App Alert: The Terminator is Back?

Looking to program the next “Flappy Bird”? Check out the latest programming language to the scene: ArnoldC. ArnoldC can assist you in creating the next must have app. ArnoldC is based on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most infamous quotes in place of commonly used functions. Developed by Lauri Hartikka, a Finnish programmer, ArnoldC is also supported by Sublime Text, a text editor commonly used by programmers.

If Arnold Schwarzenegger is not your cup of tea, there’s always Shakespeare Programming Language. Similarly, SPL is composed of quotations and excerpts from all of Shakespeare’s plays. Variables are declared by character names, but in a unique manner. The SPL website describes the process of defining variables as follows: “If you want to assign a character, let’s say Hamlet, a negative value, you put him and another character on the stage and let that character insult Hamlet.”

Whether you need to study for that English exam or want to code using only Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes, these funky and offbeat languages are only two of the many esoteric programming languages available. Other alternatives are LOLCODE, Chef, DOG and Omgrofl.

Gadget Glory: Wikipad

With a continuous stream of extraneous technological devices being released every year, it seems the iOS versus Android battle will never end. Now, at only one month old (in the U.S. at least), Google has added a little something to its Wikipad that Apple doesn’t quite have — yet.

Running Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean), Wikipad 7 is not your ordinary, everyday tablet. In fact, Wikipad calls itself “the ultimate portable gaming and entertainment system” with an interchangeable controller dock that allows “games to be played as they were intended.” Essentially, the Wikipad 7 is aiming to be a device that bridges the traditional computer game that we once installed using a CD or floppy disk and modern mobile devices.

Of course, the Wikipad 7 wouldn’t be an Android device if it didn’t offer built-in applications for Gmail, Google Docs and integration with the Google Play store. When disconnected from the controller dock, the Wikipad 7 functions and feels like a traditional tablet with a high-definition display for your viewing pleasure. Visit Wikipad’s site for a full list of compatible, controller-supported games and for a walkthrough of the device. Feeling risky? You can purchase a Wikipad from retailers such as Walmart, Best Buy, Newegg, Amazon, TigerDirect, Sears and Kmart, or directly from the Wikipad store (which offers a unique discount!).

Working World: TaskRabbit

Are you moving soon? Maybe you don’t need help moving your life from one place to the next, but what about cleaning your new or old space? Okay, maybe you aren’t looking to throw what few pennies you’ve saved from co-op at cleaning up your apartment or carrying your poorly packed boxes to your new home, but maybe you’re looking to add some dollar bills to those pennies.

Similar to personal shoppers on Instacart, TaskRabbit can offer you a job opportunity or an extra set of hands for those times when all of your friends are conveniently occupied while you’re moving. Advertising tasks such as cleaning, handiwork, personal assistance and moving help, TaskRabbit matches “taskers” with customers by chore and ZIP code. TaskRabbit markets their service as a platform for entrepreneurs looking for a way to get started “by connecting you to opportunities to make a living.”

Becoming a tasker is a relatively simple process that involves an online application using a Facebook or LinkedIn account, which is verified to ensure safety and identity verification. Featured on news outlets such as ABC, Bloomberg Businessweek and CNN, TaskRabbit is available in “19 cities and counting” — one for every child of the Duggar family. To learn more about how you can hire TaskRabbit to lend you a hand or about becoming a tasker, visit TaskRabbit’s website.

Maria Elena Marinelli is a junior information technology major and the assistant web production manager for The Triangle.

The post Tech Tuesday – July 15, 2014 appeared first on The Triangle.

WORKING WORLD: This is my next…

As a millennial student working hard to earn an impeccable GPA and keep up with extracurricular activities, indulging in new technology is always an enticing reward. Sometimes, however, there aren’t always many options ¾ or maybe there are too many. When purchasing unfamiliar technology, it can be hard to distinguish between the kind that you can pick up at the next convenience store and the one that will be worth your money. It is also difficult to not make assumptions as to what to expect when the device is out of the box. Instead of bothering your techie friend to ask about the pros and cons and recommendations, The Verge can help you out.

“This is my next” is a new series that The Verge started and it has caught the attention of other blogs and social networks. Essentially, it is a reviewing system for popular technologies, for which The Verge does the hunting and testing, and you read the results. The Verge posts plain and simple reviews of products mixed with their overall market analyses for certain products such as Chromebooks, smartphones or cameras.

