Self made aluminum case

In Farm Story, the player takes on the role of a farmer and helps Farmer Frank nurture and harvest his animals and crops. The player interacts withe the game world by using his hands, and the action items are used to add objects into the virtual world. All a player needs to do, is stamp the item on the board, and the item appears on the board. Want some cows? Just stamp them on the board!

In order to win the game, the player must help Frank’s farm grow. When crops and animals are fully grown, they can be interacted with for resource points. Crops and animals display needs through thought bubbles that appear next to them, indicating what they are thinking of. If a tree is thinking of fertilizer, it means they need to be fertilized. A watering can bubble indicates the trees need water, and so on. If the needs of an object aren’t met within a set timeframe, that object will get upset and wither or stampede.

When the animals and trees are ready to bear resources, they will think of Farmer Frank. When this happens, the player can either set Frank on the plot of land to collect his resources, or use their own fingers to simulate picking up the items. After collecting a set number of each resource, the player wins the game.

Mobile phones are becoming more location aware. Many devices are equipped with GPS and it is also possible to get fairly accurate location through cell towers and WiFi. Services that allows real-time updates like Twitter are becoming more popular. With mobile buzz, real-time updates are location tagged, hence, providing much information to allow us to gather and analyze social data.

Buzz posted from mobile users are real-time. This allows other users to know immediate happenings around the area. In addition, there can be ground-truth reporting. In the case for Iran when Twitter was used by many people, it is difficult to verify whether the users who are tweeting are actually there. With this, it is possible for us to know that the location of the news.

Location tagged buzz also provides other opportunities. We can gather real-time information like traffic jams, accidents, celebrity sightings, etc. These data provides many social possibilities.

Google had already introduced Google Navigation in Google Maps for Mobile (GMM) in the latest Android devices: Motorola Droid and Nexus One. Google Navigation combines mobile maps with turn-by-turn GPS navigation. As a user experience designer, there are a number of challenges to tackle, and several opportunities to leverage on.

Unlike stand-alone GPS devices, Google Navigation exists within Google Maps for Mobile. GMM already provides an option to get directions from one place to another, but does not yet provide turn-by-turn navigation. Implenting navigation together with directions provide a challenge in terms of user experience: How to easily differeniate directions and navigation.

In addition, how do can we allow user to easily switch between navigation mode and searching mode. For example, if user is in the middle of navigation, can the user do a search, for example "pizza"? If yes, how do the user switch easily between search results on the map and resuming navigation? In addition, should we search "pizza" around user's location or should be search "pizza" along the route?

While driving, it is always a problem when someone calls you. With a phone as a GPS navigation device, it provides an opportunity for Google Navigation to handle that situation easily. Can we provide an option to reject a incoming call with an SMS that says: "I'm driving. Will call back later."

There are also other areas that can be looked into to provide a better user experience. If the phone is in vibration mode, but if the user is choosing to navigate to somewhere, we can auto maximize the volume of the speaker. Upon reaching the destination, the phone will resume to the last stage, which is vibration mode.

There is also a common situation that when a user is near a destination, the user usually is looking for a place to park the car. However, most GPS devices do not recognize that trend and will keep routing the user back to the destination. Hence, the navigation could actually go into a pause mode within 50 meters of the place and have an easy option to resume navigation to destination if needed.

What is Graable? Graable is a custom, functional, online search engine built using the Yahoo! BOSS API. The ultimate goal of the project is to suggest a model for the next generation search engine, in which we approach a "zero-click" paradigm and employ new intelligences to refine query intent. The goal is to serve as the exemplar of a new standard for all search engines, where users spend less time searching and are given the results they want.

Why the name "Graable"? In the tradition of the major search engines today having acronymic, mispelled, and redefining names, Graable is a play on the word 'grabble,' which means 'to search with the hand.' The name is intended to draw an ironic contrast with the experience we intend for our users. Old search engines require users to manually sift through results - in a sense, to search with their hands, rather than automating the process. Graable removes this constraint, automatically refining query intent and resolving specific queries without forcing the user to leave the page. Our hope is that as Graable continues to approach the '0-click' paradigm, the irony will remind users how much of a leap the next gen search has truly made.

How is Graable! different from other search engine? Graable incorporates unique interactive feature: Search Refine Assist. In order to zero-in on specific results, users are typically forced to refine their queries multiple times in a single session (60% refine their queries 3 times). Graable Refine Assist aims to help users avoid this hassle. Employing a unique and speedy algorithm that examines both the original query and its results, Refine Assist automatically determines the most plausible query intent and provides users with immediate access to precise search refinements. Graable! can also dynamically offer refinements suggestions according to the links the user clicked on.

App Creator is a Facebook app that allows non-developers to create their own virtual gifting app. A virtual gifting app allows Facebook users to send virtual gifts to each other. Virtual gifting is highly viral in nature and millions of money has been poured into virtual gifting in social networks by advertisers.

People are passionate about different things and would like to send gifts to different people. With App Creator, users can create their own virtual gifting app containing things that they like, such as cars, brands, movies, etc., and use that app to send items among their friends.

App Creator is unique because user do not need technical knowledge in creating any app. By designing a easy to use wizward, users can create a whole new virtual gifting app in under 5 minutes.

Teachers usually re-use questions for tests, quizs, and exams, and have to open multiple documents, copy and paste different questions into new documents everytime. In addition, teacher have to create the marking sheets and answer sheet.

With Quiz Generator, teachers can keep adding new questions with answers into a database. Then, teachers can easily choose to generate a test, interactive quiz, electronic quiz, or even create notes for students. This system makes it flexible for teachers to create materials for students. Hence, students can learn faster and more effecient.