<img src="/blog/images/AI_for_Mere_Mortals.jpg" alt="AI for Mere Mortals">
I’m bullish about Artificial Intelligence (AI).
I firmly believe that it is a new computing paradigm shift, on the same magnitude as smartphones and the internet. Ignoring AI in 2022 is like ignoring the iPhone in 2010.
It requires a new way of thinking and approaching problems. My background as an entrepreneur and a software developer is not completely helpful; some things need to be unlearned and relearned.
Wanna learn with me?
I’m collecting my learnings into the curriculum I was missing when I got started learning AI/ML:
<a href="https://tomorroworld.podia.com/ai-for-mere-mortals">https://tomorroworld.podia.com/ai-for-mere-mortals</a>

AI for Mere Mortals

I’m bullish about Artificial Intelligence (AI).

I firmly believe that it is a new computing paradigm shift, on the same magnitude as smartphones and the internet. Ignoring AI in

AI for Mere Mortals

<h4 id="having-been-fed-up-with-ux-tools-not-being-fast-enough-i-decided-to-build-wrux">Having been fed up with UX tools not being fast enough, I decided to build Wrux.</h4>
<img src="/blog/images/40e7d-1aa6p7o-mjdwjcusxwo1zyw.gif" alt="">
I’m currently working with UX tasks on a game app, an educational app, my own company <a href="https://www.weldyourownapp.com/">Weld</a>, and <a href="https://www.tomorroworld.com/">a few new projects</a>. In all of these projects, there is a need for rapid prototyping.
After trying quite a few tools, I realized:
<ol>
<li>No tool is fast enough.</li>
<li>It’s too easy to get caught up in design details, like the <a href="https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/color-theory?ep=ug0">color</a> or placement of a button, or if an element should be a reusable component or not.</li>
<li><a href="https://uxplanet.org/why-is-ux-copywriting-so-important-in-product-design-85826b42d1b4">Copywriting is extremely important in UX</a>. The right word in the right place can mean everything for <a href="https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/usability?ep=ug0">usability</a> and conversions.</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="introducing-wrux">Introducing Wrux</h3>
So, I started thinking about a new kind of UX tool, with a focus on speed and text. It’s called “Wrux” (<a href="https://twitter.com/mikaelemtinger/status/1179304470494269440">short for “Write UX”</a>, thanks <a href="https://medium.com/u/21b82fb3da6">Mikael Emtinger</a>) and is currently <a href="https://www.wrux.it/">available as an early access product on wrux.it</a> (try the <a href="https://www.wrux.it/tutorial">interactive tutorial</a>).
So in Wrux, you just write:
<img src="/blog/images/bc74e-1fkn_kpiwgis_c4fktlpmuq.gif" alt="">
There are common elements like button, input, and heading. You can use screen to divide your prototype into multiple screens/pages, and buttons can link to other screens. Please play around in the <a href="https://www.wrux.it/tutorial">interactive Wrux tutorial</a>.
<h3 id="but-what-about-the-design">But what about the design?</h3>
Well, with Wrux you can add design to your prototype, but the idea is that it shouldn’t distract you from the UX flow and functionality. <a href="https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/visual-design?ep=ug0">Visual design</a> can be applied afterwards, or not at all.
In Wrux you can apply themes to your prototype, like wireframe, phone, or desktop:
<img src="/blog/images/2dbf0-1cmdhamtgb61itmnjsuprvw.gif" alt="">
Themes can be changed at any point and overridden when you are previewing your prototype. Since the themes are pure CSS, this allows for customized themes at a later point.
<h3 id="would-love-your-input">Would love your input</h3>
I’d love some input from the UX and design community on this–is this merely my problem in the design process, or do others feel the same way?
You can now <a href="https://www.wrux.it/">sign up for early access on wrux.it</a> (and please try the <a href="https://www.wrux.it/tutorial">interactive tutorial</a>).
<img src="/blog/images/def0f-1be66ju6pp4hsyliho21q6w.jpeg" alt="">

Having been fed up with UX tools not being fast enough, I decided to build Wrux.


