Wednesday, September 26, 2012

My Virtual App Uses Cloud Computing

This app is a virtual fridge on your smart phone that tells you when your items are running low. Items are scanned onto the phone using the barcode scanner. When an item is running low, the app will notify the user. This app also allows users to save time by giving the quickest route to get all items at a supermarket along with helping users stay on their diet when they continue to scan and buy special products. 


My Virtual Fridge App Uses Cloud Computing

            My Virtual Fridge app will use cloud computing in various ways. My Virtual Fridge app is able to maintain many data about a user over the Web, with the user's permission of course. Two different data types that My Virtual Fridge will be using with cloud computing is purchases made and fridge details. The user will be able to access this data over the web with a login username and password.
            When a user logs online with their username and password one of the data types they can access on the Web is their purchases made. A user will be able to see every item they have bought, including the name of the item, price of the item, and where the item was purchased. This will be very useful for the user because they will be able to keep track of the items they bought and how much they have been spending in the supermarkets.
             Another data type that can be found on the Web for My Virtual Fridge users is details about their fridge. When the user logs on the Web, they will be able to see every item that is currently in their fridge, and how long it is suppose to last for. This is useful because lets say a user is at work and they forgot their phone home that day, they can log onto the Web, insert their username and password, and see the items in their fridge and see what items they need to purchase at the supermarket before they come home.


Monday, September 24, 2012

Competitive Analysis

This app is a virtual fridge on your smart phone that tells you when your items are running low. Items are scanned onto the phone using the barcode scanner. When an item is running low, the app will notify the user. This app also allows users to save time by giving the quickest route to get all items at a supermarket along with helping users stay on their diet when they continue to scan and buy special products. 


Competitive Analysis


Competitor 1 URL: http://techland.time.com/2011/05/27/supermarkets-map-app-shows-quickest-routes-to-things-on-your-list/              This competitor is called Tesco. It is similar to my app because this app also gives a turn by turn route to give the user a suggested route  that is quickest way for finding all the stuff on a shopping list. The difference with my app is that it is for all smartphones and not only for Androids like this competitor. Also for this app, this is the only feature that is used for the app. On the other hand, my app comes with different features, for example, the virtual fridge, the diet feature, and the coupon feature.

Competitor 2 URL:http://redlaser.com/
                This competitor is called Red Laser. It is similar to my app because it also scans items and finds the prices of the item at different locations. This app is also available for all smartphones. The difference with this app is that it shows prices from local stores and  online websites, when my app only shows local supermarkets. After reviewing this competitor, I feel like it would be better if my app included prices from online websites too.
Summary
               In conclusion, after reviewing these competitors I have noticed that my app can add more features to top my competitors. The positive thing about my app is that it  does not only have one use for the app but it has several uses. This makes my application top my competitors because most of their apps have only one main use.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

My Virtual Fridge Uses Hardware and Computer Forensics

This app is a virtual fridge on your smart phone that tells you when your items are running low. Items are scanned onto the phone using the barcode scanner. When an item is running low, the app will notify the user. This app also allows users to save time by giving the quickest route to get all items at a supermarket along with helping users stay on their diet when they continue to scan and buy special products.


My Virtual Fridge Uses Hardware and Computer Forensics 




Hardware Used for My Virtual Fridge App

One important hardware that is used for the My Virtual Fridge App is the barcode scanner built in the smartphone. This piece of hardware is the main component used for this app. The barcode scanner scans the barcode using a light source, lens, and a light sensor that translates the information from the bardcode. With the barcode scanner, it scans the product information of any item onto the smartphone using computer forensics, which is mentioned below.

Storing Product Information onto Smartphone

Using the My Virtual Fridge app on your smartphone will definitely be using a lot of computer forensics in multiple ways. One way that this app uses computer forensics is when it stores product information into the cellphone. Once the item is scanned onto the phone, the phone will now have a full description of the product. Some information that will be stored on the phone is the name of the product, the price, the size, and etc.

