Setting Up Our Model

Consider a pretty generic Message model object.

from datetime import timedelta
from django.conf import settings
from django.db import models
from django.utils import timezone


def default_expiration_dt():
    return timezone.now() + timedelta(hours=3)


class Message(models.Model):

    sender = models.ForeignKey(settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL, related_name='messages_sent')
    receiver = models.ForeignKey(settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL, related_name='messages_received')
    text = models.TextField()
    expiration_dt = models.DateTimeField(default=default_expiration_dt)

With this model, we don’t have to worry about manually setting the expiration date; it is set by default.

>>> msg = Message(sender=from_user, receiver=to_user, text="Hello")
>>> msg.expiration_dt
datetime.datetime(2015, 9, 2, 19, 53, 26, 94442, tzinfo=<UTC>)

Getting Messages

Ok, so we can create messages, but that’s pretty basic. How do we retrieve messages? Say I’m logged in, and I want all my active (i.e. not expired) messages. One straightforward way to do this would be to query for all the messages that expire in the future:

messages = user.messages_received.filter(expiration_dt__gt=timezone.now())

But that’s a little bit clunky, and relies on us remembering to do that each time we want to get the data.

To help us out, we can use a custom manager so that we don’t have to do this each time. We add the following code to our model:

class ActiveMessagesManager(models.Manager):
    use_for_related_fields = True

    def get_queryset(self):
        return super(ActiveMessagesManager, self).get_queryset().filter(expiration_dt__gt=timezone.now())

class Message(models.Model):
    # ...
    active = ActiveMessagesManager()

With this changed, we’ve modified the default manager for the Message class. We no longer have a message.objects property, but instead have a message.active property that can only return a message if it’s active. As implemented, there’s no easy way to retrieve a message that has expired. We would need to add another manager to our Message class if we wanted the ability to see expired messages via model objects.

Furthermore, since we’ve specified that we use the ActiveMessagesManager for related fields, it will be used for our messages_sent and messages_received fields on User objects. This works nicely for our use case of getting the current user’s active messages.

>>> user.messages_received.all()
[<Message: Message object>]              # We have one active message.
>>> msg = user.messages_received.first()
>>> msg.expiration_dt = timezone.now()   # We expire the message
>>> msg.save()
>>> user.messages_received.all()         # Now there are no active messages
[]

So, now we don’t have to worry about making sure our queries filter out expired messages. Our custom manager takes care of this for us, and we can’t accidentally get an expired message by forgetting to query and filter properly.

The example model above is available as a Gist.

Other Considerations

Besides the pure model considerations, there are other things we need to think about to make temporary data. We acknowledge up front that it is not really possible to guarantee that the message is temporary (a user could simply copy and paste the data, or take a screenshot). But, we can take care of the obvious holes to ensure no that there isn’t accidental leakage of the data. Below are some things to think about.

• Browser Caching Will the browser cache our message? Do we need to set response headers so that the browser won’t cache the data?
• Web Crawlers Can we make web crawlers ignore pages with messages on them? Is robots.txt set to ignore pages with messages?
• Use SSL We should probably encrypt the messages with SSL to help some with caching and privacy of messages.
• Purge the Database We shouldn’t rely on just the model and queries to hide messages. We should probably have a periodic job that will actually delete expired messages from the database.
• Backups Are our data backups capturing the temporary data? If so, is that something that we really want to do?

Thoughts or anything I’ve missed? Please leave a comment.

Image courtesy Andrew Butko, (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Look at instagram.

Look at google images. 

It’s insane how many free resources there are out there. The brushes, the free stock photos, the vectors. It’s all out there free of charge.

Then the crowd finds it , tramples it, and then becomes annoyed with it and discards it. Of course then the style/design comes back 10 years from now as a retro amazing way to do things. Such is the life of a design.

I have found this apparent in my own designs and the designs of my peers. What inspires me though is that with the invention of the internet I can find all of the trends from the entire world, for almost all of the history of design. I can draw upon dada-ism, surrealism, and material design. I throw these concepts into a blender. Push the pulsate for ice button; so the themes are truly blended. Then I pour the refreshing design into a cup of presentation.

