Reuven Sherwin | Surmera Assetov | Israel

Surmera. Assetov.

Being Human; Doing Products; Hacking Life

WWTT??? Car Seat adjustment lever/handle

Feb 28, 2018
1 min

WWTT??? Car Seat adjustment lever/handle

So... You may know this scenario, and may be frustrated by it, as much as I am. It start with having a car (great!), and having to share it with other drivers (less great). So far, so good. Next, imagine some of the drivers are significantly more vertically-challenged than others (in other words - some of the drivers are way shorter than others) - let's call them Tall and Short. Short drives the car, and adjusts the car seat to his height, so as to comfortably reach the pedal

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[Product Review] [UPDATE] Google Home Review

Jan 31, 2018
1 min

[Product Review] [UPDATE] Google Home Review

[This is an update to a review of Google Home, which I performed almost exactly a year ago] [I've only updated the main differences, which caused me to upgrade the overall score from 3.8 to 4.1] TL;DR Great Promise - starting to deliver - and Much to Look Forward to! ==> Total: 4.1 out of 5 My main complaint with the device, was that for a Smart Speaker, it's use was super limited, mainly to paid music services (and conveniently enough, Google left out the one paid music serv

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The 2 Top Blockers of Mobile Apps - and how to solve them

Aug 24, 2017
2 min

The 2 Top Blockers of Mobile Apps - and how to solve them

(* This post is inspired by me finally playing with Android Instant Apps.) Whoever knows me, knows I'm a big Apple fan, from the times it wasn't popular to be one. You also know I carry two phones for the past 5 years - a late model iPhone (currently iPhone 6S), and a late model Android (currently Samsung S8 - one of the most amazing phones e-v-e-r, but that may be a topic for a different blog post). You also know I'm a big mobile fan - whether mobile-web or mobile-apps - and

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你有多了解你的客戶? (上)

May 31, 2017
4 min

你有多了解你的客戶? (上)

(For the English version of this post, checkout the Related Posts or click here) 你有多了解你的客戶? (上) 回想我的第一份工作，我覺得這是匪夷所思的 - 我竟然對每一個用戶（客戶）都瞭如指掌。當時,我有着真正接觸市場的感覺，從客戶生活中所發生的大小軼事，我體會了莫名的親密感，以及我的生意對他們的影響。當時覺得自己浪費了時間，考慮到我只有10或12歲...和事實上，我只有60個用戶。如果只有我知道，我現在才理解... 這是上個世紀的一個炎熱的夏天，我只有10或12歲，我的爸媽替我找到一份工作。有一個傢伙，名字叫Joe，他會在早上（非常的早）驅車到周圍的鄰居，並提供早餐雜貨給附近的家庭。鄰居們會醒來，並在門外找到預訂的雜貨。客戶們也可以選擇，在他們睡覺之前留下對不同雜貨的特定要求，我們在早上將指示作為交貨週期的一部分，我們從儲備的卡車載送額外的產品，在指定的時間送抵他們的門口。他們會在月底收到帳單，我們都會很高興。我的工作時間表如下： 04:00上午J

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Can you really know your Users? Part 2 of 2

Mar 5, 2017
2 min

Can you really know your Users? Part 2 of 2

(Continued from Part 1) I've learned so much from this summer job. I've learned that house owners in our neighborhood tend to own dogs. I've learned that many times dogs are much smarter than their owners... (the owners would many times leave the dogs running loose, despite having asked us to deliver) I've learned to run fast. Very fast. Or at least faster than the dogs. Or at least faster than the chained dogs :-) And I've learned that knowing your users is great, and lets y

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Can you really know your users? Part 1 of 2

Feb 28, 2017
2 min

Can you really know your users? Part 1 of 2

In my first job ever, I knew each and every one of my users (customers), and it was amazing. The sense of true contact with the market, the intimacy of what's really happening in their life, and the impact my business had on them. What a waste, considering I was 10 or 12 years old... and the fact I only had 60 users. If only I knew then what I know now... It was a hot summer in the previous century, I was 10 or 12 years old, and my parents found me a job. There was this guy,