I’m currently working with UX tasks on a game app, an educational app, my own company Weld, and a few new projects. I

I’m building a text-based UX prototyping tool — am I nuts?

<h4 id="our-list-of-bugs-was-growing-something-drastic-had-to-be-done-so-we-built-a-game">Our list of bugs was growing. Something drastic had to be done. So we built a game.</h4>
<img src="/blog/images/9a17b-1dsxpjqro3hseysleyrbh0g.jpeg" alt="">
At <a href="https://www.weldyourownapp.com/?utm_content=bug-hunter-game">Weld we’re building a code-free tool</a>, but we sure are generating a lot of code. And a lot of bugs. Our issue list on GitHub was stacking up something fierce, and something drastic had to be done. Then someone in the team said:
<blockquote>
“Let’s build a game!”
</blockquote>
We wanted to reward people in the team whenever they were filing bug reports or solving bugs. We also wanted frequent reminders to check the bug list.
So we started looking into <a href="https://developer.github.com/webhooks/">GitHub webhooks</a> and how it could feed into another system. And we built a simple database where every action taken on a GitHub issue would be tracked and rewarded with a score. Also, since we are heavy Slack users we wanted to have a daily reminder in the morning on our Slack channel.
One challenge was how to reward different actions. Was solving a bug more important than reporting it in the first place? And if so, how much more important? We ended up with giving 25 points for filing a bug report, and 50 points for closing a bug, with extra multipliers for prio 1 and 2 bugs.
The result is the <a href="https://github.com/weld-io/bug-hunter-game">Bug Hunter Game</a>, a simple web service build in Node.js. It listens to webhooks coming in from GitHub, and it runs a scheduled task every morning, posting a short message to Slack:
<img src="/blog/images/e95b0-1taua5y_t0grl7nt946aocq.png" alt="">
If you want to have the same, just <a href="https://github.com/weld-io/bug-hunter-game">fork our project</a> and add your own integrations. I hope it will make bug hunting a joy for everyone!
Check it out:
<a href="https://github.com/weld-io/bug-hunter-game">https://github.com/weld-io/bug-hunter-game</a>

Our list of bugs was growing. Something drastic had to be done. So we built a game.


At Weld we’re building a code-free tool, but we sure are generating a lot of code. And a lot of bugs. Our issue li

How we turned GitHub Issues into a game

I made a trip to Italy recently, and on the plane I started thinking of a coding problem I was working on at <a href="https://www.weldyourownapp.com/">Weld</a>. I had a rough idea, but I wanted to express it as an algorithm. I didn’t want to boot up my laptop and go into full coding mode — I just wanted to play around with this algorithm.
I started thinking about a small phone app where I could try things out in JavaScript without having my computer around. Something like <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/javascript-anywhere/id363452277?mt=8">JavaScript Anywhere</a>, but with more focus on the JavaScript code rather than a full web app with HTML/CSS.
So, when I got to my hotel, I started coding on a small iPhone/Android app to do just that (using <a href="https://cordova.apache.org/">Cordova</a>). The result was Pocket Coder:
<img src="/blog/images/e26a4-1sndpms9ds349lrkljdhwpa.jpeg" alt="">
(You can download <a href="https://bitly.com/pocketcoder-iOS">Pocket Coder for iPhone</a> or <a href="https://bitly.com/pocketcoder-android">Pocket Coder for Android</a>)
I tried an early version on my return flight to Stockholm a few days later. It was rough but did what it was designed to do: allowing me to test and tweak my algorithm without opening my computer. And I kept using it, on the subway, in bed, in the bathroom…
Anyway, Pocket Coder comes loaded with Lodash and JQuery, which are tools I use on a daily basis. It also has a small library of frequently used code snippets:
<img src="/blog/images/c5c8e-04lcms9e8qzmsbmjp.jpeg" alt="">
Finally, it comes with a built-in SVG canvas (powered by <a href="http://svgjs.com/">SVG.js</a>) for easy drawing:
<img src="/blog/images/7ae62-0lnv4c8w02fyhgehc.jpeg" alt="">
Download the app and let me know what you think!
<ul>
<li><a href="https://bitly.com/pocketcoder-iOS">Download Pocket Coder for iPhone</a></li>
<li><a href="https://bitly.com/pocketcoder-android">Download Pocket Coder for Android</a></li>
</ul>
(and if you don’t like coding, try <a href="https://www.weldyourownapp.com/">Weld</a> instead!)

