Get in shape
Wearables aren’t particularly new, but Atlas Wearables kicks things up a notch in the wristband intelligence department, helping wearers clean up their form during workouts and track far more than just daily steps and average heart rate. How it works, per the Atlas website: “Imagine a paint dot on your wrist, and when you move it, it leaves a 3D trail. We can essentially track that inertial sensor fingerprint and classify it to the correct exercise.” A free iOS app is available now with Android to follow. Hardware fulfillment is set to begin in December.
Get in the passenger seat
There’s no shortage of ways to get around town without four wheels of your own; car2go’s been prominent in central Austin for years and Uber’s been making waves across the US for some time now. But a quirky ride share app called Carma is applying an old-school twist to rideshare culture in the form of a good old-fashioned carpool. The real-time rideshare app hails from Carma Technology Corporation, headquartered in Cork, Ireland with offices in Austin and San Francisco, and its free iOS and web apps match drivers and riders, focusing on sustainability and working to reduce the amount of cars on the road at any given time.
Get your stuff stored
Anyone who’s ever tried to rent storage space knows what a pain it can be -- not to mention how expensive. Luckily, Austin-based SpareFoot is the world’s largest and, arguably, simplest marketplace for self-storage, thanks to a clean interface and more than 7,000 facilities across the US. SpareFoot’s software makes it easy to find the cheapest and best options around with just a few clicks. By providing facility operators with the tools to capitalize on open space and broadcasting it to customers, the startup serves both sides of the equation. SpareFoot also provides web marketing solutions and easy solutions for storage operators to keep their inventory and pricing up-to-date via the MySpareFoot.com portal. Over the past month, they also teamed up with Open Tech to further software integrations.
Get your groceries delivered, fast
Delivery services may not be revolutionary in nature, but Instacart has upped the game in Austin with an elegant interface, space for notes to personal shoppers, the promise of two-hour grocery delivery, and partnerships with H-E-B, Central Market, Whole Foods, Costco and Royal Blue.
SpareFoot is located in one of the fastest-growing cities in America, which places clients of all stripes squarely (pun intended) in its own backyard. With Carma, Austin’s left-leaning population is generally more environmentally conscious than many other cities, with a friendly and convivial vibe among its residents, potentially giving Carma a leg up on less-sustainable transportation solutions in the ride share market. Instacart enjoys the good fortune of being in Whole Foods’ hometown, while Atlas Wearables could hardly have picked a more outdoor-oriented, fitness-minded city in which to launch — with much lower overhead than, say, New York or Los Angeles.
Get where you need to be
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RideScout calls itself “Kayak.com for ground transportation.” Aggregating ground transportation options in real time, RideScout gives users every available option to get from point A to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible using more eco-friendly means of transport than driving one’s own car. Offering transit, bus, bike, taxi, car share, rideshare, parking and walking directions all in one view, it’s kind of like Kayak meets Google maps meets a host of other websites and apps, all rolled into one. Its current advertising campaign, emblazoned on Citi bikes throughout Austin, is an added stroke of genius. In September, RideScout was acquired by car2go North America LLC.
Which of these life hacks will you be trying in the coming months?
