Where Do Ideas Come From?

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I had a professor in college who, on the first day of class, told us to write step-by-step instructions detailing the process of thinking. I sat there for 15 minutes but couldn’t get past what I wrote as step one: Clear your mind. But I knew that even step one was incorrect; I don’t need to clear my mind in order to think, it just happens.

Maybe ideas don’t come from inside us at all. Maybe ideas are like little invisible bubbles, floating around in the ether just waiting for a receptive mind. If so, our goal should be to create the best possible environment for ideas to flourish and grow, inviting new thoughts and constantly re-examining our current assumptions. Are you open to new ideas?

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Bloomberg Ethics, Or Lack Thereof

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Amy Chozick and Ben Protess for the New York Times:

A shudder went through Wall Street on Friday after the revelation that Bloomberg News reporters had extracted subscribers’ private information through the company’s ubiquitous data terminals to break news.

This is absolutely mind-boggling to me. This particularly struck me (emphasis mine):

Bloomberg said the functions that allowed journalists to monitor subscribers were a mistake and were promptly disabled after Goldman Sachs complained that a Bloomberg reporter had, while inquiring about a partner’s employment status, pointed out that the partner had not logged onto his Bloomberg terminal lately.

Anyone remember company towns that sprang up mostly during the Industrial Revolution? Industry moguls would not just open a large factory in a remote location, but also build housing, stores, and amenities for workers and their families. Employee’s paychecks would go directly back into their employers pockets, since every store with which employees could spend money was owned by the man signing the paychecks.

Alternately, it’s also considered good form to provide what’s known as “full disclosure  when a person of influence is discussing a topic with which this speaker has a vested interested. If an investor is talking about the innovative features of a new startup, which happens to be part of this investor’s portfolio, a few words of disclosure are nearly demanded. It’s considered unethical to omit said investment.

Bloomberg, a company which provides both news reporting as well as professional services, has an ethical obligation to keep these two areas of business completely separate. Tools which shows user’s login sessions and information may be pertinent for account management, but this feature shouldn’t be something reporters even think about, much less the ability to access.

This is not “a mistake,” this is a complete lack of ethics and breath of privacy and trust. I’m extremely disappointed by Bloomberg.

New Study on Tylenol and Its Effect on Moral Judgement

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James Hamblin, for The Atlantic:

Among people who took the placebo pill, those who wrote about existential anxiety set much higher bail ($450) [for prostitution] than those who wrote about the dentist ($300). But if they took Tylenol and wrote existentially, that sense of moral judgement seemed to be blunted.

There was a tiny sample size but shows interesting (and oddly unsurprising) results. The study of the mental effects of non-psychoactive drugs is so often overlooked.

And, as commenter Tim_Sims says, “It’s only a matter of time til our teenagers are sitting around a dimly lit basement, indulging in the devil pill Tylenol and feeling marginally less anxious about existential fears.”

8 Tips to Make the Most Out of Your Skillshare Class

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Skillshare is one of my favorite startups to emerge from the recent innovation boom in the education field. Simply put, Skillshare is a platform that allows anyone to teach a class or take a class. After taking a couple of fantastic Skillshare classes, I decided to develop my own, based upon my experience getting two iPhone apps into the App Store with no prior coding experience.

I’ve been teaching a local class in New York City, The Non-Programmer’s Guide to Getting an App in the App Store, for eight months now. Class growth and student sign ups were slow at times, but I’ve stuck with the class long enough to have a generated a lot of positive feedback. I’m pleased to announce that the class is now available as an online Hybrid course, open to students from all over the world.

It’s been an amazing and educational experience for me. If you teach a class, or plan on teaching a class, here are some tips to help you make the most out of your class.

Teach regardless of student sign ups

Even if you just have one student—not only is the Skillshare platform inflexible when it comes to moving single students to a different, classes with only one or two students can actually be great for both student and teacher. Students feel like they’re getting better information and more attention (because they are) and you can really delve into the core content of your class by focusing on your student’s individual areas of need.

