The Roundup
Everything you missed this past week on Product Hunt: Top products, spicy community discourse, key trends on the site, and long-form pieces we’ve recently published.
Microsoft-acquired Wunderlist NOT dead! ✅🎉
In 2015 Microsoft went on a shopping, acquiring the best productivity apps and discarding the remains. RIP community favs:
• Sunrise
• Acompli
• Wunderlist (not dead)
We were prepared for Acompli's untimely demise. Mailbox suffered a similar fate and we had an excellent list of alternatives.
Sunrise shutting down was harder to take. A collection of well intended Sunrise alternatives was prepared, but it became clear that Sunrise would never be forgotten or replaced.
Then there was Wunderlist. The cloud-based task management app was the pride of Berlin tech. It was beautifully designed and loved by its fans. In April, it was announced that Wunderlist would be shutting down in favor of Microsoft To-Do, a new app by the Wunderlist team. We were optimistic, but had a list of 68 Wunderlist Alternatives ready.
Today, six months later, and Wunderlist is still here, alive and well! We dug deep into the interwebs and found a response from a Wunderlist customer support representative:
"We don’t have a date for closing Wunderlist’s service yet, so you can continue to use it for now, even though we recommend everyone to also check out Microsoft To-Do." – Marcel, 9/11/2017
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You are welcome to try one of the 68 Wunderlist alternatives, but we believe that Wunderlist is an internet treasure – an app too important to shut down or be deserted. And so, it's time to add to your to-do list the simple task of re-installing Wunderlist today.
• Sunrise
• Acompli
• Wunderlist (not dead)
We were prepared for Acompli's untimely demise. Mailbox suffered a similar fate and we had an excellent list of alternatives.
Sunrise shutting down was harder to take. A collection of well intended Sunrise alternatives was prepared, but it became clear that Sunrise would never be forgotten or replaced.
Then there was Wunderlist. The cloud-based task management app was the pride of Berlin tech. It was beautifully designed and loved by its fans. In April, it was announced that Wunderlist would be shutting down in favor of Microsoft To-Do, a new app by the Wunderlist team. We were optimistic, but had a list of 68 Wunderlist Alternatives ready.
Today, six months later, and Wunderlist is still here, alive and well! We dug deep into the interwebs and found a response from a Wunderlist customer support representative:
"We don’t have a date for closing Wunderlist’s service yet, so you can continue to use it for now, even though we recommend everyone to also check out Microsoft To-Do." – Marcel, 9/11/2017
---
You are welcome to try one of the 68 Wunderlist alternatives, but we believe that Wunderlist is an internet treasure – an app too important to shut down or be deserted. And so, it's time to add to your to-do list the simple task of re-installing Wunderlist today.
Predictions! Breakout Companies of 2018 🔮
When you think back of the breakout stars of 2017, Coinbase comes to mind almost immediately. Its user base is growing at a remarkable pace with up to 100,000 new signups daily, and has been central throughout the surge in Bitcoin and Ethereum this year. Meanwhile, Robinhood announced 3M traders the other week, and Flexport has been the most common answer when we asked the question on Twitter.
Predictions: Who will be the breakout companies of 2018? 🤔
Ben predicts it will be Coda, saying: "3 years in stealth and $60M raised, Coda is taking on Excel ☠️" and has 4 more recommendations.
Sam says HQ Trivia... (no explanation needed).
Andrey says Lemonade is the one to watch: "Amazing customer experience, clear pricing structure. A true disruption for the home insurance industry."
Philip says keep an eye on Grail, a company working on early cancer detection via blood screening, and Virta Health, which is reversing type 2 diabetes without medications or surgery.
View the community's responses and add your predictions here.
P.S. add a 1-2 sentence description for a chance to be quoted in the Breakout Companies of 2018 report by AngelList. ✌️
Predictions: Who will be the breakout companies of 2018? 🤔
Ben predicts it will be Coda, saying: "3 years in stealth and $60M raised, Coda is taking on Excel ☠️" and has 4 more recommendations.