GADGET GLORY: StormTag

If you’re ever wondering if there’s still a “30 percent chance that it’s already raining,” this device may help you out. No, it isn’t a meteorologist or a personal Karen Smith to accompany you throughout your day. This gadget is called StormTag and it’s unsurprisingly linked to your smartphone. What it aims to do is collect and measure weather data from sensors and then broadcast it on a network to other StormTag users.

As a crowd-funded device on Kickstarter, StormTag is a crowdsourced solution to weather updates that are always accurate. Never again will you need to actually leave your desk, bed or residence to find out what the weather is like because of the increased presence of crowdsourced broadcasting. Integration of data from the crowdsourced weather map, WeatherSignal, will be built into StormTag. WeatherSignal can now be used with or without a sensing device, but you can pre-order StormTag and learn about all of the internal components on its Kickstarter page.

SMART STUDENT: Coursera for Personal Finance

Being a broke college student is not any fun. Addicted to shopping and eating, I’m particularly terrible with managing and budgeting my money. I view online financial management tools like diets ¾ each one works differently for each person. Sometimes no diet works for you, but knowledge becomes power to controlling your eating habits. Learning about nutrition is pivotal to staying fit or in shape, and I believe that that is the same when it comes to finances.

Again, I’m no finance guru. If I were, I probably wouldn’t care less about the financial management applications or programs or books or classes. But this class, a personal finance class, is not only FREE, but also online. Offered by Coursera, a popular and notable online learning network, you can take free university courses to brush up on a topic or explore your curiosities. Coursera courses, however, do not count for university credit.

There are three upcoming courses regarding personal finance offered by the University of Florida, University of California and University of Michigan. If you’re taking a particularly low course load or if you’re on co-op and have some free time on your hands, consider learning more about how to be financially successful in hopes of being the next Donald Trump one day.

Maria Elena Marinelli is a junior information technology major and the assistant web production manager for The Triangle.

The post Tech Tuesday – July 8, 2014 appeared first on The Triangle.

App Alert

EMOJI UPDATES

Do you still struggle with expressing yourself via text messages? Do you just have a lot of feelings? Luckily, the Unicode Consortium has your back — or your feelings.

On June 16, the Unicode Consortium announced on their blog that they added 2,834 new characters to the new version of the Unicode Standard, which is a character coding system for text. Unicode wrote in their post, “This latest version adds the new currency symbols for the Russian ruble and Azerbaijani manat, approximately 250 emoji (pictographic symbols), many other symbols, and 23 new lesser-used and historic scripts, as well as character additions to many existing scripts.”

Despite the added possibilities for all of your emotional needs, Unicode reveals that there are a few less-than-desirable consequences that could result from upgrading. The top three of what Unicode deems “the most important of these [complications]” are script-related changes, rendering issues and casing-related changes.

It is likely, though, that these concerns are going to be for your messaging providers to address and may not require any sort of action on your part as the consumer. “How soon can I get these new emojis?” you may ask, and CNET news has the answer for you: “Now that the 7.0 character set has been released, it’s up to various companies to update their software to support the new emojis.” In layman’s terms, it’s up to operating system developers such as Google and Apple to determine how and when you will be seeing these symbols on your phone.

Check out the list of additions here.

Working World

AMAZON FIRE

THE TOP 10 FEATURES YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

1. FIREFLY — See a phone number, email address or website that you need to jot down for later? Firefly it. Watching a movie that you really love, but don’t know the name? Firefly it. Hearing a song that you like, but can’t remember what it’s called? Firefly it. Firefly is activated by a simple press of a button located on the side of the phone. Here’s to hoping fireflies are more reliable than dragonfly3 and that Owl City doesn’t start playing with every use.

2. CAMERA — Fire has a 13 megapixel camera system, 1080p video capture and rendering, a dedicated camera button, automatic backup, panorama, lenticular and burst capture, and high dynamic range. The coolest part is the dedicated button. According to Amazon, you can “launch the camera in about a second, even when the screen is off.”

3. MOVIES, MUSIC, & APPS — Fire comes with the standard Amazon-branded messaging, email, calendar and maps apps with the capability to add Android apps such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Listen to your music from your respective music app on Dolby Digital Plus speakers that automatically adjust to deliver the best quality of sound.

