Posts Tagged ‘iVolunteer’
iVolunteer Comprehensive, Semi-Frequent Update Vol. 3 No. 11ty
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
SnapImpact has something we’d like to say:
Ka-ching.
This week, Amazon Web Services has granted SnapImpact up to $5,000-worth of hosting services for the first year that we exist! What this means is, barring our iPhone app being used more than the iFart, we will not have to worry about a major portion of our operating costs for 365 days. BOOM!
Now, an announcement from the development team that actually won’t make our readers nod off: we’ve finalized the beta version of iVolunteer, our first mobile app for the iPhone, and it’s been submitted to the Apple-saurus for digestion and an ultimate determination as to whether or not we get a spot in the App Store. Keep your fingers crossed tight, people!
That’s it for this week. I made a promise to myself to keep it snappy so that I could, you know, actually WRITE A POST. I’m sorry, that was directed at me, not you. You’re great (except for you, Bruce).
Until next week…..
iVolunteer is now SnapImpact.org
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
Ahh, what’s in a name? Well, with the case of iVolunteer, apparently about 5 other organizations. So in an effort to play nice in the sandbox, we’re officially moving from our iVolunteer branding to SnapImpact.org! With tequila consumption in abundance, user testing around Boulder, then a pretty good hangover the next day, the community selected the name SnapImpact (you know, like it’s a snap to make an impact….).
Our iPhone app will still maintain the iVolunteer name, but everything else will move to SnapImpact, including our Facebook account, the Wordpress plugin, the website, and our Twitter account. Links coming soon!
Welcome to SnapImpact.org!
Weekly Update: Ambithasiant Lunar Waneshaft Edition
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
[iVolunteer's project team meets every Tuesday at 6:00 pm at the Van Heyst Group's offices on 719 Walnut Street in Boulder, and they never ask for a plug, Godbless'em. We like to do it anyway, even if you'll never use them. Today's fact: They put on conferences. Not the Trekkies kind or the Furries kind, but more "innovative forums for global thought leaders and senior executives." So, in other words, not me. On to the update.]
First, we’ll take a brief moment so you can stand and applaud our three newest iVolunteerers – Dan Hellman, Rick Saltzman, and Brett Greene!
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Okay, okay, that’s plenty. They’re still noobs, after all. And they will be hazed this time! I will not be the only one!
A lot of news coming fast and furious out of the development (a.k.a. Nerd) team:
- We have a scriplet version of Interest Areas for Facebook.
- We are completing iPhone filter page development this week.
- Dave will complete ipconversion by Thu for Neil to continue WordPress plugin development.
- Dave fixed data feed and is optimizing to load quicker and will push to server this week.
- We have successfully figured out how to encabulate retroactively as this video explains. I think that means we can now travel through time, but I’ll double-check that with the techies, just to be sure.
If you understood what any of that meant, then faaaaantastic. In fact, if you’re in the Denver/Boulder area join our Facebook group, and come to our next working sesh. Especially if you like being more employable, because you’ll be able to learn all kinds of stuff about iPhoneDev, Facebook App Dev, and other things that now are closing $3 million funding rounds. Learn how to make three million dollars from geniuses. That’s what we’re offering, here.
On the BizDev side, I guess we don’t have that much to report, you know, except for, oh yeah, this little thing about us getting the call to be the featured iPhone partner for HandsOn Network, more or less the biggest volunteer-opportunity-finder in the country, and also for the National Conference on Volunteering and Service on June 22nd-24th. Which is totally splendiforous on the surface, yet means we have to do all this in the next 37 days.
Here’s a few ways you can help:
One (Less than a minute): Go vote for HandsOn Network, our new partner, to receive more money from Target. The more votes they get, the more resources they have to accomplish the dream of creating a global, mobile, and instant volunteering force to give aid in the largest and smallest of crises.
Two (a few minutes): Go to this page and enter iVolunteer in the “Designation” field for whatever amount you can give. Our meetings run on pizza and beer, which doesn’t cost more than $60 or so every meeting. Even a few bucks would totally go a long way.
Three (a couple hours): Join our Facebook group, and stay abreast (yes, I wrote that) of all upcoming meetings. Drop in sometime. Considering the fact that we’re now launching different parts of the service over the next month, culminating in a huge coming-out party. If you’ve ever wanted to learn Product Launching, PR, or Strategic Fundraising (or if you just want to pad your resume in those areas), we always need more big brains attached to little beer-and-pizza-holes to sit in. To repeat: We are launching a technology product nationally and need help from anyone who’s got a couple hours to spare! Be a part of something cool.
Plus, we’ll let you in on our time-traveling device. As soon as we get more prefamulated amulite and a flux capacitor.
We’ll be revealing another big surprise soon, so be sure to follow us on Twitter. In the meantime, stay classy, Colorado!
-Josh
iVolunteer’s Identity Problem
Monday, March 2nd, 2009
So, I found out about iVolunteer about a month ago, and knew I had to get involved. Rich and Dave told me a little more about the project, and about how it was essentially going to turn into whatever this room full of volunteers decided it would. I thought, Yeah, that’s cool. So, I said to Rich and Dave, “Yeah. That’s cool.”
