Locus for iPad and iPhone

We have been busy improving Locus for you to share your location with your friends and colleagues. Now available on both the iPhone and iPad, Locus will help you keep track of your buddies, as well as posting your location to Twitter and Facebook.
Get Locus for iPad.
Get Locus for iPhone.

Snap Snap for iPad

Our iPhone memory game, Snap Snap, is now available for the iPad. Using your own photo library to play a game of concentration. Try and match your photos as fast as possible.
This release also updates the iPhone version to use your entire photo library.
Get it now and start playing Snap with your snaps.

nsync sky edition

Adding to our range of beautiful nsync applications, the latest nsync sky edition allows you to clearly see the time of day for the different time zones you have selected.

More and more people from around the globe are teleconferencing so as to reduce travel for meetings. No matter where you are in the world, it's tough to try and work out the right time for a meeting that multiple people in vastly different locations need to attend. If this is something you need to do, you'll know how easy it is to get the timing wrong. nsync changes all that. Select the locations, find the best-fit time combination, and send an email with that selection to meeting attendees. Easy.

Updated Developing for Microsoft Surface book

Our book, Developing for Microsoft Surface, is finally available in hardcopy from our friends at Lulu. We have also updated the cover of the book. You can now buy the book from the website.

nsquared at ninemsn's FFWD5 marketing summit

Another good week at nsquared headquarters has been added to by the fact that a few of us have had the opportunity to show off our Surface expertise at ninemsn's digital marketing summit, FFWD5.

Throughout the day, ninemsn’s line-up of world class speakers shared their insights and predictions about digital media and marketing over the next five years. The invitation-only event was attended by senior marketing professionals, media agencies, and the creative community. They were all treated to a number of immersive and interactive experiences so that they could better understand the offerings available now and into the future. Surface® table-top computing experiences were available in several spaces throughout yesterday’s summit.

The nsquared Surface space in the Meet the Experts Arena drew plenty of interest from high-level marketers. Most of these talented successful people were attempting to understand the value of Surface over traditional touch screens. Being the experts that we are, they were quickly able to understand the value of the super-responsive, super multi-touch and collaborative medium that is Surface.

The positive responses we received regarding the nsquared business pack software were something that we’ve gotten used to, but never lose our enthusiasm for. When they could also see how they could use Surface to create engaging digital advertising experiences for their clients, and the customers of their clients, the marketers were even more interested. Surface has the power to provide immersive, collaborative experiences that leave people with long-lasting shared emotional connections to their experiences. This is a powerful tool for marketers who are constantly working to achieve branding superiority for their clients.

The fact that Surface can start, continue, or be part of an endpoint experience for online and mobile campaigns makes it an even more alluring proposition in our eyes, and we’re looking forward to engaging more with the marketing community.

We also had some fun at the event. Who could possibly resist the temptations of Luna Park on the way out??

nsync classic edition

Some of the most beautiful applications on the iPad have a very natural feel and texture to them.

Applications such as Calendar and Notes are really a pleasure to use. We have taken this concept and brought you a new version of nsync with a rich dark wooden look and three classic clock styles to choose from, nsync classic edition. Now available in the app store.

Touch surfaces want to be horizontal

In the nsquared development studio we have been saying for years that the advantage of touch, really shines on the table top and in the hand because of the orientation of a horizontal screen lends itself to far superior touch experiences.

This morning in his presentation of the new Mac OSX software Steve Jobs made the following statement:

“touch surfaces don’t want to be vertical, it gives great demo, but after a short period of time you start to fatigue and after an extended period of time your arm wants to fall off, it doesn’t work, it’s ergonomically terrible, touch surfaces want to be horizontal,…"

"this doesn't work"

Thank you, Steve and Apple for helping to clarify this point in such a concise manner. Let's hope more people listen to this and understand the benefits of horizontal touch surfaces.

Introducing the certified Surface applications for business.

In this video Dr. Neil announces that nsquared has reached the milestone of having 10 applications certified for Microsoft Surface and shows us the 3 business applications in the nsquared business pack that are certified for Microsoft Surface.

10 out of 10!

