So here on this blog I plan to start writing about some of the benefits and great advances my university is making on the technology front when it comes to a digital life as a student getting a quality education. I hope to be able to share something useful to someone out there even if they are not attending the same University that I am.

Let’s start this series of blog posts off with Apps I recently discovered and have started using to keep me organized as I start my classes for the semester. Note I am primarily an Apple user so most of these tips, apps, and suggestions may lean towards Apple devices but not in all cases.

iStudiez Pro

I picked up the FREE lite version of this app a few months ago while getting my thoughts organized about the start of the semester. I believe its even in Apples recommended back to school apps on iTunes. I downloaded the lite version and used the demo data to see what it was about and liked how it worked. I started over fresh with my own class schedule in preparation for the first day of class but quickly found out that the FREE Lite version only allows you to keep track of three courses. For those full time students out there like me I had to buy the pro version to keep track of my entire schedule.

If you are a full time student looking for a complete bolts to nuts solution this app seems to do it. I highly recommend downloading it right now because as of writing this blog post the iOS version for iPad and iPhone is only 99 cents thanks to a back to school sale. The App even displays events already posted in your iPhone calendar along side your course related events like homework due dates or exam test days. The app does sync and back up your data through the cloud once you create a free account on the developers website and if you go ahead and download the desktop version you can stay on top of your studies no matter the device you have.

Available on the App Store Available on the Mac App Store Official App Website

UT Arlington App

This one might seem like a bit of a snoozer to most but its good one to recommend none the less because of the discoverability factor. For example I for one didn’t know the campus had a glass blowing studio and I found that out while perusing the many panoramas made available within the app. It is a good app to recommend to new campus visitors and parents so share this app with friends and love ones so they can discover the UTA campus through the use of their iPhones and/or iPads.

Available on the App Store Official App Website

The Shorthorn Mobile App

If you have been to any university wide events lately you might have noticed that the UTA newspaper, The Shorthorn, has decided to go digital in a big way. Starting this Fall semester they will produce a print paper once a week while posting the bulk of their news stories on their website TheShorthorn.com while making that content easier to read on popular mobile devices. They are simply responding to what many on campus voices have been asking for sometime not to mention following the wider publishing industry trend towards more online up to the minute publishing with an increasing focus on mobile publishing. In fact according to a recent Pews Research study a significant number of online viewers are spending more of their time on the internet on their mobile devices. The Shorthorn is not missing out on this front and has already mentioned further development is coming as the school year progresses.

The Shorthorns website already has a mobile web app that works quite well on your smart phone or tablet computer. This comes in handy if you are subscribed to their daily email newsletter. That way no matter what device you open up one of their articles on you will get that content in a readable format just right for your device. The key here is if you’re using a popular iOS device like the iPhone or iPad you can bookmark the mobile site to your homescreen for quicker easy access. Look for the bookmark button on your device to take advantage of this tip. Make sure you do that though because the next time you click The Shorthorn icon on your iPhone/iPad home screen the web app will load without that annoying url bar across the top and bottom of your screen leaving you more room to read The Shorthorn articles unencumbered. It works almost like any other app on your iPhone except that you will need to remain connected to the internet while using the app for it to work properly.

Mobile Shorthorn Web App

Blackboard Mobile Learn

This one might sound familiar because it seems like the entire educational world uses Blackboard in some form to manage and distribute class room instructions, syllabi and assignments online. I know at least two of my professors have decided to do so I downloaded this free app and followed the on screen instructions for logging into my schools Blackboard network. After getting through the initial setup I can now access all of my teachers materials at the tap of a finger. I found it really help on the first day when my english teacher announced that he had just recently added the syllabus and I hadn’t had time before class to print it out. This way I was able to read along with him and see what other documents he had posted out there for my perusal as he described them to the class.

The app has some interesting navigation so dont be shocked when something flys off to the side unexpectedly. Once you figure it out it works rather easily as very helpful tool in and out of the class room. Just make sure you check with your teacher that its ok to use a mobile device in their particular class room. My English Composition teacher simply told me that it was ok to use my iPad for this purpose in their classroom. Every teacher might have a different rule so be sure to check with each one individually.