4. STORAGE — With 32GB and 64GB models, Fire also offers free cloud storage for all Amazon content and photos that are taken with the phone. For non-Amazon related content, there’s another option is purchasing cloud storage or backing up to Drive or Dropbox.

5. CUSTOMER SERVICE — Also known as Mayday, Fire prides itself on being the only smartphone with integrated on-demand 24/7, 365 days a year, FREE support within 15 seconds. Amazon technicians will be able to access your phone to help you through setting up that Drexel email account you can never seem to get working in less time than you spend walking down the stairs to the Hans or waiting in line at Starbucks.

6. 3-D?! — Well, sort of. Amazon calls this Dynamic Perspective, which allows for users to tilt their phones and see a picture or map from a different point of view. Integrated are one-handed shortcuts to allow you to use your phone while walking to classes or multitasking with your laptop and tablet in your other hand.

7. PRIME — Cue promotional tone: For a limited time, purchasers can receive an Amazon Prime membership, a $99 value, for free for one year. In case you don’t do much online shopping and haven’t heard about Amazon Prime, Prime offers free two-day shipping, instant video streaming and unlimited music streaming.

8. HARDWARE — If customizable colors and my previous sales pitch weren’t enough to persuade you, maybe these tech specs will. Amazon advertises a 2.2 GHz quad core processor, 2GB of RAM, an Adreno 330 graphic processor, a 4.7” HD screen, dynamic perspective sensor system, 802.11ac wireless and impressive battery life — “Fire phone delivers up to 285 hours of standby time, up to 22 hours of talk time, up to 65 hours of audio playback and up to 11 hours of video playback.”

9. PRICE — Available on AT&T’s network, with a contract you can purchase the 32GB Amazon Fire for $199 and the 64GB for $299. Without a service plan, however, it’s going to cost you $649 for the 32GB model and $749 for the 64GB model. In broke-college-kid terms, wait for an upgrade unless you have some spare pocket change lying around.

10. Software Development Kit — If you’re interested in developing for the Amazon Fire, you can get the Firefly SDK here.

Smart Student

Wordy

Talking about writing and English in a technology-focused column seems to be misplaced conversation, unless you’re talking about Wordy.com. Wordy is a subscription-based service that provides real-time, human copy editing and proofreading for everything you write.

Wordy hires editors that are located in all major time zones and aims to match the customer with an editor who is a subject matter expert in the paper’s topic. Turnaround time is within a half hour of submitting the assignment, because the editing is done in real time. The cheapest subscription level is $49, which Wordy says is a one-time payment and doesn’t require monthly subscription fees or setup fees. Available 24/7, Wordy may be an option for you if you’re looking for an extra set of eyes and have the cash to spare. Wordy’s other three pricing tiers can be viewed here.

Don’t have the extra cash but still need a boost with your writing process and style? Maybe you don’t struggle with proofreading or copy editing but are looking for some tips or a second opinion on your term paper. The Drexel Writing Center, which is free to all students and offers in-person and online appointments, is available Monday through Friday by appointment.

If you have some spare time on your hands and are looking for a part-time job to exercise your proofreading skills, Wordy could still be the solution for you. Check out their information for becoming an editor here.

Maria Elena Marinelli is a junior information technology major and the assistant web production manager for The Triangle.

The post Tech Tuesday – July 2, 2014 appeared first on The Triangle.

App Alert: Check

On a campus where managing 20 credits, three extra-curricular activities and an on-campus job isn’t the exception, it can be difficult remembering to do things that aren’t part of our daily regimen. Just like you don’t want to incur penalties for turning an assignment in late; missing the due date of your credit card bill is equally painful.

Rather than paying with imaginary points that likely will not matter five years from now, late fees add up while making your credit score go down. Free mobile and web application Check helps you keep track of all of your bills and their due dates. Additionally, Check allows you to pay your bills directly from the app without any additional fees. This means that when you’re reminded to pay your bill while you’re busy studying on Friday night, you can actually pay it instead of dismissing the alert and forgetting to do it later.

Featured on sites like Forbes, Bloomberg and CNN Money, Check is a secure way to dodge late fees and keep your focus on the things that matter — like whether or not that post on Yik Yak is true or spending quality time with your cat. While you’re procrastinating studying for exams, give Check a try here: https://check.me/.