Sam says HQ Trivia... (no explanation needed).
Andrey says Lemonade is the one to watch: "Amazing customer experience, clear pricing structure. A true disruption for the home insurance industry."
Philip says keep an eye on Grail, a company working on early cancer detection via blood screening, and Virta Health, which is reversing type 2 diabetes without medications or surgery.
View the community's responses and add your predictions here.
P.S. add a 1-2 sentence description for a chance to be quoted in the Breakout Companies of 2018 report by AngelList. ✌️
Don't buy iPhone X. Win this instead. 👀
We are living at a time when search engines and social networks hold fancy hardware events, iPhones come with notches (and cost 4-figures), and this weekend emojis started singing. Keeping up with the latest gadgets can take a toll, and you wallet agrees. But what if you can have it all, for free? 🤔
Enter for a chance to win the Dream Tech Lover's Package, including:
💻 Macbook Air by Apple ($999 value)
🎧 BEATS Solo Wireless Headphones ($249 value)
😎 VR Headset ($199 value)
📺 Smart TV ($599 value)
🏃 Fitness Tracker ($149 value)
⌚️ Smart Watch ($299 value)
The winner will also receive more Product Hunt kitty stickers and shirts than they'll know what to do with. 👕🎁😻
Enter for a chance to win the Dream Tech Lover's Package, including:
💻 Macbook Air by Apple ($999 value)
🎧 BEATS Solo Wireless Headphones ($249 value)
😎 VR Headset ($199 value)
📺 Smart TV ($599 value)
🏃 Fitness Tracker ($149 value)
⌚️ Smart Watch ($299 value)
The winner will also receive more Product Hunt kitty stickers and shirts than they'll know what to do with. 👕🎁😻
Brain-enhancing music for work 🎧
The right type of audio can help you focus when you really need to. Grab your AirPods (if you can find them) and fire up your Spotify Time Capsule, or, you can achieve your goals in an enhanced state of mind. 🎶
• Brain.fm’s AI-powered audio tracks are like a mind-focusing drug
• FocusMusicFM has an endless stream of (EDM) music for work
• Chill N' Sound mixes ambient sounds to boost your productivity
• Noizio plays ambient background sounds from your Mac's menubar
• Tide is a slick app that combines a focus timer with sounds of nature
• GitHub Audio generates calming work music based on your GitHub
For more, check out the Brain Music collection on Product Hunt.
• Brain.fm’s AI-powered audio tracks are like a mind-focusing drug
• FocusMusicFM has an endless stream of (EDM) music for work
• Chill N' Sound mixes ambient sounds to boost your productivity
• Noizio plays ambient background sounds from your Mac's menubar
• Tide is a slick app that combines a focus timer with sounds of nature
• GitHub Audio generates calming work music based on your GitHub
For more, check out the Brain Music collection on Product Hunt.
You’re invited! Join the Global Hackathon 🌎
We're excited to announce the Product Hunt Global Hackathon! 🚀
Starting November 1st, we’re kicking off a month-long, global, online hackathon. Everyone in the community can participate, and you’ll have the entire month to collaborate, get feedback, and refine your product.
There are over $250,000 in prizes. Including $100k in AWS credits, tickets to TechCrunch Disrupt, and Slack is giving away two iPhone X’s (or a lunch with Stewart Butterfield).
We have an accomplished cast of judges, including Michael Seibel (CEO of Y Combinator), Alexis Ohanian (Reddit cofounder), Cyan Banister (Partner at Founders Fund), and Sarah Tavel (Partner at Benchmark). Check out the full list of judges.
Anyone with a computer is welcome to participate, from solo makers to teams of people. Everyone will get free access to Ship, our new toolkit to help makers build awesome products, and you’re welcome to build anything you like.
