Just when we started to relax after the Fall Conference Season, it is time to ramp up again for the Spring! This year, with more OrgSyncers than ever before, we’re excited to go coast to coast to meet with students, campus administrators, and Campus Partners across the country. Check out our schedule below and come see us if you’ll be at any of these conferences.

Conference Dates Location

NCLC February 17-19 Tucson, AZ

NACA February 25-29 Charlotte, NC

The year of SnapPages 2.0 is about to begin. We're had at work on the new Blog app and we are going to need some beta testers to make sure it's all working before we launch it for everyone. If you are interested in testing it out please leave us a comment below and we'll add you to the list of beta testers and send you an email whenever the beta goes live.If you sign up please keep in mind that the point of the beta is we need your feedback! I can't emphasis this enough. Without your feedback telling us what's working and what's not working there isn't much point to doing a beta test. Also keep in mind that in the future we might start doing smaller beta tests and you'll have a much better chance getting into those if you send us feedback on these ones.

As students begin to arrive back on campus, we know that many of our new campus partners are preparing to launch OrgSync this spring. To explain how OrgSync can benefit your students, we created this short interactive video. Students are the catalyst that makes OrgSync a success on every campus we work with, and we encourage you to share this with your students to help spread the word about OrgSync across campus.

OrgSync for Students Thanks to our designer, Jeff Jurica, for the hard-work and creativity on this project. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

We wanted to take this time to share with you a new update to the Organization Registration creation process that went into effect last night. The changes will not affect the students’ experience with the organization registration process and will only be visible for umbrella administrators. All of the functionality will remain the same; it is only the layout and design of the page that has changed. We took these steps to hopefully clarify the organization registration setup process.

First Time Registrations — this is where you will enable/disable the registration process for the students. Renewals & Profile Approval — this is where you will enable the renewals and set the date for the the renewal process to start. Notified Admins — this is where you will select which admin(s) are notified when a registration form is turned in. Public Profile Fields — this is where you will select the registration elements that are used to create the public profile for the organization.

We hope that you will enjoy these changes and that they will help make setting up the registration process more intuitive. Please contact your Campus Consultant if you have any questions or feedback, and have a wonderful day!

This year is going to be the biggest year for SnapPages since we launched back in 2008. We've spent the last 4 years listening and learning from our users. Seeing what works, what doesn't, and what we can do better. We've made some additions and updates based on all this feedback and observation and it has helped improve the overall experience. However nothing we've done in the past comes close to what is coming this year.The updates are so big and drastic that I'm referring to it as SnapPages 2.0. Almost all of our main apps are going to be reworked from the ground up and built in HTML5. I don't want to oversell it, but it will literally blow anything you've seen out of the water. I'm just warning you now, that your head might explode when you see the updates. If this concerns you, please stop using SnapPages now. If this excites you, then please keep reading.If you've used the new Emailer app then you've gotten a small taste at what is in store since it's the first app to use our initial version of the new HTML5 editor. The first real full 2.0 app will be the new Blog app. I'll post more news on this as it progresses but if you have anything on your wishlist for new blogging features now is the time to let us know about it!That's all I can tell you for now, but hopefully you guys will be as excited as I am to see what's in store for 2012! For now I'll leave you with a preview of the new Blog app:Blog 2.0 Preview

Colleges and universities invest a great deal of money and resources in support of co-curricular activities in an effort to foster student engagement. With budget cuts happening across campus, it is more necessary than ever to assess if student involvement actually enhances student success.

OrgSync’ers in front of our booth!

To educate campuses on how the data collected in OrgSync can be used to assess the impact of student involvement on overall student success, we attended the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (“SACSCOC”) Annual Meeting last week. When we asked the attendees how they were measuring out-of-the-classroom learning outcomes, the response we received over and over again was “We can’t.” Of course, the OrgSync team immediately responded, “Yes, it can be done!” Campuses can compare pre- and post-program assessments to see rates of student growth and development, revaluate programs and services based on feedback, and establish a benchmark to measure annual change and development. The outcomes of these analyses will help campuses continuously improve institutional and departmental strategic initiatives and align learning outcomes to the institution’s mission and values. During the conference, we showcased how California State University at Sacramento (“Sac State”) leveraged the involvement data found in OrgSync to show measurable results linking student involvement to increased academic performance and higher retention rates across various student cohorts including underrepresented minorities, transfer students, commuter students and other non-traditional students. The results of the study found that no matter what the starting point was for students coming onto campus, student involvement had a positive impact on graduation and retention rates. By proving that students were learning and developing in their co-curricular programs, the Office of Student Organizations and Leadership at Sac State received the support and funding needed to help its programs flourish. It is very fulfilling to know that we have been able to help those who work with students not only drive student engagement, but turn it into measureable data that can be leveraged for further funding and resources. I invite conversation about how, together, we can reach this goal.