One time I had just one student sign up for a session, since I accidentally scheduled a class for the weeknight before a national holiday. I first reached out to the student and asked if they were able to make it to another upcoming session, which didn’t work for his schedule. So I held the class anyway, opting to meet at a coffee shop that was convenient for both of us rather than renting the room I had originally booked. The class ended up being fantastic and I got a positive endorsement the next day.

Find a central location

I took an official class through Skillshare called “How to Teach a Skillshare Class” before developing a class of my own. One of the most valuable resources that I obtained was a Google spreadsheet filled with locations around Manhattan that offer classrooms, along with each spaces location, capacity, amenities, and price. After developing my class, I sent out emails to about 10 different venues who offered free classroom space to find available dates to teach. Three responded, and I booked a date with each of them.

I learned that venue location had a large impact on the attendance, especially in New York City. Everyone is willing to travel most places in Manhattan regardless of which borough they live in. However, getting someone to travel to DUMBO, Brooklyn, even though it’s one stop over the bridge, is almost impossible. I’ve eventually settled pretty permanently into teaching at Grind, which costs money for each class but is worth the price for the location.

This tip may be less important for smaller cities, where everyone has a car and there’s always ample parking. But make sure you take people’s schedules and commutes into account when finding a location, not just the cost or convenience for yourself.

Offer multiple class dates

I currently teach my class about twice a month. I’ll book these two dates the month prior, so I know far in advance when I’ll be teaching. I list these class dates immediately on Skillshare and on this blog, so people know the upcoming dates as soon as they’re available and have plenty of time to plan ahead. Every time you add a new class date, Skillshare also notifies everyone who is on your “watchlist.”

 I try to keep two or three available dates for my class at any given time, choosing different weeknights to better accommodate people’s schedules, if possible. While this does lead to some student confusion from time to time (accidentally signing up for the wrong date or confusing my single-night class for a multiple-date course) I find that the overall sign up rate is higher than if I listed one date at a time.

Go with the class flow

Each class has a life of its own, and will have their own themes and important topics. In one of my classes, a majority of the app ideas were focused on location-based data. We ended up taking a long detour off my planned curriculum to discuss the definition, power, and usefulness of APIs such as those offered from Foursquare and the city of New York. We ended up having a great discussion that I believe was a great help to all the students in the class. Even those who may not be connecting to an API got a better understanding of how the development process works.

As a result of this successful conversation, I added a section on APIs to my next class. This time, I was met with mostly blank stares and very little student interaction. I learned that what worked for my previous class was definitely not something that would work for every class.

I have adjusted the class slightly since then, touching on APIs and their power, but I only go into detail if students have specific questions about this aspect of programming. It’s important to remain flexible and ready to slightly modify individual classes to fit each groups individual needs. But don’t completely rework your curriculum based on one classes discussion unless it’s directly related and adding value to your core lessons.

Turn class into a discussion

Most of the time, having a workshop-style class is more effective than a lecture (unless you’re attracting students to your class with your name as well as your content). You should think of your role as the facilitator of good conversation rather than the single point of knowledge.

Of course, it would be nearly impossible, and equally useless, to make the entire class discussion-based. The reason why you’re teaching a class in the first place is because you have a collection of knowledge and you found students who want that information. But try your best not to talk the entire time. If a student asks a question, see if there is a way to have another student provide the answer. If everyone is sharing work, get the group’s thoughts before giving your own.

Making the students think for themselves, before providing your experienced answers, helps information retention and will improve the community aspect and overall vibe of your class.

Build a brand

People sign up for your class and give you money because they’re interested in the topic that you’re teaching. Don’t let this genuine interest go to waste. Start a newsletter through Mailchimp and add each of your students to the list. During your class, mention that each of your students they’re now a part of your community of other people interested in X topic.

