Wonderful apps that will make you learn Japanese

New language!

Learn Japanese Free (iOS and Android)

Learn Japanese (iOS)

FluentU (iOS and Android)

Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese (App Store and Google Play)

Hello Talk (iOS and Android)

Lext Talk (iOS)

ePenPal (Android)

imiwa? (Android)

IMI FREE (Android)

Yomiwa (iOS)

Waygo (iOS and Android)

Kana (Hiragana & Katakana) (iOS and Android)

Kana Quiz (iOS)

Kanji Senpai (Android)

Hirameki! Crossword (iOS and Android)

Photo by kazuend

The World’s 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams 2016

Rich teams around the world!

  1. Dallas Cowboys – $4 billion
  2. Real Madrid – $3,65 billion
  3. Barcelona – $3,55 billion
  4. New York Yankees – $3.4 billion
  5. Manchester United – $3.32 billion
  6. New England Patriots – $3.2 billion
  7. New York Knicks – $3 billion
  8. Washington Redskins – $2.85 billion
  9. New York Giants – $2.8 billion
  10. Los Angeles Lakers – $2.7 billion

Source: Forbes

Photo by Abigail Keenan

The top rated movies in the world

Netflix and chill

  1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
  2. The Godfather (1972)
  3. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
  4. The Dark Knight (2008)
  5. Schindler’s List (1993)
  6. 12 Angry Men (1957)
  7. Pulp Fiction (1994)
  8. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
  9. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
  10. Fight Club (1999)
  11. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
  12. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
  13. Forrest Gump (1994)
  14. Inception (2010)
  15. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
  16. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
  17. Goodfellas (1990)
  18. The Matrix (1999)
  19. Seven Samurai (1954)
  20. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)

Source: IMDB

Photo by Lloyd Dirks

14 inspiring startups trying to make a difference in the world

Changing the world

Exygy -Design, engineering and social impact consulting for mission-driven organizations including Google.org, the Skoll Foundation, Unicef, USAID and the city and county of San Francisco. (San Francisco)

Enevo -Collect and analyze data from refuse containers across the world in order to create efficiencies, cut the cost of waste collection, and incentivize recycling. (Finland and Distributed)

Khan Academy – Provide free personalized learning resources in math, science, programming, history and more for learners of all ages

Crisis Text Line – Offer free, 24/7 text-message counseling for people in crisis. (New York)

Spoiler Alert -Offer a collaborative, online platform and value-added services that enable food businesses, farms, and nonprofits to create or recover value from surplus food and organic waste. (Boston)

GiveDirectly – Allow governments, foundations, and individual donors to provide direct cash transfers to the extreme poor. (East Africa and New York City)

HandUp – HandUp makes giving to nonprofit organizations and their clients easy, secure and transparent — and your donation goes directly to the cause (San Francisco)

DonorsChoose -Empower public school teachers from across the country to request and get funding for much-needed materials and experiences for their students. (New York)

ArtLifting – Offer artists living with homelessness or disabilities the chance to secure their own income through the sale of original paintings, prints, and products. (Boston)

Bayes Impact -Solve pressing public interest problems such as delivery of government services or health risk prediction by building open source software products that leverage data. (San Francisco)

OkHi -Enables the 4 billion people who do not have a physical address to, “Be Included” (Kenya)

Change.org – Allow users to create campaigns to mobilize supporters around issues they care about. (San Francisco)

Countable – Make it easy to understand the laws Congress is considering and streamline the process of giving your opinions lawmakers. (San Francisco)

Crowdpac – A political crowdfunding startup that makes it easier for citizens to learn about politicians, and to find and support political candidates that match their priorities and beliefs. (San Francisco and Washington D.C.)

Photo by Jorge Barahona

10 powerful websites to help you make beautiful presentations

The best presentations ever!

  1. Prezi – The presentation software that uses motion, zoom, and spatial relationships to bring your ideas to life and make you a great presenter
  2. Slidebean – Presentation software that designs the slides automatically. Just add your content, our online presentation tools will create a professional design
  3. SlideCarnival – Find free presentation templates and focus on communicating your ideas. Use these free template designs to give your audience a memorable experience.
  4. Swipe – With Swipe, you can quickly create and share beautiful, interactive, online presentations on any device.
  5. FlowVella – Create stunning presentations from your Mac or iPad – share them with anyone.
  6. Silk – Silks contain data on a specific topic. Anyone can browse a Silk to explore data and create beautiful interactive charts, maps and web pages.
  7. SlideShare – Discover, Share, and Present presentations and infographics with the world’s largest professional content sharing community.
  8. ChartBlocks – Build charts online with the easy to use ChartBlock chart designer interface. Upload your data then set to work designing your chart.
  9. infogr.am – Create infographics and interactive online charts. It’s free and super-easy!
  10. Haiku Deck – Haiku Deck makes it a snap to create beautiful presentations that will wow your audience

Photo by Vítor Santos

The “Unicorns”: Startups valued valued $1 billion or more

Rich Startups!