“We’re very proud of the fact that nsquared schedules is the 10th nsquared Microsoft® Surface® Application to receive the prestigious “Certified for Surface” award.” said nsquared’s Director, Dr. Neil Roodyn. “As far as we can tell, there are now 13 Surface applications that have been Certified for Surface, and 10 of them were created by the nsquared Surface development team in Sydney,” he continued.
We now have 10 applications certified for Microsoft Surface. This includes all of the applications in the nsquared business pack and all the applications in the nsquared education pack.
Having our applications certified for Microsoft Surface provides our customers with a level of assurance that we are delivering high quality software that provides a great Surface experience.
Now when you visit the Microsoft surface site to discover available applications, you can see that nsquared is the dominant player in this market.

Let's meet globally, in style

Our iPad app, nsync, has had a facelift.

This is the iPad app to help you organize meetings with people around the world.
nsquared nsync lets you view the time in four different locations around the world.
You can then find a time that would suit people in some or all of those timezones.

Download it from the Apple AppStore

Dr. Neil speaks to CodeCast

Last moth while Dr. Neil was in the USA he caught up with Ken Levy of CodeCast.

The interview turns into an extended conversation on a variety of topics including Microsoft Surface, multi-touch applications, Bing Translator and the Messenger Connect SDK.

These are all technologies that we at nsquared are very proud to have worked with Microsoft on helping to deliver.

You can download the podcast here.

nsquared education pack stars at TEDx Redmond

This week some of us have been lucky enough to witness and be a part of the latest TEDx event in Redmond. TEDx events are a spin off from the well known TED events as a result of interest from a number of groups in hosting their own TED like events. TEDx this week was organised by a young lady who could possibly be the world's youngest teacher. Adora Svitak is 12 years old and is a passionate and accomplished teacher of reading and writing skills. The event that she organised, TEDx Redmond, focused on technology in education and the future of education.

As one of the world's leading software development teams for Microsoft Surface, we were delighted to have been invited to attend. The bonus for us? Our educational apps got another good workout and once again proved their worth and position in the market.

It might be our imaginations, but it seems that we've had an unusual rise in the number of enquiries for our new

education pack early this week, and we're thinking it's because of the great feedback from TEDx. The software is intuitive to use, but requires that users to engage with it. They focus on the development of literacy and numeracy skills, but also have a number of cross curricular benefits.

Schools and public libraries are currently showing the greatest levels of interest and commit

ment.

To find out more about the nsquared education pack for Microsoft Surface you can visit http://nsquarededucationpack.com/ or give us a call on +61 2 9233 5355.

The nsquared education pack is live.

Today we're proud to announce the release of the nsquared education pack for Microsoft Surface.

The nsquared education pack for Microsoft Surface is the first of the nsquared educational series. It focuses on providing highly interactive learning experiences that are designed to enhance young students’ attention and retention rates. Game-based learning is acknowledged as an extremely effective teaching approach and most of the seven nsquared education pack activities utilise this method. While the activities are designed to enhance literacy and numeracy skills, students learn to manage themselves in collaborative and competitive environments when they participate.

Teachers who want to match the activities to their current curriculum content can easily customise the activities. Each education pack is supplied with the nsquared teacher tool that enables teachers to create and change content for the activities using their PCs.

The nsquared education pack is supported by a dedicated web site. “As of ourlaunch day today, there are already a number of free content packs ready for teachers to download so that they can easily change the content.” said Dr. Neil. Teachers or library administrators can find out more and download the available content packs from the web site.

This week Dr. Neil and the team on the ground in the UK are excited to be on the road taking Surface and the nsquared education pack to a number of schools in England and Wales. More updates will be provided as the week continues.

Surface Business Pack has Shipped!

We've shipped again! This time we're ready to start selling our Surface Business Pack.

The pack is designed specifically for use with the magic that is Microsoft Surface. It's an easy-to-install three-app pack that is designed to help businesses increase the results they get from their on-task time, and reduce losses from duplication of effort. nsquared thoughts, nsquared documents and nsquared schedules are all apps that we've been using to help our team get the most out of meetings and workshops for months now. We thought others might like them, too, so we bundled them up and made it a no-brainer. To find out more about this neat suite of apps, you can visit the web site.

Locus version 2 has shipped

Amongst all the buzz around location sharing, twitter showing your location and privacy of your information, nsquared proudly presents version 2 of Locus. Locus lets you share your location with your friends when you want and allows you hide your location when you choose. You can now share with the world via twitter, or share only with select people in your friends list. Putting you in charge of what you share, when you share it and with whom you are sharing.

Find out more about Locus.

SnapSnap, another iPhone app released

Play Snap with your snaps!

