Monthly Archives: August 2014

Do Be A Mooch

MootchAs the sharing economy continues to grow at a rapid pace, new ways of renting different types of property are developing and evolving. This enables the consumer to avoid spending significant amounts of money on items they may only use once or very sparingly.

Mootch – a platform for on-demand peer-to-peer and business-to-consumer renting of everyday goods with delivery and pick-up – has finally invented a way to make renting simple and safe. So, for example, if you have electronics, appliances or designer items that you seldomly use, you can make extra cash by renting them out to others. And the same goes for when you’re in need of an expensive device, mode of transportation or appliance that you may only be using for a couple of days, but don’t want to buy. Someone in your area probably has one you could rent.

Like many other mobile apps in the sharing economy, you can make money by safely and securely renting out your own stuff as well as cut expenses by renting when you need to do so.

What Sparks Our Fire: A mobile app to rent pretty much anything to and from people around you

What items would you rent through Mootch?

The Keurig of Tortillas

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Our busy day-to-day oftentimes demands quick food and beverage solutions that offer convenience without sacrificing quality, as demonstrated by pod-based products. Currently, this space is primarily comprised of coffee and tea, however a number of companies are working on new ways to bring the fast, single-serve model to other food items.

Introducing Flatev, a Keurig-like machine that bakes dough pods into warm, fresh tortillas in less than a minute. Like a Keurig, it enables anyone hosting a group to use a “carousel” feature to make several tortillas at one time. And the Flatev is both compact and fast, making it great for food trucks, too. Made with just stoneground corn flour and water, the dough is loaded with fibers, minerals and vitamins as well as non-GMO and gluten-free, appealing to pretty much everyone.

What Sparks Our Fire: A new, quick and easy way to make food on the go

What tortilla-based dishes would you use a Flatev for?

Did You Find My Message?

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Over the past few years there have been countless messaging apps that enable users to reach out to friends over new mediums in fun and useful ways. Facebook Messenger and Snapchat are the most successful, but they aren’t even relatively fun compared to this new app.

Traces is an app where you send messages that can only be retrieved by your friends when they get to a specific location. So, when you are sending a message you pick a place where the receiver has to go within a time limit that you set in order to open it. It’s like a scavenger hunt, but with messages. Traces lets you share messages, videos, and even songs. The only downside is that the app is currently only available in the UK where it is in beta – but they are planning on bringing it to the US soon, so for now we just have to hang in there.

What Sparks our Fire: A fun new way to message our friends

Where would you place a Trace?

Upgrade Your Contacts

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It’s no secret that most of Apple’s native apps are lacking in features and there are third party apps that function much better. The one app that I previously saw no need to improve was my Contacts app. It simply does a great job of saving my contact’s phone numbers and email addresses in a simple format. Well, after downloading Humin I now can see how much I’ve been missing out on.

Humin does much more than keep track of how to contact the people you know, it reminds you how you know people, helps you remember them, and can even help you contact them. When adding a new contact into the app, by just entering a phone number or email address, it will automatically add a photo, where and when you added the contact, and where they work. While these features may appear intrusive, Humin guarantees that they are only taking the minimum amount of data onto their servers, so majority of it they will never have access to. Swiping over a contacts picture allows you to call them right from the app, or it can take you to your text message conversation with them, allowing you to use this app to fully replace the green phone app.

This app redefines what a contacts app can do by bringing your contacts into the 21st century, far away from the days of keeping a rolodex on your desk.

What Sparks our Fire: Apps that help us out.

Are you ready to improve your contacts app?

Need a Hand?

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Sometimes you find yourself in need of a little help. And when your network of friends who are skilled enough and willing to lend a hand runs out, you need another resource on where to turn. Fiverr has raised around $30 million for their website that can simply lend a hand when you need it.

Fiverr allows you to hire someone to help you with a specific service, starting at just $5. Need someone to design your business a logo? Record a jingle for you? Or review your resume for you? All of these services can be found on Fiverr. If you choose to pay more than just $5 you can get even more extensive services.

We aren’t suggesting you rely on Fiverr for every service you need. But, it’s great to know that for just five bucks, you could easily find someone to lend a hand.

What Sparks our Fire: Seeing new services that can ultimately help with anything

What would you use Fiverr for?