Working World: #Selfie
But first — let me take a selfie. Or let’s not and say we did. An article posted by The New York Times reported that the National Security Agency is using selfies as a way to build up “the largest facial imagery database in the federal government.” Despite the privacy laws that are currently in place, there are no privacy laws with regards to facial recognition data.

TechCrunch reports that documents leaked by Edward Snowden reveal that the NSA “intercepts ‘millions’ of images per day —including about 55,000 ‘facial recognition quality images.’” Social networking sites like Facebook have employed their own in-house facial recognition software to make tagging images easier and less time consuming. All of this data that’s being collected on selfie sites such as Instagram, however, is potentially accessible by the NSA and can be used to improve their facial recognition software called PittPatt, a Google-owned company.

If you ever need an excuse to not take a selfie, this may be it, but I want to know what you think. Is this as big brother as technology gets right now or something that you think could help the NSA to implement precision targeting?

Maria Elena Marinelli is a junior information technology major and the assistant web production manager for The Triangle.

The post Tech Tuesday – June 3, 2014 appeared first on The Triangle.

App Alert: Bunkr

In-class presentations can be particularly stressful — not necessarily due to the large body of strangers staring blankly at you, but if you’re like me, you want your presentation to stand out. Your goal is to create a presentation that captures your audience and one that you feel confident will convey your information the best. Tools like Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi, and Google Sheets are commonly used by college students today to achieve this goal, but now there’s a new application on the scene: Bunkr.

Bunkr is a web application that offers a fresh look for all of your presentation needs. With templates and a gallery of presentations to inspire you, Bunkr has a creative edge that combines the simplicity of Google Sheets, the creativity of Prezi, and the traditional functionality of Microsoft PowerPoint. Perhaps the best feature of Bunkr is its price point: free. Bunkr is compatible with all operating systems and presentations are viewable on tablets and smartphones without needing to download an additional application.

Started by three men in Paris during the early months of 2012, Bunkr has expanded to employ a team of 10 members and their latest release, Bunkr 3.0, has more than 50,000 registered users creating presentations. While TechCrunch writer, Romain Dillet says that Bunkr “is still not enough to uninstall PowerPoint from your computer,” Dillet believes that the future is bright and the possibility of doing away with PowerPoint isn’t totally outlandish.

Sign up for free today so that you can upload your presentation for finals week that you definitely haven’t started two weeks early. Even if you don’t have a presentation due during finals week, who doesn’t love learning new innovative technology that will get you brownie points with your professor?

Check out my first Bunkr project and share the link to yours in the comments section below for a chance to be featured as the next Smart Student!

Working World: SAVES Reporting

Despite the shocking statistic that one in four college women are victims of sexual assault, less than half of those women ever report it to authorities such as Drexel Police or Philadelphia Police. According to the creators of the Sexual Assault Victim Empowerment System, “That means that 95 percent of all completed rapes are never reported. That number drops even lower for other forms of sexual assault.” But filing a SAVES report can help you help someone else from falling a victim.

With SAVES, victims are able to enter an incident report with perpetrator information into “a double blind database where each sensitive field (information) is encrypted and sent to a separate server to shatter the data. Shattering removes the danger of a report being seen or acted on by hackers or interlopers.” From this information, SAVES compiles a comprehensive report from each incident that is filed by running all data through an algorithm. SAVES is completely anonymous and victims are able to contribute as much or as little information as they feel comfortable.

SAVES is a Pattern Associated Crime Technology Suite, which means that their purpose is to identify patterns and assault-trends in organizations and areas around the country. SAVES will not investigate reports and information will not be evaluated or shared without consent. It is SAVES’ hope “to change the world by providing an outlet for victims, one response at a time, and one voice at a time, all victims together.”

SAVES is not a Drexel-affiliated service and you do not have to have previously filed a report with Drexel Police or Philadelphia Police in order to submit an incident report. In development since 2012, SAVES is a patented application that was developed and is maintained by Steven Webb, Candace Wannamaker and Gail Lloyd. Since SAVES went live May 19, Wannamaker confirms that reports have been submitted from 15 states — a result that was particularly surprising to her.

Wannamaker wrote in an email, “One of the questions we have received was, ‘Who can see my information?’ and the answer is, ‘No human looks.’ That’s the value of the patent.”

