Final Post

The "Pack N' Go" is a smartphone app designed to help travelers pack carefully and efficiently for their upcoming trips. Travelers can create their own packing list, and then save it to the program, so it is available for all other users to take advantage of. It is designed specifically for you, by people like you.

This idea started from a common problem many people have: forgetting what to pack. This is something that everyone goes through and even the most frequent flyers have that "Did I forget something?" moment. The "Pack N' Go" has evolved from just a concept to a well thought out idea.

By researching similar products on the market I learned what works and what doesn't. I learned that I had to make the app simple so users don't waste time trying to figure out how to use it, but detailed so it has what everyone is looking for. Creating the perfect balance is difficult but necessary.

Through comments I have also gained great insight and awesome ideas. Suggestions such as adding a weather forecast to destinations users are packing for, creating a "LIKE" button, and making lists for specified groups of people (like college students living in dorms) are amazing ideas that the "Pack N' Go" will definitely benefit from.

In order to turn this idea into a reality I will need to use social media to spread the word and help the app gain momentum. As well, an embedded operating system, which is found on smartphones, will be needed for the app to work. A lot of memory is crucial to store all of the information from users posting and sharing their packing lists.

Security

The "Pack N' Go" is a smartphone app designed to help travelers pack carefully and efficiently for their upcoming trips. Travelers can create their own packing list, and then save it to the program, so it is available for all other users to take advantage of. It is designed specifically for you, by people like you.

A big worry when developing a smartphone app and distributing it to users is network security risks. It would be terrible if users bought the "Pack N' Go" and then were faced with problems such as Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, Rootkits, Botnets,or Denial of Service Attacks. While Viruses need other applications to leverage as a malicious medium, Worms can do it all on it's own.

In order to prevent this I would download and run Safeguards against Internet & Network Attacks. For example, I would have anti-virus applications, use only trusted sources such as USB thumb drives, have a Firewall, and have a Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Intrusion Protection Systems (IPS).

Another big concern is information security. I would need to make sure that the "Pack N' Go" employees are ethical, trustworthy, and understand the importance of confidentiality. This means having safeguards against unauthorized access and use is a must. Usernames and passwords need to be secure and very difficult to guess, and the number of people that will have access to important information will be limited.

Operating Systems

The "Pack N' Go" is a smartphone app designed to help travelers pack carefully and efficiently for their upcoming trips. Travelers can create their own packing list, and then save it to the program, so it is available for all other users to take advantage of. It is designed specifically for you, by people like you.

At the "Pack N' Go" headquarters the computers will use a stand-alone operating system. This is designed for fully operating systems, such as Windows 7 or Mac OSX. However, users will use embedded operating systems which are found on smartphones. Since this is a smartphone app, it makes the most sense. IOS and DROID are the most popular systems for this kind.

At the headquarters I will also make sure the employees know the difference between having the computers "Sleep" and "Hibernate". When a computer is hibernating it is almost completely turned off. When a computer is sleeping it takes any open documents and puts them into RAM. Doing this is more energy efficient, and therefore more cost efficient which is vital when starting a new business.

After thinking it through it would be more beneficial to sell the "Pack N' Go" as an Iphone App. While it's very time consuming having to wait to get the app approved before it can be sold on the market, this means that it will be safe. There wont be a great chance of having any viruses or security problems so it is well worth the wait.

Lecture Post 2

The "Pack N' Go" is a smartphone app designed to help travelers pack carefully and efficiently for their upcoming trips. Travelers can create their own packing list, and then save it to the program, so it is available for all other users to take advantage of. It is designed specifically for you, by people like you.

Photoshop is a digital image editing application fo the Internet, print, and many other mediums. When you look around you, there is a great chance that almost every advertisement, book cover, magazine, label, etc has been created or edited on Photoshop. Color enhancing, cropping, effects and the ability to add text to any image are just a few of the tools Photoshop has.

Photoshop is a very powerful and useful application for companies. I would use Photoshop to create graphics for the "Pack N' Go" since visuals are very important for any product. Last week when I reviewed similar smartphone applications to the "Pack N' Go" a common complaint among users was that an app was boring because it didn't have many graphics. With the "Pack N' Go" I would make sure to make the app visually appealing with graphics created on Photoshop.

A must have for any product is a logo, and Photoshop will be of use when doing this. I would be able to make a unique design that would represent the packing app and differentiate this product from the rest. I would hire a graphic designer to do this so it looks professional and is well done.

Blogger Review

The Blogger I am covering this week is Craig Blaha, a privacy, secrecy, and social media researcher at UT Austin. Craig teaches many undergraduate courses including classes on "Social Media and Privacy" and "The Internet and Public Policy." Along with teaching, Craig has numerous academic and professional publishings found in chapters within books. Craig is new to the blogging scene, where he has only been posting since November 2011 on his blog "Blogging Google". (http://technorati.com/technology/gadgets/article/google-glasses-bring-the-web-to/).

In this post Craig writes about a new gadget that may become available by the end of the year. He calls the product "Google Glasses," a pair of sunglasses that will allow users to see everything they normally could on a smartphone, but through a pair of sunglasses. The product would retail for around the same price a smartphone sells for, which is approximately $260-$600. While the "Google Glasses" will alleviate pain from one's neck, it may cause for some awkward situations.

