0
0
Wednesday, Februai-y 3, 2010 / The Sta tement 3B
IM TheStteen- / 'enedaFerur 3 21
.e
Real IC
A University c
students use wh
and even ma
off of it
By Daniel S
let's s.
Pasch ha:
Engineering seniors Mat
need that the two first noticed
tion available to students, and the
When the application is finished
dining hall menus, connect to campus
Yang said they are still working with
Design by Sara Boboltz
news in review
Apple products are all over campus these
days - iPods in the CCRB, MacBooks in
the Grad and iPhones, well, everywhere.
With this ever-increasing ubiquity in products
beginning with "i" or "mac" comes an abundance
of downloadable applications. And though the
majority of these applications come from techies
in Silicon Valley, a small number of them were
designed and created by students here at the
[®]University.
Last year, during both the fall and winter se-
mesters, the College of Engineering offered a
class that was one of the first of its kind in the
nation - EECS 498: Mobile and Web App Pro-
gramming. During the term, students enrolled
in the class worked to envision their own smart
phone applications, and then make those visions
a reality.
According to Engineering Prof. Elliot Soloway,
who taught the course both semesters, the ulti-
mate goal was to direct students to generate ap-
plications that would solve a problem or make a
io n specific task easier.
Soloway said the ability to fulfill this intent
- to create a phone application that addressed a
problem - is what "separates the successful folks
from the unsuccessful folks."
While EECS 498 is not being offered this term,
students from the class have continued to collab-
orate with one another on their phone applica-
tions.
Though not all of the applications from the
class were workable, a few did end up receiving
approval to be featured in the App Store.
Here's a look at a few of the best applications
designed by students in the class.
lass wheree
iat they learn D ~ o
Perhaps the most successful application to
ke a buck come from EECS 498 was DoGood, the brain-
child of recent University graduates Kunal Jham,
t ayank Garg and Jason Bornhorst. According to
Bornhorst, the app, modeled after the movie "Pay
It Forward," encourages users to perform random
trauss acts of kindness that then motivate others to do
the same.
"It's since been downloaded 70,000 times,"
Bornhorst said. "And most interesting is that over
300,000 good deeds have been done on behalf of
the application. Basically you're encouraged to
launch the app once a day and upon launching
it, you're presented with a single good deed to do
that day which can be, like, 'give someone a hug,'
or 'buy someone a coffee.'"
Bornhorst said there's a built-in counter in the
DoGood application that tracks the number of good
deeds each user has performed. The application has
even been featured on Gadgetwise, The New York Times'
technology blog.
Podlink
While most of the phone applications were devised from scratch, Pod-
link, created by Engineering senior Tyler Pasch, focused on improving an existing
app. Pasch said his intent behind the application was to improve on the Apple Remote app.
"What Podlink allows you to do is it allows multiple people with (an iPhone or an iPod touch) to con-
nect to another device that's playing music and wirelessly control it either by Wi-Fi or Bluetooth," Pasch said. "So
ay my housemates and I are having a party. All three of us at the same time can control the music."
s even made a small profit from his application, earning about $300 from sales of the $2.99 app.
iWolverine
rk Yang and Kevin Chan are still working on their application, tentatively called iWolverine. The application fills a
when they came to the University. Yang and Chan said they were overwhelmed by the different strands of informa-
eir application pools all this information into one controlled location.
, Yang and Chan hope the final product will be a definitive resource for University students, allowing them to read
S bus locator websites and look up contact information through the student directory, among other things.
Apple to make the application available, but that they hope to have it ready by the end of the academic year.
Five of the most talked-about stories of the week, ranked in ascending order of actual importance
'N -m x
Six members of the Sigma (
Rho sorority at Rutgers Uni
were arrested after allegati
hazing were brought agains
by pledges. One of the victi
sought medical attention fo
alleged event.
Gamma Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled
versity the iPad, saying it's "so much more
ons of than a laptop and so much more
st them capable than a smart phone." De-
ms spite the hype, reviews have been
)r the less than stellar. Are you going to
drop $500 for a glorified iPhone?
'---------------'- -- -
"Lost" returned for its sixth and
final season after a nine month
hiatus. The premiere was so anx-
iously awaited that Pres. Obama
had to confirm the State of the
Union wouldn't coincide with, and
consequently bump the episode.
----------
Reclusive American author J.D. The Obama administration
Salinger died at the age of 91. dropped its plans to try the al-
Despite publishing only one novel leged terrorists responsible for the
and three collections of short sto- 9/11 attacks in Manhattan. Citing
ries, Salinger is considered one of cost, disruption and security, N.Y.
the most influential writers of the officials and business leaders
20th century. spoke out against the plan.
0 1 3 4 5 6 17 - 8 9 17
FTT |TTTTTTT1TT, TTTTTFTT, T 4 ,,,l ,,, I | ,jf, , , I ,' Ei T 1
quotes of the week on the cheap
"I hated it. I hated it. I hated it. You hated it. It was about as How to be thriftfully artsy
popular as a root canal."
PRESIDENT OBAMA on the unpopularity of the bank bailout during last week's
State of the Union address. J
"I don't think you ever get everything you want but you get
what you need and I think we're getting that."
Michigan football coach, RICH RODRIGUEZ, on the recruiting class for next season's
team roster.
"Presidents get swollen heads."
SAYED HABIB SADAT, Afghan hatmaker, on the increse in the size of Afghan
president Hamid Karzai's karakul hat. Karzai has worn the style of hat since taking
office in 2002 in an attempt to portray his wardrobe as Afghan rather than ethnic ILLUSTRATION BY KATiE EBERTS
or regional. e may havefree access to the University's Museum of Art, but delving a little
deeper into the Ann Arbor arts scene is fun, especially when the delving is free.
The most efficient way to begin your arts education is to befriend kids in the art
the rules school. Look for paint-splattered students with giant portfolios on the North Campus buses.
Now that you're friends with artists, check out their work - gratis - at Work Gallery on
State Street, or the black box theater in the Walgreen Drama Center.
No. 248: No. 249: No. 250: This town is full of free public art - the graffiti mural on East Liberty, questionable
sthe Any more than three Hovering by an oc- sculptures outside the art museum, adorably painted fire hydrants, spinning cube in Re-
Sitting acrossAnyby gents Plaza. Embrace it!
room is a completely bottles of cologne is cupied cardio ma- Take advantage of student tickets to University hosted performances. Even if you've
legitimate way to pushing it - you can't chine at the gym will never heard of the band (Buckwheat Zydeco, anyone?), chances are pretty high no one else
knows them either, making you seem even cooler than you actually are.
avoid an awkward possibly have enough not make your wait Have advice for life on the cheap? Let us know E-mail onthecheap@umich.edu.
'friend' in class. time to wear them all. time any shorter.
- ALLIE WHITE
by the numbers COURTESY OFTH E UNIVERSITY OF MicHIGAN INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
Percent of college football play- Percent of college football players who The chance a 30-to-49-year-old NFL retiree will receive
ers who suffered concussions as reported concussion-like symptoms a diagnosis of dementia, Alzheimer's or another memory-
observed by athletic trainers anonymously in surveys after the season related disease - 5 times more likely than the average male