I still can’t decide whether all the resources are killing design, or making it stronger. A good designer is hard to find right? Maybe not anymore… Anyone can hack a version of photoshop through their favorite torrent machine, look up free photoshop backgrounds, download some pretty fonts from google’s free fonts library, and put them all together in a meaningful way. Well, perhaps not anyone can do this, but with how common great design is these days a lot more people can do this.

I am stuck here loving all the free assets and new concepts, but asking myself, “Is my carreer as a designer being de-valued? Am I going to be able to compete with so much free design tools?”

Every designer is asking himself these questions right now, and if you aren’t, then you should be. What does this mean for us? I think it means that we need to keep up with our design, but take a break from the internet for at least the brain storming of a project. I know most designers do brainstorming on google search, or see what other competitors are doing, but what if we went to the library and did research on the “OG” internet found by the dewey decimal system? I think we as designers should smell, read, and sketch for the first part of design.

Then once we have some good ideas, consult the google machine (maybe).

I am challenging myself currently to the “every other in hand” challenge. Every other design I don’t look online or at any other influence except for what I know and what I can hold physically in my hands. I usually go to my sketch book for old drawings or ideas, a library, books, magazines, and some walks among the city gather inspiration from found objects. It’s been interesting and I am not claiming it’s some miraculous system, but dammit it is refreshing.

As a designer I feel overwhelmed at times with how many outside sources are vying for my attention. I know it influences me uncontrollably in ways that I am not aware of. It’s nice to truly know where my inspiration and where my thoughts are starting, and then grow them on paper and digitally.

I challenge you as a designer to try this method at least once.

Let the refreshment begin.

Recently, while researching feature enhancements for our social calendaring platform, I found some interesting information on trends in event planning and management writtem by Corbin Ball Associates.*  The article mentions 10 technology trends but I’ve distilled them down to 5 key trends that I find extremely compelling.

Lower Attention Spans

The barrage of content we are bombarded with every minute has resulted in decreased attention spans.  This has changed how events are marketed, managed and experienced.

• Increase in use of productivity tools (calendaring, RSVP management, etc.)
• Shorter presentations at conferences
• More audience engagement tools are being used (Mobile event apps, interactive sessions, etc.)
• Shorter event content

From “Attendee” to “Participant”

The advent of social media and mobile have offered increased engagement for event attendees.

• Mobile Event Apps – specifically tied to events and provide increased interaction, matchmaking and gamification
• Social media apps help recruit and engage participants
• Media walls with twitter, postano and other live polls
• Personalized communication is being expected by attendees

Bluetooth / iBeacon

iBeacons can interact and share information with nearby mobile devices (up to 150 feet). Beacons have been installed in sports arenas, museums, airports and retail outlets to support:

• Gamification/Scavenger Hunts
• Navigation assistance
• Personalize welcomes
• Tracking
• Push Promotions

Analytics

Mobile event apps offer an unprecedented amount of useful, real-time data to track and improve the event experience like:

• Trending topics
• Top Speakers
• Most attended locations
• Crowd flow
• Key influencers
• Ratings/Polls

Connected Devices

Connected hardware like cameras and aerial drones are providing an entirely new prospective for events.  The FAA has yet to impose many restrictions however they may be coming given the rash of incidents involving people being injured by drones while watching events or during activities.

Some examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s949S8pYgk8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5QGrBfcXeQ

Make sure you are taking advantage of the latest trends and technology to make your next event an “eventure”.  And stay tuned as Eventure continually leverages these insights to develop a leading event participation platform to connect people locally.

*http://www.corbinball.com/articles_future/index.cfm?fuseaction=cor_av&artID=9207

When we left off in the last post, we had:

• SQS established as the Celery broker (with a SQS Queue named dev-celery)
• Celery set up to use JSON as the serializer
• A Django Celery shared task add(a, b) that adds two numbers together

I’m going to walk through the steps to “reverse engineer” the protocol Celery uses, so please bear with with me, as hopefully this is instructive as to what Celery is doing behind the scenes.

First, stop any Celery worker processes you might have running. We want a message to get “stuck” in the message queue and be able to inspect it manually.

Next, fire up the Django shell, and kick off a new task into the queue.