Google has updated the web version of the Android Market with new advanced abilities to filter reviews. Once signed into your account, users can now filter reviews by device models. For developers, this is a huge move toward better understanding whether titles runs smoothly and behave similarly across all devices. Additional filter options also include being able to filter by app version and by individual ratings. Mashable reports that, “the Android Market was quite limited in its options at its inception, but lately Google has been listening to users and adding features that make it easier to find the apps you need. These new options, however, are currently only available in the web version of the Android Market – you cannot access them from your smartphone.” Review for Facebook App on a Samsung Galaxy S How do you see these advanced filtering options helping you as Android app developer? Weigh in and leave us your comments below. Source: Mashable

Apple revealed on Monday that they have achieved 100 million downloads on the Mac App Store in less than one year of operation. “In just three years the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world.”

Combined App Stores for iOS and Mac have more than 500,000 applications available for download and have seen more than 18 billion downloads total. Source: AppleInsider

Created in collaboration with GameSalad’s own Game Team One, Popular Mechanics has just released “Be The Spark”. Be the Spark, is a simple mechanics game that challenges the player to keep an engine running by triggering the spark plug at the right moment during the four-stroke cycle. The free app is available for download on the iTunes App Store. The “delightfully geeky” app first appeared within the monthly iPad subscription of Popular Mechanics. The app was initially conceptualized as a partnership between GameSalad and Popular Mechanics to showcase the prospects of DIY game creation, specifically with GameSalad software. Stating that, “anyone with creativity and some doggedness can use GameSalad’s software to build a game without doing any programming.”

Popular Mechanics also featured GameSalad in a previous article on game creation by John Herrman. Herrman stated that, “using GameSalad feels more like editing a PowerPoint presentation than developing a mobile application. Two hours after opening the program, I had my own side-scrolling space shooter in the can. It wasn’t quite ready for the App Store—my “spaceship” was a crude cutout of my head, and my “laser battles” took place against a photo background of my living room—but nonetheless, it was a game. A few more days of practice could have netted something presentable. It’s easy to let your imagination run away with GameSalad, which is probably the point.”

GameSalad is proud to announce that in the coming week we will be releasing a free game template and art asset pack from the Be the Spark game. The items will be available for free download on GameSalad Marketplace. We encourage aspiring game makers to use these materials and explore the world of DIY game development for yourself. Source: Popular Mechanics

Its has been an exciting few weeks for us as conference season is winding down for the Fall and the holidays quickly approaching. Exactly a week after Thanksgiving, Cayce and I attended The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) Annual Conference in Boston. This was OrgSync’s first opportunity to attend TABS, so it was a great learning experience for us and the perfect opportunity to network and create new relationships.

Cayce at our booth!

During the conference, we had many great conversations with Directors and Administrators from various private and boarding schools to learn about their specific needs. The OrgSync booth was a big hit as always (although Cayce claims this is due to his charm, but we’ll let you decide that). Conversations focused on how OrgSync can help these schools go paperless and streamline their operations and how OrgSync can be used to plan co-curricular and weekend activities that keep their students engaged and involved. In addition, we attended several sessions, two of which were open forum discussions focusing on Residential Life and Technology in boarding schools. We were all ears as we engaged in these discussions with Directors of these departments and learned a great deal from the experts themselves.

Lobster & Clam Chowda. Yum!

