35 Strives
Music festival brings in largest crowd to date See insert Friday, March 11, 2011
News 1, 2 Sports 4 Classifieds 3 Games 3 SCENE see insert
Volume 97 | Issue 28
Sunny 74° / 57°
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Study: Electronic addiction is possible BY K ALANI GORDON
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Staff Photographer It isn’t called a “Crackberry” for nothing. Some studies are showing that people demonstrate signs of addiction while their cell phones and other electronics are “unplugged.” Last spring, University of Maryland professor Susan Moeller asked 200 journalism students to give up t heir electronic dev ices, i nclud i ng c el l phone s, computers and MP3 players, for 24 hours and keep a journal of how they felt. T h i s we ek , Moel ler plans to take the study globa l to find out how students around the world are consuming media. “We had done surveys before a nd were never conv inced what people were reporting was accurate,” Moeller sa id. “It wasn’t so much we thought they were lying, just that they weren’t aware of how much media they were consuming.” Mo e l le r s a id s ome st udent s u s e d w ord s such as “withdrawal” and “dep endenc y ” i n t hei r journals reported feeling nervous and jittery. “It w a s n’t on l y t h e language that was appropriated to addiction and dependency,” Moeller said. “But the students also reported mental and physical effects from unplugging.” Some students described a need to drum their fingers on a desk or make noises with their mouths to keep t hemselves occupied — habits professionals often associate with withdrawal and addiction. But some ex per ts a re skeptica l if the need for electronics should be called an addiction. Is it an addiction? While people feel uncom-
fortable without technology and show signs of w ithdrawal, Jim Quinn of the rehabilitation, social work and addictions faculty said he still has to ask whether or not addiction is the right word. Each semester in a 250to 300-person class, Quinn said he finds there are five or six people who can’t keep their hands off their cell phones for the entire hour and a half, despite warnings. This demonst rates continuing behavior despite the consequences, he said.
“Students also reported mental and physical effects from unplugging.”
—Susan Moeller, University of Maryland Professor
“A l l behav iora l addictions have good evidence of underly ing emotiona l weakness or vulnerability,” Quinn said. “Those w ith emotional issues find technolog y ca n sat isf y t heir needs.” This begs the question of addiction against conditioned response to habits, he said. “Is using technology an addiction any more than going to church three times a week?” Quinn said. “It’s just a soothing ritual.” Say ing t hose who a re emotiona lly hea lt hy w ill find electronics add to life quality and those who are unstable will notice signs of addiction, he said.
See STUDENTS on Page 2
Fans flock to 35 Conferette
PHOTOS AND STORY BY DREW GAINES Senior Staff Writer
Volunteers in black T-shirts dotteddowntownDentonThursday as the makings of this year’s 35 Conferette materialized into Day 1 of the city’s biggest music festival. This year marks a number of firsts for the event, which is now in its third year and operating under a new name. The organizers ditched the festival’s former title, NX35, to distinguish Denton’s homegrown festival from the larger and more commercial South by Southwest festival happening in Austin currently. It is also the first time that the city has closed a number of streets to accommodate for such an event. “The city has been very, very involved,” said Janie McLeod, the community events coordinator for the city of Denton. A quarter-mile section of East Hickory Street, from the Courthouse-on-the-Square to Bell Avenue, will be closed for the entire four-day festival, as will parts of conjoining Industrial Street. McLeod said that this is the first year Denton has allowed alcohol to be sold and consumed on the closed streets as well. “We are excited to have the event down here,” McLeod said. “We are trying to be the new little Austin. It brings new awareness to Denton’s more diverse music.” In addition to the number of vendors on scene and advertising for everything from church fellow-
ships to local clothing stores to tattoo parlors are the Denton Police and Fire Departments. Fire marshals inspected the entire festival ground before things began Thursday afternoon and an emergency medical services bus will be stationed at the site. The police will also have extra officers out during the event. The biggest concern of city officials is parking, McLeod
said. Spaces normally available at the Denton Civic Center, First Methodist Church and the Center for the Visual Arts may be hard to come by, as each locale is hosting a separate event this weekend. That shouldn’t stop the flock of people walking and biking to the venue like they did Thursday, as the forecast is predicting mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the ‘70s for the next few days.
UNT alum strikes gold with Appzilla Computer engineer builds mobile apps BY CRISTY A NGULO Contributing Writer
Lynn Duke doesn’t have a boss or a full-time job, but he’s making three times more money now than when he had both. Last March, the UNT computer science alumnus released a mobile phone application that went straight to the No. 2 spot in all categories within a week. Before the release of the app, Duke worked for Twisted Pixel Games in Austin, programming games for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. In 2009, he was at work when he read an article about an entrepreneur who made $250,000 from creating an app. He told his friend about it, bought an Apple computer and started cranking away. After creating two or three apps that failed, he released “Appzilla,” the 50-in-one utility app that won the iTunes Rewind fifth Highest Paid Utility App of 2010. “The money was incredible,” Duke said.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MEGAN SAINT-JOHN/INTERN
Helmet Hero is an action game that takes players through 45 levels of destroying obstacles with different helmets and speeds. It is one of the apps Lynn Duke created. After Appzilla’s first few weeks of success, Duke put in his notice at work. “I spent a lot of money,” Duke said. “Went to Vegas, got out of debt, paid off my car. Sometimes it doesn’t even feel real.” Because of his interest in video games, Duke studied computer science at UNT. He earned his bachelor’s of science degree in 2001 and started a career in game programming after graduating. “I grew up on Sega and Nintendo, and I wanted to play
games,” he said. Michael Wells, one of his former roommates, said that as a prank, Duke once pulled demonic sounds off of a video game and secretly set them to go off at random times on Wells’ computer. “My speakers were usually turned down, but one time we were all gone and my suitemate was in the bathroom,” Wells said. “My speakers happened to be turned up and these demonic noises were blaring from my
speakers.” Eventually, he said he figured out it was Duke. Duke and his friends spent a lot of time hanging out at Kerr Hall their freshman year. But most of the time, while his friends were out partying, Duke spent his time working or entertaining himself on the computer, Wells said. “If he got an idea for a program or was working on a project, you would not see him for days,” Wells said. Ian Parberry of the computer
science faculty said Duke was engaged and involved in his work as a student. “We turn out lots of successful alumni,” Parberry said. “Lynn is the first in the app field.” Although he was a dedicated student, Duke was not a stereotypical computer engineer. He was personable, social and had a charm with women, Wells said. “We’d be walking and girls would literally stop their cars to hit on him,” Wells said. Duke’s sociability combined with his achievements in his field makes him different from most, Wells said. Duke released the app “Freak Booth” six months after Appzilla’s initial release, which transforms faces in pictures to give them a warped look. The app took two weeks to create, Duke said. His third app, “Helmet Hero: Head Trauma,” took six months to create and is Duke’s first try in the game category. “The category is so much more competitive than utility, and games are more complex,” Duke said. “Appzilla 2” has a tentative release date of mid-March, but Duke said he has no games planned for the future.