LETTITOR

App happy and proud

s of last week, thanks to craigslist and a Ame man in a golden Toyota Corolla, I

became the proud owner of a used iPod touch. While the significance of this additional weight in my pocket may be lost on those of you who have long since adopted the iPhone into your family, it’s kind of a big deal for a guy who’s used to toting around a beat-up iPod nano. Did I mention it has “Optimus Prime transform” engraved on the back... you know, like the iPod is Optimus Prime... like my iPod is a transformer... nevermind. Moving on.

After begrudgingly buying a screen protector for $11.00 from a kiosk in the mall, I was eager to get home and get things app’ening. So, let’s get superficial.

First up: Tiny Tower. A building management simulator wrapped in a too-cute pixel wrapper; the goal of this “game” is, fittingly, to build your “tiny” tower up from the ground floor, rags to riches style. By building residential properties, you attract bitizens and, from there, it’s all about the bux. With each floor you build you’re given the choice of creating anything from a retail space, like a toy store, to a sushi

an explosion quota to fill, I’1l direct you now to my second app’session: Jetpack Joyride. With players taking on the role of protagonist Barry Steakfries, the name of the game pretty well says it all. Starting off with the most primitive of jetpacks, a machine gun backpack, players are put to the task of navigating a corridor generously littered with lasers, missiles and hapless scientists. Reminiscent of that old helicopter flash game we all used to play back in middle school, it boils down to a game of “beat your previous high score.” Where developer Halfbrick, makers of Fruit Ninja, seem to have really gotten it “right” was in the doling out of coins, missions and bonuses. It. Just. Works.

While I’ve had more ups than downs in my first week as the first time owner of a current piece of technology, I have yet to really understand what makes an app “good” or... even necessary. In the dud list so far: a riveting grocery list app called ShopListFree and an equally fascinating, painfully unlicensed, light sabre app called LightSaber! And so, my death spiral into the world of app’dom continues. Wish me luck.

the time, or cash, to spend on it.

restaurant or seedy pub. While there’s really little more going on here than a simple time management game— balancing your expenses with the coins and bux coming in—there’s something oddly satisfying about being the omnipotent driving force behind a “tiny tower” filled with adorably mindless consumers. With the option to dish out real bucks in exchange for bit bux, there’s a silver lining of fun to be had with Tiny Tower past its addictive qualities... if you have

Later Days,

Cody Klyne The Other Press Editor in chief

For those adrenaline junkies out there who have

Changes at Douglife

www.douglife.ca

Maria Asselin-Roy Staff Reporter

ouglife is administered by the D== for Campus life. Since the

launch of Douglife in 2010, the student organization has seen a dramatic increase in student volunteers, activity on the website, and involvement around campus. Because of this, this year, Douglife has more than a few adjustments in order to get more students involved with the college. Scott Fraser-Dauphinee, the campus life coordinator sat down with me and discussed these changes (listed below).

First of all, there will be an expansion of current events as well as a creation of new events in order for students to be more inclined to join. An example of this is the Rock Paper Scissors tournament, which many of you may have seen taking place on the new stage area in the concourse. Scott says that “What we are trying to do is create new events where students can come out and meet other students, and give students the opportunity to come together and have fun in order to create more of a community at Douglas, which

is something that has been lacking in the past.” Douglife has also shifted in offering smaller weekly events to bigger events; where more students can come and mingle and meet with people, such as the volleyball tournament this past Thursday. Another larger student event involves taking students to the Whitecaps and BC Lions game. The first trip to the Whitecaps game will be on Saturday September 24", and the BC Lions are playing on October 8". For all students who are interested in the future, Whitecaps tickets are $22 and Lions tickets are about $25 and should be purchased at the Fitness

you can search and categorize which jobs are best suited for you. Scott says that Douglife hopes to have this new feature on the website up by the end of September, but it will definitely be running with many job offers by the end of the fall semester. “Tt’s really exciting, it’s something that has already been developed and we’re just in the middle of getting all of the approvals. A lot of students have expressed interest in having that, and so that’s what we’re putting forward.”

One other feature Douglife is trying to add to their website is additional providing

“Douglife has also shifted in offering smaller weekly events to bigger events; where more students can come and mingle and meet with people, such as the volleyball tournament this past Thursday.”

Centre at the New West campus or the CCLA office at David Lam. All Douglas College students will go together, and friends and family are welcome. Secondly, in terms of changes to the website, Douglife is planning to add a “Student Jobs” section. This will involve external as well as campus jobs being offered to Douglas College students. It will be looking quite similar to an average job site, like monster.ca for example, where

and promoting of supports for clubs and organizations. Scott says that he would like for current and future clubs to interact with Douglife on their website, so other students can know when certain clubs are hosting events, etc. Douglife already has a section for clubs to list what they are, but they have just added a new highlight where you can sign up for the club via the website. This makes it easier for students because once you have signed up for the club online, the

e-mail goes straight to the organizer. “We are also really pushing for people to join our Facebook and our Twitter, because

it’s all integrated. We have also hired a student marketing and promotions team, and we’re really excited about this group of six students to help update the site as well as making the site grow.” Douglife has grown so quickly and they want to continue to grow in order to reach more students. The hope is being that everything Douglife provides for the college is more student focused and driven. “More student writing, more content driven by students, and more students interacting on Facebook would

be ideal.” If you’re interested in exploring these changes and getting involved check out www.douglife.ca.

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