In reflection, Boston is an incredible city to host a conference and the conversations we had were invaluable as we begin to work with more and more independent and boarding schools across the country. Of course, no trip to Boston would be complete without some New England clam “chowda’” and some variation of Maine Lobster. Overall it was a fantastic experience and we’re already looking forward to seeing everyone again next year. If you’d like to learn more about how OrgSync can benefit your private or boarding school, take a look at our handout below or download your copy here. OrgSync for Private and Boarding schools View more documents from OrgSync

Squeak’s Dreams is an iPhone game coming to the US and UK App Store on December 12, 2011. It’s the first game from three-times videogame Guinness World Record-holder and gaming journalist Justin Towell, who woke up on New Year’s Day this year with the sudden thought: “I’m going to make an iPhone game”. Not knowing a line of programming code, he bought an iMac (working extra to pay it off) and used GameSalad to bring his cheesy dream to life. Almost a whole year later, here it is, available for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPod Touch 3rd Generation and later.  Squeak’s Dreams plays like classic 2D side-scrollers of the 1990s, only with touch-screen direction pad and jump button. The control method is simple enough that anyone can pick it up, although controlling Squeak as he bounces on ripening blackberries and ivy leaves will test even the most hardcore gaming fanatic. 

Squeak’s Dreams contains an original soundtrack, composed and performed entirely by Towell, from the rock song ‘Pirate Queen’ playing on the radio in the kitchen to the beautiful and haunting piano piece that plays as you bounce through the clouds. Likewise with the sound effects – the noise Squeak makes when he jumps is voiced by Justin Towell, as are the hoverflies and the sound of the dragonfly’s wings. As the credit says: Game Engine by GameSalad™, everything else by Justin Towell. Yes, that goes for the quacks too.

Celebrating the game’s release, Towell has also written a post for Gamesradar.com entitled “10 Things I Learnt While Making a Video Game (by a Games Journalist).” This is an essential read for gaming enthusiasts that are looking to break into game development via GameSalad. Lessons learned include: You Don’t Need Coding Knowledge, Bugs are a Pain in the Ass, Optimization is a BIG deal, and many more. Official Game Trailer:

My personal favorite…the Musical/Animated Trailer:

Squeak’s Dreams Game Features: - Three beautiful naturalistic areas to explore – the garden, the river and the house - Peaceful, violence-free gameplay. The worst that happens to Squeak is a 5 Cheese penalty for touching a mouse trap. - Stunning graphics with multi-layered parallax scrolling and even into-the-screen pseudo 3D! - Photographic imagery for backgrounds mixed with hand-drawn artwork - A custom soundtrack full of real electric guitar as well as synthesized instruments - Several gameplay variations – Run about on foot, ride a dragonfly, bounce on balloons and follow a UFO through space. Only in your wildest cheese dreams! - Replay value – Can you get all three Big Cheeses from Squeak’s Dreams to truly finish the game? - Ducks that quack when you bounce on them. Purchase Squeak’s Dream on the App Store for 99 cents here.

Google reports that the Android market has seen Game downloads reach 2.56 billion out of the 10 billion total downloads within the past 38 months. The Game specific category is the top category at 25.6 percent. Games are followed in popularity by Entertainment, Tools, and Communication categorized applications. Within the Games category, Arcade & Action games were the most popular with 39.25 percent of all game downloads. Other popular game categories include Brain & Puzzle, Casual, Cards, and Racing & Sports. [A]ListDaily reports that, “South Korea has seen the most Android Market downloads, followed by the U.S., Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.” Source: [A]ListDaily

[In this reprinted Digital Storytime piece, Carisa Kluver provides an in-depth look at the marketing strategies for children apps. This is part three of a three part piece examining marketing strategies. Carisa Kluver is the sole reviewer for the iPad picture book app review site, Digital-Storytime.com. She co-founded this site with her husband, Marc, an app developer and programmer. She tries to run her site with the following three “A’s” in mind – to be Approachable, Accountable & Accurate.]

