Do you ever find yourself lost on campus?
Do you ever feel the urge to watch videos or read stories about how great LSU is?
Do you like to push buttons linking you to LSUsports.net?
Well, if you’ve answered “yes” to any of the following questions, you’re in luck — there’s an app for that.
You have no idea how sick I am of that damn phrase.
Earlier this month, the University threw its hat into the ring of more than 225,000 and launched the “LSU Mobile” iPhone app.
Unfortunately for people who would like a phone that still functions if held in the left hand, the app is only available on the iPhone, with a BlackBerry version coming “within the next few weeks.” Currently, there is no definite version for the Android platform.
As a Droid owner I feel discriminated against.
Sure, the iPhone may be more popular, but Android was the best selling OS among smart phones in a recent NPD Group announcement.
Android is blowing up — get on that, LSU developers.
The free, on-the-go purple and gold app launched Aug. 16, was sponsored by University Auxiliary Services and cost $40,000 to create, according to the Aug. 23 edition of The Daily Reveille.
Fortunately, I also own an iPod Touch, so I was able to download and play with the app. However, what I found was disappointingly lacking.
The app in its current stage has four icons to tap: athletics, maps, videos and news.
Because the iPhone is exclusive to AT&T and LSU Athletics has a partnership with Verizon Wireless, Verizon has withheld any iPhone applications from having LSU sports content.
Instead, tapping the athletics icon does nothing but bring you to LSUsports.net — a simple bookmark could do the same thing.
Second comes the map icon. The one and only useful feature so far on the application, the maps section has a full map of the University’s campus with users able to see their current location and search for other locations around campus.
Unfortunately, there is no way to devise any type of trail or route to get around campus — just to wander around in the general        direction of your destination.
While a huge map could definitely be helpful to students new to the University, it seems a shallow attempt at possibly something deeper.
Finally, I can group the remaining two sections into one  summary.
Both the videos and news icons bring the user to a list of PR-friendly videos and articles, which help shed a good light on the      University.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against the University trying to make itself look good to others — I’ve always loved LSU — but I don’t understand why the news icon doesn’t even mention the school’s on-campus newspaper.
Maybe they don’t want to see some loudmouth columnist bashing their $40,000 baby.
Speaking of $40,000 babies, isn’t the University going through some serious budget cuts? It’s all I hear about in the newsroom and all over campus, so it would seem like $40,000 could go toward something more useful.
The University definitely took a big technological step with the  release of the iPhone app. But a good idea done with only half the effort ends up a bad idea.
Sure, money could have been a restraint, but why not wait for available funding and release and app that blows every other college’s out of the water?
I’m looking for some type of Moodle integration, teacher and class reviews, student feedback, merge in TigerTrails routes, internal maps of buildings — because finding some classrooms is difficult — I could go on forever.
This idea has all kinds of potential, but right now it seems like a neglected idea and wasted resources among a difficult time in the University’s history.
Take your time, app developers, and get it right. Blow everyone out of the water with it to show how great the University really is.
And quit ignoring Android   users for God’s sake!
Adam Arinder is a 20-year-old communication studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_aarinder.
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Contact Adam Arinder at [email protected]