Verizon Foundation is Giving Future Application Developers an Opportunity to Show their Stuff.

                                         prweb.com



If you know any middle and high school students that just love web app technology then this is will be a great challenge for them to participate.


The Verizon Foundation, in partnership with the Technology Student Association, has opened the 2013-2014 Innovative App Challenge, giving middle and high school students across the country a chance to develop a concept for a mobile app and bring it to market.

The mobile app design competition aims to engage students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects and empower them to create STEM-related app concepts that solve real-world problems in their community or school. Students have a chance to win Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablets courtesy of Samsung Telecommunications America, cash grants of up to $20,000 for their school, and the opportunity to team up with app development experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab to build and bring their apps to life. Verizon will help winning teams bring their app to the Google Play store, available for download.


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The fastest-growing careers in the United States are STEM-related, yet the country is not graduating enough young professionals in these fields to meet this need. As a result, as many as 3 million STEM jobs have gone unfilled, according to STEMconnector’s “2013 EdTech – Revolution in Education” report.

To address this issue, the Verizon Foundation and TSA launched the inaugural Innovative App Challenge last October. More than 1,000 schools from every state and Washington, D.C., registered for the competition, and 471 teams submitted app concepts. The competition engaged more than 3,000 boys and girls from major cities to rural areas including many underserved communities. Nearly 60 percent of the winning team members were girls.

Justina Nixon-Saintil, director of education and technology programs for the Verizon Foundation, said: “We created the Verizon Innovative App Challenge to encourage students to collaborate, get creative and use their STEM knowledge to come up with powerful answers to local, everyday problems. The inaugural challenge provided all that and more, as we saw some amazing app concepts and heard inspirational stories from students and teachers. We’re eagerly awaiting the fresh, innovative ideas that the student teams will bring to the second challenge.”

What’s New in 2013 – More Ways to Win

This year, the Verizon Innovative App Challenge offers more chances to win for teams of five students in grades 6-12 with a faculty advisor. The winning teams, which will be chosen by an expert panel of judges, will include:

• Twenty-four Best in Region winners from the West, Midwest, South and East. Each Best in Region school will receive a $5,000 cash grant plus virtual training on coding and support from the MIT Media Lab’s app development experts to help it build its app concept.
• Eight Best in Nation winners, selected from the pool of Best in Region teams. Best in Nation schools will receive an additional $15,000 cash grant, and each winning team member will receive a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. Additionally, the MIT Media Lab will provide onsite and virtual training on coding and support to the Best in Nation teams as they develop their apps, and Verizon will help bring their apps to the Google Play store. The Best in Nation winners will present their apps in person – on their new tablets – at the 2014 Technology Student Association National Conference in Washington, D.C., next June.

• Three special Best in Category winners, which will be recognized for their app concepts to help solve problems in education, healthcare or energy management – focus areas for the Verizon Foundation.

Submissions will be accepted now through Dec. 3. Teams can submit their app ideas, access tips and instructional videos on app design, and learn more about the Verizon Innovative App Challenge atwww.verizonfoundation.org/appchallenge.

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/eastex/living/verizon-foundation-launches-app-challenge-for-middle-and-high-school/article_2922238a-2afb-5c8a-b2f5-c5f07ae9e801.html

Student Web Developers Nationwide Are Being Challenged by CapitolBlue Cross to Create Applications for Healthcare or New Web Tools for One of 3 Great Prizes

                                       




Sharing this challenge is important to us that are in web design and development. New applications and tools that help produce informative websites or applications in order keep up with the current technology is always welcomed.

Below is the information needed in order to enter the contest.




Capital BlueCross is challenging student developers nationwide to create web-based tools or mobile applications that enrich the health care consumer experience. All entries must be submitted by Nov. 22, 2013, and winning entries can earn one of three prizes totaling $30,000.

Titled Blue Innovates, the challenge is an opportunity for students 18 years of age or older to bring their innovative ideas to life in one of three categories:

Financial: Applications that assist health care consumers in finding, accessing, organizing, simplifying, understanding or minimizing health care expenditures.

Telemedical: Technology that provides consumers with affordable and high quality health care while saving time and money.

Experiential: Tools that help consumers have a more personalized and satisfying health care experience and that enhance their well-being.

Students may use their preferred tools, programming languages and technologies to develop a unique solution.

To get started, students can visit Blue Innovates to review contest rules and register. Developers can also use the online forum on the Blue Innovates web site for support and advice throughout the process.

The developer of the first-place winning application will receive $15,000, while the second and third place winners will receive$10,000 and $5,000 respectively. Winners will be announced by Dec. 20, 2013. Entries must be original work created by the developer who is submitting the application for consideration.