The first thing that caught my eye on Craig's blog was that he had a header. I found this unusual for a blog, but highly enjoyable. The header was a nice visual, very attractive and clear. I also liked how Craig attached links for the Oakley website, allowing viewers to seek further information. However, one aspect I did not like was that Craig didn't have many factual sources; The only source was an unnamed and this lead can lead to speculation. I also would have liked some more information on this post.

A Happy Medium

The "Pack N' Go" is a smartphone app designed to help travelers pack carefully and efficiently for their upcoming trips. Travelers can create their own packing list, and then save it to the program, so it is available for all other users to take advantage of. It is designed specifically for you, by people like you.

Competitor 1: One packing app that is already on the market is the "Packing + To Do" app which retails for .99cents. This smartphone app allows users to create and edit packing lists or use already made sample lists. Users can email their lists to their family and friends or ask for advice via Facebook or Twitter. However, the downside to this product is that the process of creating the lists takes too long and there are no lists available for babies/toddlers. Customers also reported a lack of engaging graphics, making the app visually less appealing than others. (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/packing-to-do!/id294710480?mt=8)

Competitor 2: Another app this is already available, and free, is the "UPackingList". This app allows users to create lists by selecting items from a database and then send these lists to other people. A big con for this product is that there are no "ready made" lists to choose from. Therefore, users are spending a crazy amount of time creating a list on their phone they could be doing with a pencil and paper. As well, customers have reported that there are many distracting "flashy" ads that come along with the app making it very distracting. (http://nixsolutions.com/products/iphone/upackinglist/)

After reading about the other packing apps that are on the market I would definitely make some changes to the "Pack N' Go." First off, I must say that the "Pack N' Go" meets a happy medium between the two applications by having an abundant amount of lists available to choose from made by other users, as well as the ability to create your own list. I would make sure to add graphics to make the app visually appealing, but try and stay away from busy advertisements. As a fellow entrepreneur suggested, I will add a weather section to the app where users can see what the weather will be like in their travel destination. This will make my product unique and stand out among the rest.

Technology Technicalities

The "Pack N' Go" is a smartphone app designed to help travelers pack carefully and efficiently for their upcoming trips. Travelers can create their own packing list, and then save it to the program, so it is available for all other users to take advantage of. It is designed specifically for you, by people like you.

It will be necessary for the smartphones to have RAM because lots of information will need to be saved for the app. RAM is needed to run programs simultaneously, and this is extremely important for smartphones running numerous applications at once. It is also vital because it holds memory for what you are doing at that time, such as using the "Pack N' Go".

In order to create this app, the technology specialists will need a very efficient system unit. This includes a motherboard and a quad-core processor. The CPU (central processing unit) is what interprets and carries out the fundamental instructions that operate a computer. A hard drive is also crucial. This is where data will be permanently saved. A great business needs extremely fast software, so a SATA or Solid State Drive would be preferred.

In order to keep the computers in the office up to speed it will be necessary to defragment the computers if they are slow. This means finding free memory space by rearranging the fragments of the hard drive.

Lecture Post 1

The "Pack N' Go" is a smartphone app designed to help travelers pack carefully and efficiently for their upcoming trips. Travelers can create their own packing list, and then save it to the program, so it is available for all other users to take advantage of. It is designed specifically for you, by people like you.

What better way to promote this new product than through social media. With over 200 million people using twitter as a social medium, the "Pack N' Go" will be able to reach an incredibly large audience. This is beneficial for promoting the product as well as igniting the consumer interaction that the "Pack N' Go" thrives off of.

One of the many benefits of social media is that it is very cost effective. Generally speaking, there is no cost except for potentially hiring someone to handle the social media of the company. This will allow the company to spend it's money elsewhere, such as improving the product or launching new ideas. There is no better advertising than free advertising.

In Lecture we were told that some companies are scared to engage in social mediums such as Facebook and Twitter because they are afraid of what the users and consumers will say about their products. The public is more likely to trust the opinions of their peers as opposed to paid advertisements. However, this is actually very helpful for our company. Since the "Pack N' Go" is designed by the users' contributions, there is a greater chance of consumers liking the product since they created it themselves, and hopefully passing it along to their friends.

I Get by With a Little Help From My Friends

Do you ever get that feeling that you have forgotten to pack something but don't know what it is? Typically, it isn't until you have actually reached your numerous-hour-away destination that you remember what it is you forgot. Let's talk about a buzz-kill right there.

That is where the "Pack N' Go" comes into play. The "Pack N' Go" is a smartphone app designed to help travelers pack carefully and efficiently for their upcoming trips. Other packing applications on the market right now are equipped with already made packing lists, or the ability for users to customize their own. However, consumers have found that the ready-made lists tended to be too-extensive and complicated, and the customizable lists took too long to make.

What makes the "Pack N' Go" different from all the other packing apps is that it is designed specifically for you, by people just like you. Travelers can create their own packing list, and then save it to the program, so it is available for all other users to take advantage of. Unlike other apps where the only option may be "Male Warm Weather," The "Pack N' Go" is specific, allowing users to see what other people have packed going to similar places. For example, a middle-aged man traveling to Hawaii for vacation with his wife will most likely have a very different packing list than a college student traveling to Cancun for spring break (at least i'd hope so).

With the "Pack N' Go" users can be specific and practical when packing, thanks to the help of their friends (or strangers). Never again will you have to ask yourself, "Am I forgetting something?"