  1. Uber (San Francisco, United States) – Transportation services – $62 billion
  2. Xiaomi (Beijing, China) – Consumer electronics – $45 billion
  3. Airbnb (San Francisco, United States) – Lodging services- $25.5 billion
  4. Palantir (Palo Alto, United States) – Data analytics software- $20.5 billion
  5. Snapchat (Venice, United States) – Social media- $16 billion
  6. Didi Kuaidi (Beijing, China) – Transportation services – $16 billion
  7. Flipkart (Bangalore, India) – E-commerce- $15 billion
  8. China Internet Plus (Beijing, China) – Internet services- $15 billion
  9. SpaceX (Hawthorne, United States) – Aerospace- $12 billion
  10. Pinterest (San Francisco, United States) – Social media – $11 billion
  11. WeWork (New York, United States) – Coworking – $10 billion
  12. Lufax (Shanghai, China) – Financial services – $10 billion
  13. Dropbox (San Francisco, United States) – Cloud storage – $10 billion
  14. Theranos (Palo Alto, United States) – Health care – $9 billion
  15. Spotify (Stockholm, Sweden) – Streaming media – $8.5 billion
  16. Zhong An (Hong Kong) – Insurance – $8 billion
  17. DJI (Beijing, China) – Robotics – $8 billion
  18. Lyft (San Francisco, United States) – Transportation – $5.5 billion
  19. Intarcia Therapeutics (Boston, United States) – Biotechnology – $5.5 billion
  20. Stripe (San Francisco, United States) – Mobile payments – $5 billion
  21. Stemcentrx (San Francisco, United States) – Cancer treatments – $5 billion
  22. Snapdeal (New Delhi, India) – E-commerce – $5 billion
  23. Ola (aka Olacabs; dba Ani Technologies) (Bangalore, India) – Transportation – $5 billion
  24. Coupang (Seoul, South Korea) – E-commerce- $5 billion
  25. Zenefits (dba YourPeople) (San Francisco, United States) – Business Software – $4.5 billion
  26. Vice Media (New York, United States) – Media & entertainment – $4 billion
  27. Social Finance (aka SoFi) (San Francisco, United States) – Financial services – $4 billion
  28. Tanium (Emeryville, United States) – Business software – $3.7 billion
  29. UCar (dba Shenzhou Zuche) (Beijing, China) – Transportation  – $3.6 billion
  30. Credit Karma (San Francisco, United States) – Financial software – $3.5 billion
  31. Global Fashion Group (London, United Kingdom) – E-commerce – $3.4 billion
  32. Meizu (Zhuhai, China) – Consumer electronics – $3.3 billion
  33. Jawbone (dba AliphCom) (San Francisco, United States) – Consumer electronics – $3.3 billion
  34. CloudFlare (San Francisco, United States) – Web publishing – $3.2 billion
  35. Machine Zone (Palo Alto, United States) – Video games – $3.1 billion
  36. Delivery Hero (Berlin, Germany) – Food delivery – $3.1 billion
  37. Wish (dba ContextLogic) (San Francisco, United States) – E-commerce – $3 billion
  38. Vancl (Beijing, China) – E-commerce – $3 billion
  39. Sogou (Beijing, China) – Search engine – $3 billion
  40. Moderna Therapeutics (Cambridge, United States) – Biotechnology – $3 billion
  41. Legendary Entertainment (Burbank, United States) – Film – $3 billion
  42. Fanatics (Jacksonville, United States) – E-commerce – $3 billion
  43. Ele.me (Shanghai, China) – Food delivery – $3 billion
  44. DocuSign (San Francisco, United States) – Business software – $3 billion
  45. Bloom Energy (Sunnyvale, United States) – Alternative energy – $3 billion
  46. Slack (San Francisco, United States) – Business software – $2.9 billion
  47. HelloFresh (Berlin, Germany) – Food delivery – $2.9 billion
  48. Powa (London, United Kingdom) – Mobile payments – $2.7 billion
  49. Klarna (Stockholm, Sweden) – Mobile payments – $2.5 billion
  50. InMobi (San Francisco, United States) – Advertising – $2.5 billion

Source: Fortune

Photo by Blake Wisz

The countries facing the greatest skill shortages in the world

Hard to find qualified employees!

