A lucky smartphone owner is one who has never experienced the heart-wrenching “plop” of their expensive, beloved gadget dropping into a pool, puddle, toilet, or some other giant mass of liquid.

But while it’s a terrifying experience, a wet smartphone need not be a dead smartphone.

There are already plenty of DIY tips on how to dry out your phone. Anecdotally, most of them only marginally successful the majority of the time. A friend of mine put his iPhone (post-swim) in a bag of rice, and while the iPhone turned on, the grain of rice stubbornly lodged in the charger port made charging the phone impossible.

Now there’s a better, more reliable way to save your soaked electronics: The BHEESTIE Bag.

Made by Portland-based startup BHEESTIE, the bags contain water-absorbing beads that, according to the company, are 700% more effective than rice at removing moisture.

The process is simple: just put your wet phone, camera, ipod, or other gadget in the bag and zip the seal closed. Leave it in there for 24-72 hours, and if the stars align, you should have a dry, perfectly functioning device.

The bags cost $20 and can be purchased directly from BHEESTIE’s website, or on Amazon. The company says that the bags can be reused for up to a year, or until the beads lose their blue color.

 


Can you predict the likelihood that a particular person will be admitted to a hospital within the next year? How about the probability that someone will experience financial distress? Or when a shopper will most likely visit a store next, and how much they’ll spend?

If these sound like tough questions, it’s because they are. Tremendously so. But finding the answers can be extremely valuable for folks like healthcare providers, lenders and retail stores (and, in turn, consumers in all of these industries).

And thanks to Kaggle, a startup that has cracked the code of analyzing huge sets of data, those questions can now be answered.

Kaggle lets anyone with a predictive analysis challenge start a competition to get their data analyzed by top Ph.D’s, data scientists and researchers from around the globe.

Competition organizers offer a cash prize for the best algorithms that solve their data problems – anywhere from $100 for better World Cup picks to $3 million for hospitalization predictions.

The brilliance lies in the gamification element: the data scientists are motivated not only by money (although $3 million sure could buy a lot of calculators), but also by the prospect of competing against and collaborating with some of the brightest minds in the field.

And in the past few months, it’s become clear that the model works. The network of researchers has doubled to more than 25,000 strong.

Kaggle’s Chief Operating Officer, Mehul Patel, tells me that the company’s organic growth has created a network effect in their marketplace — “the more competitions we post, the more our community grows as members spread the word. It also means the quality of our talent is consistent; we’re still drawing PhD-level data scientists from around the world even as we’ve grown.”

And building such a powerful network has produced breakthrough results: Kaggle has never failed to significantly beat the existing benchmark in over 60 competitions.

Cutthroat competitions, huge cash prizes, real-world challenges with the potential for solutions to have massive impact. To me, data science doesn’t get any ‘sexier’ than this.

Patel also pointed out that Kaggle is looking for talented hires to fill a number of roles, including developers, marketing, sales, account management, finance, HR and admins. Check out their jobs page for details.

 


Buy used.

It’s a clichéd piece of money-saving advice that’s almost as widely regurgitated as “no more $3 lattes” and “leave San Francisco. Like, right now.”

Problem is, how do you know that you’re getting a good deal? It’s easy to get ripped off if you don’t know what a three-year-old bike should cost.

Priceonomics was built to help.

A startup that lets you look up pricing around the country for any used product, Pricenoomics can be a powerful research tool to help you make sure you’re paying a fair price.

Here’s how it works: a user can type in any item that they’re looking to buy used, and Priceonomics crawls 130 million listings on the web to find what that particular product is selling for nationwide. The site returns a collection of listings (so you can compare things like condition, age, etc…), as well as an estimate of how much you can expect to pay. You can filter the results by keyword, location and price, or sign up to receive an email alert when the item is listed for a good price.

They also have dedicated price guides for dozens of products.

Now is a good time to give it a shot as people everywhere try to unload their unwanted holiday gifts.

 


…aaaaaaand we’re back.

Kicking off 2012 with a very weather-appropriate post. I spent the holidays at my parents’ house in New Jersey, and I was really hoping to see a bit of snow before heading back home. And while I had no such luck, nobody can say I wasn’t prepared for the possibility, thanks to Winter Wake-Up.

One of those rare apps with a name that actually gives you a hint at what the product does, Winter Wake-Up will wake you up (shocking, I know) if there’s snow in your area.

Users can configure the app to sound an alarm that goes off earlier than the scheduled alarm (exactly how much earlier is up to you). The wake-up call can also be customized depending on how much earlier you want to wake up for “frost” versus snow. A third option — likely the most tempting — lets you completely turn off your alarm in case of snow.