About Capital BlueCross

In 2013, Capital BlueCross is celebrating 75 years of serving central Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley residents and businesses as the region's leading health insurer. Through its family of companies, Capital BlueCross brings innovative services and clinical solutions to the marketplace. Committed to delivering medical value to its communities, Capital BlueCross focuses on improving patient satisfaction, enhancing quality of care and reducing costs. The company continues to lead the change in the industry by meeting the evolving health needs of its customers, most recently by entering the retail market and building a first-of-its-kind health and wellness store called Capital Blue. Headquartered in Harrisburg, Pa., Capital BlueCross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, employing more than 1,800 people. More information about Capital BlueCross can be found at capbluecross.com.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/deadline-nears-for-new-web-tools-or-mobile-health-care-applications-as-capital-bluecross-challenges-student-developers-nationwide-223120191.html 

Would You Like to Know How to Spend Your Money Wisely by Using Certain Apps and Websites?

We all need the best advice in handling our money wisely so the burden of debt can be reversed.  The Buffalo News Business page posted an article on how we can save money by using 11 apps and websites.

Websites and smartphone applications can be tremendous resources for spending your money more wisely. Problem is, so many new ones crop up that it’s difficult to keep up.

So we searched for some websites and apps you might not be using and that you might find helpful.

In general what we found was a growing sophistication among money tools. Some smartphone apps use the built-in geolocation capability of the phone to help you spend money more wisely – by offering a coupon for a store that you’re already in, for example.

Another trend is for sites and apps to engage consumers by incorporating small game-type methods of reaping rewards, called gamification. And many new sites have online videos to explain their tools.

Of course, new and unusual spending tools don’t necessarily trump the tried-and-true.

For example, worth considering are Mint.com to track your spending, ConsumerReports.org to investigate product quality, AngiesList.com to find top-notch service providers, the CardStar app to electronically store your loyalty cards, GasBuddy to find low, nearby gasoline prices and Amazon Price Check and RedLaser to scan bar codes to compare prices.

But among new and lesser-known tools, we’ve rounded up a few interesting and promising ones. With newer ones, it’s hard to predict whether they’ll succeed and be available a year from now. And we weren’t able to thoroughly review every one.

But if you’re a smart consumer who likes trying new sites and apps, these seem worth a shot. Details are available online. All are free, but most have some method for earning money, if only from advertising.

Keep in mind that these aren’t being listed as the best; they’re just a sampling of ones worth exploring.




Glyph and Wallaby apps

Have a bunch of reward credit cards but aren’t sure which card will give you the biggest reward for specific purchases? Glyph (paywithglyph.com), which plans to change its name to Wisely, and Wallaby (walla.by) can help.

For each of these apps, you first enter the reward cards you own. Armed with that information, they will use the GPS on your phone to identify the retailer or restaurant you’re in and advise you on which card to use to maximize your cash back or reward points. This can be a huge help for credit cards that change bonus-reward categories each month. Each has a companion website. Linking your cards can be time-consuming, but presumably, you do it just once.

Avvo.com
This website attempts to help average people with their legal problems and also rates attorneys and offers referrals. It has a free question-and-answer forum with questions answered by lawyers. A well-known site geared more toward do-it-yourselfers is LegalZoom.com.


Manilla

This site (Manilla.com) is a couple years old but seems to fly under the radar among mainstream tools. It’s somewhere to organize many of your bills and subscriptions in one place.

You can link your accounts for your cable TV, wireless phone, electronic company and travel rewards among others. Manilla keeps tabs on those accounts, storing your bills and statements and alerting you to bills that are due so you don’t incur late fees or possibly damage your credit rating.

This site requires a lot of trust because you enter logins for many of your online accounts, including financial ones. Manilla is owned by the large media company Hearst Corp. and has detailed explanations on the website about its efforts to keep your information secure.

For a site more geared toward paying off debt, see ReadyForZero (ReadyForZero.com).


Flipsy

Selling back your unwanted electronics can be a great idea. For example, you might get $50 for a waterlogged iPhone that you thought was worthless. Flipsy is a trade-in comparison site that shows what some companies will pay you for your used books, smartphones, Mac computers and video game consoles.

To get the best deal, be sure to check out the big trade-in sites too, such as Gazelle, NextWorth, Glyde and Amazon Trade-In.



Ibotta

This app allows you to earn money for products you plan to buy by completing minor tasks.

For example, if you were going to buy Silk Pure Almond milk, you could earn 25 cents for watching a 90-second ad on your phone. If you were going to buy Green Giant frozen broccoli, you could answer a poll question to earn 25 cents.

After completing the tasks, go to the store and buy the items. Then take a picture of your store receipt to prove you bought the items – some stores offer automated verification – and money is credited to your Ibotta account. You can withdraw the money via PayPal.



CartCrunch

This app, formerly called Saverr, says it uses crowd-sourced pricing data to help shoppers find the best prices at their local grocery stores.

You can scan your grocery receipt to receive customized offers and a recommendation on which supermarket is best for you based on lowest prices, although supermarket choices are limited so far. Beware, the app is very young, but it’s interesting. Other grocery-related apps recommended by ShopSmart, the Consumer Reports magazine, include SnipSnap, Shopular and Reclip.it.