Percentage of companies per country (with 10 or more employees) having difficulties finding qualified employees.

  1. Japan – 81%
  2. India – 64%
  3. Brazil – 63%
  4. Turkey – 63%
  5. Mexico – 44%
  6. Greece – 42%
  7. Australia – 41%
  8. Germany – 40%
  9. United States – 40%
  10. Italy – 34%
  11. Canada – 31%
  12. China – 24%
  13. France – 21%
  14. United Kingdom – 12%
  15. Spain – 3%

Source: OECD report – Getting Skills Right: Assessing and Anticipating Changing Skill Needs

Photo by Helloquence

The most powerful women in USA

Girl power!

  1. Mary Barra – CEO (General Motors)
  2. Indra Nooyi – CEO and Chairman (PepsiCo)
  3. Ginni Rometty – CEO, Chairman, and President (IBM)
  4. Marillyn Hewson – CEO, Chairman, and President (Lockheed Martin)
  5. Ellen Kullman – CEO and Chairman (DuPont)
  6. Abigail Johnson – CEO and President (Fidelity Investments)
  7. Meg Whitman – CEO, Chairman, and President (Hewlett-Packard)
  8. Sheryl Sandberg – COO (Facebook)
  9. Irene Rosenfeld – CEO and Chairman (Mondelez International)
  10. Phebe Novakovic – CEO and Chairman (General Dynamics)
  11. Carol Meyrowitz – CEO and Chairman (TJX Companies)
  12. Safra Catz – Co-CEO (Oracle)
  13. Lynn Good – CEO and President (Duke Energy)
  14. Helena Foulkes – President, CVS/pharmacy; EVP (CVS Health)
  15. Rosalind Brewer – CEO and President, Sam’s Club (Walmart)
  16. Angela Ahrendts – SVP, Retail and Online Stores (Apple)
  17. Ursula Burns – CEO and Chairman (Xerox)
  18. Marissa Mayer – CEO and President (Yahoo)
  19. Susan Wojcicki – CEO, YouTube (Google)
  20. Pam Nicholson – CEO and President (Enterprise Holdings)
  21. Cathy Engelbert – CEO (Deloitte LLP)
  22. Heather Bresch – CEO (Mylan)
  23. Debra Reed – CEO and Chairman (Sempra Energy)
  24. Denise Morrison – CEO and President (Campbell Soup)
  25. Susan Cameron – CEO and President (Reynolds American)
  26. Ruth Porat – SVP and CFO (Google and Alphabet)
  27. Carrie Tolstedt – Senior EVP of Community Banking (Wells Fargo)
  28. Sandra Peterson – Group Worldwide Chairman (Johnson & Johnson)
  29. Mary Erdoes – CEO, J.P. Morgan Chase Asset Management (J.P. Morgan Chase)
  30. Judith McKenna – EVP and COO, Walmart U.S. (Walmart)
  31. Marianne Lake – CFO (J.P. Morgan Chase)
  32. Kathleen Murphy – President, Personal Investing (Fidelity Investments)
  33. Margaret Keane – CEO and President (Synchrony Financial)
  34. Barbara Rentler – CEO (Ross Stores)
  35. Bridget Van Kralingen – SVP, IBM Global Business Services (IBM)
  36. Carolyn Tastad – Group President, North America (Procter & Gamble)
  37. Ann-Marie Campbell – President, Southern Division (Home Depot)
  38. Michelle Gloeckler – EVP, Consumables and Health and Wellness; U.S. Manufacturing Lead (Walmart)
  39. Shari Ballard – President of U.S. Retail and Chief Human Resources Officer (Best Buy)
  40. Crystal Hanlon – President, Northern Division (Home Depot)
  41. Jane Fraser – CEO of Citigroup Latin America (Citigroup)
  42. Kathleen Kennedy – President, Lucasfilm (Walt Disney)
  43. Diane Bryant – SVP and General Manager, Data Center Group (Intel)
  44. Lynne Doughtie – CEO and Chairman (KPMG U.S.)
  45. Ilene Gordon – CEO, Chairman, and President (Ingredion)
  46. Debra Crew – President and Chief Commercial Officer, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco (Reynolds American)
  47. Kim Lubel – CEO, Chairman, and President (CST Brands)
  48. Beth Mooney – CEO and Chairman (KeyCorp)
  49. Sheri S. McCoy – CEO (Avon Products)
  50. Beth Comstock – Vice Chair (General Electric)

Source: Fortune

Photo by Thomas BRAULT

The 30 world’s biggest companies in 2016

The Chineses are doing very well!

