Demos: Introduction to mobile computing and
systems for smart home automation

12:30-2:00 Monday, 12 May 2014, 3rd floor corridor, ITE Building

The students in Professor Banerjee’s Introduction to Mobile Computing and Systems for Smart Home Automation classes will showcase their cutting edge projects and application that use mobile phones, tablets, cloud services, and smarthome sensors.

Come and enjoy the demonstrations that range from cool smartphone games to smartphone-based educational tools to smartphone-controlled robots to location-based mobile phone services to voice and mind controlled home appliances.

The demonstrations will take place from 12:30 to 2:00pm on Monday, May 12 in the central corridor of the third floor of the ITE building at UMBC.

For more information, contact Dr. Nilanjan Banerjee (Sorry, you need javascript to view this email address. )

Hello!

Final exams are quickly approaching.  Enjoy some brain food to fuel a study session ON ME!!  

All iCubed Team Study Group participants in a study group are eligible to enter. Please fill out the study group registration form (attached) and return to me by FRIDAY, May 9th, to be entered into a raffle to win 2 PIZZAS for you and your study group on UMBC Study Day (May 14th).   

For those of you not in a study group yet, it is not too late!  If you need assistance, I can help you find one.  For more information or if you have questions, please feel free to contact me,  stop by during my office hours (this week on Friday and next Monday), or stop in my office in University Center 116.

Thanks!

-- 

Tashauna Felix, M.S., Ph.D.

iCubed Study Group Coordinator

University Center 116

tfelix1@umbc.edu

410.455.3173

As part of our ongoing commitment to security, the Unix Infrastructure will be conducting its quarterly patching of systems.  While many of the systems will be patched without any service disruption, there are several systems which require the downtime of key services.  The schedule below outlines which key services will be offline and for how long.

Friday May 23rd, 6pm to 12am

• myUMBC lite page will be up resulting in reduced myUMBC functionality

• The sites (wordpress) web hosting environment will be down

• The new web hosting environment will be down (pages will be available but any database calls will not work)

• All HFS (user) servers will be down

• Student mySQL databases will be offline

• RT will be down (expected to be down 6pm to 8pm)

• Userpages will be down

• Wiki will be down

• License5 will be down (autodesk, cadence, idl, schrodinger, xilinx)

• Student mySQL databases will be offline

• Perseus will be down

There will be no data loss during the outage and no user action is required prior to the downtime. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Technology Support Center at x53838.

You’ve built your startup from the ground up. You’re ready to see your sales really start to take off. There’s just one challenge left to tackle: building a compelling website.

You may have tons of great ideas, but unless you incorporate all the right elements and engage the right audience, your online presence will sink, not soar. Ready to build a powerful startup website? Here are 4 essential elements you won’t want to forget…

1. Focus on the function of your website

Is your site meant to inform? To sell your products? To encourage visitors to try your service?

If your startup involves selling products online, you’ll need a software solution designed for e-commerce like Shopify, Magento, OpenCart or WooCommerce (just to name a few). If your site involves just information, consider using WordPress or a similar open-source content management system like Drupal to get your site up and running.

Whatever functionality you need, make sure you build your site around its core, don’t crowbar it in afterwards.

2. Incorporate your brand

You know that your brand is your business “identity.” You also know that brand awareness is key to business success. But if you’re limiting your company brand to a logo in the corner of your homepage, you’re missing out on a huge tool to grow your startup business.

Your brand should be communicated consistently throughout your online presence. Tying your brand into all your site elements, from your images to your content to your color scheme, helps your visitors identify you, associate your business idea with your products and content, and perhaps most importantly, remember your business long after they view your pages.

Incorporate your brand into every aspect of your site, and your website’s power and effectiveness will skyrocket.

3. Design for a mobile audience

The mobile market makes up a large percentage of Internet users, soon they’ll outstrip desktop users—depending on your target market, they might already.

Which is why a mobile-first approach makes absolute sense. Incorporating responsive design, which allows your site to adapt and instantly fit onto a standard mobile device’s frame, is crucial for capturing a mobile audience for your startup company.

4. Sweat the small stuff

If you think you can toss up a basic web design template, add a few graphics and a little content in your spare time and expect your startup to be a success, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Every aspect of your website is crucial, right down to the smallest detail: your content should be engaging and relevant; your images should be attractive and tie into your brand; your call to actions should be clear and straight-forward.

Don’t DIY your site and hope all the elements magically come together. Hire professionals who can understand your vision and execute every element properly. Research and test every detail to make sure it is onpoint with your business model and goals, and your website will be as exciting and ambitious as your startup idea.

Building a powerful startup website takes work, planning and the marriage of all the right elements. Know what you want and research what you need, and your website will help launch your startup and make you a success!

The Ultimate Logo Mock Up and Design Kit – only $24!