The food was great. I had the house made mixed pickles, veggie chips with avocado dip, stuffed portabella with swiss cheese fondue, butter lettuce salad, and smoky fried chicken. The drink I ordered was the Little Osaka Sour. Everything I had was fantastic, and I would be happy ordering the exact same items next time.

The fried chicken ruled especially.

I like the area, just north of an area called “Little Osaka”, a strip packed with Japanese restaurants. I’ll find myself there again soon.

I’ve been “working remotely” for a few years now, which really means I work from home. The truth about working from home is that unless you’re working with others, it’s easy to get distracted by household chores like cleaning and laundry. Worst case scenario, you turn on the TV for one second, and realize three hours has gone by.

The beauty of working for yourself is the freedom you have to work when and where you want. So it makes sense then, to look for places you both enjoy being at and can get work done at.

I’ve been living in Venice for almost two years now, and I’ve been to easily over 20 coffe shops on the westside alone. The following are my three favorite coffee shops do work at, in Los Angeles, west of the 405.

#1) 212 Pier – The bohemian cafe open 24 hours a day, with free wifi and plenty of desks near outlets.

http://www.212pier.com/ | 212 pier ave, santa monica, ca

I was recently introduced to 212 Pier by my friend Aviva, who I often meet here for “casual coworking” sessions. While it’s the newest coffee shop I regularly go to, it quickly proved to be my favorite. First and foremost, it’s open 24 hours a day, which means I can sit here and do work til 4am. I like their coffee, and they also have good food (breakfast food, pastas, salads, and sandwiches) serving til 2:30am and again starting at 7am, which means I can order myself an omelet at 2am! Where else can I do that? Most importantly, they have plenty of desks (both on the first floor and the upstairs loft area), with plenty of outlets. It’s not surprising that you’ll always find a good number of students, writers, and entrepreneurs. Additional plus: the girls who work here are cute and nice.

#2) Intelligentsia – Awesome espresso and no outlets means it’s great for power work sessions.

http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/ | 1331 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA

Intelligentsia has more than one location, but the one I’m talking about is the one on Abbot Kinney. The reason I started liking this place was their awesome espresso and the baristas who take their profession very seriously. What keeps me going back is the people who go there. I’ve met up with, both randomly and purposefully, with more entrepreneurs at Intelligentsia than any other coffee shops. Some of my favorite entrepreneurs that frequent Intelligentsia include Alex Brunkhorst from Bungalux, Ken from Givigiv, and Skot from GoPhilosophie. Intelligentsia has free wi-fi, but they don’t have any outlets. This means you can’t work here for more than a few hours on your computer, but it’s great for sitting down and pumping out work for a short amount of time. The time limit happens to help me work faster. Unfortunately, the food options are limited to a few pastries.

#3) Cow’s End – You can literally see the ocean from the front porch seats.

http://www.thecowsendcafe.com/ | 34 Washington Boulevard
Venice Beach, CA 90292

Cow’s End is cute coffee shop on Washington Blvd, next door to the Cabo Cantina by the Venice Pier. They have great food and coffee, but mostly I just love that you can see the ocean while working. Street parking isn’t bad on Washington as long as you’re more than a block east of the ocean.

#4) Of course, there are more. Please tell me where you work.

I’m looking for more places to work, if you know of any places I might like, please let me know (in the comments section below)! What I’m looking for are: good coffee/espresso, food options, free wi-fi, late night spots, ocean view, and cute baristas.

View Coffee Shops for Working in a larger map

Everybody sh*t their pants when Square came out. Anybody can handle credit card transactions using their phone? I can get that little white iPhone attachment for free?

In our humble abode in Venice, California, one of my roommates happens to have Square, which makes owing him money very convenient. If I owe him money, he needs it immediately, and I don’t have cash on me, Square is our solution. The biggest problem with square as a personal solution is that the payee needs to have the little white thingy on him (doesn’t work for dinners out). Also, the payer needs to have his credit card (which will eventually become obsolete?).