  1. Walmart – $482,130 (United States)
  2. State Grid – $329,601 (China)
  3. China National Petroleum – $299,271 (China)
  4. Sinopec Group – $294,344 (China)
  5. Royal Dutch Shell – $272,156 (Netherlands)
  6. Exxon Mobil – $246,204 (United States)
  7. Volkswagen – $236,600 (Germany)
  8. Toyota Motor – $236,592 (Japan)
  9. Apple – $233,715 (United States)
  10. BP – $225,982 (United Kingdom)
  11. Berkshire Hathaway – $210,821 (United States)
  12. McKesson – $192,487 (United States)
  13. Samsung Electronics – $177,440 (South Korea)
  14. Glencore – $170,497 (Switzerland)
  15. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China – $167,227 (China)
  16. Daimler – $165,800 (Germany)
  17. UnitedHealth Group – $157,107 (United States)
  18. CVS Health – $153,290 (United States)
  19. EXOR Group – $152,591 (Italy)
  20. General Motors – $152,356 (United States)
  21. Ford Motor – $149,558 (United States)
  22. China Construction Bank – $147,910 (China)
  23. AT&T – $146,801 (United States)
  24. Total – $143,421 (France)
  25. Hon Hai Precision Industry – $141,213 (Taiwan)
  26. General Electric – $140,389 (United States)
  27. China State Construction Engineering – $140,159 (China)
  28. AmerisourceBergen – $135,962 (United States)
  29. Agricultural Bank of China – $133,419 (China)
  30. Verizon – $131,620 (United States)

Source: Fortune 500

Photo by Yolanda Sun

14 awesome websites to download free fonts

Free fonts!

The Northen Block – The Northern Block type foundry was created by Jonathan Hill in 2006 with the goal to design new and original typefaces. Today the company is recognised for producing modernist work with a clean, geometric aesthetic that appeals to the latest breed of font buyers including, electronic manufacturers, mobile application developers and video game designers.

Freebies Jedi – Freebiesjedi is a curated collection of high quality icons, fonts, themes, PSD file, HTML templates, and other design resources from around the web. Enjoy browsing through our meticulous collection of graphic resources,

Freebiesbug – Freebiesbug is a web design blog showcasing free high-quality design resources like PSD files, HTML website templates, fonts and other cool stuff.

Dbfreebies – Download the best freebies design resources from Dribbble and Behance. Get the latest free PSD for UI, mock-ups, icons, fonts, templates and backgrounds

Free Goodies for Designers – We are a really small group of great designers and art directors that do this mostly for fun, we started our blog not so long time ago, with the objective of sharing useful stuff for designers, things that we also use in our daily work.

Font Squirrel – Font Squirrel scours the internet for high quality, legitimately free fonts . Download thousands of completely legal, high quality, free fonts.

FontSpace – FAST and FREE downloads of over 29000 fonts for personal or professional uses. Fonts for Pinterest projects, DIY wedding invitations, scrapbooking and web …

Fonts2U – Fonts2u offers a large collection of free fonts. Download free fonts for Windows and Macintosh.

AbstractFonts – Archive of freely downloadable fonts and dingbats. Organised alphabetically, by category, by author or by popularity. Includes discussion forum.

FontStock – Downloadable TrueType font libraries. Comprehensive list of free fonts for Windows and Mac. Download free graffiti, cool, handwriting, microsoft word, script and …

TypeType – Our goal and our mission is to develop fonts and font families supported by a large number of languages and codepages for a broad application range. We believe fonts should be affordable and of high quality, and that is why we pay special attention to every segment of our font production.

Lost Type – Lost Type is the first of its kind, a Pay-What-You-Want type foundry. Since 2011 Lost Type has been a source for unique typefaces, with a collection of over 50 different faces from contributors all over the world. 100% of the funds from sales of these fonts go directly to their respective designers. Lost Type fonts have been used across the world, and recently have been featured in projects for Nike, Starbucks, Disney and the President of the United States. Lost Type continues to be dedicated to to the idea that quality fonts should be made available to anyone who wants to create an individual piece of characterful design.

Font Fabric – Our goal is to create high-quality fonts which stand in a unique class of their own, and which will serve as a good base for any designer project whether it be web, print, t-shirt design, logo etc.

Adobe Typekit – Typekit is a service which allows designers and developers to use high-quality fonts in their work through a subscription plan to their font library. Fonts may be used on customers’ websites or synced via Creative Cloud to applications on their computers.

Dafont – Archive of freely downloadable fonts

 

Photo by Marcus dePaula