This is the third and final post in my series about marketing kids apps. [See: Part I: Three Things No Amount of Code Can Fix & Part II: How Consumers Decide to Download] We end the series with some of the stickiest questions in the app world: What’s an app worth? What price point will encourage downloads? Should an app ‘go free’ for a short time? Is it worth it to develop more apps? I’m not an economist nor do I have a background in marketing, but I’ve been watching the kids app market pretty closely for a couple years now and do have a few thoughts to share on this topic. My expertise is really in social science, so my ideas are shaped mostly by consumer psychology (and basic market realities). Like many aspects of app marketing, there isn’t a hard, fast rule for any app pricing decisions. It’s complicated and more importantly, a moving target. Things are changing all the time as the app store gets more crowded with new apps everyday. In the category of education alone, I counted more than 750 new apps for the iPad in just the past week!This means advice from a post in 2009 about marketing probably isn’t going to help a developer in 2011 all that much … and this post may not be very interesting (unless you’re writing a history paper) in 2013. Harsh Reality for App Developers … Some very nice apps aren’t going to sell. Period. The reality is that even free apps can get lost in this sea of content. There is a point when consumers actually don’t want or need another ‘app for that’. The top 50 free apps in both education and books, for instance, are more-or-less permanently held by several dozen apps that are always free … so even giving away an app can be perceived as a failure if the goal is to get into the iTunes ‘top 10′ for an app’s category. Just getting into the top 10 for free apps for a few hours can sometimes be considered wildly successful. But does that mean a great app needs to get lost in the haystack of apps? What a discouraging message to receive just as you arrive at the AppStore with your shiny, new app. The answer is … maybe, but then again maybe not. Once you’ve come to terms with the challenging reality of the iOS app market, then you can decide what you are willing and able to do about it for a product, like a kids app, that you believe in. Additionally, for future projects, it is so helpful to have realistic ideas about the return on investment possible for different types of apps. When your programmer can make a six figure income working for someone else, it is no small thing to know how much technical effort you need to employ to simply break even on an app. Many new, small developers are experiencing the current app market as a bit of a shock. Developers are often so totally focused on app programming & design, that the changes in the market since they first conceived their app idea, often 9-18 months earlier, have not been on their radar at all. Seismic shifts can happen in this market in less than six months, though. One thing to consider is the variety of non-financial rewards that you may have already earned by creating an app. In the process of creating Dash & Ditto’s Playground, a sweet but underperforming 7-in-1 iPhone game app for kids, our team also learned a lot of priceless skills. Our illustrator learned about how to ‘go digital’ after a life of print projects, our programmer literally taught himself iOS and Android programming and I got the idea to start our successful review site, Digital-Storytime, as a result of our marketing efforts. Not a bad payoff, if only we can find a way to calculate this when we evaluate our original monetary goals. Good News for Book Apps At this point, maybe you’re ready for some good news? For book apps at least, there is a silver lining here. Digital books for kids represent an app product that consumers still desire and it’s a field that thrives on variety. The desire for good book apps, especially for kids, is still there and of all the categories in the app store, book apps tend to be among the highest priced. Consumers can get some content for free but most of the time do expect to pay for downloads for quality titles for children. For educational apps aimed at this same age group, there are also a lot of specialized areas in the market that remain untapped where paid apps should do well. The market for children’s picture book apps is guaranteed to grow, too. A recent flurry of news articles lamented how digital kid’s books were lagging behind adult ebook sales, but they failed to take into account the fact that color options for tablet apps have not been around very long, unlike adult ‘text-only titles’ so popular as e-books over the past decade. While some may fight the transition to digital, a lot more new readers will be entering this market rather than resisting it. Any new developers entering the book app market do need to take some publishing history into account as well. Could you have self-published your title before the digital revolution? If not, then it is important to give this new opportunity a bit of time to meet your expectations. Simply being able to self-publish your children’s book to a large market of readers, even as a free download, is nothing to dismiss as an author/illustrator. If you are simply developing book apps to take advantage of a new opportunity to make loads of cash, I’d encourage you to move on. This is a space that demands good narratives and should reward developers passionate about storytelling. Perhaps picture books simply need to sustain the creators of their content, not make millionaires out of limited development efforts? And for those already committed to this market … I think there is a lot we don’t know … and I’m hopeful that over time the price for book apps in particular will begin to reflect the cost of producing these titles more accurately. There will likely be some narrowing of the producers of content for the industry, but how this will all play out is anyone’s guess. If you wanted ‘to live in interesting times’ for publishing … consider your wish granted. So what are the most important factors to consider when pricing a new app? 1. Launch Price … What should you start with when launching your new kids app? Some apps launch as free to gain exposure, expand user base, extend ‘beta’ testing or lay a foundation of happy customers for the launch of a series of apps. Some apps start very high to set a ‘value point’ for consumers. Some start out low and plan to raise the price to show consumers that they are worth more. Some start out in the middle, then do a series of price drops to gain momentum for an app they believe will be popular once it is well-known. No one strategy is ideal, but depending on the app, a ‘best practices’ strategy does seem to emerge. Continue reading at Digital Storytime and learn additional factors like price promotions, “going free”, and price change frequency here.

