Sam Plecic Blog

Fitbit is on schedule, as its boss James Park keeps reminding us, to launch its next smartwatch by the end of the year. We don’t know what the smartwatch will be called, though Blaze 2 seems likely, but thanks to leaks we know its design and some of the hardware improvements. Images obtained by Wareable show a similar large display design to the Blaze – which we have already seen in a Yahoo Finance report – alongside a new heart-rate arrangement that uses two red lights and one blue light. The company’s previous devices have used a green light to track heart-rate because blood absorbs the light. However, it reflects red light, which allows it to penetrate deeper into the skin, providing a more accurate heart-rate and new biometrics like blood oxygen levels. This should help close the gap between Fitbit and the Apple Watch when it comes to heart-rate accuracy. Fitbit is also reportedly improving the accuracy of GPS for the new smartwatch. It won’t be just ha...

What do Pied Piper and blockchain tools have in common? Both are always “coming soon.” By now most of us are familiar with blockchain, the technology underpinning cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Outside of cryptocurrency, blockchain has many purported use cases in scenarios that require an immutable ledger. Rhetoric has elevated blockchain to godly status, labeling it as a bleeding edge technology poised to disrupt all facets of life, from voting, to smart guns, health data, stock trading, international shipping, and beyond. We’ve seen a ton of other innovative blockchain ideas too, yet many are unproven or simply hypothetical. So, the question is, what projects are successfully implementing blockchain in practice ? In this article we’ll strive to separate fact from fiction by showcasing 5 living projects that are actually using blockchain, with real world results. We’ll gauge the viability of such projects, and see how proven use may affect th...

You may think that you have the world’s most exceptional colleagues, but sooner or later, you’ll have a conflict at work. Unfortunately, conflict at work and misunderstandings happen all the time, so managing them in a proper way to minimize their effect on your productivity is critical to achieving career goals. The effects of how to manage conflicts at work effect can be quite significant. According to an Inc.com piece, for example, workplace conflicts have office employees and leadership dealing with them almost three hours every week and result in $359 billion in losses annually. Managing conflicts at work can mean dealing with difficult conversations in the workplace. The best way to deal with conflict or disagreement in the office is to merely talk about it, and find a solution together. Yes, communication is a powerful tool against conflicts and their adverse effects. Still, one has to know how to handle those difficult conversations and find a way out of a complicate...

At first all I wanted was to be able to purchase something wonderful and uplifting for my bedroom wall. Then the goal was — if we could just find a piece that was inspirational above the desk in the den — that would be enough. Soon, we realized that we spent much more time in the living-room and to be real — so did our friends. Was I trying to be inspired myself — or show what great taste I had — to the friends? Let’s get real — artwork fills all of these “needs.” I decided to tryout Meural. “Life Imitates Art”– But Do You Want It To? Thomas Merton said, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” Well, I sure didn’t want the peeps at work losing themselves in art. “Lose yourself in the next tech project, please — this is a tech company.” If you’re a writer, “Lose yourself in getting that article written — or the editing done. Hey devs...

Businesses today have no time when it comes to creating a website and putting in the right effort to rank in local search. It is perfectly normal since you all know that cost of retaining a customer is way cheaper than acquiring a new one. Similarly a business would rather pay for a lead that comes his/her way that putting in upfront cost for building a lead generation website or an engine. This is also normal, and I understand that the business owner is doing this to put food on the table on time. But this will no longer be the case thanks to “Automatic-SEO”. What? How? Why? And Really? When I first came across “Automatic-SEO”, the first thing that came to my mind was “What is this new attribute?”. Later I started  thinking about “How is it possible, did anyone con Google?”. The next day I thought “Why would anyone come up with this, to con people?”, and my final thought “Really, can someone pull this off?”. W...

Much has been written about the tech industry’s sexist undertones. In 2017, Silicon Valley faced a “reckoning” for its gender-driven decision-making and tolerance of sexual harassment. From marginalizing women’s ability to contribute to the field because of their biological makeup to holding them to higher standards in order to earn leadership roles, the business world has not made it easy for women to make a go of it. Despite the inequities women have faced, several have found success and become leaders in their industries. These women have brought their unique viewpoints and varied skill sets to the table to innovate the products and services their companies have offered, disrupting the market in the process. Top 15 Incredible Women in Business to Watch in 2018 and Beyond. Dara Treseder Treseder, the chief marketing officer of business innovations at GE Ventures, previously worked at Apple and Goldman Sachs. After helping to lead global marketing and growth ef...

What do Pied Piper and blockchain tools have in common? Both are always “coming soon.” By now most of us are familiar with blockchain, the technology underpinning cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Outside of cryptocurrency, blockchain has many purported use cases in scenarios that require an immutable ledger. Rhetoric has elevated blockchain to godly status, labeling it as a bleeding edge technology poised to disrupt all facets of life, from voting, to smart guns, health data, stock trading, international shipping, and beyond. We’ve seen a ton of other innovative blockchain ideas too, yet many are unproven or simply hypothetical. So, the question is, what projects are successfully implementing blockchain in practice ? In this article we’ll strive to separate fact from fiction by showcasing 5 living projects that are actually using blockchain, with real world results. We’ll gauge the viability of such projects, and see how proven use may affect th...