I made a trip to Italy recently, and on the plane I started thinking of a coding problem I was working on at Weld. I had a rough idea, but I wanted to express it as an algorithm. I didn’t want to boo

Pocket Coder — coding JavaScript on the go

I’m a big fan of both <a href="https://strategyzer.com/canvas/business-model-canvas">Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas</a> and <a href="https://leanstack.com/why-lean-canvas/">Ash Maurya’s Lean Canvas</a>, but sometimes both can be a bit <a href="https://hackernoon.com/tagged/unwieldy">unwieldy</a>.
At <a href="https://www.weldyourownapp.com/">Weld</a> we’re constantly refining our <a href="https://hackernoon.com/tagged/business">business</a> model, and we needed something faster. So we made this:
<h3 id="the-napkin-business-canvas">The Napkin Business Canvas</h3>
The Napkin Business Canvas is a super-agile business model framework. It looks like this:
Drawn version:
<img src="/blog/images/d3bc0-1nluaig05f8ptxy0gbnaqhq.png" alt="">
Text version:
(Product) [ ] is a (what) [•] for (target group) [•] who want to (job to get done) [•] to (achieve result). [ ] We do this by (problem solved) [ ] unlike (competitors) [ ] so (relevant difference). [ ] This is worth (price) for our customers, [ ] which we find through (channels).
<h3 id="how-to-use-it">How to use it</h3>
Inspired by the <a href="http://bulletjournal.com/">Bullet Journal</a> system, it follows a simple syntax:
<ol>
<li>Fill in all the placeholder words with your current hypotheses.</li>
<li>Mark the most critical lines with a dot (•) in the left-side box.</li>
<li>As you verify your hypotheses, change the dots to “X”.</li>
<li>Repeat step 2–3 until your entire business model is validated.</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="download-the-template">Download the template</h3>
I made two templates in PDF and Markdown format.
<h3 id="let-me-know-what-you-think">Let me know what you think</h3>
Would love to hear your comments on this. Can it be made even more agile? Is it redundant? Let me know!

I’m a big fan of both Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas and Ash Maurya’s Lean Canvas, but sometimes both can be a bit unwieldy.

At Weld we’re constantly refining our business model, and

The Napkin Business Canvas

Updated to v1.3!
It started when I was creating a party invitation, and wanted to get an email list together. I already had the names, I just needed their email addresses as well. And that data was in my Address Book on my Mac, but I didn’t want to go through the list manually.
It was also an opportunity for me to write my first Mac OS X app.
Introducing Email Lookup, which takes a list of people names or company names, and adds email (and other data when in company search mode) from your own Address Book.
Here is an example of a company name lookup (with just name and email in the results, formatted for easy pasting into Gmail etc):
<img src="/blog/images/Email_Lookup_1.3.jpg" alt="image">
Download the application for Mac OS X here: <a href="http://bit.ly/EmailLookup_v1-3">http://bit.ly/EmailLookup_v1-3</a> 
Let me know what you think!

Email Lookup for Mac OS X

Read Tom Söderlund’s articles about my projects.

My projects

AI for Mere Mortals

I’m building a text-based UX prototyping tool — am I nuts?

How we turned GitHub Issues into a game

Pocket Coder — coding JavaScript on the go

The Napkin Business Canvas

Email Lookup for Mac OS X