I’ve created a monthly newsletter, sharing related links as well as any new resources I’ve found or things I’ve learned from students. I started this newsletter months after first teaching my class, but added all my past students. I’ve since sent out three newsletters and have had a higher than average open rate, zero complaints, and zero unsubscribes.

When I was a salesman for Hugo Boss, my manager would often remind us not to assume the size of our client’s wallet. By this, he meant that we should never stop showing a client new items until she told us to stop. Just because she’s buying a $1,200 dress doesn’t automatically mean she doesn’t also want the $600 shoes.

Don’t assume the students who signed up for your class only want two hours of information related to the topic you’re teaching. Continue to add value to their lives and you may be surprised at how many say “thank you” instead of “stop.”

Use student feedback to promote your class

After you’ve taught your class a few times and gotten some positive student feedback (always tell your students to leave feedback!), modify your class description to display these class reviews prominently. Let satisfied students sell your class for you.

Keep in mind, many, if not most, students won’t read your full class description. You want to make it apparent that 1) your class will add value to their lives and 2) there are other satisfied students who have taken your class.

Go above and beyond

The final slide at the end of every class shows my name, personal email address, and Twitter handle. I also offer to review each student’s completed app wire frames before they start reaching out to freelance developers.

Originally, I was hesitant to offer such a time commitment to my students after the class had ended. But, as of yet, not a single student has actually taken me up on this offer, despite everyone’s surprise when I tell them this fact. I also offer to grab coffee and chat with students, and only two have reached out.

Results may vary based on your class topic and your notoriety within the community, but try to go above and beyond your students’ expectations however possible.

If you liked this post, follow me on Twitter or, if you’re local to the New York City area, check out my newest class Bitcoins, VPNs, and Tor: Anonymity and the Hidden Web.

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Magnet Implants Can Actually be Pretty Annoying

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I recently got a comment on my post Body Hacking: My Magnet Implant that I wanted to share. It comes from a reader who is also named Dan:

I know a lot of people really like these things and that’s cool but I thought it would be informative to have a dissenting view (as far as I can tell, I’m the only guy on the net who doesn’t love this thing). I got one of these 6 months ago. It was really cool at first but the novelty has since worn off. A side effect of the implant is that I now DESPISE all things magnetic (you have no idea how many magnets are in a damn iMac! and guitar amps are HELL!).

I also really don’t care about feeling magnetic fields any more. Seriously, it’s just annoying at this point. Hurray! (sic) My finger buzzes when I turn on the microwave. You no doubt read that “an engineer can use it to see if a wire is live…” Well yeah but most live wires that need testing don’t have current going through them so you can’t feel those. Although I have tried, I haven’t found any practical application for Plutarch (yeah, it has a name).

FYI you can’t feel current off regular 120v power cords, only adapters which was a total bummer for me. Also, mine migrated to the middle of my finger and it hurts to put any pressure on it so stuff like rock climbing is out for me for now – I think I am an outlier [with regard to] the magnet moving. If you really want one then go nuts, it’s pretty consequence-free and it really is fun for a while and the sixth sense really is a unique experience.

P.S. don’t mention the magnet on a first date

I agree with about 90 percent of this comment. As with anything, the novelty of a magnet implant will eventually wear off and the magnet can be really annoying around other magnets. I have to hold my iPad mini in a certain way to avoid messing with my magnet and I’m constantly finding new things that annoy me by messing with my magnet.

Also, I still haven’t personally found a practical reason for the implant. All the use-case examples I gave in my previous post is a paraphrase of things I’ve heard from other people with magnet implants.

I wanted to share this comment because I don’t want my article to glorify magnet implants in any way. Instead, my goal was (and is) to provide an objective view on the procedure as well as provide an account of my own personal experiences. If you do choose to get a magnet implant yourself, keep in mind that once the novelty wears off, you’ll mostly be filled with neutral feelings towards your magnet, with occasional bouts of annoyance and a few interesting discoveries along the way.

However, I do find that bringing it up on a “first date” is a great way to separate the curious from the close minded.