PolarPort

IoT for Christmas Spirit : A modern way for parents to explain Santa Claus & Christmas using technology and children's literature!

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La Crisis Navideña del Cristal Polar (Read-Along) by Ryan Rutan, Stephen Silver & Kayla Silver on iBooks

Read a free sample or buy La Crisis Navideña del Cristal Polar (Read-Along) by Ryan Rutan, Stephen Silver & Kayla Silver. You can read this book with iBooks on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac.

Your new favorite STEM holiday story is now available in a Spanish Level 2 Reader on both Amazon Kindle and iTunes Books.  

Bonus: For iTunes only, a read-along track has also been provided to assist young readers. 

Special thanks to Kayla Silver for her awesome translation and voice-over work on this edition!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from all us here at PolarPort!

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The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis (Read-Along) by Ryan Rutan, Stephen Silver & Johanna Hedges on iBooks

Read a free sample or buy The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis (Read-Along) by Ryan Rutan, Stephen Silver & Johanna Hedges. You can read this book with iBooks on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac.

Your new favorite STEM holiday story is now available in a Level 2 Reader on both Amazon Kindle and iTunes Books. 

Bonus: For iTunes only, a read-along track has also been provided to assist young readers.

Special thanks to Johanna Hedges for her awesome voice-over work on this edition!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from all us here at PolarPort!

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PolarPort - Supporting Future STEM Leaders Through Girlstart

For those who read my previous blog post, you may remember that about two months ago I completed the first phase of my two part side-project that I call PolarPort: An Internet of Things (IoT) device (a.k.a. the PolarPort) and mobile app that helps children believe in the spirit of Christmas, while giving parents a more modern way to incentivize good behavior from their children. An illustrated children's e-book that introduces the Polar Elf Innovation Squad, a group of young Polar Elves that use teamwork, technology and tenacity to design the PolarPort to help save Christmas. With the first

PolarPort will donate up to $2 for every copy of “The Adventures of the Polar Elf Innovation Squad : The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis” sold on either Apple iBookstore / Amazon Kindle Store between September 1st - December 25th, 2015 to Girlstart.  An organization that helps inspire girls to pursue STEM based interests at an early age.

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Knowing When To Use Technology is a Valuable Skill, Too

Learning how to code is one skill.  Learning how to integrate multiple technologies to solve problems is another.  When it comes to technology problem solving, it is just as important to understand when to stop using one technology, and start using another, than being a full-stack developing expert.  Being a full-stack developer is great, but it is very difficult to maintain relevancy over time due to the pace of innovation.  For most people, having strong fundamentals is the single most important skill to cultivate, followed by expertise in technologies that can bring everything together.  

With PolarPort and The Adventures of the Polar Elf Innovation Squad series, our goal is let other services cover the deep technical specifics.  This frees us to focus on the broader technology landscape to show children how to maximize technologies around them and string together real solutions to real problems.  In the series, this is one of Madilyn’s biggest strengths she brings to the team, which is also why she is the squad’s leader.  She has the confidence and vision to see how all the pieces to the puzzle fit together.  Not just from a technology perspective, but also from an execution perspective.  She is able to decipher the feedback from her team, organize it and make a game plan her team can follow to success.  When it comes anointing the next generation of women leaders, these are the skills that will separate them from the crowd.

Special Thanks to platforms like Wonder Workshop, littleBits, and Lego Mindstorms that inspire children of all ages to learn how to design and code hardware/software solutions!

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Introducing the Polar Elf Innovation Squad:  Madilyn, Zoey, Abigail, Emma, Marty and Sofia.   Together these ladies (and Marty) work together to invent the PolarPort, modernize Christmas and bring joy to the world with a focus on modern technology and engineering.  If you are into #STEM, #Parenting, #Gamification, #Design, #IoT or #mobile this story may be just for you!

Learn more about how the Polar Elf Innovation Squad designed the PolarPort and helped save.  Check out The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis on the Apple iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Store.

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Meet Rianne Taylor.  She is a famous singer / songwriter that is a close friend of the Polar Elves.  She also happens to be Zoey’s favorite artist.  The backstory for this character is inspired by a video from Christmas 2014 where Taylor Swift wrapped gifts with personal attention for her fans.  When it comes to strong female role models, Taylor Swift is at the top of the charts for young entrepreneurs (girl or boy) to emulate.  This is why her most awesome Christmas actions were captured in the book.

Learn more about how Rianne Taylor helps the Polar Elf Innovation Squad to get the word out about the PolarPort and save Christmas.  Check out The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis on the Apple iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Store.

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PolarPort - An IoT Story of Passion, Parenting and Christmas Spirit

Throughout my professional career, I have been recognized as a very technical and creative individual. When asked by my 5 year old daughter, "How does Santa get into our home," this past Christmas, I felt compelled to provide the expected technical and creative response. Little did I know that my off-the-cuff 5 minute idea would lead to the most enjoyable project, ever, in my professional career.The IdeaMy solution was simple enough,Santa uses WiFi, just like your iPad. It's wireless!Her How's and Why's eventually s

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Meet Neil.  He is a Polar Elf that works in Packaging with Sofia.  All we know about him is that he loves Hawaiian Shirt Parties, and thinks they can solve any problem ... even the troubles that ail Christmas.