Available on the App Store Official App Website

You see some every smart people have always said follow your passion. Well I am passionate about many things, scratch that I am deeply interested in many things. I once was in school to become a pastry chef, I didn’t fail at that job I simply discovered I had reached a impasse with my interest. I wasn’t that interested in making desserts and pastry for the rest of my life. I will tell you I learned a lot working as a pastry chef for over a year at the Green Room though. It was a 4 star restaurant so I worked hard for the money. I left that job ready to pursue my deeper interest in technology and instead switched my degree to Interactive Multimedia Development. Which in simpler terms means Web Designer and at that time I interned for the infamous Cali Lewis at Geekbrief.tv. It was a happy time in my life I loved being inside of one the best technology podcasts I knew of and I was getting a degree that would tell employers I could build websites.

The next chapter is where I turned another corner in this wild ride of a career journey. While finishing up my degree at El Centro in the Interactive Multimedia Development I decided to pursue a job that paid better at a brand new coffee shop along the DART line in Downtown Dallas. Originally it was called Opening Bell Coffee Mosaic but later became Backbeat Cafe but thats an even longer story I wont get into right now. I worked for Backbeat for just about 2 years starting as a barista and then moved up to the position of Assistant Manager. In this position I was a still a barista but I also built and maintained the cafe website as well as menus, flyers and the occasional poster all while working over 48 hours a week. It was a tough time for me because I worked more hours than I was getting paid for and simply dropped out of finishing my degree while doing so. In the last 6 months while working there my brand new MacBook Pro laptop was stolen twice and the company let me go promising to replace my equipment and later didn’t. I can only assume they decided to keep the insurance money I later heard the manager got similar treatment when she left.

Thats when I took a long time to find myself and a job that actually fulfilled my desire to be a web professional. I searched, I posted my resume on LinkedIn, I went to free social networking meetings all over town and networked like a mad man. You know what? I found a job at BubbleLife Media thanks to Craigslist. It wasn’t even posted in the web design section it was posted in the general job section. Low and behold one Sunday while I was eating brunch with friends at a restaurant with friends near the Dallas Arboretum I got a call from the companies founder, Jeff Farris, telling me my website was down so he couldn’t look at my portfolio to my embarrassment, but he wanted to meet me on Monday morning for an interview. Later I found out the web hosting company was the reason my site was down. That week I got the job I was hired after sweating profusely under my arms meeting him in a Starbucks at Hillcrest and Milton in Snider Plaza. Well actually after two meetings with him when I met the other founder Saffie who checked me out like a mechanic checks under a hood of a car. From then on I was set working and breathing web design, print design and a plethora of other new skills but it wasn’t enough for me though.

The funny thing is I have always had a passion for the New Urbanist movement through all that stuff above I kept tabs on this project and that project. I read a few Urbanist books here and there. I studied city council agendas and planning docs on municipal websites. I have even attended a meeting or two about touchy subjects like the Trinity Tollroad. I even surrendered my time to the occasional volunteer project at area parks. I said earlier that smart people say follow your passion, well even smarter people say follow what you passionately do on your own time. Those other careers that I have done so far I was interested in but I cant say I was passionate about them in my own time. Every moment I got when I wasn’t at my job I would be reading about Urbanism, sidewalks, planning docs, news stories about projects. Every chance I get I go Downtown and light up when I see the progress the city of Dallas is making down there. When I met my now long time boyfriend I met him on Main Street and gave him a tour of the progress even though he is a Dallasite born and raised.

So this journey that we all make to pursue what makes us happy in our lives, its a pursuit of passion for me but its also a pursuit of passionate action.

So the Ford Fiesta, its moderately sized so I can fit in those less average size parking spots but it doesn’t fall short in other areas like some people may think. It has what I sort of bought it for which is the quite innovative Microsoft SYNC system fully integrated into the dashboard. No it doesn’t have a touch screen with every app under the sun albeit it does allow some nice integration with my iPhone iOS apps like Pandora, Stitcher and the Podcaster. It did something so surpassingly great yesterday morning I hope the smooth action continues as I learn more about it.

In the morning, I have a ritual, one that involves starting my commute to BubbleLife Media with podcasts catching me up on the most recent tech news of today, yesterday, and maybe tomorrow when they discuss whatever Apple computer rumor has churned up this week. I walk up to my “Blue Flame Metallic” Fiesta, think Dallas Cowboys, or Dallas Mavericks blue, ready to charge towards work and just as the car turns on with the twist of the key the podcast stops playing in my ears and the car stereo picks up the podcast where the Apple white ear buds left off just a second before. It was a simple trick, no doubt the Bluetooth Media streaming feature listed as a bullet point on the brochure but it meant so much more to me. Life moved so smoothly in those moments thanks a simple technology trick involving a few existing technologies working together elegantly.

