DansFormers

Daniel J. Lyons is a life-long fan of science fiction and fantasy, especially Star Trek and the works of Isaac Asimov, who grew up along the east coast of the U.S. as a Navy brat before settling in Massachusetts. He started writing fan fiction in high school then earned a degree in journalism with a minor in creative writing before unexpectedly focusing on a career as an IT professional, eventually specializing in web and mobile communication.

Fiction

Fan Fiction

SugarQuill.net (Harry Potter)

Author page

• "Just Deserts"
  The Weasley twins discover that pranking isn't always as easy you would think.
  January 26, 2004
  943 words
• "Into the Dark"
  Ginny Weasley’s final confrontation with the influence of Tom Riddle.
  August 5, 2003
  815 words

The Tick

• "Evil Comes Parcel Post" (script)
  The Mayor of The City is held hostage by a new villain while the Tick and Arthur are held hostage by unexpected relatives.
  July 28, 2001

Technology Columns

MacBC.com

This site is no longer online - the following links are archived PDFs:

The Lyons' Den

• "iTunes: Making your Digital Hub Work For You"
  March 19, 2001
• "Palming Across Platforms: Crow tastes just like Chicken"
  October 6, 2000
• "Block Six: the Apple iSlab"
  July 22, 2000
• "I Have Seen the Printer, and it is Laser"
  June 22, 2000
• "The Webs we Weave: Fallout from the WWDC Rumors"
  May 17, 2000
• "Will Apple's Next Ad Tout a 2 GHz PowerMac?"
  May 4, 2000
• "Top 10 Slogans for Microsoft's New Ad Campaign"
  April 27, 2000
• "Why Does My Refrigerator Need an ISP?"
  March 28, 2000
• "First Tokyo, Now Boston: The New G4/400 Arrives"
  February 24, 2000
• "OS Evolution"
  February 4, 2000
• "OSX: Thoughts, Analysis, Rambling"
  January 20, 2000
• "CompUSA, How Could You?"
  December 17, 1999
• "MacOS X Server, Where's the Machine to Match?"
  December 9, 1999

Mac Did You Know...

• ..."that Macs Make Better Copy than WinTels, Even when Promoting W2K?"
  February 22, 2000

Student Journalism

Massachusetts Daily Collegian
University of Massachusetts at Amherst

As Collegian Staff

• “Community Service launches fundraiser”
  Volume CI, Issue 126, Page 3, Tuesday, April 21, 1992
• “High tech displayed for Kennedy”
  Volume CI, Issue 87, Page 1, Tuesday, February 18, 1992
• “Students travel to Cape Verde, discover democracy and roots”
  Volume CI, Issue 8, Page 3, Monday, September 16, 1991
• “Free sperm alternative to spermbank”
  Volume C, Issue 136, Page 3, Friday, May 10, 1991

As Collegian Correspondant

• “Tradeswomen group formed”
  Volume C, Issue 133, Page 7, Tuesday, May 6, 1991
  (printing error: only the first two paragraphs were published)
• “Migratory beekeepers are subjects of UM prof's book“
  Volume C, Issue 123, Page 3, Tuesday, April 23, 1991
• “SEA challenge draws students for semester”
  Volume C, Issue 122, Pages 3-4, Monday, April 22, 1991
• "Volunteers help bring lambs to life”
  Volume C, Issue 99, Page 3, Tuesday, March 12, 1991

Insight
Barnstable High School

As Entertainment Editor

• “Cruise: Impressive in Born on the Fourth of July”
  Volume 24, Number 3, Page 8, March 1990
  Review of the movie Born on the Fourth of July
• “Shatner's Tekwar a Pleasant Surprise”
  Volume 24, Number 3, Page 8, March 1990
  Review of William Shatner's TekWar
• “Film Clips”
  Volume 24, Number 3, Page 8, March 1990
  (compiled by)

As Editor

• “The Future Is in Trouble - Once Again”
  Volume 24, Number 2, Page 6, January 1990
  Review of Back to the Future Part II
  • Reprinted in:
    Village Journal
    Volume 21, Number 7, Page 22, February 15, 1990
• “Proposition 2½ Threatens Barnstable”
  Volume 24, Number 1, Page 1, November 8, 1989

Personal Sites

• Junkion HQ
  currently on hiatis
  A Transformers toy photo blog.
  Home of the unofficial catalog of New Age Toys' Legendary Heroes toyline.
• Cybercops Data-Bit
  prototype site
  A history of the police of the future toy lines; Dennou Keisatsu Cybercops, the US release ZAP Power Force and related knockoffs.
• DLdeveloper
  no longer maintained
  The home page DLdeveloper, Inc. - formerly an IT support and iOS app development company.

Software

• Signature Generator
  internal SharePoint Extension to generate standard email signatures
  for Regis College
  June 2020
  Utility to generate a standard signature for university emails.
• Doctor Who Podshock Companion
  no longer available
  Released in September 2010 by Art Trap Productions, LLC.
  A compliment to their Doctor Who Podshock podcast with links to episodes and exclusive content.
• Frog Jig
  no longer available
  Released in April 2010 by DLdeveloper, Inc.
  A nature photo jigsaw puzzle.
• Frog Slide
  no longer available
  Released in March 2010 by DLdeveloper, Inc.
  A nature photo slide puzzle.
• Bullet Skater
  no longer available
  Released in March 2010 by Bullet Development
  A motion controlled dodging game. Watch the gameplay montage.
• Meet Me Here
  no longer available
  Released in October 2009 by DLdeveloper, Inc.
  A location sharing app.
• Localytics
  developed in 2009 with Perpetuating Technologies
  First port of the Localytics analytic library to iOS.
• Reach Out!
  no longer available
  Released in April 2009 by Perpetuating Technologies
  Contact management application.
• Flutter
  no longer available
  with Perpetuating Technologies
  Released on September 15, 2008 by JuiceCaster
  Provided MMS-like services to iPhone’s running the 2.X version of the OS. Read the about the release on Business Wire.
• ASCsurvey.com
  public website
  for the American Surveying Company of Boston, Inc.
  2005-2007
  The website included an authenticated section that allowed clients to order online instead of via fax and integrated with Quinsail.
• Quinsail
  internal web application
  for the American Surveying Company of Boston, Inc.
  2005-2007
  Used to manage the mortgage plot plan business including initial order, distribution of surveys to contractors and employees, generating AutoCAD DXF files for each plan, invoicing, reporting and integration with QuickBooks for accounting.
  A module for ASC National, LLC was under development when both companies were closed in 2007.
• ASC National
  internal Microsoft Access 97 application
  for ASC National, LLC
  1999-2008
  Used to manage the nationwide land survey coordination business including initial order, distribution of surveys to sub-contractors, invoicing, reporting and integration with QuickBooks for accounting.
• Job II
  internal Microsoft Access 97 application
  for the American Surveying Company of Boston, Inc.
  1998-2005
  A combination of a previously existing Microsoft Access barcode job tracking application and a port of a FoxPro project management database. Used to manage the mortgage plot plan business from initial order to integration with QuickBooks for accounting.

Other Resources

Questions?

Please contact questions@DansFormers.info.