Timetabling for the iPad

The internship started with a very fun and challenging project. For the last week I’ve been working together with Ayrton De Craene on a timetabling app for the iPad. The app is created for university students here in Cambridge.

The Idea

We built the application around a dynamic grid that allows users to scroll and swipe between different weeks and subjects. Once the user selects a subject he gets detail info and the ability to access Google Maps(for navigation). Another feature is that the application is able to detect lunchtimes. During lunchtimes the user can get a selection of restaurants located nearby his current position.

A technical note is that our apps are created with Appcelerator Titanium and we have the apps running on our own iPads. It’s also built around an API developed by CARET (the company I’m working at).

Presentation

This morning we had a presentation for all the members at CARET. Fingers crossed because there is realistic chance that we are allowed to work on this application until it’s ready for an AppStore publish.

First days in Cambridge

I arrived at Cambridge on sunday, it’s a shame but I haven’t found time to explore the city so I can’t write much details about it (they will follow in one of my upcoming blogposts). At first sight Cambridge feels like one big university separated by a maze of small streets and medieval architecture (castles, towers, bridges…), the atmosphere is simply amazing.

The Internship at CARET

My internship started on monday and we’re already chasing a deadline. I really like the project I’m working on at the moment, our task is to create an interactive timetabling iPad app for the University of Cambridge. We’re divided into two teams, each team contains one Devine student and one MCT student. As a Devine student I’m responsible for the design and the usability / user-experience of the application while the MCT students do the development.

The days feel long but I already like working more than studying because everything I do makes more sense and I like working in a professional environment. We start everyday with a little meeting (called a Scrum meeting) where we discuss our current progress and plans for the upcoming day. The first days I felt a bit uncanny at the office but I’m getting more productive every day and my workspace already feels like home. I’m sitting next to the coffee machine so that’s another plus.

Credits to my colleagues for the friendly welcome and to Bert (our mentor) for guiding us!

 

 

Multi-Touch Portfolio App

For the last two weeks I’ve been working together with Benoit Nolens, Maarten De Roeck and Joni Van Bogaert. Our goal was to create a multi-touch portfolio application that is very adjustable and transparent. The application is dynamic and all the content is added with a simple CMS. The application is built for touchscreens but almost all the gestures can be done on Apple trackpads.

Berlin

Last year I went to Berlin with some friends and instead of using my Canon I took my handy-cam (a Sony HDR-CX115) with me to shoot some random pictures of our trip. It took me a while but I finally found some time to put the footage into something descent. Credits to Thomas Heylen for helping me with the editing and of course to my friends for being great entertainment.

Awesome Magazine

The assignment was to create a digital magazine optimized for touch devices/tablets (for example the iPad) and it’s quite unthinkable but the magazine is created with Adobe Flash using Air 2.0 (still in beta) and the Flex 4 framework.

Our Idea

The idea behind our magazine is literally “Awesome stuff” this can be gadgets like the iPhone but also transportation like exclusive cars, or cool extravagant  collectables that attract our and probably your attention.

Our assignment contains 2 applications, the first one is a “magazine reader”, literally the application were people can buy, download and read our magazines. The second part is a CMS (content management system) in which the editors could create and publish new issues of the magazine. Both applications are quite complex because we wanted to make both applications usable without internet connection.

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