This version of "Concentration" lets you use the pictures you've taken with your iPhone to enjoy this long-time favourite game! Minutes or hours of entertainment in the palm of your hand! Get it now from the AppStore.

The release of iOS4 enabled us to start using the photos in your phone. We see this as a big step in the right direction, enabling applications to access user generated content on the device can make each experience unique to the user.

Surface Business Pack

The nsquared Surface Business Pack consists of three applications designed to enhance the conversation taking place at the Surface unit. The applications are documents, schedules and thoughts. (Thoughts isn’t shown in the video.)

The nsquared documents application allows you to explore and discuss documents being displayed on the screen, these documents can be Word, Excel or Powerpoint files, loaded from a usb key or from a network drive.

Common questions heard at the meeting room table revolve around the schedules of the attendees. The nsquared schedules application presents the Microsoft Exchange calendar of for each attendee as their business card is placed on the Surface. New meetings can be created by simply placing business cards in the center of the screen.

The third application (not shown in in the video) is nsquared thoughts. The nsquared thoughts application enables participants to sketch out their thoughts on a blank canvas and then manipulate shapes and images to organize their thoughts.

These applications can be purchased individually or as a pack, contact us to find out more.

nsync 1.2 adds clock styles

A new version of our favourite iPad application for organizing meetings in multiple time zones, nync, has just shipped.
nsync 1.2 for the Apple iPad now provides support for multiple clock styles.

After support for a larger number of locations, one of the most requested features was different clock styles.

Now you can simply tap twice on a clock to display a choice of clock styles.

nsquared support for Windows Live SDK

Once again nsquared has been hard at work supporting our friends in Redmond, delivering a series of samples, videos and getting started guides to help developers learn how to use the Messenger Connect Windows Live SDK. Check out the links below and you too can start building applications that connect to Microsoft's vast social networking infrastructure.

Over 500 million people love and use Windows Live services such as Messenger, SkyDrive, and Hotmail. Request and invitation through the following link:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowslive/default.aspx

Windows Live Messenger Connect is a collection of APIs and experiences that enable users to communicate, share, and connect with their Messenger friends and Windows Live contacts;

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff749458.aspx

Windows Live Messenger Connect Code Samples - here you will find code samples to help you learn building Messenger Connect applications;
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/messengerconnect

We hope you enjoy learning from our work and we'll update you with more as it happens!

nsync Version 1.1 Release

You asked and we delivered. The first version of nsync focused on time zones, rather than locations, and we know this caused confusion for some of our great customers, who wrote to tell us. In response, we've found some time and added more than 500 new locations for you all. Here's what one of our Version 1 customers has to say:

Version 1.1 takes this app to greatness! - ★★★★★

by Jim Hays - Version 1.1 - 18 June 2010

As the CEO of a global consulting firm, I am constantly fighting to find time for my clients, my people, and me to meet. The 1.0 version did lack major cities, so although I found the comments on the earlier version overly harsh, I can understand their frustration. With the new 1.1 update that included over 500 new cities, this is now an essential tool for me. Give it a try. It is simple, elegant, and useful if you are struggling with how to get out of time zone hell.

nsquared Surface at World Expo

We know we've already told you about our Surface apps for Liverpool University's Ness Gardens, and how we love the fact that they're being enjoyed at World Expo. We loved this new video of our apps and thought you might, too - so we're telling you again. The video's below for you to take a quick look at.

We're hiring!

Yep, you read that right. :-) We're on the lookout for a talented and passionate digital designer and 2-3 software developers with programming flair. We'd like to have you join us as soon as possible.

If you're into working with the most up to date, latest technology (some of it not yet publicly released), and you're passionate about learning, we'd love to hear from you.

To find out more about us, visit our web site before sending your CV to jobs@nsquaredsolutions.com.

Real Estate gets to the Surface

A quick post today to bring you up to speed on some of our latest Surface adventures. We've all known for a long time that Surface is suited to nearly every industry there is out there. And slowly, people are catching on. Recently, the good people from Console (a high profile real estate software solutions provider) visited our offices to find out more. We had a good afternoon in our dev studio, showing them around Surface. They loved it so much, they filmed it and got some hot tips from our Dr. Neil. With Surface being so new in Australia, it's really good to see that people and industries are finally starting to explore it. You can check out the video to find out more here. Alternatively you can read Console's "NewsReal" to find out more of what they think.

Cheers!