Important Dates: October 29th is the deadline to sign-up. November 1st the hackathon starts. December 7th winners are announced. 🏆
Read more on Medium. Sign-up at: producthunt.com/hackathon
This will be the biggest hackathon we've ever put on. Thank you to our awesome partners: AWS, Stripe, Slack, Dribbble, Girls in Tech, Google Assistant, Glitch, Indie Hackers, and TechCrunch.
Starting November 1st, we’re kicking off a month-long, global, online hackathon. Everyone in the community can participate, and you’ll have the entire month to collaborate, get feedback, and refine your product.
There are over $250,000 in prizes. Including $100k in AWS credits, tickets to TechCrunch Disrupt, and Slack is giving away two iPhone X’s (or a lunch with Stewart Butterfield).
We have an accomplished cast of judges, including Michael Seibel (CEO of Y Combinator), Alexis Ohanian (Reddit cofounder), Cyan Banister (Partner at Founders Fund), and Sarah Tavel (Partner at Benchmark). Check out the full list of judges.
Anyone with a computer is welcome to participate, from solo makers to teams of people. Everyone will get free access to Ship, our new toolkit to help makers build awesome products, and you’re welcome to build anything you like.
Important Dates: October 29th is the deadline to sign-up. November 1st the hackathon starts. December 7th winners are announced. 🏆
Read more on Medium. Sign-up at: producthunt.com/hackathon
This will be the biggest hackathon we've ever put on. Thank you to our awesome partners: AWS, Stripe, Slack, Dribbble, Girls in Tech, Google Assistant, Glitch, Indie Hackers, and TechCrunch.
Win a VIP trip to LA 😎
Engadget launched an Alternate Realities grant program back in May, giving away $500,000 to fund immersive art projects that push the limits of storytelling through emerging technologies. The 5 grant winners present their futuristic art at The Engadget Experience.
The event takes place on November 14th in Los Angeles, where you'll get to see humans and flamingos come together in an interspecies, an augmented reality-dance off, and relive America's first reported alien abduction in virtual reality, along with exhibits and talks from some of the leading minds in AR/VR.
Tickets are currently on sale, but one of you can win 2 free tickets, plus lots of other tech prizes!
🎟 2 Tickets to The Engadget Experience
✈️ $1000 for Airfare (to fly to LA)
🏙 2-Night Stay At The Ace Hotel
🏠 $1000 Smarthome automation bundle
🎆 $200 IfOnly experience voucher
🗣 An Amazon Echo
🕶 Samsung Gear VR
📱 Samsung S8 (Android iPhone X, without the notch)
The event takes place on November 14th in Los Angeles, where you'll get to see humans and flamingos come together in an interspecies, an augmented reality-dance off, and relive America's first reported alien abduction in virtual reality, along with exhibits and talks from some of the leading minds in AR/VR.
Tickets are currently on sale, but one of you can win 2 free tickets, plus lots of other tech prizes!
🎟 2 Tickets to The Engadget Experience
✈️ $1000 for Airfare (to fly to LA)
🏙 2-Night Stay At The Ace Hotel
🏠 $1000 Smarthome automation bundle
🎆 $200 IfOnly experience voucher
🗣 An Amazon Echo
🕶 Samsung Gear VR
📱 Samsung S8 (Android iPhone X, without the notch)
How to build a product without writing code 💻
Last week, a listener of the YC podcast kicked-off an interesting thread around the term non-technical, tweeting: "@rrhoover didn't realize you were non-technical, gives us all hope!"
It takes a team effort to build a successful company. People who write code, the technical talent, are critically important – as are those in sales, marketing, design, and other roles. Just like in baking, you can’t skip on ingredients. A baguette without yeast results in a very sad baguette.
Also, knowing how to code is not a requirement for starting a startup. Product Hunt started as a newsletter. AngelList too. You can use tools like MailChimp and Revue to validate if your idea has traction, and starting with email lets you iterate quickly and often.
