Take Satellite Photos, The 2020 Mind Map, and Manage Your Cash Flow
Mind map your money
Hey everyone! How are you doing this lovely Monday?
I had a pretty good weekend - I had some friends over for a firepit night - and discovered that a dry Christmas tree will . . .
Shoot up 10 feet tall flames . . .
Yeah - that was an adrenaline rush. It TORCHED. We went from firepit vibes to Midsommar bonfire vibes in 20 seconds flat.
I’ll readily admit - I’ll never add a dash of lighter fluid to a Christmas tree ever again.
I still have a few branches left - I’ll likely be using 1 or 2 at a time as kindling for normal fires.
Annnyyywayyy - I’m still hard at work on my mindmap - I finished 2020 last week, and I’ll be sharing a few interesting details below.
It’s amazing how many dope product hunt projects literally just disappear without a trace. It’s quite sad.
My first arrival of Aliexpress goods came in - I’ll have a little section next week where I’ll be sharing my initial impressions. Shipping takes a few weeks, but the “2 or more for $1.99 each” deal is awesome.
Yes I know there’s a place where I can get stuff cheaper - that’ll be a newsletter topic once I figure it out.
Have you seen the Phoenix Incident found footage movie yet? It’s a UFO movie that’s pretty fun - very shaky cam, but interesting. I still prefer Alien Outpost when it comes to Found Footage alien movies - THAT movie was awesome.
Let’s jump on in!
🎥Take Satellite Photos
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to buy your VERY OWN custom satellite photo?
Maybe you do OSINT and you want a photo of a war zone . . . or you’re interested in a historical site that Google doesn’t have good imagery of . . . or maybe there’s a really cool place you want a HIGH DEF photo of to put on your wall.
A high def photo of North Sentinel Island would be cool, or remote areas of Papua New Guinea - see if I can see any of those legendary dinosaurs.
SkyFi is making it possible for “the average joe” like you or me to BUY satellite photos.
We’re putting the power of technology back into the hands of the people. Instead of satellites offering exclusive access to a select few, we’re democratizing space to make it available for everyone . . . Our mission? Remove the barriers to capturing satellite images . . . From NDAs to licensing agreements to endless contracts and phone calls, it was far from simple to get even just a single image. Instead of settling for the miles and miles of red tape and bureaucracy, they decided to do something about it: democratize satellite technology for everyone. And that’s how SkyFi was born. (source)
It’s a FASCINATING business idea - one that will most definitely have a customer base.
They do more than just a “high def” picture - they do night imaging, satellite video, and stereo for 3D modeling - satellite video is available, and the other two are coming soon.
The checkout experience is pretty easy too - which is surprising when you see the price points.
The bigger the area you want - the more expensive you get. Video doubles the price and then some.
1000 dollars is not cheap for a satellite photo haha but the fact that this is even available for you or me to buy like we’re shopping on Amazon is incredible.
Like a 2008 iPhone - it’ll be expensive for a while until competitors emerge and all that sort of thing.
There is a CHEAPER option for you and me though - we can buy preexisting images for around a quarter of the price depending on how much “land” we want a picture of.
Go check it out at the link!
If you do order an image - let me know. I’d love to know what the checkout experience is like.
🗺️The 2019-2020 Mind Map
I finished the 2019 - 2020 mind map of all my links - and it led me to a few interesting projects that no longer exist - and some that are going quite well. I know, I know - y’all want me to share the link, but not yet.
The Projects that Died
Muze - The chat app that was like no other. It was creative, fun - you could draw, use gifs - it was a freeform canvas you could chat in real time in. Here’s my article from 2020. I really think this chat app could’ve revolutionized the messaging space . . . I can’t find it in the Apple store anymore.
Muze Twitter - Not active since April 2022
Bandit Coffee - This was hyped as a Starbucks competitor that would revolutionize the “fast coffee” space. Basically, you could drop a full, techy coffee shop in the space of 20 feet or so - for a low cost. It’s now part of Gopuff - and the dream appears to be dead.
Byte App - Don Hoffman, the cocreator of Vine, tried to make a comeback with a fun app called Byte. If it had come out a year earlier - maybe it would’ve put up a bigger fight. Alas, TikTok had already gripped the world - it had some really fun creators, but not enough power to compete. It’s been folded into another short form app.