(celerydemo)$ ./manage.py shell
Python 3.4.3 (default, Mar 23 2015, 04:19:36)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 6.0 (clang-600.0.57)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
(InteractiveConsole)
>>> from queuedemo.tasks import add
>>> result = add.delay(3,4)
>>> result.status
'PENDING'
>>>

Ok, it looks like we have a message in flight, now let’s go to the AWS SQS console and inspect our queue. (My queue is named dev-pl-celery, yours is probably still named dev-celery)

For our one message, it looks like we have in the body something like this :

eyJib2R5IjogImV5SmxlSEJw ... (lots snipped) .. vanNvbiJ9

Hmm, well, that’s not too helpful. On a hunch, lets try base64 decoding that string.

(celerydemo)$ python
Python 3.4.3 (default, Mar 23 2015, 04:19:36)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 6.0 (clang-600.0.57)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import base64
>>> encoded = "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"
>>> decoded = base64.standard_b64decode(encoded)
>>> decoded
b'{"body": "eyJleHBpcmVzIjogbnVsbCwgInRhc2tzZXQiOiBudWxsLCAicmV0cmllcyI6IDAsICJ0aW1lbGltaXQiOiBbbnVsbCwgbnVsbF0sICJ1dGMiOiB0cnVlLCAiY2FsbGJhY2tzIjogbnVsbCwgImFyZ3MiOiBbMywgNF0sICJrd2FyZ3MiOiB7fSwgImV0YSI6IG51bGwsICJ0YXNrIjogInF1ZXVlZGVtby50YXNrcy5hZGQiLCAiY2hvcmQiOiBudWxsLCAiaWQiOiAiY2FiNGY4MzMtN2M5YS00Njg5LTlhOGMtOGIyMjdjZGRlNmI5IiwgImVycmJhY2tzIjogbnVsbH0=", "headers": {}, "content-encoding": "utf-8", "properties": {"delivery_tag": "3a7a9c09-961b-44f4-8d2c-1306fcd3eefa", "reply_to": "9e54508f-a34f-374b-a03a-97c2856e5603", "correlation_id": "cab4f833-7c9a-4689-9a8c-8b227cdde6b9", "delivery_mode": 2, "body_encoding": "base64", "delivery_info": {"routing_key": "celery", "exchange": "celery", "priority": 0}}, "content-type": "application/json"}'

Excellent, that looks like JSON. Just one quirk, it looks like the “body” is still base64 encoded. Let’s try decoding that piece and see what we get.

>>> base64.standard_b64decode( "eyJleHBpcmVzIjogbnVsbCwgInRhc2tzZXQiOiBudWxsLCAicmV0cmllcyI6IDAsICJ0aW1lbGltaXQiOiBbbnVsbCwgbnVsbF0sICJ1dGMiOiB0cnVlLCAiY2FsbGJhY2tzIjogbnVsbCwgImFyZ3MiOiBbMywgNF0sICJrd2FyZ3MiOiB7fSwgImV0YSI6IG51bGwsICJ0YXNrIjogInF1ZXVlZGVtby50YXNrcy5hZGQiLCAiY2hvcmQiOiBudWxsLCAiaWQiOiAiY2FiNGY4MzMtN2M5YS00Njg5LTlhOGMtOGIyMjdjZGRlNmI5IiwgImVycmJhY2tzIjogbnVsbH0=")
b'{"expires": null, "taskset": null, "retries": 0, "timelimit": [null, null], "utc": true, "callbacks": null, "args": [3, 4], "kwargs": {}, "eta": null, "task": "queuedemo.tasks.add", "chord": null, "id": "cab4f833-7c9a-4689-9a8c-8b227cdde6b9", "errbacks": null}'

Well, that’s nice. Now that we have that, it looks like we have two pieces:

1. A body section that contains information about the task
2. For lack of a better descriptor, the “envelope” around the body that has some meta information about the task

To demonstrate how one might set up some code to generate these messages, I created a demo node.js function that encodes a message. You can see the demo here, although you will need to create an account to view (sorry, I’m not aware of anywhere that you can run node.js code in a way similar to jsfiddle. Static Gist is here.) When you run the “encode.js” tab, it outputs a string that is a fully encoded message for SQS. After encoding the message, copy the output, and then go to the Amazon SQS console. Click on “Queue Actions > Send a Message”, and paste the code as a new message.

You should be able to see that we have two messages sitting in the queue (may have to hit refresh in the AWS console).

Before we spin back up our workers, lets modify them so we can see the work being done.

from celery import shared_task
import logging

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

@shared_task
def add(x, y):
    "Test async function."
    result = x + y
    logger.info('Got args x=%s y=%s, returning %s', x, y, result)
    return result

Now, we can spin up workers. We would like to see our two messages sitting in the queue be processed.

