MommyCount is a great way for parents to keep track of the “deals” they make with their kids, and to teach children about goal setting and the value of earning the things they ask for. The Qube Lab developed MommyCount for iPhone and Android phones, and is also working on other “counting” applications that will leverage the elegant MommyCount interface.
Northeast Ohio entrepreneurs Himanshu Amin and Michael Chesler tapped The Qube Lab to develop “MommyCount,” an application for smart phones that enable parents to keep track of children’s behavior using a point system. The child selects a goal (such as a book or toy) and the parent assigns points needed to reach the goal. MommyCount allows the parent to keep track of multiple children and a variety of goals. The app can be purchased on the iPhone or Android store for 99 cents.
Dane Shafer Klink developed both the iPhone and Android app and Maggie Dai designed the user interface. MommyCount’s user interface was crafted with simplicity and easy, one-handed navigation in mind. The app makes full use of the camera by integrating pictures of the children and the goals in the real-time use of the system.
According to Himanshu, “It was a joy to work with the folks from the Qube Lab. They are professional, technically impressive, and develop mobile apps for a fraction of what other organizations would charge.”
Dane, the developer of the app and a graduate of Case Western Reserve, reflected that “MommyCount was developed using the excellent iOS SDK and Android SDK, which made it easy to hit the ground running. We were able to rapidly generate prototypes and work with the client to refine the look and feel of the application. The beauty of getting a prototype out to testers fast is that it allows us to refine our vision based on real-world usage. We ended up creating a great app that will help mothers everywhere keep track of their kids behavior.”
Video gamers need to know when new games are being released, but it is often difficult to keep track of this information. Release dates change and gamers often follow information about multiple new games and new versions of their favorite games.
Northeast Ohio’s own Handelabra Studio, with the help of the Qube Lab, has developed GAME.minder – an iPhone app designed to aid gamers in automatically tracking release dates for the games that interest them. This is the first in a family of “minder” apps that Handelabra Studio plans to release. Using a lot of the lessons learned developing GAME.minder, the next minder, under development now, is simply called RE.minder and will allow users to set anything they want as a local reminder on their phones.
According to Jeremy Handel, the president of Handelabra, “It was really fun and educational working with the Qube Lab. The mobile marketplace is moving SO fast right now, it’s great to watch young minds dive in and not only embrace it, but truly help shape it. I can’t wait to work with the Qube guys again. Matthew in particular brought a really great amount of creativity to the project. Almost every time I came to him with an idea for a feature, he was already halfway through implementing it.”
Matthew McCroskey worked with the Handelabra and Qube Lab teams to develop the first version of the app. According to Matthew “The GAME.minder project was a phenomenal learning experience for me. I was able to work directly with the creative head of the project (Jeremy Handel) from idea inception through the product’s release on the App Store, and I gained valuable real-world experience every step of the way. I now have a successful, real-world product that I can show to potential employers, giving me a competitive advantage over other potential hires.”
RingRang is an innovative Northeast Ohio company that has developed a system that enables companies to stay in constant communication with current and potential customers. By installing a simple “RingRang” button on their website, the system links those customers to the company directly via phone and email, right from the web.
RingRang worked with the Qube Lab to develop an administrative back-end for the system using Ruby on Rails. This back-end provides a simple web-based user interface for editing customer data in the system and generating web-based reports and customer invoices.
According to Larry Miner, Founder of RingRang, “RingRang has worked hand in hand with Qube Lab to design, enhance and develop RingRang software and we couldn’t be more pleased. From day one they have fully supported us in the design and development of every new feature of our platform and we will continue to use Qube Lab as our firm moves forward.”
RingRang LLC, a provider of innovative Internet communications tools, provides a completely new way for businesses and consumers to instantly communicate. Through its web site icons and smart phone application RingRang provides all parties the ability to immediately communicate with each other no matter where they are in the world. The benefits to businesses are an increased conversion rate, differentiated market services and attention to the consumer while still on the site or in the aisle. The benefits to the consumers are meeting today’s needs of speed, knowledge, convenience and service within seconds. Do you RingRang?
CitizenGroove LLC is a new service to help musicians while bridging the gap between academia and the music industry. While the internet is lined with music sites designed by businesses following the trends of the week, CitizenGroove was built by college music majors turned professional musicians. Born out of a dorm room at Case Western Reserve University, CitizenGroove has grown considerably since its founding in 2008. It is the vision of CG to create a professional networking solution for content creators, interconnecting artists, academic institutions, and the music industry on a single web-based platform.
CitizenGroove needed a way to transcode the thousands of audio files it receives everyday so that they could be accessed in a standard filetype. This transcoding needed to be done in such a way that it did not disrupt the regular operation of the site by adding server load. Working with the CitizenGroove development team, the Qube Lab architected a solution and developed it using Django, the Python web development framework used by CitizenGroove's team. This solution consisted of a single application (in the Django sense of the word) that is run on a separate server that accepts requests from the site to transcode files as they are uploaded. The application uses ffmpeg, an open source, cross-platform library for transcoding audio and video, and the simplicity of Amazon Web Services to accomplish transcoding at minimal cost to CitizenGroove.
According to Knific, "CitizenGroove was very pleased with the work done by Qube Lab. They delivered exactly what we needed at a fraction of what most third-party development groups charge. We were a unique situation. CitizenGroove already had two full-time web developers on staff, but we couldn't keep up with the demands of our backlog. With Qube, we were able to easily section off a "modular" project, and reduce the pressure on our internal team. As a recent graduate of CWRU and young business owner, I respect how Nick Berente has brought together young talent and showed them how to function as a professional software development group. I implore every entrepreneur to take advantage of the organized, energetic, and intelligent Qube Team… before they all graduate, get hired by the big guys, and you can't afford them anymore."
According to Nick Berente, director of the Qube Lab, "The project for with CitizenGroove was a great experience. John and his team are professional and very capable young entrepreneurs. CitizenGroove's ePortfolio web application is precisely the type of niche technology platform that will shape the next wave of professional social computing. Also, their Digital Auditions application is an elegant and powerful technology. We are thrilled to be involved with their organization."
Matt Briancon, developer for the Qube Lab, summed it up: "Working with the developers at CitizenGroove was a breeze. They are good people, excellent developers, and they were a pleasure to work with."
The idea involves a mobile application that provides “on-demand delivery of critical information” to mobile business professionals. His patent-pending Mobile App offers a unique combination of interactive 2-way text, voice and Internet connectivity that provides a systematic approach to On-demand Support, Mobile Learning and essential social networking features which he calls Intelligent Networking. The nickname “Super” Mobile App came into being as it works on any smartphone.
John presented a prototype of the Mobile App at the world’s largest medical trade-show last year. The application is now in production for a medical technology company and is also being used by a Fortune Global 500 technology organization. The IMS application has been selected as a finalist in the Best Mobile Application category for the 2010 NEOSA Best of Tech Awards.
“Working with the Qube Lab is fantastic,” states John Steidley, the President of Intelligent Mobile Support, “The team has a ‘we can do that’ attitude, ability and enthusiasm that helped turn a simple idea into a ‘super’ mobile app. It was exciting to have a working prototype to show customers and gather market feedback. But it was even more exciting to work with the talented ‘super’ team that helped create it.”
According to Nick Berente, the director of the Qube Lab, the students also benefited from the experience: “What a pleasure it was to work with John. The guys benefited from his wealth of experience and his unique perspective. John is really a great example for the guys professionally, and his application is cutting edge. We were really excited to work on the project and we are proud of the result.”