She continued, “Many victims know their perpetrator and are forced to interact with them on campus and that doesn’t stop after reporting a rape. By using SAVES REPORTING victims have the opportunity for it to no longer be ‘your word against the perpetrator.’ If SAVESREPORTING can run an algorithm to identify a pattern and a group of victims can move forward together for a choreographed approach wouldn’t it be worth it?”

To learn more about SAVES and to file a report, visit www.savesreporting.com or their Facebook page.

Maria Elena Marinelli is a junior information technology major and the assistant web production manager for The Triangle.

The post Tech Tuesday – May 27, 2014 appeared first on The Triangle.

App Alert: Instacart

Online shopping is nothing new, nor is going grocery shopping online — especially for students. Sites like FreshDirect and Peapod have been delivering groceries to University City students for years. Their vibrant green trucks donned with fruits and veggies are easy to spot. But as convenient as it may be to get groceries delivered to your door within the week, mobile and web application Instacart can get your groceries to you in a matter of hours.

Instacart is a startup from California that serves the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Los Angeles with groceries delivered by the hour. Using Drexel’s zip code (19104), you can choose groceries from stores like Whole Foods Market, Fine Wine & Good Spirits, Super Fresh, BJ’s Wholesale, Green Aisle Grocery and ACME Markets. Whether you want to purchase locally-grown fruits or vegetables or need to replenish your bulk supply of Ramen in time for finals week, Instacart can help you out.

Of course, there are a few catches, but they may or may not be worth it depending on what you’re looking for: the best bargain prices or the most convenient experience. There is a surcharge for delivery of $7.99; however, that surcharge can be waived with a $99 per year subscription to Instacart Express on purchases over $35. If you order groceries more than 12 times a year, a subscription may be best. The other downside to Instacart is that you can’t use manufacturer coupons on your order and prices may be a bit higher than what you would pay in store. Visit Instacart’s FAQ for more information about pricing and subscriptions.

How does Instacart work? It’s simple — visit www.instacart.com, type in your zip code and begin selecting your groceries! Upon checkout, you can select the hour timeframe that you’d like your personal shopper to deliver your groceries.

To become a personal shopper for Instacart and make commission on every order you deliver, you must have a valid driver’s license, a good driving record, proof of auto insurance, a recent smartphone, are 21 years old and able to lift 25 pounds. You are able to deliver on a schedule that you create for the days and times that fit best for you. Learn more about Instacart’s job opportunities here.

Smart Student: Osman Cueto, “BREATHE: The Connected Inhaler”

Senior product design major Osman Cueto has developed what MedCity News calls “an asthma inhaler app designed from the patient’s point of view.” Cueto developed a “smart” inhaler and accompanying app to help those who suffer from asthma better manage and maintain their condition. The mobile app can track metrics for breathing quality. Additional functionality of the app includes notification of areas that could potentially trigger an asthma attack.

In addition to the application, Cueto gave the traditional inhaler a bit of a facelift by designing a product that is thinner, more compact and easier to carry. Perhaps the best feature of his redesign is the mouthpiece that is covered by a sleeve instead of a cap, which can easily be lost. Speaking of misplacing things, Osman built a “locator feature” into the app so that users never spend more than 60 seconds trying to remember where they last placed their inhaler. Being recently diagnosed with allergic asthma myself, I had a few questions for Osman about the logistics:

The Triangle: If you had to explain your project in layman’s terms, how would you describe it?

Osman Cueto: The inhaler itself is redesigned using criteria I found while talking to other people suffering from asthma. It has a slimmer, flat profile from the traditional “boot” shaped inhaler. The design of the inhaler includes a retractable mouthpiece so there is no need for a cap.

TT: Is it designed for anyone in particular?

OC: It is designed for the adult asthma sufferers. Through my research I found that there are not many asthma related projects that target adults, so with that information I tried to make something that can fit into the modern adult’s life.

TT: Is it available for use now? If not, when will it be?

OC: It is not currently available now, only time can tell where it will go in the future.

TT: Where do you see your project in the future? Is this going to be something that you continue to work on after graduation?

OC: I would love to see the BREATHE in the hands of people everywhere. Again, I am not sure how far this will go, but I would hope to see it fully developed one day.

TT: What or who inspired you to do this?