(celerydemo)$ ./manage.py celery worker --loglevel=INFO
 
 -------------- celery@plewis-mac.local v3.1.18 (Cipater)
---- **** ----- 
--- * ***  * -- Darwin-14.4.0-x86_64-i386-64bit
-- * - **** --- 
- ** ---------- [config]
- ** ---------- .> app:         celerysqs:0x10aad6208
- ** ---------- .> transport:   sqs://redacted:**@localhost//
- ** ---------- .> results:     djcelery.backends.database:DatabaseBackend
- *** --- * --- .> concurrency: 8 (prefork)
-- ******* ---- 
--- ***** ----- [queues]
 -------------- .&> celery           exchange=celery(direct) key=celery
                

[tasks]
  . celerysqs.celery.debug_task
  . queuedemo.tasks.add

[2015-07-28 00:55:54,753: WARNING/MainProcess] celery@plewis-mac.local ready.
[2015-07-28 00:55:54,883: INFO/MainProcess] Received task: queuedemo.tasks.add[6de70824-94b1-47c9-908f-2b638f5cde3b]
[2015-07-28 00:55:54,885: INFO/MainProcess] Received task: queuedemo.tasks.add[7d951360-996f-4283-ba85-b2c5b2da4c87]
[2015-07-28 00:55:54,887: INFO/Worker-1] Got args x=3 y=4, returning 7
[2015-07-28 00:55:54,887: INFO/Worker-2] Got args x=7 y=3, returning 10
[2015-07-28 00:55:55,273: INFO/MainProcess] Task queuedemo.tasks.add[6de70824-94b1-47c9-908f-2b638f5cde3b] succeeded in 0.38632831000722945s: 7
[2015-07-28 00:55:55,273: INFO/MainProcess] Task queuedemo.tasks.add[7d951360-996f-4283-ba85-b2c5b2da4c87] succeeded in 0.3866659009363502s: 10

And that’s it! We can see our results in the log output, and we’ve successfully pushed a message from outside of Python into SQS and back to our Celery worker for processing.

Image Courtesy National Archives

The Internet of Things is gaining momentum, thanks largely in part, to the Qualcomm-driven AllSeen Alliance. The AllSeen Alliance, sparked by Qualcomm’s AllJoyn technology, is dedicated to bridging older industrial standards into the new world where everything is connected through a network of physical objects embedded with software, sensors and connectivity. The rise of IOT creates an opportunity to measure, collect and analyze an enormous amount of data that will sculpt the evolution of many industries.

Medical & Healthcare

Applications of IOT to our medical and healthcare systems have the ability to completely change the way patients and doctors interact. Health monitoring devices such as blood pressure and heart rate monitors will have the ability to sync with the manufacturer to ensure calibration and proper operation. More advanced devices such as specialized implants, pacemakers, hearing aids and prosthetics, will all have the ability to sense and communicate remotely for optimum performance and minimize risks of failure. Remote health monitoring and emergency notification systems will have the ability to prevent heart attacks and strokes based on sensor feedback. More and more end-to-end health monitoring IOT platforms are emerging in the medical sector. Driven by cost-effectiveness and personalization, Doctors see the IOT as a way to help them better connect with their patients. By providing medical professionals with more data, diagnosis and monitoring will increase positive outcomes of medical treatment.

Home Improvements

Home automation systems are also seeing big advancements from IOT applications. Google owned, Nest Labs, was the first to introduce a smart thermostat, and most recently the Nest Protect, a smoke and carbon monoxide detector. They’ve also launched their own IOT initiative called Works With Nest, which pairs Nest products with third-party brands such as Whirlpool and mercedes-benz. Apple has joined in on the home invasion as well with the launch of their HomeKit SDK. HomeKit enabled products are just starting to roll out and many of them have Siri voice recognition integrated. Home security systems have seen advancements as well, including Dropcam, another Google owned company, in addition to the new Nest Cam.

