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Speed Peeps is a very simple application.  To use it, you simple open up the application and you are set to go.  No setup required on your part at all.  We wanted to build an app that would just work.  We also discussed at great length the value of anonymous data collection and data collection based on a username/password.  After much discussion on the pros and cons of each, we decided to go the anonymous route.  When your application runs for the very first time, the application obtains a random userid from the cloud application.  This userid is not linked to a particular iPad or any device.  Its truly completely disassociated with it.  The number is meaningless by itself.  However, this userid is important to the user because it allows them to see their own statistics and numbers.  It allows them to compile a speed history.  However, because this data is not associated with anything at all in particular, it can easily be reset to another number within the application and you'll have a brand new set of "history".  It'd be akin to creating a whole new user account.  Except no personal data is collected, no user name, no password, no password reset question, no email address, nothing.  So we value privacy and anonymity highly at WakeUpRoosters.

Speed Peeps is a valuable tool in that it lets you track your own speed history.  That alone is a useful tool.  However, Speed Peeps takes it one step further.  We allow all data collected to be averaged out together in a given area and be presented to users for wifi provider research purposed.  If you are shopping for a new wifi provider in your city, you can click the provider (if it has data) and you can see what the user experience is, on average, in different parts of the city or different areas.  You can see how fast or slow they were.  Also, you can compare what other users are getting that use the same wifi device as you.  Perhaps you are getting slow speeds, you can check out the crowd sourced data to see if they are experiencing the same issue. 

All in all, Speed Peeps is a valuable utility tool for an individual.  Also, its an extremely useful research tool for all sorts of people - those researching other wifi providers for switching purporses, comparing to their own provider to ensure they are getting the same quality as others with the same service, and for researchers and scientists who are looking at how wifi data is being used in different areas and what kind of quality they are receiving. 

Down the road, we plan on offering a lot more reporting packages and functionality.  However, in the first version, we are mainly looking at providing our users with an invaluable tool for checking their wifi connection and comparing/shopping other wifi providers in your area.

I had just thrown away my cell phone and decided that I would ditch cell for good and would be using a wifi soft phone instead.  I won't bore you with the setup, but basically its using my iPad and a Clear Wifi Clearspot device as my new cell phone.  The problem is what we ran into with cell phone 15 years ago - coverage and bad spots.  I would be on the phone and would get a bad signal - thus bad voice quality.  It was frustrating especially since I was smack in the middle of Clear's coverage map, I should have great coverage where I'm at.  I used a product that would test the speed "on demand", ie, I had to push a button and see what the speed was.  Then I could get anecdotal evidence as to where the bad spots are because I'm not writing it down, especially while driving.  After realizing there was no app that could passively test my connection speed as I moved around, I decided to write my own application.  I really need an application where I didn't have to press a button to test my connection speed.  I could just open up the app and it would test network speeds based on certain triggers - I decided upon every 5 minutes and if moving, every 100 meters. 

And I also realized that if I shared my results with the community, this could lead to a power research tool that could show what these wifi hotspots are really getting under "real operating conditions"  So Speed Peeps was born - or really conceived - it still needed to be built.

But in the end, really I needed something that could keep an eye on my wifi hotspot as I move about my day - driving to work, sitting at the office, driving to lunch, commuting back home, and finally at home.  I wanted to know the weak areas of the wifi spot and be able to visualize it.  As a result, the data is conceptualized over a Google Map with a heat map that tells what speed you got at each specific location.  I could then see whether my hotspot coverage was sufficient for my needs - was it going dark on the way to work?  Was it dark at work?  Or did it always work well on a typical day?  A coverage map that a wifi provider is great for marketing, but for use, I needed something more fine grained and "honest" and that's what this app strives for.

Welcome to the pivoted WakeUpRoosters website!  If you were a visitor last year, we had developed a social networking application for reviewing local businesses.  Well, while we really believed in the concept, the space became too congested and very competitive.  I believe it was tough to expect our members to rebuild their social networks outside of Facebook or other networks.  We still hope to revisit our original concept at some point in the future because we all still really believe in the concept but realize we need to improve on the execution of the idea.

Anyway, we've been hard at work developing iPad applications and we are pretty much completed with the development and testing of our first iPad application, Speed Peeps.  I'll make another post that discusses what Speed Peeps is, how it works, and why we are really excited about the application!