[In this reprinted Digital Storytime piece, Carisa Kluver provides an in-depth look at the marketing strategies for children apps. This is part two of a three part piece examining marketing strategies. Carisa Kluver is the sole reviewer for the iPad picture book app review site, Digital-Storytime.com. She co-founded this site with her husband, Marc, an app developer and programmer. She tries to run her site with the following three “A’s” in mind – to be Approachable, Accountable & Accurate.]

There are a lot of apps for kids in the app store, so many that even an exceptional app can get lost (or buried) not long after launch. So how do parents & educators find good apps for elementary school age kids (and younger) to download onto their iPads, iPods & iPhones? Over the course of several weeks I’ve been asking friends with mobile devices, educators on Twitter and fans of our Facebook page just this question. I think their responses are really interesting and informative for app developers. This list is in addition to the information in Part I - Marketing Kids Apps (Part I) – 3 Things No Amount of Code Can Fix. Below are a selection of quotes from book app shoppers about what criteria they use to select children’s apps: LITE VERSIONS - Many shoppers say they rely on free or trial versions to guide buying decisions. While some consumers find partial book apps unsatisfying at times, most admit that when it comes to paying for an app, a lite version can really help them decide to buy. The key to not annoying customers with only part of the story is to put ‘lite’ in the title – a well-informed customer is a happy customer! “When an app is more than a dollar or two, I always check to see if there is a lite version before purchasing. Apps like the Nosy Crow 3 Pigs & Cinderella are awesome, but I wouldn’t have paid $6 for them before seeing the sample.” “I didn’t like lite versions of book apps when I first encountered them a year ago, but now I’m willing to sample a book … so long as they say in the title or description that the whole book isn’t there.” “Most of (the paid apps I download) for my child … are based on the trial version experience, I prefer to ‘demo’ or try the book first to see if we all like it!” “I try to find out if there is [a free version of an app] that I’m interested in … I download these lite versions if available, and definitely will buy the full version if I like the preview.” “I … download the lite version to try with my boys. If they aren’t interested, I usually don’t get the full version.” “I don’t usually ‘discover’ an app with the lite version, but often I find myself curious about an app enough to check for a free sample. The final deciding factor before I download is based on searching for this trial version or a video review if no lite version is available. After a thorough preview, I feel certain enough to spend those few extra dollars on the paid version.” SCREENSHOTS – The visual impression of an app goes way beyond picking a great icon, as shoppers often look first at the images available before reading anything else in iTunes. Since illustrations are a big part of book apps in particular, these images are essential. When thinking about purchasing a book that is totally original, not based on a fairy tale or book available in print, this becomes especially important. “It really matters what pages you can see on itunes, if an app has great screenshots I’m more likely to consider buying it.” “I probably care more about the screenshots than anything else, if I like what I see, then I read the description next.” “When looking for (kids book apps) I gravitate toward the illustrations … I prefer something that is hand-drawn, not computer generated … (the illustrations should be) colorful and well put together.” “The illustrations & the (overall) look of the app is … important … I want to see how much attention it can get (from my kids) before deciding to download an app.” “I look at the preview pages to see if I like the illustrations and more importantly, if I think my little ones will be engaged by the illustrations … the illustrations need to be strong.” ” … the graphics are what catch the eyes of kids the most, so … beautiful illustrations … and outstanding graphics are the winners!” “(If developers were to ask for my advice in marketing a kids’ digital book) … I’d tell them to … make sure you have good quality illustrations.” PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH A DEVELOPER - As a reviewer and part of the app developer community, I often take what I know about a developer’s other apps into consideration, but I must admit I was surprised to find so many comments from ordinary consumers that echoed this same strategy for searching out new apps. The iTunes “Developer Page” is very important as it turns out! “I look for books that are developed by someone (my kids and I) already like, by looking at ‘other apps by developer’ in (iTunes) I can be sure I will get something of quality.” “When the book is in a series, I pretty much know the quality of books that are written by a company.” “I like to look at what the developers past apps are like … with all the factors (I find) what makes the purchase much easier is knowing the developer by their previous book apps/reviews/awards or having tried one of their previous book apps that was a huge success.” “I work from what I know of previous books from the same author or app producer … this previous knowledge of a developer makes the (decision-making process) much easier.” Continue reading at Digital Storytime and learn about additional marketing factors like iTunes reviews and Review websites here.