Media’s Insatiable Thirst For Big-Data

Make no mistake about it, the Media and Big-Data are in a committed relationship. Traditional approaches of using specific media environments such as newspapers, magazines and television shows are no longer effective means of targeting customers. Big-Media sees Big-Data as the way to circumvent failing media outlets and instead leverage connected devices and the information they gather, to better target consumers. Big-Data and the IOT work in conjunction. From a media perspective, data is the key derivative of device inter connectivity. The wealth of data generated by this emerging industry will allow practioners in advertising and media to gain an upper hand on the present targeting mechanisms currently utilized.

Privacy Issues

Internet of Things is the next stage of the information revolution, and the inter-connectivity of everything from transportation to medical devices to household appliances are positioned to change our lives for the better. One of the biggest challenges will be protecting company and consumer data. Much of the IOT-based applications depend on access to consumer data, including data collected passively from customers’ behavior. This practice is already occurring with our smartphones and the apps and games we use. Every IOT sensor is a potential entry point for hackers which can cause serious security issues in our home and businesses. Not only is information at risk of being hacked, stolen and used in violation of how it was gathered, but other potential risks create an even bigger threat. Companies will need to build more advanced security capabilities and insure that the Internet of Things isn’t eclipsed by the Internet of hackers.

It’s no secret that texting is the predominate form of communication for the majority of teenagers these days. According to a report by Niche Data, 87% of teens text on a daily basis. From ages 13-17, girls send on average 3,952 text messages a month. Boys of the same age group send a little less at 2,815 text messages a month. Parents have attempted to curtail some of this abuse by eliminating texting or data plans from their teenager’s device. Relying on wi-fi connections have been the result for many youngsters, but what happens when there are no wi-fi signals available, such as at school? To quote Dr. Ian Malcolm, “Life, uh, finds a way”.

Mesh Networking

The mesh-net revolution has begun, and it’s growth is being fueled from inside Junior High’s and High Schools of America. What used to be a wi-fi dead-zone has now become the heart of ad-hoc mesh networking. While wi-fi and cell coverage relies on a central organization, such as an ISP or phone company, mesh networking is a fluid network where the cell phone itself becomes the cell tower. Utilizing low powered bluetooth signals, phones are able to communicate with each other when they are within proximity.

Most phones have Bluetooth and wi-fi radios built into them. Bluetooth is used to connect to your car, headphones and other device extensions and wi-fi connects to a router. Those same wireless signals can connect to other phones as well, regardless of whether it’s an Android or iPhone. This forms a peer-to-peer mesh network as the phones daisy-chain to each other. These networks work in any situation, whether you are connected to the Internet or not, even in airplane mode, as long as Bluetooth is on.

Peer-to-Peer

The explosion of the new messaging app Jott, has found astronomical success in targeting teenagers with devices that have limited connectivity to cellular or wi-fi access. They’ve created closed networks with other devices in schools that are within 100 feet of each other, essentially creating a “mesh” of interconnected devices that can extend over a very large area. For security and safety, to join a school network, Jott users must provide their real names, birth dates, phone numbers or emails and location to gain access.

Other peer-to-peer network apps like FireChat, have found adoption in large-scale events such as Burning Man and SXSW. These events always have spotty cell coverage and wi-fi access. Using FireChat, attendees have a simple, reliable way to communicate with each other and find out what events are taking place and where. Last fall, 500,000 protestors in Hong Kong downloaded FireChat within a 7-day period, in fear the authorities would shut down cell and wi-fi access.

Emergencies & Emerging Nations

These apps go well beyond the needs of schools and events. Natural disasters or other unforeseen circumstances can wipe out cell towers and shut down wi-fi access for long periods of time. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and tornados are all frequent examples of the type of situations people face. Imagine the difference mesh networks would have made during hurricane Katrina had more people been able to communicate with each other.

It’s estimated that within the next three years there will be 5 billion smartphones on the planet. A large number of these will be shipped in emerging markets where very often, people can’t pay for a data plan, or where connectivity is lacking. Mesh-networking will be the answer to their communication and it will only continue to advance,

It’s happened to me more often than I care to share…and it’s exhausting!

Thanks to cellphones with increasingly better cameras, the average person takes over 250 pictures a year with their cellphone. With the popularity of selfies, that number is increasing faster than you can get out your extendable selfie-stick.  So after some really smart people did the math (source), it turns out that over 1 trillion photos are taken every year.  And that doesn’t even take into account video.  With the ever-growing number of captured images and videos, it’s no wonder that much of our photos and videos get lost across multiple devices and storage services.

