Australian tech news round-up (January 2014)

Matthew Ho is a co-founder of Nativetongue, a language learning game company. You can find him on Twitter as @inspiredworlds.

Like some of you, I was working throughout the holidays on some projects. It was a quiet period, but it’s now gearing up again as everyone gets back into work mode. It’s shaping up to be a great year for the Australian startup ecosystem. Hopefully you are recharged and ready for 2014!

Here’s the latest action:

1. Adioso uses the power of Facebook with FlyMyFriends

If you thought Adioso’s travel search and booking feature is easy and great for flights, look again and see that it gets even more fun to use. Adioso has just launched the Fly My Friends feature, which lets users search for flights just by clicking a Facebook friend’s photo. Adioso automatically searches for flights based on the person’s location and can also notify you via email when flight deals are available. Now you won’t have that “I’m too busy to even look” excuse to not visit your overseas friends.

2. New Year’s resolution blogs

These six blog posts from Australian entrepreneurs share insider stories and lessons on how 2013 has been for their startups. There are also posts that help you look at your own resolutions with a more realistic view. Hopefully these articles can guide you in the new year.

• Ivan Lim’s take on resolutions first revs you to think through what you want, then challenges you to consider “what pains will I sustain this year” to achieve your new year’s resolutions. It’s my favourite resolutions post I’ve read this year.

• Michael Overrell, the CEO of Recruitloop, shares his no-holds-barred 2013 story, covering lessons learned, notes on growth, and plans for 2014. The insights are very useful and applicable to other startups.

• Andrew Dever from Endevers ponders on the trap that is the new year resolution, as he believes they set people up for failure. The guy thinks it might be better to make new habits instead of repairing old ones, and listed tips that can help continue new habits. To counter this problem, I am using quarterly goals instead of yearly resolutions as it’s more achievable and accountable.

• Rebekah Campbell from Posse resolves to address the causes of last year’s stresses instead of making new ones for the year. She looks at the key causes of stress and how these affect both entrepreneurs and corporations.

• YouChews reviews its first year. Armed with a good idea that will make money, and doing what has to be done, a founder learns that you can do anything if you go ahead and try.

• Kim Heras from Interesante contemplates how three Australian startups exited via IPOs in 2013, and adds a glimpse of one exit for 2014.

3. No tech cofounder, no cry

4. Pollenizer’s retrospective on the Coca-Cola hackathon

5. Car powered by Lego, air and imagination