[In this reprinted Digital Storytime piece, Carisa Kluver provides an in-depth look at the marketing strategies for children apps. This is part one of a three part piece examining marketing strategies. Carisa Kluver is the sole reviewer for the iPad picture book app review site, Digital-Storytime.com. She co-founded this site with her husband, Marc, an app developer and programmer. She tries to run her site with the following three “A’s” in mind – to be Approachable, Accountable & Accurate.]

An enormous amount of time, energy and money go into app development these days. And after the programming dust settles, an app is born into the App Store or Android Marketplace. But many developers are unprepared for the really challenging work of marketing their app … so much so that they may overlook some of the most important things that get that shiny new app the consumer-attention it deserves. While toiling away this past year on our popular new review site for iPad kids book apps, I have also been moonlighting as the marketing consultant for a kids game my husband developed for Android last year (and just released for iPhone today). This experience has gotten me thinking a lot about how people shop for apps, so I began asking a series of questions on my Facebook fan page to do a little informal market research. So, what are those ‘most important’ qualities to get a kids app (or any app for that matter) noticed? I’ve synthesized dozens of comments on Facebook, asked friends who download a lot of kids apps & considered my own shopping habits (since I download over a dozen new kids apps everyday to screen them for our curated daily deal page). While there are a lot of factors that go into the decision-making process, three things seemed to be ‘gatekeepers’ for consumers … things that need to be done, and done well, to get an app noticed in the first place … way before anyone bothers searching for a review on a site like Digital-Storytime: 1. Icon: The icon for an app not only matters more than most developers realize, it also matters more to consumers than they realize. We humans use a lot of visual shorthand in our brains to make decision-making easier, so we unconsciously gravitate toward things that ‘appear’ to meet our needs. In the case of app icons, this means an exceptional app may never get noticed, simply because the icon is not eye catching or attractive. And for kids apps, this is even more true, because consumers unconsciously ignore app icons that don’t look ‘child-like’ in some way. As shoppers for kids apps, we have to search through categories in the different marketplaces that include both child-friendly and very adult-oriented apps. This means the average person looking for a kids app is going to first glance at the icons and gravitate towards those that look the most like something for a kid. This means that even if the app only contains sight words, for instance, and no images at all, the ideal icon is still going to be something illustrated like it’s right out of a children’s picture book. It also helps to have an image that looks good from a great distance, since these icons are very small in many of the places consumers will encounter them. A sampling of some of the most interesting comments about the app ‘icon’: “… if the icon isn’t catchy I wouldn’t even click in to check out the reviews. With so many apps out there the icon needs to look professional and intriguing.” “I want something that has strong well drawn illustrations … it needs a good icon” “(how the icon) looks is the first attraction” “(I look at) the brief look you are given on itunes … (t)hose first few glances tell alot.” “A really gorgeous icon … will lure me in.” “I first look at (the icon) for visual appeal … the graphics are what catch the eyes of kids the most, so I look at them first.” “I look at the initial picture …” Continue reading at Digital Storytime and learn additional marketing factors here.

Last week, Apple issued the first beta of iOS5.1 to developers to counter battery issues. Reports show that Apple has not yet been able to resolve battery life issues for users. ABI Research proposes that a software fix is the most likely solution, as the problem does not appear to be hardware based. “We tore down the 4S and tested some of the major components, including the new A5 processor,” Michael Morgan of ABI stated. “Nothing that we tested was significantly different from the iPhone 4, and power draw was right where we expected it to be.”

