be pretty cool.

The tutorial is pretty straight forward - so if you’re looking for something easy to do and show off to your “non-coding friends” this is PERFECT for you.

Here’s a link (it will work best on desktop) to the demo of the finished project in CodePen.

And - here’s the link to the Tutorial!

Now that you have an itch for virtual sticky notes - let me give you a link to the FREE official app that Post-it has for sticky notes. It’s available for Android and iPhone. It’s pretty fun and easy to use! You can make your own sticky notes and arrange them by boards - pretty cool for writing quick notes/ideas.

Interactive Paper

I love finding products that could revolutionize the Direct Mail industry - and Interactive Paper has the potential to do just that.

Don’t get me wrong - I wholeheartedly believe in the power and importance of Ad Copy. Gary Halbert has taught me that much! However, from a “Hooking the Audience” standpoint - this project is amazing.

Check out this video.

Essentially - using NFC for Android, or an app for Iphone, a simple piece of paper turns into a fun interactive experience! The official website mentions its usefulness for such things as quizzes, voting, comments, ordering, and other Calls to Action.

Pretty neat, right?

People love cool stuff. Imagine getting a mailer with something like this in it. You’d probably take a look at it, wouldn’t you?

Here’s their main site!

The Land of Random

Ever wanted to make music in Excel? Well, here’s your chance. A brilliant Youtuber programmed a Drum Machine into Excel - and it works too! 😱 Amazing! Watch at least the first 15 seconds - You’ll be amazed. (The Excel sheet is available in the video description).

Did you like the Predator movies? Ever wish they were, well, a little more interesting than just being really-hard-to-kill-invisible-Aliens-with-tech-that-would-make- Batman-jealous? Mist XG reimagines the Predators in a Yakuza gang setting. Such a weird but cool mashup! Click to see!

The Modern Motorola Razr is here - and it is a beautiful blast of Nostalgia! I simply love the flippity flip and satisfying snap of the old school Razr. It’s a pity it costs $1500 and has middling specs. Watch this trailer, and weep.