Out of nowhere comes Dwolla, which I most recently read about on Business Insider. The interview with Ben Milne, the founder, is a good read. Basically, here are the key points you need to know:

- Dwolla only charges $0.25 for any transaction, even $1000s of dollars big. This is cheaper than Square or Paypal.
- Only the payer needs to have a Dwolla account to send money.
- You can send money vie email, phone, or Facebook. Sending money to a friend is as easy as finding them on Facebook.
- Dwolla is side-stepping credit card companies, rather working directly with the ACH system (Automated Clearing House – Wikipedia). This is how they’re able to keep costs so low.
- They were able to do the above because their first investors includes a Credit Union and another company that provides credit, debit, ACH and security solutions to banks and credit unions.
- They’re taken so seriously, they’ve already sat down with both the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury to talk about their solution, from a government monetary distribution standpoint.
- At one point, they had a 700 name list of interested investors.
- They did all of this out of Des Moines, Iowa, where they still reside.

Long story short, as the title of this blog post suggests, Dwolla gets my vote as the most badass payment solution startup as of now.

THE BASICS

Make sure your app is ready to be launched. You only get one chance to make a first impression, so make sure your app can do the one thing it’s supposed to do without crashing often.

Make sure your app looks good on the shelves. Even digital products need to be packaged properly to sell well. It’s important that you have a good description, a well-designed app icon image, and good screenshots in the app store.

Have a website. If your app is for an existing business, make sure you post information about the app on your website and link to the app store. If you’re app is your business, having a website will significantly increase your credibility. Make sure you link to the website from the app store as well.

If your app is a paid app, release a free version. People are significantly more likely to download your free app to try it first before purchasing your paid app compared to buying your paid app from the get-go. Of course, there are exceptions.

ENHANCE YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE

Create a beautiful splash page for your app. If your website homepage displays more information than for just one app, you should set up a separate page dedicated to your app. Make sure to promote the one great feature about your app that makes it stand out.

Create a video and post it on Youtube. There are a number of ways to create a video for your app, but the simplest way may be to use a screen capture tool and record your voice over it. You can additionally enhance the video by using video editing software like iMovie to add titles and music, edit/redo your voice over, and speed up/slow down the video captures.

Create a Facebook page and a Twitter Account. Ask yourself if your target market uses Facebook and/or Twitter, and how much they use it. Creating a Facebook page and Twitter account are really easy. There are few downsides to having these accounts, regardless of whether or not you use them; at the very least, you secure your usernames in case you change your mind later. Make sure to have links to your social media accounts on your website.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Put together a press package. The first step to doing public relations is putting together a simple press package. Remember to include a short description of your app in the email (no longer than a cover letter), screenshots, videos, links to your website and social media accounts, and if necessary a longer description of your app as an attachment.

Leverage existing contacts. Any blog or writer whose covered you, your business, or your app should be considered a contact. If you have friends who blog or write for relevant publications are contacts. Ask them kindly if they’d be interested in covering your story, and make sure to include your press package. If they’re a big-timer, include one of your promotional codes that allows them to download the app for free.

Submit your app for review. There are a number of app review websites that will review your app for free. Some will charge you, some will charge you for only an expedited review. Whether you pay or not is up to you. Assuming your app doesn’t get horrible reviews, make sure you link to these from your website. For extra credit, add the best bits and pieces from these reviews as testimonials to your website and app description in the app store.

• App Store Apps
• App Craver
• 148Apps
• AppVee
• App Safari
• App Advice
• iPhoneApplicationList
• NativeiPhoneApps
• ngmoco
• AppShopper
• TUAW
• AppleiPhoneSchool
• i use this
• iphone app reviews

Find and reach out to writers and online publications who’ve written about similar apps to yours. Make a list of all of your competitor apps and apps that serve a relevant purpose. For example, if your app is a cooking timer app, recipe apps would be considered relevant. If a blog or online publication has written about any of these apps, they may be likely to write about yours. Once you’ve identified the apps, search for those apps on blogs and news sites. My favorite resources for doing this are Technorati and Google Blog Search. Remember, including a promotion code (free download) will increase the likelihood of a paid app getting covered.