OC: I was diagnosed with asthma at a very young age. It was always something I had to deal with while growing up. While choosing my topic for my thesis project I decided to do it on something I can relate to and somehow make [it] easier for people suffering from asthma. I want to make a difference in the world any way I can.

To learn more about BREATHE: The Connected Inhaler, you can view a video demo online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhEdGH_5uy4.

Working World: EU Rules Google

As students, our online personality is of the utmost importance in a world that relies heavily on social networking sites to build relationships. Often times our online persona can have more bearing on whether or not we get an interview than our resume. Recently, the European Court of Justice ruled that citizens have a right to request that Google remove links from search results to articles or information that are no longer relevant to their person. While this ruling only applies in Europe and not in the United States, it means that articles such as this one, which covers a couple who crashed a wedding at Valley Forge Casino, can be removed upon request of the “crashers” because it is no longer “relevant.”
Many people argue, however, that this ruling is infringing upon the rights of others to know information about those around them. After reading more about this on sites like the BBC, NPR, Time, The Wall Street Journal or TechCrunch, I would love to hear your opinions about this policy and if you think it should be considered in the United States! Comment below or send me an email with your feedback at maria.marinelli@thetriangle.org.

Maria Elena Marinelli is a junior information technology major and the assistant web production manager for The Triangle.

The post Tech Tuesday – May 20, 2014 appeared first on The Triangle.

Feature Edition: Frank Lee

As part of Philly Tech Week 2014, which took place April 4-12, associate professor of digital media Frank Lee displayed his version of Tetris on the side of the Cira Centre. A building that typically dons lights that change color in accordance with local events or seasons, the Cira Centre was turned into a game of Tetris where fewer than 100 individuals were selected to play. Lee’s larger-than-life replica of the game earned him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s largest architectural video game display.

Co-founder of the nationally top-ranked Drexel Game Design Program, the Replay Lab and the Entrepreneurial Game Studio at the ExCITe Center, Lee is also an affiliated associate professor of computer science, psychology and biomedical engineering. Lee graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts in cognitive science. He continued on to Carnegie Mellon University to receive his doctorate in cognitive psychology.

It is clear that Lee has made extensive contributions to the Drexel community through his talent and intelligence — but that isn’t all. Lee has been working with state legislatures to expand video game development in Philadelphia because of its proven benefits for economic growth. Due to the lack of game development from companies in the Philadelphia area, which is home to more than 25 different gaming programs according to“Technically Philly,” students must seek job opportunities elsewhere. Realizing that the supply of matriculated students from these programs is much higher than the demand, Lee is proposing tax benefits to entice larger companies to relocate or expand.
Lee’s dedication to his students, the Drexel community and the Philadelphia area is admirable and inspiring. Regardless of how the story continues to unfold, Lee has etched a path and place for technology and Drexel in the Philadelphia community. To learn more about Lee and his work, visit his personal website at pages.drexel.edu/~fjl24/.

Maria Elena  Marinelli is a junior information technology major and the assistant web production manager for The Triangle.

The post Tech Tuesday – May 13, 2014 appeared first on The Triangle.

App Alert: Google Apps at Drexel

Only a short period of time after Microsoft released its Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications for the iPad, Google is following suit. Google now offers individual apps for Docs and Sheets, with Slides in the works in both the App Store and on Google Play. Instead of one single Google Drive application to access and edit your work, you will have three separate applications for each respective document type, similarly to Microsoft Office and iWork.

It is unclear at this time whether Google has added in additional functionality to the standalone applications that were previously inaccessible in the Drive application. Functionality such as adding a document or sharing it with collaborators, which is present in the desktop version of Google Apps, is not yet present in the mobile application. To download these free productivity applications, visit the Google Play store or App Store.

Regardless, Google’s productivity applications work impeccably well with Drexel’s free gLink accounts whether they are being used on a mobile device or a PC. To sign up for this resource, with which you can create your own Drexel Gmail account, store up to 6.8 GB of data and attach files up to 20 MB, visit www.drexel.edu/linkedu. These accounts allow you to keep school separate from your personal life and give access to collaborative editing software, instant messaging, calendar and an inbox that takes more than two weekends’ worth of Drexel announcements to fill up!

