app – The Orbital

9Jan

By Holly FeenyNo Comments

Lifestyle

Please, Just Use a Condom

Fertility app Natural Cycles is described on its website as “an effective, natural method of contraception.” It is essentially a smartphone app, for which users pay £5.99 monthly or £39.99 annually to access, along with their own oral basal thermometer. The user takes their temperature every morning and inputs the reading into the app. Along with information about the individual’s menstrual cycle, it decrees whether that day is ‘green’ (i.e. you are presumed not to be fertile, and are safe to have unprotected sex) or ‘red’ (i.e. you are presumed to be fertile, and should either abstain from sex or use additional protection). It is marketed both to help those who want to get pregnant soon, and those who wish to prevent pregnancy. The main issue with this app’s method is its reliance on tem...

20Dec

By Bryony LockNo Comments

Sports & Socs

UNIcoin Unveiled

“Don’t you have those moments where you are just so lazy, and think, if only someone could deliver me a nice cup of coffee plus dinner to my dorm room?” –Lavena, Co-founder of UNIcoin. If so then these Royal Holloway students may have saved your life. UNIcoin is an original app which is currently being created by Royal Holloway’s app society. The app will allow you to advertise or obtain a service in exchange for money. Whether you want to offer a tutoring service, dance lessons, sell your old text books or simply hire someone to deliver a coffee to your room- this app can help you do it all. The idea was first born two years ago by Lavena Xu, a 3rd year Management student and James Johnson, a 3rd year Computer Science student. Lavena told me it started with one simple phone call to Ja...

‘Pokémon Go’ through the eyes of an ignoramus

15Jul

By Joanne ArcherNo Comments

Science & Technology

‘Pokémon Go’ through the eyes of an ignoramus

Orbital journalist Joanne Archer tries out the Pokémon Go app that has been taking the world by storm. Growing up, I did not want to conform to gender stereotypes. I played with boys and girls toys, had a football kit and wore tutus. Amongst the Beyblades, Bionicles and Action Men, I came into the possession of a deck of Pokémon cards. The game was the latest trade-able trend on the Year 3 playground and particularly sought after by my crush of the moment. Naturally, I had to get in on the action. At the age of eight the only thing I was interested in catching was the school's heart-breaker, not a Jigglypuff. 11 years later and I have a tin of mismatched Pokémon cards, some of which are certainly fakes, and little knowledge of what Pokémon actually is. Sure, I’ve heard the theme tune an...

26Nov

By No Comments

News

Royal Holloway students design app for Magna Carta Celebrations

*For print and website* Royal Holloway students from the department of Geography have helped to develop an app as part of the celebrations for the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta in Runnymede. The app, created for mobiles, will help to guide visitors of Runnymede around the site of the signing of the Magna Carta. Tourists will be able to choose from a range of trails around Runnymede focusing on everything from the arts to ecology. Using the app, students have been able to help highlight the significance of some of the major landmarks in the area. The app was trialled late last month and according to its creators it ‘received largely very positive feedback from those involved.’ Second year Geography student Sally Toon was one of those involved in the process and s...