Storing User Information onto Smartphone

Along with storing product information onto the smartphone, the My Virtual Fridge app will also be storing information about the user onto the phone. Some information about the user will be stored, for example, what supermarket  did the user buy items from, what items the user bought, what time did the user buy items, what diet the user went on, and a lot more.  This will be stored on the phone just in case a user needs to look back on their phone to see some information that might come in handy to them.

Monday, September 10, 2012

My Virtual Fridge Uses Social Media and Excel


This app is a virtual fridge on your smart phone that tells you when your items are running low. Items are scanned onto the phone using the barcode scanner. When an item is running low, the app will notify the user. This app also allows users to save time by giving the quickest route to get all items at a supermarket along with helping users stay on their diet when they continue to scan and buy special products.

My Virtual Fridge Uses Social Media and Excel
My Virtual Fridge can be related with social media by connecting a user’s social network accounts with the application. A user can log on to their social network and let their friends or followers know on Facebook or Twitter which supermarket they are currently at, like a check-in feature. Of course this feature is optional, if a user does not want to share this information on their social network they do not have to.
This app will definitely have privacy settings because not every user may want others to know what they are buying, what diet they are currently on, or what supermarket they shop at. The user can change these settings to what they want to be private and what they want to be shared on their social networks. For example, a user can chose to not show the supermarkets they shop at but choose to make the diet they go on public.
My Virtual Fridge can even be related with Excel in a very useful way. A user can keep track of how much they spent weekly, monthly, or yearly at supermarkets. Charts can even be made from Excel to show the user’s finances in a visual format. The app will even categorize the items the user bought. For example, daily products, poultry, snacks, drinks, etc. 

Saturday, September 8, 2012

My Virtual Fridge App



ABOUT THE APP

                  Many people open their fridge while they are in the middle of making something and notice an item they need is not there. Many people also waste valuable time at supermarkets looking for items they think they would need at home. Many people also go to the supermarket and buy items and notice they forgot something. To help stop these current problems, my entrepreneurial idea is an app for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and all smart phones users. Technology is rapidly increasing and almost everyone has a smart phone and uses apps to help them go through the day.  With this new app, it is like a virtual fridge on your smart phone. Every time you go to the supermarket, this app will scan the items you buy, using the barcode scanner, and store it into your phone. Once you scan the item, it will appear in the virtual fridge. Every time an item is scanned, the app will automatically put in how long they think the item will last in the fridge. For example, if milk is scanned into the phone, the app will automatically put 2 weeks. Once 2 weeks is approaching, the app can send push notifications to the phone alert that the milk is running out.  The user of the app can manually adjust the settings to their own time also. While at the supermarket, a user can see what items are currently running out of stock of and won’t have to waste time.

COOL FEATURES

                This app will also have many features on the side that can be very useful. With this app being partnered with many other supermarkets, the app can help you when you are in certain supermarkets. For example, many people spend a lot of time walking around a supermarket to find the items they need. With the special Quick Route feature in the app, it will tell a user the quickest route to get all the items they need.  A user can uncheck any item they do not want to be on the route also. This feature will help the user save time and the supermarkets become less busy.
                 Another feature in the app will be to help our users save money. Using the barcode scanner again, the app can scan any new item or any items already scanned onto the phone and find the prices of them at different supermarkets. With this feature, a user can find the lowest price for an item or the lowest price at a supermarket for their total purchase.
 Finally, this app can help our users go on a diet and successfully stay on it. With this feature, the app will generate what type of diet one will need to go on and then generate a list of items the user should buy. Once the user buys items and scans the items into the phone frequently, the app will notice that the user is successfully staying on the diet. For the users who successfully remain on the diet, the app will randomly send coupons to the user’s phone to reward the user.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, supermarkets would love to be partnered with this app because it will make them have fewer crowds and shorter lines. Supermarkets would enjoy this because they wouldn’t have to hire too many people and their supermarket can be more organized. The app will also help people financially, physically (with their body), and with their time.