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A 17-year-old made messaging easier for those who are deaf. And he wasn't even trying to.

17 -year-old entrepreneur Mateusz Mach had a simple, fun thought: He wanted to make an app that would allow him to send ironic hand gestures to his friends.

The idea was that he and his friends would know what the signals meant, but anyone else who happened to see the message wouldn't.


Photo via Mateusz Mach, used with permission.

So in May 2015, Mach launched Five, an app that would allow users to trade custom hand signs by tapping on buttons illustrated with different hand positions.

Image via Five App/YouTube.

Then something interesting happened.

Mach started to get messages from people who are deaf or hard of hearing thanking him for making an app that was enabling them to communicate with each other using American Sign Language.

Image via Five App/YouTube.

This idea that had started as a silly way to communicate with friends now had potential to be, as Mach calls it, "the world's first messaging app for [deaf people]."

With that newfound purpose, Mach immediately hit the road competing in (and winning) local startup competitions and attracting media buzz as a promising young entrepreneur.

Mach delivering a talk at TEDxGdynia. Image via TEDx Talks/YouTube.

Next he started to seek funding. And despite the challenges of being now 18 and still in high school, Mach has raised $150,000 in funding in Poland, and the UN has pledged support for the next version of the app.

Five now reaches 10,000 users who are deaf or hard of hearing, and the company is expecting more than 150,000 in the U.S. within a year. And the best is yet to come. In addition to making the app usable for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, Five App is also planning to reach out to businesses that might want to use the app to communicate with clients in the deaf community.

Mach is a fantastic example of what can happen when young people have access to technology, are able to develop their skills, and are free to create the things they wish to see in the world.

Even when the idea is as seemingly straightforward as emoji-like hip-hop inspired hand signals, the unintended consequences can change lives.

Checkout the video below which explains more about how Five works:

Pop Culture

Folks are admitting that Boomers weren’t totally wrong. Here are 19 things they got right.

OK, Boomer, you're right about this one.

via Patrick Lannigan/Flickr

The gaze of the approving Boomer.

Over the past few years, Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964) have been getting a lot of grief from the generations that came after them, Gen X (1965 to 1980), Millenials (1981 to 1996), and now, Gen Z (1997 to 2012). Their grievances include environmental destruction, wealth hoarding, political polarization, and being judgemental when they don’t understand how hard it is for younger people to make it in America these days.

Every Baby Boomer is different, so it's wrong to paint them all with a broad brush. But it’s undeniable that each generation shares common values, and some are bound to come into conflict.

However, life in 2023 isn’t without its annoyances. Many that came about after the technological revolution put a phone in everyone’s hands and brought a whole new host of problems. Add the younger generations' hands-on approach to child rearing and penchant for outrage, and a lot of moden life has become insufferanble.

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Iliza Schlesinger's hilarious rant just might unite Gen Zers and millennials

The 40-year-old comedian begs for the younger generation to cut millennials some slack.

@ilizas/TikTok

Comedian iliza Schlesinger urges Gen Z to be nicer to millennials.

Generational differences have long been the bread and butter of TikTok humor, but lately, millennials have been a prime target for their younger Gen Z counterparts.

Clips of Gen Zers mocking stereotypical millennial behavior, otherwise known as “millennial core” is particularly popular—everything from a millennial’s affinity for skinny jeans and self-deprecating humor to their love of the word “adulting” is current fodder for ridicule.

Things have gotten so heated that millennials have, as the kids say, begun serving clapbacks—accusing Gen Zers of acting superior, nihilistic and completely disconnected due to their over-reliance on social media.

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Weird viral photo of Adele's face exemplifies the phenomenon called the Thatcher effect

The 42-year-old optical illusion is still astounding people.

upload.wikimedia.org /Credit: Condé Nast (through Vogue Taiwan)

Prepare to get Thatcherized.

It seems that Adele is going viral once again.

Perhaps you’ve seen the image in question previously (it seems to make the rounds every couple of years). But in case you missed it—it’s Adele’s face. Normal, just upside down.

Only it’s not normal. In fact, when you turn Adele’s face right side up, what you notice is that her eyes and mouth were actually right-side up THE ENTIRE TIME, even though the entire head was upside down. So when you turn the head right side up, the eyes and mouth are now UPSIDE-DOWN—and you can’t unsee it. Do you feel like you're Alice in Wonderland yet?

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New England mall's ingenious ‘Santa elevator' is a child’s Christmas fantasy come true

Natick Mall takes Santa visits to a whole other level with its magical "elevator" to the North Pole.

@natasha_luigui/TikTok

Visiting Santa at the Natick Mall is an otherworldly experience.

Visiting Santa Claus at the mall is a holiday tradition for countless American families, and it's usually a similar setup no matter where you go. You find the big display with the big Christmas decor, step into a long line of parents and kids ranging from giddy to terrified, wait for Santa's helper dressed in an elf costume to say it's your turn, then take pics of your kid telling a stranger in a Santa suit what they want for Christmas in an effort to give your kids a taste of holiday wonder.

But one mall in Massachusetts has upped the mall Santa bar so far it's above the clouds—literally.

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Inflation has been hard, but the meme about the $16 McDonald’s meal was misleading

It even caused a problem for the White House.

via TopherOlive/TikTok and Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

A TikTok post about McDonald's prices and President Joe Biden speaking with attendees at the Moving America Forward Forum.

Sometimes, there are images that perfectly encapsulate a moment in time. In December 2022, a viral TikTok video featuring a burger meal at McDonald's that cost a whopping $16.10 went viral, and to many Americans struggling through inflation, the image rang true.

Topher Olive posted the TikTok video on December 10, 2022, showing a burger, large fries, and a large Coke that cost $16.10.

The price of a value meal at McDonald’s is something that every American understands. The Economist even uses the Big Mac sandwich as a tongue-in-cheek way of measuring the purchasing power between countries.

Surely, if a McDonald’s burger meal was becoming too expensive for the average American to eat for lunch every day, then the country must be headed in a disastrous direction. The image was the perfect weapon for those looking to blame President Biden for his handling of the economy in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Dad's sincere texts while buying pads for his daughter are a hilarious attempt to get it right

Now, that’s being a good dad!

via Tia Savva/Facebook

Tia Savva has an invested father.

Sadly, a lot of men go out of their way to avoid learning anything about a woman's period.

(That could be why throughout most of the United States — where the majority of lawmakers are men — feminine hygiene products are subject to sales tax.)

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