TechCrunch
In Space, Everyone Can Hear You Use The Toilet Thanks To SoundCloud, And Astronaut Chris Hadfield Is Glad
Chris Hadfield, former Commander of the International Space Station, is among the most impressive living examples of my fellow Canadians, and also a huge fan of using social media and digital tools to document and share his experience in space with the help of his son Evan Hadfield. The astronaut used SoundCloud a lot while in space, partially to document his extra-atmospheric folk music guitar playing, but also just to give a sense of what it sounds like to live on a floating contained habitat.
In the short video above Hadfield recounts the audio history of his trip, and does a good job verbally explaining how much noise changes based on the different environments you end up in both up on the space station itself, and once you return. He talks about all of this against the typically idyllic background of what looks to my trained eye like Canadian cottage country, where he’s likely enjoying some much-needed downtime.
Hadfield’s giving SoundCloud some great promotion here, but the truth is that the use of the tool in this case (while unique) actually exemplifies how the startup can provide an additional dimension to a story that in the past has been mostly about the visual medium. Inevitably space coverage is going to steer towards the visual spectrum, but Hadfield’s usage of SoundCloud shows how a story can engage on different levels using today’s digital toolkit.
Hadfield is a social media superstar, and his example is bound to set a precedent for anyone looking to maximize their online impact. Of course, no one wants to know what it sounds like in the ambient environment of the at-home blogger (I’ll give you a hint: there’s lots of fan noise), but for other situations where there’s value in publicizing a job, role or situation that’s out of the ordinary, it makes a lot of sense.
Kraams, A New Sales App For iPad, Appeals To Small-Scale Businesses
A new iPad app called Kraams is hoping to become the sales platform of choice for small businesses reliant on face-to-face pitches with clients. The point of the app, which launches today, is to enable users to easily tweak their story lines for any given presentation and, more importantly, to change tack in the middle of that same meeting.
Founded in Poland two years ago by a group of advertising vets, Kraams is based on the idea that there is no better way to achieve credibility with a client than to deliver a customized pitch. The app places product images on cards, which the salesperson can shuffle, group, and swipe away in reaction to the client’s responses. It’s more agile than slideshow programs, especially relevant when appealing to only a few people’s opinions.
In addition to programs like PowerPoint and Keynote, Kraams is directly competing against customizable sales apps like Showpad and StoryDesk. The differentiating point, co-founder Adam Smilowski told me, is the emphasis on targeting SOHO and SME businesses, since many other apps are oriented toward serving large companies and supporting the whole sales process.
The company, which is currently bootstrapped, follows a freemium model. The free, basic app is meant for small-scale use and has restrictions on the number of Kraams — also the name of the cards — a person can create. Upgrades are available for single users without limitations, teams with a shared product library, and enterprises. Although Smilowski said the app is meant for small business owners, there’s no reason to exclude large businesses in case it takes off, right?
Down the line, Smilowski said he hopes to turn Kraams into a shopable platform for consumers that could replace the need to browse multiple sites online. By subscribing to different brands, users would receive a live stream of new products, editable by the companies at any time.
“We treat this app as a starting point into a total change in online purchasing experience,” he said.
Big words. Kraams has enough competition with its sales app, without getting into the pursuit of ecommerce domination. For now, first things first: getting traction when the app goes live today.
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