Matt G

life

It's too "fisher price"

It is ridiculous. When I was growing up, some of my peers didn't like the Mac because it was "too simple" to use. These dissilutioned thoughts equated complexity as superior. They claim lack of sophistication is a bad thing. Arguments that always equate lack of complexity

projects Featured

What's New?

With a few lines of code, let your users know what's new in your app with rich update notifications.

Pickle

Know your Customer

In the  early days, when a customer would email or tweet into support, we needed  to cross reference them with our database to figure out who they were.  We started with a gmail inbox of support requests and our DMs were open.  If a customer emailed in asking to cancel

Pickle

Timeline Beta — making the home buying process less stressful.

We want to make the home buying process easier for both buyers and their agents. Buying a house is one of the most stressful periods in your life. If it’s not hard enough finding the right house  in the right place that fits your budget, there are so many

Pickle

Spend less time looking for Files with Magic Email 🧙‍♂️

Ever wasted time looking around for that document you sent to that person that one time that you just can’t find anywhere? You swear it was right over there last time! But, oh my. That’s a lot of email to search through, you think to yourself. Why  can’

Pickle

Why you should avoid sending no-reply emails

We’ve  all seen them before. You get an email from a company about something  on your account, a message from someone, or a receipt. Maybe you have a  question or want to provide feedback, but you can’t because it comes  from a no-reply address — no one will ever

Animjoi is taking over 🎶

It wasn't too long ago when Apple announced the new iPhone X and the Animoji feature. While not everyone was excited for the Animoji feature when it was announced, many people have fallen in love with the Animoji feature, especially when it comes to music. I made a

apple

Apple Released New Stuff 9/12/2017

This morning, in a 2 hour keynote at the new Steve Jobs Theater, Apple released a few new products. Click through for a brief update on these 4 products.

slack

The Walkie Talkie of 2017

You press a button an instantly notify one or many people. You can broadcast to them without any hesitation. It's easy to miss what someone says. It's useful for real-time communication and for sharing jokes. It's distracting unless you turn it off, but people

Featured

The best free stuff on your birthday 🎉

Companies are always trying to get oyur attentio on your birthday by giving away free stuff from ice cream cones to coffee. Here's an ever updating list of stuff you can get for free on your birthday: * Peets: Free Drink * Starbucks: Free Drink * Chevy's: Free Sombrero

Hulu and Security

This morning, I woke up to a surprising email: Wtf, this wasn't me. It must be a scam. I assumed it was just a phishing attempt that got through Gmail's filters. So I checked the headers and tried logging into hulu.com. Low and behold: my

Provide Feedback

When you click something and you see a spinner, you assume something is happening. When you press the elevator button, it lights up and the number at the top indicates the floor it's on. You can see it changing. All of this feedback was designed for peace of

How we work

So, how does Sidestep actually do work and get things done? It's a very good question! We create focused and uninterrupted time that allow us to operate efficiently and productively. It's thoroughly planned out ahead of time. There are no sprints and or daily stand ups.

Show, don't tell

You probably don't care if you have a 2.7GHz processor or a 2.8GHz processor. You probably don't care if you have 12 or 13 megapixels in your camera phone. You care about what that computer let's you do, how the photos your

Sometimes, it just doesn’t feel right

It happens – sometimes. You work really hard on something and plan it out. It’s going to be a great idea. You’ve put a lot of thought into it and people are going to love it. It just makes sense. You continue to work on it. Tweak it and

Featured

The Crazy Logistics Behind Pre-ordering Concert Merch

Co-founding Sidestep has been a tremendous learning experience. At Sidestep we allow fans to pre-order merch for pickup or delivery (if the artist allows it – more on that later) so you can reserve an artist's tour merch before the show. The idea is quite simple: browse merch before

Real-time Chat is Good for Work in Small Doses

Group chat tools are popping up everywhere. Real-time communication is now, it's instant, and it's everywhere. In the past there was IRC, Campfire, and Hipchat. Now, Slack is all the rage. It seems like everyone is using it these days. Slack is supposed to keep you

Customer Service is Truly Important

Over 5 years ago I bought a Subaru from Van Bortel in Rochester, NY. I first started my car search by visiting all the nearby dealers to my apartment. Some of them told me I'd never qualify and some wouldn't let me test drive their cars.

job

Applying for the Job

I've been receiving a lot of job applications recently and they all have something in common: none of them seem to want the job and it's very rare to find someone who stands out. I have responded to all applicants this far and after thinking about

productivity

How to Email more Efficiently on iPhone

Writing or replying to an email on mobile is a pain in the butt. Either manage to write a typo free sentence or reply without enough information. Regardless of the scenario, one thing is for sure: it's a frustrating experience. Shortcuts keyboard has saved me many hours of

If journalists reviewed Macs like iPads

Excellent article that reverses the status quo of iPad reviews where typical hypothesis is, "Will the iPad Pro replace your MacBook?" If you're, well, anybody, you'll surely find the lack of a rear camera on the MacBook Pro a limitation. We have all grown

How to use Slack Without Distracting Your Coworkers

A bazillion people are using Slack[1] or another chat room for work. It's very common to see a startup, especially with remote workers, using an online chat room for real time communication during working (and sometimes non working) hours. Why are chatrooms great? Well, they help eliminate

There is no such thing as a quick question

There is no such thing as a "quick question." When someone asks you a "quick question" it's quick to ask, but not quick to answer. A quick answer would be: yes, no or maybe, but the fact of the matter is, just because it&

design

Expectations: What it's like to write code

Writing code is a creative act. It requires focus and concentration. It requires a lot of thinking and deliberation. Thinking about what types of structures to use where, how to design a function or what should happen first. There is a lot to think about and there's usually

Geese

Verizon and AT&T (and the other carriers) are obviously feeling the heat from T-Mobile. Recently, T-Mobile has been gaining subscribers month over month while red and blue have been losing them. If you don't already know, I'm a big fan of John Legere and