SnapMunk: the Galaxy's Best Source of Tech & Startup Insight and Entertainment.

People all around the world look forward to the new products Apple has in store for its loyalists every year. The rumor mills predicted larger iPhones for 2018 and were right in doing so. Tim Cook confirmed suspicions yesterday when he unveiled the company’s new lineup of phones at the company’s annual September event. The iPhone nomenclature has become slightly more confusing and the price tags a little bit more prohibitive. But there are a lot of interesting cosmetic and functional upgrades that the engineers at Apple have fashioned to justify those costs. The event was mostly about the new iPhones, but there were a few other things to take note of. Here’s a recap of everything important announced at the Steve Jobs theater in Apple Park yesterday. iPhone XS The successor to the iPhone X is called the iPhone Xs. That’s pronounced ‘ten s,’ not like the XS in…

It’s that time of year again. Apple has asked members of the media and devotees from around the world to “gather round” for a special event at the Steve Jobs Theater on its Cupertino campus. And they will, because this year’s event, like every year, promises newer versions of the iPhone and other Apple hardware. So far 2018 has been a pretty sparse year in terms of hardware upgrades for Apple products. WWDC came and went without any announcements about new phones or laptops or watches. The event focused instead on revamping software across Apple’s four platforms. But they did launch a new iPad and MacBook Pro at different times earlier this year. It appears that the electronics giant has most of the good stuff saved for this September event. Here’s what there is to look forward to. New Apple iPhones for 2019 Apple is definitely going to come out…

Managing teams is not easy. It’s why project management has become such a crowded niche in the software marketplace. One of the players in that category is monday.com, a tool that visualizes group tasks and fosters productive practices. The tool offers a variety of features to help companies get the most out of their employees. Here’s why monday.com is worth a shot. Human-Focused Productivity All project management tools emphasize getting stuff done. This one does as well. But what monday.com seems to understand is that it’s real humans who drive businesses, and keeping them driven is key. The task board is accessible to all team members, which helps create transparency. Each team member knows what tasks they own and how those contribute to the big picture. Completed tasks aren’t archived like they are in other project management tools. Instead, they stay part of the board as a reminder of everything…

Many of our good intentions to go greener or support charity are hard to execute and even harder to sustain. In a lot of cases ‘baby steps’ are the answer–small changes that are easy to make and easy to stick to. Like switching to compostable packaging. Or now, something as simple as changing your default search engine. We spoke to Christian Kroll, CEO and Founder of Ecosia, a social startup trying to empower everyone to easily do good. You just search the web, and they plant the trees. Well, there’s a little bit more to it than that… What is your background? What else have you been a part of? I studied Business Administration and was involved in the stock exchange and online trading. I was quite good at it and could’ve made a lot of money, but already during university I realized I didn’t want to work on something corporate…

Self-driving technology is among the sexier technologies out there, but the sector has taken a mildly un-sexy (although still largely appealing) turn lately. The future you envisioned where you sit back in a car as it weaves through traffic all by itself is a little more distant than you might have first thought. Or it might be just as distant as you thought, depending on how sanguine you were of the capabilities of the technology. Either way, it’s clear by now that cars won’t be doing the whole self-driving thing for a while–not unless we’re prepared to risk the lives of anyone who ventures out onto streets. What seems more likely is that the technology will be used to get us groceries and laundry and stuff like that, like a futuristic Postmates. That’s right, it turns out self-driving vehicles will be just as interesting to Amazon and FedEx as they…

Have you ever thought about which sense would be your worst to lose? For me, it’s sight. Blindness–living in a world without light–is already the fate of 11 million people in the United States that have some form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a number that is expected to double to nearly 22 million by 2050. For most victims, vitamins known as the AREDS2 formula and pain relief are the best treatments currently available. Neither provide too much promise. While AMD is the leading cause of blindness for people 55 and older, younger people are also at risk of vision loss. Juvenile macular degeneration (JMD) is the term for several inherited and rare diseases that affect children and young adults, including Stargardt’s disease and Best disease, which can cause central vision loss that often starts in childhood or young adulthood. Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is another genetic disorder that can wipe out…