Find and reach out to writers and online publications who write about relevant topics to yours. The idea is simple, if your app helps people stay on track with their diet, any website or blogs that covers diets will be likely to write about your app. Search for topics on Google Blog Search, and the top blogs will show up at the top. On Technorati, make sure you select “blogs” instead of “posts” in the search bar when searching for blogs about a certain topic. Another great way to find blogs are doing a Google search to find curated lists, for example, try “best diet blogs”.

Find people with questions and problems that your app will answer. There are a variety of Q&A sites from Quora to Focus to Yahoo! Answers where people ask and answer questions every day. If your app answers a question, look for the question online and provide your app as the answer. I suggest providing alternatives to your app, allowing the readers to decide which to use. Aligning with apps worse than yours may highlight you as the best, but if you’re the small guy, aligning yourself with successful apps can bring you credibility.

MONITOR CONVERSATIONS

Set up Google Alerts for your app. Google Alerts allows you to receive email updates when anybody writes about your blog. When somebody does mention your blog, make sure to link back to the post from your website so people can find it. Make sure to share these blog posts on social media, and mention the writer or publication in the Tweet and/or Facebook post.

Monitor Twitter Conversations. If you’re not active on social media, TweetBeep or Twilert  is Google Alerts for Twitter, allowing you to receive email updates when someone mentions your business on Twitter. If you’re active on social media, I would suggest setting up a search query on a more comprehensive tool, such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck (both of which are free to use). Respond to any mentions naturally as you would if you overhead this conversation at a party. If they say something nice, say thank you. If they ask a question, answer it. If they wrote an article about you, thank them lots and publicly. If they say something bad, respond as a professional customer service representative.

ALTERNATIVE RESOURCES

How to Promote and Advertise Your App (Mashable)
To Free Ways to Market Your App (tuts+)
50 Ways to Promote Your New iPhone App (Tim Cascio)
The 10 Step Approach to Marketing Your App (Net Magazine)
15 Suggestions for Marketing Your iPhone Application (Karelia)
11 Places to Publicize Your iPhone App (Mashable)
How to Market Your App (About.com)
5 Musts for Mobile App Marketing (Mashable)
7 Reasons Why Most Developers Won’t See Their App Reach The Top 100 (My Appinion)
8 Best Practices for Deploying a Top-Ranked Mobile App
3 Tips for Making Your App More Discoverable (Mashable)
15 Tips for Launching a Successful Mobile App (Mashable)

A service I started using a few months ago, called Timehop, has been a great tool for nudging me to appreciating my past more often. Every day, it sends you a short email with what you were doing exactly a year ago. Information is collected from your social media profiles such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and LinkedIn.

During the process of deleting my emails daily, I find myself quickly scanning my Timehop emails. Even a split second of remembering what I was doing brings me a sense of calm and an appreciation for all that I’ve accomplished since then.

Today, I was sent three photos from a New Years party exactly a year ago. This was the first time I partied with my friend Alden, who I’m working with now on EntertainLA. It’s been a great year, let’s make the next one better.

1) Do what you say you’ll do.
2) Respond to emails promptly.
3) Work more.
4) Work on a schedule.
5) Keep home + car clean.
6) Exercise more.
7) Cook more vegetables.
8) Smoke much less. Why not quit?
9) Make more money.
10) Polish yourself. Look polished, act polished, be polished.
Extra Credit) Be Happy.

Extra credit is supposed to be easy, right?

