brianwitlin-blog - Tumblr blog

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MY First Mastered Remix of Rufus Du Sol’s Underwater (HØUSE ARREST)

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Portrait of RÜFÜS DU SOL 2018 | Oil on Linen | 35 X 90” https://www.instagram.com/p/B0NZOBTAmrX/?igshid=18r6a2zgm4egs

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Portrait of RÜFÜS DU SOL 2018 | Oil on Linen | 35 X 90” https://www.instagram.com/p/B0NZITRAao9/?igshid=17gpr88spzg53

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Portrait of RÜFÜS DU SOL 2018 | Oil on Linen | 35 X 90” 2018 | Oil on Linen | 35 X 90” https://www.instagram.com/p/B0NZA5GgMUt/?igshid=16gtfujubsc3s

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One of the best parts about being an artist is to find inspiration from the world and from other artists. I have been fortunate to connect with some of the most amazing people that I admire for their craft, creativity, tenacity, and contribution to humanity. Over this weekend, I had the opportunity to meet my favorite music group @rufusdusol and present them with a portrait painting I created for them. Last fall I attended a @rufusdusol concert at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, and was so inspired by the experience, I knew I had to find a way to connect with the band. I reached out to Tyrone Lindqvist (@tyronelindqvist) to coordinate the creation of a painting of the band. After months of work, I brought the vision to reality and finished my first three person portrait painting. Over the weekend, I had an amazing experience when I received messages back from both Jon George (@juandusol) on Instagram and a call back from Tyrone to meet them at their show to bring them the painting. The presentation was beautiful and almost ceremonial. Not only did I present them with art that was inspired by their art, it was clear that my art was inspiring to them. I felt that we really had a beautiful moment together. The entire @rufusdusol band was gracious, humble, and thankful for the piece. It was truly a magical moment for me (and I believe the entire band). Cheers to inspiring music, beautiful souls, and connecting through the transcending power of art. . . . . #art #creative #instaart #artwork #instaartist #contemporaryart #painting #artistic #modernart #fineart #oiloncanvas #gallery #portraiture#myart #instagood #artsy #picture #artgallery #arts #artoftheday #gallery#paint #artistsoninstagram #painting#inspiration #melissamorganfineart #rufusdusol @_jameshunt (at Hearst Greek Theatre) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0NX6X4AETt/?igshid=17pyzqc9z0mdr

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Sometimes it just comes together nicely when you are in the zone. - #artistsoninstagram #fineart #oilpainting #painting #oiloncanvas #portraitpainting #instaart #figurativeart #figurativeart #figurativepainting #instaartist (at Mountain View, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnciz1_FDZN/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=2no2zgqxidhz

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One of my goals for this year was to reignite my fine art side with a goal of completing 20+ pieces for the year and getting into a reputable art gallery. While I am close to on track, my key takeaway is that diversifying my creative problem solving activities has augmented my mind space and my understanding of what is creatively possible. What I find amazing is that my artwork progressed even without practice over the last 10 years. I have been able to apply my fine art training, my hands-on product design experience, technology, martial arts. and life experience to create art well beyond my previous best. This has been one of the most encouraging breakthroughs I have experienced: creative activities are transferable and enrich other seeming unrelated activities. For those interested, I’ve been posting my art on Instagram under @brianwitlinart. Do what you love...even if it is after hours. - - - #fineart #selfportrait #painting #paintings #abstractart #selfie #art #creativity #oilpainting #oiloncanvas #color #artistsoninstagram #artgallery #gallery @barnstonestudios (at Mountain View, California)

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I’ve been blessed to lead an amazing team of engineers, data scientists, product designers, content editors, marketers, and innovators for the last several years @yummly. In the last year alone, we have grown our team by 60%, seen 50% growth in registered users, and added IOT and content functions. We have won several important awards including two #Webbys and the coveted #CES innovation award. Yummly is at the precipice of some incredible innovations launching over the next few weeks that will truly revolutionize how people cook. Underpinning the entire effort is our amazing @yummly team and culture that is unmatched by any other organization. In the last month alone, we have achieved a 100% acceptance of offers made to hiring candidates. This is unheard of in #siliconvalley. People are seeing our trajectory, and hopping on board. This video is a teaser of what it’s like to work @yummly. Want to join us? Check out the link in my bio. - - - - - #startuplife #startup #foodtech #yummly #datascience #data #engineering #hiring #iosengineering #androidengineer #foodblogger #foodblog #productdesign #uxdesign #uxdesigners #hiring #techjobs #startupculture #companyculture #innovation (at Yummly)

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New @yummly #chalk wall work-in-progress... Great design by Christina from @anml #chalkart #chalkartist #startuplife #office #siliconvalley #art #artistsofinstagram #wip #pastels #foodtech @douglas_hughmanick @boscarino1 (at Redwood City, California)

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Finished my first painting of the year. Self portrait oil on canvas. More coming soon. #art #artistsoninstagram #oilpainting #abstract #portrait #oiloncanvas #barnstonestudios #artwork #fineart (at Mountain View, California)