Dr. Neil: World's First Surface MVP

By now you'll probably have seen our new look. It IS nice to have some "new clothes" and to be able to express ourselves to the world in a more fun and accurate way :)

While we've been busy with getting our new look 'up and dancing', we've also been burning the candle late into the evenings and weekends with other projects, too. Many of them we'll be able to tell you about in the coming weeks, but one of them in particular is our work with Microsoft Surface. We love the magic that is the Surface platform, and the opportunities that lie ahead and now. As a result of our continuing Surface adventures, we're very proud to be able to announce that the very first Surface MVP Award has been granted to our Director, Dr. Neil!

We know he'll be very pleased with the announcement and hope to be able to talk with him in the next 24 hours to find out just what he has to say about it. For now, from the team here at nsquared: a big "Thank You" to the team at Microsoft for your recognition of our continuing efforts and passion when it comes to Surface.

nsync is Live!

Dr. Neil got his iPad within hours of landing in New York last month. We knew he'd been looking forward to the moment for some time beforehand, but we didn't realise just how much.

True to his normal form he began experimenting and finding his way around the platform almost immediately: and then the coding started. Somehow, in between meetings in Redmond, London, Paris, and Amsterdam; Surface training; eating; and plane flights over the last 2-3 weeks, he put together our first iPad app "nsync" and submitted it to the App Store for approval.

When asked about his speedy and enthusiastic response to the new platform, Dr. Neil said "Well, it's massive that the iPad has no clock, alarm or work times functions, and it shocked me so much that I built my own!" He loves his new iPad and we're sure his MacBook Air is getting less and less attention these days. We also know that he, of all people, understands the challenges of constantly operating in different time zones. nsync is a great response to simplifying the challenges and we're looking forward to finding out how many other challenges we can solve or simplify for those around us. Cheers!

nsquared Makes Headlines on the Microsoft Surface Blog

You must be wondering how nsquared can create so many apps for Surface while still managing to pour out all its other creative apps for multiple platforms. Well, you can keep on wondering... We've done it again! nsquared is making headlines on the Microsoft Surface Blog. Our amazing work is being recognised, and our recently released Hospitality and Retail Surface apps Tourist Table and nsquared Concierge are making big waves.



The excitement just keeps on growing and our software is eagerly anticipated around the world. All enquiries can be directed to enquires@nsquaredsolutions.com so feel free to get in touch and ask how you can get our apps, or simply say "hi"!

Our iPhone Translator Talks!

Pssst! We've just heard that our latest iPhone app, Translation Station has been released on the iTunes App Store today, and it'll be free until June 1!

Translation Station2 talks! You asked and we've answered. We know it's hard to pronounce languages just by reading them, so we took advantage of the translation engine's speech offerings. Powered by the same machine translation engine as Microsoft's Bing Translator, Translation Station will translate 31 languages in writing, and will even read the translation back to you in six languages. A talking translator is pretty cool, but the coolest most clever thing, is that when the translation engine updates (by adding written or spoken languages), so will the App. Automatically. No need to update it through the App Store!

It's free for now, but from June 1, you'll need to purchase it, so download yours now!

iDrinkblood goes live!

Didn't we say that we had some exciting news to share? Just when you thought it was safe to go out at night again.... nsquared’s “iDrinkblood” was released on the iPhone App Store. Commissioned by one of our Agency partners, this app really shows off nsquared’s expertise as one of the best iPhone app developers in the world. nsquared developed iDrinkblood and partnered up with US Sydney to produce this remarkable piece of digital marketing. We know our clients are happy, and we think you'll be happy too. See the official video of iDrinkblood on YouTube:



Download iDrinkblood from the iPhone App Store today and start drinking.... iDrinkblood will leave you shivering under your pillows! Now where's my pointy teeth?

nsquared Surface montage

Well things are certainly heating up at nsquared HQ! We've had a load of developments. Our new nsquared Surface montage has just been released showing the exciting work and practical apps we've been building for Surface. The video was shot at Microsoft in Redmond in the US while Dr Neil was continuing his worldwide Surface training program.

You can check out our Surface montage below;



As usual the nsquared office in Sydney is buzzing with development projects and we're pretty excited about new projects that are coming up. We'll keep you updated as soon as we can with our new projects so stay tuned....

nsquared Surface goes to School

It seems the weeks are getting busier here, whether or not our unit is the studio or not. Last week our Surface device went back to school, loaded up with our Surface Education Pack Apps.