Ask your audience questions with Typeform and gather feedback on your mockups with InVision. Build a community by involving your users in the product development process, before and after you launch. These approaches have work well for us and for many others. It’s this realization that led us to build Ship, a toolkit to help makers build awesome products. ⛵️
You don't have to know how to code to build a website. One of the most popular new tools for doing that is Carrd. You can use it to build a quick landing page or make something more elaborate, without writing a line of code. In fact, we used Carrd to build: deals.producthunt.com
This Week's Deal: 50% off your first year of any Carrd Pro plan. 🔥
It takes a team effort to build a successful company. People who write code, the technical talent, are critically important – as are those in sales, marketing, design, and other roles. Just like in baking, you can’t skip on ingredients. A baguette without yeast results in a very sad baguette.
Also, knowing how to code is not a requirement for starting a startup. Product Hunt started as a newsletter. AngelList too. You can use tools like MailChimp and Revue to validate if your idea has traction, and starting with email lets you iterate quickly and often.
Ask your audience questions with Typeform and gather feedback on your mockups with InVision. Build a community by involving your users in the product development process, before and after you launch. These approaches have work well for us and for many others. It’s this realization that led us to build Ship, a toolkit to help makers build awesome products. ⛵️
You don't have to know how to code to build a website. One of the most popular new tools for doing that is Carrd. You can use it to build a quick landing page or make something more elaborate, without writing a line of code. In fact, we used Carrd to build: deals.producthunt.com
This Week's Deal: 50% off your first year of any Carrd Pro plan. 🔥
Most upvoted product last month 💻🏆
In a shocking twist, the iPhone X was not the most upvoted product last month. That honor goes to Sublime Text 3, which now lets you code from the Touch Bar. Our new kitty mascot came in third. 😸⛵️
A recap of the most important product launches:
🖥 Trello launched a desktop app (what will happen to Paws?)
📱 The magical Notion editor is now available on iOS
💫 Atlassian created an end-to-end design language
📐 Of the dozens of AR measuring apps, this was the top one
💬 Botletter delivers your newsletters on Facebook Messenger
📊 The Snappr team created a database of Y Combinator companies
📖 We published a book on how to build a career in tech
🔋 Pi Charger is the world's first contactless wireless charger
💳 Petal introduced a simple no-fee credit card
📈 Viral Loops built a DIY Dropbox-style referral program for makers
Check out the full list of most upvoted products in September.
A recap of the most important product launches:
🖥 Trello launched a desktop app (what will happen to Paws?)
📱 The magical Notion editor is now available on iOS
💫 Atlassian created an end-to-end design language
📐 Of the dozens of AR measuring apps, this was the top one
💬 Botletter delivers your newsletters on Facebook Messenger
📊 The Snappr team created a database of Y Combinator companies
📖 We published a book on how to build a career in tech
🔋 Pi Charger is the world's first contactless wireless charger
💳 Petal introduced a simple no-fee credit card
📈 Viral Loops built a DIY Dropbox-style referral program for makers
Check out the full list of most upvoted products in September.
Launching our first book! (it's free) 📘😇
Over two years ago, we introduced Product Hunt LIVE to create a platform for the community to interact and learn from remarkable founders, investors, best-selling authors, and world-changing leaders like Tim Ferriss, Ben Horowitz, Jessica Livingston, and Jack Dorsey.
With the help of an awesome group of Product Hunt community members, we've combed through 550+ LIVE Chats to bring you the best advice, categorized to save you time.
Today, we're publishing our first book: How to Build a Career in Tech.
Learn how to break-in, grow your network, and develop the right skills. We highlight the best insights from your favorite guests on hiring, mentorship, overcoming challenges, and the best and worst advice they've ever received. It's over 100 pages and 100% free.
Join the conversation on Product Hunt. 😺
P.S. We have a surprise for you at the end of the year. 😉
With the help of an awesome group of Product Hunt community members, we've combed through 550+ LIVE Chats to bring you the best advice, categorized to save you time.
