Limnu Blog Posts

So there was this recursive hot dog...

July 3, 2016 Tags: Sketch, Using Limnu Amber Sawaya

We're big fans of hot dogs at Limnu. We weighed in on the "is a hot dog a sandwich" way back in November. This time though, we've outdone ourselves.

A few of us were at a BBQ last night when a friend's kid said, "I wonder what it would taste like if we blended a hot dog, bun and everything, into a smoothie". Dave (our CTO), who is never one to turn down a good time, said, "I'm sure they have a blender here!". Next thing you know, we're in the kitchen blending a hot dog. Little more ketchup, little apple juice to smooth it out, and just like that, hot dog pâté.

Using Limnu to Help Create our Explainer Video

June 30, 2016 Tags: Remote Teams, Using Limnu Amber Sawaya

Limnu has been around for a while now and we've been asked several times for an explainer video to show what makes Limnu so special. Working with some guys from the film industry means we can have some pretty big ideas. As in, "you worked on the Matrix, right? So our video should..." And yet, it didn't. No video. For months, no video.

To be fair, we're busy creating new features, releasing our teams offering and celebrating teams week, diving deep into concepts like premultiplied alpha. And still, there's no video. Sometimes you have to look at your time and budget (we don't actually have a Matrix-sized budget, imagine that!) and see what's realistic. We were invited to present at a Product Hunt meetup hosted by Big Door—

SMOTE Visualization, for (Data) Science!

June 20, 2016 Tags: data visualization, Math David (Grue) DeBry

My bus ride to and from the Limnu office is about half an hour each way. I like to spend that time listening to podcasts. I like all kinds of them: science, comedy, news, arts, startup advice (natch), and everything in between.

I recently started listening to Linear Digressions hosted by Katie Malone and Ben Jaffe, and it's already one of my favorites. They talk about data science and machine learning, and they present it in a very approachable way.

Whoa, hang on! I know some of you saw that previous paragraph and thought "well, that's not for me". Bear with me for a minute: it's not as scary as it sounds, it's actually pretty cool. And this post ends with a photo of some amazing coastlines. Stick around, this will be fun!

Distributed Corporate Culture - Common Mistakes That Erode Teams and Trust

June 14, 2016 Tags: Remote Teams David (Grue) DeBry

Distributed corporate culture

So far in this series of blog posts, we’ve talked about what corporate culture is (and what it isn’t). We’ve also talked about some things you can do to help build a positive culture for your distributed team or company.

This time, we’re going to cover some common mistakes that get made by distributed teams. These kinds of mistakes can lead to inefficiency, mistrust, and infighting.

In other words, you really want to avoid these things!

How to Avoid Communication Pitfalls as a Remote Worker

June 14, 2016 Tags: Communication, Remote Teams David Hart

Limnu Remote Team Communications

Communication. It’s tricky. Sometimes what you mean and what you say come out in two totally different ways. Adding to this sticky wicket is technology, distance as a remote worker, and the many opportunities it brings to mangle your communication.

Sometimes you’re in a hurry, sometimes your mood can color the tone of what you’re reading, and sometimes you just don’t fully understand what’s communicated because there’s just something …missing.

WebGL, blending, and why you're probably doing it wrong.

June 10, 2016 David Hart

Premultiplied alpha.

If you’ve dabbled in graphics at all, you’ve probably heard this term. You might even know what is, but do you know when to use it and when not to? Are you using it by default? Do you know why browsers default to premultiplied blending of WebGL canvases? Do you know why artists prefer to work with images that are not premultiplied?

Eric Haines wrote a great piece recently about why graphics programmers need to understand premultiplied alpha to avoid the all too common fringing problems. If you read that and already believe him or have already switched, you can skip my two cents. If you haven’t read it, I’ll wait.

What we're going to talk about here is a different reason why understanding premultiplied alpha is important, and why premultiplied alpha is more important with WebGL than it was with OpenGL.

Distributed Corporate Culture - How to Build a Positive Team

June 9, 2016 Tags: Remote Teams David (Grue) DeBry

Limnu for Distributed Teams

Last time, I talked about how perks are different than culture. Free donuts, plus an in-office gym to work off those donuts are perks, not culture.

That said, perks can help grow your company culture; that's part of the reason they're there. They also encourage a sense of team. But when your team is spread out across multiple cities, or time zones, or continents, those kind of perks don't work. So what can you do?

Here's a list of 5 ways to promote corporate culture on distributed teams:

Read More

The Secret to Productive Remote UX Work: The Process and Tools

June 9, 2016 Tags: Remote Teams Amber Sawaya

Remote UX Work at Limnu

It’s Teams week at Limnu and we’re celebrating distributed teams and remote workers. In my last article, 11 Things to Know When You Are New to Remote Work, I mentioned the explosion of online collaboration tools and how that makes this such a great time to be a remote worker.

I’m in charge of User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) design at Limnu, and while I occasionally work onsite with most of the team, I also do a lot of remote work. Limnu is one of a handful of my UI/UX clients, some of them are in Salt Lake City, but others are in LA and NYC.

Here are the process and tools I use, as a remote worker, to collaborate with clients on a small UX project.

Distributed Corporate Culture - What it is, What it isn't

June 7, 2016 Tags: Remote Teams David (Grue) DeBry

Company Video Chat

The business world dedicates an incredible amount of effort to creating environments that are meant to encourage creativity and innovation.

One company has a game room, another has a Michelin-rated lunchroom. A design firm has a weekly company barbecue where the employees are expected to cook. Even two guys in a garage startup take turns stocking the mini-fridge with beer.

Perks vs. Culture

It's easy to mistake perks like that for the company's culture. Perks make people happy in the short-term, but culture is how people in a company interact with each other over the long-term. It’s the environment you do your job in every hour of every day. I like to think of the culture of a company as everything that isn't in the employee handbook.

So, what’s not in the handbook?

11 Things to Know When You Are New to Remote Work

June 7, 2016 Tags: Remote Teams Amber Sawaya

Limnu for Remote Working

Why are we at Costco on a Saturday? Don’t we work from home? Can’t we do this on a Tuesday?

I’ve been a remote worker for nine years now. I’m fortunate to have a consulting business that allows me to work with teams all over the country without leaving my house.