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[Product Review] Google Home Review

Jan 31, 2017
2 min

[Product Review] Google Home Review

My mother, ever the tech-autodidactic, got Google Home - and I offered to review it. Way to go Mom! TL;DR Great Promise - Yet to be Delivered - and Much to Look Forward to! ==> Total: 3.8 out of 5 I was highly excited to get Google Home - and within 3 minutes of the unboxing, it was set up and we all started "OK Google"ing it... ==> Setup: 5/5 We were mainly focused about asking it all kinds of things, and getting good answers - kind of like googling things - only by voice. W

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WWTT??? It's Cold! A Story of an Air Conditioner control panel

Dec 13, 2016
1 min

WWTT??? It's Cold! A Story of an Air Conditioner control panel

The other day we were doing a session in one of our spaces at work, and as the session "warmed up" I noticed many of the attendees started putting on more-and-more clothes... They were freezing! Evidently, the space was too cold for comfort. So, we went in search of the Air Conditioner controller, and checked the temperature. Indeed, it showed 24 degrees celsius (a.k.a as centigrade, and for you Fahrenheit-fans, it's 75 degrees). So, we bumped up the temperature to 27 degrees

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WWTT??? Yet another light switch?

Feb 11, 2016
1 min

WWTT??? Yet another light switch?

(This whole series started with Hotel Room Lighting. And we're closing the circle once again...) Checked into a very nice hotel room in South Miami Beach. As usual, the room was too dim for me, so I started looking for light switches, and turned the lights on. As I was turned the lights on, I noticed that the light above the TV didn't turn on. I started looking for a way to turn it on, when I finally figured out where the light switch for it was. It's in visible site in the i

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Lessons Learned from the Army - and Impact to The Startup Nation, Part 2 of 2

Jun 7, 2015
2 min

Lessons Learned from the Army - and Impact to The Startup Nation, Part 2 of 2

So, what have I learned? There's always a higher hill to climb - there's that phase in the army hike, you think you're done. You'e almost there. You can see the skyline. Or the lights. And you continue pushing on - and you conquer the hill - only to find your marching orders have changed, and there's one more hill to climb. Well, tough. That's army life. And the startup life is no different. There's always an extra mile to walk - you better be here for the long haul... Ta

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Lessons Learned from the Army - and Impact to The Startup Nation, Part 1 of 2

May 20, 2015
1 min

Lessons Learned from the Army - and Impact to The Startup Nation, Part 1 of 2

So... I've read The Startup Nation. I've attneded numerous panels on the Israeli's startup mentality and why we are The Startup Nation. Some times I was a member of the crowd, other times I served as a panelist. In most of the panels, many of the panelists would refer to their experience in "elite technological units" and how it impacted their high-tech career, whether via use of technology, innovation, networking etc. In a recent panel I served on, I realized that some of th

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WWTT??? - A Downtown Hotel, The Water Tap/Faucet?

Apr 15, 2015
1 min

WWTT??? - A Downtown Hotel, The Water Tap/Faucet?

Mid-March 2015 I stayed at a very fancy and beautiful hotel in midtown NYC. Everything was nice and cool and trendy (and probably quite expensive). My "WWTT" moment came shortly after I checked-in to the room - I wanted to rinse my face after the long trip. I headed into the beautifully designed bathroom, went to the sink, turned the valve (which is beautifully located at the tip-of-the-faucet), placed my hands under the tip of the faucet - only the find out the water hole of

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It's all in the Presentation - The Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Feb 19, 2015
1 min

It's all in the Presentation - The Chocolate Chip Cookies!