But I was actually half lying. It is cool, kinda. But I thought it would be a lot cooler to let everyone decide how it turns out. Like everyone everyone. You know – on the planet. Being totally honest, some of us thought that just keeping it to a bunch of people that showed up on a Tuesday in a building in Boulder smacked of place-ism (and volunteerism). So, because this whole innertubes or webernets (or whatever the kids are calling it) deal is like one big, happy family of zeros and ones, we wanted to give any of our cyber siblings out there a chance to change the world. And it’s so freakin’ easy. We need you to click three times. That’s it.
And did we mention it’s fun? It’s not even fun like when your parents told you you were going to the Hot Air Balloon Festival, leading you to believe you were going to get to ride on a hot air balloon, only to later realize that you would merely be watching as the more privileged people got to fly away while you stood there holding a hot chocolate in the freezing cold – at 4:30 am (I guess we never forget some things). No, it’s actually fun, because it involves critiquing stuff. And who doesn’t like to judge? Voicing your opinion is one of the most fun things you can do, and it’s totally free (unlike dates)!
So what is it exactly? Well, the iVolunteer unit has selected (after careful, meticulous research and composition that took us an entire Saturday) FOUR different logos and brand identities for the iVolunteer program that will help us spread the love of community service as though it were contagious. We need you, fair internet, to guide us in your infinite wisdom toward the proper decision. Here’s how it works: Each logo/brand set has been neatly packaged for speedy consumption (unlike this intro), and includes a primary logo, secondary logo(s), and one example of what an ad might look like to get a feel for the brand (for those among us who take yoga and drink herbal tea). Interpret them however you wish (click the image to see a bigger version), and then go to the survey link at the end of this post to submit your vote. Don’t like what you see? Maybe you can do better. If you would like to take a stab, send your competing submissions to josh AT tuggl DOT com, and they wil be added into the mix immediately. We will not be offended. Without further ado, here are your choices:
IDENTITY A
Like this one? This is Identity A (Original Logo)! Go to the bottom to vote!
IDENTITY B
Like this one? This is Identity B (iBot)! Go to the bottom to vote!
IDENTITY C
Like this one? This is Identity C (Phone Signal)! Go to the bottom to vote!
IDENTITY D
Like this one? This is Identity D (Scribbly)! Go to the bottom to vote!
I know what you’re thinking: Those su-uuuuu-ck. Don’t forget, you can submit your own, but the later you do, the fewer votes you have time to get. So get on it! Or, alternatively, you can be lazy and just vote on one like I’m about to do at the SURVEY SITE: Click me! Click me!
Feel free to leave a comment on the survey site about how much we suck, but be prepared to couple it with how we can suck less.
Thanks, everybody in the whole world! Have a great week, and be sure to check back in a few weeks when we’ll be announcing the winner, or you can just subscribe to this blog’s super-awesome, satisfaction-guaranteed RSS feed to make sure you know when it comes up.
-Josh Clauss, on behalf of the iVolunteer Marketing Mod Squad
iPhone Development for fun and non-profit
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
As a transplant living in Lafayette, telecommuting to Oregeon, I’m hardly dialed in to the Boulder tech scene. Last year, I was lucky enough to stumble upon the Boulder New Tech Meetup, and attended a couple meetings. Then, real life and tight deadlines joined up to keep me heads down in my basement office for most of 2008. Once 2009 rolled around, I came up for air and was lucky enough to attend the February BDNT meetup.
It was standing room only, and I was squeezed way in the back when announcement time came around. Some guy named Dave stood up and said that he was looking for iPhone developers for a volunteering application. A couple books and a crash course on Cocoa hardly makes me an iPhone dev, but I’d been wanting to learn for some time, so I tracked him down after the meetup. And the rest is history. Recent history. Still in the making, actually, since we’re still plugging away.
Which brings me to my point: iPhone development is capital F-U-N fun. I’ve done most of the major languages, but Obj-C is the first one I’ve picked up in a matter of hours vs. days or weeks. Think about it: on Febuary 1st, I had a vague idea that the iPhone used something called Cocoa, and that Objective C “was sort of like C++, but not”. Yesterday I got my first data-bound UI up and running. And this isn’t full time by any means, just an hour here and there where possible, and a couple stints on the weekend.
But the real reason I piqued up at the iVolunteer opprotunity was that, as a telecommuter, I’ve gotten kind of bored with discussing application design and implementation with myself. So, why not share the fun? You really don’t need to know the first thing about iPhone development, just a general computer programming background is more than enough to get started. You don’t even need an iPhone, just a Mac, some curiosity, and patience while the SDK downloads.
We’ve got our data model foundation pretty well worked out, so now it’s the fun stuff: a slick UI, tight look and feel, and all the cool little bells and whistles that make an app really shine. Even if you don’t want to touch a line of code, a keen eye for design is also very welcome. So if you want a chance to learn a new technology while contributing to a really good cause, drop us a line. Or look for us at next week’s BDNT Meetup in Boulder.
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