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Apple has slowly been pushing out updates to it’s app store today. Not all apps are benefiting yet from the new cleaned up interface, but our Rob Thomas Fanbase application was switched over a few hours ago. The layout has a lot more whitespace, larger download/buy button and multiple detail images of the application on screen at once. This update brings the app store visually more in line with new store look that was part of the iTunes 9 upgrade.
Today Alcatel-Lucent and QNX announced the 4G connected car prototype in New York. As part of the NG Connect program (an ecosystem built around 4G connectivity) Atlantic Records was proud to create a version of our award winning Fanbase platform for the music fan on the road. The car contains 4 internet connected screens allowing for an in car music experience like never before.
Check out a (shaky) video of an early version of Fanbase running in the car.
NG Connect also launched a micro site with detailed information on the program and the prototype.
Check out a video on the connected car staring yours truly.
Details on all the participants.
The press buzz surrounding the launch was great, with some standout coverage from Wired, Mashable and Reuters.
A great overview video from CNN.
As well as a great Fanbase mention.
A full press rundown can be found on the NG Connect site.
Check out the video below for an overview of the car and the possibilities that a nationwide 4G network can bring.
Last month, I attended the 2009 Adobe Max conference and wanted to share a few exciting developments at Atlantic Records in conjunction with Adobe and the Flash platform. We were nominated for a Max Award and showcased two new products, one for connected TVs and set top boxes and another for the connected car.
Below is the booth where David Brown from Agencynet and I answered questions about our award nominated mobile application, Fanbase Mobile, for the conference attendees prior to final voting.
While we’ve been working on a prototype of Fanbase for connected TVs with developer Rhett Woods for a few months now, this was the first time I got to see the app running on a device. This is on a Vizio TV running Stagecraft, Adobe’s Flash Lite implementation for the digital home. Right now connected home products are pretty hard to come by, so it was really exciting to see a working demo of our app.
I was also able to see the QNX connected car for the first time. This is another partner (along with Alcatel-Lucent) and I built this version of Fanbase for a custom implementation of Flash Lite 3.1 they have running in the car. I had seen it in emulators and on demo boxes, but there is no comparison to see the app running on a 4G network in the car.
Arguably the biggest announcement from Adobe’s MAX conference last week was the (future) ability to create iPhone applications using Flash CS5. There were several sessions that materialized shortly after the announcement, but this session by Arno Gourdol was by far the most useful and practical. Check out the video below.
I was interviewed a few months ago by Adobe for an article titled “From black box to contextual applications” which ran in this month in Adobe’s Edge newsletter and on the Adobe.com site. The goal of a contextual application is to provide a unified experience across multiple devices, while leveraging the unique capabilities and qualities of each. The article discusses the key tennants of contextual apps, Atlantic Record’s Fanbase applications as well as the Open Screen Project which Atlantic officially joined last week.
Today Atlantic Records and Fanbase received amazing mentions in Billboard and Wired Magazines.
Rob Thomas was named one of Billboard’s Top 10 Wireless artists today in an article that highlights his early adoption of the Fanbase platform. They discuss his use of Fanbase Desktop, Fanbase Mobile for Flash Lite, and Fanbase for the iPhone as well as his continued use Twitter to communicate directly with his fans. Calling him “The Trailblazer” underscores both his willingness to embrace new technology, and the forward thinking nature of Atlantic Records.
In an interview with Livia Tortella (GM/EVP of Atlantic) Wired Magazine highlights our use of Cisco’s EOS platform to bring artist specific communities to music fans alongside a small mention of Fanbase.
Some pretty amazing mobile interfaces from UI and graphics studio TAT (The Astonishing Tribe). They are a Swedish firm that already has work on 270 million devices. If you think the panacea for mobile design is located in Cupertino, these videos may make you think different.
Augmented ID is a TAT concept that visualizes the digital identities of people you meet in real life. With a mobile device and face recognition software from Polar Rose, Augmented ID enables you to discover selected information about people around you. All users control their own augmented appearance, by selecting the content and social network links they want show to others. Modifying your augmented ID is easier than fixing your hair in real life and, of course, TAT Cascades will make sure you look great!
Multitasking can be a natural and useful part of the user experience. Juggle UI allows users to conveniently get an overview of all open apps. By using touch surfaces outside the screen, it is easy to switch between different applications and to transfer content between them. The user can access the open applications at any time by swiping a finger over the touch surface to the right. Content can be copied and stored on a clipboard and accessed at any time by swiping a finger over the touch surface to the left.
A TAT Cascades powered demo with a range of new exciting features; portrait and landscape effects, widgets, touch unlock, dragndrop and LinkFlow. It is easy to differentiate still based on the same underlying application code – allowing for a lot more extensive customization within the same development time.
This demo shows how you can have attractive UIs work, with excellent performance, on mid-range platforms. Giving you the ability to spice up your UIs on legacy platforms and a platform that from scratch has been designed and optimized to be CPU and RAM efficient. It pushes FPS performance without the need for hardware acceleration
This 3D demo was developed by TAT for Mobile World Congress 2009 in cooperation with Texas Instruments. Foldout UI is a Cascades implementation on the Texas Instruments OMAP3430 platform, using Open GL|ES 2.0 and hardware acceleration. The demo shows a unique utilization of 3D in combination with touch input. It challenges traditional UI paradigms with its flip-through navigation and foldout design. Realistic materials, physics, shaders and other effects give a real-life experience to the GUI.