Make sure you don’t miss Ela’s talk on InternetBeta2010.

posted by Ela Madej / 19 hours, 45 minutes ago / No Comments

Hey, I am excited to say that I will be speaking at Poland’s biggest web conference – InternetBeta2010 (September 15-17th in Rzeszów). The topic of my talk is “Act before you think – decision making in startups”. I will be speaking in Polish but I will do my best to publish the script on this blog. Other speakers include the author of Netocracy Alexander Bard, Lawrence Lessig from Harvard Business School who is a founding board member of Creative Commons, Krzysztof Kowalczyk from HackFwd and many more great people from both Polish and international web landscape who I am awfully excited to meet! So, if you spot me in the crowd (or on stage!), don’t hesitate to say hi! To make my InternetBeta2010 talk even more exciting, I expect to make some announcements on sth that Applicake has been working on in the last weeks.

Thanks for the picture ayoy!

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Posted in Experience, News | No Comments »

TechHub London – here we come!

posted by dorota / 28 days ago / 3 Comments

Remember our  ”I want TechHub” video? We made it to explain why we think TechHub is a great idea. What’s TechHub? It’s a London-based mini-cluster for technology start-up community. Competition was tough but we recently learned that that we’re among the six lucky winners! We were given a free TechHub London membership for a year! Hurray! Who else is going to be there? Drop us a line / email and let’s start co-working!

You can read more on TechHub and watch the other winning videos here. TechCrunch article on TechHub here.

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Posted in News | 3 Comments »

Ruby LipDub – The Making Of!

posted by dorota / 1 month, 8 days ago / 1 Comment

As some of you remember a while ago our super-talented Ruby on Rails Team made a Ruby LipDub. We had loads of fun while shooting it and have a ton of behind-the-scenes material. Now, it’s the time to share it.

Ladies and Gents, that’s how the Applicake LipDub was made! Enjoy!

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Posted in Experience, Silly & Unimportant | 1 Comment »

Marcin at Euruko – a conference debut

posted by marcin / 1 month, 12 days ago / No Comments

I was asked to write a few words about my Euruko presentation (Vimeo video here). It was an amazing experience so I thought it would be a great opportunity to share it.

If you’re interested, you can find the code for the presentation here and some more resources here.

The birth of an idea

I came up with the idea for the presentation when we were working on a Todo app at Applicake, however I wanted to sync it with the Things GTD app. I ended up writing a ruby gem which solved my problem. You can find it at my github account. After doing that I heard that there was a call for speakers for Euruko and thought that this might be good material for a talk.

I sent my proposal for a 20-minute talk and was very excited when I received and email saying I was accepted. Of course my excitement lasted around 4 seconds when I realized I will be speaking in front of a whole auditorium. I’m used to giving talks to Applicakers during Railstalks, but this was waaay bigger. So, I did what most people do in a situation like this – I panicked.

Well, to be precise, I took my time. I started panicking around 1 month before the conference. I prepared a first draft of the speech and delivered it to Applicakers. I can’t thank then enough for bashing that first draft with criticism. It was bad, I can safely say that now. But it took me back to the drawing board and I started improving what I had, so when I delivered it again to Applicakers, they liked it much more.

5 minutes to midnight

When I was done, Euruko was set to start. I was to speak right after the lunch break – I loved the time slot because I could set myself up earlier and try the presentation. That was the best idea ever – 30 minutes before the talk I tested it out on the projectors and it turned out that code examples are unreadable! With support of the few people in the room I managed to fix that right before the start time.

I was a bit shook up by the last second changes, but there was no time to think about it – it was time to start! So there I was, in front of almost 300 people looking at me. Absolutely terrifying moment. However, once I started talking, the nervousness faded. There was one moment when I tried to throw in a joke and nobody laughed, but I managed to recover by keeping my cool and moving on.

After it was over and I answered some questions (I’d like to thank for some great suggestions that came from the audience), I sat down and only then I started to relax. An awesome party the same night also helped :)

After thoughts

It was my first time speaking at a conference and I’m still reflecting on the experience. I have to say it was stressful and I’m still finding out what I could have done better but it was very rewarding. I highly recommend anyone taking up such challenge – you’ll love it. And once you do it, you’ll want to do it again. I know I do.

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World’s tech scene growing stars… or the Ruby LipDub!

posted by Ela Madej / 2 months, 5 days ago / 28 Comments

Well, for the last few days we’ve been teasing you all with photos and tweets about that THING we did the other day. No more secrets, here is an official press release (any Press out there to care about it, guys?).

Applicake, a team of growing rock stars (not only in tech!) finally released their first music video.