The app is free for both iPhone and Android, and is probably a smart download if you live in an area where snow wreaks havoc on cars and commutes.

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. Some really cool startups lined up, but in the interest of taking a break every once in a while, I’ll be back to posting at the start of the new year.

 


Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or, you know, have stuff to keep you busy so you’re not surfing the internet all day), you’ve probably heard about Louis CK’s decision to sell his latest comedy album directly to his fans, instead of going through a studio or production label.

The experiment has, thus far, been a success, and has sparked a lot of much-needed discussion about content distribution and artist ownership.

Well, now, thanks to Gumroad, you can be just like a less-funny version of Louis CK.

Gumroad lets anyone offer downloadable content for sale. Whether it’s music, comedy, ebooks, documents, code, photos, videos, or any one of a million other media options, users simply create an account, upload their content, and send out a link for others to purchase the download.

The cost to the seller is 5% of the revenue plus 30 cents per sale. A very cool step forward in an industry that has been hurting for disruption for years.

 


We’re closing in on the end of December, and winter weather is in full effect across the country.

For some of us, that means hanging out in front of a fireplace and sipping warm, boozy drinks. But for others, the first signs of snow are an invitation to grab skis or snowboards and hit the slopes.

I have to admit that, more often than not, I fall into the former camp (and even when I do head to the mountains, this is more my style). But a lot of my friends are ski bums, and for them, there’s a really interesting new way to feed their addiction: Liftopia.

A startup that offers deep discounts on lift tickets at more than 150 ski areas, Liftopia is a no-brainer for anyone planning a ski trip: simply search for deals in the area you want to visit on the dates you’re hoping to travel, and the site returns a list of offers at markdowns of up to 80%.

The company recently launched an iPhone app that lets users find instant deals near their current location, or browse other areas and dates, just like the web app.

In addition to Liftopia’s core offering, the service also provides weather reports, directions to ski destinations, and deal alerts for your favorite spots.

 


Years from now, when you finally sit down to pen your memoirs, what are you going to write?

Where do you start? Do you even remember the details?

Not a problem if you’ve been using OhLife.

A tool to keep you committed to your personal journal, OhLife sends you a daily email prompt with a simple question: “How’d your day go?”

Users can respond directly to the email, and OhLife logs the entry in your journal.

Each daily email also includes a random archived entry, encouraging users to look back and reflect on their life was in the past.

An incredibly simple app, with a really nice design. Worth a try if you’ve been thinking about keeping a journal, but having trouble getting yourself to write each day.

 


Wallets, dignity, keys, phones.

These are just a few of the things I’ve accidentally left in bars and taxis.

And while today’s startup can’t help me find all of those again, three out of four ain’t bad.

Fownd is a service that helps you locate your lost stuff.

The app has two pretty cool and distinct features, both built on Fownd assigning a unique ID to each item you want to track.

The first lets you set a home screen photo that displays your phone’s item ID, and a phone number for whoever finds your phone to text. When they text the number with the item ID, Fownd sends you an email and helps facilitate the safe return of your phone.

The second feature helps users recover everything else — for 99 cents, you can order ten adhesive ID tags of all different sizes to stick on your other devices. That way, when someone finds something of yours, they’ll be able to text Fownd, and you can get your stuff back.

The company is still in its early stages, and expects to have a web app finished soon to complement the mobile app.

This is a great idea, and I’m looking forward to watching it grow.

 


Yes, I know. You need another daily deal subscription like the world needs another Ke$ha song.

Hear me out.

This one’s cool.

If you’re the kind of person who would rather be spending their time outdoors, congratulations. We have something in common.

Lots of amazing things happen outside. But to experience many of them, you’ll have to pay up.

Whether it’s for climbing, surfing, camping, skiing, or any one of the hundreds of adventure passions you might have, equipment ain’t cheap. Not the good stuff, anyway.

That’s why there’s The Clymb.

A private buying site that offers steep discounts on merchandise from more than 250 outdoor brands, The Clymb runs deals for three days (or until they sell out). I’ve been a member for some time now, and the markdowns really are impressive; membership growth of more than 700% over the last year suggest that lots of people agree.

And while the site is currently web-only, Kevin Palmer, The Clymb’s Senior Director of Online Marketing, tells me that there’s an iPhone app in the works, slated for release early next year.

The company is also running a campaign to try to get users to invite their friends. Anyone that joins using an invite link gets a $10 credit, and the inviter gets a $10 credit when the new member buys something. Here’s mine.