It’s estimated that over 3 trillion photos are stored each year and the expectation is that nearly 5 trillion of photos will be stored annually by 2017.  Major digital media and storage companies are scrambling to support the growing need for storage.  Amazon offers unlimited storage of photos for $12 a year.  Apple gives users 5GB for free and about $12 a year for up to 20GB.  Google gives you 15GB for free and 100GB for $24 a year.  Dropbox gives you 3GB for free and 1TB of space for $99 a year.  All have competing options for casual users to professional photographers.  There is, however, still a need to help organize these photos and video.

Indexing and organizing images and videos in an efficient and controlled manner is as important as ever.  Companies have begun springing up to specifically solve this problem.  The storage companies highlighted above have also started to launch new features to help people organize their memories.  From Google to mylio, new products and features are rolling out in attempt to solve for better content organization. However, it has not been easy.

Google launched its new photo service, Google Photos, in May of this year.  Aside from some of the cool features like automatic slide shows, insta-gifs and synching with iOS, it included automatic labeling to help better organize and search for images and video.  The new features were intended to recognize images, label them and organize them for easy discoverability. The problem is that the algorithm for labeling content has not always been accurate and at times has unintentionally been offensive.  In an extreme case, Google labeled people in a photo as ‘Gorillas’, a similar issue Flickr had experienced with their image recognition feature as well.  Both companies are taking an active role in fixing the problem…hopefully sooner than later since Google Photos has labeled my kids as “dogs” in a few of my uploaded photos.

Some other interesting services like mylio (http//www.mylio.com), lyve (http://www.mylyve.com/) and tidy (http://tidyalbum.com/) are trying to solve the photo organization problem.  All of them are good options.  However, they still fall short of providing dynamic content organization or require a lot of user “brute force” to categorize pics.

Eventure is developing a unique platform for capturing, storing, sharing and dynamically organizing photos and videos.  The unique social calendar interface, event management features and content directory tied to events allows users to locate memories from their most cherished events and closest friends and family.  We look forward to sharing news of the development of these features as we continue to improve the way people connect locally.

Hello everyone, my name is “YOUR NAME” and I’m an addict.

I started the same way everyone else probably does. The first time I used, it was free. That’s how they hook you. I started slow, just here and there, but the next thing I knew it was an everyday habit. I wake up in the morning and I immediately need my fix. I think about it constantly. I feel cheap and dirty just talking about it. Yes, like millions of other Americans, I’m addicted to Candy Crush Saga and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop.

And I don’t want to.

A Billi….A Billi…. A Billi…A Billi

King Digital Entertainment, the maker of hits including Candy Crush Saga, is one of a handful of mobile game makers contributing to the domination of casual gaming. According to Statista, Candy Crush Saga made on average, $915,279 a day in May 2015. What’s even more impressive is that their game is completely free to download and play. So how do they make so much money? Great question. The easy answer is, go download it for free, play it for a couple days and then ask yourself on day 5 why you’re about to buy 50 gold bars for $4.99. The truth is, King Digital Entertainment, along with other game juggernauts such as Supercell and Machine Zone have found a way to tap into our internal reward system that practically opens up our wallets to keep the fun going. In fact, it’s estimated that in 2014, more hours were spent playing Candy Crush than the monster hits Call of Duty and League of Legends, combined.

Attack Of The Clones

So how does a Bejeweled Blitz clone make casual gamers spend hours playing their game in an industry where 10 minute gaming sessions are considered the norm? Well first, King has mastered their pacing. They give you just enough complexity to make the next level new and challenging, without making it too difficult. Candy Crush also gives you a plethora of goal types from level to level. That combined with their handcrafted stages means the player experiences something different at every level. Bejeweled, on the other hand, replicates their standard square game boards throughout the entire game and has the same repetitive game mechanics.

Don’t Be So Square

Another thing that sets Candy Crush apart from all of the other “match three” games is that they’ve broken away from the standard rectangular game board. This adds an enormous variety to stages as well as the game mechanics and strategy required to complete each challenging shape. When you finish a Candy Crush level, you end up saying to yourself, “Hmmm, I wonder what the next stage is like. I’ll just give it a quick try, nobody’s waiting for this bathroom stall.” Followed by another 30 minutes of candy flipping awesomeness. But the true genius of this game isn’t that it’s easy. To be honest, some of the stages are pretty difficult. King has circumvented the frustration of constantly losing a stage by adding the beauty of randomness. Each stage starts with a completely new randomized board with the pieces never being in the same order. So when you lose 5 times in a row, you’re always saying to yourself, “maybe I’ll get a better board this time”.

