Week #9- Final Post

So this will be my final post on here, a round up of everything i have covered in the past 2 months. I started out by poking at creating an application or an iPhone, that allows users to view and edit information about parties on college campuses, particularly greek life parties and social events. I then looked at how the fact that the users would be the ones updating the information might affect their privacy, as they might not want everyone to see where they are or what they're doing, especially if its posted online where everyone can see. Next i looked at the types of hardware required for this project, both on the creation side and the user side, from full desktop or laptop computers down to individual devices like iPhones. In week 4 i looked at the input and output of information on these devices, as much of this is based on inputing information on to a website, there are certain methods that needed to be researched. I brought in the first week of october by looking at Bits and Bytes, the methods of storing the information online and how much space all this info was going to take up! In my 6th week i looked for advice, by going to another, professional, blogger's website and researching their methods in the technology field, i found some really useful info form this that i could use in my application. Next i looked at operating system, as my application couldn't be created or even run without one! Then finally i looked at how having a domain name could really help out the support network for my product, because the connection with the client doesn't finish when the sale is made, we want repeat customers and good reviews, so i have to be sure to look after those who purchased my app.
Over the course of this semester i have also looked at three other classmate's blogs, and in an attempt to help them out I've commented on a few of their posts, here are the links:

http://istayedforwakeforest.blogspot.com/2011/09/entrepreneurial-idea.html

http://kristin-entrepreneurshipproject.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-2-privacy-and-social-media.html

http://sbmyones.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog1.html

Week #8- Networks and Domain Names

So this week we talked about networks and the internet. one of the main things we looked at was domain names. Now for me to build and sell my application I'm going to need to offer help or support to those who have trouble with it. I would like to be able to help each person individually, but unfortunately i don't have the time or resources to go throughout everyones problems one by oe. So my solution is to create a website, where problems can be posted and the entire community can openly comment or exchange solutions together. One of the key aspects to this is to have a god domain name that people will remember when they need to.
Domain names can sell from $30 to $3million and above... so I've got to come up with something new. There are also a bunch of laws i have to be carful of, like to using someone else's name, or company name. I should also keep my website up to date, so i don't look like i have no interest in using the domain name, as it could get taken away from me. I also don't want to make this a website that is created in bad faith, to attempt to give other companies or people a bad name. All of these things could result in WIPO taking the domain name away from my company, so i have to be careful.
A domain name is really just an easy way to remember an ip address, so if i wanted to i could make my website the ip address, but i highly doubt i would get any visitors, as who just sits at a computer typing ip addresses into the search bar?

Week #7- Operating Systems

This week we looked at operating systems, something that is specifically related to my product. Operating systems will be used throughout the entire process of my idea, right the way from the initial creation through to the everyday use of the application, an operating system will be required.
The creation of my application will happen on a computer of some sort, which will require an operating system to function, whether its windows, mac OS, linux or any other. This operating system will run the programs required to design, and create the application. I will also use this operating system and computer to sell the application, by uploading it to the apple iTunes store online.
The second step is the actual function of the application. I am going to design my application to function on the apple iPhone, which runs on the iOS. This means that those who wish to use my application will have to do so using a version of iOS, rather than android or otherwise.
All of the systems i am using are multi-tasking systems, which are considered to be better than single-tasking systems, in that they can handle multiple applications at one time, for instance, you could be running my application, and still be able to receive phone calls, or listen to music, whereas on a single-tasking system, you would have to give up the use of all other applications for the time that you are running this one.

Week #6- Professional Blogger

So this week i looked over a bunch of different bloggers websites, i tried to focus on ones that related as directly as possible to my idea, so i was looking into technology based blogs, focusing mainly on apple software and hardware, including, but not limited to the applications. I stumbled across a lot of very interesting blogs, however the one that interested me most was called www.9to5mac.com
The reason i chose this blog is because it looked at my topic of interest in three main ways; The hardware aspect of Apple, the software aspect of Apple, and then it looked at both from a user's point of view, so while the first two aspects focused heavily on techie aspects of apple's products, the third aspect broke down to layman's terms common problems, solutions and some tips and tricks that everyone can do, really expanding the possible audience, from a select group of techies to a more general audience.
This blog was helpful as it provided key news on apple products, like release dates, common problems, and general issues that i could look out for when creating my app.
I think this blog could use less content about related sites and about the company profile of Apple, as it spends some time looking at graphs of sales figures and generally looking at the company, rather than the products. I think people who visit this blog will be more interested in the physical products than how the company's stocks are doing.

