Combo:

My idea is to create the ultimate resource for accessing information on and about the genre of fighting games.  My app will encompass social aspects, built-in twitch support, guides, and strategies to playing a myriad of fighting games.  Ultimately the app will be community driven, at its base its a template for others to fill in, in the vein of a wiki.  In my experience, there are websites that have similar capabilities, but lack support on other platforms, such as mobile devices.  The target audience would be anybody that is either just breaching the surface and getting into fighting games, or is already in the deep end and has a good base of knowledge about the genre.  This application provides both audiences a chance to practice and share knowledge with each other.

Marvin, Tamanda, Dell, & Nate

FantasyBasketball

Found Hound Nathan Yampolsky (1)

Found Hound Nathan Yampolsky

Postmortem Questionnaire Deliverable

Nafis Critique_Form

Found Hound Nathan Yampolsky

Found Hound Nathan Yampolsky (1)

IMT1102 Production Practices
Project Description

Found Hound: 

Have you ever lost something? Of course you have, we all have its New York for god sakes.  Found Hound is a service, along with an application that attempts to remedy this situation and streamline it for 2014.  If you’ve ever had to deal with the mta or NY taxi’s lost and found systems you know that there is room for improvement.  Utilizing a user network of thousands Found Hound has eyes on the ground in the form of you and me.  Essentially anybody with a smartphone (and a warm heart) who has the app can quickly pull up a message board or feed showing most recent claims of lost items nearest them.  For example if I was riding my bike and checked my watch at 96th street and at my destination of 110th discover my watch missing I would quickly pull the app up and enter to the best of my knowledge where there may be a watch.  This posts to a dynamic feed that can be viewed by anyone.  Once again another question arises one grounded heavily in moral values.  What’s stopping these people from stealing the item? Well, nothing is.  This works on an honor system, and look at it this way.  If you have no idea where your item is, isn’t is practically lost anyways?  Moving on, once the person locates the item can coordinate with the owner and subsequently drop it off at one of our hubs around the city.  We store these items with a name so we know who it belongs to.

NathanIdeationScenarioSheet

SammyCritique

JosueCritique_Form

NathanProposalPostmortemQuestionnaire

FinalProposal1

FinalProposal

User:

The user of the application would be anybody with a smartphone that prefers a more stylistic and precise way of finding a good WiFi signal.

Context:

A lot of the time it can be difficult to locate a good, reliable source of WiFi.  Since the application is based on the geography of your area it is much easier to locate a good connection.  For example, somebody is in a desolate area in queens and is locked out of all the signals in their area, not to mention the signals are low.
Motivation:

Another problem arises when in a dense urban environment.  Trying to sift through all the locked signals to find a reliable one is a huge timewaster.  With most default WiFi locators you arent given enough information based on your geographical location.  All you get is a tiny indicator giving you a scale of 3 to 0.

Solution:

This application would be accessed through your phone’s app folder.  Once you open it, you are presented a viewfinder using your phones camera.  Where this app is truly helpful is by showing you exactly where to go, to get a great, open, and free signal.  This is presented using a color coded system that shows different zones in your area.  Green representing best and red representing a dead zone.  If all you see on your default finder is low signals that are locked, you can use this app to locate a better source based on your location.

Outcome:

The outcome here is a satisfied person who didn’t have to waste time using a vague wifi finder.

Category: Computational, Design

Imagine, you’re in a new city, you have little guidance and next to no signal on your phone.  Quite the predicament.  My idea is to combine the aesthetic of an augmented reality game with the efficiency and simplicity of a WiFi discovery application.  With WIfinder you simply use your phone as a sort of portal to locate where the greatest source is coming from.  Via a color coded system you can quickly confirm (green being a good connection and red being an abysmal connection) where to go to receive that sweet, sweet lifeline we call the internet.  Where does this differ from your default wifi finder?  I would say that visualizing the process not only makes it easier, but also gives finding a good connection an almost fun artistic twist from the mundane.

Inspirations and Research: http://eyebeam.org/projects/reentry-series, http://eyebeam.org/projects/wi-fi-spotting