UpSpot, Photofeeler & AngelList

November 09, 2016 by Tinni Choudhury in branding

I don't remember how I heard about UpSpot. I think, I got an email invite to try it either through LinkedIn or AngelList. But having received the email, I decided to check it out. The website seems to focus on highly skilled technology professionals, allowing a social media platform for technology consultants/freelancers. So UpShot certainly fulfils a niche as Freelancer is too general and full of odd development jobs. So I was intrigued with UpSpot and decided to make a profile.

I started it but stopped, and forgot about it. But the founders of the site are very proactive as the site grows, so one called me up and encouraged me to complete my profile. I started doing that but quickly realised how out of date everything was. Including my profile picture. Indeed, I didn't have a good recent head shot! Trying to decide on profile pictures lead to discovering PhotoFeeler, which is a website that rates profiles photos in the category of business, social and dating. You can pay for votes or vote yourself to earn karma. I got about five photos rated just using karma. None of my pictures scored very highly. The picture with this post was the best of the lot. I think it is good enough for now. I'll have to take some better head shots later. As for UpSpot, I haven't gotten any jobs through there yet. But I am cautiously optimistic.

Learning R

November 08, 2016 by Tinni Choudhury in upskilling

I have wanted to learn R for awhile. I have heard a great deal about its powers and any tool I can use for easier visualisation is great for me. Because, as noted before, I am not very good with the "pretty graphics". So learning R was a bit of a no brainer. Especially since I am keen to analyse some of the GovHack datasets. Also, I have been looking into the food retail landscape recently and I'll be looking to do some heavy duty data analysis on that front. As such, I decided to take this R course on Udemy. Above, is the last visualisation I made as part of the course using the provided Movie dataset. I enjoyed the course and looking forward to completing the advanced version of it. I will, of course, post interesting data analysis stuff here. So watch this space!

Tea Tracker: A UX Story

November 07, 2016 by Tinni Choudhury in business

I have made a significant change to Tea Tracker. It was so obvious that I am wondering why I didn't think of the feature from the start! The obvious answer to why it took me so long to put in this important UI change is that when I first thought of the Tea Tracker app, I envisioned it as a grid of tins. So, when I built it, a grid of tins is what I put in the "main activity".

However, just using the app for awhile showed me that I had missed something vital for a good user experience. Yes, the app showed my tins, but it did not quickly show me which tins were full and which what tea! That was a real "D'oh!" moment and made me glad that I have not yet run a huge promotion campaign for the app.

The marketing push is coming, but I want to spend a few more weeks refining the app. Also, I would like to add a widget feature and not to mention, test it more by using it myself. I mean, I did make this app because there was a need for it in my life.

It is, however, interesting how easily it is to miss UX pitfalls. Of course, part of the reason missed such an obvious UI usability issues is because I am used to doing, as I like to say, "everything but the pretty graphics". I didn't do what I know my friends in UX design would have done, which is that they would sit down with pen and paper and start with the user interaction. They would develop apps top-down. As a middleware and backend engineer, my first instinct is to build from the bottom up. But this, as was the case with my Tea Tracker app, can lead to UX blindspots.

I will need to change Virgo 19's development workflow to avoid this in the future. Especially since the next app in the pipeline is made for toddlers! Now that's a tough demographics!

Tea Tracker Enhancements

September 30, 2016 by Tinni Choudhury in business

Since my last post, I have been working on improving the Tea Tracker app. Firstly, for some visual prettiness and to clear some clutter, I move all buttons to the app bar. The only button left on the screen is the timer control buttons.

More importantly, the major update the Tea Tracker was to introduce a tea history feature. The history page tracks every tea that ever made it into a tea tin but also allows users to add additional tea types they haven't bought, at least since the installing of the app.

I am happy with this new feature. As it lets makes the Tea Tracker more complete in its quest to be an all round tea inventory management system. The only thing missing is a teaware tracking system.

I have considered adding a teaware tracker function. But I don't think it will be as useful as my next planned feature: map integration to show nearest tea shops and tea bars.

Also, I have to work on getting the app listed on other Android app stores such as Amazon. Finally, in the long run, I would like to make an iOS version of the app. Watch this space for updates!

Tea Tracker Launch

July 20, 2016 by Tinni Choudhury in business

After many delays and spending entirely too long in pre-launch, I have finally been able to get Virgo 19 established as an Android, app maker. Virgo 19 will be operating as an arm of Route-17 Pty Ltd. We made this distinction because we have bigger plans for Route 17 as a whole.

The first major app off the production line of Virgo 19 is the Tea Tracker. I am a big tea drinker with a substantial collection of tea tins. I don't like putting ugly physical labels on them. Besides, I like trying different teas, so the tea tins usually have an ever changing array of teas insides. So I always wanted an app to track my tins and tea. I couldn't find the app I wanted, so that seemed like the right app for Virgo 19 to establish itself with.

It was great experience making the app. But one of the biggest surprises post launch was how people wanted a save button! Initial designs for the app did include a save button on the "Add Tea" activity screen. However, we decided to drop it as a redundant function since the back button auto saved the information. But the lack of a save button seems to bother the early adopters. So now we are thinking about how to put it in without cluttering the screen, which was another factor in deciding to drop the button.

Further expansion plans for the app include adding a tea collection management activity. That tracks tea purchase history and allows users to add new teas they want to try. Plus a shopping list to help them replenish their tea stock. Maybe even a shareable wishlist function, especially ahead of Christmas.

It is a niche app. But the mobile market is now mature enough that focusing on niches is better than chasing "everybody". So focusing on tea lovers seem like as good a starting point as any..