Validating Design Decisions

Join nsquared in our Sydney office as we chat about validating software design decisions. Is user testing always the best answer? Dr. Neil and Maridee come to some interesting conclusions...

More is Less

Join Dr. Neil and Maridee at our nsquared office in Sydney as we follow up yesterday's chat. Discover why more is less and less is more in terms of software development. Enjoy!

Less is More

Dr. Neil and Maridee sit down in the nsquared office to discuss the concept of "less is more".

Discover Principles of Surface Design

Today Dr. Neil and Maridee sat down in Sydney to converse about the five principles of Microsoft Surface design:

• Direct Manipulation
• Performance Aesthetics
• Scaffolding
• Contextual Environments
• Supperrealism

Developers and designers worldwide can use these principles to build dynamic Surface applications. What principles do you use for your software development?

Follow nsquared on Facebook!

nsquared is joining the masses to give you a chance to interact with us. Post comments and read our updates. Come check out our photos and become a fan! Visit tinyurl.com/nsquaredfacebook today! We look forward to seeing you.

Microsoft Surface Controls

Today Dr. Neil and Maridee sat down in nsquared's Sydney office to discuss Microsoft Surface controls. What are some examples of good controls? Which are overused and why? Why are some controls less than ideal? View our educational discussion to uncover these answers and more.

What are your favorite Surface controls? Contact us and let us know!

Touch the Web, Together.

We're very proud to announce that the flourishing partnership of nsquared and AFTER-MOUSE.COM has delivered another first for Surface.

WebControl, the new Browser for Microsoft Surface created by nsquared and AFTER-MOUSE.COM enables us to literally touch the Web, and is undoubtedly another giant leap forward into the foray of social computing. The fun all starts when you reach onto Surface's 30 inch rear projection display to select and open WebControl. It's open and ready for you get your hands on in a flash, and as soon as you're in, you can Take it, Turn it; Stretch it, Shrink it; Search it, Fill it; Spin it, Flick it; and even: double it and triple it!

The powerful WebControl-Surface combination enables collaboration like never before, allowing people to search, share and discuss their findings all at once in a social setting (over dinner or lunch, maybe?). To wrap up the experience once the decisions are made, online forms and applications can be completed to finalise and pay for bookings and reservations, and all without even a hint of a sighting of a Mouse or physical keyboard!

While we don't expect Australians to be able to get their fingers into this slice of the Surface 'pie' any time soon, we know that our European and American friends already have access to the almost unbelievable but very tangible technology of Surface and the opportunities it presents for families, friends and businesses to learn, share and grow.

Inspired by the possibilities and opportunities for your business or venue? We're leading the charge in Surface development, so give us a call or email us to discuss how we can help you to enter the new digital era of social computing and make it work for you and your brand.

Microsoft Surface Shell

Time for us to to discuss the Microsoft Surface Shell.
We explain the components of the shell and how Microsoft Surface applications can integrate with the shell.

Windows Marketplace for Mobile

Is this too little too late from Microsoft? As mentioned previously Apple’s iPhone App Store managed to reach a massive one billion downloaded applications last month, yet Microsoft have only recently started to generate interest around their own upcoming application store.

Last week the Windows Marketplace for Mobile (think App Store for Windows Mobile) was given some public exposure through the Windows Mobile Blog in the form of a ‘Race to Market Challenge ’. The challenge enables developers to submit applications to the Marketplace for the chance to win up to four Microsoft Surface tables (developer editions). Not only that but the winning applications would receive online marketing and promotion from Microsoft for coming out on top of this challenge. Will this be enough to pull some of the mobile developer community away from the current iPhone market and kick start the Windows Marketplace for Mobile? Or have Microsoft left it too late with Apple’s billion download head start?

Dr Neil had some comments of his own regarding the Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

“Windows mobile has had an open marketplace for a number of years now, in the form of online stores such as Handango . It is curious to me why Microsoft would not support the growth of these stores in order to further push out the Windows Mobile platform as opposed to simply trying to copy the Apple model. It all feels very reactionary, rather than ordered thinking. Handango (and others like it) have built up a large catalog of mobile applications to support the Windows Mobile platform and it would seem like a smart thing to do would be to work with this. What Microsoft is doing with the Windows Marketplace for Mobile is likely to work against the online stores that have supported Windows Mobile application sales so far.”

Here at nsquared we develop applications for a wide range of technologies including Windows Mobile, iPhone and Microsoft Surface. If you have an application idea that you want brought to life then contact us and we can help make that a reality!