Week #5- Bits and Bytes

So as i create this application i am becoming increasingly aware of how big the application actually is, or rather how much space it will take up. Now when looking at the application running on a computer, this may not appear to worry most people, as computers have tons of space, whereas when the application is downloaded onto a mobile device, such as an iPhone, i can see how it may take up a considerable amount of space, as a handheld device like an iPhone has limited space, sometimes only 16GB. One way to improve this that is used with music files is to look at converting from .wav files into .mp3 files. This process takes the .wav file, which is the sound, exactly as recorded in the studio, and removes all sound frequencies that are out of an average human's hearing range, in some cases this can be a considerable amount.
We can use Lossy's Compression to work out how large a .wav file will be, and therefore we can work out if we need to convert it into .mp3, the way this works is we use the formula "seconds x KHZ x # of channels" so we multiply the number of seconds the track is in length by the CD quality audio sample rate of 44.1KHZ by the 2 channels a stereo sound uses. This gives us the size in 16bit, however we measure in 8bit bytes, so we multiply the result by 2.
To help in the understanding of these terms when looking at the size of the data used in the application i look at breaking them down like this; a "bit" is either a 1 or a 0. 2 bits will have 4 possible values (00, 11, 01, 10). 8 Bits give 256 different values, we call this 1 Byte. The way we use this "binary code" is in "unicode" where every letter and every symbol from every language is given a binary representation (a combination of 1's and 0's). We can use binary code to write anything on a computer.

Week #4- Input/Output

As my application is essentially based on information that is updated by the users, they must have some form of inputting that information into the application, so that other users can view it. This is where the different methods of input, and input devices come in. Most of the users will be updating the information by using a smartphone, which comes with a built in keyboard on the touchscreen, therefore the touchscreen is the input device. However some users may be updating from a personal computer, where the keyboard and mouse are the input devices.

Input is not only limited to adding new information to the application, we can also use input as a method of accessing information from the application, google 411 is an example of voice recognition, whereby a user can input speech into a microphone and receive a response, for example the map function of the application would use this, when the user can say the location they need directions to, and the device will take the command and produce a response, like a set of directions.

Week #3- Hardware

Certain pieces of hardware are going to be essential to my product, from both the manufacture end and the consumer end. Firstly, from the manufacture end, as my product is a piece of software, i would have to use some form of hardware to create it, so looking at the size of the application i would be creating, i would not  have any need for anything much more than a personal computer. This would provide me with sufficient capabilities to create, monitor and improve my product over a course of time. For testing purposes it would be useful to have devices that the application would be available on, for example an iPhone, or another version of a smartphone. The computers used to create this application will have to have plenty of Random Access Memory, or RAM, as the design programs like to use this up.
On the consumer end, there is a requirement to have a smartphone, as this would be used to run the application, and, depending on the size of the application and its updates, a personal computer, as for larger applications it is not possible to update on the device itself.

Week #2- Facebook Privacy

Many users of my application will have concerns over the connection between it and their social media pages, such as Facebook. As this application involves a social activity that my be shared between certain groups of friends, but not others, or the users may not want their family members which whom they are friends on Facebook to see these particular updates. This is where the Facebook privacy settings come into play. When signing up to use my application, users will be directed to the Facebook privacy settings page, to ensure full awareness of the existence of these settings, and therefore the availability to customize what certain people can or cannot view.
These privacy settings will be particularly useful for the target audience, college students, who may not necessarily want their parents or family members knowing all about their Friday and Saturday night extra-curricular activities! So these settings will allow the users full access and usage of all of the features of my application, whilst also limiting the people who can see their posts, tags, pictures and comments.
These settings also allow you to control content that others post about you, taking your online profile and image back into your control. The ability to allow other to tag you, or check in to a location with you can be controlled, along with the ability for you to remove your name from any posts, tags or check-in's. If a problem persists with a particular user you can block the person, stopping them from being able to connect with your profile altogether.

week #1- idea

As a student coming from London to a new city i have experienced a few changes in culture. One of the main differences that i have noticed, being a particularly social person, is the difference between the social activities in London compared to those in Syracuse. Being part of a University has meant that weekend social activities are somewhat governed by certain groups, in particular i have noticed the Greek societies on campus. Many of the students enjoy the Greek activities that are organized, but a lack of information regarding exactly what is happening and when, along with a lack of forward planning from many students has led to the repetition of the same night over and over for many students; walking up and down in front of the fraternity houses, not knowing which one is which, and what is happening where.

So i am proposing to design and create an iPhone application that is based around a map of the Greek Societies, along with many of the sports houses etc, which allows users to identify where they are in relation to certain houses, search for certain houses or obtain directions from a "current location" feature, along with allowing users to update information about where they are in real time. The application will allow users to identify whether the particular event is open to all, or guest list only, whether there is alcohol, and if so what type (Kegs, cans, liqueurs etc). Users will also be able to update information about entry fees, sizes of the parties, ratios (boys:girls), and music types, along with dress codes and the number of people attending.

Anyone should be able to post/update an event, however the initial posting will be stylized in a way that encourages the particular house to post, instead of individual users, as this could result in multiple "virtual" events being created for the same actual event. This application also allows an opportunity for connection with other social networking applications such as Facebook, twitter and foursquare, as it draws upon features from each. However to ensure privacy, the connection with these other applications is strictly through acceptance only.