1) Never leave clothes where they’re not supposed to be.
2) Throw out old things you don’t need immediately.
3) Keep your fridge/freezer clean.
4) What you take out today, put away today. Like scissors, brooms, and dishes.
5) When you’re busy, write down everything you need to do.
6) Think of puns in your every day life. Put a smile on your face.
7) Carry around a notepad. Or start using your phone to take notes.
8 ) Stop watching tv while doing other things. Your brain doesn’t work that way.
9) Stop comparing yourself to others.
10) Write down your emotions, like in a diary. It’s healthy.
11) Take your time when you’re in a rush.
12) Keep track of what you eat.
13) Add new vocabulary to the way you talk.
14) When in doubt, choose the riskier option. Be brave.
15) Hang out by yourself in public more often. This will make you more comfortable with yourself.
16) Get appropriate rest.
17) Add some plants to your home.
18) Wake up when the sun rises.
19) Walk more.
20) Give up less easily.
21) Draw more.
22) Sing & dance when you’re sad.
23) Count lucky occurrences.
24) Laugh for 5 minutes in front of the mirror.
25) Keep better posture.
26) Drink more water.
27) Stop eating fast food.
28) Stretch more often.
29) Congratulate yourself more often.
30) Look at your naked self in the mirror more often. Learn to appreciate your body.
31) Chew your food more before you swallow.
32) Compliment strangers more often.
33) Listen better.
34) Be more memorable when meeting people for the first time.
35) Don’t hesitate to say no when you don’t feel like doing something.
36) Make up white lies more often.
37) Keep your house clean enough to invite guests at all times.
38) Be courteous to strangers. Say “please” and “thank you” to store clerks and customer service.
39) Stop pretending like you know more about a subject than you do. You miss out on hearing what others have to say.
40) Keep emails short.
41) Share positive emotions with others more often.
42) Practice putting your emotions into words.
43) Prioritize expressing gratitude. Send thank you letters and emails promptly.
44) Arrive early to meetings.

Many of these tips were borrowed from a Japanese book titled “キッパリ!“

Today, I came across The Nicest Place On The Internet. It’s a website that loops videos of people coming up to hug the camera. It’s surprisingly uplifting. I haven’t added a video of myself yet, but considering I was cheered up by these people, I owe it to them to participate.

Need a hug? Go to The Nicest Place On The Internet.

I love seeing technology used in weird, but happy ways.

]]> http://yoheinakajima.com/2011/12/18/holiday-gift-guide/feed/ 0 http://yoheinakajima.com/2011/12/12/links-resources-for-developing-an-app/ http://yoheinakajima.com/2011/12/12/links-resources-for-developing-an-app/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:59:14 +0000 yohei http://yoheinakajima.com/?p=1368

Have a cool app idea and want to get it developed? I’ve collected some links and resources to help you find various ways to get it created. Enjoy!

Creating an iPhone App:
- How to Create Your First iPhone Application
- How to Develop a Branded iPhone App on a Budget
- How to Build an App for your Small Business

Tips on Hiring
- 3 Things to Consider When Staffing a Software Development Project
- How to Hire a Designer or Developer
- How to Hire (or be Hired) as a Team of Devs

iPhone App Design:
- How to Develop iPhone Apps with Staying Power
- Mobile App Tips for Small Businesses

Tips on Hiring a Co-Founder:
- What to Look for in a Co-Founder
- 10 Most Serious Hiring Mistakes and How to Fix Them
- 14 Tip for Hiring the Perfect CTO

Company Culture
- 5 Ways to Develop a Company Culture for Remote Teams

Co-Founder Hiring Resources
- Glassdoor (Compensation Research)
- Craigslist Cofounder
- Tech Cofounder
- Founder Dating
- Noodle Yard (Hiring Board run by Coloft – Santa Monica’s tech coworking space)

Resources for finding Dev Agencies
- TheyMakeApps
- Appolicious

Resources for Outsourcing
- oDesk
- elance
- GroupTalent (for hiring groups)

Do-It-Yourself Resources
- 4 Tools for Building a Business Mobile App
- Make an App for your Small Business – Without Hiring a Developer
- How to Start developing for iOS, Android, or Windows Phone 7
- How to Build an iPhone App

Photo from Flickr. Thanks ivyfield!