Company creates mobile app for “sole searchers”

SoleSearch is an interesting new iPhone and iPod touch program geared towards helping sneaker freaks hone in on hundreds of independent sneaker boutiques in U.S. cities and locations across the globe.

Pangaea Subsidiaries—a multi-faceted company with several endeavors in fashion, music, art, and philanthropy—released the application last week.

I discussed SoulSearch with Pangaea CEO Brandon Williamson, who also owns All City Kicks, a sneaker boutique in his hometown Grand Rapids, Michigan.

“SoulSearch is really for the individual who travels and sees parts of the world,” he said. “It’s been received pretty well. Anyone who's purchased it, they love it.”

SoleSearch’s most useful feature is a directory with listings on local shoe shops as well as boutiques in Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America.

Chicago State University student and iPhone user Jonathan James is a fan of the app.

“There's nothing like it,” said James. “Sneaker heads like myself, they have to feel the same—excited.”

One of the app's impressive features is an interactive “Add a Store” option meant to continually expand the store database.

“Any store we missed, we give the user the ability to let us know,” Williamson explained.

Pangaea has plans to make SoleSearch more “user-active” in the future with updates allowing users to view and post reviews on boutiques.

“We want to make it more of a forum within an app,” Williamson said. “This allows the app to continue to grow.”

Williamson ended the interview with words of encouragement for young tech-minded African Americans.

“If you're an individual who has an idea, you have to at least see it through to see what you can make of it,” he said. “Today's idea can be tomorrow’s million-dollar check.”

Click here to get SoulSearch.

Access the app’s twitter page at http://twitter.com/sole_search.

ACM-ICPC Programming contest director discusses HBCU participation (Written for blackdigerati.org)

The IBM-sponsored Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM-ICPC) is the oldest, biggest, and arguably the most exalted contest of its like in the country. Several historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are registered for regional competition this fall; intent on advancing to next year's World Finals—but they represent just a small fraction of the U.S.'s more than 100 HBCUs.

I discussed the issue of increasing HBCU involvement with ACM-ICPC Executive Director Dr. William Poucher, PhD, and a professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where the contest is headquartered.

"Faculty will champion participation if HBCU alumni, leaders, and students provide support," wrote Poucher.

"It's about an investment of the university community in building folks who see competition as a platform that creates opportunity," Dr. Poucher wrote. "Given the career-making opportunities that happen for folks starting their IT careers with a bang, I see strong reasons for HBCU faculty and leaders to advocate developing a competitive edge for their students."

Some of the HBCUs slated to compete in U.S. regional contests are Hampton University, Howard University, Morehouse College, Tuskegee University, and Virginia State University.

The 34-year old ACM-ICPC features teams from six continents that compete regionally every year for the right to advance to the World Finals. The 2010 World Finals, hosted by Harbin Engineering University in Harbin, China, will run February 1-6.

In the competition, sharing a single computer, teams of three build multitier software systems to solve intricate mathematical problems grounded in global and real-world issues like safety, water pollution and finite energy. Accepted programming languages varies between regions, but is generally limited to C, C++, or Java.

The number of problems solved determines rank. Teams that produce the same number of solutions are ranked by least total time for purposes such as issuing awards or determining World Finals qualifiers.

Dr. Poucher sees the contest as a reminder that good things come from people working together to find solutions for issues, with "clear minds and good hearts." He believes "That, together with a couple of decades of dedicated learning and doing," will produce a global coalition capable of delivering a better world to future generations.

Visit the ACM-ICPC homepage for more information, including schedules, registration information, and contest history.