Dlyte.com

Buy gift cards from this site to reap reward points, which can be accumulated and used to purchase more gift cards. You can also use points to bid on gift cards in auctions.



Shopkick

This app is the opposite of “showrooming,” the term for consumers scouting purchases in real stores but then buying the products online for a lower price.

This app rewards you for physically being in the stores of major retailers by giving you “kicks,” the program’s currency, for being in the store and interacting with products, such as scanning bar codes of items.

As a consumer, you should be aware that the idea behind the app is to encourage you to walk into stores more often and perhaps be enticed to make more purchases. Accumulated kicks can be cashed in, mostly for gift cards to Target, Starbucks, Macy’s, iTunes and others.



Wattzon

This website and accompanying apps attempt to save you energy and money. After asking a few questions about your home, it will offer suggestions on how to cut energy use, for example. You can link the site to your utility account to monitor electricity and natural gas use.


Greentoe

This website allows you to name your own price for electronics, similar to Priceline and Hotwire for travel. You make an offer, with help from the site, which then notifies retailers of a potential buyer. The first retailer to respond makes the online sale to you.

Be sure to check prices elsewhere to make sure you’re not offering to pay too much.

Of course, this is only a sampling and just scratches the surface of new money-related tools. But it might give you a sense of what’s available.

http://www.buffalonews.com/business/money-smart/11-apps-and-websites-to-help-you-spend-money-more-wisely-20130908

Mobile Developers Will Have a Smile on Their Face With the New Service From AMAZON

pcworld

Amazon web services is now offering mobile developers cross-platform push notifications. Why would developers benefit from this service?

                                                  voxville
                                                          

Amazon pitches Simple Notification Service with Mobile Push as an easier way for developers to add notifications than previously has been possible. Using one API, developers can send notifications to iOS and Android-based devices, including Amazon's own Kindle Fire tablets.

Previously, adding push notifications at a large scale on multiple platforms has been complicated for developers, according to Amazon. That's because each smartphone OS has a different service that delivers notifications. So to support multiple mobile platforms, developers must integrate with each platform, which introduces operational complexity and cost, Amazon said.

Mobile Push is compatible with Amazon's own Device Messaging platform as well as Apple's Push Notification Service and Cloud Messaging from Google. Notification messages sent to a mobile endpoint can appear as message alerts, badge updates, or even sound alerts.

The service can send messages to individual users on specific devices or broadcast identical messages to many subscribers at once. For developers who find themselves with a hit app on their hands, it can scale from a few notifications a day to hundreds of millions, according to Amazon.

Developers can send up to 1 million notifications each month for free. After that, customers pay 50 cents for every million messages published, and 50 cents for every million messages delivered.

 

Mobile Push is built into the existing Simple Notification Service, which is still labelled as a beta and already lets developers send notifications to their users via SMS text message and email.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9241598/Amazon_offers_mobile_developers_cross_platform_push_notifications

Chatwing Company Develops a Premium Chat Box For Career Support Websites

Are you looking for a great way to get information concerning careers in your area?  What about a using a chat box where businesses and those needing to find a place of employment can communicate. Chatwing has developed this great application for websites.

                                                   www.techinfoblog.net


Chatwing.com launches an informative widget that can be embedded and utilizes social media well.

Chatwing chat software has undergone improvements aiming to provide users with a communication leverage that will further social connectivity and expansion. One of the latest upgrades includes Yahoo and Gmail log in methods, which makes the chat app raises the website’s level of accessibility. Career support websites can still interact with Facebook and Twitter users and transfer important chat messages from chatbox to one’s own Facebook wall as a form of announcement and promotion. The process of looking for the right people for a certain profession will not be tedious and challenging.

Chatwing’s thousand user capacity can definitely accommodate web surfers across the globe. Sharing interview tips, professional advices and job descriptions can be accomplished in just a few seconds and can stay in the chat box for a longer time. This will allow new web visitors to view previous messages where they can also gain from earlier conversation exchanges. Job help websites can also engage in group chats through Chatwing vanity URL form. This is possible with the generation of username and shortlinks, thus career assessment can be done efficiently online.

Chatwing chat app is highly customizable. Web admins can design the chat tool in ways that can add up to the site’s professional reputation or entice more web surfers into the web page. Users can experiment with the color combinations and upload photos as the widget’s background image. In the coming months, Chatwing chat software team plans to release more advanced chat software that can also help business oriented websites and niche blogs improve online presence. The Chatwing.com is always updated with effective tips on how to use the improved chat tool in website developments and communication advantage. About Chatwing.com
Chatwing.com specializes in the new field of live website chat software. Over years, the development team has introduced live chat widget for hundreds and thousands of blogs. The application bridges people from many parts of the world, creating global synergy through the Internet. The shout box can be installed in just seconds, and it can be used for varying purposes such as leisure and Internet marketing. It also allows a user to customize the size, color, and name of the widget.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/8/prweb10982826.htm