A couple of months ago, Tamar prepared Chocolate Chip cookies for Shabbat (sometimes she bakes cakes, this time it was cookies). As I was tasting them, I felt they were tasty in a different way. So I call out to Tamar to tell her how much I enjoy them. Me: "Tamar, you baked these cookies?" Tamar: "Yes..." Me: "I gotta tell you - there different than usual..." Tamar (intruppting me): "...yes. I know. I know. I put in too much salt and spoiled the whole batch". Seems like I was

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My personal insight from a discussion with Don Lindsay - Grass Roots Quality

Feb 9, 2015
1 min

My personal insight from a discussion with Don Lindsay - Grass Roots Quality

The other day (as in, February 8th, 2015) we had a visit by Don Lindsay at Wix. Don (who's rich history at Blackberry, Microsoft and Apple you can find in numerous places on the internet and hinted at his LinkedIn profile) was/is in Israel as part of keynoting at the UX Salon conference, and we took the opportunity to meet him. During a discussion, the issue of Quality was brought up, and we named some people who's "stamp of approval" for quality we trust - as if they are th

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Feb 5, 2015
2 min

...We'd like to feature you on the Wix Blog...

It was mid-2014, and the Wix Community team contacted me, telling me to answer some questions about myself, in order to prepare a piece about some Wix employees thoughts and insights. ... We're working on a blog series introducing members of the Wix team in a fun angle, and would love it if you can spare 5 minutes to answer the following questions:. ... This is what I sent them. The final published piece was different enough (surprized, huh?) from the content i provided, that

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WWTT??? - Shake to Undo??? Part 1

Jan 26, 2015
1 min

WWTT??? - Shake to Undo??? Part 1

The iPhone, and along it - iOS - it's operating system, were a breakthrough in many ways, possibly (in retrospect) launching a whole new industry(?) In it's rush to pave new roads, certain features were left out, including such features that were standard, such as Undo. Needing to squeeze so many features, with so little time, and so little space, some features simply couldn't find their space. So far, so fair. The interesting part of our starts with the following (imaginable

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WWTT??? - Shake to Undo??? Part 2

Jan 26, 2015
1 min

WWTT??? - Shake to Undo??? Part 2

(Continued from Yesterday...) Excited, he told her "I solved the problem of Undo - I know how we can easily add Undo the iPhone OS, and in a cool great way!" "How?" asked his manager, slightly excited. "You know, how the iPhone is like a fun-electronic-drawing-board, effectively a cool-expensive-small-Etch-n-Sketch?" "Yes", answered the weary manager, bleary-eyed after days (and nights) of staring at screens with numbers and charts and sketches. "And you remember from you chi

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What were they thinking??? 50 NIS Bank Notes, Part 2

Jan 8, 2015
1 min

What were they thinking??? 50 NIS Bank Notes, Part 2

Well, that is not my "beef" with the new 50 NIS bank note. My WWTT moment with the new note was as soon as I saw it - it looks sooooo much like the good old current 20 NIS note... In some of the Q&A before and after the introduction of the new 50 NIS note, this similarity was brought up - and a non-answer (IMO) was provided, for example here. But in all fairness, I must ask - didn't people discuss this? Did they actually raise the question, discuss it - and think "oh, it's ok

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What were they thinking??? 50 NIS Bank Notes, Part 1

Jan 7, 2015
1 min

What were they thinking??? 50 NIS Bank Notes, Part 1

On September 16th, 2014, the Israeli Ministry of Finance (along with the Bank of Israel) introduced a new bank note for the 50 NIS (New Israeli Shekel) value. This was introduced as an "upgrade"/replacement for the current (now "old") 50 NIS bank note. The theory behind the logic of the change was that this note is so much harder to counterfeit (and more accessible and possibly other reasons. Doesn't matter...) This was actually so exciting that articles were written about th

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What Were They Thinking??? Water Dispenser

Jan 6, 2015
2 min

What Were They Thinking??? Water Dispenser

Morning. Arriving at work. Setup computer. Go to kitchen. Coffee!!! Coffee machine out-of-order. Need to go old-school - two tablespoons of sugar, 3/4 tablespoon Taster's Choice, hot water, stir, add some milk - and voila - coffee... Take cup, add ingredients - walk over to the hot/cold water machine - but they changed it overnight. It's no longer the simple one with two buttons - one for cold and one for hot - or even the one before that with 3 buttons - cold, hot, lukewarm

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