So what it is? It’s a fantastic, well-performed LipDub (feel free to use the exact quote, dear Press). Applicake and PipeJump team supported by @josevalim and Socha (guest performance) wanted to give something back to the awesome Ruby community. They chose the song “Ruby” by Kaiser Chiefs to tell a both touching and romantic story of a Ruby lover. The Rubyist is trying various things and activities but they can’t stop thinking of Ruby. Ruby is, for better and for worse, their destiny.

And now seriously – we had great time shooting it and we do hope you love it! Watch out for the “LipDub – The Making of” video (we’re working on it, it’s hilarious) and for some really great updates and events organized by Applicake. Subscribe to our newsletter at the end of the video  – and we’ll make sure to keep you posted.

You can see the lyrics here. Credits: LipDub idea by Dorota, script by Ela, Dorota, Agata and Socha, video by Wiciu.

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Posted in Experience, News | 28 Comments »

Ruby community is blave ;-)

posted by Ela Madej / 2 months, 5 days ago / 1 Comment

Or at least that’s what Matz said at EuRuKo last month… Yes, he did mean “brave” but changing “r” to “l” in words, excuse me,  wolds already became an inside joke for many EuRuKo attendees. Here’s the link to Matz keynote in case you missed it.

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Posted in News, Silly & Unimportant | 1 Comment »

EuRuKo Ruby surprise – teaser

posted by dorota / 2 months, 12 days ago / 3 Comments

After we posted this photo album on our Facebook profile people literally stormed us with questions like ‘what it’s gonna be?’. As 15 of us are leaving for Applicake sailing trip right now (feel free to hate us), we’ll just post a small teaser. The date of the premiere of the whole THING is set on Monday. I’ll say what I always say – stay tuned!

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Posted in Experience, News | 3 Comments »

Welcome on board!

posted by dorota / 2 months, 12 days ago / 3 Comments

A good couple of weeks ago two of talented and overall great guys joined Applicake Team. It’s the highest time to introduce them officially ;-)

Dear Everyone, please, meet Karolina – Web Apps Tester and Michał – Senior Ruby on Rails Coder.

As they both went through a very tough recruitment process, I KINDLY asked them to answer a few more questions.  What for? So that you could get to know them better!

1. Which cake ingredient are you?

Karolina: Which cake? Seriously, this is an important question! Probably yeast. I make everything grow..

Michał: I’m a raisin. You can have a cake without one, but it’s not the same cake anymore ;)

2. Finish the sentence: „ I can’t imagine my life without…”

K: Just to be crystal clear – yes, this is gonna be the most tendentious answer ever! Here we go: music, sleep, my at-many-times-annoying boyfriend, my cellphone, eating muffins, dancing and designing.

M: Imagination. If not for imagination, would not even know what/who I am.

3. What makes you happy?

K: I hate those questions ;-) Ordinary things. I’m happy when buying new clothes (yes, pathethic and so girly!), meeting with friends, spending my time with my spouse (minus times when he’s annoying or he beats me in FIFA WorldCup), eating delicious stuff and knowing that people are happy with my designs…

M: Achievements, spending quality time with friends and popping bubble wraps!


4. Which color are you?

K: Few years ago I’d definitely say “black”… but now I have no idea. I don’t even know which one is my favorite. I can be RGB tho!

M: Today I feel like #4BD14E.

5. What is the last book you read?

K: It was “Designing with Type: The Essential Guide to Typography” by James Craig. A good one.

M: Last book this week would be “Rework”. I liked it a lot. It’s nice to have all things 37signals talk about in one place.

6. If someone wrote a biography about you – what would be the title?

K: “The most boring story ever. Don’t read it unless you’re forced to”. Both inviting and provocative ;-)

M: “Super awesome rainbow unicorns with shotguns”. Therefore I’m glad no one
has written one yet.

7. If you could have superpowers, what would it be?

K: Flying, traveling in time or ultimate I-can’t-die ability!

M: Flying would be nice, preferably with cold resistance, and lowered oxygen need so that I could gain decent altitude.

8. What is your favorite food?

K: Oh, I love eating! *the-chewing-pie-sound* I’m crazy about sweets so I have to admit that “sweets” in general are my fav thing. To be specific, I could die for carrot cupcakes! And muffins – I actually bake them often. If it comes to more healthy food, I adore salmon, tuna pasta, cottage cheese with radish & more. Don’t ever tell me to go on a diet!

M: Sushi. I’m addicted to rice with rice vinegar and raw fish.

9. What is your favorite movie?

K: NO, NO, NO! I won’t tell you! I don’t have a slightest idea which of all movies I’ve seen in my life is my favorite. YOU WILL NEVER FIND OUT!

M: Luc Besson’s “Léon” – the only one to make me shed manly tears ;)

10. If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who should play the main character?

K: Of course Scarlett Johansson. Who else could it be?

