Kozminski Techblog

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Snackpass is a food delivery and pickup startup that has recently gained popularity among college students. The startup lets its customers order food from local restaurants and either deliver it to their doorstep or pick it up in person.

One of the standout features of Snackpass is its focus on simplicity and convenience. The app has a user-friendly interface that lets customers browse menus, place orders, and track their deliveries. It also offers a variety of payment options, including the ability to pay with a credit card or link a bank account for seamless transactions.

Snackpass is one of the most comprehensive social commerce platforms in the US and one of the fastest-growing marketplaces. Many celebrities and high-profile tech entrepreneurs have invested in the startup, including the Jonas Brothers, Kevin Hart’s HartBeat Ventures, record producer Steve Aoki, and Postmates originator Bastian Lehmann.

In addition to its convenience, Snackpass also strongly emphasizes community. The app includes a social aspect, allowing users to connect with friends and share their favorite restaurants and menu items. It also offers a loyalty program that rewards users for placing orders and referring friends to the app.

Another critical feature of Snackpass is its focus on sustainability. The company has implemented several measures to reduce its environmental impact, including using eco-friendly packaging and introducing electric scooters for delivery.

So what are the benefits for users?

1. Order food in advance, and when you come up, everything is ready. Anyone can join from the restaurant side.
2. Each customer receives bonus points and discounts in restaurants. After giving a friend a gift, you and he get points. There is even a “party mode” function. The more people order some meals in a group, the bigger the discount will be for you.
3. You can make a nice gift for your friends by paying for and sending them coffee from their favorite place. The platform helps reduce social awkwardness. It is also very convenient for sending a nice birthday gift. This can bring your friend joy and an excellent mood for the rest of the day!

Overall, Snackpass is an excellent option for anyone looking for a convenient and sustainable way to order food from their favorite local restaurants. Whether you’re looking for a quick lunchtime pickup or a late-night snack delivery, Snackpass has you covered. So, it is a good choice for people who care about the environment and want good food delivered to their doorstep.

Reference: https://www.snackpass.co/

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Have you heard of Beyond Burger? If not, you’re in for a treat!

Nowadays, there is a massive problem with food production worldwide. Producing so much meat for each person globally is impossible. Innovations and startups are made to fix food production and animal slaughter. Ideas with plant-based meat were implemented in the late 90. Still, thanks to the startup “Beyond Meat” and several similar ones, they have gained considerable popularity and publicity among consumers in our time.

This innovative startup was founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown from California. The idea of the product is straightforward and fascinating. It’s made mainly using vegetable protein from peas and other organic products grown in a lab. The company’s website says that the burger looks and smells like natural beef. It contains only a hundred percent plant-based proteins, with no soy, GMOs, or gluten.

“Beyond Meat” signature product is the Beyond Burger, made from a blend of peas, mung beans, and rice. The company also offers a range of other plant-based meat alternatives, including sausages, ground beef, and chicken strips.

Beyond Burger has many health benefits than traditional beef burgers. It uses fewer natural resources, generates fewer gas emissions, and does not contribute to animal cruelty. In terms of health benefits, “Beyond Burger” is lower in fat, making it a potentially healthier option for those looking to reduce their risk of heart disease and other health conditions.

Unlike its direct competitor – the company Impossible Foods, which produces meat from soy, serves its product only in the best restaurants in the world. Meat from “Beyond Meat” lies on the shelves of supermarkets and is positioned as a healthy alternative, not strictly for vegans and vegetarians. In addition, such meat production will reduce pressure on the environment.

Overall, Beyond Meat is a unique and fascinating company that offers delicious and sustainable plant-based meat alternatives. Whether you’re a vegan, vegetarian, or simply looking to reduce your meat consumption, Beyond Meat has a product for you. If you want to try something new and make some environmental and health changes, give Beyond Burger a try. I think you’ll be glad you did!

Reference: https://www.beyondmeat.com/en-GB/

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Have you ever wondered about global warming and its impact on our Earth? Well, surfing the internet, I found a rather exciting start-up that could prevent the destruction of the ozone layer. It is called Carbon Engineering. This start-up is located in Canada, and this company’s product is already in production. Carbon engineering is a new way to remove tons of CO2 from the air every day. 

About Start-Up:

Carbon Engineering engineers have figured out how to extract carbon dioxide from the air. In 2011, scientists from the American Physical Society proved that it would cost $600 per ton. But, despite the mentioned amount, the startup promises to invest $94-232. This result can be achieved if «CO2 capture» technology is improved and which is used in the pulps, papers, and oil refining industries.

Most of the work is carried out in an old industrial warehouse. The building was once used by a company that produced industrial chemicals. The startup claims to have raised $68 million in its latest funding round. The money went to expand the project and develop the first commercial plant.

Carbon Engineering considers that it is essential to remove carbon directly from the atmosphere so that it can be recycled. Many major global oil companies are interested and are already investing money in this technology. Even one of the most famous person in the world – Bill Gates invests in this startup.

