home | MY PHOTOGRAPHY | older photos | publications | projects | resumé

 

Marriage Proposal with an Android App On November 2nd I proposed to my girlfriend of over 2 years, Meghan. She's very perceptive and extremely difficult to surprise, so I knew I had to do something really clever to catch her off guard. I knew I had to first distract her with something she's obsessed with so that she'd lower her defenses... and that led me to "Her Android Phone" and "Harry Potter". As luck would have it I had just gotten an invitation to the beta of Google's "App Inventor", which allows people to quickly and easily create apps with little or no programming. In several hours (including the initial learning curve) I was able to create an app that would achieve my goals. I created an app that appeared to be an official application promoting the new Harry Potter movie. The premise was that if you successfully completed a simple quiz, you'd win free tickets to opening night of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows... The trap was now set.   (In case anyone is confused, this is NOT a real contest nor an official app,and it's not affiliated with Harry Potter or Warner Brothers in ANY way). We went to dinner and I casually mentioned to her that a co-worker told me about an app she could win free tickets to Harry Potter with. She fell for it hook, line & sinker and immediately demanded that I install it on her phone. Here's what she saw: A nice title page to set the stage. It even played the Harry Potter theme music The details to lure her in. To keep the ruse going, all "official" apps must have legal terms & conditions The fine-print at the bottom, translated to spanish using Google Translate, states that this app is not actually official. Why spanish? Because she doesn't speak spanish and I didn't want to give away the secret just yet. It also states that to be eligible for the "Grand Prize", you must reside in New Jersey and the CRC32 of your first name, last name and birthday much match Meghan's. (I had to make sure that no-one else claimed the grand prize!) Question #1 - An easy one to get her started Answer: Hedwig Question #2 Answer: Fred Question #3 Answer: Keeper Question #4 - Now that she's fully engrossed with the questions, here comes the one-two punch in the "Final Question"... Answer: Rufus Scrimgeour The "Final Question" - She was totally caught off-guard, and had a "deer-in-headlights" combined with a "WTF?!?" expression. Answer? Yes, of course! As soon as she said yes, the app automatically texted me with "Yes, I'll Marry You!" I then whipped out the actual ring to seal the deal.   This one took some research on my part. It's the famous scene from the movie coupled with the corresponding paragraph from the book. Fade to white. FIN. (and yes, she still got her opening night tickets!) Since there needed to be a code path in case she said "No", here's what she would have seen had that tragedy occurred...   The Image is from "The PotterPuffs"   This application was created with Google App Inventor   "Harry Potter" is a registered trademark of Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P. and other entities. This site is in NO WAY associated with Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P. or other entities.

 
 

All content copyright 2010 Jon C. Hodgson
No Monkeys were harmed while making this website.