Think of the last time you watched television. Was that the only thing you were doing? “70% of TV watching happens with another device in your hand,” says Jeremy Toeman (DC’96). That’s why he jumped at the opportunity when Maxsim Ioffe (CS’02), the CEO and founder of Dijit Media, approached him last spring about becoming chief product officer.
Imagine turning your smartphone into a sort of omnipotent remote control for your electronic universe—from TV to stereo to iPad. That’s exactly what Dijit’s software does, in addition to integrating with social media so your Facebook friends or Twitter followers or LinkedIn connections can know (if you want them to) when you change the TV channel or listen to a particular song. In less than a year, Dijit’s iPhone app has been downloaded more than 500,000 times.
It’s no wonder that Ioffe wanted Toeman on the Dijit team. His résumé reveals a handful of projects that have utilized technology for the masses, not just the techies.
In 2010, he invented NudgeMail, which enables users to send themselves reminders for anything and everything, all within their email. Say you finish the milk at breakfast. Just send a message to NudgeMail that you need to pick up some more after work. Promptly at 5 PM, an email reminder will appear in your inbox. MakeUseOf.com, one of the Web’s most popular blogs, recently named NudgeMail among the 107 best Web sites.
Legacy Locker is another Toeman creation. Launched in 2009, it’s a “digital safety deposit box” that transfers your passwords and login names to beneficiaries after you pass away. In less than three years, Legacy Locker has more than 10,000 subscribers.
But Toeman is perhaps best known for his work as the marketing and product management vice president for Sling Media—an Emmy Award-winning gadget that enables users to access their home television feeds, including changing channels, on any Internet-connected device from anywhere in the world. In its first six months, the company sold more than 125,000 Slingboxes—something TiVo needed almost two years to accomplish. (Sling was acquired by DISH Networks in 2007.)
Toeman says his endeavors have one common trait: “They fit technology into people’s lives in a way that delights them rather than frustrates them.”
—Shannon Deep (CMU’10, HNZ’11)