Smart Students: Huy Dang and Arsen Nikiforouk

Wrapping up their fourth year, juniors Huy Dang and Arsen Nikiforouk are using their technical talents for the greater good. Noticing the fundraising needs of charities and nonprofit organizations on a college campus, Dang and Nikiforouk developed an App Store-approved method of raising money at zero cost to those of us who identify as broke college students.

The two students created an iOS game called “Turtle Rock” that uses iAd to fund select charities that can be voted for on their website. “Turtle Rock,” a skill-based racing game rated for ages 4 and older. Using iAd, the team earns revenue that they donate to a specific charity. Should a player receive a Red Medal, which is earned by reaching 200 points, a donation of an additional $20 to a charity of the player’s choice will be made.

When asked how he imagines the future of the project, Nikiforouk replied, “I see this becoming a new way of funding charities that deserve to be funded.”

To learn more about the duo, vote on a charity and learn more about the app, visit their website at www.beepcloudhelp.com. To download the free app from the App Store, visit bit.ly/TurtleR.

Working World: FreedomPop

Finding an Internet service provider in the city other than Comcast is about as easy as giving a cat a bath — it is both painful and practically impossible. Fortunately, FreedomPop is a cost-effective alternative for those looking for flexible and fast Internet and phone service with the purchase of one of FreedomPop’s network devices. Instead of spending countless hours at the library with the very reliable dragonfly3 network, you can connect to FreedomPop’s network in the comfort of your own home.

FreedomPop offers six different options for affordable hotspots, which are devices that allow you to create your own network. Safe and secure, FreedomPop’s hotspots can connect up to eight devices — such as your laptop, tablet, phone or television to name a few — at one time. Free broadband service (with a FreedomPop hotspot) is available up to 500 MB per month.

FreedomPop offers service packages starting for as little as nothing and one of their most expensive home internet plans ($14.99) is still only a fraction of $69.99 Comcast bill. While this may not be the best alternative if you play online games or stream at home, FreedomPop can supplement those times when you don’t want to use your Drexel email address to sign on to the drexelguest network.

With FreedomPop, there’s no more hassle trying to split the bills five different ways or arguments with Jill if she’s hogging all of the signal video chatting and you can’t catch up on “True Blood.” To sign up or get more information, visit www.FreedomPop.com.

Maria Elena  Marinelli is a junior information technology major and the assistant web production manager for The Triangle.

The post Tech Tuesday – May 6, 2014 appeared first on The Triangle.

App Alert: Oyster

Founded in 2012 by Eric Stromberg, Andrew Brown and Willem Van Lancker, Oysteroffers a subscription-based service that is similar to applications like Netflix or Spotify but for books. For a monthly fee that is less than the cost of an average book ($9.95), customers can have unlimited access to over 200,000 books.

Long gone are the days where you stand in the bookstore debating the value and worth of a $12.99 book and the days when you contemplate the actual location of leisure books in Hagerty Library. No longer will you feel obligated to continue reading that terrible book you purchased three weeks ago and has been collecting dust on your coffee table since chapter two.

Maybe you are a reading enthusiast and your college-strapped budget cannot keep up with your desires to read, or maybe you aren’t a reading enthusiast because you have no clue where to start and are afraid to commit — either way, Oyster can solve both problems all within the one device that has become a staple for college — your smartphone. Because of the new level of convenience that Oyster has created, we may start to think twice before logging into Facebook and “pick up” a book to read instead.

Smart Student: Ethan Keiser

Junior computer science major Ethan Keiser has created an educational application that brings together students and tutors using GPS functionality on your smartphone. Study Tree, as Keiser named it, is a system that allows users to sign up as tutors or students. During the sign-up process, students and tutors create a public profile and set up their credit card and bank information. After signing up, students are able to post job listings for courses they are seeking help in, and tutors can build their profile with courses in which they are proficient.

Using Study Tree, both students and tutors are able to seek each other out by criteria such as distance, course, price and rating. Once a prospective student or tutor is found, either party is able to initiate an instant message conversation, but ultimately the student chooses which tutor to hire. After a time and place is agreed upon and the student and tutor meet, the student opens Study Tree and begins a tutoring session. Study Tree will take care of timing the session and processing payment so that both the student and tutor can focus on the material and not the money.

