In 11th grade Sarah Daniels won the PNC Science Fair at Manteo High School with a solar powered oyster shucker. In 12th grade, she finished first in the North Carolina Young Geniuses competition with her invention of a self-anchoring beach umbrella that doubled as a metal detector. Her yearbook was filled with well wishes from students and teachers, all predicting big things for the bright young lady from Avon. They weren’t wrong, but even the most optimistic might be forgiven for not realizing how right they were.
This past spring Daniels, now in her third year at the College of the Albemarle, launched “Apparel for Your Apple” a one-woman app development studio for iPhone (She also develops for Android devices but is “not thrilled” with the platform.) She’s struck gold with her first commercial release, “Silencio Totalis,” which blocks spoiler posts across a wide array of social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and AskJeeves. The app utilizes individualized plugins to block spoilers for shows users don’t want any details about. Currently the “Game of Thrones” anti-spoiler software leads all plugins with over $58 million in sales. (Plugin prices vary: .99 for less popular shows like “24:Legacy” and 5.99 for more popular programs like GOT). Daniels is so confident in her product that she offers a full money-back guarantee if any spoiler-information gets through her app’s filter.
If Silencio Totalis sounds like a Harry Potter spell, it’s for a good reason
“I remember when the Half-Blood Prince came out,” Daniels told the OBX Report. “Before I saw it somebody on MySpace babbled about how Dumbledore died. I was so bummed. Totally messed up the movie for me. I wanted to develop an app that would help people not have that same negative experience.”
With her new found wealth, Daniels says she can finally afford what passes for “affordable housing” here in Dare County. She plans to move out of her parents’ home and into one of the new Run Hill SAGA apartments this Fall.