46FN4)F Ann Arbor, Michigan Monday, February 3,2014 michigandailycom TECHNOLOGY MHacks champions push ahead Former Gen. David Petraeus discusses using physical activity as a way to adjust to civilian life during a speech at the sixth annual Student Veterans of America dinner at the Union Friday. Former C rctotalks vet eran support, fitness Winners to launch "WorkFlow" in Apple Store later this month By WILLIAM LANE Daily Staff Reporter The winners of MHacks are coming to an app store near you. The overall winners of Mhacks - a 36-hour program- ming competition hosted in Detroit this month -are prepar- ing to launch "WorkFlow," an app allowing task automation on the iPad. While iPad users are traditionally confined to working on only one app at a time, Work- Flow aims to make working on multiple apps feasible. The developers have created about 40 actions in the applica- tion, including opening a URL, editing a photo, sharing a mes- sage or sending a text message. Users have the ability to select actions from a list in the interface and dragthem into the workflow. Once the play button is pressed, the app will automatically com- plete the various actions in order of how they were selected. Veeral Patel, a high school junior from Bergenfield, New Jersey, was a member of the four-man development team that worked on the app. Since the competition, he has been expanding it through the devel- opment of a wireless printing option. The team intends for the app to eventually unify other apps and provide more cross-system integration. "We started out at the Hack- athon building all of these actions ourselves, but the next step before we launch is to cre- ate a way for other apps to make their own specifications," Patel said. Nick Frey, a high school stu- dent from Iowa who also worked on the development team, said the group-was inspired by the ability of computers to manage multiple programs and wanted to bringthat functionality to tab- lets. Ari Weinstein, a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who worked on the team, said the largest chal- lenge was creating a data model to make each action work. See MHACKS, Page 3A Petraeus inspires Student Veterans of America chapter By MICHAEL SUGERMAN Daily StaffReporter Former CIA Director David Petraeus touted physical fitness as an outlet for both physical and mental health Friday at the fifth annual dinner held by the University's Student Veterans of America chapter in the Union ballroom. During his speech, Petraeus commended the University for the work it has done to accom- modate veterans by providing in-state tuition and preferred registration to all former sol- diers. He added that that Michi- gan maintained a "rich tradition of military service" since the Civil War, when Michiganders were some of the first to volun- teer for the Union army in Vir- ginia. Petraeus said soldiers return- ing from war feel that they have left their brothers and sisters behind, and that many veterans have both physical and mental wounds from their time in ser- vice. Both of these issues, he said, mean veterans have a hard time assimilating back into their home communities. Petraeus said group fitness can be therapeutic for veterans, as it parallels the pack motiva- tion used in combat. He added that, as a paratrooper, he felt that for individuals to be physi- cally and mentally tough was essential to the pack's success. "Exercise not only trains the body to be physically resilient, it also helps our hearts, lungs and See CIA, Page 3A GOVERNMENT Snyder leads opponent in campaign fundraising STROLL OFF Governor has $3 million .more than Schauer in warchest By ALLANA AKHTAR Daily StaffReporter Campaign finance reports released Friday reveal Republi- cans have a fundraising edge for the upcoming Michigan guber- natorial election with higher campaign funds. According to the report, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder currently has four times the amount of campaign money at his disposal than his Democratic challenger, former congressional representative Mark Schauer. Snyder started 2014 with around $4 million in donations, according to the report. Some of these funds went towards an advertisement during Sunday night's Super Bowl game, which can cost millions of dollars for a single 30-second slot. Schauer has garnered $1.6 mil- lion in contributions since enter- ing the race in June and currently has $1 million in his war chest. His biggest donors were the Ser- vice Employees International Union Michigan Council and the Michigan Laborer's Politi- See SNYDER, Page 3A ENTREPRENEURSHIP Students and alumni cash in on global bitcoin 'gold-rush' RUBY WALLAU/Daily Members of Phi Beta Sigma perform at the Annual Blue and White Stroll Off hosted by Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority at the Great Lakes Room in Palmer Commons Saturday. CAMPUS LIFE Science Learning Center art contest merges many disciplines Cryptocurrency craze draws new business growth By ADAM GLANZMAN Daily StaffReporter The bitcoin craze is often equated to the Gold Rush of 1849, when hundreds of thousands of fortune-seekers flocked to Cali- fornia to test their luck and strike gold. Those who actually found riches were the ones selling the gold mining equipment, food and resources the miners needed. At the University, however, bitcoins are the target of the modern gold rush. Bitcoins are a digital currency, or cryptocur- rency, that can be traded from person to person. It was invented in 2009 and has since grown in prominence among techies. It's now beginning to enter main- stream commercial and financial spheres. However, bitcoins are avail- able exclusively online and are not backed by a central bank like the U.S. Dollar. These qualities have raised speculations about how stable the currency is and many lawmakers are displeased by bitcoins' history of being used for illegal activities. See BITCOINS, Page 3A Competition brings in artists to explore multidisciplinarity By ALEX DITOMMASO For the Daily Left brain, meet right brain. The Science Learning Cen- ter hosted the its first ever Sci- ence As Art Exhibition Friday, giving undergraduate students the chance to through express their creativity through science- based art. The contest received 27 sub- missions from students with backgrounds ranging from neu- roscience to biomedical engi- neering to art to economics, Claire Sandier, director of the Science Learning Center, said. "Science is in and behind everything, and what we were hoping to do with this contest was encourage students to stop and think about that and consid- er the science in their own life," Sandler said. Five judges oversaw the con- test. Deirdre Spencer, senior associate librarian at the Fine Art Library, said her academic back- See SCIENCE, Page 3A WEATHER HI:23 GOT A NEWS TIP? T R5 Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail TOMORROW L 15 news@michigandaily.com and let us know. NEW ON MICHIGANDAILYCOM Sorority sisters send house mom to Superbowl MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS INDEX Vol. CXXIV, No. 59 0204OThe Michigan Daily michigandailyrcom NEWS.........................2A CLASSIFIEDS...............6A SUD O KU .....................2A A RTS...........................7A OPINION...................4A SPORTSMONDAY..........1B v 0