How does it work? 

Carbon Engineering claims that synthetic fuel can be used in standard cars, trucks, and plane engines and it will pollute the air lesser. Carbon dioxide will be released when it will be the action of burning Carbon Engineering fuel, but this will not lead to a significant increase in gases in the atmosphere since the carbon in the air will be already processed during the action.

Carbon Engineering said the commercial plants would have huge fans 10 meters in diameter that would collect air and put it through a complex chemical process. The released carbon dioxide will also be mixed with hydrogen extracted from water and will receive synthetic fuel. It will be processed into gasoline or diesel. The energy needed to produce hydrogen will come from wind turbines and solar panels.

Opinion:

Carbon Engineering is one of the best and most mind-blowing solutions that could fix global warming and make alternative fuels. Even Bill Gates himself invested his money in this fantastic start-up. Still, I am curious about oil companies and their impact on this project. As I remember, the only thing these organisations care about is money. Let’s take, for instance, a case with a water engine. Stanley Meyer created this technology, and his life was very tragic. Unfortunately, he was killed by oil companies, and his idea was never implemented into reality.

References:

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Reading Time: 3 minutes

Have you ever surfed in Google to get answers for a problem or task in your project? After looking up the whole internet for the answers and checking different programming forums, you still could find any solution to your problem. So what would you do next? Well, you will probably ask your friends or colleagues whether they know how to solve this issue. Shortly saying, you are losing a vital resource – time. But the worst thing is that you can find nothing. Recently, I saw a website called BlackBox. The website itself has a black color theme, which is a reference to their name. Let’s talk about user experience – the website is user-friendly and straightforward.

Let’s discuss the website’s functionality and what we can find here. First of all, on the first page of the website, we can see “Code Extractor.” This feature allows you to copy text from any video you watch and quickly paste it into your project. BlackBox supports all programming languages. Now, you don’t have to write each code string from the video manually; the BlackBox can do it all by itself.

One more cool feature that BlackBox offers for you is “Autocomplete.” Why do I even need autocomplete suggestions when I already have this in my IDE? It does sound logical, but BlackBox works a little bit differently. BlackBox’s “Autocomplete” offers guidance when you are coding and completes your code automatically; you only have to write a particular command. For example, “// create a simple nodejs express server,” and magically, it writes you code all by itself; by that time, you could grab a cup of coffee or make yourself dinner. 

The last and the best feature that BlackBox offers you is “Turn any question into code.” In the beginning, I was talking about how to manage our time. Instead of googling the error or the question that bothers you, write it down in a “Turn any Question into {Code}” section. This website will basically show you the answers to all your questions. Just write it down and get the correct code instantly.

To conclude, I also want to manage that BlackBox has its Pricing. A Pro version subscription costs 0,75$ for a week, while the Elite version costs 1,25$. The difference between them is:

Pro version Elite:

1,000 Text Copied per Month 3,000 Text Copied per Month

1,000 Code Search per Month Unlimited Code Search

1,000 Code Autocomplete per Month Unlimited Code Autocomplete

BlackBox is a beneficial and undervalued product on the market. It makes programming much more straightforward.

What are your thoughts about this?

References and information about the product was taken from: https://www.useblackbox.io/

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Well, first of all, why should we read books? Reading books upgrades your mental activity and improves memory and logic. As for myself, reading books is an excellent way to lower your stress and expand your knowledge. 

Now about programming books. First, You have to decide what you want to master. Would it be Python, JavaScript, C++, etc… But is it that important to learn new technologies and methods with the help of a book? Well, the answer is – Yes and No. 

If we are talking about complex technologies, binary trees, etc., then it makes sense to study the theory and try doing something in practice.

On the other hand, let’s take as an example HTML. It doesn’t require you to understand math or binary trees. Nowadays, there are a lot of websites or videos with which you can learn how to develop websites. For example, let’s take a worldwide website called “w3schools”. It is an educational website created for programmers to learn how to develop websites. Using their online code editor, you can write code online and see the results of your work.

Usually, for the reading material to stick correctly in your head, you must practice. In my opinion, examples from books should be used in practice. Here, for example, you read something entirely new for you in a book and don’t fully understand how it should work. Open your compiler right away and start trying out the examples in practice. You can also make them more complicated and come up with your problems using the material you just learned.

It is also essential to reread the book several times. Usually, if the technology is new to you, it will be tough to understand by reading it only once. That is why I recommend, after reading the book for the first time, to return to the text again while practicing.

My favorite book list:

Robert Sedgewick ” Java algorithms.”

Robert Martin ” Clean code.”

Charles Severance  “Python for Everybody: Exploring Data Using Python 3.”

Mark Lutz “Learning Python.”

William S. Vincent “Django for Beginners.”

Bruce Eckel “Thinking in Java.”