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SI alum scores again with mobile app

May 10, 2011

Prolific application developer Hung Truong (MSI ’09) continues to earn distinction in the semi-annual University of Michigan Mobile Apps Challenge. The spring 2011 winners were just announced, and Hung was runner-up with his new app, Mapskrieg.

Mapskrieg was developed for the iPad, and marries Google maps with Craigslist, allowing users to search for items geographically. See a demo.

Truong works part-time as an application programmer at North Quad. Last fall, he was named first runner-up with his Checkmate for Foursquare app. Enhancing the location-based social networking tool Foursquare, this iPhone app makes the check-in feature automatic when users visit their favorite venues. The app also allows users to share their check-ins on Facebook and Twitter.

While at SI, Truong and two fellow MSI students won the RPM Ventures annual contest that provides support to entrepreneurial start-ups for their company Troubadour Mobile. He continues to develop new applications independently.

The goal of the Mobile Apps competition is to promote entrepreneurial thinking and encourage the U-M community to develop innovative mobile applications.

Categories: Alumni, Entrepreneurs

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Entrepreneur and Internet innovator speaks Monday

April 13, 2011

nathan_stollThe first speaker in the Google Lecture Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Nathan Stoll, will share stories of innovation and entrepreneurship at his startup company Aardvark, Monday, April 18 at noon in the Ehrlicher Room, 3100 North Quad. A light lunch will be served.

Aardvark is a social search tool that taps the knowledge of people in a user’s network. It was acquired by Google in February 2010. An early and long-time Googler, Stoll briefly returned to Google to help with the company’s transition during the spring and summer of 2010.

Before leaving to start Aardvark, Stoll headed Google News, overseeing its rapid expansion to more than 40 countries and growth into one of the top global news sites. Earlier in his product management career at Google, he launched Google Suggest, a search suggestion service now used in most Google searches.

He worked extensively on the early Google Adwords system and with Google’s internal analytics teams and developed a number of patented pricing adjustment and forecasting models. Stoll holds degrees in computer science and political science from Stanford University.

Categories: Entrepreneurs, Events

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Annual expoSItion spotlights student innovations

March 21, 2011
Food Buddha team

Food Buddha teammates took second place for best overall presentation in the 2010 expoSItion. (L to R: Jacob Solomon, Kiran Jagadeesh, and Urmila Kashyap)

School of Information students’ innovative ideas for connecting people and solving real-world problems are showcased in the annual SI expoSItion, Monday, March 28 from 12-2 p.m. in the Michigan League Hussey and Vandenberg rooms. Attended by potential employers, prospective students, and members of the SI and U-M community, the expoSItion offers a great opportunity to learn about some of the innovative individual and group projects current SI students have undertaken.

Attendees can vote for their favorite projects in the categories of Best Overall Project Presentation and Best Social Computing Project Presentation. Winners will receive cash prizes ranging from $100 to $1,500, thanks to the event’s generous sponsors: John Deere Foundation, Yahoo! and Microsoft Research.

Over 20 projects will be on display, including:

• WCBN, U-M College radio–preservation needs assessment
• Emotion API — open mobile software platform that enables users to collect and reflect on their changing emotions
• Itsika — Mobile service layer enables communication between public services and private enterprise in developing countries using a standard mobile phone. Itsika means “we and you” in Malagasy
• Know Your Neighbors — reduces consumption and waste by promoting sharing of products and services between neighbors
• Repair Worlds — examines the importance of repair and maintenance of digital infrastructure in rural Namibia and Madagascar
• Wasteliminator — keeps track of a purchaser’s consumption of disposables with a universal card that makes consumers aware of the amount of non-recycleable products they buy. The application suggests alternative packaging and supports a social network of savers.
(more…)

Categories: Career Development, Entrepreneurs, Students
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Informatics major wins west coast trip with “Spubble”

February 18, 2011

Informatics junior Jacob Steinerman’s new startup, MoBlue Technology, was featured recently in the gadgets column of the Ann Arbor edition of Examiner.com. He and his team have developed Spubble, an innovative smart phone app for individuals with speech impairments, communication issues, or autism.

Icons on the phone represent food, people, places, numbers, and general categories.  Tapping on words in the sub-categories moves them into a “speech bubble” where the users can form and play sentences. See a demo.

The U-M Center for Entrepreneurship has selected Jacob and his team to present their product to Michigan alumni in the San Francisco area; they will also be visiting offices of Facebook, Google, Twitter and Tapjoy.

A free version of the app is available at the iTunes App Store.

Categories: Entrepreneurs, Students
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Keeping it real, fresh, and local

February 18, 2011

SI alumni Lisa Wheeler (MSI ’09) and Gaurav Bhatnagar (MSI ’09) are now living in Seattle and working for the Ann Arbor-based startup, Real Time Farms. The company’s attractive, newly redesigned website helps people easily find and learn more about farm fresh food near them.

Users of the site can also upload their own information and photos regarding local food sources:  farms, farmers markets, and restaurants that serve locally grown food. Though primarily focused on resources around the Ann Arbor area, the site has national ambitions and already has contributors from New York to California.

Stories about the effort have appeared in Edible Wow, AnnArbor.com, and thekitchn.com, among many other places.

Categories: Alumni, Entrepreneurs
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