Students raise relief funds for Haiti with barcode scanning iPhone app

Rolla, Missouri [03/05/2010] - On January 20th, the Interdisciplinary Design Collaborative LLC (IDC) joined a campaign to help raise relief funds for Haiti through Apple iPhone app sales. The Missouri-based company donated sales revenue from the Zebra Tunes app, which allows a user to search for music on Apple's iTunes music store by scanning a barcode on a music CD. IDC is a student-run research and development company specializing in iPhone application development.

The initiative was called Project iPhone Haitian Relief; more information can be found online at http://iphonehaitianrelief.org/. Along with several other app developers, including the creators of Twittelator, IDC donated 100% of the profits from their app sales to various charities to help fund Haitian relief efforts. From January 20, 2010 to January 31, 2010 purchases of IDC's app, Zebra Tunes, benefited Doctors Without Borders. IDC is a 100% student owned and operated business that is empathetic to the disaster is Haiti.  IDC has done its part to make a contribution to the relief efforts.  In total, Project iPhone Haitian Relief raised over $20,000.

Zebra Tunes allows music fans to use the iPhone’s built in camera to scan a CD's UPC barcode and see if it is available on the iTunes Music Store for previewing or purchasing. Built for simplicity and speed, after aligning the barcode to the onscreen indicators, the barcode is interpreted and results are displayed in a list with the artist name and album title alongside the picture of the album. Clicking on any one will open Apple’s iTunes app for downloading or previewing tracks and full albums. Designed for those who still like to frequently visit brick and mortar music stores, but don’t want to buy whole CDs, now downloading tracks on the go is easier than ever. Optimized for speed, Zebra Tunes uses Occipital’s RedLaser Component Toolkit, which supports iPhone OS 3.1 and higher.  Zebra Tunes will work on the original iPhone, 3G, 3Gs, and essentially any future Cocoa Touch powered device that supports iPhone OS 3.1 and higher. There is no need for a macro lens or autofocus device with Zebra Tunes. Zebra Tunes can be found on the app store at http://www.itunes.com/apps/zebratunes.

IDC was started in August 2008 by a group of undergraduate students at Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T) who were unsatisfied with existing job opportunities for the general student body.  The unusually high level of technical expertise and problem solving skills of the students attending the university was identified as a large untapped resource.  IDC developed a business and structure around this readily available university talent, and has since developed a variety of iPhone applications and tools such as the St. Pat's Countdown app and Barcodescan.  Barcodescan has reached over a quarter of one million downloads since it was released. The organization is run under the principle that great design breeds great products, and great products are loved by all.

Contact:

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www.idesignco.org/Zebratunes

949.300.2849