Source: AppleInsider

In an effort to bring the American economy out of economic crisis, President Obama unveiled his proposed American Jobs Act in September of this year. Simply put, the American Jobs Act is meant to stimulate the economy by putting more people, such as veterans and teachers, back to work by creating more jobs in the United States. The following is a brief overview of the Act, which can be found on the WhiteHouse.gov website: “The American people understand that the economic crisis and the deep recession weren’t created overnight and won’t be solved overnight. The economic security of the middle class has been under attack for decades. That’s why President Obama believes we need to do more than just recover from this economic crisis – we need to rebuild the economy the American way, based on balance, fairness, and the same set of rules for everyone from Wall Street to Main Street. We can work together to create the jobs of the future by helping small business entrepreneurs, by investing in education, and by making things the world buys. The President understands that to restore an American economy that’s built to last we cannot afford to outsource American jobs and encourage reckless financial deals that put middle class security at risk. To create jobs, the President unveiled the American Jobs Act – nearly all of which is made up of ideas that have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans, and that Congress should pass right away to get the economy moving now. The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: put more people back to work and put more money in the pockets of working Americans. And it would do so without adding a dime to the deficit.” OrgSync supports the American Jobs Act for the following reasons: Payroll Tax Cuts The President’s plan would provide an enormous boost to our ability to continue to add new members to the OrgSync team as well as provide additional compensation to our current hard-working staff. As we continue to grow, it’s critical for us to provide the same premium support and customer service that our campus partners have grown accustomed to and believe is a major differentiator. This will provide us the opportunity to acquire additional team members in every department. Incentive to Hire Veterans We have several veterans on our team, including an Iraq War veteran in a Senior Leadership role. Cayce Stone, who is our Sr. VP of Business Development, is the driving force behind our passionate team of sales professionals dedicated to making OrgSync a standard in Higher Education. We fully realize the discipline and leadership that veterans bring to the job, and the provisions of the Act will only enhance our incentive to hire veterans in the future. Reduce Regulatory Burdens OrgSync appreciates the provisions that reduce regulatory burdens on small businesses, particularly as it relates to raising funds for growth capital. The plan will seek to change ways the government does business with small businesses, allowing for increased opportunity for OrgSync to expand and service more clients. Patent Reform This is especially important to OrgSync as a small technology company. We are put at a distinct disadvantage against large corporations who have millions of dollars to pursue patents. We believe many software patents are overly broad and often vague and threatening to small company innovation. Investments in Education and Teachers Education (higher education, community colleges, and secondary education) is at the core of our business and is our passion. We believe that out-of-classroom learning is key to student retention and graduation rates. OrgSync facilitates and encourages students to be actively involved both on campus and in their communities as they prepare to enter the workforce as well rounded individuals. In fact, the American Jobs Act will help support nearly 400,000 education related jobs, and help to modernize 35,000 public school buildings and community college campuses in the United States. Please join us today, by signing your name to the American Jobs Act petition on the their website.

The new Emailer app has finally launched! Now you can easily maintain lists of email subscribers and blast out newsletters to them. This is a great way for you to engage your customers and keep them coming back to your website.Getting StartedGetting started is easy. All you need to do is log into your SnapPages account and click on the new Emailer app icon to launch the app.Creating EmailsYou can create beautiful html emails just as easily as you create web pages. This is because the editor for the Emailer app is almost identical to the Web Pages app except for one major difference. This editor is built completely in HTML5 and not in flash! This will bring a lot of improvements to the editor. There are now more text formatting options, improved language support, true WYSIWYG (google it) editing and a whole lot more. We will slowly be rolling this editor out into our other apps as well as we convert them to HTML5, but more on that at another time.Sending and Tracking EmailsAfter an email is created you can send it out to a list of email subscribers. We've partnered with VerticalResponse to help ensure that your emails have a high delivery rate and to help track the results of your email campaigns. Once an email is launched you'll be able to see how many people opened it and other stats to help you gauge effectiveness.Getting SubscribersCreating emails is great but you need to have people to send them to. With the Emailer app you create Lists of email subscribers. After you create a list there are three ways to add subscribers to them:1. You can manually enter in new members to lists.2. You can import existing mailing lists from CSV files.3. Visitors to your website can subscribe directly to lists from a form.You can add a subscription form to any page on your website. If you are in the page editor, you will find a new block in the "widgets" section called "Subscribe Form". Just drop this on any page and point it to a mailing list and your done!

Research from ABI Research group shows that the demand for mobile health solutions apps are on the rise. The group predicts that sports and health apps are on pace to hit $400 million in revenue by 2016. The prediction is up from the $120 million reported revenue in 2010. This indicates market growth that will quadruple over the next four years. The report shows that the majority of the $400 million in revenue will come from sports, fitness, and wellness related apps. Apps within this category have begun to see heavy early adoption within the past year.
Have you ever considered developing a health or wellness mobile app? Share your thoughts with us. Source: TechCrunch