10 Cool Celebrity Selfies that you’ve probably never seen (and Hanks, Diddy and Eminem getting it all wrong)
# SelfiesSelfyReddit
By Sam
Bill Clinton, even cooler now than he was then
I spent the morning trawling Reddit for Self Portraits of famous faces that are actually cool. I love my job.
At the bottom of the post you’ll also find 3 Selfie Sinners who get it ALL wrong.
George Harrison, the coolest Beatle by far
Jeff Bridges, cool as fack. Reddit told me that he’s also a talented photographer, check out his work here.
Jackie O and her man. I challenge you to find a President looking more relaxed
OK, not quite a Selfie. But my does Ringo look cool
You go Hills.
The artist everyone used to love to hate, Tracey Emin
I hope this is real Mr Obama, I fear not.
Napoleon Dynamite takes arguably the greatest Selfie ever
This list wouldn’t be complete without Andy Warhol
And now for those who didn’t make the cut… Brace yourself.
Oh dear.
Oh dear, oh dear.
Ha.
New Features! Draw, Text Note and Camera Update
# winknew featuresscribbledrawcameraphotomessaging
By Sam
Wink is the Best Private Photo Chat and we’ve now made it easier, faster and more fun for you to send photos to friends.
Get your hands on the newest version of Wink here.
3 Major Feature Updates you should be aware of
1. Draw
You can now personalize your messages by Scribbling on your photos. Simply select the Draw tool and use your finger to write or draw on your photo in any color. It really brings your photos to life and is a whole lotta fun!
2. Improved Camera
We made the Camera way faster, and a lot more intuitive. Take a photo and show your friends where you are and what you are doing, or load a picture directly from your Camera Roll.
We also added this awesome Tap to Focus feature. It’s a really smooth experience, go try it out.
3. Text Note
Easily add a short, colorful Text Note to your photo.
It’s as easy as 1-2-3…
And the good news doesn’t end there! Our biggest ever feature update is right around the corner. Watch this space.
Download the latest version of Wink here.
We’d love to know what you think of the new features, join the conversation on Twitter.
How to get started on your First Windows Phone App and the Metro Design Model
# windowswindowsphoneappappsdesignmetromicrosoftnokiadevelopersnokia
By Sam
I invited two of our team, Kim and Tomasz, outside onto the stairwell for a coffee in the sunshine and a chat about Windows Phone. We discuss their work processes when it comes to tackling the world of Windows. Kim is a front end developer by trade, and Art Director Tomasz had never designed for Windows Phone until now. Amazingly, they’re both smart and fun. We like them.
How our startup got global press coverage, on a budget and with no real PR network
# leanstartupPRappspromotionmarketinghacksrapportivetnw
By Sam
Get articles! It’s a common PR route for most Tech Startups.
But, unless you are lucky enough to be fully integrated in the Silicon Valley scene, the articles and reviews aren’t going to write themselves.
This post will explain how our small European startup got write-ups in many major international publications, on a budget, and with no network. We chose not to use a PR agency, mainly to save money, but also because we believed that with research and some hard work we could achieve similar results in-house.
An Idiot’s Guide to the Selfie (Disclaimer: Pinch some Salt)
# selfieself portraitricky gervaisgrindrjustin bieber
By Sam
If you use Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter or Wink, chances are you’ve taken a Selfie or two in your time. Read this guide and avoid posting Bad Selfies (that’s about 99% of them).
Here’s a guide to 6 of the best Selfies to get you started:
Key Pose Elements: Go topless and tense like hell. Be sure to show some post-workout pain in your face - those muscles didn’t grow themselves. If there’s a spotlight in your room, use it. It will make you look super ripped. If you’re a girl, you too can pull off a “Bieber”, just be sure to wear a branded sports bra. If you’ve got a tattoo, make sure it’s visible. Tats make you look intimidating and philosophical. In general, if you don’t have a tattoo, you should seriously consider getting one.
Pro tip: Oil yourself up for max def.
Location: Strike a pose in front of the bathroom mirror, or lie on your bed and look badass and tired as.
Caption: You just got back from the gym. Express your exhaustion. Express your desire to pump some more. Use a direct quote from a buddhist monk, or Eminem.
Selfie you should post next: “The Man vs Food”. There is no better time to exhibit yourself holding a protein shake or vegetable smoothie. Your friends will LOVE you for it.
The Bieber is a Winner because: You don’t even need to go to the gym. Just remove your shirt and pretend like you were there. Your friends will admire your motivation and you’ll actually feel fitter. Fact.
Straight from the Horse’s Mouth: 5 great ways to reach out to your users
# User ResearchHacksCustomer Development
By Sam
This ain’t photoshopped. Click here to see more equi-babes.
In this post, I’ll explain 5 great tricks you can use to reach out and speak directly to people about your product. In our case it’s a private photo chat app. I won’t go into detail about best practises for carrying out an interview or a focus group. This post is about how to get in touch with the right people if you don’t yet have a broad user base. We had 2 main reasons for doing this:
1. Understand how users are actually using our app.
2. Understand specifics of what users love about other photo-sharing apps; like Snapchat and Instagram.
Why isn’t your startup travelling as a team?
# thewinkteamstartuptravelmeetupuservoiceleancontenteventbrite
By Sam
It doesn’t matter if you’ve already received funding or you’re bootstrapping it, we’ve found a way to relocate to a new environment for a while without having to burn a hole in your company’s pocket. In my recent guest post for Airbnb I wrote about how you can use Airbnb to cover your startup’s travel costs.
Californian Color Run
# featuredusers colorrun
By Sam
The World’s Happiest 5K
The Color Run is less about your 10-minute-mile and more about having the time of your life, it’s most definitely the taking part that counts.
Remote Working: 3 words that MUST feature in your job posting if you want to bring the best people to your startup
# thewinkteam remotework
By Sam
Work.From.Anywhere.
By delocalizing our employment strategy we were able to attract absolutely the best people. We now have a more skilled, productive and happy team. Here’s how your startup can do it too.
Update: Wink 2.0 is in the App Store
# newfeatures
By Sam
There’s a new version of Wink in the App Store, and you can get it here
Do one thing, and do it well
If you’ve followed Wink’s progress over the past months, you’ll have noticed some pretty major changes in product direction. We got a lot of feedback from users, and we’re so grateful for that. Your input makes all the difference. Here are some of the major updates you can expect to see in Wink 2.0:
Algorithms schmalgorithms
We had dedicated a significant chunk of 2012 to developing algorithms that automatically share your photos with the friends that are physically around you as you take them. You might remember the “Friends Radar” on the app, which allowed you to see a live feed of which friends are in your vicinity. It’s a cool feature that we still really like, but many of you expressed concerns about battery drain due to constant location monitoring. As such, we’ve decided to put the feature of automatic sharing based on location on the backburner.
You’re now connected with everyone
Share photos with your contacts, they don’t even need the Wink app.
It’s not often you want to post photos to Facebook, the audience is too broad right? But many of you told us you wanted to be able to share photos easily with friends on any platform. We listened and simplified.
We’ve implemented a smart sharing mechanism that allows you to select photos from your camera roll and share them with any of your contacts - whether they have the app or not. It’s completely free, which means you can send photos to Mom and Dad or friends and family anywhere in the world.
Share completely privately
Only the recipients you choose will be able to see the photos you share.
We haven’t been so good at explaining how sharing works, and we know that some of you have been confused about who can actually see your photos. So, we started to focus on giving you absolutely the easiest and fastest way to share photos privately with specific people. You have complete control over which of your contacts you share with. Simples.
You can try out the new features by downloading Wink for iPhone here
