With the discovery of “Big Data” and the positive impacts properly using data can have on any and every business, it is no wonder that there has been an explosion of companies choosing to implement many possible uses of data. Consumers and any people who may not fully understand the process of collecting, analyzing, and visualizing data may be more easily swayed towards believing something that might not necessarily be true or represented accurately. Often it may feel like every hot topic issue has groups on both sides of the issues using seemingly objective data to prove why their side is correct. Seeing two contradictory sides with seemingly factual data can leave many people confused and unsure what the correct course of action is. With this in mind, I realized that there was a chance the businesses could be creating similar misrepresentations of data to sway customers that the company’s product or service is absolutely a necessity in their lives. After all, the world of marketing and understanding consumer preference is a wildly changing and constant moving target that companies have to navigate. Using data surrounding their products and services to create a desire in consumers to buy and use their offerings seems like a surefire way to successfully target market segments.
As I researched and conducted initial analysis for this project, I quickly ran into a few roadblocks that lead to me needing to pivot off of certain ideas and adapt my initial plans to fit what was actually being done in the current marketing environment. In reality, most businesses are not up for taking the risk of explicitly giving real metrics of their products and services to customers. Due to this, my thesis evolved into finding other ways that companies would use logical appeals to represent their products and comparatively analyze how these companies choose to represent themselves on a social media platform.

Data is ever present in the world today. Data can help predict presidential elections, Super Bowl champions, and even the weather. However, it's very hard, if not impossible, to predict how people feel unless they tell us. This is when impulse spending with data comes in handy. Companies are constantly looking for ways to get honest feedback when they are doing market research. Often, the research obtained ends up being unreliable or biased in some way. Allowing users to make impulse purchases with survey data is the answer. Companies can still gather the data that they need to do market research and customers can get more features or lives for their favorite games. It becomes a win-win for both users and companies. By adding the option to pay with information instead of money, companies can still get value out of frugal players. Established companies might not care so much about the impulse spending for purchases made in the application, however they would find a great deal of value in hearing about what customers think of their product or upcoming event. The real value from getting data from customers is the ability to train analytics models so that companies can make better predictions about consumer behavior. More accurate predictions can lead to companies being better prepared to meet the needs to the customer. Impulse spending with data provides the foundation to creating a software that can create value from all types of users regardless of whether the user is willing to spend money in the application.

Veelog is an Android application created to monitor and track data regarding maintenance for an individual's personal vehicles. For instance, most car owners change their oil every 10,000 miles or so. The application will help track this data, allowing users to identify their own range of how often a service needs to be completed and provide helpful information when the need comes around. The goal of the application is to provide a platform for individuals to record, use, and save information relevant to themselves as the owner. By ensuring that there is space for the data to be recorded and properly tracked, car owners can take initiative in providing preventative maintenance for their vehicles. The idea for the application originally came from observing many individuals who keep a notebook in each of their vehicles for recording and keeping track of maintenance schedules manually. Veelog is a solution that keeps all maintenance manuals in one place, with the additional benefit of calculating upcoming services automatically. Veelog users can also make customizations to their profiles including custom services that are specific to their own needs. The target users for Veelog are individuals who want to be proactive in servicing their vehicles. The application requires frequent checking and regular updates to stay current and provide accurate information for upcoming services. Being proactive about vehicle maintenance provides long term benefits such as preventing serious car trouble, which ultimately results in saving money and staying safe and makes the application worth the extra attention. Ideally, individuals who have not previously been proactive about vehicle maintenance will also be encouraged by the convenience that Veelog provides.

A growing number of stylists \u2014 cosmetologists \u2014 are finding it harder to afford the basic necessities such as rent. However, the ever-increasing presence of smartphones and the increasing need for on-demand services like Uber and Uber Eats creates a unique opportunity for stylists \u2014 Clippr. Clippr is an application that aims to connect individual stylists directly to their customers. The application gives stylists a platform to create and display their own prices, services, and portfolio. Customers get the benefit of finding a stylist that suits them and booking instantly. This project outlines the backend for the Clippr application. It goes over the framework, REST API, and various functionalities of the application. Additionally, the project also covers the work that is still needed to successfully launch the application.

ObamaCare is a healthcare reform looking to provide efficiency and cost savings to healthcare patients. As such, ObamaCare requires that all medical documents be in electronic form as well as a website be created to allow Americans to sign up for healthcare coverage. The ObamaCare website has many vulnerabilities: excessive code, clear text protected information, and insufficient testing. The remediation efforts will cost over one billion dollars and require many months of recoding. In order to help reduce security risks in the healthcare industry, an effective security awareness program must be implemented. This program would help to prevent the factor of human vulnerability as well as prevent healthcare companies from experiencing any bad publicity and fines as the result of a preventable security incident.

This software can process transactions for small businesses and store those transactions for reporting purposes. The specific build is tailor made for a small business run by the author and their partners. The software is a customized, in house solution for maintaining accurate accounting information. It uses C# code and windows forms to create a unique GUI to both enter and retrieve data. The code for each form is attached at the end of the user manual.