Keiser said that Study Tree is currently in the beta testing stages and has been submitted to the App Store. He recently had the opportunity to hire a fellow Drexel student through the Drexel co-op system. For more information about Study Tree, or if you’d like to view a demo and sign up, visit studytreeapp.com.

Working World: Killswitch

Smartphone thefts are on the rise — you don’t need me to tell you that thanks to the public safety advisory emails and Drexel Alerts — but what if I told you that negotiations were in the works between lawmakers and manufacturers to implement new technology that would decrease those numbers drastically? Would you consider upgrading your device to have these features?

This new technology is called “Killswitch” and is very similar to what some apps, such as “Find my iPhone” and the Android Device Manager, offer today. What makes this technology different, however, is the initiation of services required by the owner of the phone. Currently, smartphone owners must set this service up and then activate the service once their device is stolen. The kill switch, however, would be activated automatically upon report that the device was stolen and would then render the phone useless for reactivation.

The Huffington Post recently published a study conducted by William Duckworth, a statistics professor at Creighton University, in which he “estimates that consumers spend about $500 million each year replacing stolen phones and around $2 billion each year buying premium cell phone insurance through wireless carriers.” Despite these findings, there is still a large ongoing debate about the effectiveness of the new feature since phones could still be pawned for parts.

The proposed policy states that the kill switch feature would become mandatory on all smartphone devices manufactured in the United States as of June 2015, but is still being debated by lawmakers across the country. As heavy users of smartphones in University City, Drexel students have the potential to be positively affected by the implementation of a kill switch feature.

Maria Elena is a junior information technology major and the assistant web production manager for The Triangle.

The post Tech Tuesday – April 29 2014 appeared first on The Triangle.

App Alert: Kitestring

Referred to as your “virtual mom” by The Huffington Post, Kitestring debuted in headlines this past week. A personal safety application compatible with any phone with an Internet connection, Kitestring “checks up on you and then basically freaks out if you don’t respond. You know, like a mom,” according to Time magazine.

Kitestring is a mobile web application that requires a simple username, password and cell phone number to set up. No downloading necessary, users are able to navigate directly to Kitestring’s website to record an estimated time of his or her arrival at a destination without telling a friend or family member. Users are then prompted to input at least one emergency contact name, number and a message. If a user does not respond within five minutes to Kitestring’s text message sent at the designated time, emergency contacts are notified that their friend or family member may not have arrived at his or her destination safely.

Whether you are planning on meeting up with your match from Tinder or going for a run to the art museum steps, it is comforting to know that Kitestring won’t allow you to disappear without a trace. Worried about your phone dying before you get a chance to respond? Your friends and family would likely prefer five false alarms than not knowing until it may be too late.

For more information, visit www.kitestring.io.

Smart Student: RentSafe

Senior Amber Heilman and junior Connie Lin of the College of Computing and Informatics were part of an all-female team at Philly’s second annual LadyHacks event. Heilman, Lin and their three other teammates were the masterminds behind the web application titled RentSafe. RentSafe is an open source project that compiles crime data on available properties listed on sites like Craigslist. The application then displays this data on a map using a key that is shaded like a heat map to indicate crime levels.

Philadelphia is such a diversely populated area, and crimes often do not have boundaries. Playing it safe by making smart choices such as traveling in groups or concealing valuables have a sizable impact on safety, but knowing the type of environment in which you live can help you better prepare and protect yourself. RentSafe is helpful for students looking to move out of Drexel housing and into an apartment close to campus as well as for those relocating to the area.

For more information about RentSafe, visit ladyhacks.github.io/RentSafe.

Working World: Money at your fingertips

Poor college student mentality? Maybe you just want a little extra spending money? Time is precious, especially when you’re a student at Drexel. Luckily, companies are beginning to learn the potential of technology and how it can be used to benefit their business while also reducing costs. Websites and mobile phone applications such as American Consumer Opinion, Google Opinion Rewards, iPoll and Rewardable are quick and easy ways to make a couple of extra dollars for minimal work through “microjobbing.” Basically, you are paid to give your opinion to businesses.

Getting involved is fast, easy and — best of all — free. There is no minimum commitment, and opportunities are virtually endless. You can start as soon as tomorrow and have as much time off as you’d like. For just a few extra minutes on your smartphone — to which so many of us are already glued — you can have your Starbucks addiction fully funded!

The post Tech Tuesday – April 22 2014 appeared first on The Triangle.