I am, for all intents and purposes, what you would call a social media laggard. I joined Facebook only in 2009. I was graduating from the 10th grade and my friends warned me we would lose touch if I wasn’t on any social media (I have since lost touch with almost all of them). I made it onto Twitter in 2013, well after it was an upstart Internet phenomenon. I have made a grand total of 159 Tweets since then, at an average of about 40 Tweets a year. I joined Instagram earlier this year and have literally never logged into my account since. All that said, for someone with such an apathetic history with social media platforms, I have really enjoyed using Snapchat. And not just because I installed the app at the behest of a girl I was into. Over the course of making headway in that relationship, I…

Did you know that 3 out of 4 startups won’t be successful? It’s bleak to think about, but the reality is that decisions made during early startup stages can greatly affect if the company succeeds or fails. Read on to learn about six common mistakes made during early startup stages so you know what not to do when it comes to the early stages of your company. 1. Lacking Focus A lot of startups have a great amount of ambition and aim to accomplish big ideas and goals. This is great for brainstorming sessions and boosting team morale, but it can also result in losing focus about the big picture. Startups that lack focus and aim to accomplish too many things often spread themselves too thin and will eventually fizzle out. 2. Overthinking and Analyzing It’s important for startups in their early stages to be decisive, overthinking and analyzing can also backfire and cause…

What’s the back story to how you became the founder and CEO of Elyland, and the creator of Draconius GO?     Back in school and university times, I used to play computer games a lot. Later, I had a retail shop selling computer games on CDs. At the same time, I was an active player of OGame, a browser-based massively multiplayer online game. Later, I decided to create my own first browser-based strategy game; that’s how the Elyland company and the My Lands online strategy game were created. I do not believe in VR. It’s not user-friendly and in the coming years, VR games will not become massive. I thought about creating an AR game long before Pokémon GO. After the release of Pokémon GO, I became their fan and was shocked by the decisions of Niantic: they were steadily killing their game. I thought of sending them an email, offering…

Up until recently, convenience was defined as being able to talk to your appliances to control them. Today however, that’s old news. Home automation is increasingly becoming more advanced, and while devices can’t yet read our minds, they’re getting pretty close. A startup called Intellithings is on the road to launching RoomMe, a patented smart home sensor that detects who has entered a room, syncs with smartphones and other smart home software, and leverages user data and customization to automatically adjust devices to serve preferences around things like temperature, lighting, entertainment and even security. The list of other controllable devices, as you would imagine in the IoT world, is quite extensive; RoomMe can be used to control TVs, lights, thermostats, lamps, cameras, coffee makers, ceiling fans, smart outlets, and window blinds. In essence if it’s a HomeKit, Wink, Nest, SmartThings, or WeMo device, you’re good to go. There’s also iOS and Android SDKs…

Websites are great for showcasing your products and services, however they’re only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to addressing questions and concerns your customers might have. While businesses used to rely on phone and email communications, in today’s rapid society, those solutions aren’t enough. The key to success in today’s competitive landscape is to address customer concerns as soon as they come up. There’s where live chat software, such as SalesIQ comes into play. It enables you to cut call center costs by allowing customer success representatives to communicate with multiple individuals at once. Aside from cutting costs, you’ll also boost customer satisfaction. Now, imagine for a second you were able to go beyond simple conversations and proactively engage prospects when they’re most likely to make a purchase. With SalesIQ, you can trigger chats based on on-page times or targeted landing pages. With built-in geolocation, you can…

According to recent surveys, more Americans are using technology than ever before. This growth in technology has changed the way we work, communicate, and access entertainment. Technology isn’t slowing down, either. Big businesses and startup companies alike are introducing innovative tech advancements that are continuing to change the world. With all these advances and all the noise that comes along with them, it can be hard to know what’s soon to be in the past and what’s bound to define our future. You can be sure that these 5 tech trends are in it for the long haul. And they’re taking us all with them. Artificial Intelligence Will Not Slow Down Since Apple released Siri in 2011, AI personal assistants have become a popular technology trend. Amazon and Google have added variety to the options available to consumers. In 2017, we expect more companies to introduce their own personal assistants to the market. This AI…