Dennis Beatty

Hacking Location-based Game

Similar to Pokemon Go, I think you could create a really cool AR game based around hacking. Instead of the three teams you could have white hats and black hats. Black hats could go around and put “skimmers” on ATMs to gain money and position “equipment” for man in the middle attacks at banks and other places to collect users’ info. You could talk to people to gain new software like firewalls, bruteforce algorithms, better parts for your virtual computer so that it can run faster, etc.

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

We typically attribute Benjamin Franklin with having coined the phrase “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Though catchy, the phrase isn’t quite true. Franklin’s statement says that saving money increases our wealth just as much as earning the same amount of money would. However, either he came up with the phrase in that period of limbo after the British had been defeated and there were still no US tax laws or else he didn’t think it through completely (or it’s possible he just wanted the phrase to have a better ring to it).

Dinner Groups App

While I’ve been thinking a lot lately about moving away from Provo, I have noticed that the sense of community here is different from most other places in the world. One thing that is really cool is the concept of dinner groups. Here in my apartment complex, there are usually one or two groups that will get together for dinner five or six nights a week. The groups will have 10-15 members each, so each person cooks dinner for everyone every 1-2 weeks.

Provo City Center Temple

I took this photo of the Provo City Center temple as a gift for my little sister Becky for her 17th birthday. I’ve also decided to release it as a wallpaper for your computer or mobile device. Phone Wallpaper Tablet Wallpaper Desktop Wallpaper

Distributed Library

The sharing economy has really changed the way that we get things done. Apps like Uber have made it so that you can have other people drive you places, instead of having to own your own car. AirBnB makes it so you can use someone else’s house, rather than owning your own. People have gotten used to the idea of letting others use their things. A shared library could be similar.

The ROC App

Update (Sep 20, 2016) : The first version of the app is now on the App Store. Check it out! Here at BYU, our student section for sports is called The ROC. A couple years ago, an app was developed for the ROC. Basically, you could sign in at games and if the app saw that your location was correct during the time of the game you would get points, which could be redeemed for prizes at the end of the year.