M: Sylvester Stallone. There would also be a lot of shooting, fast cars and “stuff”.

11. If you were a “House” (TV Series) character, which one would you be?

K: Definately “thirteen”. She’s extremely hot. If it comes to man I’m a combination of Chase and House. Actually I kind of adore House. He’s a master of irony and sarcasm, which I tend to use really often.

M: I’d be House probably. Although I’m only half as cynic as he is. I’m glad you haven’t asked about “Dexter” by the way.

12. How would you describe yourself in three words?

K: Crazy, open, visionary.

M: I would not :)

13. If you won the lottery, would you still work?

K: At first probably no… but after few months of boredom I would definitely get back to work. I’d dedicate myself to things I’m passionate about.

M: Sure. Probably less than today, but I don’t see a reason to stop doing what I love just because I can afford to.

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Posted in News | 3 Comments »

Behind the scenes of EuRuKo 2010 logo – time to share all designs!

posted by Ela Madej / 2 months, 19 days ago / 4 Comments

As many of you know already, together with Paul, Tomasz and Agata I organized this year’s European Ruby Conference. Here’s the post I recently published on EuRuKo website.

Many people told me they thought EuRuKo 2010 logo was beautiful. In fact, they were asking if we had any free T-shirts to give away as they liked how the white ethnic pattern looked on a red T-shirt. That’s exactly why I thought I should share the design process we went through.

So what’s the story?

When we first announced the competition for EuRuKo 2010 logo, we only got few designs. We chose what we thought was the best one… but we still didn’t love it. Luckily, the designer – Aneta from Krakow-based web design agency Manto – agreed to work with me until everyone was happy with the final look & feel (huge THANKS Aneta!).

Designing a logo should be a quick one, right?

Wrong. Especially considering the fact that organizing EuRuKo was not really our full-time job and rather an after-work activity.

To be honest, the bar was set high:

EuRuKo 2009 logo was really beautiful and we liked the idea of mixing local inspirations with ‘good old’ ruby. Hopefully Berlin 2011 (congratulations guys!) team can continue this short-lived tradition!

Design decisions are always tough – they depend much on personal preferences and perspectives. We needed probably something like 3 months (!!) to produce EuRuKo vivid-yet-simple logo. That’s a long time when you think that the designer actually never got paid – the initial competition just like all EuRuKo-related tasks was considered ‘community effort’.

Someone should be in charge (get ready for long hours!)

Having on a team people with different tastes is great.. but it makes things complicated, too. And – excuse my personal observation – men & tech people are rather conservative about design ;-) . A good tip for next year’s team – choose one person among you who ‘feels’ design and let them work with the designer. In our case that was me. An important thing to realize – in the beginning it seems that you only need logo but you will really need tons of stuff: website design, sponsorship pdf design, brochures, tickets, posters and all print stuff you can think of (including badges and drink coupons!). Make sure you work with a patient designer!

Final decisions…

In the end you ‘just’ have to reach that point when everyone accepts the final logo in one or another variation. In a bigger team (3+ people) a consensus of ‘liking it‘ or ‘loving it at first sight’ is very unlikely.  People usually need time to get used to what they’ve just chosen and accept that they can’t mix ‘all the best things from every option’. That’s the paradox of choice, too. Before reaching that point of approval there will be moments when everyone just stares at all different logos… not feeling good about any of them. Or – hating every single one – because if you care about something (and boy did we care about EuRuKo!), things get emotional.  Such dead-end is a good moment to ask for outsider’s advice. We asked just a few people and it really helped us speed up the process. We personally decided not to do ‘community voting’ because we didn’t think it was a good idea. Hope this helps ;-)

Here’s how the logo evolved in a chronological order:

Finally:

In the end – we’re all happy with the end result ;-) Which one do you like the most? Comment here or @ us on Twitter: @euruko or @elamadej!

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Posted in Experience, Tutorials | 4 Comments »

Meet Applicake crew at European Ruby Conference this weekend.

posted by Ela Madej / 3 months, 9 days ago / 1 Comment

We’re super-excited that this year’s European Ruby Conference is going to take place in Kraków (May 29th – 30th). What’s EuRuKo? ‘EuRuKo is an annual conference about the Ruby language with an informal atmosphere and lots of opportunities to listen, to talk, to hack and to have fun’. It surely is going to be an awesome event -  280 Rubyists, great agenda and afterparties… No wonder Applicake is among the event sponsors and the entire team is showing up. We’ll be wearing Applicake T-shirts so finding us should be relatively easy. To learn more about EuRuKo, follow @euruko Twitter feed.

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Posted in News | 1 Comment »

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