Learn more about the non-Hawaiian Shirt Party solutions created by the Polar Elf Innovation Squad to save Christmas.  Check out The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis on the Apple iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Store.

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Meet Zoey.  She is an energetic Polar Elf that works in Marketing.  She is enamored with human pop-culture.  Above all else, she LOVES social media.  The North Pole knows her as the “human gossip hound”, but there are few who are interested in the conversation.  She is extremely passionate, and always dawns her signature english racer cap.  Follow her on Twitter @PolarElfZoey.

Learn how Zoey brings her energy and marketing talents to help Polar Elf Innovation Squad realize their plan to save Christmas.  Check out The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis on the Apple iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Store.

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Meet Marty.  He is a young Polar Elf Software Engineer, and knows numerous programming languages.  His passion lies in information security, which tends to get him into mischief more times than not, but he is a very caring and trust-worthy elf.  He is always tinkering on side-projects, and limits his reading to developer news.  He plays online games and frequently participates in software BETA programs to fix bugs and offer feedback.  The only thing he loves to do more than programming is to play futbol with his sister, Emma.

Learn how Marty’s curiosity launchd the Polar Elf Innovation Squad into a whirlwind of technology innovation.  Check out The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis on the Apple iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Store.

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Meet Emma.  She is a young Polar Elf Hardware Engineer.  She is a full-time nerd and proud of it.  She enjoys building robots (which fill her home) and is a LEGO fanatic.  She doesn’t like to be labeled as just a hardware engineer, and is always looking out for ways to use her skills to learn new things and do something great.  She is an avid reader of technology and developer news, and loves to plays soccer with twin brother, Marty.

Learn how Emma uses her unique hardware skills as part of the Polar Elf Innovation Squad to change Christmas forever.  Check out The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis on the Apple iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Store.

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Meet Sofia.  She is a young Polar Elf Designer that works in Packaging.  Sofia comes from a long line of prestigious designers.  Her parents made history by redesigning the Santa’s sleigh in the 1950′s, and her grandparents designed the timeless Santa outfit.  She currently works on new designs for gift wrapping, but she dreams of designing something grand to show her family she has what it takes to carry on the family legacy.

Learn how Sofia gets the opportunity of a lifetime to work on the Polar Elf Innovation Squad and saves the day.  Check out The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis on the Apple iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Store.

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Meet Abigail.  Her friends call her Abby.  She is a Polar Elf Data Analyst and Madilyn’s best friend and neighbor.  She is extremely intelligent; however, unknowingly talks over people’s heads.  People are often intimidated by her ability to quickly process conversations and arrive at a conclusion, but that is what Madilyn loves about her most.  That, and her extremely quirky sense of humor.  In her spare time, she likes to solve logic puzzles and practice her data visualization skills on random sets of data.

Learn how Abigail and Madilyn team up to kickstart the team that would eventually turn into the Polar Elf Innovation Squad.  Check out The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis on the Apple iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Store.

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Meet Santa.  He’s not a Polar Elf, but he has the responsibility for delivering Christmas every year.  Even with all this pressure, he always tries to find ways to compromise to get things done. He is very trusting, except for when it comes to technology.  Technology tends to confuse him unless it is extremely simple and easy to use.  He sees the tension around the North Pole and is worried about the future of Christmas, but doesn’t see a way to fix it.

To learn more on how Madilyn and the rest of the Polar Elf Innovation Squad save the day, check out The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis on the Apple iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Store.

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Meet Madilyn.  Her friends call her Maddi.  She is a young Polar Elf that works in Logistics.  She is always thinking of ways to connect things to make them better.  She is a avid reader of reddit/r/technology and other industry sites for the latest in technical business related articles.  She has a reputation in the North Pole for being quite the soft-spoken entrepreneur, and she is always looking for the next big thing to make her mark.  Little did she know her time to shine was just around the corner.

To learn more on how Madilyn and the rest of the Polar Elf Innovation Squad save the day, check out The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis on the Apple iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Store.

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Meet Bernard, he’s an old school elf whose motto is “If it ain’t broke dont fix it!”  He is the oldest of all the Polar Elves and has seen it all.  He knows that Christmas is need of help, but he struggles to think out-of-the-box.  Little did he know that the Polar Elf Innovation Squad would come to the rescue.  

To learn more on how they save the day, check out The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis on the Apple iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Store.

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Read a sample or download The Polar Crystal Christmas Crisis by Ryan Rutan & Stephen Silver with iBooks.

The Polar Elves are running out of polar crystal magic, and Christmas is in trouble.  Join Madilyn and rest of the Polar Elf Innovation Squad on their inaugural adventure as they use technology, teamwork and tenacity to bring to life the PolarPort and put Christmas back on the track to sustainability!

Get it today on the Apple iBookstore!