I don’t know if the entire life of my new ride and its innovative computer system will be as slick but I hope it has a couple more moments like that. You see that made the car worth it, it made the morning and the day start off smoother leading into the evening when I would enjoy that again for the ride home.

Spark Club

First Up is Spark Club a monthly event born here in Dallas and not afraid to reach for exciting locations in the city when they meet. Sure this months event will be held at the recently successfully reopened Kessler Theater in Oakcliff but that wont stop this months presentation from covering failure, The Big Dang. We all know innovators have all failed at everything at one point thats why you should attend this month Sparks Club and learn from their mistakes.

Don’t worry this month the audience will be able to contribute to the failure. After the main presentation there will be an Open Mic for all the failure we have waiting deep inside us all. They say its easier to admit it when surrounded by people who have failed like yourself. A sort of “Hello my name is William Addington and I have failed” except the people at this meeting will clap loudly at your jokes and shake your hand happily after words.

What: Spark Club The Big Dang (Plancast.com)
When: Thursday, August 12, 2010, 6-9:00pm (RSVP)
Where: The Kessler Theater (thekessler.org)
1230 W. Davis St.
Dallas, Texas 75208 (Map)

OpenCa.mp

If you were to look into the deep dark origins of my blog you would find an article about WordCamp Dallas 2008 well to be short for shorts sake thats where OpenCa.mp started.  Course the important thing to note is OpenCa.mp is not just a rename like Radioshack and their odd “The Shack” branding scheme. OpenCa.mp is its own event with its own Golden Knights flaming skydive. Ok that last part is just the appetizer blogger bait for OpenCa.mp but its got plenty of other things for bloggers, business owners, podcasters, and web developers alike to munch on.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_x5mbp6llY[/youtube]

Its only once a year so this is it, buy your hotel room now so you can attend the fun parties for the hotel stayers only after the flood of daily speakers during the two day event. Before you go I have to admit though I helped found the Dallas WordPress meetup group quickly after the Dallas WordCamp 2008 so would ya blame for endorsing an event that I have some happy community connections with. I mean look at the schedule they got posted on the OpeCa.mp website its got something for everybody who wants to have something to do with the internet.

What: OpenCa.mp (Plancast.com)
When: August 27-29, 2010 (Tickets)
Where: Crowne Plaza Addison (Website)
14315 Midway Road
Addison, TX 75001 (Map)

Then on the other side of the spectrum there is the independent flick. I love a good independent film but independent doesn’t necessarily mean local either. Check the “Made in” stamp on a movie near you. So if you wanna see some thing fresh and local I suggest watching Agora Entertainment. I particular like the humor and modern sensibilities in their latest production “Mind of Its Own” watch the trailer below. Watch for local scenes shot here in the Dallas area.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/10539838[/vimeo]

Now after a year later they have posted 5 episodes kicking off a plot arc involving a modern man in the middle of a not too distant future where humanoids are somewhat common and argued against for there too life like appearance. Personally it was a great series to watch as the main character struggled through real life issues and his eventual turn to a humanoid for comfort against the emotional struggle. Sadly the final episode as said on on the Sector 7 Films website “the final episode remains only partially completed” with the visual effects skills shown in the short five episode run and the very cheap $1500 budget I would imagine a lot of work came their way real quick. Trailer posted below as well as the first episode the rest of the episodes can be found on their Vimeo page.

With the green movement currently engulfing the worlds consciousness whether you agree with its political directions or not the ability for young people to look at something from a completely new and interruptive way is important. If the world really does turn into a zombie land of an apocalypse, a green shiny recycling utopia or more likely something in between. The creative ingenuity to recycle is a primal skill that should always be celebrated. Either way sculpture is  great way to get all ages to re-access what they got.

In this episode I posted from season 1 another favorite actress of mine Jane Lynch plays one of Lisa’s new high strung clients. One of the things I prefer about the show is the production setup appears rather straight forward.  By my best guess it appears as though they just use a single house location and redecorate the various bedrooms to give the appearance of the multiple client offices seen on the show. I like this approach to a location as it could potentially be shot in any house in America. As a person who one day would like to see more content production distributed to other cities like Dallas this location modeling certainly seems doable for Dallas based productions.