Today, we're publishing our first book: How to Build a Career in Tech.
Learn how to break-in, grow your network, and develop the right skills. We highlight the best insights from your favorite guests on hiring, mentorship, overcoming challenges, and the best and worst advice they've ever received. It's over 100 pages and 100% free.
Join the conversation on Product Hunt. 😺
P.S. We have a surprise for you at the end of the year. 😉
How to be productive: Delete your email app 👀
Sheryl Sandberg was recently asked what's the #1 app she has on her phone (other than Facebook). Her answer: Headspace. Today the co-founder and CEO Rich Pierson is taking over the newsletter. 💌
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When Andy and I co-founded Headspace in 2010, we knew we needed to get people to start taking care of their minds the way they take care of their bodies. I’d been working in advertising, and I burned out early on. Too much drinking, too much hard living, and I pretty much had a breakdown at 25. Meditation turned that around for me.
Meditation didn't just calm me down—it improved my relationships, my focus, and my productivity. Today, we help more than 17M people be more productive. When you're trying to help a busy mind stay on task, meditate.
These are my personal tips for maintaining a sense of balance:
1. Headspace: First things first when you’re trying to help a busy mind stay on task: meditate. Thoughts can do a lot of things: they can keep us awake, they can distract us, they can certainly upset us, but only if we let them. Meditation helps us to see thoughts for what they are: just thoughts.
2. Nike Training Club: Exercising may seem a funny way to get organized, but it can help keep endorphins high and frustration low.
3. Surfline: I try to surf a couple of times a week and knowing when and where to go is essential.
4. Time blocking: Essentially schedule a meeting… for no meetings. My Tuesday and Thursday mornings are blocked off every week. It’s become a habit now to use that time for creativity and focus.
5. Delete your email app: Bear with me on this one. I deleted email apps from my phone because there was this incessant need to check, and also to reply quickly. Deleting the apps and instead setting aside time to answer those emails thoughtfully was great not only for my relationships, but for my productivity.
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For more productivity tips, read Rich's guest post on the Product Hunt blog. When we spoke, he mentioned that he doesn't use many apps, but would like to see which ones people use to be more productive. We thought you could help. 😸
Which apps do use to be more productive? Add them here.
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When Andy and I co-founded Headspace in 2010, we knew we needed to get people to start taking care of their minds the way they take care of their bodies. I’d been working in advertising, and I burned out early on. Too much drinking, too much hard living, and I pretty much had a breakdown at 25. Meditation turned that around for me.
Meditation didn't just calm me down—it improved my relationships, my focus, and my productivity. Today, we help more than 17M people be more productive. When you're trying to help a busy mind stay on task, meditate.
These are my personal tips for maintaining a sense of balance:
1. Headspace: First things first when you’re trying to help a busy mind stay on task: meditate. Thoughts can do a lot of things: they can keep us awake, they can distract us, they can certainly upset us, but only if we let them. Meditation helps us to see thoughts for what they are: just thoughts.
2. Nike Training Club: Exercising may seem a funny way to get organized, but it can help keep endorphins high and frustration low.
3. Surfline: I try to surf a couple of times a week and knowing when and where to go is essential.
4. Time blocking: Essentially schedule a meeting… for no meetings. My Tuesday and Thursday mornings are blocked off every week. It’s become a habit now to use that time for creativity and focus.
5. Delete your email app: Bear with me on this one. I deleted email apps from my phone because there was this incessant need to check, and also to reply quickly. Deleting the apps and instead setting aside time to answer those emails thoughtfully was great not only for my relationships, but for my productivity.
---
For more productivity tips, read Rich's guest post on the Product Hunt blog. When we spoke, he mentioned that he doesn't use many apps, but would like to see which ones people use to be more productive. We thought you could help. 😸
Which apps do use to be more productive? Add them here.