It spent the week in a classroom filled with very excited 6-8 year olds who dubbed it the "Cooperation Table". While they did have to learn to cooperate, it seemed to us that it was a lesson learned very quickly. From our initial observations, we confirmed once again that Surface definitely has a place in Australian classrooms. Its social design encourages cooperative and collaborative interaction. It also provides a very safe and effective place for competitive learning activities.

We are very grateful for, and lucky to have the support of Curl Curl North Public School Teacher, Gretel Watson. Gretel is an extremely passionate and dedicated teacher with a talent for innovation, so she was happy to be able to trial Surface and provide valuable feedback to us. We were also strongly supported by Sue Beveridge, who drives the Connected Classroom's programme of the NSW DET. Thanks to Sue's support and links, we'll shortly be able to post a video of action from last week here, so stay tuned.

nsquared at the Gartner IT Summit

At the launch of Microsoft® Surface® early last month, we had the opportunity to show off some of the apps we've been creating for the Education market. Since then, one of those has been given the honour of being only the third Surface application in the world to bear the Certified for Microsoft Surface badge.

Late last week, Microsoft asked us to supply some business-focused apps for display on their Surface unit at the Gartner Business Intelligence and Information Management Summit that was held on Tuesday and Wednesday this week at the Sydney Exhibition centre. We provided them with some ideas that we’ve been working on and that were ready to demo. We have other projects we’re working on in this space and hope to show you more in the coming months. For now, on display at the Garner conference were:

1. nsquared Schedules – uses tagged business cards to view and share the details of your exchange account calendars. It's also designed to allow you to reschedule, follow up, delete, and create new appointments all with the touch of a finger (or two).
2. nsquared Office Images allows you to view, share and discuss business information created in Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents using Surface. Great for the Board Room or for international Board meetings with connected Surface Tables.
3. nsquared Stock Exchange – a visual application that lets you view your share portfolio in real time and respond to changes in the market.

Take a look and let us know what you think!

MakeWords 1.0 is certified by Microsoft®!

Great news - the results are in, and nsquared is on the podium!

After a short wait, we're very proud to be able to say that our latest app, MakeWords 1.0, is certified by Microsoft®, as part of the Microsoft® Surface® certification program. We're told that to date it is one of only three (3) Microsoft Surface applications worldwide to receive certification.

The next thing we're waiting for is to see it posted on the official Microsoft Surface site.

There are more plans for "MakeWords 1.0" and its friends, and we'll be letting you know how they go as soon as we have more to show. In the mean time we're looking forward to being able to share MakeWords 1.0 with as many people as possible.

About MakeWords 1.0
It seems everyone who sees MakeWords 1.0 on the Surface device is instantly captivated, including "grown ups". We designed it as an educational app for lower to mid-primary school students as a fun way to help build literacy skills. Once we'd finished sketching it out, we realised that it provided far more in lessons than a spelling test ever could. Better than that, it's far more fun. On top of the spelling lesson, students develop better object recognition skills, and learn how to participate in an environment that is both collaborative and competitive.
As with all high quality Surface Applications, MakeWords 1.0 capitalises on the unique qualities of Surface to deliver far more than initially meets the eye, and we're looking forward to bringing more fantastic Surface Apps to the business world.

Microsoft Surface is available in Australia

Dr. Neil and Shirralee are happy that Surface is now available in Australia. If you want to buy a Microsoft Surface solution you can contact the nsquared Sydney office.

nsquared talks about our latest Surface developments

Dr Neil and nsquared's new Business Development Manager Shirralee Willis sit down and talk about Surface. nsquared has the newest Surface unit in Sydney and we're enjoying sharing it with our clients and potential clients...

LiveMeeting for your Calendars!!

Add this to your Calendar for 22 February 2010:"Developing For Microsoft Surface" LiveMeeting.

On Feb 22nd, at 5pm PST, you can join an online LiveMeeting to discuss Surface Software development and learn from leading trainer Dr. Neil Roodyn for free.

Dr. Neil is the global Surface development trainer, and author of the only Surface Development book available. Don't miss your opportunity to learn more about developing for this unique and powerful technology!

To attend the LiveMeeting, simply request an invitation by sending an email to SurfaceSessions @ nsquaredsolutions.com with your name in the Subject line.

If you have any questions you would like answered in the LiveMeeting please include these in the body of the email requesting invitation.

We look forward to hearing from you shortly!