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.