Baby I Got Your Money, Don’t You Worry

What makes us want to pay for something that’s free, even if it is the most addicting game out there? This is where the true genius of game theory and design come into play. Candy Crush has to be one of the most balanced games ever made in the free-to-play model. Despite the randomness in the boards for each new level, a majority of players will confess that they often end up losing a stage because of only one or two moves.

Guess what?

You can buy those extra moves at the end of the level for a couple of gold bars.

“Wha-What? Just a couple of gold bars and I can pass this level that I’ve played ten times and keep missing by only one or two moves. I mean I love it, I could probably play it another ten times, but I really, really want to see the next level…I bet it’s even more awesome than this one…ugh, and “FRIEND’S NAME” is only three levels above me…I can totally get ahead if I can just get past this one first…good thing I just bought 50 gold bars for $4.99…SWEET!”

Increasingly, professional event planners as well as the occasional event host are turning to technology to help them create memorable events. Not only for sending out invites and managing RSVPs but for also providing increased engagement for attendees while at the event. There are hundreds of event apps across iOS and Android mobile operating systems with varying feature sets. For instance, here’s a recent feature comparison of key event apps prepared by guidebook.

(Source: Guidebook)

As you can see, there are a number of features offered by some of the more popular apps. Yet with all of the event products out there, only 59% of event planners use mobile apps (source: 2015 Event App Bible). Some of the reasons for event planners not using event apps is that there is a major disconnect between what event planners want, and what these types of apps offer.  While these apps offer live polling, editing and opportunities for white label, event planners want to take advantage of key trends in event participating and leverage more relevant features like event check in, attendee matchmaking and social integration.

With innovations in technology, events participation will get much more interesting. Trends in event organization and execution like more socially driven event management, Bluetooth and wearable technology, will drive deeper engagement at events.

Social mediaThe best way to be social is to actually attend an event and connect with people locally. With that said, there is no reason why you can’t use social media to enhance that event experience. Social media continues to grow and much of the growth is coming from more visual social media applications like Instagram, Vine and Snapchat. A survey by Maximillion showed that 75% of event organizers said that it was “very important” to use social for event promotion.  Facebook was the most popular channel for doing so, at 78%, followed by Twitter (56%) and LinkedIn (49%).

Social media appears to work well for event promotion: 44% of respondents said it was effective in increasing event awareness. In addition, creating a more socially connected digital environment for event attendees will increase participation and add more fun to an event.

Bluetooth
Bluetooth and iBeacon technology allows devices to broadcast their location, connect, send and receive information from one another within a small radius, usually up to about forty yards.  This has significant implications for groups of people gathered at an event whether through location tracking or real-time communication and updates.  Event planners are just starting to take advantage of this technology and allowing more seamless connections and real-time communication onsite.

WearableFitbit was one of the first success stories in the wearable technology arena but with the Google Glass and now the Apple watch, the opportunities for consumer and lifestyle brands will be endless.  Think of connected devices that can connect content, communication and games together within an event environment. The opportunities for engagement are endless.

The moment to leverage these technologies to create an unparalleled platform for event participation is now. Eventure has recognized these trends and is creating products and services that take advantage of these and other burgeoning technologies to enrich the event participation experience.  We are looking forward to rolling them out in the coming months.

Everything is now google searchable- from hashtags to addresses to pictures. When does privacy come into play, and what is TRULY private?

I personally don’t trust that anything is private if it’s on a computer, but that’s just because I watched CitizenFour. The unrest over what is actually private online has sparked my interest in how we think about this dilemma at Eventure. We are a small start up company, so naturally I ask questions to our developer team (who sit directly next to me in the matrix) to see what the capabilities of our privacy are.

We are making a truly private experience to either share with people or not to share with people. And it’s really private! But it’s customizable at the same time.

If I want to video my new daughter playing in the bathtub and splashing all over the place, but I only want it to be viewable by my wife and family, then I can share this to only them. No one else will be able to access this video and no one else will be able to download the video and share it without my knowledge. This gives me great peace of mind.

Content once again should be private if one wants it to be private, and shared if one wants it to be out there.