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Just announced...2018 = double Webby Award Winning @yummly app! Both people’s choice and official winner. Go Team! @thewebbyawards #foodanddrink @yummly #ux #userexperience #uxdesign #yummly @anml #ios #android #foodtech #design (at Yummly)

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Alex portrait coming along nicely in my makeshift garage art studio. #portrait #fineart #charcoal #art #artistsoninstagram #drawing #barnstonestudios #diamondmma #wip @alexcoriano @diamondmma (at Mountain View, California)

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Good feeling to suit up again. Go team #diamondmma #shoyoroll #jiujitsu @diamondmma (at Ralph Gracie Jiu-Jitsu)

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#ux Session sketching the #future of #food with the #OG crew @yummly @anml @douglas_hughmanick @yyuryev #ideapaint

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#Sacramento #fireworks #nofilter (at Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel)

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#onlyinsiliconvalley

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Leveraging Data to Incentivize Healthy Eating & Improve Food Safety

The following was my guest post on Food+TechConnect from March 26, 2015.  The post is a bit “far-out”, but meant to be thought provoking and encourage conversation.  

Tackling food issues in the US is not a small feat by any means. With the wealth of knowledge and technology we have today, I began to think about how can we use new technology or design to guarantee healthy, sufficient and safe food for everyone.

To answer that question, I started by exploring new technology tools, incentives and even reimagining the way we produce and regulate food today that could lead to better food for everyone.

It starts with tools to understand and inspire smart consumption and healthy lifestyle and ends with quantified incentives to make change.

In today’s society, sound food education gets overwhelmed and confused by food marketing, fad diets, and general miss-information.  Further, nutrition is not widely understood by a majority of medical professionals. Doctors generally only take 1-2 classes in medical school in nutrition science, yet we turn to them regularly for advice.  The advice is generally reactive and one size fits all. Further, the market for nutrition supplements is unregulated, and the efficacy of many are questionable.

With the advancement in wearables like Jawbone Up and the Apple watch, and personalized nutrition education and planning apps like ShopWell, Fooducate, MyFitnessPal and Yummly, users can both track their general health and activity, learn about foods that are best for their unique diet, and find recipes and meals tailored to their diet.

If you combine these services (which quantify healthy input and output) with an app like Pact, which provides financial incentives for good food and exercise behavior, you can imagine a broader lifestyle tracking system that facilitates healthy food intake and consistent exercise output.  This broader system can connect with an ecosystem of “incentive providers” which can include medical insurance providers, life insurance providers, gyms, food delivery services, and even the government.

By combining education, personalization, and financial incentives together, we can help individuals live healthier more empowered lifestyles. While this may seem far-fetched, this can become a reality in the near future.  More and more consumers are taking tracking their health into their own hands. Sensors are becoming smaller and more useful, products are maturing, and food information companies are collaborating in new and innovative ways.

Link government subsidies and tax incentives to foods associated with healthy lifestyles.

With an active “incentive provider ecosystem” and millions of active users, a wealth of information becomes unlocked about what foods and activities are most associated with healthy changes and outcomes.

Economists and data scientists can mine the large pool of user data to find key drivers of improved health.  Food subsidies, currently going to corn, soy and other less nutrient rich foods, can be more evenly distributed to healthier foods, like fruits and vegetables, to further incentivize producers to grow nutrient rich foods most correlated with quantified healthy consumption and successful health outcomes.

Further, the data for individuals can be used to create “healthy” tax deductions, further reinforcing good behavior.

Food safety is a multi-faceted problem with a multi-faceted solution.

Food safety issues typically arise from the following factors:

1.     Method of production and storage 2.     Temperature and time since production 3.     Unregulated foods and supplements

Method of Production

The first, method of production and storage of food is a challenge.  Food is manufactured behind closed doors.  Imagine, however, we used tools like UStream to broadcast live feeds within food production facilities. To take it a step further we could combine these live feeds with easily read (think geckoboard) dashboards, to allow anyone to view what was happening behind closed doors, and to see the relevant metrics and data about what was being put into their food.  This hyper transparency would both serve to let consumers fully understand how their food is made and it would provide an extra incentive for food manufacturers to produce things that met the standards of the law and consumers.

Temperature & Time

Temperature and time are significant factors for the shelf life of food.  With the advancement in sensor technology, we are reaching a point where fully integrated circuits with temperature sensors and transmitters can be fit into a package sticker.  This will effectively allow us to pinpoint the shelf life of foods.

These portable sticker sensors are already reaching close to viable price points.It is imaginable, within the next years, that these sensors will be cost-effective, communicate wirelessly with other systems, and greatly improve supply chain optimization efforts.  Sell-by and enjoy-by dates will become dynamic, creating less guesswork for the end consumer.

Unregulated Foods and Supplements

With the lifestyle tracking system described before in combination with quantified-self style wearables, users can participate in live trials for supplements on the market. Researchers can mine data to see if there is any connection with the advertised benefits of the product.

A live feed of these results can be connected within store displays, giving consumers up-to-date information about the supplements they are considering.

In closing, while these solutions will not solve these issues overnight or even in the next couple of years, it is safe to say we are already taking steps to make food healthier and safer for everyone in the U.S.