Walmart Drive In - Walmart created drive in movie theater experiences during Covid. They killed the website - and didn’t plan anymore. It’s kind of sad - they had the chance to bring back some old school vibes, create good feelings from people, and sell more goods.
RelayChat - This fantastic free widget let you put Discord style chat on your website. If it was on a website, you could use it to chat anonymously. It was really really cool - and I’m sad to say that the website is gone. FORTUNATELY - the Github is still up, so you can do a bit of selfhosting if you’d like.
The Projects that Now Thrive
Culdesac - This car free neighborhood is being built and is going full speed ahead! So many cool neighborhood / city experiments seem to disappear, but I’m happy to say that this one actually gets to say WGMI - We’re Gonna Make it.
Check out Culdesac’s progress!
Ghost Kitchens - They’re everywhere now in delivery apps - from Mr. Beast’s burgers to random chicken finger places, Ghost Kitchens are a part of our lives now. They were a curiosity back in 2019,2020 - but are everywwhere now.
Meat Alternatives - Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat ramped up in 2019/2020 and are now everywhere. Meat alternatives have finally gained a “prime shelf space” foothold, and are now here to stay.
💰Manage Your Cash Flow
Have you ever wanted to manage your cash flow like a mindmap?
Here’s a screenshot of the software. Not my money LOL. I wish my finances had these kinds of zeros lol.
I got an ad on Instagram for a software called Sequence.
Sequence is the first of its kind financial router! It allows you to visualize your money flow, set smart routing rules and execute complex financial strategies all from one single, powerful platform . . . By connecting all of your financial accounts, Sequence allows you to view how your finances are distributed across all accounts with a dynamic money map. Live updates on where your balances stand, and full control of exactly how much of your income goes where. (source)
It’s a pretty awesome idea - especially if you have multiple streams of income or want to manage different accounts.
It brings a “creativity” to money management that Excel / Google Sheets lacks.
The really cool feature is the “if” statement logic that YOU CAN APPLY IN REAL TIME TO YOUR MONEY.
We manage our finances through a Google Sheet - but with this kind of logic - you could set up “rules” to make sure your money moves around exactly the way you want it to - without all the logging in / transferring crap that takes time and energy.
IF checking = less than $20, transfer 1300 from savings.
IF credit card has more than 10% of credit line, transfer 10% more from income each week.
And so forth.
It’s an incredible tool - one that could actually make a big difference for entrepeneurs, business owners, investors, and others who are tired of manually managing their money. It’s pretty cheap too - surprisingly cheap - with the first plan starting at $8.73 a month.
You can watch their onboarding video here - it’s pretty interesting.
Check it out!
🐙The Land of Random
Lets - Get - Randommmmm!!!!!!!
The Nintendo OS
This is really cool - It’s a game, masked as a Windows style operating system - with useful tools to boot! It’s available on the Switch.
Watching Grass Grow Webcam
It’s watching snow melt now, but this webcam has awesome retro vibes.
Who is Pepsi Man?
Ahhhhh yes - Pepsi Man from ye olde Pepsiman video game. I think Pepsi should bring him back.
Mobbin
Want some UI / UX inspiration? Check out Mobbin with alllllll their swipe files.
The iPod Social
Imagine browsing Hacker News or Youtube on the iPod. Well - now you can with this web app!
Digital Minimalism
The quest for dumber phones . . . the siren calls, but will I ever listen?
Apple is Scanning Your Files
Ohhhh yes, Apple cares about “privacy.” LOL
📻Vybes
r/vaporwave released their list of the best albums of 2022. Here’s a link to the post.
Here’s a Spotify playlist that someone put together - I still got to sort through this and see if I find any bangers. So far my vibe is that Vaporwave 2022 is a lot different than Vaporwave 2015 . . .
🎵TikToks You Can’t Miss
Do i behold a balisong fidget spinner?
This actually sounds like an insanely fun Dungeons and Dragons.
This is true at a spiritual level - I can usually make the “everything” people recant.
I may not dress very techwear anymore - but I can still tell you where everyone got their clothes.
That’s all for this week, See you next time!